ANNALS 
 
 OF 
 
 C O M M E .R C E, 
 
 MANUFACTURES, FISHERIES, AND NAVIGATION, 
 
 WITH 
 
 BRIEF NOTICES OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES CONNECTED WITH THEM. 
 
 CONTArNINC THIi 
 
 COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE AND OTHER COUNTRIES, 
 
 FEOM THE EARLIEST ACCOUNTS TO THE MliETINCi OF THE UNION PAllLIAMENT IN JANUARY 1801 J 
 
 AND COMPRKUENDINC TUK MOST VAr.UABLF PART OF THE UTE Mn. AXULR'OVS HliTORY OF COMMERCE, VIZ. fHOM THt VSAP. 14W 
 TO THE END OP illt REIGN OF GEORGE II, RUNG OF GREAT BRITAIN, &c. 
 
 WITH A LARGE APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 CHBONOLOGICAL TABLES OF THE SOVEBEIGIVS OF EUROPE, 
 lABLFS OF THE ALTEKATIONS OF MONEY IN ENGLAND AND 
 SCOTLAND, 
 
 A CHK0N0L0GIC4L TABLE OF THE pniCES OF CORN, &C ami 
 
 A COMMEUriAL AND MANIFACTI RAL GAZETTEER OF THE 
 
 UNITED KINGDOM OF CREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND ; 
 
 AVITII A GENERAL CHllONOLOGICAL INDKX. 
 
 T/ie J>ititnt Part composed from the most authentic Orig'umI Historians and Piihlic "Records, 
 
 printed and in Manuscript ; and the Modern Part from Materials of viiquestionable 
 
 Autlientieitfi (most/i/ unpablislied) extracted from the Records of Parliament, 
 
 the Jccounts of the Lustom-hoiise, the Mint, the Board of Trade, the 
 
 Post-Oj/ice, the East-India Compani/, the Bank of £lnty land, 
 
 6)C. S^:c. 
 
 Btj DAVID MACPUERSON. 
 
 IN FOUR rOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 PRINTED FOR 
 
 SICHOLS AND SOK, W. J. AND J. RICIJAKDSON, J. STOCKDALE, J. WALKER, WILKIE AND ROEINSOV, 
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 I 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME CONTAINS 
 
 (PART I) 
 
 The Commercial Transactions of the Antient Nations, and after- 
 wards more particularly of the Britisli Kingdoms, their Manufactures, 
 Fisheries, Navigations, Arts, &c. from the earliest Accounts to the 
 Discovery of America by Christopher Colon in the year 1493; com- 
 posed from the most authentic Original Historians, and Parliamen- 
 tary and other Public Records, published and in manuscript. 
 
 994 
 
 ECONOMICS
 
 ANNALS 
 
 OF 
 
 COMMERCE, 
 
 C 
 
 lOMMERCE exchanges what we have to fpare for what we want, 
 in whatever part of the world it is produced ; and it enables agricultors, 
 labourers, manufadurers, feamen, and, in Ihort, every defcription of 
 induflrious people, to live comfortably and independently upon their 
 own acquifitions. The animation, which it gives to manufadures, 
 brings on a divifion of labour, whereby they are carried to a degree of 
 perfection, not otherways attainable, and makes the purchafe of every 
 article comparatively eafy to the individual, for whom a hundred thou- 
 fand hands, difperfed ■over the furface of the globe, are employed in 
 providing food, lodging, clothing, and other neceflaries, comforts, and 
 enjoyments. Without commerce every family mufl be agricultors for 
 themfelves, and for them/elves only : and they mufl alfo build their own 
 houfes, or rather huts, make their own furniture, their own clothes, 
 and every article, they Hand in need of. Some wretched nations in 
 this mofl abje6l flate of favage life exift, even at this time, in parts of 
 the world hitherto fcarcely ever viiited by navigation. In a country 
 deftitute of commerce fuperior talents are of little value, and induftry 
 would toil in vain : a redundance of produce is ufelefs ; a deficiency is 
 death. But wherever commerce extends its beneficial influence, every 
 country, which is acceflible, is in fome degree placed on a level with i^e- 
 fpeft to the fupply of provifions, the neceflaries, the comforts, and the 
 elegancies, of life. 
 
 The origin of commerce, if we comprehend under that name the 
 fimple exchanges, which took place, as foon as different taftes, or talents, 
 direded people to employ their induftry in different purfuits, muft un- 
 doubtedly be nearly co-eval with the creation of the world. As paflur- 
 
 VoL. I. A
 
 [ ^ ] 
 
 age and agriculture were the only employments of the firft men, lb cat- 
 tle and flocks, and the fruits of the earth, were the only objects of the 
 firfl commerce, or, more properly fpeaking, of that fpecies of it known 
 by the name of barter. The invention of manufacT:ures enabled the 
 more ingenious and induftrious members of the community to add to 
 their own comfort and convenience ; and alfo, by difpofing of the pro- 
 du6tions of their labour and ingenuity, to acquire an addition to the 
 produce of their own fields, or their own flocks, which rendered them 
 comparatively rich. We are not fufficiently informed of the flate of 
 mankind in the earliefl; ages to know, wheth'er there were any, who be- 
 llowed their whole time and attention upon raanufadures, or, in other 
 words, followed trades or profefllons ; whether their exchanges v/ere 
 extended beyond the near neighbourhood of the actual producers, and 
 conducted by a clafs of people devoting their attention to fuch bufinefs, 
 whom we call merchants ; or whether any univerfal llandard or me- 
 dium, which we call money, was then invented. 
 
 We find, however, in the very brief hiftory, which we have, of tHe 
 ages preceding the flood, a few Ihort notices, which infer, that fome 
 proiivefs had been made in manutaftin-es during that period. The 
 building of a city, or village, by Cain, however mean the houies may 
 have been-, fuppoi'es the exiftence of fome mechanic knowlege. The 
 tnufical inflruments, as harps and organs, the works in brafs and in 
 iron (the moft difficult of all metals in the application of it to the fer- 
 vice of mankind) made by the following generations *, Ihew, that the 
 •arts were conliderably advanced : but above all the conflrudion of 
 Noah's airk, a Ihip of three decks, covered all-over with pitch, and vajft- 
 ly larger than any modern effort of naval architecfture, proves, that 
 many feparate trades were then carried on ; for it can by no means be 
 •luppoied, that Noah and his three fons could, colled and prepare the vail 
 quantity and variety of materials, and alio tools, neceflary for carrying 
 on fo flupendous a fabric, had there not been people, who made a trade 
 of fupplying them in exchange for commodities, or perhaps for money. 
 
 The enormous pile of building, called the Tower of Babel, was con- 
 flruded of bricks, the procefs of making which appears to have been 
 very well underllood f. 
 
 Some learned afironomers arc perfuaded that the celeflial obfervations 
 ot the Chinefe reach back to 2249 years before the commencement of 
 the Chrifl^ian jera |. And the celellial obfervations made at Babylon, 
 
 • Naamali, tlic fifttr of Tubal.caiii, is faiJ by injr that perhaps-imaginary princcfs, or gockkfs. 
 
 fotnc autlion to liavc iiivcnttd, or ]iiartifcd, wool. [Sec Limttmiiil IVi/fonl's Diferlii/ioti on S^minimis, 
 
 cardiiij', fpimiing, weaving, &c. but, I bclitvo, from the Hindu fatred books, in the /^iii/ic re- 
 
 -without any f.iffititnt aulhoidy. fearcha, V. iv.] 
 
 t I fay nothing of the wonderful building!), | The arguuiiiils for and ajj.iind tlic genuine- 
 
 /lcet.i, and armies, aftrlljcd to Sciniramis, bicaiifc nefsofthcfe obfervations are given by Monlucia, 
 
 it is impofiibic to know any thing ctilaiii concern- JJiJ!. dc mathcmaliqiies, V. \, p. 385.
 
 C 3 ] 
 
 and contained in a calendar oi above nineteen centuries, which was tranf- 
 initied to Greece by Alexander, reach back to within fifteen years of 
 thofe afcribed to the Chinefe. The difcovery of this valuab'e fcicnce 
 was attributed by European writers to a deified king of Babylon, whom 
 they call Jupiter Eelus. {^Ariftot. de Ccelo, c. 12. * — Plin. Hijl. nat. L. vi, 
 c. 26.] 
 
 The Indians appear to have had obfervations fully as early as the Ba- 
 bylonians. [Baiily, Ajlronomie Indienne — Kohertjoti's Dijquifiiion on India, 
 p. 289, ed. 1794.] 
 
 So very antient among the oriental nations was the ftudy of astro- 
 nomy, a icience fo eflentially neceflary to navigation, that without it no 
 voyages can be undertaken upon the ocean. Whether any of thofe 
 nations learned aflronomy from either of the others, is a queflion, 
 which no man can prefume to determine. 
 
 Such of the defcendents of Noah as lived near the water, we may pre- 
 fume, made ufe of veflels built fomewhat in imitation of the ark, (fup- 
 pofing it to have been the firfl floating vefTel ever feen in the world) 
 and on a fmaller fcale adapted to the purpofe of crofling deep rivers. 
 In procefs of time the pofterity of his eldeft fon Japhet fettled them- 
 felves in ' the ifles of the Gentiles,' by which we muft underfland the 
 iflands at the eaft end of the Mediterranean fea, and thofe between 
 Afia-minor and Greece, whence their colonies fpread into Greece, Italy, 
 and other weftern lands f. \_GeneJis, c. 10.] This is the earheft account 
 of voyages performed upon the fea. 
 
 SiDON, which afterwards became fo illuftrious for the wonderful mer- 
 cantile exertions of its inhabitants, was founded about 2,200 years be- 
 fore the Chriftian aera. Seated in a barren and narrow country, con- 
 fined on one fide by the fea, and on the other by the range of moun- 
 tains called Lebanon, they had the fagacity to make thefe feemingly 
 inhofpitable boundaries the foundation of a naval power, which for ages 
 flood unequalled, and gave them the unrivalled command of the whole 
 commerce of the Mediterranean. The mountains being covered with 
 excellent cedars, which furnifli the very befl and mofl durable fliip 
 timber and plank:}:, they built great numbers of fliips, and exported the 
 
 * Epijenes, ?)erofiis, and Ciitodemus, as quot- full vigour of life for at lead a century, we fhall 
 cd by Piiny, [////?. nat. J., vii, c. 56] do not r.l- fee reafon to btlieve, that in about 2CO years the 
 
 Jow 
 
 lialf fo much antiquity to the Babylonian cb- pofterity of tln-ec couples might have greatly ex- 
 
 fervations. But, fuppofing the numbers in all to ceeded a million of people. 
 
 be equally genuine, (he authority of Ariftotle is :|; That the fliips of this country were built of 
 
 vallly fuperior to ail theirs. cedar in after ages alfo, appears from Piir.v [//^. 
 
 -]- According to the tables calculated by Wal- nat. L. xvi, c. 40] who Hiys, that it was iifcd for 
 
 lice, IDlfcriatio/i 0,1 the tiumii-n of nianlind, p. /[^.2 iimtitoffir, of which the Romans, from fcarcity 
 
 the pofterity of Noah, if lie had no children after of bet'tcr timber, or from ignorance, built their 
 
 the deluge, ftiould at this time fcarcely have ftiips, though, in the fame chapter, be remarks. 
 
 amounted to 600 perfons. But if we fuppofe a fo- that fome beams of cedar in a temple at Utica had 
 
 cicty of people exempted fiom the many clogs put Jaftcd 1 188 jears. 
 
 upon matrimony in modern times, and enjoying the 
 
 A
 
 4 Before Chrifl; 2200 — 1859. 
 
 produce of the adjacent country, and the various articles produced by 
 the labours of their own ingenious and induftrious people, who excelled 
 in the manufadures of fine linen, embroidery, tapeftry, metals, glafs, 
 whereof they appear to have had almoft as many varieties as our mo- 
 dern manufacturers furnifli, fuch as coloured, figured by blowing, turn- 
 ed round by the lath, and cut or carved, and even mirrors. In fhort, 
 they were unrivalled, at leafl by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean 
 coafts, in works of tafte, elegance, and luxury. Their great and uni- 
 verfally-acknowleged pre-eminence procured to the Phoenicians, whofe 
 capital port was Sidon, the honour of being efteemed by the Greeks and 
 others the inventors of commerce, fliip-building, navigation, the appli- 
 cation of aftronomy to nautical purpofes, and particularly the difcovery 
 of feveral ftars nearer to the north pole than any that were known to 
 the other nations, naval war, writing, arithmetic, book-keeping, mea- 
 fures and weights ; to all which it is very probable that they might 
 have added money *. Some of thefe fciences however, particularly af- 
 tronomy and arithmetic, may be prefumed to have been received by 
 the Phoenicians from the Babylonians or Indians. 
 
 An obfervation of an eclipfe, which happened 2155 years before the 
 Chriftian aera, is fuppofed by fome to be the mofl antient of the Chi- 
 nefe obfervations, which can be received as authentic : but others credit 
 them for celeftial obfervations three centuries earlier, as already obferv- 
 ed. [Montucla, Hiji. de mathcmatiques, V. i. pp. 59, 385.] 
 
 2000 — It was probably about this time that the Titans made them- 
 felves mafters of Greece and other parts of Europe. Their hiftory is 
 overwhelmed with fable : and they are noticed here merely as an early 
 inftance of a number of people, fufficient to overrun, and even to fub- 
 due and occupy a great extent of thinly-inhabited country, being tranf- 
 ported by water ; and as a proof, that the navigation of thofe remote 
 ages was not quite fo defpicable, as fome authors endeavour to make us 
 believe f . 
 
 1920 — Egypt appears to have furpafi^ed all the neighbouring coun- 
 tries in agriculture, and particularly to have excelled in its plentiful 
 crops of corn. The fame of its fuperior fertility induced Abraham to 
 remove with his very numerous family into Egypt during a famine, 
 which alBided the land of Canaan, then the place of his refidence. 
 [^Gene/is, c. i 2.] 
 
 1859 — ^^^^ earlicft particular accounts of bargain and fale, which are 
 recorded, reach no higher than the time of Abraham. In the accounts 
 
 • Sec Gentfis, c. 10. — Homerl II. /,. xvili, r. \ The antient authors, who mention them, 
 
 289; L. xxiii, 1). 743 ; OtI'fJf. /.. xv, v. 115. — bring them from countries beyond the fca ; and 
 
 Herodol. L i, c. I. — Mela, L. i. c. 6. — S.rnlo, they extend tlieir conqudls, or colonies, to Italy, 
 
 L. xvi,/i. 1097, eJ. 1707. — Plinii HiJK nal. L. v, Spain, Africa, &c. 
 f. 19 ; L. xxxvi, c. 1(1.
 
 Before Chrift 1859. 5 
 
 of two purchafes of landed property by him we have the amount of the 
 prices and the modes of the payments. The firfl may perhaps rather 
 be called an acknowlegement made to Abimelech, as king of the coun- 
 try, for having dug a well in his territory, than a real purchafe ; and 
 the payment was ieven ewe-lambs, befides a prefent, far more valuable, 
 of iheep and oxen. \Genefis, c. 21.] But the next is a fair and abfolute 
 purchafe of a field or piece of land, in the narrative of which we have 
 many circumftances well deferving our attention. Abraham, defirous 
 of burying his deceafed wife in ground which fhould be his own pro- 
 perty, applied to the people of the country for their intereft with Eph- 
 ron, the proprietor of the field, to induce him to difpofe of it. Ephron, 
 in the hearing of the people, politely offered him a prefent of the piece 
 of ground, and defired all the company to be witnefies of the donation. 
 Abraham, bowing refpedfully to all the people, declined the gift, but 
 defired to purchafe it at a fair price ; whereupon, after fome further 
 compliments, the value was fixed at ' four hundred fhekels of filver, 
 * current money with the merchant *.' The filver was immediately weigh- 
 ed (not counted), and paid to Ephron ; and the property of the field of 
 Machpela, with its cave or fepulchre, and all the trees belonging to it, 
 was warranted to Abraham in the prefence of all the people; The 
 whole tranfaftion appears to have been conducted with great candour 
 and politenefs on both fides. {Genefts, c. 23.] This contradl for the 
 regular transfer of landed property prefuppofes the various produdions 
 of the earth to have been for fome time the objeds of efliabliftied traf- 
 fic. We have reafon, however, to believe, that only inclofed and plant- 
 ed fields were property ; while the boundlefs common of the whole 
 world was the unappropriated pafl:ure ground of the patriarchs, who, 
 with their armies of children and fervants, and their innumerable herds 
 of cattle, ranged from place to place in fearch of frefli pafi:ure, as the 
 paftoral tribes of the Scythians and Arabians have done in all ages. 
 Abraham, who fed his flocks and herds at one time on the banks of the 
 Euphrates, and at another on thofe of the Nile, faid to his nephew Lot, 
 ' Let us feparate in order to prevent fi:rife among our herdfmen. If 
 ' you chufe to go to the left, I will go to the right. Is not the whole 
 ' land before you ?' 
 
 From the hiftory of Abraham we learn, that money of denominations 
 and quality, fixed by public authority, or by the general confent of thofe 
 who were mofi: interefl;ed in the circulation of it, was then an efi:abliflied 
 flandard, or medium, in the tranfadions of mankind, and, together with 
 
 * This important word mkrqhant implies, only fay, that the money was generally or public- 
 that the llandard of money was fixed by ufage ly current, or approved : but in the original He- 
 among merchants, and confequently, that merchants brew the words, as literally tranflated for me by a 
 conftituted a numerous and refpeftable clafs of the learned orientaliil, (igTuij four hundred Jhehels ofji!- 
 ' community. St. Jerom's, and fome other tranfla- ver current iv'ith the merchants ; fo that our mo- 
 tions of tlie Bible, omit the word merchant, and dern Englifli tranflation is one of the trucft. .
 
 6 Before Chrift, about 1800. 
 
 cattle and flaves, conflituted the principal wealth of individuals. Abra- 
 ham had ' flocks and herds, and filver and gold, and men-fervants and 
 ' maid-fervants *, and camels and afles.' Abimelech gave to Abraham 
 a thoufand pieces of filver, befides cattle and flaves. 
 
 Manufadures were by this time fo far advanced, that not only thofe 
 more immediately conneded with agriculture and pafturage, fuch as 
 flour ground from corn, wine, oil, and butter, andalfo the mofl; necef- 
 fary articles of clothing and furniture, but even thofe of luxury and 
 magnificence, were ufual ; as we learn by the ear-rings and bracelets, 
 jewels of gold, jewels of filver, and other pretious things, prefented by 
 Abraham's fteward to Rebekah, the intended bride of his young maf- 
 ter, and to her relations. \Gc7ie/is, cc. 9, 13, 18, 19, 20, 24.] 
 
 About this time Inachus, called by the Grecian poets of after ages 
 the fon of the Ocean, but probably a Phoenician f, arrived in Greece, 
 and founded the kingdom of Argos in the peninfula afterwards called 
 Peloponefus, and now the Morea. His daughter lo, while flic was pur- 
 chafing fome goods from a Phoenician veflel, which had been five or 
 fix days trading in Egyptian and Afl}^rian merchandize at Argos, then 
 the mofl flourifliing city of Greece, was, together with fome other young 
 women her attendants, feized by the crew, and carried to Egypt. \^He- 
 rodot. L.'\,c. I.] 
 
 It is the opinion of feveral learned commentators, that the converfa- 
 tions in the book of Job are tranflated from a work compofed by Job 
 himfelf, that his refidence was in Arabia, and that he was contemporary 
 with the fons of Abraham. That book throws a great deal of light up- 
 on the commerce, manufidures, and fcience, of the age and country 
 wherein he lived. Gold, iron, brafs, lead, chryflal, jewels, and other 
 luxuries, together with the art of weaving, are mentioned in cc. 7, 19, 
 28, 42 ; merchants in c. 41 ; gold brought from Ophir (wherever that 
 place was) which infers commerce with a country apparently re- 
 mote, and topazes from Ethiopia, c. 38 ; fliip-building, and that 
 fo far improved, that fome veflt;ls were conflruded fo as to be particu- 
 larly diftinguiflied for the velocity of their motion j:, r. 9 ; writing in 
 
 • Tlicfi- were not fcrvants in tl;c modern ac- c, i.] Jofcplius, who confulteJ many frood au- 
 
 ceptation <if tlic word, hut flnves, hispioperty, and thors, now loil, fays, that ii ciily tinies, tlie rhcE- 
 
 hoiight wiih liis money. See Cen.fts, c. I 7. nicians were the navi;rators wiio cnnvirycd tlie fiift 
 
 f There can be h'ttle rcafon to doubt, that tlie knowlcRe of the Egyptians and other nations 
 
 name of Jnachus (l»x;j-e-) is tlie f^mc word with lo the Greeks. [^Contia ^Ijiiwem, L. \.~\ 
 
 Enak or /Innk, a Piia-niciaii liile of th'gnity. The % The commentators arc fat from agreeing tip. 
 
 learned liochart fcems with good rcafon to think, on the meaning of the words, trandiited ' fwift 
 
 that tlie genuine name of the Phccnicians was Bm • fiiips,' in the Englilh Bible. Jcroin trandates 
 
 yliink, (the foiis of Anak) of which the Greek them ' naves poma portantes,' fliips carrying ap- 
 
 word "I's/fik 1; is a corrupted contraiflion. ^Vc learn pics. The invcniion of rafts, the very firil rude 
 
 from V\a\\\\,3 \ Paiiu! nil. ^,/i. z'j that the Car- c (fay in navigation, was afcribcd to Ei^thras, a 
 
 thagiiiians, a rha'nieian colony, called their city (pcihaps imagir.ary) king of fome part of the 
 
 CA</^/rc-/^nrt/f, the rcfidcncc of the Anaks. [6'1/m- coad of the I'trfian gulf. \_Sli-abo, L, xvi, />. 
 
 lirlmid'i Stinconialho, j>. 2-1.— Bccharl, Chan.L. i, 1 125 Plin. llijl. nal. L. vii, t. 56.]
 
 Before Clirift 1739 — 1728. 7 
 
 a book *, and engraving letters, or writing on plates of lead, and on 
 ftone, with iron pens, and alfo feal-engraving, rf. 19, 31, 38; fiflung 
 with hooks, and nets, and fpearsf, c. 41 ; mufical inftruments, parti- 
 cularly the harp and organ, c. n^o ; alTronomy, and names given to the 
 conftellations ; which proves that they mufl have made great profi- 
 ciency in arithmetic and geometry, the invention of which (long after 
 this time) is afcribed to Myrisking of Egypt :{:, cc. 9, 38. Thele various 
 important notices prove, that, though the patriarchal I'yllem of making 
 pallurage the principal objecl of attention was ftill kept up by many of 
 the chiefs of the country §, where the author of the book of Job lived, 
 the fciences were afliduoufly cultivated, the ufeful and ornamental arts 
 were in a very advanced Itate, and commerce was profecuted with vi- 
 gour and effedl:, at a time, when, if the chronology of Job be rightly 
 fettled, the arts and fciences were fcarcely fo far advanced in Egypt, 
 from which, and the other countries bordering upon the eaftern part of 
 the Mediterranean fea, they were afterwards Ilowly conveyed to 
 Greece 1|- 
 
 1^39 — Jacob, the grandfon of Abraham, bought a piece of grotmd 
 near Shalem in the land of Canaan, for which he paid an hundred kefi- 
 tas%. He was invited by the people of the country to fettle among 
 them, and to trade, or negotiate with them. \Genefis, cc. 't^i^, 34.] 
 
 1-728 ^llie inhabitants of Arabia, whofe great advances in the arts 
 
 and fciences havejuft been noticed, appear to have availed themfelves 
 in very early times of their mod advantageous fituation between the 
 two fertile and opulent countries of Egypt and India, and to have got 
 the entire and unrivaled polleflion of a very profitable carrying trade 
 between thofe countries. In this commerce navigation and land car- 
 riage were combined : and we find a clafs of people, who gave their 
 
 * The Englifli traiiflation has ' printed in a of Job was written, long before the Ifraelites be^ 
 
 • book.' came a nation, very long before the Greeks were a 
 
 -|- According to the Englifli tranddtion, ' with civih'zed people, and many centuries indeed, before 
 
 • barbed irons,' or harpoons. the name of Roman was heard of. 
 
 J The Greeks learned geometry from the E- i^ ^ i i „v ^ nr 
 
 + . , 1 r , ■^ 1 1- r Onandoque to:ius dormitat Jnomerus : 
 
 jrvptians, ana theretore cas'e tliem the credit oi ,7 ^- • } r ii i, r 
 
 o/*^. '. cc 1 T ■ n Vtriim opere in longo las elt obreperere lomnum. 
 
 . the invention, bee o/rap^, i^. xvi, />. 1090. i o 1 
 
 } Both the inventories of Job's ellatc t numerate «f The tranflators of the Englifh Bible have ren- 
 
 ftieep, camels, oxen, and affts, together with a very dered hefita ' pieces of money.' Others have 
 
 great lionfehold : but there is not a word of horfts, tranllated it by a word fignifying lands. Accord- 
 
 for which Arabia has long been famous, as com- ing to the learned Bochart, \^Hicrnzoicoit, L. ii, c. 
 
 poling a part of his property. 43-] 't mult have been a kind of money, fo called 
 
 II A very refpeftable author, to whofe exten- as being genuine, or of a juft Itandaid finenefs, 
 
 five rtfearches hiftory, and particularly oriental heftta ivim.i^'v\<g true ov gaiu'ine ; and he thinks it 
 
 hiftory, has been greatly indebted, has inadvertent- had 110 connection whatever with lambs. Some 
 
 ly afcribed tlie fuperior civilization of the Arabians fuppofe it a piece of money 'lamped with the 
 
 to the occafional vifits of Ifiaelite, Egyptian, figure of a lamb. If this opinion could be efta- 
 
 Grecian, and Roman, merchants. If io, the blilhed, it would be the earliell notice of coined* 
 
 fcholais have greatly furpaflcd all their mailers, money in the world. But it is believed, that there 
 
 But an iiitercourfe, fufficient to produce fuch an was no coined money among the Ifraehtes till after 
 
 effeft, mud have commenced long before the book the extindlion of their monarchy. 
 3
 
 8 
 
 Before Chrift 17^8. 
 
 whole attention to merchandize as a regular and eflablifhed profeffion, 
 and travelled v^dth caravans (as pradifed in thofe countries to this day) 
 between Arabia and Egypt, carrying upon the backs of camels* the 
 fpiceries of India, together with the balm of Canaan, and the myrh pro- 
 duced in their own country, or perhaps imported of a fuperior quality 
 from the oppofite coafl of Abyfhnia ; articles which were in great de- 
 mand among 'the Egyptians for embalming the deadf , in the religious 
 ceremonies, and for adminiftering to the pleafures, of that fuperftitious, 
 rich, and luxurious, people. The merchants of one of thofe caravans, 
 confifling of Ifhmaelites and Midianites J, being alfo dealers in flaves, 
 made a purchafe of Jofeph from his brothers for twenty pieces of lilver, 
 or ;jr2 : 1 1 : 8 of modern fterling money §, and carried him with them 
 to Egypt. [Geiiefts, c. 37.] 
 
 The extent of the Arabian commerce ^ in thefe ages further appears 
 from the fpices, which mufl have been got diredly or circuitoufly from 
 Arabia, being joined with balm and other productions of Canaan in the 
 prefent deftined by Jacob for Jofeph. \Genefis, c. 43.] The Ifraelites 
 during their peregrination in the wildernefs poiTelled feveral oriental 
 fpices and aromatics in very conliderable quantities, which, whether 
 
 * The camel is wonderfully adapted by Nature 
 for the tranfportation of merchandize acrofs bar- 
 ren dcferts. Very little food is fufGcient for him, 
 and his ftomacli is fo formed that he can take in a 
 fupply of water, wherever it can be got, fufBcicnt 
 for the ufe of feveral days. He proceeds, under 
 the load of a thoufand pounds weight, with a (low, 
 but uniform, pace, wherein he perfeveres with un- 
 remitting patience to the end of a veiT long jour- 
 ney. Tliefe qualities render the camel fo eminent- 
 ly ufeful in Arabia, Africa, and other avid coun- 
 tries, that he is emphatically called the Jl?ip of the 
 tlifert. 
 
 f Pure myrh, cafia, and other odoriferous fub- 
 ftanccs, excepting frankincenfe, were ufcd in em- 
 balming the dead bodies of the rich in Egypt. 
 \_JItrodol. L. ii, c. 86.] 
 
 I In a few ages after this time we find the Mi- 
 dianites fo opulent, that the plunder of gold ear- 
 rings taken from tliem by the Ifraelites in one bat- 
 tle, weighed 1,700 (hekels, beftdes other orna- 
 ments and purple raiment, apparently from Sidoii : 
 and even their camels had chains of gold upon their 
 necks. [,^i"ls',u '• 8.] 
 
 $ I thought it proper to give this full inftance 
 of the price of a flavc in modern money, (as cal- 
 culated in yiduthiiot's Talks of ancient coins, fi. 
 204) to enable the reader to compare it with the 
 modern prices.' Wc know of no prices of provi- 
 fions caually anlicnt, whereby wc niigiit cllimate 
 the real value of llie price paid for Jofeph. 
 
 f The inttrcourfe between Arabia and India in 
 very early ages may be (jucllioned, as all tlie arti- 
 cles carried by the caravan who bought Jofepli, 
 
 are faid by fome authors to have been the produce 
 of Arabia. Thofe authors, feeing fuch goods 
 brought from Arabia, naturally fuppofed that they 
 were produced there ; and they neither knew nor 
 inquired concerning the exiilence of any countiy 
 beyond it. But it is known that iome of the fpi- 
 ceries could liave been brought only from India, 
 with which the intercourfe from Arabia was very 
 eafy by means of the monfbons, the periodical regu- 
 larity of wliich mud have been obfervcd, and taken 
 advantage of, many ages before the time of Hippa- 
 lus, whom the Egyptian Greeks fuppofed the firft 
 difcoverer of them. It may alfo be obfervcd, as a 
 ftrong prefuinption that the Arabs traded to more 
 remote parts of India than the Pcrfians or Alfyri- 
 ans, or any other nation with whom the weftern 
 parts of the world had intercourfe, that no fuch 
 fpices had ever been fecn in Jerufalem as thofe 
 >vhich were prcfented to Solomon by the queen of 
 Shcba, [// Chronicles^ c. 9] who, if a native of 
 Sabtea in Arabia Felix, received them from her 
 own fubjefts ; or, if a native of the country now 
 called Abyflinia (as the modern Abyffuiians allege) 
 mull have procured them from the merchants of 
 Muza (Mocha, or a place near it) in Arabia, as 
 we learn from the Perip/us rf the Erylhrsan fea. 
 [See alfo Straho, /,.xvii,/>. 1129] Theophralhis 
 i.1, if I midakc not, the oldell author, wiio knew 
 that cinnamon and other fpices and aromatics were 
 the produce of India. See L. ix, c. 7, and elfe- 
 where : and Strabo, who wrote feveral centuries 
 alter him, had heard a report to the fame purport. 
 [Z,. xvii, />. 1 1.29. J
 
 Before Chrift 1728 — 1491- 9 
 
 they brought them out of Egypt, or procured them on their journey, 
 muft have been obtained from the fouthcrn Arabians, who imported 
 fome of them from India and Africa, and raifed others of them in their 
 own country. [Exodus, c. 30.] 
 
 From detached notices, coUeded at very diftant intervals of time, it 
 appears that the fouthern Arabs were eminent traders, and enjoyed at 
 all times a very confiderable proportion, but moft generally the entire 
 monopoly, of the trade between India and the weftern world from the 
 earliefl ages, till the antient fyftem of that moft important commerce 
 was totally overturned, when the Europeans found a dire6l route to In- 
 dia by the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 17 1 5 — Jofeph, from being a flave and a prifoner, was advanced to 
 be the prime minifter of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Having laid up the 
 redundant corn produced in feven years of plenty in the royal granaries, 
 he afterwards fold it out to the people during feven years of famine, 
 whereby the whole money of the nation, afterwards the cattle, then the 
 lands, and at laft even the people themfelves, became the property of 
 the king. The fcarcity being general in all the neighbouring coun- 
 tries, Jofeph brought the whole of his father's family with all their nu- 
 merous retinue to fettle in Egypt. 
 
 I 707 — About this time we find inns eftabliflied for the accommoda- 
 tion of travelers in Egypt and in the northern parts of Arabia ; and, 
 we may prefume, the more civilized fouthern part of the peninfula could 
 not be deftitute of the fame accommodation. This fuppofes a confi- 
 derable intercourfe between diftant countries : and it may be prefumed, 
 that a great proportion of the travelers were traders. The inn-keepers 
 feem to have furniflied only houfe-room, and perhaps beds ; for we 
 find, even long after this time, that travelers carried their own provi- 
 
 fions with them, and alfo provender for their beafts. [Genefis, c. 42 
 
 Exodus, c. 4 — yudges, c. 19.] Herodotus afcribes the firft ufe of inns 
 or taverns to the Lydians. But the Greeks, even after the age of that 
 father of their hiftory, knew very little of the affairs of any country at a 
 confiderable diftance from their own. 
 
 1689 — Jacob (or Ifrael) in his dying benediction to his fons men- 
 tions ' an haven of JJj'ips' [Genejis^ c. 49.] The ufe of thefe words 
 in metaphorical language, and by a perlon who pafled his life at a 
 diftance from the fea, fliews, that navigation was much praclifed. 
 and familiarly known, in the eaftern parts of the Mediterranean. 
 Some Grecian poets in their inconfiftent fables have, however, af- 
 cribed the honour of the invention of navigation lo their own coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 1 706-1491 — During the refidence of the Ifraelites in Egypt, manu- 
 fadures of almoft every kind were carried on in that comparativclv-por 
 
 Vol. I. B ■
 
 i o 
 
 Before Chriil 1706 — i49i. 
 
 lifned country to great perfection. Flax, fine linen *, garments of cot- 
 ton, rings and jewels of gold and filver, works in all kinds of metals, 
 iron, the moft difficult of all metals in the procefs of preparing it for 
 ufe, chariots for luxury, and chariots for war, occur in the hiftory of 
 this period, written by Mofes. Having no vines in their country, they 
 probably now, but certainly in the age of Herodotus, (L. ii, c. 76) 
 made a liquor from barley, which the Greeks, having no appropriate 
 name for it, called barley-wine. To tliefe may be added the great ma- 
 nufaftory of bricks, in which the Ifraelites are fuppofed to have been 
 chiefly employed during their fervltude in Egypt, and alfo their vaft 
 buildings, and gigantic ftatues, wherein ftupendous bulk, rather than 
 elegance of architecture or iculpture, feem to have been confidered as 
 the flandard of pertedion. [Gcfiejis, cc. 41, 44. — Exod. cc. 9, 11, 12, 
 14. — Num. c. -^^. — Bcut. cc. 4, 19.] Literature alfo appears to have 
 been in a very flourifliing flate among the Egyptians of thefe ages, at 
 leafl when compared with feme of the neighbouring nations : and 
 hence, in order to give a high idea of the accomplifhments of Mofes, it 
 is faid, that he was ' learned in all the wifdom of the Egyptians f .' 
 iAas, f. 7.] 
 
 1556 — ('ecrops, a native of Sais in Egypt, led a colony into Greece, 
 and having married the daughter of Adeus king of Attica, he became 
 his fuccefljc>r in the kingdom. He appears to have paid fome attention 
 to naval affairs, whereby he was enabled, when his fubjeds were diftrefs- 
 ed by famine, to import corn from Lydia, and alfo from Sicily, which 
 has in all ages been difl:ingui{hed for its extraordinary fertility, fo as to 
 be cfteemed by the poets the native country of Ceres the goddefs of 
 corn. Cecrops founded twelve villages, which afterwards coaleiced into 
 the one city of Athens ; and he perfuaded his roving and indolent fub- 
 jeds to fettle in and near them, in order to unite their forces againll the 
 Boeotian marauders and Carian pirates. He alfo pointed out to them the 
 benefits of induftry, and taught them the principles of agriculture. 
 Such was the origin of the antient and illuflirious city of Athens. 
 
 Cadmus arrived in Greece from Phccnicia, and is faid to have taught 
 the Greeks the ufe of letters:}:, and the art of working metals, both hi- 
 
 ■* The fupcrior quality of the Egyptian linen, been rxtoUed nuicli beyond their real merit, bc- 
 
 which was univtrfally allowed by all the antitnts, caufe they appealed to great advantage in the cyc3 
 
 who fiiw it, and compared it with the mannfae- of the early Greeks and Ifraelites. Such menu- 
 
 lures of other countries, has been calkd in quef- mt nts of their art, as Hill remain to be compared 
 
 lion in modern times ; lecaufe the bandages of a with ihofe of later and modern times, oblige us to 
 
 iiuimmy examined by Dodlor Halliy were found wonder what the anticnts found in them worthy of 
 
 only equal to linen wortli 274 a yard So a phi- fo much admiration. 
 
 lolophtr of the thirtieth century, who (liall flnnjble \ Several learned men arc perfuaded that the ufe 
 
 upon a bit of oziiabnrg of the eighteenth, may of letters was at leaft in foine degree known to the 
 
 deir.onflrate that no belter linen was then ufed in Greeks before the arrival of Cadnnis. The ear- 
 
 Urilaln. Hell letters ufed in Greece were probably thofe, 
 
 f It mud be admitted, however, that the learn- which Plato calls Hyperborean (i. e. northern) and 
 
 ing and fcicnce of the Egyptbns liavc in all ages defcribes as different from the letters of his own
 
 Before Chrifl; time uncertain. ii 
 
 therto unknown in that country. According to fome accounts, Cadmus 
 was fent by his father in quefl; of his fifter Europa, ftolen away by Cret- 
 an adventurers : others fay, that he eloped from the court of the king 
 of Sidon with Hermione, one of that king's female nuificians. [^tben. 
 L. xiv.] 
 
 In thefe ages alfo Danaus, another Egyptian adventurer, led a colony 
 into Greece in a great fliip with twenty-five oars on each fide, and, ex- 
 pelling Gelanor the hereditary king of Argos, reigned in his place. 
 
 Some time after, Pelops arrived in Greece from Phrygia, and brought 
 with him riches hitherto unknown in Europe *. 
 
 The arrival of thefe adventurers in Greece merits notice in commer- 
 cial hifi;ory only as fliewing, how common, and how eafy, the migration 
 of colonies by fea was in thofe ages, and how great an afcendant the 
 pofleffors of Ihipping and maritime power had over the more antient 
 inhabitants of Greece. Many other infiiances might be added ; but 
 thefe may fuffice. 
 
 14^0 — ^The Ifraelites under Jofhua began to expell the Canaanites or 
 Phoenicians from a great part of their territories ; and their progrefs 
 was attended with prodigious flaughter of that devoted people. One 
 confequence of their irruption was, that Sidon and the other uncon- 
 quered cities of Phoenicia not having room for all the refugees, who 
 efcaped the exterminating fword of the Ifraelites, many Phoenician co- 
 lonies were fent out to eftablifli fettlements in various parts of the Me- 
 diterranean, who all keeping up a commercial intercourfe with their 
 mother country, the trade of the whole weftern world was carried on 
 by Phoenician merchants ading as agents to each-other over all the ex- 
 tent of the Mediterranean, then the only fea known by the inhabitants 
 of its flaores. 
 
 Some Phoenician colonies in Greece have already been mentioned. 
 They alfo eftabliflied fettlements in Cyprus, Rhodes, and feveral of the 
 iflands fcattered in the /Egean fea : they penetrated into the Euxine or 
 Black fea ; and gradually fpreading weflward along the ihores of Sicily, 
 Sardinia, Gaul, Spain, and Africa, they everywhere efi:abliflied trading 
 pofl;s or fadiories, to which the wandering and favage inhabitants of the 
 adjoining regions, allured by the profped of advantage in trading with 
 
 age ; and, according to Diodorus Slculiis, Orpheus times confidcrably diftant from each other. The 
 
 ufcd Pelafgic letters, which were older than the hitlory of them is fo obfcured by fable, and per- 
 
 Greek. [v. Plato in Cratylo. — Dlod. Sic. L. iii. — plexed by contraditlions, that the learned have in 
 
 Paufan. in Attic. — Ihre Givfs. Sivio-Goth. pp. xxii, vain attempted to reduce them to regular chrono- 
 
 xxviii, and Origin and progrefs of writing, iy Mr. logy, as is evident from numerous inllances of im- 
 
 .<^/f, p. 66, note.'] Jofeph Scaligcr has a long poffible fynchronifms ; e.g. Perieres, the great- 
 
 diflertation on the derivation of the ancient Ionic grandfon of Deucalion, married a woman, the 
 
 Greek letters from the Phoenician. \_Animadver- eleventh in defcent from Inachus ; and his brother 
 
 Jiones in Eufehium, pp. \o<^, et feqq. Athamas married one, who is placed as the fixth 
 
 I have brought thefe feveral migrations toge- from the fame anceftor. 
 
 thcr, though it is probable, that they happened at 
 
 B 2
 
 I J Before Chrift 1450 — 1350. 
 
 the new fettlers, quickly repaired, and foon learned how to procure, in 
 exchange for their hitherto-negle<fted and ufelefs native commodities, 
 articles of which nature or their own ignorance had denied them the 
 ufe, and even the knowlege. It is probably impoflible, and it is furely 
 unnecelTary, to particularize the names, and to reduce the dates of their 
 feveral fettlements to chronological order *. Some of the later ones, 
 whofe beginnings are better known, will be noted in their proper 
 places. 
 
 Here it is proper to obferve, that Tyre, which will make fuch 
 a diftinguiflied figure in the hiftory of antient commerce, is now for 
 the firft time mentioned, and m.erely as a ftrong or fortified city, while 
 Sidon is dignified with the appellation of G?rat-\-. [Jo/hua, c. 19.] 
 
 1350 — About this time Egypt was governed by Myris, or Moeris, 
 who is honoured with the title of the Philofopher. This philofophic 
 king is faid to have invented the principles of geometry, a fcience fo 
 effential to commerce, that no difiant voyage can be undertaken with- 
 out the afliftance of charts, in the confiiruction of which, as well as in 
 the art of navigation, or the meaiurement of a fhip's courfe upon the 
 tracklefs ocean, it is almofi: needlefs to inform the reader, that the 
 knowlege of geometry is the firll and mofl indifpenfible requifite. 
 Among the Egyptians, however, this art was entirely confined to the 
 menfuration of the land, the boundaries of which were frequently de- 
 llroyed or mifplaced by the inundations of the Nile ; and thence its 
 Yi2iTSi(i/\ni]iOXt\ng'\v). Gveek meafuremeiit of the earth. But, as it appears 
 that aftronomy, which requires a previous knowledge of geometry, was 
 well known feveral centuries before this time in the country where Job 
 lived, in Babylon, China, and India, wc mud believe that Herodotus,, 
 from whom we derive almofi all our knowlege of the early hiftory of 
 Egypt, has been impofed upon in this matter by the Egyptian priefts, 
 for the honour of their country, or that the fcience has been invented 
 in feveral countries. 
 
 Myris alio improved his country by forming canals, and an artificial 
 lake of ftupendous magnitude, calculated to receive the water of the 
 
 • Tlic reader, who is dcfirous to fee all, that of the mod aiiliciit lu'ilon'aiis in tlic world, 
 
 could be collected Ijy vad erudition and indcfatig- who menlion,'. it as a inoft antient city, inhabited 
 
 able indullry on the fiibjeifl of the I'liccnieian colo- by the fifth generation of mankind. h\ order to 
 
 nies, may confult Docharfs Cbannan. account for the various dates, perhaps it is only 
 
 •J- There is great difagrecment ainonp authors nccctTary to remember, that there were in Phocni- 
 
 conccrning the time wlien 'I'yrc was founded, cia at Icafl four cities of the name of Tyre, the 
 
 Jofcplius dates it 240 years before Soloman's moll antient of which was for many ages much 
 
 tinnplc, or about 1,250 before I he commencement inferior to Sidon in power and opulence. \_Sc! 
 
 of the Chrillian a'ra ; \^j'liit\q. L. viii, c. 2] and Rocliart, Chatiaan, col. 776.] 
 
 others make it llill later. 'I'liis paffage in Jofliua When Herodotus was at Tyre, the priefts told 
 
 appears fufiicicnt to prove it entitled to a much him, that it was 2,300 years liiice the foundation 
 
 higher antiquity; to which may he added the of tluir viiy. [//«•»(/»/.£. ii, f. 44. J 
 temmony of Sanconiatho, n Pliecuician, and one
 
 Before Chrifl 1350 — 1300. 
 
 13 
 
 Nile, whenever it rofe too high, which bears his name. That his fub- 
 jeds, the fartheft removed from the river, might partake of its benefits, 
 as well as thofe living on its banks, he conflantly employed great num- 
 bers of people in ialting the fifh caught in thefe waters. This is- the firft 
 account of curing filh by fait ; a bufinefs which has greatly enriched 
 the naturally-poor country of Holland, and might alfo enrich the poor- 
 efl regions of the Britifh dominions. 
 
 Hitherto the Egyptians had avoided having any concern in maritime 
 affairs, being prejudiced againft the fea by their religious notions, and 
 their policy ; though they appear to have had a great paflive commerce 
 with the Arabians and Phoenicians, the later being the conflant carriers 
 of their merchandize upon the Mediterranean fea. 
 
 I •500 — Egypt was now governed by Sefoflris, a prince who forced 
 political, and even religious, prejudices, to give way to his ambitious 
 views of extending his dominions. Having built a fleet of four hundred 
 ihips on the Red fea *, (probably by means of Phoenician workmen) he 
 fubdued fome part of Arabia, fome iflands, by the Greek writers called 
 Cyclades, and perhaps fome of the neighbouring countries f . He after- 
 
 * The name of the Red fea, or Erythixan fea, 
 was given to the two gulfs on the caft and weft 
 fides of Arabia, and was alfo extended to the ocean 
 on its fouth fide. In this work the name will be 
 reftrifted to the gulf on the weft fide of Arabia. 
 
 f Thefe four hundred vefl'els, fnch as they were, 
 conftituted the greateft fleet that ever was fitted 
 out by the native kings of Egypt. But, as the 
 event falls in the dark period of Egyptian hillory, 
 and the number is not mentioned by Herodotus, 
 confiderablc allowance muft be made for exaggera^ 
 tion. Some modern writers, however, have 
 amufed themfelves and their readers with a notion, 
 that the Egyptians were the moft antient navigat- 
 ors ; becaulc a nation fo wife could not be blind 
 to the advantages of commerce. We are morC' 
 over told, upon the fame authority of imagination, 
 that the glory of the difcoveries, hitherto afcribed 
 to the Phoenicians, • feems rather to belong to 
 ' the Eg)'ptians ;' and alfo, that the Hebrews, 
 who were fo long among the Egyptians, could not 
 be ignorant of their trade to all the countries of 
 tiie Eaft, and that, after they got themfelves fettled 
 in the land of Canaan, they could not be fuppofed 
 deficient in nautical and commercial knowlege, 
 when the port of Sidon was fo near to them. Such 
 are the moikrn difcoveries of the trade and naviga- 
 tion of the Egyptians and Hebrews, which were 
 utterly unknown to the moft antient authors. — So 
 very far were the Egyptians from being great na- 
 vigators and difcoverers, that they abhorred the 
 fea, and all fiOi that were bred in it, becaufe the 
 dead body of their god Ofiris was thrown into it ; 
 and they would not fo much as fpeak to fcamen, 
 who were an abomination in their fight, becaufe 
 
 they gained their bread upon the fea. \_P!utarchi 
 Sympos. L. viii ; De I/'ide cl OJir.'] All antient au- 
 thors agree, that the Phoenicians were the earlieft 
 and the greateft traders and navigators in the weft- 
 ern world. \_Ifaiah, c. 23 — E^ekiel, cc. 26, 27, 28. 
 — Herodot. L. i, c. i; L. iii, c. 107. — Mela, L. i, c. 
 6. — Strabo, L. xvi,/i. 1097. — Vlin. Hi/}, nat. L. v, 
 c. 1 2. — fofeph. contra Apion. L. i, iffc. i3'c.'\ But, 
 for any merchant veflel belonging to the native 
 Egyptians having ever failed to any foreign port, 
 I believe no antient authority can be found. The 
 trade of the Egyptians was evidently conduced by 
 foreigners; and, if we may truft to Grecian writ- 
 ers, they were not very willing to admit them, 
 upon any account whatever, to enter into their 
 country. Before the reign of Pfammitichus all 
 Grangers (excepting, however, the Arabians and 
 Phoenicians — fee Genejis, c. 37 — Herodot. L, i, c. I.) 
 were prohibited from landing in Egypt : but the 
 Greeks, being notorious for their piracies, were 
 moft rigor-oufly debarred, (or were, perhaps in 
 truth, the only nation excluded) and thofe, who 
 had the misfortune to be driven by the winds upon 
 the coaft, were put to death, or made flaves ; and 
 from that favage cruelty, or fevere juftice, the 
 Grecian poets fabricated their fable of a king of 
 Egypt, called Bufiris, facrificing men upon his 
 altars. \Diod. Sicul. L. i, § 67 — Strabo, L. xvii, 
 pp. 1 142, 1154.J It may be objected to what I 
 have faid of the deteftation of feamen among the 
 Egyptians, that Herodotus [/,. ii, c. 164] men- 
 tions managers of vefiels as one of the orders, or 
 cafts, of that people. But from his defcription of 
 their vefTels, with hulls and mafts made of thorn 
 and fails made of paper, and sf their navigation,
 
 14 Before Chrift, about 1300. 
 
 wards marched northward with his land forces, and conquered, or ra- 
 ther overran, the various nations in his way, tiU he crofled over into 
 Europe, and terminated his expedition in Thrace, the hardy natives of 
 which he was not able to bring under his yoke. In his return he fettl- 
 ed a colony of his Egyptians at Colchis, the country which was after- 
 wards rendered famous in poetry by the expedition of the Argonauts. 
 This colony retained the fwarthy complexion and crifped hair of the 
 Egyptians, and alfo the language and cuftoms, the arts and manufadures, 
 of Egypt, in the days of Herodotus, who particularly notices their art- 
 ful reprefentation of the figures of animals upon their clothes, the co- 
 lours of which remained as long as the fluff lafted ; and linen, a manu- 
 facture almoft peculiar to the Egyptians, retained its charader among 
 the Colchians even in the time of the emperor Tiberius. [Herod. L. i, 
 c. 203 ; ii, 103, 104 — Diod. Sic. L. i — Strabo, L. \\, p. 762.] 
 
 In every country which Sefoflris fubdued, he ereded monuments, 
 with infcriptions engraved upon them, relating his vidories, fome of 
 which, remaining in Syria, were feen by Herodotus. He alio fet up 
 other columns, which particularly deferve attention in the prefent 
 work, becaufe on them his artifts, improving upon the geometrical 
 knowlege introduced by Myris, engraved maps of the countries conquer- 
 ed by him. That which was at ^a, the capital of Colchis, is faid to 
 have exhibited not only the form of the land and the fea, but even the 
 very roads *. [Appolon. Rhod. Jrgonaitt. L. vi, v. 272.] 
 
 [/,. ii, cc. 96, 175] and from every pafTiige where- names ; whence this great king, who makes fo 
 
 in he has occafioii to fpeak of their managers of confpicuous a figure in hillory, does not appear at 
 
 veffels, it is fufficicntly evident, that they were not all in the catalogue of Egyptian kings made up by 
 
 fcafaring men, but mere frcih-water failors, or Eratolliicnes, which is with good reafon eileemed 
 
 boatmen, employed in working the numerous river- the moft corred with refpett to the chronology of 
 
 craft \ipon the Nile. As to the fuppofcd com- Egypt. 
 
 merce of the Hebrews, Jofephus, himfelf a Hebrew, After carefully confidering all that I could find 
 
 plainly atTcrts, that the autient Hebrews, being upon the fubjed, and collediug materials almoll 
 
 remole from the Jca, were content with the produce fufficient for an antieiit hillory of Egypt, that 1 
 
 of their own fertile foil, and did not go from home might come as near the truth as poffibk in the 
 
 in qucft of riches or conquerts. He adds, (in per- dale of the firft effays \\\ geography, (a fcience in 
 
 fcdt agreement with the very firll chapter of He- which I have taken pleafure almoll from my in- 
 
 rodotus) that in the early ages merchandize was fancy) I tefolvcd to abide by the tellimony of 
 
 carried to and from Egypt by the Phosnicians, Herodotus, who fays, [Z. ii, cc. 113 — 1 16] that 
 
 who ploughed the vaft fcas in their tnding voy- a king, whofe name in Greek was Proteus, who 
 
 ages, and that it was by their means that the reigned when Alexander (or Paris) carried off 
 
 Egyptians, and other nations, became known to Helen from Spaila, ajid alio when Meiielaus ar- 
 
 ihe Greeks. S^Jriftph. contra /ip'ion. L. i.] — Thefe rived in Egypt after the dcllruilion of Troy, was 
 
 unqutllionable antient authorities are furely fuffi- the immediate fuccedor of Phcron, (called by Stra- 
 
 cient to prove, tiiat the Egyptians were not navi- bo Pfammitichus) who was the fon and immediate 
 
 gator«, and (lill lefs the Hebrews, whofc naval en- fucceffor of Scfollris. Therefor Sefollris could 
 
 terprifcs never went beyond fifliing with a boat not be much above a century before the fall of 
 
 upon a lake, and who fcarcely ever poflefied a bit Troy, which is dated 1,184 yf^'"^ before Cliriil. 
 
 of fcacoaft. According to Apollonius Rhodius, the expedition 
 
 • Ciironologcrs differ many centuries in the of Scfollns was prior of that of the Argonauts, 
 
 zra of this renowned conqueror. 'I'lic difficulty the rnoft. probable a:ra of whieii is about 1,266. 
 
 is incrcafcd by the prodigious liberty takcji by Sefollris was pollcrior to Myris, or Mocris, whofc 
 
 anticut writers in tranllating and perverting death was not quite 9CO years before the journey
 
 t 
 
 Before Chrift, about 1300. 15 
 
 < 
 
 This is the earliefl mention of geography, a foience which, as com- 
 prehending HYDROGRAi'HY, is of fuch prodigious importance to com- 
 merce, that without it voyages on the ocean are utterly impracticable. 
 And thus have the fciences, which enable the modern navigator to cir- 
 cumnavigate the globe, originally (hone out among a people who fcarce- 
 ly ever ufed the fea. 
 
 After his return from his expedition, Sefoftris became fenfible of the 
 deceitful fplendour and vanity of conqueft, and appears to have devoted 
 the remainder of his life to the real duties of fovercignty in confultin 
 the happinefs of the people under his charge. He interfered the coun 
 try with canals, which divided it into fquare portions, and extended the 
 benefits of fifheries, inland navigation, and wholefome drink, through 
 the whole of it. With the earth dug out of thofe canals he raifed the 
 furface of the towns, which, when the country was overwhelmed 
 by the periodical inundation of the Nile, thereby became detached, 
 iflands, in w^hich the people lived dry and comfortably. His vigorous 
 mind, which had remarked the prodigious variety of produdions in the 
 n:iany countries he had overrun, fully comprehended the great advan- 
 tages which would arife from an aftive commerce, whereby the com- 
 modities of the moft diflant parts of the known world might be aflem- 
 bled in his own dominions, to employ the induflry, and add to the hap- 
 pinefs of his fubjeds. It was, perhaps, with this view that he eftablifli- 
 ed the diflant colony of Colchis ; it was certainly with this view that he 
 conceived the great defign of opening a navigable canal of communica- 
 tion from the Nile to the Red fea. The work was accordingly begun, 
 but afterw'ards given up, from an apprehenfion that the furface of the 
 fea was higher than the land, and the country would be drowned, if it 
 was let in upon it. Whether the canal was begun by his fon after his 
 death, or by himfelf, for authors differ in their accounts, [See Strabo, 
 
 of Herodotus into Egypt. [£. ii, f. 13] Hero- But I do not know of any fatisfaftory proof of 
 dotus was born in 484, and in 446 he read his hif- the identity of Egyptus, the brother of Danaus, 
 tory to the Athenians. [Vojius ile Hiji. Gr£c. p. with Sefoftris, which feems to relt on no better 
 14.] Thus the death of Myris may be dated authority than that of the fabulous Manetho. He- 
 about 1,340, or 1,330. The expedition of Se- rodotus, vvho has occafion pretty often to mention 
 foftris, therefor, mull have taken place between Danaus, proves iiim indeed to be an Egyptian, of 
 1,340 and 1,226 years before Chrift, which is a the city of Chemmis ; but, though he mentions 
 proper aera for him to be contemporary with the the treachery of a namelefs brother of Sefoftris, he 
 grandfiuher of Proteus, who feems to have been pretty plainly proves, that the crime, imputed to 
 of a different race. It is to be obforved, however, Dannus, of violating th.e cliaftity of the queen, 
 that Herodotus marks a difference in the nuthen- while he was regent during the king's abfence, 
 ticity of the hiftory of Egypt, prior to the fettle- could not be committed by a brother of Sefoftris, 
 mentofthe Greeks at Naucratis in the reign of whofe wife appears to have accompanied him in 
 Amahs, (about 950 years before Chrift) and wiiat his expedition. [Z.. ii, cc. 91, 107.J The com- 
 is pofterlor to that event, the later period being, mon Grecian fable of the fifty fons-in-law of Da. 
 as he lays, much cleaver. naus being all, except Lynceu?, murdered by their 
 It is true, that the arrii-al of Danaus, who is wives, his fifty daughters, is alfo confuted by He- 
 called the brother of Sefoftris, in Greece is placed rodotus, [Z,. ii, c. 98] v,-ho mentions Archander, 
 much earlier that the time here ;ifiigncd to Sefoftris. a fon-iii-la'.r of Danaus. 4
 
 i6 Before Chrift 1280 — 1234. 
 
 > 
 
 L. i, p. 65 ; L. xvii, p. 1 156] the plan was pretty certainly his ; and to 
 this royal father of geography the commercial world is alfo indebted 
 for the firfl idea of inland navigation, which is now fo highly im- 
 proved by the great abilities of our engineers, that not only level coun- 
 tries like Egypt, but even fuch as have great declivities, and other ob- 
 flacles, which not long ago were thought infuperable, are now traverfed 
 from fea to fea by veffels of confiderable burthen. 
 
 1280 — There is reafon to believe, that about this time the fpirit of 
 trade had fpread itfelf over the greatefl part of Afia proper, now called 
 the LelTer Afia. It has already been obferved, that Pelops carried great 
 riches with him into Greece from Phrygia. Another part of that coun- 
 try was governed by Midas, who is faid by the poets to have turned 
 every thing he touched into gold. The moil rational explanation of 
 this fable feems to be, that he encouraged his fubjeds to convert the 
 produce of their agriculture, and other branches of induftry, into money 
 by commerce, whence confiderable wealth flowed into his own treafury. 
 [Plin. Hijl. nat. L. xxxiii, c. 3.] This explanation will appear the more 
 probable, when it is remembered, that the invention of anchors for ftiips 
 is afcribed to this prince by Paufanias, and the invention of coining 
 money to his queen, by Julius Pollux ; though it is more likely, that 
 what the Greeks called the invention, was rather the introduction of 
 the knowlege of them from countries more advanced in civilization. 
 Strabo, however, afcribes the great wealth of Midas to mines *. 
 
 1234 — According to the authors followed by Appian, the firft found- 
 ation of Carthage by the Tyrians was fifty years before the defi;ruc- 
 tion of Troy. It is probable that it was for feveral ages a place of little 
 note f . 
 
 The extenfive and fertile ifland of Crete, centrically fituated between 
 Europe, Afia, and Africa, and called by Arifl;otle the emprefs of the fea, 
 was undoubtedly capable of commanding the commerce of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and of courfe j^olFefllng the naval empire of that fea, had it been 
 fully poflefled by the Phoenicians, who lecm not to have been very nu- 
 merous in it. Of the commercial efforts of the Cretans little or nothing 
 is known. Caflor Rhodius, as copied by Kufebius, has afcribed to them 
 the honour of being the firfl, who held the dominion of the fea. But 
 we mufl be careful not to affix modern ideas to antient terms. This 
 boafled dominion of the fea extended only to the fupprellion of the Ca- 
 rians and fome other pirates, who infefted the coafts, by a naval force 
 fitted out by Minos, the fecond king of that name in Crete; an expedi- 
 tion made by him to Athens in revenge for the murder of his fon, on 
 
 • Mida? appears to liavc been a family name certain if this one is placed in liis proper time ; 
 common to many of the Phrygian kings. There nor is it of much confcqucncc. 
 was one contemporary with Homer. I am not f Sec the year 868 before Chrift.
 
 Before Chrlft 12 26 — 1194. 17 
 
 which occafion he fubjeded the Athenians to very humiliating condi- 
 tions of peace ; and another to Sicily, in which he loft his life. 
 
 1226 — Hitherto the Grecian failors had contented themfelves with 
 coafting along or crofling the numerous fmall bays of their own wind- 
 ing fliore. But now a very long voyage was proje^ed, to be carried on 
 by the combined efforts of all Greece. The young chiefs united them- 
 felves with Jafon, the fon of yEfon king of ThelTaly, in the famous expe- 
 dition to Colchis, the object of which was to obtain fome deiirable ob- 
 jed, concealed by the poets under the fabulous or enigmatical name of 
 the golden fleece. Ancgsus, king of Samos, a Phoenician or of Phoenician 
 parentage, was their aftronomer. The Argo *, according to the poets 
 their only vefTel, or, according to fome other authors the admiral of the 
 fleet, was the mofl capital fhip, that had ever failed, or rowed out of a 
 Grecian port, in fo much that the poets, nor being able to find a ftation 
 fufficiently honourable for her in this world, have tranfportedher to the 
 heavens, where they have made her a conftellation. This voyage, when 
 we make a due allowance for the comparatively-miferable condition of 
 the veflel, or vefTels, the want of inilruments, and of the fkill in pilotage 
 fo needful in a voyage of twelve or fourteen hundred miles, which may 
 be the diftance along the fhores from lolcos in Theffaly to /Ea at the eaft 
 end of the Black fea, was a more arduous undertaking to the ignorant 
 Grecian Argonauts (fo thefe adventurers were called) than a voyage 
 round the world, and even into the fouthern polar regions, is to our 
 modern ikilful navigators. 
 
 1 1 94. — In the following age the whole confederate force of Greece . 
 was engaged in a much greater maritime undertaking than that of the 
 Argonauts, though not fo diftant. Paris, the fon of Priam king of Troy, 
 having carried off" Helen, the wife of Menelaus king of Sparta, all the 
 princes of Greece refolved to revenge the affront : and uniting their ef- 
 forts, after ten years fpent in preparation, they muftered a fleet of 1,186 
 vefTels, onboard which they embarked an army of about 100, coo men, 
 led by all the petty princes of Greece under the fupreme commiand of 
 Agamemnon king of Argos, the brother of the injured hufband. 
 
 The Greeks, having eflfecSed their landing on the Trojan fhore, fpent ten 
 years more in hoftilities, though they never once attempted a regular fiege. 
 During this time, while their own fliips, hauled up on the dry beach, 
 muft have been ready to fall in pieces from the repeated drenching of 
 rains and parching of funfhine, their camp was fupplied with provliions 
 by the natives of Thrace and the iflands. [^Hom.ll. vii, v. 467 ; \x,v. 71.] 
 
 * Much hns been faiJ about ihe name of this eJ the uiodel of her cunftruflion, as v.xU as her 
 far-famed (liip. If we advert that the PhoEniciaus • name, which has fadly puzzled the modern Greek 
 
 called their warhke fh Ins flz-co, to diftingullh'them etymologills. [See Bochart, Ccog./acr. c&/. -j^ni 
 
 from their Ihips of burthen, which were built much K^/lus, vo. Gaiiius.'] Quere, if Noah's Aik and 
 broader, and therefor were called golin, we need be the Grecian x\rgo be not the fiiir.e name ? 
 at no lols to perceive, whence the Greeks borrow- 
 
 Vol. I. , C
 
 1 8 Before Chrift 1 1 §4. 
 
 1 1 84 — At length, having gkitted their revenge by the deftrudion of 
 Troy, and their avarice by the pKmder of the wealth colleded in it, the 
 remains of the Greeks made the beft of their way to their long-deferted 
 homes, where, as might well be expeded, they found the moft dreadful 
 diforders in their families, and their territories ravaged by enemies, or 
 convulfed by inteftine commotions. 
 
 Such was the conclufion of the Trojan war, the mofl celebrated event 
 of antiquity, with which the real hiftory of Greece, hitherto overwhelm- 
 ed with fable, may, perhaps, be faid to commence*. It appears from 
 many paflages in Homer, that the Trojans were much fnperior to the 
 Greeks in civilization, and that they lived in comfort and elegance, till 
 they were difturbed by thofe invaders. Hence it is certain, that they 
 had made confiderable progrefs in the arts and fciences, and were poflelt 
 cd of fome commerce, for which their fituation on the ftrait between 
 the Euxine and yEgean feas, was exceedingly commodious. We even 
 find, that they had fkilful {hip-builders; and Homer has immortalized 
 the name, real or fiditious, of Harmonides, the builder of the vefTels, 
 which carried off the beautiful Helen from Sparta. 
 
 The great fleet got together for the Trojan war, was not provided nor 
 maintained by commerce, the only effedual fupport of a permanent na- 
 val power. It was the production of an extraordinary temporary exer- 
 tion urged by the fpirit of refentment and the hope of rich plunder, 
 natural to favages funk in floth and indolence. But v.'hen the fervour of 
 infanity, which incited the Greeks to ruin themfelves in order to deflroy 
 the Trojans, was cooled by the difaftrous confequences of their conqueft, 
 this mufliroom navy was annihilated ; and for feveral centuries we hear 
 no more of any confiderable naval expeditions undertaken by that people. 
 During thofe heroic ages of Greece, as they are called, the petty prin- 
 ces, who lived on the fea coafis, frequently fitted out velfels to go upon 
 piratical cruiles. We might thence fuppoie, that merchant fliips were 
 fo numerous upon the feas, as to afford many captures to thofe robbers. 
 But apparently that was not the cafe. They did not entirely depend 
 upon what plunder they could find at fea : they often landed, and pil- 
 laged the defencelefs villages, carrying off, not only all the goods and 
 cattle they could find, but even the people themfelves, whom they fold 
 forflaves. Thofe ])irates were fufficiently numerous to keep one-anothcr in 
 countenance ; and their rank and power made the ignorant people confi- 
 der their exploits as by no means difgraceful, but rather praife-worthy j 
 
 • TIic A rundtl, or Parian, marbles place t)ic dc- licifrr, or fufpicioiis cn'ticifm, of motkin times 
 
 flnifliori ofT roy Iwenty-fivc years earlier; an tr- niay, in rtfetitmcnt of the iiuuimcrablt impofitions 
 
 r.)r, wliich tlicy continue till the dlrtblifhrncnt of put upon us mukr tlie name of hillory, pofllbly go 
 
 the annual magiUracy at Athens. too far. It may, however, jull be obfcrved that 
 
 Of late it has been quellioneii, whether tlierc Dion Clnyfollom [_Oral. xi] long ago denied the 
 
 f ver was a Trojan war, or a eitv called Troy, fuch Trojan war. — Tlie examination of fuch a qucftion 
 
 ilk it is dcfcribed by Homer. The laudable fcep- would be quite uut of place in ihib work.
 
 Before Chrlft 1 184. 19 
 
 as fimilar practices were in later times efleemed honourable among the 
 Scandinavian nations, and are in the prefent day among the inhabitants 
 of the northern coafl of Africa. It was therefor no affront, but a com- 
 mon queftion put to the commander of a velfel, whether he profefled 
 piracy or trade ; as we find in Homer, that exad: painter of manners, 
 who even introduces Menelaus king of Sparta boafting of the wealth he 
 had acquired by his piratical expeditions. {Odyjf. L. iii, vv. 72, 301 ; 
 xiv, V. 230.] Among the freebooters on the coafts of the iEgean lea the 
 Carians were the mofl eminent, till they were fupprefled by Minos, as 
 already related *. 
 
 After this fl-cetch of the naval hiftory of Greece in the early ages, it 
 may be proper to give the reader fome idea of their fliips. That of 
 Danaus, which was rowed by fifty oars, was a Phoenician veffel : and 
 there is reafon to believe that the Argo, thought built in Greece, was 
 the work of Phoenician carpenters. She was a long flender open boat, 
 which could carry fifty men, and could occafionally be carried by them 
 upon their flioulders. Of the vefTels, employed in tranfporting the Gre- 
 cian army to Troy, the fmalleft carried 50 men, and the largeft 120. 
 They were very flightly built ; and they were hauled on fliore after finifh- 
 ing a voyage. Thucydides fays, they were only large open boats ; where- 
 as Homer defcribes Ulyffes as covering his fhip with long planks f . 
 \Pdyff. L. V. V. 252.] It is probable, that fome of the larger ones had 
 at leaft half-decks in order to furnifh fome kind of lodging for the 
 people, and that the fpace occupied by the rowers was open, the 
 fides being connedled by flender beams or planks, on which the 
 rowers fat with their feet fet againfl the bottom timbers, or tranfverfe 
 pieces of wood near the bottom. They had but little depth, and feem 
 to have been very flat in the bottom, and confequently drew very little 
 water ; which is further probable from the lead-line being never men- 
 tioned by Homer, whence we may prefume, that the oars were found 
 fufhcient to found the depth of the water. They appear to have had 
 only one maft, which was ftruck when they finiflied the voyage, and one 
 fail-yard ; though Homer mentionsyrt/Yj- in the plural, which is perhaps 
 a poetical licence, as it is not probable, that they underflood the manage- 
 ment of what are now called fore-and-aft fails. But their main depend- 
 ence was upon their oars ; and their only diredion for their courfe was 
 the knowlege, which fome of the crew had previoufly acquired of the 
 
 * It appears from Tliucydiilea, that thofe fero- not exempted from thofe criminal pradices, which 
 
 cioiis and lawlefs depredations were ftill praftifed continued to be too clofcly connedled with com- 
 
 in liis time (about eight centuries after the Trojan mercial navigation ; almoil down to our own age, 
 
 war) by the wellern tribes of Greece, who even as will too plainly appear in the fequel of this work, 
 then retained the charafter and condition of fava- f liijt, quere, if thofe long planks formed the 
 
 ges. And it muft be acknowledged, that the more deck, or the bottom of the velfel ? 
 poliihed and commercial nations of later ages were 
 
 C 2
 
 20 Before Chrift 1 1 84. 
 
 appearance of the (hore. "When that failed them, they mufl have land- 
 ed in order to obtain information *. 
 
 Cuflor of Rhodes, u writer contemporary with Julius Csefar, has 
 made up a kind of catalogue of the nations, v/ho fucceflively attained, 
 what he was pleafed to call, the empire of the fea ; by which is to be 
 underftood feme degree of pre-eminence in naval power on a very con- 
 fined fcale in, or near, the ^Egean fea. In partiality to the Greeks, 
 whofe maritime tranfaclions, with a very few exceptions, were fcarcely 
 worthy of notice, he feems to have almoft loft fight of the Phoenicians, 
 the only people, at leafl on the coafls of the Mediterranean, who in the 
 early ages knew any thing of extenfive voyages and the art of naviga- 
 tion. As Eufebius has copied this catalogue from Caflor, and feveral 
 chronologifts have done it the unmerited honour of tranfcribing it from 
 him, fome flight notice fhall be taken of each of the nations mentioned 
 in it, as they occur in order of time. 
 
 1 1 79 — ^The Lydians are the firfl people, after the Cretans under the 
 reign of Minos, who are honoured by him with the title oi Majlers of 
 the fea. They certainly had fome claim to a commercial character, but 
 not as navigators, unlefs the teflimonies of Caflor and Ilidore are to be 
 preferred to that of Herodotus, [L. i, c. 27.] The invention of mer- 
 chandize and of coin is afcribed to them by fome autliors ; and Ifidore 
 goes fo far as to call them the firfl builders of fhips, and inventors of 
 navigation. The Mteonians, who may be confidered as a part of the 
 Lydians, and the Carians, their neighbours, were pofTefTed of ivory, 
 whlcli muft have been imported, and they underflood the art of ma- 
 nufacturing it into toys and ornaments, and of flaining them with co- 
 lours, \^Hom.ll. L. iv, zj. 141 Herod. L. i, c. 94.] The Lydians are 
 
 faid to have fent a colony into Italy, who fettled on the wefl fide of the 
 Tiber among the Umbri and Pelafgi, and allumed the name ofTyrr- 
 heni, from Tyrrhenus their leader, \_Herodot. L. i, c. 94.] But the 
 date of the migration feems uncertain ; nor is the fa£l itfelf uncontro- 
 verted. For feveral learned men are of opinion, that the Etrurians pof- 
 ■lefled all Italy many ages before the Trojan war ; and that the arts, fci- 
 ences, and commerce, were carried to great perfection among them 
 
 * As Homer is generally I)i.li'tved to have been into a good birth, or commodious fitiiation, then 
 
 .very corrcd in adapting his delcrlptions to the let go the anchors, (or whatever cll'e Ihould be iin- 
 
 times of which he wrote, the following paflagc dei flood by ttraj) and carried out ftcrn-fafts or per- 
 
 dtferves our notice. haps bent the cables to the ftern ; Vfu^»i;i £?>),-«»'. 
 
 Agamemnon launched a fafl-failing (liip to carry [^Iliud, L. i, iv. 308, 430 et fcqq.~\ 
 
 Chryfeis home to her father. Btfidea Chryfeis, The truth of the few notices I have here col- 
 
 Ulylfea, and probably attendants, the veffel carried lefted does not depend upon tlie reality or falfe- 
 
 twenty chofen rowers, and a hecatomb for facrifice. hood of tiie long-rtceived hillory of the Trojan 
 
 When they got to their port, they took in \\\k jails, war. Tiiey at any rate (hew the (late of fociety 
 
 and llowcd them away in the hold. Then, eafing and of nautical knowlcge in the time of Homer, if 
 
 off the main ftay, they lowered the mad into its not in that afligncd to the war of Troy, 
 crutch or red. After this ihry rowed the velTel
 
 Before Chrift 1179. 21 
 
 long before Greece or any other part of Europe emerged from bar- 
 barifm *. 
 
 About 1 1 00 — While the naval hiftory of Greece, if it may be fo 
 called, prefents nothing but petty piratical cruifes, and innumerable 
 emigrations and remigrations, occafioned partly by domeftic commo- 
 tions in the families of the chiefs, and partly by the hitherto-unfettled 
 condition and reftlefs difpofition of the people, the Phoenicians, infpir- 
 ed by the adive fpirit of commerce, and that thirft of knowlege which 
 diftinguiflies a cultivated people from a nation of favages, were extend- 
 ing their difcoveries along the whole of the north coaft of Africa and 
 the oppofite fh(jre of Spain ; and, no longer willing to let the inland or 
 Mediterranean fea fet bounds to their enterprifing difpofition, they 
 launched into the vafl Atlantic ocean, paffmg thofe fxmous head-lands, 
 which the Greeks for many ages afterwards efteemed the utmofl bound- 
 ary of the world, and celebrated under the poetical name of the TUlars 
 of Hercules \. Wherever they went, they appear to have eftablifhed 
 peaceful commercial fettlements, mutually beneficial to themfelves and 
 the natives of the country. The inhabitants of Baetica (now Anda- 
 lufia), when firfl vifited by the Phoenicians, poflefled abundance of gold, 
 filver, iron, copper, lead, tin, honey, wax, pitch, &c. Like the Ame- 
 ricans, when firft difcovered by the European adventurers, they made 
 their mofl common utenfils of the pretious metals, which they efteem- 
 ed fo little, that they gave in exchange for fome articles, of which no- 
 velty confiituted the principal value, fuch a quantity of filver, that there 
 is a fl;ory of one of the fhips being abfolutely fo overburthened with it, 
 that the Phoenicians were obliged to throw away the lead, with which 
 their zvooden anchors were loaded, to make room for a part of their fil- 
 ver, which they could not poflibly carry in any other manner. Befides 
 the abundance of metals of every kind, this highly-favoured region was 
 blefled with a fertile foil, producing all the neceflaries and comforts of 
 life in abundance, a delicious climate, and ferene air. In fiiort, it was 
 a country fo delightful in every refpeft, that the accounts given of it 
 by the Phoenician feamen are with good reafon believed to have fur- 
 niflied Homer with his defcription of the Elyfian fields. The Phoeni- 
 
 * Mazocchi makes the Etrurians, or Tyn-he- ment to co-operate with him, (which no man can 
 
 nians, of Phoenician origin. [_Symmach. DiJJ. V. ii] pretend to fay he did or did not) is of no weight. 
 
 And Mr. Bourget, {Sa^gi d'l D'ljfert. accadem. Neither is his proof from the dillimilariry of a few 
 
 Dijf. i] on comparing the Etrurian and Phoeni- vocables very llrong. In the courfe ot io many 
 
 cian alphabets, finds them nearly the fame. {Orlis ages the knowlege of a common origin would have 
 
 erudhi literatura a charadere Samarit. deduHa'] On little influence in oppofition to political interells ; 
 
 the other hand, Bochart,' the great inveftigator of and every one knows that language is continually 
 
 Phccnician colonization, denies that the Etrurians changing. 
 
 had any conneftion with the Phoenicians. But his f It is not certain whether the head-lands, fome 
 
 argument drawn from their not joining the Car- fmall iflands, two mountains, or the brafs columns 
 
 thaginians againft the Romans, and from Hanni- in the temple of Hercules at Gadir (Cadiz), were 
 
 bal not alleging their common origin as an induce- the columns of Hercules. [_Slrabo, L. iii, p. 258.]
 
 22 Before Chrift iioo — 1046. 
 
 cians obfervlng fuch a happy combination of advantageous circum- 
 ftances for a trading fettlement, and that the country was moreover in- 
 terfecled by two great navigable rivers, the Baetis and the Anas (now 
 the Guadalquivir and the Guadiana), eftabUfhed the capital pofi for 
 their weflern trade on a fmall ifland in the Atlantic, within a furlong 
 of the main land, and at no great diflance from the mouths of the two 
 rivers, to which they gave the name of Gadir. The town, which they 
 built there, has in all ages maintained a fuperior rank as a trading lla- 
 tion ; and it is even now (with its name fomewhat varied by the Sara- 
 cens to Cadiz) the principal port of Spain, and the ftation of the gal- 
 leons, which import from America thofe pretious metals, which were 
 formerly exported from the fame harbour to the eaflern part of the 
 Mediterranean fea. 
 
 Of the other early weftern fettlements of the Phcenicians, the rnofl 
 celebrated were Carteia and Utica. The former, fituated on the Baetic 
 fhore at the narrowefl part of the ftrait, is by fome ■ authors efteemed 
 more antient than Gadir, the foundation of it being afcribed to Mel- 
 cartus (called alio the Phoenician Hercules), whence the town was alfo 
 called Melcarteia and Heraclea. The later was fituated on the coafi: of 
 Africa, in fight of Carthage, and built about eighty years after the de- 
 ftru(?!:ion of Troy, according to Velleius Paterculus, who fays, that Ga- 
 dir was founded a few years earlier. Matters of fuch high antiquity are 
 very uncertain ; and it is very probable, that augmentations of the co- 
 lonies were often taken for the original fettlements of them by hifto- 
 rians, (an example of which we feem to have in Carthage) and thence 
 the CO itradidory aeras may in fome degree be reconciled *. 
 
 IC58 — The dominion of the fea at this time is afcribed to thePelafgi. 
 
 1046 — David king of Ifrael, now in the height of his profperity, 
 having fubdued feveral of the neighbouring princes, employed a part 
 of the wealth acquired by his conquefts in purchafing cedar timber 
 
 • Not willing to lay hold of the highefl: anti- Timagenes, a Syrian Greek, [ap. Ammian. Mar- 
 
 quiiy, which is frequently carried far beyond the cellin. L. xv] for a colony of Dorians, (i. c. tlie 
 
 trath, I have affnmed the ycariioo, as being near people of Dor, a capital city on the Phanician 
 
 the probable date of theft antient Phoenician fettle- coall, and one of thofe which the Ifraelites were 
 
 incnts, clrcfly upon the authority of Strabo, [Z,. i, unable to reduce. Jqflma, c. 17 — Judges, c. l) 
 
 p- H^] Velleius J'atcrculus, [L. i, c. 2] and Pliny, who were led by the antient Hercules feveral cen- 
 
 \_Hijl nal. L. xvi, c, 40.] I do not, however, turics before the biith of the Greek licrculcs, as 
 
 mean to deny, that it is very probable that the far as the Bay of Bifcay, where they fettled on the 
 
 Phoenicians may have entered the Ocean 350 years Gallic (liore ; and the names of fome of the tribes 
 
 earlier, in the time of the invafion of their country there might warrant a fuppofition of their be'iug 
 
 by the Ifraelites. There is in favour of that date defcendtd of that Phoenician colony. To thefe 
 
 the tcftimony of Claudius Julius, an author indeed may be added the llory related by Procopius, 
 
 comparatively late, but who wrote expreisly upon [_Iicll. Vaiultil. L. il, c. 10] of two pillars in the 
 
 PlnEmcijn alTairs, and doiibtlefs tranlciibed from wellern extremity of Africa near the Sirail, with 
 
 antient writers : and he afcribes the foundation of Phoenician infcriplions upon them, importing that 
 
 Gadir to Aiihaleus, the fon of Phanix, who is they were fet up by a people «ho were driven 
 
 placed about the time of Jolhua the coniniander from their native country by a plunderer called 
 
 of the Ifraelites. There is alfo the telliniony of Jofliua the fon of Naue.
 
 Before Chrlft 1046 — 975. 23: 
 
 from Hiram king of Tyre, with whom he kept up a friendly corre- 
 fpondence as long as he lived ; and he alfo hired Tyrian mafons and 
 carpenters for carrying on his works. Thus the wealth of a warlike 
 nation muft ever flow into the pockets of their more induflrious com- 
 mercial neighbours *. 
 
 This prince colleded for the building of the temple above eight hun- 
 dred millions of our money, as it is calculated by Arbuthnot ! [T'ables of 
 ancient coins, pp. 35, 208.] 
 
 1012-975 — Solomon, the fucceflbr of David, cultivated the arts of 
 peace, and he was thereby enabled to indulge his tafle for magnificence 
 and luxury more than his father could poflibly do. Being a wife man, 
 he knew, that, to preferve his kingdom in a fecure and honourable 
 peace, it was neceffary to keep up a refpeftable military force, fufficient 
 to reprefs any hoftile invafion. But, without fliewing that pufillanimous 
 anxiety to preferve peace, which, while it dreads, invites, the infults of 
 the neighbouring nations, he molefted none of them, and thereby en- 
 joyed a reign of almoft uninterrupted tranquillity. He employed the 
 vafi: wealth, amafled by his father, in works of architedure, and in 
 ftrengthening and polhhing his kingdom. The famous temple of Jeru- 
 falem, the fortifications of that capital, and many entire cities, among 
 which was the celebrated Tadmor or Palmyra, were built by him. 
 Finding his own fubjeds but little qualified for fuch undertakings, he 
 applied to Hiram king of Tyre, the fon of his ixither's friend Hiram f, 
 who furniflied him cedar and fir (or cyprefs) timbers, and large flones %, 
 all properly cut and made ready for building, which the Tyrians car- 
 ried by water to the moft convenient landing-place in Solomon's domi- 
 nions. Hiram alfo fent a great number of workmen to aflifl and in- 
 ftrud Solomon's people, none of whom had Ikill ' to hew timber like 
 ' unto the Sidonians §.' Solomon in return furnifhed the Tyrians with 
 corn, wine, and oil ; and he even received a balance in gold. It is not 
 improbable, however, that the gold was the flipulated price for the cef- 
 lion of twenty towns to the Tyrians by Solomon, which Hiram, not lik- 
 ing them, afterwards returned to him. 
 
 * Eupolemus, an author quoted by Eafebius, the two kings, fays exprefsly, that the t;mple was 
 [_Praparat. evangel. L. ix] fays that I)avid built begun in the eleventh year of Hiram, and that 
 iliips in Arabia, wherein he fent men, fltillcd in Hiram inherited the friendly difpofition of his fa- 
 mines and metah, to the ifland of Ophir. Modern ther. Now it was thirty-four years after the elder 
 iuithors, improving upon this rather-fufpicious an- Hiram had fupplied David with building materials, 
 thority, have afcrlbed to David the honoirr of be- when the temple was begun. The confufion oF 
 ing the founder of a great Eall-India commerce. kings of the fame name is a frequent fource of 
 
 f See the letter of Hiram (or Huram) to So- chronological embarraifment. [Sec Jfeph. Antiq. 
 
 lomon, wherein he mentions his father of the fame Z. vlil, c. 2 ; Contra Apion. L. i.^ 
 name. \_II Chron. c. 2] This clears up the diffi- \ According to Jofephus, {^Aniiq. L. xx, <r. 8j 
 
 ctilty, found by Petavius in the reign of Hiram, the ftones were thirty feet long and nine feet high 
 
 which he attempts to folve by affigning to it a a wonderful fize. 
 
 duration of 56 years, apparently comprehending J So they ftlU called the Tyrians, as being a- 
 
 the reign of two kings of that name. Moreover, colony from Sidon. 
 Jofephus, though be has not duely difcriminated 5
 
 24 Before Chrift 1012-— 975. 
 
 The great intercourfe of trade and friendfiiip, which Solomon had 
 with the firrt commercial people in the vveftern world, infpired him 
 with a ftrong delire to participate in the advantages of trade. His fa- 
 ther's conquefts had extended his territories to the Red fea, and given 
 him the poITeffion of a good harbour, from which fhips might be dif- 
 patched to the rich countries of the South and the Eafl. But his own 
 fubjeds being totally ignorant of the arts of building and navigating 
 veflels *, he again had recourfe for advice and afliftance to his friend 
 Hiram. The king of Tyre, who wifted for an opening to the oriental 
 commerce, the articles of which his fubjects were obliged to receive at 
 fecond hand from the Arabians, as much as Solomon wanted nautical 
 afliftance, appears to have readily entered into his views, and to hav€ 
 propofed a trading adventure on a large fcale to be carried on by the 
 two kings in partnerfliip, or at leaft in concert. Accordingly Tyrian 
 carpenters were fent to build veflels for both kings at Eziongeber, So- 
 lomon's port on the Red fea, whither Solomon himfelf alfo went to ani- 
 mate the workmen by his prefence. 
 
 Solomon's fliips, conducted by Tyrian navigators, failed in company 
 with thofe of Hiram to fome rich countries called Ophir and Tarfliifli, 
 upon the pofition of which the learned have multiplied conjectures to 
 very little purpofe f . The voyage required three years to accomplifti 
 it ; yet, notwithftanding the length of the time employed in it, the re- 
 turns in this new-found trade were prodigioufly great and profitable, 
 confifting of gold, filver, precious ftones, valuable woods, ivory, and 
 fome exotic animals, as apes and peacocks. We have no information 
 concernir,g the articles exported in this trade : but it cannot be doubt- 
 ed that the manufactures of the Tyrians, and probably the goods im- 
 ported by them from other countries, were aflbrted with the corn, wine, 
 balm, and oil, of Solomon's own dominions, in making up the outward 
 
 * See the note in />/). 13,1.}. gold, and returned home by the Mcih'tcrraiieaii. 
 
 -f Ophir has been fearehcd for in almoft every But, as the fliips appear to have been deftined to 
 
 part of Alia and Africa, and fome have let their continue in tlie fame y ade, like the modern Eaft- 
 
 fancy run fo wild as even to wander to Peru in India fliips, thofe authuis feem not to have well 
 
 South America, in the name of which they find a conlidered how tliey were to get them into the 
 
 rtfenr.blance ot Ophir ! They might have found Red fea again, after fniifiiing tlieir voyage at the 
 
 a much clofer refcmblance in that of Orphir in the tall end of the Mediterranean, in order to begin 
 
 Orkney iflands. The word was probab'y not the their next voyage. Bruce more rationally fup- 
 
 proper name of any country, but an appellative pofes Tarfliifli to have been on the cad coait: of 
 
 I'lgnitying gold mines ; and In th.at iignlfication it Africa, where he fays the name llil! remains ; 
 
 i» nov/ uftd ill Sumatra and Malacca, as we are which, though true, is no proof of its being the 
 
 told by the jihilofophi'c traveler Lc Poivrc. Many place vifitcil by thofe navigators. I fay nothing 
 
 arc quite certain, that the fouth part of Spain, of the improbability of the Tyrians, whatever 
 
 then abounding in gold, was Tarlhifli ; and they friendfliip their king might have for Solomon, per- 
 
 find their proof in the name of TartefTiis or Tar- initting him to get any footing in, or even know- 
 
 fi9, which properly belonged to the idand formed letfc of, their fettleineiits in Spain. See Purchas's 
 
 by the two mouti.a of the Bxtis, and was imprc- J'i/^riiiifs, Part /, BaoL i, c. I, § 8 — 12. — Bochart, 
 
 pcrly given by Grecian and Roman writers to C/juii. co/. 606. — Alan, ke /il/er. T. i:\x, p. ()0. — 
 
 Carteia and Ga.lir. There, fay they, Solomon's Biiicc''s Travels, V, i, p. 433. 
 
 (hips, having failed round all Africa, took in their 4
 
 Before Chrift 1012 — 916. 25 
 
 cargoes ; and that his fliips, hke the Spaniih galleons of the prefent day, 
 imported the bullion, partly for the benefit of his induftrious and com- 
 .mercial neighbours. [I Kings, cc. 7, 9, 10 — U Chron. cc. 2, 8, g.] 
 
 Solomon alfo eflabliftied a commercial correfpondence with Egypt, 
 whence he received horfes, chariots, and linen yarn. The chariots coft 
 600, and the horfes 1 50, fhekels of filver each. [/ Kings, c. i o — 11 Chron. 
 cc. I, 9.3 
 
 1 003 — The Thracians at this time had the empire of the fea, as Caf- 
 tor alleges, and held it nineteen years. Of their power at fea, or of the 
 commerce neceflary to fupport it, we know little or nothing. 
 
 916 — The Rhodians now, and probably long before, made a cou'- 
 fiderable figure as a commercial people ; and it is probable that they 
 had carried on a flourifhing trade for fome centuries, being noted by 
 Homer as an opulent people in the time of the Trojan war. [Iliad, L. \i, 
 V. 668.] They excelled in Ihip-building, and their voyages extended to 
 the fartheft limits of the Mediterranean fea, at the wefl end of v.'hich, 
 according to Strabo, they eftabliflied colonies. It was perhaps firom 
 this refpectable appearance of their naval power that Caflor has inferted 
 them in his lift offovereigns of the fea : and we know from better au- 
 thority that they retained a command of the fea many ages afterwards. 
 \Strabo, L. i, p. 57. with Ju/iin, L. xxx, c. 4. for the date, 198 before Chri/l.l 
 What is, however, infinitely more to their honour, is, that they cleared 
 the fea of pirates, and compofed a code of maritime laws for the regula- 
 tion of trade and navigation, which were fo judicious and equitable, 
 that they were generally adopted by other nations, and held in the 
 higheft refpeft for many ages. The Rhodian regulations for the fliares 
 payable to the commander, officers, and feamen ; the rules to be ob- 
 ferved by freighters and paflengers while onboard ; the penalties on the 
 commander or feamen for goods injured by their neglect, by the want 
 ot fufficient tarpawlins and pumps, or by their careleirnefs or abfence 
 troni their ihips ; the penalties for barratry, for robbery of other fliips, 
 and for carelefsly running foul of other iliips ; the punifliment of the 
 commander for running away with the fliip ; the punifliment for plun- 
 dering a wreck ; the compenfation payable to the heirs of feamen who- 
 loft their lives in the fervice of their ftiip ; the regulations of charter- 
 parties, bills of loading, and contracts of partnerfliip or joint adventures, 
 the rules for bottomry, for average, falvage, the rates of falvage for re- 
 covering goods from the bottom in ly, 12, and 22^ feet water; and the 
 payment of demurrage, as enadcd in the Rhodian laws, were all copied 
 by the Roman emperors, and incorporated into the Roman law ; and 
 from it they were moftly aftlimed into the naval code, known by the 
 name ot the law of Oleron, which is in a great meafure in force to this 
 day. And thus the Rhodians have had the glory of regulating the mar- 
 VoL. I. D
 
 26 Before Chrill 897—880. 
 
 itime and commercial tranfaclions of many nations through a long fuc- 
 ceflion of ages *. 
 
 897 — Jehofaphat king of Judah, in conjuncStion with Ahaziah king 
 of Ifrael, made an attempt to revive the commerce, which had flouriih- 
 ed fo greatly in the reign of Solomon. But the fhips, which they built 
 at Eziongeber, being wrecked in the harbour, the undertaking was 
 abandoned. We are not told, that they had any afliftance from the 
 Phoenicians in fitting out their fleet. [I Kings, c. 2 2 — II Chron. c. 20.J 
 
 Thus it appears, that the commercial fplendour of the Ifraelites was 
 a blazing meteor, which flione out and paffed away with the reign of 
 Solomon. 
 
 890 — At this time the dominion of the fea is afcribed to the Phry- 
 gians. The opulence of Pelops and Midas, princes of this country, 
 feveral centuries before this time has already been obferved. 
 
 880 It was probably about this time, that Homer flouriflied, whofe 
 
 inimitable poems laid the foundation of the literary pre-eminence uni- 
 verfally allowed to the Greeks in all fucceeding ages. But the prefent 
 work is only concerned with the many notices refpeding trade and ma- 
 nufactures to be found in his poems, fome of which have been remark- 
 ed in their proper places, and with his admirable geographical know- 
 lege. The ^gean fea with its iflands and both its fliores, the neigh- 
 bouring parts of the Mediterranean coafts, and Egypt, were well known 
 to him from his own judicious obfervations made during his voyages 
 and travels. He is faid to have made voyages as far as Spain and Tuf- 
 cany ; \Herodoti Vita Homeri~\ and the other weflern parts of the Medi- 
 terranean fea were known to him by converfation with Phoenician fea- 
 men. He even knew, that the land is everywhere furrounded by the 
 fea. In fliort, he is honoured with the title of Prince of geographers by 
 Strabo, one of the greatefl geographers of antiquity, from whofe work, 
 collated with Homer's own, the reader may obtain a proper idea of the 
 knowlege of this wonderful man f. Such, however, was the tardy pro- 
 grefs of information in thofe ages, that the great empires of the Eafl, 
 and even the commercial famx and opulence of Tyre, which had flou- 
 
 • Thcfc laws may with great probability claim taken the abflradl given in the text. The higii 
 the honour of a ftill higher antiquity, as the Rliod- rtfpedl in wliich the Rhodian Liw was held in the 
 ian3 were partly of Phoenician origin ; and no moll flouridiinn; ages of the Roman empire is well 
 <ioubt tlic cliief mcreliants were of the Phccnician illudrated by the emperor Antoninus, who, on a 
 race, and derived their culloms and mercantile re- complaint agalnil liie plunderers of a wreck, an- 
 gulations from their mother country. fwcred, ' I indeed am fovereign of the world, but 
 
 My refpeft for the karntd Prefident Goguet * tlie Rhodian law is fovereign of the fea, and by 
 
 makeii me wi(h that he had condefcended to give ' it your caufe mull be determined.' 
 
 hill reafons for queftioning the genin'iicnefs of the f The reader may alfo confult Black-weifi En- 
 
 Khodian laws, which have come down to us as ijuiry into the life and 'uiriiingi of Homer, feS, 9. 
 
 iicorporated in the Roman law, whence I have and 11. i
 
 Before Chrift 868. 27 
 
 riffied in great fplendour for at leaft two centuries, were utterly un- 
 known to Homer, the moft knowing of all the Greeks *. 
 
 In the life of Homer, untruely afcribcd to Herodotus the great father 
 of hiftory, but perhaps compofed by another Herodotys of HalicarrialTus, 
 and undoubtedly a work of great antiquity, we are told, that Smyrna, 
 though but lately built, was a place of confiderable trade, and export- 
 ed great quantities of corn. Phemius, the (lepfather and preceptor of 
 Homer, taught letters and mufic to the youth of Smyrna, and received 
 wool in payment for his inftrudion. 
 
 868 — It is apparently about this time, that we ought to date the ar- 
 rival of Eliffaf (whom Virgil has overwhelmed with fabulous fame un- 
 der the name of Dido) at Carthage, which, if it was really built lb 
 early as 1,234 years before Chrift, feems to have remained a place of 
 but little confequence till now, that EliiTa built the citadel of Bofra:}: for 
 her own refidence, and enlarged the town with fuch a number of new 
 buildings, that ftie has mofl generally been reputed the foundrefs of it; 
 and it is at any rate from this time that the importance of Carthage in 
 hiftory, and more particularly in commercial hiftory, is to be dated. 
 
 Carthage was fituated on a fmall peninfula projeding into a bay, 
 which formed two excellent harbours. About equally diftant from 
 either end of the Mediterranean, and on that part of the African coaft, 
 which advances towards Sicily, Italy, and Greece, it might be faid to 
 be placed in the center of all the accelFible ftiores of the then known- 
 world ; while behind it lay an immenfe fertile concinent, which furnifli- 
 ed every thing neceflary for the fupport of the citizens, and a great va- 
 riety of valuable articles for exportation. 
 
 When we read the hiftory of the Carthaginians, we ought ever to 
 
 * Notwitliftanding the unrivaled powers of his fou to prefer any of them to that wliicli is handed 
 
 ailonifhing genius. Homer pafled his h'fe in fucli down to us, from the national records of the Ty- 
 
 perfonal oblcurity, that no circumftance of it, riaas, by Jofcpluis, viz. 143 years and 8 months 
 
 iianded down to us, can connect him with any after the foundation of Solomon's temple. {_'jofeph. 
 
 contemporary of fufficient eminence to have me- contra jipion. L. i-] 
 
 rited a place in hiftory. It is therefor abfolutely No reader, whole judgemeat is above the ftand- 
 impoffible to give a decided preference to any one ard of a fchool-boy's, needs be told, that the ad- 
 of the many iras affigned to him. In this uncer- ventures of a queen of Carthage, called Dido, with 
 tainty the opinion of the great Herodotus leems an imaginaiy Trojan refuirce, cilled yEiitas, arc 
 the belt defcrving of credit, becaufe he is the old- entirely f;>bulous. Thofe, wlio widi to fee all, tliat 
 r(l author who mentions him ; though his tradi- can be faid for and againlt the pretended voyage 
 ti.inal account be confufed (as all tiadilions are) of .£nea3 to Italy, may coniult the Eflay upon 
 by making him prior to Linus and Mclampus, who that fiibjeCl by the learned Bt-chart. 
 are mentioned in Homer's own poems. He fays |; Bofra in the Phoenician huiguage figaifies the 
 [L. ii, c. 53] that Homer and Hefiod lived 400 fortification. The Greeks thaiigcd ic to Bu^k 
 years before himfelf ; and he was born 484, and (Byrfa) lignifying in their language a hide; and 
 publicly read his hiftory at Athens 446 years be- thence a very iVlly fable ivas invented of a treacher- 
 fore Chrift. Euthymenes (quoted by Clemens of ous bargain with the natives for as much land as a 
 Alexandria, Strom. L. i) fays, that Homer was bull's hide would indole, which, by being cut in- 
 born in the illand of Chios, and (louriflied 200 to very narrow thongs, was made to inclofe a large 
 years after the Trojan war. piece of gi-ound. The fame fable has been tranf- 
 
 f After confidering the great variety of dif- planted 'mo the hiftory cf England. 
 
 cordant dates affigned to Elifta, I can fee tio-rea- 
 
 D -.
 
 2.8 Before Chrift 868. 
 
 bear in remembrance, that almofl all, that we know of them, has come 
 to us by the information of their Greek and Roman enemies *. And, 
 even through the medium of fuch malignant information, we feel our- 
 ielves irrefiftibly drawn to prefer them to thole fivourites of the hiftoric 
 mufe in every purfuit of real utility. In fpite of mifreprefentation we 
 are compelled to admire the greatnefs of their power, founded ibiely 
 upon the bafis of trade, and the general wifdom of their condud, till, 
 departing from the charader of merchants, they were led away by the 
 mad ambition of being warriors and conquerors, which brought on the 
 ruin of their flourifliing ftate. From the fame fources of information, 
 when properly examined, we can draw a comparifon between the Phoe- 
 nician colonies and thofe of other nations, which in the early ages v/ere 
 lb frequently roving over the face of the earth. Almofl; every one of 
 thefe colonies may be confidered as a band of plunderers, confifting of 
 one or more chiefs fupported by a crowd of ignorant and miferable de- 
 pendents, driven out from their native country by domeftic convulfions, 
 and in their turn driving out, exterminating, or reducing to flavery, 
 thofe whom they could overpower, and, in fhort, fpreading mifery and 
 defolation wherever they went f . On the contrary, a Phoenician co- 
 lony was a fociety conlifting of opulent and intelligent merchants, in- 
 genious manufadurers, Ikilful artifans, and hardy feamen, leaving their 
 native country, which was too narrow to contain their increafing popu- 
 lation, with the bleffings and good wifhes of their parents and friends 
 in order to fettle in a diftant land, where they maintained a correfpond- 
 ence of friendfliip and mutual advantage with thofe who remained at 
 home, and with their brethren in the other colonies fprung from their 
 parent ftate ; where, by profecuting their own intereft, they effetlually 
 promoted the happinefs of the parent ftate, of the people among whom 
 they fettled, and of all thofe with whom they had any intercourfe ; and 
 where they formed the point of union, which conneded the oppofite 
 ends of the earth in the ftrong band of mutual benefits. Such is the 
 contraft between a colony of barbaric hunters, paftors, warriors, and 
 robbers, and a colony of civilized and mercantile people. 
 
 Some Greek writers fay, that Phidon king of Argos was the firft who 
 coined filver money, and invented weights and meafures. As the Greeks 
 had a good deal of intercourfe with the more enlightened nations of 
 Afia :{:, it is not probable that they could be without the ufe of money, 
 
 * If the works of any of the Carthaginian turc of the early ftate of Greece, as drawn by 
 
 writers had eome down to us, we migiit, between Thueydides in the bcijinning of liis Hiftoiy. 
 them and thofe of their enemies, have come pretty f We may be pretty furc that mcaUires, and 
 
 near to the trnth. I'hilinus a Sicihan Greek, wiio fcales and weights, were invented foon after the 
 
 lived with tlie great Hannibal, and jvrote a hillory creation of the world. Abraham, who lived looo 
 
 of liis wais, is mentioned refpei^fully by Polybius, years before Phidon, had fcales nice enough for 
 
 who balances his partiality againft the contrary weighing filver ; and, no doubt, fuch were in ufe 
 
 ])artiality of the Roman hiilorian Fabius Piftor. long before his time. 
 
 f This dcfcription cjtaftly agrees with the pic-
 
 Before Chrift 825 — 750. 29 
 
 and more efpecially of weights and meafures, till now : and we mufl 
 fuppofe that Phidon rather introduced Tome improvements hitherto un- 
 known in Greece, and has thence got the credit of being the inventor. 
 \_Marmo?- Par Strabo, L. viii, p. 549 — Flin. Hijl. nat. L. vii, c, 56.] 
 
 The invention of coin is by others afcribed (and probably on no bet- 
 ter foundation) to the people of ^Egina, a fmall i-ocky ifland in the bay 
 between Athens and Argos, who were among the firfl of the Greeks 
 that applied to commerce and navigation, whereby they made their 
 little territory the center of the trade of Greece. 
 
 825 — Caftor afcribes the fovereignty of the fea to the Phoenicians. 
 He feems not to have known, that they really poflefled it for ages be- 
 fore and after this time. 
 
 784 — He next compliments the Egyptians with the fame fupremacy 
 at fea ; and that at a time, when, there is good reafon to believe, they 
 did not poflefs a fingle veilel better than the miferable craft, which they 
 ufed upon the river. 
 
 753 — The Milefians are next reprefented as fupreme in naval power; 
 and they feem to have had fome title to commercial fame, if we may 
 eftimate their commerce by the number of their colonies, which, ac- 
 cording to Pliny \H'iJl. nat. L. v, c. 29] were above eighty (i. e. eighty 
 towns) chiefly on the fhores of the Propontis and the Euxine fea. 
 
 According to Varro, the proclamations of the emperors, and mofl of 
 the Roman writers, this year was diftinguiflied by the foimdation of 
 Rome *, which was deftined by Providence to combine under one go- 
 vernment, and unite in fome kind of commercial intercourfe, all the 
 countries on the coafts of the Mediterranean fea, together with fome of 
 thofe on the Atlantic ocean. 
 
 750 — Bochoris king of Egypt began to open his eyes to the mif- 
 taken policy of his predeceflbrs in regard to commerce, for the en- 
 couragement of which he made fome good regulations. One of the laws 
 enaded by him, or by his fucceflbr Afychis (if he was his fuccefl^br f ) 
 empowered his fubjeds to borrow money by giving as a fecurity the 
 
 * There is every reafon to believe, that the date guftus there were twenty emperors in 244 years ; 
 
 of the foundation of Rome is as httle known as that and thofe emperors did not expofe their facred per- 
 
 of the other villages of Italy, which never emerg- fons to the dangers of war, as the chief of a o-ann- 
 
 ed from their original obfcurity ; and that moft of of robbers (for fuch was a king of Rome ) mult 
 
 the events, related in the firfl five or fix centuries continually have done. Pliny makes Rome about 
 
 of its fuppofed hiftory, have as little foundation in half a century older than Varro does : and of the 
 
 truth as the early hillory of fome nations now earlier authors, who mention the foundation of 
 
 exilling, which have been falfified in humble imi- Rome, fcarcely any two agree in the year, which 
 
 tation of it. Indeed the number of 244 years, is a clear proof that no one had ever tliought of a 
 
 afcribed to the reigns of feven kings of fo fmall a date for it, till the fplendour of their conqueils, 
 
 territory in fuch times of rapine and violence, and and confequent vanity, inlligatcd them to fearclx 
 
 thofe elective kings, none of whofe reigns could into, and fupply from invention, an origin and 
 
 commence in early youth, and of whom four are early hiftory of their city. 
 
 faid to have been killed and one expelled, is alone -f- There is fome reafon to believe, that thefc 
 
 fufficient to overthrow the whole traditional part are only two names of the fame prince, 
 of the Roman hiftory. From the acceffion of Au-
 
 30 Before Chrift 734 — 713. 
 
 embalmed bodies of their deceafed parents, the moft facred depofit that 
 could be imagined : but he alio decreed, that the debtor, negleding to 
 redeem this pretious pledge, fhould himfclf be deprived of the high- 
 prized honours beftowed in Egypt upon the meritorious dead. Still 
 the Egyptians confined their ideas of commerce to home trade, or paf- 
 five foreign trade. 
 
 -734 The dominion of the fea is next afligned to the Carians, a 
 
 people formerly noted for their piracies ; and there feems no good rea- 
 fon to believe, that their prefent power was of any other nature; [Herod. 
 L. ii, c. 152] or that it ever was near fo great and extenfive, as that of 
 the buccaneers in later times was in the Weft-India feas. 
 
 'yiy — The commercial city of Tyre was attacked by Salmanafar king 
 of Aflyria, who brought againft it a fleet of fixty (or feventy) vefTels, 
 furnifhed and manned by fome of the Phoenicians, who had fubmitted 
 to his dominion. The Tyrians, then the only people of Phoenicia free 
 from the Aflyrian yoke, with twelve (hips completely defeated his fleet, 
 and took 500 prifoners. So vaftly fuperior were free men fighting for 
 themfelves and their families to flaves fighting for a mafter. [Annales 
 Tyrii in Menandri Chron. op. Jofeph. Antiq. L. ix, c. 14.] This, if I mif- 
 take not, is the moft antient naval battle, exprefsly recorded in any 
 hiftory. 
 
 713 — The firft fun-dial, mentioned in hiftory, was in the palace of 
 Hezekiah king of Judah, and it appears to have been eredted by his 
 predeceflbr, as it is called * the fun-dial of Ahaz.' [Ifaiah, c. 38.] Ac- 
 cording to Herodotus, the Greeks learned the ufe of dials from the Ba- 
 bylonians * ; and it is probable, that the Ifraelites had it from the fame 
 people, with whom they had frequent intercourfe of friendftiip or hof- 
 tiUty. 
 
 So defective is Caftor's lift of rulers of the fea, that he has entirely- 
 overlooked the Corinthians, who, there is good reafon to believe, were 
 the firft, and for a long time the only, nation of Greece, or indeed of 
 all Europe, who made any confiderable figure in naval tranfadions. 
 The Greeks, in all ages timorous feamen, preferred land-carriage to the 
 dangerous navigation (as they efteemed it) round the rocky and tem- 
 peftuous head-lands of the Pelopomiefusf , and thereby threw the whole 
 trade of their coimtry into the hands of the Corinthians, who, occupy- 
 
 • Though Herodotus [i, ii, c. IC9] fays that Miletus, he had Icarntd it from the Pcrfians ov 
 
 tlie Greeks learned the pole, the gnomon, and the Babylonians. 
 
 divifu,n of the day iiito twelve pans, from the Ba- f About 1800 years after the time now under 
 
 bylonians, the later Greek writers have afTumcd conl'ideration, vvhcii tlie Romans liad carried into 
 
 the honour of the invention of the gnomon in Greece all the military and naval knowlcge to he 
 
 tavour of Aiiaximander, who flourillicd about 170 had in the Mediterranean, an impciial fleet was 
 
 years after Ikzckiah, and who fet up the firrt dial cairicd over-land acrofs the lUliniiis of Corinth to 
 
 fccn in Greece at Lacedicmon. \^L)ii>g. Larrl. avoid the dreadful circumuavigatiun of the Pclopon- 
 
 i. ii.] It is poUible he might be an inventor of it i nefus. [^Gilion's Rom. /.'i/i. F. x, p. i -^8, etJ. iroi.l 
 
 but it is more probable, that, being a native of Q^ How larp;c were thofe imperial men-of-war ?
 
 J^
 
 » 
 
 I i 
 
 ^1 fiirsf)cc/ui- I'uii- v/ /ui// of tJii iiu^u ti/ ,1/1 u/iHi/U »;n(iaUrv of five tires of oars . with anansversc sccli.on sfiPKina 
 rAe f'osition ot t/u: Of/icJie.r a/idoius.as c^fi/tiineJ by tiB.^ER^lt ^rtllLVIlLJC, F.H.S. and^i.S. 
 
 Dr^K iT.f, ii,. 
 
 ScaJr ,^f Fett. 
 
 I '^° "f- 
 
 2£ 
 
 
 ^ ti'Misversi' section »/" Ptolemy Philopator's double great ship with forty tires of oars. See p. 38. 
 
 rh^nv^lcm-mj. h^i.TArsi.'pingsidfs. Set t?,,- nor, Oip-f'P. '^.l^ne oMie uppa^ostoar^ s.arc>-2y .Uppin^f in the waf^^r. The t-lh^ oars are .^itt<,d . A..dL, Beams. t>rpa*ap^ dei^.n. 
 ''"^' '" '/■!/€ irr/-uhh nMesjory tfpraent Ar ^uJe.t tr,m, tUl/iru} J.-nn f,- the Het^hf ofthemsehes. Ae benches, the men . muithe oars. 
 
 umeUi'v .It/i. 
 
 EU.vaiion , transverse secfion . anil horlzotvtul f^ lane , of an arttient round ship. See p. 179- 
 
 ruttuAed nftunJii^ tm ^leri^Hirhiimfnt- by J'.JLi)*nmi^Fi>ul)ryr^milfn--1fril n'lSoS. 
 
 •
 
 Before Chrift 700. 31 
 
 ing the ifthmus between two inlets of the fca, whereby Greece is al- 
 moft cut afunder, poflefled a mofl: commanding fituation for fuch. a 
 trade. Indeed the obvious advantage of having harbours in two feas, 
 wliereby Italy and Afia were equally acceflible to them, appears to 
 have induced the Corinthians in very early times to turn their attention 
 to commerce and navigation ; for we learn from Thucydides, that foon 
 after the Trojan war they kept up fome naval force for protedling their 
 trade againft pirates : and there is reafon to believe, that they were dif- 
 tinguifhed by fome degree of opulence, even in that age, or at leaft in 
 Homer's time, as in his catalogue of the Grecian forces he bellows up- 
 on Corinth the epithet of the wealthy, which it retained through all the 
 viciHitudes of its fortune, at leafl till the firfl century of the Chriftian 
 sera. \_Strabo, L. v\n,p. 586.] Befides the profit of their own trade, the 
 Corinthians had a very conliderable advantage by landing goods in the 
 one harbour and re-fhipping them in the other, which, Strabo fays, was 
 a common pradlice : and they alfo levied a duty upon all goods carried 
 by land through their territories. 
 
 700 — The Corinthians have the credit of having introduced in Greece 
 a mofl important improvement in the conflrudion of fhips or gallies of 
 war, by fubftituting for the fmall, and very narrow vefTels with one tire 
 of oars on each fide, hitherto ufed, a larger and loftier kind, called 
 trieres or triremes, which were worked by three tires, or rows, of oars 
 on each fide *. It cannot be doubted, that this improvement in their 
 
 * The nature of the antient fliips or gallies, fifty decks, of wliich, even the miJdIe one, in or- 
 
 called triremes, quadriremes, quinqueremcs, isfc. has der to allow fufficient voom lor tlie lengtli and 
 
 exercifed the induftry of many learned men, who, fweep or revolution of the enormous oars in the 
 
 being genei?lly unacquainted with naval affairs, infide of the veflel, mufl have been vaftly higher 
 
 have run into fome very grofs abfurdities. than the topgallant mall of a modern tirft-ratc 
 
 The literal meaning of trirernii feems to be a fliip. 
 
 vefFel with three oars, or with three oars on each Another fuppofition has been, that the antient 
 
 fide : but no fuch interpretation is adniiffible ; be- gallies were called triremes from having three men 
 
 caufe it is known, that in very early times the to each oar, quadriremes from foiu', and fo on to 
 
 Phosnicians had veflels of fifty oars, in one of which the highell rate. In fupport of this hypothefis it 
 
 Inachus is faid to have arrived in Greece ; and be- may be alleged, that the famous quadraginlaremis 
 
 caufe the triremes, now firll conftruC^ed, or now firft of Ptolemy Philopator is thus accounted for by 
 
 introduced in Greece, by the Corinthians, mull fuppofing fifty oars with 40 men to each, which 
 
 have been veflels uiperior to all that had ever been thus require 2,000 men ; and a fecond fet, or 
 
 feen hitherto. watch, to relieve them, makes 4,000, the number 
 
 The mod general fuppofition has been, that the of rowers, which, according to Athenxus, ac- 
 triremts had three tires of oars, the tires being tually belonged to that great floating palace. The 
 perpendicularly above each other, like the three ordinei remorim raifed above each other, frequent- 
 tires of guns in a modern (liip of t'ne firfl rate, the ly mentioned by the Roman writers, are fuppofed 
 quadriremes four tires, and fo on. But, admitting to mean the railed benches, on which each rower, 
 (what perhaps no feaman will admit) the poflibi- according to his diftance from the fide, was ele- 
 lity of working three tires of oars fo placed, what vated above his next neighbour, agreeable to the 
 lliall we fay oi forty at ffty tires ? And (to fay angle formed by the oar with the furfacc of the 
 nothing of Pollux's hekatonteres, or Ihip of a hun- water. 
 
 dred tires, which is furely fabuhms) there was The folution of this Gordian knot appears to 
 
 certainly a quadragintaremis, and even, accordinor have been relerved for General Melville, governor- 
 
 to Pliny, [[Zr. vii, c. 56] a quinquagmiaremis, or, general of Grenada and the other ceded illands, a 
 
 agreeable to thin fuppofition, vefleU oi forty and gentleman, who, by having frequent occafion U)
 
 3^ 
 
 Before Chrift 700. 
 
 rnarine, added to their former naval fuperiority, mufl have thrown Into 
 their hands a temporary dominion of the Grecian feas. 
 
 Aminocles, whofe name is immortalized as the builder of the new 
 fhips, was alfo employed by the Samians, for whom he built four veflels. 
 Eufebius [N°. 1255] feems alfo to fay, that the Athenians had fome of 
 his fhips. But it is obfcurely expreifed ; and the time is too early by 
 many years for the age of Aminocles, according to Thucydides. 
 
 Moft of the maritime Grecian flates foon adopted the ufe of triremes; 
 and fucceeding ages varied and increafed the number of tires of oars, as 
 ambition, or as vanity, prompted, the rates of the vefTels being deno- 
 minated from the number of tires, as modern fhips of war are called 
 two-deckers, three-deckers, &c. from their tires of guns. 
 
 It is proper to obferve, that Damaftes, an author contemporary with 
 Herodotus, [<?/>. PU>i. Hijl. nat. L. vii, c. 56] fiys, that biiemes (veflels 
 with two tires of oars) were ufed by the Erythrseans or Arabians : and 
 
 crofs the ocean, was enabled to unite nautical 
 kiiowlege with acutcnefs of refcarch and great claf- 
 fical reading. He fuppofes, that the antient gal- 
 lies were very flat in the hottom, and that their 
 fides were raifed perpendicular to the height of 
 only three or four feet from the furface of the 
 water, above which they diverged with an angle 
 of about 45 degrees. Upon this fioping wall he 
 places the feats of the rowers, about two feet in 
 length, the rows or tires of them being raifed on- 
 ly about 15 inches in perpendicular height above 
 each other *, and the feats, as well as the row- 
 poits, being arranged in quincunx or checker-wife, 
 as the gun-ports of a modern firll-rate (liip. Thus 
 the upper tire of oars in a trin'mis is only about 
 30 inches, in a quadiiremis 45 inches, and in a 
 quinqufreniis 60 inches, in perpendicular hciglit 
 above the lower tire ; while the combination of 
 the quincunx arrangement and the oblique fide 
 gives eveiy rower perfect liberty to act, no one 
 being perpendicularly above his ncatell neighbour 
 in the tire below hin). Ijy thus applying a great- 
 er number of oars and the force of a greater num- 
 ber of men, than could poffibly aft in a vefl'el with 
 upright fides, they greatly increafed the velocity 
 or impetus, upon which in naval engagements they 
 placed their whole dependence for the fiiccefsful 
 performance of all their mantcuvrcs, and for bilg- 
 ing their enemy's veflels witli the iron or brafeu 
 rojlra affixed to the heads of their own. But it 
 mull be acknowleged, that the uppcrmutl oars in 
 gallics of above live rows, though valtly (hort of 
 the length ncceflary upon the fuppofition of the 
 
 fides being perpendicular, were ftill too long to be 
 worked with much elfett by one man, (nor docs it 
 appear that they ever employed more than onef ) 
 and tiiat the angle they made with the water, be- 
 ing about 45 degrees, mull have produced an ef- 
 fect fomewhat between rowing and paddling, as 
 thefe terms are undcrltood by our modern feamen. 
 
 General Melville's ingenious difcovery is not on- 
 ly clear of all the difficulties attending the other 
 hypothefes, but it alio illuftrates, and is illuflrated 
 by, many paffages in antient writers, which are 
 otherways inexplicable. It is further confirmed by 
 antient fculptures at Rome, by a medallion of Gor- 
 dian at Naples, and by antient paintings at Portici, 
 fome of which, prelenting to view the ends of the 
 gallies, exhibit their floping fides with the oars 
 iffuing from them in exacl correfpondence with the 
 general's idea. 
 
 For the mofl valuable part of this note I am 
 indebted to the polite and liberal communications 
 of General Melville ; who for illuftrating the prin- 
 ciples, on which the gallies were conftruiSled, has 
 a model of tlie fifth part of the walle of a qu'tn- 
 qutiemis, which is a rcduiftion, on the fcale of a- 
 bout one inch to a foot, from one of the full lize, 
 formerly erected in the back-yard of his houfe in 
 Great Pulteiiey ftrect, whereon many gentlemen of 
 clafiical and nautical knowlegc faw tlic thirty oars 
 (tiie fifth part of one hundred and fifty, which was 
 tiic number of oars on one fide) atlualiy worked 
 by thirty men, free of every impediment or inter- 
 ference, which might be apprehended from their 
 crowded pofitioa. 
 
 • If we could depend on the text of OroCui, [L. v, r. 
 19] where he fay«, that Antony'n largeft drips, many of 
 which vcrc, nccordiiig to Moruh» of nine tires, l>tit accord- 
 ing 10 Dion CafTius ol ten tirei of oars, were only Iciifeet 
 altwe the ivater^ we Tiuft believe, that the lircs could not 
 he more than eight or nine inchci above each oibcr in j'cr- 
 
 pcndiciilar htiirht. But x feet muft fuixly lie an erroneous 
 reading fur xv or xx, the v or x bein;^ loil in tranlVribing. 
 f It 19 evident from the Taiitics of l.co \_c. 19] iluit there 
 was but one man to an oar in his vcfTcls, none of which, it 
 is true, feem to luve had more than two tires of oars. 
 4
 
 Before Chrifl 676. 33 
 
 Clemens of Alexandria \ Stromal. L. i, e. 16] afcribes the invention of* 
 the triremes to the Siclonians. Indeed, it is not improbable, that an 
 imitation of the Sidonian vcffcls, introduced in Greece by the Corin- 
 thians, may have procured them the credit of the invention among the 
 Greeks, who were never very fcrupulous of flealing the honour of 
 fcience and invention from the barbarians *. Unfortunately no Sidonian 
 hiftorian has reached our times, to the very great lofs of hiftory in ge- 
 neral, and moft efpecially of commercial hiftory. 
 
 676 — The Lefbians are faid to have obtained the command of the 
 fea, of which they kept pofleffion no lefs than fixty-nine years. 
 
 670 — Piammitichus, whofe father was flain by Sabacus, an Ethio- 
 pian invader of Egypt, had pafled the early part of his life in Syria, 
 probably among the Phoenicians, who were as yet the only foreigners 
 permitted to land upon the Egyptian fhore. After his return to his na- 
 tive country he became one of twelve kings, who all reigned co-ordi- 
 nate at the fame time. Being expelled by his brother kings he agaiu 
 lived in exile among the marilies at the mouth of the river, where he 
 gave a kind reception to all traders, efpecially Greeks and Phoenicians, 
 and by exchanging the produce of his territory for the goods imported 
 by them, he acquired great riches. At length fome Ionian and Carian 
 pirates, accidentally landing on the coaft, together with fome forces le- 
 vied in Arabia, enabled him to revenge the atfront put upon him, and 
 even to make himfelf fole king of Egypt. From this time he (hewed 
 favour to the Greeks, and as, by living among ftrangers in a private 
 charader, he had acquired more liberal ideas, than were ufual among 
 the Egyptians, of the advantages arifing from a free intercourfe with 
 foreign nations, he encouraged them to trade, and even gave them fet- 
 tlements and a harbour f in his country. He alfo placed fome Egyp- 
 tian boys under their care to learn Greek, that they might aft as inter- 
 preters. [Herodot. L. ii, cc. 147-154 — Diod. 6ic?i/. L. i, § 66, 67] But 
 ■ftill the Egyptians perfifted in neglecting the advantage beftowed upon 
 them by Nature in giving them the command of two feas, and had no 
 (hips of their own, except the craft for navigating the river. 
 
 * There is a kind of triremis (for 1 know of ftrufted their inremes, fome of which, going to 
 
 no Greek or Latin word for paddies) iifed now, Greece, might turnifli a model to the Corinthians 
 
 and prob.ibly many centuries ago in the iOands of for, what they called, tlieir invention. A defcrip- 
 
 ■the Eall Indies, which has a niiinber of piojefting tion and view of the Indian veflels may be feen in 
 
 cruls bars or outriggers, fupporting at proper dlf- Stetl's LhmeiUs of '''g^mg and feamanjliip. See alfo 
 
 tances two long feats on each fide parallel to the Purckas's Pil^rimes, Book ii, p. 55 ; and f^oyaget 
 
 gunnels : and the vefTel is driven along with great to the Eaji-lnahs by S/aiioii.ius, K ii,//>. 306, 42 I, 
 
 Velocity by fix rows of paddlcrs, two of which fit Note, in the EnglUh tratijlation, where the names 
 
 withiii her fides, and four on the outfide feats over of quadr'iremes and triremes are adually applied to 
 
 the water. They have fometimes three rows on the vefi'cls called corrocorros by the natives of the 
 
 the ontfide of each gunnel ; and thefe may be call- Oriental iilsnds. 
 
 td iju.idriremes.- — Quere, if the Phaniciaiis, when f When Herodotus was in Egypt the houfes of 
 
 in tiie Indian ocean in company with Solomon's the Greeks, and their haibour, or dock, were ia 
 
 fleet, may have feen thefe vcfl'els, and, improving ruins. [_fferodo!. L. ii, c. 134. J 
 upon the multiplied force of the paddles, have coa- 
 
 Vol I. Z
 
 ^4 Before Clirifl: 664 — 607. 
 
 65^ — The firft naval battle known in Grecian hijlory was fought be- 
 tween the Corinthians and their own colonifts, who had fettled in Cor- 
 cyra. [fJljiicyd. L. i.] 
 
 641 — Among the Greek'traders, who availed themfelves of the in- 
 dulgence of Pfammitichus, was Coteus of Samos, who acquired a great 
 fortune, and the prefervation of his name in all fucceeding ages, by an 
 accident, which he muft have confidered at the time as the ruin of his 
 voyage. On his way to Egypt he met with a gale of wind from the 
 eaft, which continued fo long, that he was carried quite through the 
 paflage, now called the Straits of Gibraltar, to TarteiTus on the fouth- 
 weft coafl of Spain ; and thus he had the honour to be the firfl Greek, 
 who ever faw the Atlantic ocean *. In this market, fo unexpectedly 
 found, he united the profits, which had been divided between the 
 Greeks and the Phoenicians ; and the goods he purchafed, having never 
 before been diredly imported into any Grecian country, yielded a pro- 
 fit far furpaffing the moil lucrative voyage ever made by any Grecian 
 merchant, excepting Softrates of yEgina, of whom, I believe, nothing 
 elfe is known, but that his profperity in trade was unparalleled. From 
 a tenth part being preiented to Juno, we are luckily furnifhed with the 
 knowlege of the profits made in this extraordinary fortunate adven- 
 ture ; and they amounted to fixty talents, which, if they were Euboic 
 talents of filver, contained a quantity of that metal equal to ^//^f 1,625 
 flerling. \Herod. L. iv, c. 152] From the curious hiftory of this voyage 
 we alio know, what was reckoned a prodigious great fortune in the age 
 of Herodotus. The Greeks, however, appear not to have availed them- 
 felves of this accidental difcovery by continuing the trade f. 
 
 616 Pfammitichus king of Egypt was fucceeded by his fon Necos. 
 
 This prince, inheriting his father's defire to increafe the commerce of 
 his fubjeds, in order to open a trade with the rich countries of the Eafl, 
 rcfumed the grand defign (originally conceived by Sefoftris, and adual- 
 ly put in execution by him or his fon) of uniting the navigation of the 
 two feas by a great navigable canal. The conftrutTiion of canals, fo fi- 
 miliar to the prefent age, was fo little underflood in the time of Necos, 
 that the natural impediments were abfolutely infuperable by the fcience 
 of his engineers ; fo that the imdertaking was abandoned, after 120,000 
 workmen had loft their lives by the intolerable labour. [Harodot. L. ii, 
 
 607 — Necos, thus difappointcd of effedlng a jundion between the 
 »wo feas, eftabliflied ports, and built a fleet of fliips on each of them ; 
 
 * TI1C expedition, afcribetl to Herciilca, belongs they liavo enibellifhetl the motley tiiftory of thcii- 
 
 10 Milcurlufi, wlio \[\ alfo called tlic Tyrian Her- own dcmigoil. 
 
 ciilcs. The Grecian fabiilllls availtd ihcmfdvcs of f 'VUh will be explained in a note on the inia- 
 
 tlin identity to juh iiim of liio aitions, wlieiewith p;innry Greek tKidc to Britain, uiukr the year 550 
 
 j ^cfore Chrilt,
 
 Before Chrift 607, 35 
 
 dnd thus he put his kingdom in a fair way of being the center of the 
 trade of the world, if he could have fubdued the hatred of his fubjecls 
 to the fea. Having fuppofed the probability of Africa benig furround- 
 ed by the fea, excepting the ifthmus whereby it is joined to Afia, he 
 projeded a voyage of difcovery to afcertain the trurh, and to explore 
 the coafts of that continent. For fuch an arduous naval undertaking 
 he engaged Phoenician navigators, who failed from the Red fea, and 
 coafting along the fliore of Africa, returned by the Mediterranean, and 
 in the third year from their departure arrived in the Nile. During this 
 voyage, when the proper feafon for fowing came on, they made a tem- 
 porary fettlement on the land, and fowed their corn. Then, after re- 
 pairing their fhips, and getting in their harveft, they proceeded on their 
 voyage. This circumftance fliows, that, though Egypt has in all ages 
 been one of the fineft corn countries in the world, neither the Egyp- 
 tians nor the Phoenicians underftood tlie method of preferving corn at 
 fea, or of preparing bread for long keeping. Another mofl important 
 circumftance is related by Herodotus, to whom we are indebted for the 
 knowlege of this voyage. He fays, that the feamen reported, they had 
 feen the fun on their right hand, that is on the north fide of them, 
 when they were in the fouth parts of Africa. This, he very honeflly 
 tells us, he does not believe : and fome lucceeding writers, on the 
 ftrength of his incredulity, which betrays the ignorance of one of the 
 moft knowing of the Greeks, have confidered the voyage as entirely 
 fabulous. But the very circumftance, urged againft the veracity of the 
 voyage, eftabliHies it beyond the poflibility of contradiction : for it may 
 well be doubted, whether even the Phoenicians were then fufficiently 
 acquainted with the fyftem of the univerfe to know from theory the 
 poliibility of going to the fouthward of the fun, or to be able to in- 
 vent fuch a ftory, had it not been true *. \Herodot. L. ii, c. 159 ; L. iv, 
 c. 42] And this was unqueftionably the very firft circumnavigation of 
 Africa recorded in hiftory, and the only well-authenticated one, till 
 Gama, above 2,000 years after, again afcertained, that Africa is not 
 joined to a fuppofed fouthern continent. 
 
 The brief narrative of this voyage leads to a conjedure, which may 
 almofl be received as a certain truth ; that the trade between Arabia 
 and Egypt was ftill carried on by caravans only, and that the Egyptians 
 liad no maritime intercourfe, either adive or paflive, with the Arabians. 
 If they had had any fuch intercourfe, they could not have been en- 
 tirely ignorant of their nautical fcience and voyages, and Necos would 
 
 • As the truth of tliia voyage has been called gins with the reign of Pfammitichus. See Hero- 
 in qncftion in antient and modotn times, it may be d'.t. L. u, c. 154. Some err as far on the other 
 proper to obferve, that, befijes the impofTibility fide, and fuppofe that Solomon's velTels were ia 
 of its being fabricated, it was performed in the the practice of circumnavigating Africa, and that 
 dear period of the Egyptian hiltory, which be- it evea became a common voyage. 
 
 £2
 
 5 6 Before Clirift 607. 
 
 have applied to them for navigators rather than to the Piioenicians, who 
 could have no knovvlege of the navigation of the eaft coaft of Africa, 
 except what they might perhaps derive from the journals of the navi- 
 gators, who accompanied Solomon's vefTels almoft four centuries before. 
 But the Phoenicians appear to have been the only people known to the 
 Egyptians as navigators. To them, therefor, Necos applied, and they, 
 mindful of the advantages reaped by their anceftors from a participa- 
 tion with Solomon of the ufe of a harbour in the Red fea, gladly en- 
 gaged in an adventure, whereby they hoped to have an opportunity of 
 becoming acquainted with the rich countries, whence the Arabians ob- 
 tained the pretious commodities, which every year drew great fums of 
 money from them. But we may be afTured, that the Phoenician com- 
 mander did not negled to fhip onboard each of his veflels at lead two 
 Arabian pilots, acquainted with the navigation of the Red fea and a 
 confiderable extent of the eafl coaft of Afi-ica, and with the nature of 
 the tides (fo dreadful to the Mediterranean navigators), the prevailing 
 currents, and periodical winds. 
 
 The Greek colonies in Afia, by their intercourfe with the Phrygians, 
 Lydians, and other nations in their neighbourhood, who were in a more 
 advanced ftate of fociety than themfelves, but more particularly by their 
 commercial intercourfe with the Phoenicians and Egyptians, nations ftill 
 more civilized and enlightened, emerged from barbarifm long before 
 the European Greeks, and greatly outftripped them in the career of li- 
 terature and philofophy, as well as of commerce. And hence v\^e find, 
 that almoft all the early poets, hiftorians, and profeflors of natural and 
 moral philofophy, whofe great talents have raifed a monument of ever- 
 lafting fame to Greece, were in reality natives of the Afiatic coaft, or of 
 the adjacent iflands *. Among the earlieft of the Greek philofophei-s 
 was I'hales of Miletus, defcended of Phoenician parentage, who by tra- 
 vel and ftudy among the Egyptians, and no doubt, among his Phoeni- 
 cian relations, acquired fonie knowlege of geometry and aftronomy. 
 He pointed out to the Greeks the conftellation called tbe lejfer bea?-, by 
 which the Phoenicians fteered their courfe in the night ; and he impart- 
 ed to them the knowlege of the rotundity of the earth, the divifion of 
 it into five zones, and the Egyptian divifion of the year into 365 days ;■ 
 notvv'ithftanding which they perfifted for hundreds of years after his 
 time in the erroneous calculation by 360 days. But, what chiefly com- 
 manded the admiration of an ignorant people, was his prediction of the 
 year (601) in which a remarkable eclipfe of the fun fhould happen, and 
 the accidental circumftance of two arniies, adually engaged in battle,, 
 
 feparating on account of the unufual darknefs. [flcrod. L. i, c. 74 
 
 Diog. Lnert. L. i] His predidion of the eclipfe, coming no nearer than 
 
 • A v:rcat ruml)cr of their names arc collcfted by BlackwcU in his Enquiry inlo'the, life and wrlt-^ 
 ti'gi nf Homer, pj}. \i— \ ^, fourth cd. j
 
 Before Chrift 594, 2i7 
 
 the jfrt/- in which it fliould happen, feems to infer, that his Egyptian 
 or Phoenician mafters had but a dark conception of the theory of ecUp- 
 fes, by the accuraie knowlege of which the modern geographer is 
 enabled to dehneate with precifion the furface of the earth, and the na- 
 vigator can afcertain his poiition, or direct his courfe through the 
 boundlefs oci\in with a much more aflured confidence, than the antients 
 could poflibly have in their recoUeclion of the appearance of the land, 
 while diredting their timid courfe along the winding Ihores of the Me- 
 diterranean. 
 
 5f),| — Apries, who fucceeded his father Pfammis as king of Egypt, 
 had a fleet upon the Mediterranean, with which he carried on a war 
 againfl: the maritime cities of Sidon and Tyre, and fought a naval bat- 
 tle with them, in which, if we may credit Diodorus Siculus, he obtained 
 
 the victory*. \^Herod. L. ii, c. 161 Diod. Sicul. L. i, p. 79. cd. Am- 
 
 Jlel 1746.] 
 
 588 — The very antient and long-flourifiiing commercial city of Si- 
 don appears to have been now eclipfed by the profperity of her mod 
 antient colony of Tyre, whofe commercial fplendour is thus delineated 
 by the prophet Ezekiel, \c. 27] who thereby gives us a brief {ketch of 
 the {late of commerce throughout a very con{iderable part of the then 
 known world. 
 
 The people of all the neighboui'ing countries were employed by the 
 Tyrians in building and navigating their (hips, which were magnificent- 
 ly adorned with ivory, purple, and fine linen ; and their naval com- 
 manders were among the moft refpectable of the citizens, every office, 
 and every line of duty, in tiie commercial departnients being eileemed 
 honourable. On the otlier hand the univerfal prediled:ion of the Ty- 
 rians for trade and navigation induced them to employ foreign mercena- 
 ries in their military efcablifhment f , oblervlng however the precaution 
 to colled them from a variety of nations, Perfians, Lydians, Africans, 
 &c. whofe diverfity of languages and interefls might render it difficult 
 for them to confpire againit the ftate. Though their own veflels were 
 very numerous, and they were fully fenfible of the great importance 
 and value of the carrying trade, they gave free permilfion to ' all the 
 * {hips of the fea with their mariners' to refort to their harbour, and to 
 buy and fell in their city. 
 
 The imports from the various nations were as follows : fine linens \. 
 from Egypt ; blue, and purple, from the ifles of Elilha ; filver, iron, 
 
 * Diodorus fays lie took Sidon, and reduced die ages, followed the fame fyftcm of policy in their 
 
 the other cities of Pliccnicia by the terror of his military eltablifliment. But no government can 
 
 arms. He beat the fleets of Phoenicia and Cyprus ever be affured of the fidelity of fuch mercenaries, 
 in a great naval battle, and returned, loaded with \ Or bvjfus, apparently tine flax, as a raw nia- 
 
 fpoil, to Egypt. terial. See the text of Ezekiel in Jerom's tranlla- 
 
 I The republic of Venice, the Tyre of the mid- tion, and Bochart, Geog.Jair. col. J55.
 
 38 
 
 Before Chrift 588. 
 
 tin, and lead, from Tarfhifli, brought by the Carthaginians * ; {IciveS 
 and brazen veflels from Javan (or Greece), Tubal and Mefech ; horfes, 
 flaves bred to horfemanfhip, and mules", from Togormah ; emeralds, 
 purple, embroidery, fine linen f , corals, agates, from Syria, in exchange 
 for the manufactures of Tyre ; corn, balfam, honey, oil, and gums, from 
 the Ifraelites, who, we thus fee, were farmers, but not manufacturers ; 
 excellent wines, and fine wool, fromDamafcus ; polifhed ironware, pre- 
 ticus oils, and cinnamon, from Dan, Javan, and Mezo ; magnificent car- 
 pets (fuch as are fliU ufed in the eafliern countries for fitting upon) from 
 Dedan ; fheep and goats for flaughter from the paftoral tribes of Ara- 
 bia ; the moll: cofily fpices, fome of them apparently the produce of In- 
 dia t, pretious ftones, and gold, from the merchants of Sheba (or Sa- 
 biea) and Raamah (or Regma), countries in the fouth part of Arabia ; 
 blue cloths, embroidered work, rich apparel, in corded cedar chefi:s 
 (perhaps original Indian packages) and other goods, from Sheba, Afliur, 
 and Chilmad, and from Haran, Canneh, and Eden, apparently trading 
 ports on the fouth coaft of Arabia §. And here it is proper to remind 
 the reader, that the Arabians, who furniflied the greatefl and mofl va- 
 luable part of the articles enumerated ||, appear to have been the only 
 traders from the Wefi:, whofe voyages extended to India in the early 
 ages <^. 
 
 * Tarfhifh appears here to he tlie fouth part of 
 Spain. I have inferted the Cartliagiiiiaiis ou the 
 authority of Jcrom's tranflatlon. 
 
 ■f Jerom's tranflation has alfo filk (' ferlcum'). 
 
 J The Greeks beh'eved, that Arabia was the 
 ■only conntiy which produced frankiiictnfe, inyrh, 
 cafia, cinnamon, and ledanum, which were carried 
 to Greece by tlic Phoenicians. \_Herodol. L. iii, 
 .-. IC7.] 
 
 J In the enumeration of places the firll Javan, 
 the name of Greece in the Bible, appears to be 
 difFticnt from the fccond Javan, which was proba- 
 bly in the fouth part of Arabia. And all the 
 places mentioned after it, except the paftoral part 
 of Arabia and Afluir, may be prefumed to have 
 been fituated in the fame commercial country, 
 whofe cxtenfive commerce with India and the 
 other oriental regions is defcribed by Ariftobulus, 
 Agatharchides, and the Ptriphis of the ]''.rythra;an 
 fea, many ages after, in a manner perfectly agree- 
 ing with the prtfcnt account. It is, moreover, 
 woithy of remark, how well Ezckicl's account of 
 the trade corrcfponds with the obftrvation of Aga- 
 tharciiides, that the Sahieans, the chief people of 
 llie fouth coall of Arabia, fupplied the Plucnici- 
 ano with tlie moll profital»c articles of their trade. 
 
 The reader, dilirous of information refpefting 
 tlie fevcral countries mentioned by K/.ckiel, may 
 confult Bochart, with the commentators on this 
 portion of \Svi iJiUle, and «n tlie icntli chapter of 
 Ccncfts. 
 
 II Strabo, [Z. xvi, ;!i. 1128] gives us the route 
 between Arabia and Phccnieia, as it was before the 
 oriental trade was in a great meafure engroffed by 
 the Greeks of Alexandria, viz. from Ltuke kome, 
 (White town), an emporium near the head of the 
 Red fea, to Petra the capital of the Nabatrean 
 tribe, and thenct to Rhinocolura (or Rhinocorura) 
 a port of the Mediterranean fea on the border of 
 Phccnieia adjoining to Egypt. And this appears 
 to have been the route by which the Tyrians re- 
 ceived the goods mentioned in the text, and the 
 greateft part of their India goods, which they 
 bought of the Arabians : for however high our 
 opinion may be of the mercantile and adventurous 
 fpirit of the Phoenicians, it is evident, that they 
 themfelves could not fail to India (nnlefs as paf- 
 fengers or charterers, which tlie Arabs probably 
 did not peimit) as they do not appear, from any 
 fuffieient authority, to have ever poifeifcd a firigle 
 harbour on the coall of the Ocean or any of its 
 gulfs, except tlie tenii)orary conjuntl ufe of one 
 in tlie reigii of Solomon king of Ifiael. 
 
 ^ It would by no means be extravagant to fup- 
 po(e that they traded to Ceylon, or even to the 
 countries and illands far beyuiid it (as it feems 
 doubtful If tlie befl: cinnamon has been in all agee 
 a native of Ceylon) as early as the days of Solo- 
 mon ; for no fuch fpices were knowi\ (in Jerufa- 
 lem) as thofe, whieh theipieen of Sheba prclenled 
 to Solomon. [// Chrnti. c. 9.] It was not pof- 
 fible, that a people of fuch comineicial and nauti-
 
 Before Chrifl; 585. 39 
 
 In this lively pidure we fee Tyre the center and the enlivening' foul 
 of a commerce, not lefs extenfive than the utmoll; limits of the then 
 known world, dircding and animating the operations of the merchants 
 and manufadurers in the rnofl diflant regions, and through their hands 
 difpenfmg to the induftrious, in every biifinefs and profellion through- 
 out the world, the bleflings of a comfortable and independent fuhfift- 
 ence for themfelves and their families ; or in a word, enriching all the 
 world by enriching herfelf, which is the grand and charaderilHcal dif- 
 ference between the acquifition of wealth by commerce, and the feizure 
 of it by conqueft. 
 
 Unhappily the vafl: wealth, which thus flowed into Tyre from all 
 quarters, brought along with it its too general confequence of extrava- 
 gant diflipation and diiToIutenefs of morals. 
 
 585 — The commercial prolperity of the Tyrians, hitherto almofl: un- 
 interrupted, now iuffered a fliort eclipfe. Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty 
 king of Babylon, fat down before the city with an innumerable army. 
 Though deprived of all fupplies from the adjacent country by the ene- 
 my, the command of the fea enabled the Tyrians to ftand out no lefs 
 than thirteen years againft a monarch, whole territories were at leafl a 
 thouiand times as extenfive as theirs. But feeing that it would be im- 
 poflible to repell fuch an unequal landed force from their walls, they 
 wifely availed themfelves of the fuperior value, which moveable pro- 
 perty in fuch an emergency has in the hands of a people poflefling the 
 command of the fea : and they came to the refolution of totally aban- 
 doning their city and territory on the continent, and eftablidiing them- 
 felves on a fmall iiland near the fliore. For this purpofe they kept up 
 the defence for many years, during which the new city was built, and 
 every valuable article removed to it. Then, after baffling the power of 
 the great conqueror of the Eaft during thirteen years, was the fiiell, or 
 carcale, of old Tyre abandoned to his exhaufled and difappointed army. 
 And from her alhes fprung up a new Tyre, which, like the imaginary 
 bird bearing her national name of Phoenix, was in all things the perfedl 
 refemblance of her parent, and with little or no interruption continued 
 in nearly the fame career of commercial profperity, till fhe in her turn 
 was fubjeded by the irreiiftible power of Alexander. 
 
 573 — The Egyptians difpleafed with the condud of their king 
 Apries, appointed Amafis to be king inftead of him. In his time Egypt 
 is laid to have contained 1,020 inhabited towns. Having more enlight- 
 ened ideas of commerce and maritime affairs than any of his predecef- 
 fors, he eftabliflied an emporium at Navicratis, a town on the weftern 
 or Canopic mouth of the Nile, to which he made traders of all nations 
 welcome, as the Chinele do now at Canton ; but, like his predecellor 
 
 cal knowlege and enterprise fliould fee the regu- availing themfelves of the advantages offered by 
 lar periodical changing of the monfoons without them to their navigation.
 
 40 Before Chrift 573. 
 
 Pfammitichus, he fhewed efpecial favour to the. Greeks, whom he a!* 
 lowed to fettle in fome other parts of his kingdom, while the veflels of 
 other nations, though driven by contrary winds into any of the prohi- 
 bited mouths of the Nile, were compelled to go to Naucratis, in which 
 alone they were permitted to tranfad: any bufinefs. His fleet was fuf- 
 ■ficientlv ftrong to extort a tribute from the Cyprians, though a mari- 
 time and commercial people. But as Egypt afforded no timber proper 
 for building any veflels better than thofe ufed in the inland navigation 
 of the Nile and the canals, the royal fleets of this king and his predecef- 
 fors muft have been built of imported timber, or more probably bought 
 ready-built from the Phoenicians. No eflforts, however, of the moft; en- 
 lightened of their kings could ever prevail upon the Egyptians to fub- 
 due their innate deteftation of the fea, and to take into their own hands 
 •the full pofleifion of the commercial benefits, to which they were invited 
 by their natural advantages, but which their unconquerable prejudices 
 threw into the hands of their wifer neighbours. Perhaps if they had 
 continued under their native kings, they would have feen the folly of 
 confining themfclves to a pallive commerce, when a mofl; extenfive ac- 
 tive commerce was fo very much in their power. But it was only in 
 the lafl ftage of their exiftence as an indq^endent nation, that they be- 
 gan to extend their views beyond their own country ; for foon after the 
 -death of Amafis, Egypt became a province of the Perfian empire ; and 
 from that time to the prefent day it has continued moftly under the do- 
 minion of foreigners. 
 
 In this age there flourlflied feveral philofophers, who eftabliflied regu- 
 lations which had an influence on the commerce, as well as on the po- 
 licy, of Greece, or who communicated to the Greeks, (from whom the 
 other nations of Europe received it) the firft knowlege of arts, which 
 by the improvements of later ages have facilitated navigation, and there- 
 by rendered efl~ential fervice to commerce. 
 
 The firfl; of thefe was Solon, the celebrated legiflator of Athens. That 
 commonv\'ealth was brought to the verge of ruin by the boundleis rapa- 
 city and cruelty of creditors, and the defpcration of debtors. By the 
 cxifting laws of Athens the former had a right to compell the fervices 
 of the later, and even to deprive them of their children, whom they ex- 
 ported as flaves. To thefe grofs enormities Solon put a flop by more 
 equitable laws, and he reduced the interefi: of money to tzvclve per cent*. 
 Tn confideration of the fuperior interefl:, which men of property have in 
 the national welfare, he decreed that the members of the fenate and the 
 arcopagus fliould be chofen from among fuch citizens as had eftates fuf- 
 ficient to make them independent, thus holding out to the induflrious 
 
 • It is. faiil lliat lie aifc rtllcvi.-il tlic Jcblors by crcditora fiifhiineil m) lofs. If Solon was fo im- 
 raifin^ t!ic nominal value of the mv.a from yj to prudent, it (hows that the priiiL-iplcs of mouey and 
 ; o drachmas, by vrliith racafurc, it is added, the commcrct.' were totally uiiknovvii.
 
 Before Chrlft 550. 41 
 
 the profpedt of obtaining honours above their prefent condition. The 
 value of trade began now to be known in Athens, as appears by one of 
 Solon's laws, whereby a fon, whofe father had ne;i,leded to teach him 
 any ufeful branch of induftry, was exempted from the obligation of 
 maintaining him when fuperannuated. Solon alfo introduced the 
 Egyptian law, which obliged all perfons to give an account every year, 
 how they acquired their livelihood, and he eftablifhed regulations againft 
 prodigality and idlenefs *. 
 
 Pythagoras, a native of the flourifhing ifland of Samos, pafTedthe ear- 
 ly part of his life in traveling for improvement. From the Chaldaeans 
 he learned aftronomy, from the Phoenicians arithmetic, and from the 
 Egyptians geometry. He taught the rotundity of the earth, and the 
 exiftence of the antipodes : and from fome hints, to be colled:ed from 
 Philolaus and fome others of his difciples, there is reafon to believe, 
 that he had obtained fome confufed idea of the real motion of the pla- 
 nets in our folar fyflem, as it was demonftrated in later ages by Coper- 
 nicus. But thefe notions of Pythagoras, or of his teachers, were only 
 the conjedures of ingenious men upon a fubjed: which engaged much 
 of their attention : they were far fhort of fcience founded upon experi- 
 ment and demonft ration. Deftitute of thefe only fupports of fcience, 
 and apparently contradided by the teftimony of the eyes, the true fyf- 
 tem of the univerfe, if it was indeed known, and faintly hinied to the 
 Greeks, by the Pythagorean philofophers, lay hid for many dark cen- 
 turies, during which, if any heaven-born genius happened to obtain a 
 glimpfe of the truth, the popes, who took upon themfelves to be the in- 
 fallible diredors of fcience as well as of religion, generally took care to 
 crufh in the bud every attempt to enlighten the human mind. 
 
 Anaximander, a Milefian and a difciple of Thales, firfl ihowed the 
 Greeks the ufe of the dial, and taught the dechnation of the ecliptic. 
 He exhibited in maps the form of the fea and the land ; and he even 
 conftruded a globe. Though thefe were great advances in the fcience 
 of geography, yet flill the progrefs of it among the Greeks was won- 
 derfully flow. 
 
 Nearly contemporary with thefe was Anacharfis, the celebrated Scy- 
 thian philofopher. Some authors afcribe to him the invention of the 
 potter's wheel, and of a fecond fluke for the anchor, hitherto made with 
 only one f . But the potter's wheel is mentioned long before this time 
 by Homer, and it is utterly incredible, that nautical improvements 
 fhould be invented by a man, who, from his fayings, recorded by Dio- 
 
 • How different was the anticommercial fyftem the two-fluked anchor, [bU.ntem) and to Ana- 
 
 of Sparta, whicli coiifined every man to the pro- charfis the harpagona, which is a hooked inflru- 
 
 feffion of his father, and configned agricukure, ment nf iome kind, but whether it may mean the 
 
 trade, and the ufeful arts, to the hands of flaves. grappling, vrhich boats have for an anchor, is un- 
 
 f Pliny [£. vii, c. J 6] afcribcs to Eupalamus certain. 
 
 Vol. I. F
 
 ^2 Before Chritt 550. 
 
 genes Laertius, profefled a great averfion to the fea j or that the Phoe- 
 nicians ihould not many ages ago have found out, that an anchor with 
 only one fluke had fcarcely a chance of taking hold of the ground. 
 
 550— THE BRITISH COMMERCE, 
 
 which in the prefent day animates the mofl diftaut quarters of the 
 o-lobe by the vaft extent of its operations, and covers the Ocean with 
 the innumerable multitude of its fliips, begins now to emerge from the 
 thick darknefs which had hitherto overwhelmed the tranfadions of the 
 Phoenicians and their colonifts with our iflands, by means of a faint 
 ray of light, proceeding from a poem upon the Argonautic expedition, 
 written by Onomacritus in the charader of Orpheus. This Grecian 
 poet leads his heroes over every part of the world known to him ; and, 
 in the courfe of their adventures in the Atlantic ocean, he makes them 
 pafs an ifland called lerne, which is apparently Ireland. The llory, 
 though ridiculoully abfurd, is a valuable document of the mofl: antient 
 commercial hiftory of Britain ; as it affords a flrong prefumption, that 
 Phoenician traders mufl have reforted to the Britifli iflands for a very 
 confiderable time, feeing that even the Greeks had obtained fome con- 
 futed idea of the exiftence of the mofl remote of the two principal Brit- 
 ifli iflands, which had tranfpired from fome of the Phoenicians of Gadir, 
 or the Carthaginians, the only Mediterranean navigators, by whom our 
 iflands could be vifited in early times *. 
 
 * The notion of an extenfive Iradi; carried on even in his time, 1[ three centuries after Herodotus) 
 
 with Britain by the Greeks in a very early age, though there was a coiifidcrrble trading intcr- 
 
 and of the Dritilli language being compoftd in a couifc with the people living on both fuies of the 
 
 great meafurc of words learned from tranfieiit Straits of Abydos, (now the Dardanelles) tliere 
 
 Grecian feamcn, (as if the Britons had till then were vciy tew who palfcd the Straits of Hercules ; 
 
 been deftitute of words to exprefs the moll com- there was little intercourfe with the nations living 
 
 mon objefts of nature) though taken up by fevetal in the extremities of Europe and Libya (or 
 
 authors of rcfpec^table abilities, in grateful parti- Africa) ; and the outer fea (the Atla.itie ocean) 
 
 ality to the Greeks, as tlic authors of feience and wasunknown, that istofay, unknowntotheGreeks, 
 
 literature to the other parts of Europe, appears to who knew the Straits of Abydos, for furely it was 
 
 be contradicted by Herodotus ; who, tliough he well known to tlie Phoenicians of Gadir. And 
 
 was the bell Grecian geographer of his age, and this obfcrvation of fo judicious and faithfid an a>i- 
 
 liad made every inquiry in his power, acknowleg- thor is a dccidve proof, that the trade to Tar- 
 
 <d, tliat he knew r^othing of the Caffiterides, (gc- teflus, fo accidentally Humbled upon by Cola'us, 
 
 ncrally agreed to have been I'.ic Sillcy ifles, or the was not kept up by the Greeks, and that there 
 
 fouth-wtll part of Britani) fuilher tlian that tin was no Grecian commerce ivith Britain. Strabo 
 
 was brought fiom them ; a clear proof that no alfo fays exprcfsly, [Z. \\\, p. 265] tiiat the Phcc- 
 
 Grceks had any dirid't intercourfe with them, nicians of Gadir monoj)ohzed the trade to the 
 
 Moreover he tcllV. us, that TartclTus, in the fouth Cafliterides, even after the Romans had vcffels on 
 
 part of Spain, near the weft entry of the Straits, the Ocean ; though he feenia therein to have lo!l 
 
 was an iintiicd and unknown emporium, when Co- fight of the trade carried on acrofs the Channel, 
 
 Ixusavrivedat it by accident 641 years beforeChrifl, which will be noticed in due tinic. 
 
 whicli it could fcarcely have been, if any Grecian Were it neceffary to add any further proof, it 
 
 vcliels had ever palfed it in the way to the Caffitcri- niiglit be obfervcd, that Timoflhcncs, Eratofthc- 
 
 dej, which, by every hypothefis, were fituated be- nes, and the wiitcrc before them, knew very little 
 
 yoiid the Straits. [HeroH. I., iii, c. 115 ; L. iv, of Spanifli or Gallic affairs, and ftill lefs of Ger- 
 
 0152.] Polybiusobfervee, [Z,. xvi, f.if.. I4]that, many, Britain, and the Gctic and Baftarnic na- 
 
 I
 
 Before Chrift 550. 4^ 
 
 It is impoflible to alTign a date to the commencement of the Britifli 
 commerce ; but the well-known adventurous fpirit of the Phocniciatas 
 may warrant a conjedure, that they made voyages to our iflands foon 
 after their fettlement at Gadir. As there was apparently no other coun- 
 try lying north or weft from Spain but the Britifh iflands, which pro- 
 duced tin, it has been generally allowed, that thofe which the Greeks, 
 in imitation of the Phoenicians, called the Kalfiterides, or Kattiterides, 
 {iflands of tin) were the iflands of Silley, or the fouth-weft extremity of 
 Britain. And thefe were firfl: difcovered by Midacritus*, a Phoenician 
 navigator, apparently of Gadir, whofe name this important difcovery 
 has immortalized. He found the iflands abounding in tin, an article 
 then fo very valuable, that his countrymen moft anxioufly concealed the 
 route to this new-found mine of wealth from all others ; and, for many 
 ages, they enjoyed the unrivaled and unknown monopoly of a very lu* 
 crative trade with the natives of the Tin-iflands, from whom they re- 
 ceived tin, lead, and hides, in exchange for earthen ware, brafen ware, 
 and fait f . [P///;. L. vii, c. 56 — Straho, L. in,p. 265.] From the cau- 
 tious fecrecy of the Phoenicians, it is very probable that the trade was 
 carried on for feveral centuries, before the moft diftant hint of the ex- 
 iftence of fuch a country could have reached any of the Greeks, who, 
 with their Roman tranfcribers, are unfortvmately the only authors now 
 remaining to condud; us through the deep obfcurity of antient Britifh 
 hiftoryj. 
 
 tions, as is obferved by Strabo. [Z. !!,/>. 149] authors, as the (late of the trade was much altered 
 
 Timollhenes was the commander of Ptolemy's before his time. 
 
 fleet, and wrote a book upon harbours ; and, it J In the early hiilory of Britain twa propofi- 
 
 may be fuppofed, he could know very little of tions have been aflumed as hillorie truths, which 
 
 thofe ill the Atlantic ocean. But Eratoftiienes ought previoufly to have been proved: — i) that the 
 
 was a man of extenfive learning and great in- tin ufed in all the countries adjacent to the Medi- 
 
 duftry ; and being librarian to Ptolemy Euergetes, terranean, was brought from no other part of the 
 
 he had the command of the grcatelt library in the vJorldhvA. the Cafliterides, which feems not to be 
 
 world, wiiich may well be prcfumcd to have con- true : — and, 2d) that the Caffitcridts were the 
 
 tained every Greek book worth tranfcribing. We iflands now called Siiiey, which, though much 
 
 may, therefor, be alTured, that, if any knowlege more probable than any other hypothells concern- 
 
 >)f the Britilli illands could have been found in the ing thofe iflands, flill is not abfolutely uncontro- 
 
 whole circle of Grecian literature, Eratolthenes vertible. 
 
 would neither have let it efcape him, nor negledl- The authority of Herodotus has been very un- 
 
 ed to make a proper ufe of it in a work profetTcd- fairly, or at leall very inadvertently, adduced, as 
 
 ly geographical. proving that all the tin ufed in the eaflera 
 
 * Buchart obfervcs, that Midacritus Is a Greek countries was carried from the Cafliterides. This 
 
 name ; and he fubflitutes for it the Phoenician name mifinterpretation of the words of Herodotus car- 
 
 i>f Melcartus : {_Geog. facra, L. i, c. 39] but, ries the commencement of the trade beyond the 
 
 granting this, the molt fanguine advocate for Brit- aera of Mofes, by whom tin is mentioned, [_Numb. 
 
 ifli antiqiu'ty cannot prefume to cany up the dif- c. 31] as it is alfo repeatedly by Homer. But fuch 
 
 covery of the Cafliterides to the age of that Mel- a fuppofition, totally unfupported by Herodotus, 
 
 cartus, or Hercules, who, according to the moft (See p. 42 note) is proved to be erroneous by feveral 
 
 antient Phoenician writer, Sanconiatho, lived in authors of good credit. Several parts of Spain pro- 
 
 the earlieft ages of the world. ducedtin and lead. \_Strabo, L. \\\, pp. 219, 22c— 
 
 t" Strabo mentions thefe exchanges in the pre- P/w./,. xxxiii, >:. 16 — Sttphan.Jeurb.'uo.TarteJJus.'] 
 
 fent tei/fe. But, I believe, he copies from antient Tin was found among the Drangae, a people near 
 
 F2
 
 44 Before Chrlfl 548. 
 
 ^48 The Lydiar.s have already been remarked as a civilized people, 
 
 who paid fome attention to commerce ; but it was chiefly oi that paf- 
 five kind which prevails in countries pofTeliing rich mines, where the 
 
 the head of the Indus, and in the province oi Nan- 
 kin in Chin:;. \_S!ri.io, L. r.v, p. 1055 — -D"'-'- •5'•'''• 
 L ii, (J 56 — Thevenot, V. ii, /. 127.] 'I iitre was 
 alfo anifl?nd in the Indian fea, called Cafiitcia, tor 
 its abundance ot tin. [Sltpha^i. de Kri.J The 
 iflard oi" Banca, on the call iide of Sumatra, pro- 
 ducts great quantities of e>icellent tin, which af- 
 foids a confidcrable revenue to the Dutch. 
 [^S.'aunton\- Account of an cmbajfy lo Chiiin, V. \, p. 
 30J ] ^/f/v. If it is the Caihtera of Sttphnrii'; ? 
 Ti'e opinions refpcding llie pofition of th^ Caf- 
 fittrides, may be reduced to three : — t ) that they 
 were fome finall iflands adjacent to Spain: — 2) 
 that ;hey were thufe now called the Azores, or 
 Wcftern iflands: — 3) that they were the Siiley 
 iflands, or the fouth-w eft extremity of Britain, or 
 perhaps both of thcfe. — But, i) no iflands near 
 the weft ccall of Spain, (which includes the mo- 
 dern Portugal ! are of any confequence ; nor is 
 there the fligiiteft authority for fuppofmg, that an) 
 of them ever produced tin : thougf, Don Joleph 
 Cornide, and fome other Spanifh writers, have, 
 witli great labour and ingenuity, but in direct con- 
 tradidtion to Pofidonius, Diodoius Siculus, and 
 Strabo, endi avoured to prove, that the Cafliterldes 
 were the fmall iflands on the weft coall of Spain, 
 which feem to be thofe called by Pliny \_L. iv, c. 
 22] the fix iflands of the gods, and diflinguifhed 
 from the Cafiitcrides. — 2) The Azores being 
 fituated in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, above 
 600 geographical milts from Spain without any 
 intervening land, it was abfolutely impoffihlc for 
 the bell of the aniient Mediterranean navigators 
 to find the way to or from them : and no one, 
 who adverts to the timid creeping courfcs of the 
 antients in the Mediterranean, (fee yife^ow/;;/ //r-r 
 marUt'num) wiien., if they ventured to lland acrols 
 out o! IJgl't ot land, lliey were fure of falling in 
 ■w\l\\ fome land on the oppofite cunliiient^ will lup- 
 pofe they would vcntuic to launch out in the 
 boundlefs ocean in fcarch of iflands, wliich if they 
 milTed, they would moft probably have been fwept 
 away by the trade-winds to the Weft-Indies. 
 E-'n modern navigators, witii all their fuperior 
 advantages of excellent inllrnnients, accurate cal- 
 culations, correal charts, and im). roved knowlege, 
 bcfi'lcs lofty malls which enable them to fee dif- 
 taiit lands, fometimcs mils iflands. How, then, 
 can we fuppole it podiblt, tnat tlie Azores could be 
 difcovered by the Romans, the moll ignorant and 
 awkward failors in the Mediterranean ; and they 
 were llill more ignorant and awkward in the Ocean, 
 as appears by their mifmanagement of Ca:far's 
 fl>ip» on the C'lft of Kent. Yet we know for 
 certain I'om Sfahi . [£ ' \, p. 275] that the Ro- 
 fr.an»,by perle/crin^ in repeated trials, which could 
 
 only be repeated coafting voyages in various direc- 
 tions, aftually difcovered the Caffiterides : and there 
 needs no better p:oof againll the identity'of the 
 CaiTiterides and the Azores, which, moreover, pro- 
 duce no tin, ncr have the hiialleft appearance of 
 havii-.g ever produced any. — 3) Though Herodo- 
 tus ri- iii) <■• lis] acknowltges his ignorance of 
 the iituation of the Caffiterides, yet he pretty evi- 
 dently claffes them with the unknown countries in 
 the northern parts of Europe. Pofidonius, an au- 
 thor copied by Strabo, [Z. iii, p. 219] and ap- 
 parently alfo by Diodorus Siculus, \_L. v, ^ 38J 
 fays, thut tin is produced in a country north of 
 Lufitania (Portugal), and in the Cafliterides, and 
 is alfo brought from the Britifli iflands to Maflilia. 
 — Diodurus \_L. v, i 2a] alio defcribes the peo- 
 pie near Belerium (Cape Cornwall) as the miners 
 and fellers of the tin, wherein he csattly agrees 
 with the defcription of the natives of the Caffiterides 
 in other authors. It is alfo worthy of remark, that 
 he gives them the charadler of being more civilized 
 than the other Briton;, in conftquencc of their in. 
 tercourfe with foreign merchants. — Dionyfius Pe- 
 riegetcs fays, \y. 561 j the wealthy fons of the il- 
 luftrious Iberians, dwc'l in the Helperides, the na- 
 tive country of tin, ( Hefperides, Oefti-ymnides, 
 and Cafliterides, appear to have been fometimes 
 ufed lynoiiymoufly. See Eiiflathii Commeni, in 
 Diony.t ) and he immediately palfcs to Britain and 
 Ireland. — Strabo [Z. ii, ^. i8i ; i. iii, p. 265] 
 defcribes tlie Caffiterides as producing cattle, tin, 
 and lead ; and i;e places them In the gieai ocean, 
 to the tiorlhxi-ard of the Artabrians, who occupied 
 the norih-well part ot Spain (now Gnllicia), and 
 in the fame climate, or latitude, with Britain.— 
 All thefe autliors wrote before the Ron-.ms began 
 to make any conquclls in Britain. — Pumponius 
 Meh [i. iii, c. i] places the Caffiterides in the 
 Celtic fea, which name can only apply to the fea 
 ailjacent to Gaul, BrI'.ain, and the north part of 
 Spain, tl'.e countries occupied by the Celtic nations. 
 — Feftus Rufus Avienus, in an account of the 
 Oeltrymnides, profefTedly taken from Himilco, the 
 Carthaginian difcoverer, is fo confufed and luigeo. 
 graphical, that it is impoffible to fix their fitua- 
 tioii. But the inention of the iflands of the Hi- 
 beriii, and Albiones, (apparently Ireland and Bil- 
 tain) as being near then , iheir mines ot tin and lead, 
 their leather boat?, the commercial fpirit of the 
 people, and the refovt of the Tartcll.ins, (Pheeni- 
 cians of Gai.ir) and ot the Carthagim.ms, aulwer fo 
 well to the dcleiiption.s of the Caffiterides by other 
 authors, and alio to the Sillcy iflinds, that we may 
 believe Richard of Cinicefto, (.ho, though a late 
 author, jet, wilting from Ron: an materials, may 
 be ranked among the antients) when lie fays,
 
 Before Chrift 548 — 543. 
 
 45 
 
 fovereign and the nobles, or proprietors of the mines, are enormoufly 
 rich, and the people in general milerably poor. Though the riches of 
 Croefus, king of I.ydia, have become proverbial, his fubjeds were con- 
 tent with very timple houfes ; for, in the royal city of .Sardis, the few 
 which had biick walls were thatched with reeds, and the great bulk of 
 the houfes were built of them entirely. This aatient andopulenr king- 
 dom, was now reduced by Cyrus, king of Perfia, to be a province of his 
 growing empire. But ftill the great nobles were allowed to retam their 
 wealth ; and we find mention of a Lydian in the following age, called 
 Pythius, who was efleemed the richeft man in the world, next to the 
 king of Perfia. [Hc/od. L. i, c. 84 ; L. v, c. lOi ; L. vii, c. 27.] 
 
 543 — The inhabitants of Phocaa, a Grecian city on the Afiatic 
 coaft, were a commercial people, and the firft of the Greeks who traded 
 to remote countries, performing their voyages in long veffels of fi/ty 
 
 \_L. i, c. 6] that the Sygdiles (Si)ley iflands) were 
 
 called aho Oellrymnides, ayd Oaffiti.TiiW.'j More- 
 over, in Richard's map the Pyicntan moi'iitains 
 run far into the fea, (as dircribeJ by Mela in his 
 account of Spain) rxtending to within about lOO 
 miles of the fonth-weft pait of Britain, and only 
 abont 60 from the fouth part of Ireland ; and the 
 Caffiterides arc fcattered at about equal didanccs 
 from all the three. 
 
 From an attentive confiderdtion of all circum- 
 ftances, I believe, it will appear moll probable, that 
 the Tin-idand's, or Caffiterides, of the antients 
 were the iilaiids of Silley, or the fouth-wcft part of 
 Biitain, which, being deeply indented by arms of 
 the fea, mull have appeared like ifl.inds to the firft 
 difcovcrers : or, perhaps, both thefe were included 
 under the fame general name. The Caffitcridei 
 being delcribed by Diodorus Sjcuhij, Stvabo, 
 P;lny, Ptolemy, and Solinns, as ajipendages of 
 Spain, or oppofue to it, need rot furprife or ftag- 
 gerany one who is accuftomed to the irregularity 
 of the antient geographers, tliongh Ptolemy even 
 goes fo far as to fix them by their precife latitude 
 and longitude within a fmall dillancc of the north- 
 weft part of Gpain, wlien we conlider that the 
 fame great geographer defcribes the Ebuda; (Weft- 
 em iflands of Scotland) as appendages of Ireland, 
 and very far diftant from that part of Scotland, 
 from which they are feparated only by narrow 
 founds ; that Pomponius Mela places Thule (Shet- 
 land) clofe upon the coaft of the Belgac, or near 
 the mouths of the Rhine; and tl'.at Strabo, the 
 bcft of the ancient geographers, defcribes Britain, 
 Ireland, and Thii!^, as appendages of Gaul, to fay 
 nothing of greater errors in his geography of coun- 
 tries nearer to his own. Neither is it a very ma- 
 terial ohjcftion, that fomc authors mention both 
 the Caffiterides and Britain, as producing tin, and 
 as uncoimeflcd with each other. For it is reafon- 
 able to fuppofe, that the name of Caffiterides (or 
 Tin-iflands) became obfolete when.the real name of 
 
 the iflands was known, ?.nd when the Cafiiterides, 
 after the deftriiSion of Carthage and the con- 
 queft of Spain by the Roman;-., being no longer 
 the great qmpcrinm of the tin trade, were lofl 
 fight of by writers ; though they ilill retained 
 their fnppofed place in geographical dcfcriptions, 
 and v/ere copied by every fuccceding geographer ; 
 as Fr:/eland, another ifland of dlfputable pofition, 
 has been in later times. The pofition of the Caf- 
 fiterides by Pofidonius, Diodorus, and Strabo, an- 
 fwcrs to no other place fo well as the fouth-weft 
 part of Britain, or Silley ; for there is' no other 
 land producing tin and lead, fituated in the lati- 
 tude of Britain, and to the northward of the narth. 
 weft part of Spain, and divided from it by the 
 Ocean, a name not to be applied to the channels 
 between the maiii land of Spain and the petty 
 iflands adjacent to it. For thefe reafons, though 
 the accounts of the Caffiterides be obfcnre, as may 
 be expefted of a relation coming down to us from 
 hand to hand by means of the later Greek writ, 
 ers, iubje(5ls of Rome, wherein the only people 
 qualified to give information had found an inter, 
 eft in withholding or perverting it, I venture ta 
 confider it as almoft certain, that the modern Corn- 
 wall, and the Silley iflands were the ftaple of the 
 firft foreign trade of the Britilh iflands, and were 
 called by the Phoenicians, the Tin-iflands ; and by 
 the Greeks, as foon as they heard of them, Cafii- 
 terides, or rather Kaffilerides, and Kattiterides ; 
 and it may be oblVrved, that the word is not ge- 
 nuine Greek, but Piioenician. See Bocharl, Gear. 
 facr. col. 650. 
 
 AVe need not fuppofe it impoffible, that Corn- 
 wall fliould be called by a name inferring it to be 
 an ifland, or iflands, when we rtcolled the name 
 of Pelopoiniefus, (the ifland of Pclops) in antient 
 Greece, and the iflands of Thanet, Fnrbtck, 
 Portland, and Dogs, in modern England, none of 
 which ai-e, ftrictly fpeaking, iflands. .
 
 46 Before Chrifl: 538. 
 
 oars, in the management of which they were very expert. Before this 
 time they had made voyages to both the coafts of Italy, to Kyrnos, (call- 
 ed by the natives, as now, Corfica) where they had lately fettled a co- 
 lony, to the fouth part of Gaul, and even to Spain. Encouraged by the 
 wonderfully-profperous voyage of Coloeus, they had even pafled the Pil- 
 lars of Hercules, and traded to Tarteflus, where they were received very 
 favourably by the king of the country, who, being defirous of bring- 
 ing a competition of traders to his dominions, and apprehending no 
 danger from ftrangers whofe only objedt was commerce, endeavoured 
 to attach the Phocseans by the offer of a tradl of land in his country. 
 This, however, they declined ; but, by the very advantageous trade, which 
 ihey carried on with the Tartcflians, their city flourifhed exceedingly, 
 till it was deflroyed by the army of Cyrus. 
 
 So determined were the Phocreans againft living imder fubjedion to 
 a foreign prince, that in the courfe of a day, which was g/anted them 
 by Harpagus, the Perfian general, to confider of a furrender, they em- 
 barked the whole of their families and all their property that was move- 
 able onboard their veflels, and left their empty city to be taken pollef- 
 lion of by the Perfians. Being difappointed by the jealoufy of the Chi- 
 ans of a fettlement in fome fmall iflands in the neighbourhood, they 
 again put to lea, and bound themfelves by an oath never to return to 
 their native country, till a large ftone, which they threw into the water, 
 fliould rife up and fwim upon the furface. In this fpirit they launched 
 out in the Mediterranean, and arrived at Corfica, where they fettled 
 among their countrymen, who had been eftabliflied there about twenty 
 years before. [^Hcrodot. L. i, cc. 163, 164, 165 'Jjijimi L. xliii, c. 3.] 
 
 538 — For above three centuries after the increal'e of their population 
 by the arrival of Elifla, the Carthaginians had advanced in a fteady, 
 quiet, and progreflive, augmentation of their commercial profperity, and 
 in that happy hiftorical obicurity, which infers, that they were not dif- 
 lurbed by wars of any confequence. The redundance of their popula- 
 tion during this period puflied abroad in peaceable commercial fettle- 
 ments*; and the illands of the Mediterranean, the north and fouth 
 fliores of all the weft part of that lea, and even the Ihores of the Ocean, 
 were overfpread and enlivened by Carthaginian colonies. From the 
 total deftrudlion of the Carthaginian records we are deprived of all know- 
 lege of the hiftory of thofe colonies, excepting fuch of them as happened 
 to come in coUifion with thole of the Greeks: and an inftance of that 
 kind now attrads the notice of hiftorians. The Phocaeans, who had lately 
 arrived in Corfica, became very troublefome neighbours to the former 
 
 • Tlie invitation of tilt Phocxans by the Tarttrf- they had, lie would have thereby been warned of 
 
 fian king to fettle in his ilominiiins fecms to infer, the danger to be apprehended from allowing fo- 
 
 that the Carllnginians had not begun to make any reigners to ellablilh tluinfelves too near him. 
 hoftile encroacUmcnts on the natives of Spain : if
 
 Before Chrifl 538. 47 
 
 inhabitants, among whom there was a colony of Carthaginians, and an- 
 ther of Tyrrhenians. In order to fupprefs the piracies of the Phocreans, 
 the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians provided a fleet, each of the allies 
 furnifhing fixty vefTels. The Phocjeans with a fleet, alfo of fixty veffcls, 
 met them in the Sardinian fea. In the engagement forty of the Pho- 
 caeans veflels were defl;royed or taken, and the remairiing twenty had 
 their roftra, or beaks, fliattered, and were rendered ufelefs. Notwith- 
 ftanding the original inferiority, and the almofl;-total defl;rudion of 
 the Phocaean fleet, the vidory is afcribed to them by Herodotus, (who 
 indeed calls it a Cadmean vidory) [Z. i, cc. 163-167] and fecmingly 
 alfo by Thucydides. [L. i.] But with all our veneration for the two oldeft 
 and mofl: refpedable of the Grecian hifliorians, it is impoflible for the 
 mofl: inattentive reader not to be ftruck with the grofs inconfiflencies of 
 this narrative. We are not told of any lofs fufl:ained by the allied fleet ; 
 and yet one hundred and twenty vefl^els were vanquiflied by the remain- 
 ing twenty Phoctean wrecks ! I fay nothing of the fuperiority, which 
 every thinking perfon will fuppofe, that the Carthaginians efpecially 
 mufl; have poflliflred in the conftrudion of their velfels, and in their 
 naval tadics, nor of the utter improbability of their being fo fliamefully 
 vanqulflied on their own element : neither do I lay any ftrefs upon the 
 fufpicious circumftance of three fleets, of fixty vefTels each, being fitted 
 out at the fame time, as if by a general agreement* ; but proceed to 
 confider the confequence of the battle, which was, that the furviving 
 Phocceans and their families with their remaining veflels abandoned the 
 ifland entirely, and found fettlements near the fouih end of Italy. This 
 is an inconteftible proof that the Phoca:ans were completely defeated ; 
 which, if it needs any corroboration, has the tefl:imony of Diodorus Si- 
 culus, who fays exprefsly, [L. v, § 13] that the Phocsans, after occupy- 
 ing the ifland for Ibme time, were expelled by the Tyrrhenians. 
 
 A colony of PhociEans, who, according to fome authors, were a de- 
 tachment of thofe who were expelled from Corfica, failed to the fouth 
 coafl; of Gaul, where they founded Maflilia {Marfeille), a city, which 
 has in all ages kept up a high charader as the leat of fcience, commerce, 
 and naval power f. [Strabo, L. iv, p. 270 — Mela, L. ii, c. 3 — 'Jj'Jlini L. 
 xliii, c. 3.] 
 
 The Tyrrhenians, Etrurians, Etrufcans, or Tufcans, appear, from the 
 hints to be found in antient autliors, to have poflTefl^d the greateft part, if 
 
 * Neither have I troubkd the reader with the that it was built by a Phocian colony in ir.ore an- 
 
 miracle, which followed as a luitable appendage to tier.t times, as related by Jullin, and that the refu- 
 
 this wonderful vi3ory, which in its circumltances is gees from Corfica made fo confiderable an additiott 
 
 very like a ftory extracted from Philinus by Poly- to the original colony, that their arrival was after- 
 
 bius as a glaring inftance of partiality. wards confidered as the commencement of the 
 
 •)- Eufebius, probably following Timxus, dates ftatc, which appears to have been alfo the cafe 
 
 the foundation of this flourifhing commercial city with fome other communities. Herodotus, though 
 
 in the forty-fifth olympiad, or, about 600 years willing to do all the honour in his power to tlit 
 
 before the Chviftiijn a^ra. It is indeed probable PliQCxans, has not a word of Maflilia.
 
 48 Before Chrift538. 
 
 not the whole, of Italy before the Trojan war. They fent colonies into the 
 neighbouring iflands, and were fovereigns of the fea in a very early age. 
 [Diod. Sicul. L. i, § 68 — Liv. Hijl. L. v, c. ^t,.^ The cities of Pifa, and 
 Labron or Liburn-um, which retain their original names, with little or 
 no variation, to the prefent day, the later being now called Livorno 
 (and by ns Leghorn) and which were among the moft profperous 
 trading communities in the middle ages, were two of the many flourifh- 
 ing cities founded by them in very remote times. Their alphabet is 
 thought by fome learned men to be the mod antient ofallthoie where- 
 of ipecimens have come down to us. The arts and fciences were culti- 
 vated to an aftonifliing degree of perfedion among them, as appears by 
 innumerable fpecim^ens, flill remaining in many cabinets in Italy and 
 elfewhere*. And as it is known that they were powerful at fea and had 
 many colonies, it is at leaft probable that they carried on a. confide i able 
 commerce f. It w^as from them that the Romans learned the art of 
 war, and, in fliort, all the knowlege that they acquired previous to their 
 conquefl of Greece. 
 
 The kingdom of Babylon had flouriflied for fome centuries in 
 great fplendour and opulence ; but, from want of records, the fources 
 of its wealth are unknown to us. It vfas now fubjeded by Cyrus, whofe 
 dominions were more extenfive, and his power much greater, thanthofe 
 of any monarch who had ever lived before him. The only action of 
 his life, falling within the plan of this work, was an eftablifhment fimi- 
 lar to the modern poft, whereby the moft fpeedy intelligence was con- 
 veyed throughout the whole extent of his vaft empire. It is probable, 
 that the goodnefs of the roads, and the houfes of accommodation for 
 travelers at convenient diftances, \vere owing to this inftitution of Cy- 
 rus. Of thefe houfes, which are, perhaps, the fam.e which are now call- 
 ed carvanferais, there were one lumdred and eleven between Sardis, the 
 capital of Lydia, and Sufa, the refidence of the Perfian kings, on a road 
 of 450 parafangs, or 13,400 Greek ftadiaj, which are nearly equal to 
 1,340 geographical miles. [Herod. L. v, c. 52.] 
 
 • A very great varieiy of fpecimens of their Roman writers, vvlio have tranfiiiitted to us a few 
 
 fculpiure and pottery may l)C tctn in the mimcrous fragments of their hillory, tikcn from Etrurian au- 
 
 jilntis of Dempder's Eiruria regulis and Gori's thors or from tradition, what httle wc know of it 
 
 Mifium Eirujcum. A moll magnificent difplay of is totally dellitute of chronology. Every thing 
 
 the Etrufcan art^ from the niufeum of Sir William tiiat could be colleifud concerning this extiaordi- 
 
 Hamillon has fincc been publiflied by Mr. D'Han- nary people may be iouud in DeinpHci's elaborate 
 
 carville. And improved copies of many Etrufcan work De F.tniria regali. 
 
 Tafe», &c. iiave lately been made in England by f Homer is laid to have vifited the coalls of 
 
 Mr. Wedgwood. Spain and Etruria in a Grecian trading veiTcl. 
 
 The very remarkable proficiency of the Etruri- \_lier(Hhli I'lia Homeri.'\ It was a cullom in E- 
 
 ans in almoll all the arts at a time when the light of truria to Inbjedl bankiupts to the feorn of the 
 
 fclence was but dawning in Greece, and every boys, who, ran after them witli empty purfcs in 
 
 ollur part of Europe was fuiik in barbariftii, gives tlieir hands. \_litriic/iil. Punt. ap. Alhcn.~\ Such 
 
 oonfidcrablc probability to the opinion of tlieir a cullom mull have been aii excellent remedy 
 
 Afialic origin, whether the J^ydians, or the Phoe- againll voluntary bankruptcy. 
 
 nicians, or bolii, were their ancedors. As llicir \ Tiieft numbers arc the totals as given by Ple- 
 
 cmpire declined long before the age ©fany of the rodotus. Owing to tirors of tranfcribers there is
 
 Before Chrlfl; 524. 49 
 
 524 The conquefls of Cyrus having reduced Tyre and the neigh- 
 bouring Phoenician communities to a ftate of vaflalage, the whole of 
 their fhipping was thenceforth hable to be preffedintQ the fervice of the 
 Perfians, who had no naval force, but what they obtained from thfeir 
 vaffals and allies, Cambyfes, the fon and fucceflbr of Cyrus, having 
 conquered Egypt, and thinking himfelf capable of governing the whole 
 world, ordered the Phoenicians to proceed to Carthage, and to reduce it 
 under his obedience. But they, though his vaflals and tributaries, had 
 the courage to refufe obedience to his order, alleging how impious it 
 would be in them to attack their own colony : and Cambyfes did not 
 venture to provoke the refentment of thofe in whofe hands his only na- 
 val ftrength lay, by infixing upon their compliance. Thus were the 
 Carthaginians refcued from the calamities of war, perhaps from ruin, by 
 the only confiderable naval force in the world, befides their own, being 
 in the hands of their friends. Happy would it have been for thePerfian 
 land forces, if they alfo had been incapacitated from undertaking the ex- 
 peditions commanded by their frantic fovereign. The main divifion of his 
 army, with a mofl aftonifliing perfeverance of obedience, attended him 
 in an expedition againft Ethiopia, till they were driven to the dreadful 
 necelTity of devouring a tenth part of their own number. The other 
 part of the army, being ordered to deftroy the temple of Jupiter Am- 
 mon, penetrated into the defert on the weft fide of Egypt, and were 
 never more heard of; the probable fuppofition being, that they were 
 all, to the number of fifty thouiand men, buried alive under the drifting 
 fands. 
 
 The Carthaginians, happily fituated beyond the reach of the defolat- 
 ihg fwords of the conquerors, who fuccellively overturned the empires 
 ofAfia, had probably, during fome ages, enjoyed a ftate of general 
 tranquillity and commercial profperity *. Here, therefor, I propofe to 
 colled fuch notices of their manufa6lures, commerce, and nautical dif- 
 coveries, as I have been able to glean from the authors of antiquity, 
 though I cannot pretend to place them in chronological order. 
 
 It is reafonable to believe, that moft, if not all, of the manufactures 
 of Sidon and Tyre were tranfplanted to Carthage : and even the fcanty 
 and malicious notices of their eiiemies univerfally acknowlege the fuper- 
 iority of the Carthaginians in works of tafte and elegance. Their coins, 
 fome of vv^hich are preferved in cabinets and copied in engravings, are 
 the only fpecimens of their workmanfliip, which the preient age can 
 
 a difagrecment between them and the particulars, civil wars, and that, to appeafe tlie offended deities, 
 
 which has puzzled the commentators. Some of they had lecourfe to the abominable wickednefsof 
 
 the ftages are evidently omitted. odering human facrjtices, not Iparing even their 
 
 * At lead fo we may infer from the filence of own children. But all Roman caluir.nics upon 
 
 the Greek and Roman authors, who thought no- Carthage mull be read uith dillruli : and Jiiftin's 
 
 thing worthy of being recorded but war and ilaugh- civil wars are apparently c<;atradii"ted by ihe fu- 
 
 ter. Jullin, indeed, fays [i. xviii, r, 7] that the perior authority of Arillotle. {_De repub. L, ii, 
 
 Carthaginians were afflitled with the pcltilence and c. 1 1.] 
 
 Vol. I. G
 
 50 Before Chrift 524. 
 
 polTibly fee ; and they are equal to be the beft produdions of the Greek 
 and Roman mints, when they had attained the higheft degree of perfec- 
 tion in fculpture and pidlurefque reprefentation. 
 
 The women of that part of the Carthaginian territory, which was 
 near the lake Tritonis, wore goat-llvins ftained red. Perhaps the beau- 
 tiful leather, which we call Morocco, is a continuation of the fame ma- 
 nufaclure *. The Zygantes, another African nation, beiides having 
 plenty of the honey prepared by bees, had a much greater quantity made 
 by the hands of men, which mufl have been fugar (perhaps not brought 
 to a grain) prepared from the liquor of the fugar-cane ; [Herod. L. iv, 
 cc. 189, 194] and this is, I believe, the very firft notice of fugar to be 
 found in hiftory f . 
 
 We know few particulars of the fhips of the Carthaginians, which, we 
 may, however, be affiired, could be nothing inferior to the very beft then 
 in the Mediterranean fea ; as they were acknowleged by Polybius [L. i, 
 cc. 7, 16, 20] to be poflell'ed of hereditary pre-eminence in nautical 
 fcience, and the undifputed dominion of the fea. Their ftiips carried 
 carved figures on their heads or their fterns, as fliips do now, and as pro- 
 bably the {hips of other nations did then. According to Ariftotle, they 
 were the firft who raifed their fhips of war from three to four rows of oars. 
 
 They appointed two commanders to every fhip, the fecond being to 
 fucceed the principal in cafe of death. This fecond officer feems an- 
 fwerable to the mates in our merchant fliips, or the fecond captains of 
 the French. The appointment being noted as a fingularity of the Car- 
 thaginians by ^lian, {Va?: hijl. L. ix, c. 40] it may be prefumed, that 
 other nations had no fuch eftablifhment for fecuring afucceflion of com- 
 mand, and, indeed, there is no fuch fecond officer mentioned in that 
 part of the Rhodian law (even when aflumed in later times into the Ro- 
 man code) which affigns the fliare, or pay, of each man onboard a fhip, 
 the pilot being therein rated next after the commander. 
 
 The Carthaginians were well acquainted with the advantages of con- 
 ftrudling harbours, or wet docks, completely flickered from the violence 
 and ravages of the fea, by digging them entirely out of the main land, 
 
 * The maiuifai^iire of Morocco leather in tliofe was no other than fugar, is pretty ccitaiii from the 
 
 parts of Africa was noticed in the early part of the uniform ptaftice of the Greek and Roman writers, 
 
 fourteenth century by Abulfeda, and in the com- who had no other word than honey to exprefs 
 
 menccrrcnt of the lixteejith by Leo Africanus ; fugar, till they got the gcmiine name of faccbar 
 
 and alfo in modern times in the Proceedings of the from the lialt. The learned Cafaiibon, in his note 
 
 /Ifrican ajjbcialion, and in PnrPs Travels. on the padagc of Strabo, [Z. xv, p. 10163 where 
 
 ■\ This information, being undoubtedly derived Neaichus iji quoted, has collected a variety of in- 
 to Herodotus from the Carthaginians, may be fair- ilances of the name of honey being applied to fugar, 
 ly prefumed to carry the fadl to at leaft 500 years when it is exprefsly faid to be made from canes: and 
 before the Chrillian a.ra, and is therefor above the canes thenifelves were called honey canes (' can- 
 200 years older than the mention of fugar by na; mellis') by the writers of the middle ages, when 
 Ncaichus, or that by Theophralliis, which is fome- they were beginning tobc cultivated in Euiope. See 
 times adduced as the catlieil notice of it. Falcandi liijl. SictiL col. 2jS, up. Muratori Script. 
 
 That the fubftance, mentioned by Herodotus, /' vii.
 
 Before Chrifl 524. 51 
 
 and fecuring them by walls, quays, or keys, for their veflels to He at 
 wiien loading and difcharging : and they called fuch harbours by an ap- 
 pellation, which has come dovvn to us under the hellenized name of Ko- 
 thon or Cothon *. \Strabo, L. xvii, />. 1190, ed. 1707 — Servius in Virg. 
 JEn. L. i, V. 431.] 
 
 Wc are told by the orator Ariflides, who lived fo late as the fecond 
 century of the Chriftian aera, that the Carthaginians had a kind of mo- 
 ney made of leather. As they furely were not in want of the pretious 
 metals, I'uch leather money mud have been a kind of promilTory tickets 
 or notes, fomewhat of the nature of modern bank notes. 
 
 The Carthaginian territory, which comprehended the north front of 
 Africa from the Straits to the border of Cyrenaica, a province of the 
 Macedonian kingdom of Egypt, was remarkably fertile ; and we may be 
 fure that the cultivation of it was not neglededf . The produce otibmc 
 parts of this extenfive coafl was fo luxuriant, that the Carthaginians 
 jealoufly prohibited ftrangers from landing, left the fight of fo delightful 
 a country fhould allure them to attempt making fettlements on it. Ee- 
 lides furnifhing corn and other proviiions for the capital city of Car- 
 thage, and many other great towns on or near the coaft, this rich coun- 
 try fupplied corn and other articles in great abundance for exportation. 
 South froni it lay the boundlefs interior country of Africa, which ap- 
 pears to have been better known to the Carthaginians, than it is now to 
 us amidft the blaze of difcoveries, of written and of printed informa- 
 tion : and there can be little doubt, that they carried on an extenfive, 
 and mutually-beneficial, trade with the fwarthy inhabitants of thofe vaft 
 regions if. 
 
 * The conftruflion of wet doekshas been revived have fome mutilated tranflations or fragments, 
 
 in the prefent age ; and it is one of the antient arts, Phih'nus, CHtomachus, Eumachus, Proclcs, and 
 
 of which the moderns have afi'iimed the lionour of the great Hannibal. The works of Charon, a 
 
 being the original inventors. It is, however, very Cartiiaginian hiftorinn, who, we are told by Suidas, 
 
 probable, that the method of locking in the water dcfcribcd the tyrants of Europe and Afia, and 
 
 by gates is a modern improvement, and a very ca- wrote the lives of ilhiftrious men and women, if 
 
 pital one, on the Carthaginian wee duck. they had come down to us, would have been a 
 
 ■f Mago, a Carthaginian author, wrote a tre atife moil valuable addition to our ftock of antient hif- 
 
 on agriculture, wliich was thought worthy of be- tory, efpecially as an antic'ote to Grecian and Ro- 
 
 jng preferved, when all the other books found in man miiVeprcfentation. The excellent comic poet- 
 
 the libraries of Carthage were prefented to the Af- Terence, though ranked among Roman writers, 
 
 rican princes, and being tranflated into Latin un- was a native of Carthage. 
 
 der the authority of the Roman fenate. He is It cannot be thought foreign to the plan of this 
 
 quoted by Varro, Columella, and Pliny. Leo Af- work juft barely to obferve here, that the coniti- 
 
 licanus defcribes a book, extant in his time (A. D. tution of Carthage was eftecmed one of the moll 
 
 1506) in Barbary, called the Thcfnurtis of agricul- perfett in the world by fo great a mailer in the 
 
 ture, which had been tranllated from the Latin fcience of politics as Arillotle ; who remarks, that 
 
 when Manfor was king of Granata. \_Leo Jlfri- there had never been any commotion fo violent as 
 
 canus, p. 80, ed. El%. 1632.] Qiierc, if this might materially to didurb the public tranquillity, or to 
 
 be the work of Mago, returned to Africa, where enable any tyrant to fupprtfs the hberty of the peo- 
 
 it would be more ufeful than in Italy? pie, and ellablilh arbitrary povv-er. \^Arifl. de repub. 
 
 Some of the other Carthaginian writers, whofe Z. ii, c. II.] 
 
 names only have efcaped the wreck of time, were, % We may prefume, that they had commercial 
 
 ^elides Hanno and Himilco of whofe works we jntcrcourfe with the Negroes, before th.eyemploved- 
 
 3 G 2
 
 f 2 Before Chrift 524. 
 
 With refpect to the commerce of the Mediterranean, which the other 
 Phoenician communities, the Greeks and their colonies, the Tyrrhen- 
 ians, and the reft of the inferior trading nations, fliared with them, we 
 know few or no particulars, further than that after the decline of Tyre 
 the greateft part of it was in the hands of the Carthaginians. The 
 fliores and iflands of the weftern half of that fea had been in a great 
 meafure fettled by their own colonies, or thofe of their Tyrian ancef- 
 rors, before the Greeks began to extend their navigation and colonies to 
 Sicily and the fouth part of Italy. 
 
 We learn from Strabo, [X. iii, p, 265] that the Phcenicians of Gadir 
 were the firft who traded to the Cafiiterides, and that they carefully 
 concealed the route to them from all other navigators. It follows of 
 courfe, that thofe iilands were unknown to the Carthaginians for at 
 leaft fome time. The Carthaginians, vexed to fee themfelves outdone 
 in any point of commercial knowlege or enterprife, defirous of (baring 
 in the advantageous trade of the Cafliterides, and eager to difcover the 
 whole extent of the world, ordered two voyages of difcovery to be un- 
 dertaken at the fame time. They feem to have known nothing of the 
 fituation of the country they wiflied to find, except that it was beyond 
 the Straits in the Ocean ; but as all iflands, acceflible to the antient na- 
 vigators, muft have been in fight of other lands, they concluded, that by 
 exploring the coaft of the Ocean both northward and fouthward, it muft 
 certainly be difcovered. Therefor they ordered Himilco to direct his 
 courfe northward from the Straits, and Hanno to purfue the oppofite 
 courfe along the weftern ftiore of Africa. Both commanders executed 
 their orders ; and both publifiied accounts of their difcoveries. That of 
 Himilco was extant in the fifth century, when fome extradls of it were 
 inferted in a geographical poem by Rufus Feftus Avienus, from which 
 we learn that he arrived in rather lefs than four months at the iflands 
 of the Oeftrymnides (which were two days fail from the large facred 
 ifland inhabited by the Hibernians^ near to which was the ifland of the 
 
 them as mercenai-)' foldicrs ; and they had them in nor vvhcrefor, to explore the defert, is quite im- 
 
 ihat capacity in their army in Sicily about 480 probable ; whereas, if we compare it with the 
 
 years before Chrill. \^Fronlir.i Htral. L. i, c. 11.] knowlege, which, it appears from Herodotus and 
 
 Herodotus [_L. ii, c. 32] deferibcs a great river other antient authors, the Carthaginians had of the 
 
 on the fouth (ide of the African defert, running continent of Africa, we need not htfitate to afcribe 
 
 from "wcjl to cojl, and a city on its banks inhabited tlie difcovery of the River Niger to their trading 
 
 by Negroes. This river we now know to be the caravans It mutt be obfcrvcd, that this great ri- 
 
 Nigcr. But its courfe was rcvtrfed by fncceeding ver is ca'led Nil-ilabeed, and that the Mauritanian 
 
 writers, who affirmed that it ran ivejl to the At- prince Juba, as quoted by Ammianus Maicellinns, 
 
 lantic ocean ; and it remained a fubjcrt of doubt fixes the head of the Ni e on the authority of Phac- 
 
 and ditputc, till the late laborious and dangerons nuian informatwn, in the wclk part of Africa, as 
 
 journey of Mr. Park added a new proof of the fu- Ptol i-.iy aifo does tho(e of two rivers, which he 
 
 perit>rity of the information conveyed to us by the calls GIr and Nigir. The Gir, lie obferves, is faid 
 
 venerable tather of hillory, which, tiicrc can be to he abforbed at the caflcrn extremity of its 
 
 little doubt, canie to iiim from the Carthaginians: couil- ; but he fays nothing of the termination of 
 
 for the (lory, received by him through a long fe- the Nigii. His two riveis ruiining t(j the eaft aie 
 
 ties of rrlatora of various nations and languages, of apparently taken from diffirvnt accounts of the 
 
 five rcUlefs young iqin having fet out from the one grefit inland river of Africa. 
 
 country of the Nafamoiict, they knew not whither 4
 
 Before Chrift 524. 
 
 53 
 
 Albions) where they found copious mines of tin and lead, and an high- 
 fpirited and commercial people, who ufed boats covered with leather. 
 This defcription, though the pofition of the iflands is defcribed in a 
 manner remarkably obfcure, anfwers to no other country io well as 
 our Britif}) iflands ; and it is extremely probable, that Himilco eftablifh- 
 ed a Carthaginian colony, and fettled the firfl commercial intercourfe 
 between Britain and Carthage *. 
 
 The objedl of Hanno's voyage being to make difcoveries.and eflablifh 
 colonies, on the weft coafl of Africa, 30,000 people embarked with him 
 in 60 fhips of 50 oars each f. On various parts of the coafl he founded 
 at leaft feven towns, or trading pofts, whereof the fartheft, reckoned as 
 many days' courfe beyond the Straits as Carthage was within them, was 
 on a fmall ifland lying in a bay, to which he gave the name of Kerne 
 (or Cerne), and apparently that which is now called Mogadore %. From 
 
 * DIonyfius Periegetes [y. 563I defcribes the 
 iflands of the Hefperides (which he feemiiigly 
 places near to Britain) as ' the native country of 
 ' tin, inhabited by the wealthy Ions (or defcend- 
 ' ents) of the illullrious Iberians,' who were ap- 
 parently the people defcribed by Skylax and Avi- 
 enus, as living near Gadir, befide the lefTer river 
 Iberus, now Rio Tinto in Andaluiia. From the 
 antient Iberians Tacitns conjeftures the Silures 
 (the old inhabitants of South Wales) to be de- 
 fcended. \_Fit. Agric. c. II.] The cin'ef ifland of 
 the duller near the fouth-well extremity of Bri- 
 tain is called Sigdells in Antonine's Maritime Iti- 
 nerary, Silura by Solinus, \j. z\\ Sillins by Sul- 
 picius Severus, [/.. iij and is now called tJilley. 
 Avienus fays, \Ora maritima, v. 113] that the 
 Tartefians ( fo he calls the people of Gadir) were 
 accuitomed to trade to tlie Oeilrymnidcs, and he 
 then adds, that the huftjandmen or planters (' co- 
 ' /oni') and people of Carthage alfo went to them, 
 which icems to infer the edablifliment of a per- 
 manent colony. It appears extremely probable, 
 that Hefperides, Oeftrymnidcs, and Caifiterides, 
 are but different names of the fame duller of 
 iflands, the chief one of which got the name of 
 Silura, Silleni, or Silley, which name now com- 
 prehends the whole : and, if fo, Avienus perfetlly 
 agrees with Strabo, who fays that the firtl voyages 
 were made to thefe iflands from Gadir. 
 
 The Icltlement of a colony of farmers mull have 
 required a more extenfive territoiy than the Silley 
 iflands, tliough they may perhaps have been much 
 largei- formerly than now. [See IVhitiikcr's Hij}. 
 of Manchefltr, pp. 385, elfeqq, where in p. 392 by 
 ' one tadam water' we mull underlland one fathom 
 oi depth, and not oi breadth.'} The probability of 
 Inch a lettlement corroborates the fuppofltion, that 
 the Phcenidans of Gadir and Carthage confidered 
 the extremity of the main land of Britain as a part 
 of the iflauds. [See above, p. 45, Note.] 
 
 Ocampo, a Spanifli author, has compofed a 
 
 Routlere of Himilco's voyage : but, as his only 
 foundation is the obfcure and mutilated work of 
 Avienus, it is almoll needlefs to fay, that it can 
 only contain ingenious conjefture in place of fatis- 
 fadtory elucidation. 
 
 f Of Hanno's voyage we have only a Greek 
 tranflation, or rather abridgement. We may 
 therefor fufpedl the number of people to be erro- 
 neous, as it is not probable that fo many would 
 embark before the coafl; was explored, the fl;ations 
 for the new coionifts chofen, and the plan of the 
 emigration and fettlement ducly arranged. As 
 the numbers Hand, the veflels mufl; have carried 
 500 perlons each, befidcs provifions, materials for 
 building, and other bulky llores. Mr. Le Roy 
 endeavours to account for the great number of 
 pallengers in each fliip by obferving, that not many 
 days elapfed before the number was lefTened by the 
 fettlement of Thyniiaterium, that in a fliort time 
 all the propofed fettlers were landed, and that, as 
 they undoubtedly failed in the finefl; feafon of the 
 year, the people would find no Incovenlence in liv- 
 ing upon deck. \_Navim des anciens, p. 192.] 
 
 \ Polybius, who failed along the coall, defcribes 
 Kerne \_np. Plin. L. vi, c. 31] as oppofite to 
 Mount Atlas, and about a mile from the main 
 land ; and wltli him Ptolemy nearly agrees, who 
 plainly places Kerne north from tlie Fortunate 
 iflands or Canaries. Thefe marks, and the con- 
 fideration, that the Carthaginians would probably 
 not make as much real dillance on an unknown, 
 as on a known, coaft, may almofl: fix the much- 
 contelled pofition of Kerne, which can anfwer to 
 no other place fo well as the little ifland of Moga- 
 dore, the harbour of which is a fmall bay between 
 it and the cor^il of Morocco. It is wonderful, tiiat 
 men of learning, with the clear evidence of Poly- 
 bius and Ptolemy, and fome other antient anthors, 
 before their eyes, (hould let their fancy run fo wild, 
 as to take the confiderable ifland of St. Thomas, 
 almoll under the equinoftial line, or Madeira, alfo
 
 ^4 Before Chrift 524. 
 
 Kerne Hanno proceeded fouthward along the coaft inhabited by the Ne- 
 groes for twenty-lix days, during which, according to the computation 
 of a day's courfe by Herodotus, he may have run i ,820 miles, or i ,300, 
 as Skylax calculates the courfe. In his way he difcovered lome iflands, 
 two days' courfe from the continent, called Gorillas by Hanno's inter- 
 preters, and by later writers Gorgades, and apparently the fame which 
 have been alfo called the Hefperides, the Fortunate iflands, and Cana- 
 ries *, being the only iflands of any confequence vifible from the main 
 land of Africa f . 
 
 an ifland of fomc extent and too far from the coaft 
 to be reached by the anticnt navigators, or even 
 the vaft ifland of Madagafcar on the cajl fide of 
 Africa, for Kerne, a fmall ifland of a few furlongs 
 in circumference on the wejl lide of that continent. 
 But, unfortunately men of great learning are fonie- 
 times very bad geographers. — In the year 1765 
 the emperor of Morocco appointed Mogadore to 
 be the port for the foreign trade of his dominions. 
 
 * Some modern authors fnppole the Biffago, or 
 Biflao, iflands near the Rio Grande, and others, 
 the ifland of St. Thomas, to be the Gorillas. 
 
 f Several attempts have been made to fix the 
 ira of the voyages of Himilco and Hanno, which, 
 proceeding upon erroneous principles, muft have 
 erroneous conclufions. Becaufe Hanno and Hi- 
 milco are mentioned together as Carthaginian ge- 
 nerals in the time of Agathocles, a Sicilian king 
 about 32G years beforeClirift, thcfe naval command- 
 ers muft be the lame. Becaufe Pliny has faid, that 
 thefc voyages were performed, when the Cartha- 
 ginians were in great profpcrity, and the Cartha- 
 ginians had fomc fuccefs in a war againil Agatho- 
 cles, that muft furely be the time. Tlie obvious 
 objcftion to the firft argument is, that Hanno and 
 Himilco were names as common in Carthage as 
 John and Tiiomas arc in this country ; and to the 
 fccond, that the Carthaginians enjoyed great prof- 
 pcrity for feveral centuries, before they were known 
 to the writers of Home, in wliofe ideas profptrity 
 confilled in working the milery of millions. 
 
 The account of Hanno's voyage is quoted in the 
 work upon mari'el/ous things, afcribcd to Ariftotle, 
 but with more probability believed to be the com- 
 poGtion of his pupil Theophralhis, who flouriflicd 
 about 300 years before the Chriftian irra. — From 
 Herodotus we learn, that the Carthaginians car- 
 ried on a trade with the natives of the weft coaft of 
 Africa (which will be noticed prefently) apparent- 
 ly founded upon the difcoveries of Hanno, wiiich 
 mnrt: liave thus been before the age of Herodotus. 
 — Si-veral of ihe towns built by Hanno, and fomc 
 particulars of the trade carried on with the Negroes, 
 apparently at thofc towns, arc mentioned in the 
 geographical work, which we have under the name 
 of Skylax. If it v ere certain tliat thofc parts of 
 the work were the ijcnuinc compofition of that 
 bkylax, who wa's in tlie fcrvice of Dariu? Hyft.if- 
 
 pes, the voyages of Hanno and Himilco muft have 
 been performed at lealt 500 years before Chrift. — 
 It is very probable, that the name of lerne, men- 
 tioned by Onomacritus about 550 years before 
 Chrift, (fee above, p. 42) was derived from an ac- 
 count of Himilco's voyage ; as we may believe, 
 that the Carthaginians were more frequently in the 
 harbours of Greece and the Grecian part of Sicily 
 than any other Phoenician navigators, to whom the 
 Britifli iflands were known. A pafTage of Strabo 
 [X.i,/i.83] feems to carry Hanno's difcovtry feveral 
 centuries higher, for, fays he, • People talk of 
 ' Minos's command of the fea, and the navigation 
 ' of the Phoenicians, whoyoo« after the Trojan war 
 ' proceeded even beyond the Pillars of Hercules, 
 • and built towns there and on the middle of the 
 ' coaft of Africa.' As he clafles thefe voyages 
 with thofe of Bacchus, Hercules, Jafon, &c. for an- 
 tiquity and dillance, the towns muft apparently be 
 uuderftood to have been on the exterior (or 
 oceanic) coaft of Africa, whereof Hanno was cer- 
 tainly thefirjl difcoverer h\ navigation from the Me- 
 diterranean ; and thence it follows, that he mult 
 have flourifhcd at Icaft i,cco years before the 
 Chriftian xra. And, if there be any truth in the 
 ftory of the Atlantic ifland having been heard of 
 in Egypt feveral centuries before the age of Solon, 
 the difcovcry of it, or the idea of its exiftence, real 
 or fabulous, muft apparently have been poftcrlor to 
 Hanno's voyage, which is thus carried up to an 
 antiquity fully equal to that inferred from Strabo. 
 Notwithftanding all the abfuidities in the llory of 
 that ifland, it may have been one of the iflands on 
 the Weft coaft of Africa, perhaps one of the Cana- 
 ries, or Madeira. Neither is it Impollible, that a 
 ftorm nu'ght have carried a veflel far out of fight 
 of land, and thrown her upon an unknown part of 
 fome of our Britifli iflands, from winch flie could 
 return home by coafting along the fliores of Gaifl, 
 Spain, &c. . The ftory of its immcnfc extent, 
 greater than Afia and Africa together, is not to be 
 minded ; for the magnitude of a country cannot 
 i)e known from a tranlient viflt. Tiity, who fup- 
 pofc it to have been fome part of America, are not 
 aware of the iinpoflibility of returning acrofs the 
 great ocean without a conipafs, and failing in dl- 
 left oppofition to the perpetual trade winds. 
 Vclalqucz, a Sp.ir.ifli author, fixes the voyage o£
 
 Before Chrift 524. ^^ 
 
 According to authors quoted by Strabo, [L. xvii, />/;. 1182, 1 185] 
 the Tyrians (i. e. Carthaginians) had planted colonies along the weftern 
 fliore of Africa to the extent of thirty days' courfe ; and there were 300 
 of their towns on tliat coaft, a definite number being ufed for an inde- 
 finite one, which infers that there were very many ; though 100 trad- 
 ing pofls would be abundantly fufficient for fuch an extent of coaft *. 
 
 When the Carthaginians arrived at Kerne, their cuftom was to land 
 their goods, and flore them in tents on the beach, whence they carried 
 them over to the African fiiore in boats or fmall craft. They ex- 
 changed wine, the ointments of Egypt, the earthen ware and tiles of 
 Athens, and other manufadures, for hides of cattle, deer, lions, ele- 
 phants, and other wnld animals, which abound in that country, tor ivory, 
 and probably, though not mentioned, for gold or gold dufl:. A part at 
 leaft of this trade was carried on at a great city of the Africans, to which 
 the Carthaginians navigated. ISkjlax.l 
 
 There was another branch of the African trade, apparently more re- 
 mote, which I fliall relate in the words of the father of hifi:ory. — ' The 
 ' Carthaginians report, that there is a country in Africa beyond the Pil- 
 ' lars of Hercules, in which, when they arrive, they land their merchan- 
 ' dize, and range it along the fhore. Then returning onboard their 
 ' fhips, they announce their arrival to the natives by making a fmoke. 
 ' Thefe immediately repair to the beach, and having laid down a quan- 
 ' tiry of gold befide the goods, they retire a little way back from the 
 ' fliore. The Carthaginians then land, and examining the gold, if they 
 ' think it a fatisfadlory price, they carry it off: if not, they return on- 
 ' board, and the natives add to the gold, till the fellers are fatisfied. 
 ' Neither party offers the leafi; injury to the other, nor will the Afri- 
 ' cans touch the goods, till the Carthaginians declare their fatisfadion 
 ' in the price by receiving the gold.' [Herod. L. iv, c. 196.] This 
 narrative of fo honourable a commercial intercourfe, which feems to be 
 continued down to the prefent age f , from an author, far fuperior for 
 
 Hanno 4C0 years before Clirift. The opinions of ence. [_Strabo, L. i, />. 82 ; L. xvii, pp. 1181, 
 
 feveral other Spanifh writers are collefted by Cam- 1 182-] 
 
 pomanes In the prologue to his /Inliguidnd marilima f I'he fame filent trade is ftill carried on by the 
 
 de Cartago. Mr. de Bougainville is of opinion Moors of the weft coall of Afiica with the Ne- 
 
 that the voyage was performed 703, 570, or 510, giocs on the River Niger, perhaps the defcendents 
 
 years before Chrill ; and of the three dates he of thofe with whom the Carthaginians traded ; 
 
 thinks 570 the moft probable. [_Memotres ik I'aca- and the fame commercial honour and flriiil integrl- 
 
 demie des infcript. -v. xxvii, J 4.] Mr. Le Roy ty on both fides ftill regulate their intercourfe. 
 
 dates it 610 years before Chrift. [^Miirine des an- At a fixed time a large caravan of Moors arrive at 
 
 ciem peuples, p. 201.] Such minute accuracy is the appointed place of the trade, where they find 
 
 evidently unattainable. gold duft l.iid down in feparate heaps. Befide 
 
 * In the time of Strabo (at the commencement each of ihefe they lay down fuch quantities of cut- 
 
 of the Chriftian asra) alnioft the whole of thofe fet- lery and trinkets as they think equivalent, and next 
 
 tlemcnts were deftroyed, and the celebrated ifiand morning they find their goods carried off, if ap- 
 
 of Kerne was forgotten, or at leaft unknown to proved, or elfe a diminution of the quantity of 
 
 him. Some of the trading pofts on the African gold duft. [.S'A^aiV Travels, p. 302. — Cadamojlt 
 
 coaft near the Straits, however, were ftill in exift- in Purchas's Pilgrimage, p. 810-] The relatioat
 
 ^6 Before Chrift 524. 
 
 authenticity and impartiality to any of the Roman writers, may ferve as 
 an antidote againft their wretched cakimnies of Carthaginian perfidy, 
 Carthaginian falfehood, treachery, &c. continually repeated by them, 
 and inconfiderately echoed by many modern writers. 
 
 The trade carried on upon the weft coafl of Africa, of which we can 
 only glean thefe few hints, was undoubtedly the fruit of Hanno's difco- 
 very. We muft regret, that the intercourfe with the countries dif- 
 covered by Himilco, with which the moft antient hiftory of our own 
 ifland is apparently very clofely connected, is buried in ftill deeper ob- 
 fcurity. But it is very evident, that thefe two voyages on the Atlantic 
 ocean added almoft a new world to the commerce of the Carthaginians, 
 which was the more lucrative, that they had the trade almoft free from 
 foreign competition : and the fouthern branch of it, which may be pre- 
 fumed to have been entirely without a rival, appears to have been affi- 
 duoufly cultivated, and long perfevered in *. 
 
 Such is the poor account, which I have been able to collefk from an- 
 tient authors of the greateft commerce, that ever was carried on by any 
 nation of the weftern world from the dawn of hiftory till times com- 
 paratively modern ; a commerce, which, by the unrivaled extent, and 
 the judicious management, of it, relieved all nations of their fuperflui- 
 ties, fupplied all their wants, and everywhere difpenfed plenty and com- 
 fort ; whereby, through the good oi^ices of thofe univerfal agents and 
 carriers, the Indian, the Ethiopian, the Negro, the Briton, and the Scy- 
 thian, living in the extremities of the world, and ignorant of each-other's 
 exiftence, contributed to each-other's felicity by increafmg their own f . 
 
 524 — At this time commerce with its ufual fupporters, the arts and 
 fciences, appears to have made confiderable progreis among the Greeks, 
 and particularly among thofe of Afia and the iflands, who were in ge- 
 neral opulent and powerful at fea ; at leaft, we may confider them as 
 fuch, if compared with their anceftors. Polycrates, who, from a private 
 ftation, had raifed himfclf, by means of the wealth inherited from his 
 father, to the fovereignty of Samos, a confiderable ifland near the coaft 
 of Afia, pofil-fted luch a naval force, that, befides his ufual fleet of one 
 hundred vcflels of fifty oars each, he fitted out forty triremes, which he 
 fent to aflift Cambyfes in his expedition againft Egypt, not as a vafllil, 
 
 of tlitfe authors afford a noble confirmation of the ticnt authors have written upon Carthage, has next 
 
 veracity of IL-rodotus and his Carthaginian in- to nothing upon the moll important fuLjcds of the 
 
 formers. Another fimilar trade carried on in nianufafturcs and commerce of the Carthaginians ; 
 
 Ethiopia is mentioned by Cofmas Indicopleudcs. and nothing upon their navigation and colonics, 
 
 • It is remarkable that Ptolemy's latitudes of except a ptomife (not performed) of proving, that 
 
 places on that part of the weft eoad of Africa, to Amcrua was mojlly peopL-d from Carl/jai;c. Hanno 
 
 which the Carthagiin'ans traded, are more correCl is only named ; Himilco not at all ; and not a word 
 
 than in moll other parts of his work ; a proof, of the trade at Kerne. — Campomancs, a Spanidj 
 
 among others,' of the fuperiority of the nautical writer, has colledcd feveral detached incidental no- 
 
 fcicncc of the Carthaginians. ticcs of particular articles of the Carthaginian com- 
 
 t Chriftniihcr Hcudreich, in a work entitled merce in a work entitled Aiiliguidad marilima ile 
 
 Ciirthai^o, wherein he profed'es to collcft what an- Carla^o, p. 40. ct fcqq.
 
 Before Chrift 524. 57 
 
 but as an independent ally. Herodotus, whofe teflimony, in all mat- 
 ters wherein only Greeks are concerned, outweighs an hundred of fuch 
 authors as Caftor Rhodius, fays exprefsly, [L. iii, c. 39] that, to the befl 
 of his knowlege, Polycrates was the firft of the Greeks, after Minos, 
 who conceived the defign of eftablifhing a naval force, fufficiently re- 
 fpedable to command the fea, by which the ^gaean fea mufl. undoubted- 
 ly be underflood *: and the fovereignty mufl as certainly be reftrided 
 to a fuperiority over the other Grecian ftates ; for he could never pre- 
 tend to come in competition with the Phoenicians, who, though de- 
 preffed by their fubjecftion to the Perfian empire, pofTeffed more com- 
 merce and fliipping than all the Greeks taken together. 
 
 The Samians were famous for their manufadlures of gold and filver 
 ware f , and fine earthen-ware, which, like the china or porcelain of 
 modern times, was in high requeft for the fervice of the table many 
 ages after this time at Rome %. A particular earth of Samos, fuppofed 
 to pofTefs fome medicinal virtues, was alfo exported. [Plin. L. xxxv, 
 cc. 12, 16.] Thefe, with their corn and fruit, which were abundant, 
 formed the cargoes, which the Samian merchants exported as far as 
 Egypt, and, at lead once, even as far as Tarteffus. (See above, p. 34.) 
 With refped; to the progrefs of the mechanic arts in this ifland, it will 
 fcarcely appear credible, that the engineers of Samos were capable of 
 perforating a high mountain with a tunnel of eight feet in height, and 
 as much in breadth, and of the length of feven furlongs, containing an 
 aquedud, which fupphed the town with excellent water. They alfo 
 conftruded a mole of great height, which ran out a quarter of a mile 
 in the fea, to proted their harbour |{. In fuch works the Samian ar tills, 
 whom I fhall have further occafion to mention, excelled all the refl: of 
 the Greeks. [Herod. L. iii, c. 60.] 
 
 The people of Chios had fome trade and Shipping ; and it was the 
 apprehenfion of fufFering by the too near neighbourhood of rival trad- 
 ers, which made them rejed the propofal of the Phoca;ans, when they 
 abandoned their own city, for the purchafe of fome fmall iflands be- 
 longing to them. The art of inlaying iron was invented by Glaucu an 
 artifl; of this ifland. 
 
 The natives of yEgina had been a commercial people fome cen- 
 turies ago, as has been already obfervcd ; and they lUll retained 
 that charader. According to Caftor they became fovereigns of the fea 
 
 * If the tellimony of Herodotus needs to be J Pliny [i. xxxv, c 12] afcribcs to Euchir 
 
 fuppoited againft Caftor, Thucydldes and Strabo and Eugrammu?, two Samian artills, the honour 
 
 may be adduced. of introducing in Etruria the manufacture of the 
 
 f Theodorus, a Samian goldfmlth, was fo fam- beautiful earthen-ware, for which that ccuntry was 
 
 ous, that a golden goblet, made by him, was fo famous. 
 
 reckoned one of the moll pretious articles in the || The remains of thofe wonders of antient art 
 
 palace of the kings of Perfia. {^Chares, ap, Athcn. are ftiU vifible, and agree with the defcription of 
 
 eum, L- xii.] them by Herodotus. 
 
 Vol. I. H
 
 58 Before Chrift 514- 
 
 509 years before the Chriftian aera. Moft of the other iflands had at this 
 time fome {hipping and trade. 
 
 514 Darius king of Perfia, defirous of an opportunity to difplay his 
 
 warHke prowefs, refolved to invade the Scythians of Europe, in order, 
 as the Greeks tell the ftory, to revenge upon them an invafion of Afia 
 by their anceftors about one hundred and twenty years before. For this 
 purpofe he collected a fleet of fix hundred veflels, furniflied by his mari- 
 time vaflals of Phoenicia, Ionia, and the iflands : but the tranfportation 
 of his army was effeded by the ingenuity of Mandrocles, a Samian en- 
 gineer, who conflirucked a bridge connecting the European and Afiatic 
 Ihores of the Thracian Bofphorus. The wile conduct of the Scythians, 
 who defeated Darius without fighting him, made him next look to the 
 eaftward for an extenfion of his empire Previous to his expedition 
 he fitted out fome veflels at Caipatyrus (a town on the River Indus, orSind) 
 under the command of Skylax of Caryandia, whom he directed to explore 
 the banks of that river and the maritime country weftward from its 
 mouth. He performed his voyage in two years and a half, and con- 
 cluded it (a". 506) in that part of the Red fea, whence the Phoenicians 
 in the fervice of Necos king of Egypt had fet out in the circumnaviga- 
 tion of Africa. This Skylax is believed to have been the original au- 
 thor of a geographical work, fl:ill extant, which if really his, is older by 
 fome centuries than any other work profefledly upon geography, which 
 has come down to our times *. The report made by Skylax ftimulated 
 the ambition and the avarice of Darius, who made himfelf maflier of the 
 whole fertile and populous country fouth-eaft of Perfia to the Ocean, and 
 apparently as far as the Indus. The territory acquired in this expedi- 
 tion conftituted the richefl: province of the Perfian empire. {Herod, 
 L. iv, c. 44, 84, 87 ; L. iii, c. 94.] 
 
 Darius feems to have undertaken the conquefl: of the Indian terri- 
 tories adjacent to Perfia, partly with a view to promote the comm.erce 
 of his fubjedts, and to facilitate their intercourfe with a country, which 
 has in all ages been a principal object of commercial attention, as well 
 as of military depredation. This appears the more probable from his 
 refuming the undertaking of a navigable canal between the Nile and 
 the Red fea, The canal, originally planned by Sefo(Tris or his fon, was 
 afterwards carried on by Necos, but abandoned, as already related. It 
 branched off from the eaflern mouth of the Nile a little below the fe- 
 paration of its flrcam, and following the level of the country, terminated 
 in the Red lea about forty miles below the head of its weftern branch. 
 
 * Tills work, which is cjuotcJ with the name of others have afcribeil it to another Skylax of Cat) - 
 
 Skylax by Arillotle, [Po/ilic. L. \\\, c. 14] has andia who lived about 35c years later: but this 
 
 had the misfortune to be lo much corrupted by opinion rells chiefly upon the latencfs of fome naf- 
 
 thc interpolations of tranfcribcrs, that its authenti- fagcs, which are probably inteq)olations. 
 city has been (jueftloned by fome critics ; and
 
 Before Chrift 506. 59 
 
 Its breadth permitted two triremes to pafs each other, and its length re- 
 quired four days to navigate it *. 
 
 If the Phoenicians ever had any colonies in the iflands of the Perfian 
 gulf, as is fuppofed by fome authors, the fettlement of them may be 
 perhaps placed about this time, when Darius king of Perfia, who was 
 fovereign of Phoenicia, and the north coafi: of that gulf, with the adja- 
 cent coafl as far as the Indus, appears to have been defirous of eftablifh- 
 ing an extenfive commerce in his dominions, for the management of 
 which he could find none fo proper as the Phoenician merchants. The 
 exiflence of Phoenician colonies in the Perfian gulf appears to be found- 
 ed chiefly upon two iflands in it being called Tyrus or Tylus, and Ara- 
 dus, as is fuppofed, from Tyrus and Aradus on the Phoenician coafl, and 
 upon the ruins of fome temples, faid to be built in the Phoenician man- 
 ner, being found upon them. Strabo, however, fays, the people of thofe 
 iflands reverfed the fliory, and claimed the honour of being the ancef- 
 tors of the Tyrians and Aradians of the Mediterranean coafl:. [Strabo, 
 L. xvi, p. mo — andjee Bochart^Geog. facr. col. 689]. But it mufl: be 
 acknowleged, that there is no very good authority for any connedion 
 between the Phoenicians and any people in the Perfian gulf. 
 
 Tylus appears to have been rather occupied by the Arabians, as it is 
 called an Arabian ifland by an antient author ; and its inhabitants were 
 a commercial, or at leafl; a maritime, people, who built vefl^els of a kind 
 of wood (perhaps the teek of India) fo durable, that, after remaining 
 above two hundred years in the water, they were perfedtly found and 
 undecayed. {/Theophraftus, L. v, c. 6,] 
 
 Some idea of the value of money in thofe days may be obtained from 
 the amount of the revenue of the Perfian empire under Darius. It was 
 then almofl: at the zenith of its power. It extended from the Ocean on 
 the fouth to the Scythian deferts on the north ; and from the banks of 
 the Indus it fl;retched weft to the ^gtean and Euxine feas, and to the 
 confines of the Carthaginian territories in Africa. The twenty depend- 
 ent fatrapies or governments, into which the countries conquered by 
 the Perfians were divided, yielded a revenue amounting to 14,560 Eu- 
 boic talents of filver, which, together with fome payments in kind, 
 fcarcely exceeded three millions of our money ; a funi not equal to the 
 annual fubfidy, which in our own times has been given to a foreign 
 prince for the pay of his mercenary troops by an ifland, inferior in po- 
 pulation and excent to fome of the fatrapies of the Perfian empire. It 
 is evident, that the neceflaries of life could be purchaled for avery fmall 
 
 * Such is the account of this famous canal, as him, that the water of the Red fea was higher 
 
 tlcfcribed by Heiodotus, [Z. ii, c. 138; Z. iv, than the land of Egypt; and they give the ho- 
 
 r. 393 who very probably faw it, with velTels go- nour of corr.pleting the work to the Ptolemys, 
 
 ing from fea to lea upon it. But Diodorus Sici:- who probably c'.ear.ed out the foil depofitcd in i' 
 
 lus and Strabo affirm, that Darius did not com- by the Nile, 
 plete the work, being terriiied by fome, who told 
 
 I H 2
 
 6o Before Chrift 508. 
 
 ■quantity of filver, when fuch a revenue not only fufficed to the fovereign 
 of one of the greateft empires known in antient hiftory for the purpofes 
 of government, the maintenance of a {landing army, the indulgence of 
 luxury, and the difplay of unrivaled magnificence, but alfo enabled 
 him to lay up vaft treafures. This account is furniflied by Herodotus, 
 [L. iii, c. 89] apparently from an authentic record. He alfo informs 
 us, that the proportional value of gold and filver was as one to thir- 
 teen. 
 
 508 From the affairs of the Eaft our attention is now called to the 
 
 Weft by the firft intercourfe recorded in hiftory between the Romans 
 and Carthaginians. A treaty of friendfliip, or, as far as a covenant 
 with fuch a people, as the Romans then were, could be fo called, a 
 <:ommercial treaty, was concluded in the time of Brutus and Horatius *, 
 whofe names ftand in the firft year of the Roman lift of confuls. As 
 it is the moft antient commercial treaty now extant, and alfo the moft 
 antient authentic monument of Roman or Carthaginian hiftory, and is 
 •not a hundredth part of the length of a modern treaty, it undoubtedly 
 merits to be inferted entire in commercial hiftory. Polybius has given 
 us the words of it, which he copied, as exadly as the then oblblete 
 ftate of the language would permit, from the plate of brafs, on which 
 it was preferved in the Capitol. InEnglifti it is as follows : 
 
 * Let there be friendfliip between the Romans together with their 
 •' allies and the Carthaginians together with their allies, on the foUow- 
 ' ing terms and conditions. Let not tl^te Romans nor their allies navi- 
 ' gate beyond the Fair promontory f . If they be driven by ftorms, or 
 
 * According to Livy, Horatius was \\\t fuc- ed charaflers of the caily Roman liiftory. (Sec 
 ccjfor of Spurius Lucretius, who fucccedcd Bru- a colIeAion of inttances of laudable poverty by 
 tus, or of Brutus himRlf j for he leaves it uncer- Valerius Maximus, Z-. iv, c. 4.) About fifty 
 tain. Unlefs we will charge a wilful falfehood up- years after this time, when the Romans had col- 
 on Polybius, who flout iflied about 150 years be- lecled the plunder of feveral of the neighbouring 
 fore Livy, and is b'.yond comparifon more au- towns, we are told, that the fenate in a confulta- 
 thentic, we muft believe, that Brutus and Horatius tion fixed the bail to be given by the fon of the 
 were in ju'int authority at the conclufion of tiie famous Cincinnatus, when acculcd of no lefs a 
 treaty witli the Carthaguiians, and at the confe- crime than murder, at 3,coo afies of brafs, and 
 cration of tlie temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. Yet obliged ten of his friends to be fecuiitics for the 
 Livy, and Dionyfius of Hahcarnaffup, a writer even payment of fo large a fum, which, taking it at 
 more romantic than I>ivy, arc the authors gtneial- the higheft calculation, was but a few pounds over 
 ly followed by later compilers of Kouian hillory. a tun of brafs. \_L'iv. L. iii, c. 13.] Innumer- 
 On fuch authiM'Ity we arc told, that Collatinus was able inllances of luch inconfillcucles might be 
 lewarded for his voluntary refignatlon of the con- pointed out in the romantic part of the Roman 
 fullhip with a prefeiit of twenty talents out of the hillory. 
 
 public treafury and five talents out of the private f The point of Africa ncaiefl to Sicily, called 
 purfe of Brutus, being together ncar^frc llioufnnd alfo the Promontory of Mercury, and now Cape 
 founds of our money ; a greater fum than tlie Bon, as is evident from the remark, of Polybius 
 whole Roman treafury of that time can b" ration- upon this treaty. Dodor Shaw, if lie had con- 
 ally fuppofed to have contained. If this (lory were fulted Polybius iullead of Livy, need not have 
 credible, it would deferve a place in the text, as been milled by the fuppofed identity of Candidum 
 throwing fome liglit on the value of money. But and K«A«» to place this promontory on the well, in- 
 It Is utterly inco'-fiftent with tlie fimpllclty of life Head of the call, fide of tiie bay of Carthage, 
 and general poverty afcrlbcd to the moil dillinguifli- [^Travels in Barinry, (jfc. p. 14Z.]
 
 Before Chrift 508. 61 
 
 chafed by enemies, beyond it, let them not buy or receive any thing, 
 but what is neceflary for repairing their vefiels, and for facrifice ; and 
 let them depart within five days from the time of tlieir landing. Who- 
 ever fliall come on the bufinefs of merchandize, let him pay no duties 
 but the fees of the broker and clerk. Let the public faith be fecu- 
 rity to the feller for whatever is fold in prefence of thofe officers ; that 
 is to fay, whatever is fold in Africa or Sardinia. If any Romans come 
 to that part of Sicily, which is fubjedt to Carthage, let them have im- 
 partial juflice. Let not the Carthaginians do any injury to the people 
 of Ardea, Antium, Laurentum, Circaeium, Tarracina, nor any of the 
 Latins who fliall be fubjed; to Rome. Let them not attack the free 
 towns of the Latins. If they fliall take any of them, let them de- 
 liver it to the Romans free of any damage. Let them build no fort 
 in the land of the Latins. If they make a hoftile landing in the 
 country, let them not remain all night in it.' [Polyb. L. iii, c. 22.] 
 It appears from this treaty, that the Carthaginians, as the fuperior 
 people, had didated the terms of it ; and it is probable, that it was 
 merely their mercantile jealoufy, which prompted them to prohibit the 
 Romans from trading to the rich countries lying around the bay of the 
 Leffer Syrtis, which for their extraordinary fertility were called the Em- 
 poria, or the markets, though the Romans may not then have had any 
 notion of attempting fuch diflant voyages *. This genuine monument 
 of antiquity alfo informs us, that the Carthaginians had fome time be- 
 fore departed from the fimplicity of their commercial fyftem, and con- 
 verted their mercantile polls into military garrifons for enflaving the 
 people with whom they traded ; and that Sardinia (of which Corfica, 
 or a part of it, feems to have been an appendage) and alfo a part of 
 Sicily, were reduced under their dominion. Their fuccefs in thofe en- 
 croachments brought on a thirft for conquefl: ; and that brought on their 
 ruin. But thefe matters will be more properly introduced afterwards. 
 I now return to the Eaft f . 
 
 At this time the attention of the Grecian hiflorians is engrofTed by 
 the war between the Greeks and Perfians, which continued, with inter- 
 vals of infincere pacification, till the Perfian empire was entirely fub- 
 
 * About a dozen of years afier this treaty a of bread, in order to keep the populace in fub- 
 
 coUcge of merchants is mentioned, as then efta- jedion. 
 
 hlifhed at Rome : but we have no other authority Both thefe events are placed in an age wherein 
 
 for it than Livy, [L. ii, c. 27] who has perhaps Rome knew nothing of trade, had no hiltorian of 
 
 antedated an inllitution efteemed antient in his own her own, and had not attracted the notice of any 
 
 time. foreign writer, at kail, not of any one who has 
 
 On fimilar authority we are told, that a great come down to our times, for lier moft important 
 
 quantity of corn, bought with money drawn from events. 
 
 the Roman treafury, was imported from Sicily, f At this time accordiug to Plutarch, in his 
 
 on which occafion the celebrated general Coriola- life of Valerius Poplicola, in Rome a flieep was 
 
 nus and fome others propofed holding up the price worth ten oboli, and an ox an hundred oboli, which 
 
 4 lall fum is equal to about half a guinea.
 
 62 Before Chrift 502 — 497. 
 
 verted by the aftonifhing fuccefs of Alexander. The torch of war was 
 kindled by the revolt of the lonians, who difpatched Ariftagoras as 
 their ambaflador to folicit the alliftance of the European Greeks. 
 
 502 — The wonderful proficiency of the Babylonians in aflronomy 
 in a very early age has already been noticed. The application of the 
 fame principles to the furface of the earth conflitutes the fcience of 
 geography, which defcribes the figure and extent of the various coun- 
 tries, iflands, rivers, feas, &c. The artifiis of Babylon were probably 
 thofe, whom the Perfian monarchs employed to conftruft the maps en- 
 graved on plates of brafs, which the governors or fatraps appear to have 
 received along with their commiffions, and which contained the Per- 
 fian dominions, or, as Herodotus exprelTes it, [L. v, c. 49] all the lands, 
 feas, and rivers, in the world. Ariftagoras, who before the revolt was 
 vaflal king or governor of Miletus, carried his brafen map with him to 
 Sparta in order to explain the facility with which the Greeks might 
 make themfelves raafi:ers of the Perfian empire. But the Spartans, 
 whofe fingular confi:itution rejected what they efteemed fuperfluous 
 knowlege, as well as fuperfluous wealth and luxury, paid no attention 
 to his geographical demonfl: ration, nor would they lifi:en to a propofal, 
 which was to carry them a three-months journey from home *. Arif- 
 tagoras had better fuccefs with the other ft:ates of Greece, and the Athe- 
 nians in particular determined to afllft the lonians with twenty fhips ; 
 and thofe fliips, Herodotus obferves, proved the fource of the calami- 
 ties, which afterwards fell upon both Greeks and Perfians. 
 
 500 — In a naval engagement on the coafl: of Cyprus, we are told, 
 that the Phoenician fleet was defeated by that of the lonians, among 
 whom the Samians made the mofl diftinguilhed figure. Nor need we 
 wonder, that the Phoenicians, no longer the invincible fovereigns of 
 the fea, but degraded to the condition of vaflids of Perfia, fliould be 
 found inferior, even on their own element, to the Greeks, now fafl: 
 rifing to the character of an enlightened, free, and commercial, people. 
 
 497 — The lonians and their allies of the iflands direded all their ex- 
 ertions to the improvement of their maritime power, on which they 
 placed their principal dependence in their attempt to fliake off the Per- 
 fian yoke. They accordingly coUeded a fleet of 353 warlike vefl^els, 
 whereof 100 were furniflied by the ifland of Chios, 70 by LcAdos, and 
 60 by Samos. Thefe were oppofed by 600 fliips belonging to the ma- 
 ritime vafliils of Perfia, and chiefly under the diredion of the Phoeni- 
 cians. It is probable, that, if the commanders of the Grecian fleet 
 
 • When Herodotus [Z,. viii, c. 132] icpafciits tans, vvliofc king Lcutychides was tlicn commandt;' 
 
 the Greeks a few years alter this time as ignorant of the (Ireciaii fleet. It could not apply to the 
 
 of eveiy eountrv hcyoiid Delos, and believing that rell of the Gieeks, who were in general acqiiaint- 
 
 Samo« was as diflant as the Pillais of Hereules, ed with the fea ; and it is difficult to conceive that 
 
 the rcflctlion mull furely be conhned to the Spar- even the Spaitans could be fo exceflivcly ignorant.
 
 Before Chrill 481. 6^ 
 
 had adled with unanimity, they would have been vidlorious. But cor- 
 ruption and difcord ruined their fleet. The Greeks were defeated (a°. 
 496), chiefly by means of the Phoenician naval forces ; and the Perfian 
 fetters were riveted upon the Ionian ftates more firmly than before. 
 [Herod. L. vi, cc. 6-4.2.] 
 
 Darius, having fupprefl^d the Ionian rebellion, determined to take 
 vengeance upon the Greeks, and particularly the Athenians for their 
 interference. The expedition condudted by his fon-in-law Mardonius 
 was defeated by a fl:orm, which daflied 300 of his fhips and 20,000 of 
 his foldiers againft the rocks of Mount Athos (a° 494). The next at- 
 tempt was flill more unfortunate. The battle of Marathon (a° 490), 
 which raifed the glory of Athens to the fkies, and rendered the power 
 of Perfia contemptible in the eyes of Greece, is known to every reader 
 of hiftory. 
 
 The Athenians are now entitled by their attention to commerce and 
 navigation to be confidered as a naval power. By the advice of The- 
 mifl:ocles, who ufed to fay, that the war with Perfia was not ended, but 
 only beginning, they applied the produce of their lllver mines to the 
 improvement of their marine efl:ablifliment. Being more defirous of 
 military, than of commercial, pre-eminence, they took upon them to 
 revenge the caufe of Greece upon fuch of the iflands as had yielded to 
 the Perfians. ^gina, though but a fmall rocky ifland, had long main- 
 tained a commercial and naval fuperiority over the other ftates of Greece. 
 It had fubmitted to the Perfians; and being thus obnoxious to the Athen- 
 ians as an enemy as well as a rival, it was fubdued by their fleet. They 
 next fupprefled the Corcyreans, a people, who, uniting merchandize 
 with piracy, had long infulted the neighbouring fhores of Greece, Italy, 
 and Sicily, with impunity. [Plutarch, in Themifl;. — Corn. Nep. in The- 
 mifi.] 
 
 The Athenians, in expedlation of the ftorm which was to burft upon 
 them from the Eafl:, perfevered in the improvement of their fleet. 
 They built two hundred vefi!els of a burthen fuperior to any hitherto 
 ever feen in Greece ; and their fhips, and the valour of their foldiers 
 and failors, were, humanly fpeaking, the prefervation of Greece from 
 Perfian flavery. 
 
 481 — Xerxes, the mighty monarch of Perfia and of a great part of 
 Afia, the heir of his father's revenge as well as of his crown, could not 
 enjoy his felicity, while he faw the fmall ftates of Greece independent 
 of his overgrown empire. Having fpent fome years in preparation, he 
 led feveral millions * of his devoted fubjeds of all ranks, fexes, and 
 
 * Herodotus [L. vii, cc. i86, 187] calculates tion could be made. Perhaps a large allowance 
 
 the whole number of the men whom Xerxes drr.g- ought to be made for Grecian exaggeration in this 
 
 ged along with him to be 15,283,220, befides wo- account, 
 men, and ennuchs, of whofe numbers no calcula-
 
 64 Before Chrill 480. 
 
 ages, to take polTeflion of that country. His navy confifted of 1,207 
 triremes, or (liips of war carrying three tires of oars, and 3,000 tran- 
 fports, which were all furnifhed by the nations bordering on the eaft 
 part of the Mediterranean and yEgsean feas and the fouth fhore of the 
 Euxine fea, all of whom were fubjcdl to him. Of the triremes the Phoe- 
 nicians furnifhed 300, diflinguiflied from the reft of the fleet by their 
 velocity ; and among them the Sidonian veiTels were the beft. Five 
 vefTels, furniftied, and commanded in perfon, by Artemifia queen of 
 Caria, were efteemed next to thofe of the Sidonians. The quota of the 
 Egyptians was 200 lliips ; but it is realbnable to believe, that, on being 
 taxed with that number, their money was employed in procuring them 
 from the commercial people of Phoenicia or Carthage. Smaller num- 
 bers were provided by the other fubjed ftates according to their abili- 
 ties. [Herodot. L. vii, cc. 89-99, and 23.] The innumerable multitudes 
 dragged after the ftandard of the Perfian monarch, better calculated to 
 fettle an hundred populous colonies than to effed one conqueft, were 
 almoft totally deftroyed by famine, by the rigour of the feafons, by the 
 winds, by their ignorance of the country which they invaded, and 
 partly by the wife conduct and wonderful valour of the Greeks. About 
 one third of the formidable armada, which the ^gsean fea was fcarcely 
 fpacious enough to contain, was wrecked on the coaft of Theflaly; and 
 moft of the remaining fhips were deftroyed or taken in repeated en- 
 gagements with the Greeks, among whom the chief praife was due to 
 the Athenians, who on this occafion placed their whole dependence on 
 their wooden walls*, and, as their city was deftroyed, were very pro- 
 perly confidered by Themiftocles their general, as a floating nation. 
 
 480 — The event of this memorable expedition was the very reverfe 
 of what Xerxes and his venal flatterers predided, Greece remained free ; 
 and the empire, which he fought to extend, after being devoured by 
 his innumerable army, and debilitated throughout its vaft extent by 
 the lofs of its beft men, was curtailed by the independence of the Gre- 
 cian colonies in Afia. 
 
 This was incomparably the moft brilliant period of the Grecian 
 hiftory, and the time, when the Greeks might with confiderable pro- 
 priety have afcribed to themfelves the dominion of the fea. About 
 this time alfo they attained, and for a confiderable time fupported, that 
 high rank in literature, that fuperiority in the fine arts, and that ard- 
 ent love of liberty, which have ennobled the Grecian character, and 
 rendered it the objedl of refped and admiration in all fucceeding ages. 
 
 * The Athenians, having confultcd the oracle tiyn of liis own opinion) convinced them, that their 
 
 .It Delphi, were told, that they nuift fly from their fhips vvere the vjoodfit walls, to which they were 
 
 houfcs, and feck refuge within their iiiooiUn "wtilli. to owe their prefervation. \_HeroiL L. vii, cc. 
 
 They were miicli puzzled about the meaning of 140-143.] This was apparently the tirft occa» 
 
 the refponfc, ti!'. Themifloclcs (whofe money had, fion on which our favourite metaphorical appella- 
 
 no douht, procured the imaginary-divine apptuba- tiun for a naval force was ufed.
 
 Before Chrift 477. 65 
 
 At the fame time that Xerxes with the colleded force of Afia fuf- 
 fered fuch ignominious defeats from the valour of Greece, the Cartha- 
 ginians were feduced from their proper fphere of mercantile activity, 
 and tempted to enter into plans of conqueft, either by the entreaties 
 of a fugitive prince expelled from one of the fmall Sicilian territories, 
 as ftated by Herodotus, or by a treaty with Xerxes, as aflerted by Dio- 
 dorus Siculus, or by the co-operation of both caufes. According to 
 Herodotus, Amilcar, the Carthaginian general, invaded Sicily with an 
 army of 300,000 men coUedted from the various nations of Africa, 
 Iberia (or Spain), Liguria, Sardinia and Corfica (or Kyrnos), with a pro- 
 portional fleet. The Grecian accounts, (and unfortunately we have no 
 other) though differing widely in the particulars, agree in aflerting that 
 the Carthaginians were as unluccefsful as the Perfians ; that their whole 
 fleet was burnt by a ftratagem of Gelon king of Syracufe ; and every 
 man of them either killed, or referved to be the flaves of the Sicilian 
 Greeks. 
 
 According to the fpeech which Herodotus puts into the mouth of 
 Gelon, he poflefled a very confiderable maritime power ; and he offer- 
 ed, on condition of being invefted with the fupreme command of the 
 allied forces, or at leafl: of the combined fleet, to join the Greeks with 
 two hundred triremes and a great land army, and alfo to fupply the 
 whole united armies with corn during the Perflan war. He at the lame 
 time referred to fome advantages he had obtained in a former war 
 againft the Carthaginians. This mufl give us a high idea of the fertil- 
 ity and refources of the Syracufian territories. \_HerQd. L. vii, cc. 158, 
 160.] 
 
 477 — The Athenians, whofe maritime gallantry and conduct had 
 been the chief caufe of tlie defeat of Xerxes, ftill perievered in their 
 attention to their marine. They improved their harbour called the Pi- 
 raeus, fo as to be capable of containing a large fleet within its fortifica- 
 tions ; and they were henceforth regarded as the moft powerful ftate in 
 Greece. But it mufl be acknowleged, that their views were more di- 
 reded to naval pre-eminence for the fake of conquefls, than for the ex- 
 tenflon of commerce. 
 
 474 — The confederated Greeks of Europe, Afia or Ionia, and the 
 Iflands, feeing the neceflity of a joint flock to be employed for the ge- 
 neral fervice in providing, vidualling, and arming, their fleets, refolved 
 that a contribution fliould be levied from each community. To adjuft 
 the due proportion, payable by every flate, they unanimoufly chofe 
 Ariftides, an Athenian general, who for his integrity was honoured 
 with the title of the '^ujl ; a title infinitely more glorious than the fre- 
 quently-profliiuted one of Great : and he, with the fatisfadion of all con- 
 cerned, fixed the whole fum at 460 talents, which is fomewhat lets than 
 
 Vol. I. I
 
 66 Before Chrift 471 — 446. 
 
 ;^90,ooo fterling *. {Tbucyd. L. i. — Corn. Nep in Arift.] Such was the 
 fum which the free ftates of Greece found fufficient, under the prudent 
 and economical diredion of Ariftides f , to defray the annual expenfe 
 of a fuccefsful war againft the fovereign of the greateft empire in the 
 world. 
 
 Some time in the reign of Xerxes (who was murdered by one of his 
 courtiers) a voyage of difcovery was undertaken, to the command of 
 whichSatafpes, a noble Perlian, was appointed, as a punifhment for a 
 crime committed by him. The voyage being intended to reverfe the 
 route of that performed by order of Necos, king of Egypt, Satafpes 
 departed from the Nile, and pafling the Pillars of Hercules, coafted 
 along the fhore of Africa, till he came to a people, whom he defcribed 
 as of very diminutive ftature, and clothed in red garments, or Phoeni- 
 cian garments, or garments made from the palm tree %. But Satafpes, 
 difliking his employment, returned home by the fame way he had gone 
 out, and was crucified for his reward. No better event could be ex- 
 peded of an enterprife, the command of which was efteemed, not an 
 honour, but a difgrace. How very oppofite were the Perfian and the 
 Phoenician ideas of naval command ! {^Herod. L. iv, c. 43.] 
 
 4yi — Cimon, the Athenian commander, with the confederate fleet 
 of Greece, was everywhere vidorious. He expelled the Perfian garri- 
 fons from all the maritime towns of the vEgaean fea. Extending his 
 vidorious progrefs along the fouth fhore of the Afiatic peninfula be- 
 yond the fettlements of the Grecian colonies, he with 250 fhips belong- 
 ing to the Athenians and their allies encountered the Perfian fleet, and 
 took or deflroyed almoft the whole of them, whereby he made a pro- 
 digious addition to his fleet. On the very fame day by a fuccefsful flra- 
 tagem, wherein he employed his prize fliips, he alfo defeated the land 
 army of the Perfians at the mouth of the river Eurymedon (a". 470.) 
 
 449 The Athenians continued to be in general fuccefsful in many 
 
 naval battles with the Perfians : and at laft that triumphant republic 
 didated to the ambafladors of Artaxerxes, the no-longer-haughty mo- 
 narch of Perfia, the terms of a pacification, whereby he became bound 
 never to fend a veifel into the ^Egaean fea, and to acknowlege the inde- 
 pendence of the Greek colonies in Afia. 
 
 446 — The Athenians having become the greateft maritime power of 
 
 * This fum diii not, as fome fiippofe, iiitlmle and the Allieniaiis beftowcd 3,000 diacliniR 
 
 jiay for the Gix-cian allied army. ' Pay was not (;^9'5 1 '7 = 2) on liis two dauglitcis for thtir j)or- 
 
 * yd introduced into the Grecian feivice, bfcaiifc tions. \_Plut. in Aiijl.'] 
 
 ' the charai'tir of fi.l.lur was not fcparatcd from J The Greek word ^o(v(x>i('i! bears ail thefe mcan- 
 
 ' that of citizen.' [^Gillies's HiJI. of Grcfct, r. ii, ings. The natives of Congo on the well coall of 
 
 /i. 63. fil, 1792.J Cut very foon after this war it Africa ufe cloth made of the palm tree. [^Pur- 
 
 was ini reduced. chas's Pil^iimes, L. vii, c. 4, § 7.] And Captain 
 
 f This honed (latefrnan, wtio for fome years Cook found fome nations in the South fea dicfled 
 
 inBTia^rtd the joint Ireafury of the whole Grecian with cloth made of j)ahiieto leaves. 
 conffdcracy, left not wliercwith to bury lu'mf»lf :
 
 Before Chrift 445. 67 
 
 Greece, and, if we may trufl the uncontradided evidence of Greek 
 writers, of the whole world, without neglecting their warlike eflablifh- 
 ment, now turned their attention to commerce. Their merchant fliips 
 are faid to have covered the fea, and traded to every port, while their 
 fliips of war rode triumphant in the yEgjean and neighboiu'ing feas. 
 The voluntary contribution, which the allies had charged upon them- 
 felves for fupporting the Perfian war, was flill kept up, and even aug- 
 mented, though the original caufe no longer exifted, and was paid to 
 Athens, as a confideration for her prote6tion, by the ftates of Ionia, 
 and the iflands, which were now rather the fubjeds than the allies of 
 the Athenians. The tribute thus extorted, and the produce of their 
 filver mines, together with the fpoils of the unfortunate vafTals of Perfia, 
 may be fairly prefumed to have been the chief fources of the luxury, 
 which from this time prevailed among them. For, as their narrow ter- 
 ritory could not poffibly produce many articles for exportation, and we 
 have no authority to fay that they were manufadlurers, or that they 
 undeflood the bufinefs of carrying the redundant productions of one 
 country to fupply the defeats of another, they could not be much en- 
 riched by their commerce, which feems to have confifted of little more 
 than the importation of luxuries from the different ports of the Medi- 
 terranean. One article of Grecian exportation, and apparently the prin- 
 cipal one, was wine, of which they carried great quantities, put up in 
 earthen jars, twice a year to Egypt. [Herod. L. iii, c. 6.] 
 
 445 — Herodotus, the father of Grecian hiftory, read his v/ork, or 
 fome part of it, to a public aflembly of the Athenians, who were fo 
 delighted with it, that they conferred on him a gift of ten talents 
 C;^i,937 : 10 fterling) out of the public treafury ; [Plut. de Herodoti nia- 
 lignitate, in 0pp. ed. Xylandri, 1599, p. 862] a prodigious fortune, when 
 about twopence of our money was fufficient for a perfon's dayly fup- 
 port, and fevenpence was an ample and honourable allowance for the 
 expenfes of thofe of fuperior rank. {Wallace on the numbers of mankind, 
 p. 125.] Herodotus is not only valuable as the oldeft Grecian hiftorian 
 extant, but alfo as a geographer, his work containing an account of all 
 the countries then known by any of the Greeks. In his geography he 
 is frequently more accurate than writers, who lived in times valtly more 
 enlightened, and wrote exprefsly upon geography *. He faw with his 
 
 * Tha defcription of the Cafpian fea by He- munication with the Northern ocean : Ptolemy, 
 rodotus is a remarkable inftance of his geographi- though he mifplaces it, yet truely calls it a lake. 
 cal fuperiority. He fays, that it is an inland fea Herodotus had fome knowlege of the black na- 
 or lake, which has no communication with any tives in the fouth parts of Hindooftan, and of 
 other ; that its length would require fifteen days, their manufatlures from cotton which he truely 
 and its greateft breadth eight days for a vefTel with defcribes as growing upon trees. He alfo de- 
 oars to traverfe it ; each day's courfe being 700 fcribes, from information obtained from natives of 
 fladia, or about 70 geographical miles. [_Herodot. Africa, a great river in the heart of that continent, 
 L. i, c. 203, L. iv, c. 86.] Strabo, Mela, Diony- Jluiving from iveji to eajl, on the banks of which 
 fius, Pliny, and Arrian, all aflert, that it has a com- there was a city inhabited by black people. This 
 
 I 2
 
 68 Before Chnll 431. 
 
 o\\'n eyes many of the countries, which he defcribes ; and he was ai: 
 great pains to obtain the bell: information : yet he acknowleges, that he 
 could not difcover the fituation of the iflands called Caffiterides from 
 which tin was brought, nor that of the country, which produced the 
 amber : a pretty clear proof, that the Greeks had no commerce, or in- 
 tercourfe with either of them. The cenfure thrown upon Herodotus 
 as a fabulifl proceeds only from fuperticiality and ignorance ; and his 
 general veracity is acknowleged and refpeded by the mofl judicious and 
 critical writers. 
 
 431 An interval of petty hoftilities among the Greeks was fucceed- 
 
 ed by the Peloponnellan war, wherein the Lacedeemonians and their 
 allies, fupported by the wealth of the Perfian empire *, exerted them- 
 felves to wreft from the Athenians the fovereignty, which they had af- 
 fumed over the maritime flates of Ionia, the iflands, and the whole of 
 the neighbouring coalls. This was moflly a naval war ; yet the events 
 of it had no other connedion with commerce, than the ufual conle- 
 quence of interrupting and diftreffing it. It prefled with particular 
 hardlhip upon the Phcenicians, who, as the principal maritime fubjeds 
 of Perfia, were obliged to furnifh mofl of the naval armaments, w^here- 
 by their fliipping was in a great meafure drawn off from its own proper 
 defliination to be fubfervient to the ambition of Perfia and Lacedeemon. 
 The war, after raging for twenty-feven years, was concluded (a". 404). 
 by the deftrudion of Athens. The Lacedoemonians immediately af- 
 fumed the fame power over the maritime flates, the abufe of whi-ch by 
 the Athenians had been the pretence for the war : and they exercifed it: 
 with fuch rigour, that the governments of the Pcrlians and of the 
 Athenians were thought very mild by thole, who now groaned under 
 their tyranny. 
 
 From the very imperfcd knowlege, we have of the more valuable 
 pacific and commercial tranfadions of the Carthaginians, we may ven- 
 ture to affign the prefent time as the sera of their greatefl: commercial 
 fplendour. Their mother country was deprefled by its fubjedion to 
 Perfia. The Athenians, alter havirrg->^xpelled the Perfians, and the 
 Phcenicians as being their fubjeds, from the Grecian feas, and having 
 reigned triumphant for leventy-two years, during which they engrofled 
 the commerce of the ^Egaean fea, but with a more anxious folicitude 
 
 important geographical faft, wherein lie is fup- the nccowit of Mr. Part's liwvds in j1fii:a, pp. 2^, 
 
 ported by the teftimony of Ph'iiy and Ptolemy, has 53.] 
 
 been coiuradidted in later ages, even down to the * The Lacedaemonians raifed the pay of their 
 
 very time that Mr. Park was abfolutely engaged failors from three oboli (not quite ^d) to four 
 
 in exploring the courfe of this famous river, the oboh (about 5}</). But tin's was not conhdertd 
 
 Nii-il-abeed, Joliba, or Niger, who li;;3 unqnef- as nccclFaiy for their fiipport, or as an e(juivaltnt 
 
 lion.ib!y alcertained the coneftnefs of the iiifor- compenlalion fur their fervice: it was a mere walle 
 
 mat 'ii i^i^'cn us by Herodotus. \_L. W, cc. 32133. of the Peifiaii treafure, calculated to corrupt the 
 
 '—Plinii H'lft. nat. L. v, f. 9 ; L. viii, c, z\.~~Stc failors of their Athenian rivals, and to entice theiu 
 
 to dtfert.
 
 \ 
 
 Before Clirill 394. — 37c. 69 
 
 exercifed a dominion of avaricious tyranny over the nations bordering 
 on it, were now humbled by the numerous enemies, whom the info- 
 lence and tyranny of their profperity had raifed up againft them. ITie 
 Spartans, who had fucceeded to the dominion of the ^ga:an fea on the 
 downfall of the Athenians, were ignorant of the commercial advan- 
 tages, which a more enlightened people might have derived from it. 
 Therefor now the Carthaginians feem to have had no rivals in the Me- 
 diterranean, and their fhips might fail v/ithout interruption, or even 
 competition, to every port in it. 
 
 394 The naval battle at Cnidos deprived the Spartans of the fove- 
 
 reignty of the Greciaa feas : and, if we confider the obflinacy of their 
 anticommercial prejudices, and their late ignorance of every branch of 
 nautical kriowlege, we mufl think it wonderful, that their valour could, 
 maintain the fuperiority fo long. 
 
 370 — About this time flourifhed Plato, one of the mofl: celebrated 
 of the Grecian philofophers. Like other Greeks defirous of knowlege, 
 he traveled into Egypt * ; where he and Eudoxus, who became a fam- 
 ous aftronomer, having by an initiation of thirteen years acquired the 
 confidence and goodwill of the priefls of On, or Heliopolis, they im- 
 parted to them, as a fpecial favour and a great inyftery, the difcovery, 
 (apparently new to themfelves f, though long before known to the Ba- 
 bylonians) that the true period of the annual revolution was about fix 
 hours more than 365 days. Dionyfius king of Syracufe invited Plato 
 to his court ; but foon after, being offended that he did not flatter him, 
 he fold him for a Have at the price of five minge, or about fixteen 
 pounds fterling. Kotwithftanding this rough treatment, Plato ventured 
 to accept an invitation from Dionyfius the younger, who received him 
 on his landing with the moft; diftinguiflied honours, and for fome time 
 regulated his condudt by his advice. So highly fenfible was he of his 
 happinefs in having fuch a counfellor, that, according to Diogenes Laer- 
 tius, he prefented him with a fum of money exceeding eighty talents 
 (about ^^15, 500 fierling). Thus we fee, how very differently the fame 
 man was valued as a Have and ps a philofopher. But fome authors fay, 
 that Plato refufed to accept the gift. 
 
 * Plutarch in the Life of Solon relates a report, ing the improvements' afcribed to Cleoftiatiis and 
 that Plato's chief errand to Egypt was to dilpofe Melon, perhlled fur ages in a calculation of years, 
 of a quantity of oil. But that Itory does not very which required the frequent interpofilion of inter- 
 well corrclpond with a relidt nee of thirteen years ; calary' months to bring them near to the true 
 and rtiU worfe with his plan of a wcll-regulattd courie of the fun and the moon. \_Hirod. L. \, 
 commonwealth, from which he excluded commer- c. 32, (in which the numerals are corrupted) L. 
 cial purfuits and maritime power. {^Plalo de Lg. ii, f. 4. — Shabo, L. xvii, p. ii6o.] It is alfo 
 L- iv.] worthy of remark, that the Greek language in the 
 
 f The Egyptians, from whom Herodotus learn- time of Herodotus had not a word to txprcfs an 
 
 ed what he knew of aflronomy, had in his time eclipfe ; or he would not have been obliged to de- 
 
 apparently come no nearer to the exaft length of fcribe it [L. i, c. 74] by faying, that the day be- 
 
 the year than 365 days. The Greeks in general came night, 
 
 did not come fo near; moft of them, notwithftand- 1
 
 »jQ Before Chrift 351 — 348. 
 
 About the fame time Eudoxus, the fellow traveler and fellow fludent 
 of Plato, improved fcience in Greece by the introduction of the ce- 
 leftial fphere, by a reformation of the erroneous calculation of the year, 
 (which however feems to have been little attended to) and by his writ- 
 ings upon aftronomy, geometry, and geography. 
 
 351 — The Sidonians, provoked by the intolerable tyranny of the 
 Perfian governors, confpired with the Egyptians to throw off the yoke. 
 Their defection drew upon them the innumerable army of Perfia, led 
 on by the great king in perfon, to whom the city was betrayed by the 
 treachery of one of the commanders of their mercenary allies, and, 
 what is more furprifing, by their own king. The conduct of the Sidon- 
 ians on this occafion was the very reverfe of the wifdom of the Tyr- 
 ians when befieged by Nebuchadnezar, and the determined refolution 
 of the Phocceans when they found themfelves unable to refifl the army 
 of Cyrus. In order to prevent any perfon from withdrawing from the 
 defence of the city, they burnt the whole of their fhips, (an adion 
 fcarcely credible of a maritime and commercial people) by which rafli 
 condud, and their infuperable averfion to Perfian flavery, they were 
 driven to the defperate refolution of fetting fire to their own houfes, 
 and facrificing themfelves, their wives, and their children on the great 
 altar of liberty compofed of their whole city. Thus fell the great Si- 
 don, after it had been, during a long fucceffion of ages, the commercial 
 capital of the Eaft : and even its aflies, which contained great quanti- 
 ties of melted gold and filver, afforded a valuable prize to the enemy. 
 It was afterwards rebuilt by fuch of its citizens as, by being abfent on 
 voyages, happened to eicape the felf-devoted extermination. But it 
 never recovered its former fplendour, and was more celebrated in after 
 ages for its manufadures of glafs, than for commercial enterprife or 
 profperity. 
 
 348 — The Romans and their allies, who arc not named, entered in- 
 to a fccond treaty with the Carthaginians and their allies, of whom the 
 Tyrians and Uticans are named. In this the navigation of the Romans 
 was reftrided to more confined limits than in the former treaty, they 
 being only permitted to trade to the port of Carthage and the Cartha- 
 ginian territories in Sicily, and prohibited from landing in any other 
 part of Africa, or in Sardinia, unlefs compelled by neceflity, in which 
 cafe their flay was not to exceed five days. The Carthaginians were to 
 enjoy an equal liberty of trade in Rome ; and if they fliould take any 
 Latin city, not fubjed to Rome, they were not to keep poffeffion of it, 
 but reft latisfied with the plunder and prifoners *. 
 
 * Pol)bius, [//. ii!, c. 24] gives tlic words of and alliance of the Romans ; a mode of applica- 
 
 this tiiaty, hut without tlic date. It mull be the tion rather at variance with the tenor of the treaty, 
 
 fame whicli Livy [A. vii, c. 27] dates 348 before Orofius [Z/- iii, c. 7] cnoneouny calls it the full 
 
 Chtift. Livy fays, tliat the Carthaginians fcnl treaty. 
 ambalTadors to Rome to petition tlic frieiidfhip i
 
 Before Chrifl: 338 — 333. 71 
 
 338 — The Romans, having fubdued the Latins, got poflellion of fix 
 warlike gallies, which formed the navy of Antium*, a maritime town, 
 and the capital of that people. Part of them they carried into their 
 own harbour ; and part they burnt, and with their armed beaks, or 
 roftra, they adorned their tribunal in the forum. So little did they 
 know what to do with fhips ! This circumflance, if truely related, might 
 induce us to believe, that the Carthaginians had not yet feen any rea- 
 Ibn to be very jealous of the maritime power of the Romans. [Liv. L. 
 viii, c. 14 — F/or. L. i, c. 11.] 
 
 223 The commerce of the eafi: end of the Mediterranean, after 
 
 flouriftiing for ages in the hands of the Phoenicians and their colonifts, 
 had fuffered for two centuries under the tyranny and commercial igno- 
 rance of the Perfian fatraps, when Alexander arofe, whofe immoderate 
 ambition and aftonifhing fuccefs were deftined to change the face of the 
 eaftern world. That conqueror, fenfible, that if he left the maritime 
 provinces in the allegiance of Perfia, he fhould run a rifk of his com- 
 munication with Greece being intercepted, his army and himfelf being 
 cut off, or the war being transferred to his own country, inftead of 
 puftiing forward after the battle of Iffus for the capital of Perfia, turn- 
 ed his march fouthward along the fliore of Phoenicia. The poor re- 
 mains of the Sidonians and the other towns on the coafl fubmitted 
 without refiflance, and even joined his forces againft their own coun- 
 trymen. But he met with a very different reception from the Tyrians, 
 who offered to be his friends, but firmly refufed to be his fubjeds. 
 Alexander, afiioniflied at fuch boldnefs in a community of merchants, 
 threatened to defl:roy their city. The Tyrians on the other hand made 
 every preparation for a brave defence, and (hipped off great numbers 
 of their women and children, configning them to the care of the Car- 
 thaginians, who were prevented by lome domefliic commotions from 
 furnifhing affiftance to their parent Hate. In order to get at the fea- 
 girt city, Alexander, effeded what none but Alexander would have con- 
 ceived the idea of undertaking. With the ruins of old Tyre and the 
 timber of Lebanon he conflruded a caufeway, or mole, acrofs the rapid 
 ftrait of half a mile in breadth, which divided the ifland from the con- 
 tinent, notwithftanding the fl;renuous oppofition of the Tyrians, who 
 omitted nothing, that valour, affiiled by fcience and ingenuity, could 
 perform. They employed divers to cut the cables of Alexander's fliips ; 
 and they defi:royed his works and his people by a fire-fliip f , by flam- 
 ing arrows, by balls of red-hot iron, by hooked poles, by nets, and by 
 three-forked Ipears with lines, fuch as are ufed for ftriking fifh : and, 
 
 * Antium appears from the firft treaty between f This, if I miftake not, is the earlicR notice 
 
 Carthage and Romt; to have been fubjeft to the of that engine of dcllruction. For a particular . 
 
 later 170 years before this time. Sec above, p. defcriptlon of it fee Anion, L. ii. 
 61.
 
 72 Before Chrift 333. 
 
 when the Macedonians fcaled the walls, they poured down upon them 
 fhowers of burnmg land, which penetrated to the bone with excruciat- 
 ing torture. But after a gallant defence of feven months Tyre funk 
 under the coUeded maritime power of Ihe Eaft, and the attack of an 
 enemy, who afpired to the conqueft of the world : the city was deftroy- 
 ed, and the citizens were butchered or enflaved, except a few, who 
 took refuge in a temple, and, according to Curtius, fifteen thoufand, 
 who were carried off by the Sidonians, repenting, but too late, of the 
 part they had taken in the deftruclion of their friends (a". 3^2). 
 
 Thus fell Tyre, ' the renowned city, which was ftrong in the fea,' 
 ' wiiofe merchants were princes, whofe traflSckers were the honourable 
 ' of the earth,' after oppofing to the conqueror of the Eaft, a more vi- 
 gorous refiftance than he experienced from the whole power of Perfia. 
 And it muft be allowed, that her fall was more glorious to the vanquifhed 
 than to the conquerors; and that Alexander, with all his military con- 
 dud:, and perfevering valour, could icarcely have accomplifhed the de- 
 ftruclion of Tyre, if the other maritime flates, inftead of confpiring 
 againfl; her, and depriving her of the dominion of the fea, had united 
 to repell the invader, and fecure their own independence. 
 
 53-2 — From Phoenicia Alexander marched intoEgypt, wdiich fubmitted 
 to him without a blow. Though then but a very young man, his judge- 
 ment perceived at once, what the highly-extolled wifdom of Egypt had 
 for fo many years been blind to, that that country was formed by nature 
 to command and unite the commerce of the whole world. No one of 
 the many mouths of the Nile * was capable of being formed into a har- 
 bour, fit to receive the fhipping expeded to frequent the deftined port. 
 But on a part of the fliore, wefl: of all the mouths, and almoft uninhabit- 
 ed, where the Egyptian kings had built a fort to repell the pirates of 
 antient Greece, he found a harbour, protefted by the ifland of Pharos, 
 and formed by nature for the fituation of the commercial capital of the 
 world. On this fpot he immediately ereded a city, which was carried 
 on with a regularity of plan, and beauty of execution, hitherto unequal- 
 ed, under the direclion of Dinocrates, a mathematician and archited, 
 who had been employed to rebuild the temple of Diana at Ephefus. 
 Canals conneded it with the Nile, and with the lake of Maroea, or 
 Mareotis, which afforded inland navigation to fo great an extent of 
 country, that Strabo thought the port on this inland lea more wealthy 
 than that on the great one. Though the new city, which was called 
 Alexandria, was foon deprived of the advantages flowing from the fa- 
 vour of its founder by his death ; yet, by the foftering care of his fuc- 
 
 * The general deptli of tlic main cliamicl of Hvcn tlic Cnnopic mouth, the largeft of the wholf, 
 
 the Nile, Is only from ttirec to ei^ht cuhlis. The is remarkably cncumbortd witli flioals. [Z)W. 
 
 boats of I'tolcmy LagU3 eroded the Pchifinc S/'ru/. 0/ym/>. Ii8. — Shniv's Trnvr/s, />. ^^^ ; ar\d 
 
 branch, by felting with polc-j a;;ain(l the iiottom, fupp/micut, /: 47. — Purduis^s Fil^rimes, /,. vi, /. 
 
 wliieh, ill many places, lias not three ftct of water. i/Oi.j
 
 \ 
 
 Before Chrift 33 1 — 326, 73 
 
 ceflbrs, but much more by the advantages mfeparable from its fituation, 
 it became, in time, the principal mart of the Eafi:. And it continued, 
 notwith {landing the convulfions of empire, to be for many centuries 
 the point of union between the remoteft regions of the eaflern and wefl- 
 ern worlds. 
 
 331 — Alexander, freed of all apprehenfion from maritime enemies, 
 by the defolation of Tyre, and the fubmiflion of the other Phcenician 
 communities, together with Cyprus, Rhodes, and the neighbouring 
 Hates, met with fcarcely any oppofition in his great defign of fubvert- 
 ing the Perfian empire, which the decilive battle of Gaugamela effeded. 
 In the capital cities he found gold and filver to the value of thirty mil- 
 lions of pounds fterling. This fum, amounting to the revenue of many 
 years, fhows, that the Perfian monarchs, with all their magnificence and 
 profufion, were really economifts, and that their expenditure was greatly 
 within their income *. 
 
 327 — Alexander, having overrun almoft the whole extent of the Perf- 
 ian empire, attacked and ravaged the country watered by the branches 
 of the Indus, which is called the Panjab. Having defeated fome of the 
 Indian kings in battle, he difplayed his generofity, by permitting them 
 to retain their own dominions, which he probably faw the impollibility 
 of keeping in fubjedion to himfelf. Such condud, however criminal 
 in the eye of reafon, was prodirtlive of fome advantage, by conveying 
 to the weftern world, in the works of feveral writers who attended Alex- 
 ander, the earliefi: knowlege of many particulars of the fiHce of that rich 
 and populous country, wherein the arts and fciences had flourifhed for 
 many centuries before they began to dawn upon Europe. 
 
 326 — It was probably with a view to commerce, as well as to con- 
 queft, that Alexander undertook in perfon a voyage of dilcovery down 
 the great river Indus. At the head of the Delta of that river, he built 
 a fort at Pattala, and alfo conllruded a harbour, or naval arienal. 
 [yirrian, L. vii ; — Agatharchides, L. v, r. 51.] This place was apparent- 
 ly the modern Tatta, four miles below the head of the Delta ; and hav- 
 ing the advantage of a vaft inland navigation through a rich and popul- 
 ous country, together with eafy accefs to the Ocean, and thereby to In- 
 
 * Having now gone throsgh the liiftory of the ceived identity of Corefli, the great friend of the 
 Perfian race of kings, it is proper to obferve, that Jews, with Kyros or Cyrns, tlie great hero of 
 I have been obh'ged to 'oUovv the Grecian writers, Grecian hillory, and of Grecian and modern ro- 
 the acconnt given by the modem Perfian hiilorians niance, is attended with great difficulties. The 
 beliig fo totally different, that it is utterly inipof- name of Ahafuerus lias been given to at leaft three 
 fible to connect any event in it with the received of the Perfian kings of Grecian hillory. Neither 
 hiUories of other nations, if we only except the have the names or actions mentioned in the Bible 
 conqueft of the country by Elcander, for fo they any greater agreement with thoie related by the 
 call Alexander. The incidental notices of Perfian Perfian hiftorians. The fuppofition of Mr. Rich- 
 affairs in the Bible, have terribly diftreffed the aTdfon, that titles have been lometimes fubilituted 
 critics and chronologers, in attempting to reconcile for names, fcems the only poffible way to get out 
 them with Grecian hillory. The generally-re- of the labyrinth. 
 
 Vol. T. K
 
 74 Before Chrift 326. 
 
 dia, Perfia, and Arabia, it became a celebrated emporium, and remain- 
 ed a place of confiderable commerce, till the modern compendious voy- 
 ages to the farther parts of India carried moil of the trade away from 
 it. 
 
 When Alexander arrived at the Ocean, he ordered Nearchus, a Cret- 
 an officer, to take the command of the fleet, and proceed wellward, 
 along the fhore, to the head of the Perfian gulf. The voyage was ac- 
 cordingly performed, and accounts of it, and of the countries and peo- 
 ple difcovered in it, were written by Nearchus, and by Oneficritus, alfo 
 an officer in the fleet. 
 
 Alexander propofed to difpatch Nearchus on a fecond voyage round 
 the coafl of Arabia and up the Red fea, that he might obtain more 
 ample knowlege of the coafts of the Indian, or Erythraean, fea, for the 
 purpofes of commerce and government. But that expedition, together 
 with all the ambitious projedls, and alfo, as there is good reafon to be- 
 lieve, the many commercial fchemes of Alexander, were interrupted by 
 his death, in the thirty-third year of his age (a°. 324) *. This extraor- 
 dinary man, who was neither fo perfeft a charader as his panegyrifls 
 make him, nor fuch a mere madman as others have ralhly called him, 
 appears to have been feniible of the great importance of commerce. It 
 was impofllble for him not refled, that the vaft and populous empire of 
 Perfia, and all the nations he had ever attacked, either in Europe or in 
 Afia, had funk under his power with lefs oppofition than he had met 
 with from the fingle mercantile city of Tyre. The reflection could not 
 fail to imprefs him with a very high idea of the refources to be derived 
 from a flourifhing and well-diredled commerce ; and of the great exer- 
 tions, even of military force, which a community of merchants were 
 capable of making, when compelled to employ their money, the finews 
 of trade, and alio of war, in the defence of their native country. The 
 foundation of Alexandria has been already related : and many others of 
 his actions fliow, that, amid ft all his plans of war and conqueft, he never 
 loft fight of a grand defign of making the commerce of his fubjeds ftill 
 more extenfive than his empire. With this view he built about feventy 
 towns in fituations well adapted for commercial intercourfe. With this 
 view he opened the navigation of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Eu- 
 loeus, which were faid to have been obftruded by the blind policy of pre- 
 
 * Among the weftern nations who font congia- Livy, has amufcd liiniTclf [Z. ix, c. 17] with 
 tiilatory, or adulatory, addrefTts to Alexander, making up a lill of Roman licrots contemporary 
 were the Romaui, according to Clitcirchus, an with Alexander, who would have conquered him, 
 hiftnrian who attended him in his expedition, and, if he liad prcfumed to come in their way. Livy 
 by Pliny's account, the fecond Greek writer who did not know, or was willing to forget, tliat the 
 mentioned the Romans; the firll being Theopom- Romans were repeatedly defeated, not by Alex- 
 pus, who only recorded the capture of Rome by andir, but by Alexander's veteran warriors, 7,000 
 the Gauls. [P/;'h. Z. iii, r. 5.] Neither of thefe of whom were in the army of Pyrrhus king of 
 notices was *ery flattering to the pride of the Epirus. 
 coDJjucrors of the world, whofc ronui.tic hiRorian,
 
 Before Chrift 324. 75 
 
 ceding Ibvereigns, in order to prevent the ai-rival of foreign veflels*. He 
 had two veflels of five tires of oars, three of four, twelve of three, and 
 thirty veflels of thirty oars each, built by the Phoenicians, and after- 
 wards taken afunder, carried over-land to Thapfacus on the Euphrates, 
 there fet up, launched on the river, and floated down to Babylon : and . 
 he built a fleet of veflels of the cyprefs wood of Babylonia, having pro- 
 cured carpenters, feafaring people, and people acquainted with the cap- 
 ture of the purple fliell-flfh, from Phoenicia and Syria. He alfo con- 
 flrud:ed a harbour, capable of containing a thoufand veflels, at the in- 
 land city of Babylon. He moreover ordered by his will, that harbours, 
 and yards for fliip-building, fliould be made in proper places through- 
 out his empire ; and that a great road fliould be extended along the 
 north fliore of Africa from Egypt to the Ocean, in which plan the con- 
 queft of the Carthaginian territories was to be included. 
 
 Alexander's voyages, the menfuration of all his marches made by 
 the beft artifts he could procure, and the information obtained by the 
 men of fcience in his army, were the foundation of what knowlege the 
 Greeks had of the geography of Afia, and probably alfo of general geo- 
 graphy. His preceptor, Ariflotle, in his work upon the heavens, [L. ii, 
 c. 1 4] proves the earth, which we inhabit, to be a globe, the circumfer- 
 ence of which was reckoned by mathematicians 400,000 ftadia (about 
 40,000 miles). He alfo fays, there is nothing improbable ill the opi- 
 nion of thofe who believe, that there is only one ocean, and that the 
 Columns of Hercules (or the Straits of Gibraltar) are very near to India. 
 — Behold the earlieft dawn, at leaft the earlieft known to us, of that 
 geographical fcience which, after a lapfe of about eighteen centuries, 
 ftirred up in Chriftopher Colon the ambition of being the leader ot 
 European navigators to India by a weflern courfe f. 
 
 In the important fcience of aftronomy Alexander poured a copious 
 flream of new light upon Greece by tranfmitting to Ariflotle an exadl 
 copy of the celeflial obfervations, which had been made at Babylon 
 during the courfe of above Jii?ieieen cetituries. 
 
 From the knowlege conveyed to Europe by the hiflorians and artifts 
 in the fervice of himfelf and his fuccelfors, correded and afllfted by 
 fome very antient monuments of the literature and fcience of India, 
 which have lately been acquired, we are enabled to form lome idea of 
 the antient flate of that country. 
 
 * Such is the motive afllgned for tlie obftnic- Terr.L-r, F. i, p. 227 — Voyages de Kiduhr, V. ii, 
 
 tion of the llreams by the hillonaiis of Alexander, pp. 198, 307.] 
 
 \_Arr\aii, L. vii — Slralo, L. xvi, p. 107S.] But, -f The pailage of Ariftotle here quoted, which 
 
 as fucli obltruftions are ftill kept up on the Eu- fliows that fome others had alfo turned their at- 
 
 phratcs and Ti>Tris for tiie purpofe of fprcading tention to fuch lubjecls, is affigned as one of the 
 
 the water over the adjacent level country, it is rea- chief foundations ot Colon's belief of the pratiica- 
 
 fonable to fuppofe, that the antient dikes were bility of a weftern voyage to India, in the feventh 
 
 conllrufted for the fame ufeful piirpofe. [See Ta- chapter of his hiilory, written by his fon. 
 
 K 2
 
 76 Before Chrlft. 324. 
 
 At rhe time of Alexander's invafion the jurifprudence and police of 
 India were regulated with admirable wifdom, matured by the accumu- 
 lated experience of many centuries of civiUzation and eftabliflied govern- 
 ment. The large extent of the Hates or kingdoms, the perfedion of 
 their agriculture and manufaftures, and the very flourifhing ftate of the 
 arts and fciences, afford evident proofs of this truth *. Their fertile 
 fields, and their judicious cultivation, produced annually two crops of 
 grain of various forts, whereof rice conilituted the chief article of their 
 fubfiflence. From rice they extraded a fpiritous liquor, as well as from 
 the fugar-cane ; from which they alfo made fugar, which Nearchus 
 [ap. Strab. L. xv, /». iot6] calls honey of canes, its proper Indian name 
 of facchar {(Toi.x,yaf) being yet unknown to the Greeks. The rent of 
 land was generally one fourth part of the produce. The cultivators of 
 the earth, together with their lands and their produAions, were exempted 
 from the toils, the dangers, and the ravages, of war. The valuable cotton 
 Ihrub fupplied them with clothing, which was chiefly calico, either pure 
 white, or adorned with figures of various colours, fuch as is now worn by 
 women of all ranks in this country, in imitation of the productions of the 
 Indian looms. Their drefs was alfo ornamented with gold and jewels. 
 They ufed umbrellas, a iimple and elegant defence from the fun and the 
 rain, which we havejufl: begun to enjoy, after it has beenfome thoufands 
 of years common in the Eaft. Their roads were carefully kept in repair, 
 and regularly furniflied with mile-fl:ones. Houfes of reception for tra- 
 velers (called choultries at prefent, and probably then alfo) were efta- 
 blifhed at proper dillances. The interefl; of money was regulated by 
 law, as was alfo the rate, or premium, due for the advance of money 
 upon bottomry ; circumfl:ances which fiiow, that commerce was well 
 und.erftood, and had long flourifliedf. Their fculptures on the hardefl 
 gems, many of which are of very high antiquity and great elegance, 
 and their ingenious works in various metals, and in ivory, were admired 
 by the Greeks \. Their architedture, military and religious, was on fuch 
 a large fcale, as could only be executed by great communities, living 
 under regular governments. Their literary compofitions, in the earlieft 
 ages to which our imperfeft information extends, but many centuries 
 prior to the irruption of Alexander, appear, by the fpecimens we have 
 lately been favoured with, to be fuch as could only be produced among 
 
 • Do£lor Robertfon alfo confidcis the diftribu- Cliarles I. How many centuries we were behind 
 
 tion of the people into dillinil hereditary cads, the Indians in commercial policy ! 
 who were bound by thcit religion invariably to f The prefent age may alfo fee and admire the 
 
 follow the profeflions or trades of their aneeilors, gems in the great trcafury of them, coUetlcd by 
 
 as a proof of very a;itient civilization ; \^IIijlorical Mr. TatTic of Leiceller fqnarc. The legends on 
 
 Jifijuifuiim, p. 230, ed, 1794] though the wifdom them arc in the Sanflirect, which, ihougli antient- 
 
 of filch a policy feems at leall verj- doubtful. ly the univerfal language of a great part of Afia, 
 
 f In this commercial nation contrafls for bot- has long been known only to llie moll learned of 
 
 lomry weic not regularly legal till the reign of the Brahmins.
 
 Before Chrift 324. 77 
 
 a people of elegant manners, and cultivated tafte, improved by ages of 
 refinement. In moral and natural piiilofopby they are acknowleged 
 to have been the maflers of the Grecian fages, the greateft of whom, 
 notwithftunding the vaft length and labour of the journey, traveled to 
 India, that they might drink the dreams of wifdom and learning pure 
 at the fountain. In the eminently-ufeful and moft perfed: fcience of 
 ARITHMETIC the ufcd the fimple and comprehenfive fyftem of nine 
 figures and a cypher, now common among us, which is fo infinitely fu- 
 perior to the tedious and clumfy numerical notation of the Greeks and 
 Romans by letters *. They alfo underfi:ood that more abftrufe fpecies of 
 arithmetic, called algebra, which they appear to have communicated to 
 the reft of the world. The rotundity of the earth was known to them. 
 Their aftronomical calculations, which include the moft profound know- 
 lege of arithmetic and trigonometry, rife up to a height of antiquity, 
 which may ftagger credibility, and which, if infallibly proved to be ge- 
 nuine, (and they have ftood the teft of very ftri6l examination by fome 
 great aftronomers) go far to overturn the authenticity of our generally- 
 received moft antient chronology ; for they exceed the antiquity of the 
 Babylonian calculations by alnioft nine centuries. (See above, page 3.) 
 And here it is proper to obferve, that the fanciful figures, alligned to 
 the twelve divifions of the zodiak, appear, from recent difcoveries .of 
 very antient monuments, to have been copied by the Greeks, or their 
 authors, from the Indian aftronomers ; though we have all along fup- 
 pofed them fprung from the fabulous mythology of Greece f. 
 
 * ' According to a new though probable no- ninth century, who fays, that the Arabs have re- 
 
 ' tion, maintained by M. de Villoifon, {^Aiiecdula tained the Greek numerals, Iniving no charaSas in 
 
 ' Grteca, torn, n, p. 152 — 157) our cyphers are not their own language for marking numbers. \_Huetiana, 
 
 •of Indian or Arabic invention. They were a;7. 48.] And lo we are to believe, on the authority 
 
 ' ufed by the Greek and Latin arithmeticians long of Thcophanes, (' the father of many a lie,' Gibbon, 
 
 ' before the age of Boethius. After the extinc- V.\\,p. 253) that the Arabian merchants, who ap- 
 
 ' tion of fcience in the Weft, they were adopted by pear from the books of Genefis and Job, from Aga- 
 
 ' the Arabic verfions from the original MSS. and tharchides, the Peiiplus of the Erythrsan fea, Stra- 
 
 * rejlorcd to the Latins about the xith century.' bo, Pliny, S:c. to have been the firll, and, for ieveral ■ 
 
 {Gibbon's Hijlory of the Roman empire, ed. 1 79 1, thoufands of years, the greateft importers of Indian 
 
 V, y., p. ?i, nole.~\ goods, and the band of connection between the 
 
 The celebrated Huet had nearly the fame notion eaftern and weftcrn parts of the world, were def- 
 
 with Villoifon. He fays, that, though it is the titute of figures to keep their accounts, till they 
 
 opinion of all learned men, that the numeral figures learned them from the Greeks ! 
 now in ufe were brought into Spain by the Moors, ♦ The Arabians, not long after their fettlement 
 
 who had them from the Arabs, who had them ' in Spain, introduced this mode of notation into 
 
 from the Indians; and, though he agrees that ' Europe, and were candid enough to acknowledge, 
 
 the Spaniards learned them from the Moors, ' that they derived the knowledge of it from the 
 
 and they from the Arabs, he maintains, that ' Indians.' {Rohertfon' s Difquifition, p. 288, ed. 
 
 the Indians learned them from the Arabs, and 1794 — Vindise Montucia, Hiji. de mathematiques,V, 
 
 the Arabs from the Greeks, from whom they i,/>. 360.] 
 
 alfo derived all their learning : but they had fo "I- There is a curious paflage in Ammlanus 
 much altered the forms of the figures from thofe Marcellinus, [Z. xxiii] wherein he fays, that 
 of the Greek numeral letters, that they can fcarcc- Hyftafpes, the father of Darius, traveled into In- 
 ly be recognized in their imitations of them (which, dia, and was inllrucled by the Erachmans (or 
 to be fure, is no wonder, for there is no likenefs). Bramins) in the knowlcge of the mundane fyftem 
 And for all this he adduces the authority of and the motions of the liars, as well as the pure 
 Theophanes, a Conftantinopolitan writer of the rites of religion. 4
 
 78 Before Chrift 324. 
 
 With all thefe high acquifitions in philofophy, literature, arts, 
 fciences, and manufadures ; in fliort, with every requifite of national 
 grandeur and felicity, they carried the pacific virtues to fuch an excefs, 
 and confequently were fo ignorant of the art of war, that in all ages 
 e%-ery adventurous plunderer, who could colled: fifty or a hundred thou- 
 fand robbers under his command, and could furmount the natural ob- 
 flruclions of rugged mountains and great rivers, has found it an eafy 
 matter to feize the wealth of an induftrious and gentle, but effeminate, 
 people. Yet, notwithflanding the frequent repetition of thofe robberies, 
 the Indians, by the fertility of their foil, the frugality of their expenfes, 
 particularly in their fubfiilence, and above all, by the unrivaled excel- 
 lence of their manufadures, and the greatnefs of their trade, though ge- 
 nerally a pafTive one, have in ail ages quickly recovered from the effeds 
 of the depredations, and foon become more vvcalthy than their plunder- 
 ers *. 
 
 Such were the people, whom the comparatively rude and ignorant 
 Greeks infolently termed barbarians ; in which they are followed by 
 too many of the Europeans, even of the prefent day, who confider, as 
 creatures of an inferior fpecies, the defcendents of artifts and fages, who 
 were unqueflionably the teachers of thofe, from whom we derive our 
 firft knowlege of arts, fcience, philofophy, and letters. 
 
 Though the Greeks cannot fland a comparifon with the people of 
 the Eafl in the depth of fcience, and far lei's in the perfedion of manu- 
 fadures, yet, till the redudion of their country by the Romans, they 
 preferved a diftinguifhed pre-eminence above all the nations of Europe, 
 (unlefs the Etrurians ought to be excepted) in literature and fcience ; 
 while in the fine arts, and in mofl: works of tafte, they attained a de- 
 gree of excellence, furpailing that of the oriental nations f. 
 
 At this time, and probably for many centuries before j;, the fouthern 
 
 • National indulliy is a gentle, regular, and lake, or a branch of the ocean. £See Herod. L. i, 
 
 never-failing Itrcam, piodncing a gradual and cer- c. 203 ; L. ii, c. II ; L. iv, c. 44.] 
 tain accumulation of wealth , whereas the horridly- For the hiftory of Alexander, I have moflly fol- 
 
 fplendid acqiiifition of conciiielt, is an inundation, lowed Arrian. The iketch of the antient Hate of 
 
 which, after fuddcnly crtiitiiig an ocean of fupcr- India is chiefly compiled from Arrian, Strabo, 
 
 abundance, leaves behind it a ruined and barren Pliny, &:c. who have preferved fragments of tl.c 
 
 defert. works of Ncarchus, Oncficritns, Megatthenes, and 
 
 f It cannot, however, be denied, that the other writers of Alexander's age ; and I am in- 
 
 Gretks of Alexander's age wx-re wonderfully igno- dcbted for the mod of the recently-obtained in- 
 
 rant of many things, which they might have known formation, to Doftor Robertfon's elaborate ap- 
 
 from Herodotus. Had they attended to the in- pendix U->\\\% Difquifition on ancient India, to which 
 
 foimation Iranfmitted by him, they need not have the reader may apply for more ample information, 
 
 fuppofcd, that Alexander was the firft, who, after and for the authorities. 
 
 their fabulous Bicchus and Hercules, reached the J ' The labour of Egypt, and merchandize of 
 
 River Indus: they need not have fuppofcd that ' Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of flat ure,' were 
 
 rivtr to be the Nile, becaufe they faw crocodiles noted by Ifaiah, {j . 45] who lived 800 years 
 
 in it, nor have been tirrllied by the tides at the before the Chrillian a;ia ; and Agatharchides, 650 
 
 mouth of it ; nor would Alexander have been in years after him, dcfcribtd the Sabeans as remarkably 
 
 doubt, whether the Cafpian fea was an inland ilout men, and the grcateil merchants in the wuild.
 
 Before Chrift 324. 79 
 
 Arabians, whofe great proficiency in manufadures, fcience, and com- 
 merce, in the early ages has been ah-eady noticed, were the merchants 
 who managed the commercial intercourfe between the weflern parts of 
 the world and India. * Hitherto no one had ever failed from. India to Egypt, 
 ' neither had any perfon from Egypt ever ventured as far as India,'' the utmofl 
 extent of their navigation being the port called Arabia the Blefled, or 
 the Happy, in the country of the Sabeans, a little way beyond the Itrait 
 or mouth of the Red fea, wherein all the rich produdlions and manu- 
 fadures of India, and all thofe which were carried from Egypt, as well 
 as the fpices, aromatics, and other produce of the adjacent country, 
 were colleded and exchanged ; that port being then, what Alexandria 
 became in after ages, the commercial center of the eaftern and weftern 
 worlds*. [Periphis Maris Erythrai, p. 156, ed. Blancardi.'\ 
 
 The Gerrhaeans, a Babylonian colony fettled in that part of Arabia 
 which lies on the fouth coafl of the Perfian gulf, were engaged in the 
 fame trade, and carried their merchandize in boats up the Euphrates to 
 Babylon, and alfo as far as Thapfacus, 240 miles higher up the river in 
 the Palmyrenian territory, where they were landed, and thence difpenf- 
 ed by land carriage through all the neighbouring countries, \^Ariftohnlus 
 ap. Strabo, L. xvi, p. mo — Agatharchides , L. v, c. 50, ap. Photiiwi] and 
 probably, by means of the Palmyrenian merchants, into Europe. 
 
 The foundation of the commercial city of Maffilia by a colony of 
 Afiatic Greeks from Phocsea in the time of Cyrus has already been no- 
 ticed. There is little or no mention of the early commercial tranfac- 
 tions of the Maflilians in any hiftory now extant ; but it is probable that 
 they went on in a peaceful career of commercial profperity. It was 
 about this time, or perhaps before it, that, emulous of the fame, and 
 defirous of participating in the advantageous trade, of the Phoenicians 
 of Gadir, and perhaps of the Carthaginians, in the remote countries un- 
 known to the other Mediterranean nations, they determined, with a 
 fpirit worthy of a great commercial flate. to fend perfons properly qua- 
 lified to make difcoveries in the Ocean to the fouthward and northward 
 of the Stfaits. Of the fouthern voyage we know nothing but the name 
 of Euthymenes f the commander. The condu6l of the more arduous 
 northern expedition was committed to their illuftrious citizen, Pytheas, 
 a philofopher and difcoverer, whofe works, if extant, would throw great * 
 
 * I have placed this important notice of the the boafted oriental trade of Egypt under ihe Pto- 
 
 commercial pre-eminence of Arabia Felix only co- lemies extended no farther than Arabia about 170 
 
 eval with the infancy of Alexandria. It unquef- years after the foundation of Alexandria, and that 
 
 tionably includes the time preceding the eftablifh- there is even no good hilloric proof of any direS 
 
 ment of that city ; and the modern fancies of great intercourfe between Egypt and India prior to the 
 
 ccmmerclal intercourfe beliueen antient Egypt and In- fubjeftion of the former to the R.omans. 
 
 dia nianiflj lefore it. The judicious reader will per- f This is probably the fame Euthymenes who 
 
 haps think that it might with propriety have been is mentioned by Plutarch, Seneca, and Artemido- 
 
 carried fome centuries higher, on the authority of rus of Ephefus, as a geographical writer. 
 
 Ifaiah ; and we (liall foon fee rcafon to believe that 4
 
 8o Before Chrift 324. 
 
 light on the early hiftory of Britifh commerce *. From the imperfed:, 
 difguifed, and mifreprefented, quotations of them to be found in feve- 
 ral antierit authors f , we learn, that he coafted along the whole of the 
 fhore of Britain, where he remarked the extraordinary rife of the flood 
 tides X- From Britain he pafled in fix days to Thule, which is evident- 
 ly Shetland ; and there he obierved the great length of the days in fum- 
 mer, when the fun rofe in three hours after his fetting, as he actually 
 does in the north part of Shetland §. He even penetrated into the Bal- 
 tic fea to the country of the Guttones, now called Guddai, and the 
 ifland called Abalus and Baltia, (apparently the peninfula now called 
 Samland) the fliores of which produced amber, an article of luxury 
 highly efteemed by the antients, among whom many fables were cur- 
 rent concerning the country where it was found, and the mode of ob- 
 taining it. He alfo defcribed the abundance of honey, for which that 
 country is ftill remarkable, and the pradice, ftill common in it, of 
 making drink from honey and from corn. He was the firft man of 
 Grecian origin who could nearly afcertain the place of the north pole 
 in the heavens : and fuch was his aftronomical accuracy, that his ob- 
 fervation of the latitude of Maflilia was proved, by that of the great 
 philofopher Gaflendl in 1636, to be ivithin one mile of the truth ; a differ- 
 ence which might be effeded by the change of the buildings of the city 
 in the courfe of ages. His theory of the tides, the very exiftence of 
 which was fcarcely known to any of the Greeks, appears, through the 
 
 * Pytheas could not well lie later than he is fcntcd by antient ignorance in detracting from the 
 here placed, becaiife his work was quoted by Di- extent of it, and by modern ignorance in enlarging 
 ccarchus, who flourilhed about 310 years before it beyond the bounds of poiiibility. Beqaufe he 
 Chrift. [Ar^io, i. ii, />. 163.] He might be ear- faid that he failed in fix days from Britain to 
 Her, for the account of the Northern ocean by Tlude, it has been fuppofed in later times that 
 Hccatsens of Abdcra, a writer contemporary with Thule muft have been Iceland ; to which a mo- 
 Alexander, is probably copied from him. The dern navigator, furniflicd with a compafs and other 
 confiifed ftory of an ifland north of Gaul, not lifs inftrnments, and having a previous knowlegc of 
 ihan Sicily, (the greatcit of all tlie iilands known the cour'e and didance, may fail from the north 
 to the Greeks) might perhaps be an cmbellifh- pait of Britain in about fix days and nights. 
 meiit by HecatKUS of the account of Britain by Thofe critics did not confider, how many davs 
 Pytheas. [P/fn. /////. nut. L. iv, c. 13. — JEl'mni would be neceflary to creep through the utterly- 
 h'lft. antm. L. xi, c. I. — Diod. Skul. L. li.] See unknown and dangert-us channels of the Orkneys, 
 alfo Bougainville, [^Mem. de Ihleralure, V. xix, p. and from thence to Fare ifle and Shetland. Thev 
 148] who thinks he nuill have lived before Aril'- did not confider, that, though he could proceed 
 totlc. from MalTilia to the northern extremity of Shet- 
 
 f EraloJIhenes, Pnlybiiis, Sirabo, Pliny, Plutarch, land with land contlantly in fight, ire could not 
 
 Clcomedes, H'tpparchin ad Arnlum, yitheiiicus, Geml- polfibly go any farther. They were not aware, 
 
 nils, /Ippollimil [choliajles, Arlemldorus, &c. tliat a voyage to Iceland, which is fcveral hun- 
 
 \ Eighty cubits, as copied from Pytheas by drcds of miles from the nearell European land, 
 Pliny, according to the editions. \_Hlfl. mil. L. ii, was an ahfolute impojpbi/ily to a Mediterranean na- 
 c. 97.] This being evidently erroneous, Doclor vigator before the invention of the compafs. And, 
 For Iter, with great probability, fnppofes, that in- what was, if poffible, a greater negled than all 
 ftcad of ijf!o7eni.! cu'itis (tighty cubits), (he true thcfe, they did not attend to what is faid by Py- 
 reading ought to be oflo •vicfuis ctibilit (twenty- tlieas himfelf, who, in one of the plainefl quota- 
 eight cubits), or 42 feet, the height to which the lions given from him by Strabo, [L. ii, />. 175] 
 fpring tides aftually rife at Brillol. calls ' "Thuli the m'Jl northerly of the Britijlo i/lands.' 
 
 § The voyage of rylheas has been mifreprc-
 
 Before Chrift 314* 81 
 
 disfigured accounts of it tranfmitted to us by the ignorance of fucceed- 
 ing writers, to have been perfedly juft. 
 
 Such were the philofophical, geographical, and commercial, difco- 
 veries of Pytheas, whofe voyage, even when diverted of the imaginary 
 extenfion of it to Iceland by modern authors, if we duely confider the 
 flate of geography, aflronomy, and navigation, in that age, may with- 
 out hefitation be pronounced equal for enterprife and conducSt to any 
 of the circumnavigations of our own age, not even excepting the voyage 
 of Captain Cook into the inhofpitable and forbidding regions of the 
 Antardlic ocean *. 
 
 We know little or nothing of the advantages derived from the difco- 
 veries of Pytheas by the Maflilians. It is, however, very probable, that 
 they were the foundation of the great trade in tin, which they after- 
 wards carried on with Britain. 
 
 314 — Tyre, notwithftanding the ruin brought upon her by Alexan- 
 der, again lifted up her head : again the little ifland was covered with 
 buildings, which, to accommodate the crowded population, were reared 
 aloft in the air to a prodigious height f. The merchants, who in their 
 childhood had been faved from the butchery of Alexander's army at 
 Carthage and Sidon, recovered the commerce of their fathers, and Tyre 
 refumed its rank as the firft mercantile city in the eaflern part of the 
 Mediterranean. It had recovered fuch a fhare of the Oriental trade, 
 (or rather the trade with the fouth part of Arabia) which was condudl- 
 ed by means of land carriage from Rhinocorura on the confines of 
 Egypt and Phoenicia to the Elanitic branch of the Red fea, and thence 
 by a navigation of feventy days to the mouth of that fea, that it actual- 
 ly fupported a competition with Alexandria, though reared and nourifh- 
 ed by the foftering hands of viftorious fovereigns, and fed with the 
 plunder of the Eafl : fo difficult is it to turn afide the ftream of com- 
 
 * This great philofopher and difcoverer has cifm and philofophical fcrutiny of the prefent age. 
 horn an ample fhare of the malevolence and de- And it will not be thought out of place to ob- 
 traftion ufually attendant on real merit. He has ferve here, that ' the academy of Marfeille, deriv- 
 been accufed of grofs and intentional falfification * ing a worthy pride from this fpirit of enterprife 
 by Strabo and forr ■ other antient writers of great ♦ in their ancellors, animated with a liberality and 
 abilities, merely becaufe tlie fafts, which he truely ' noblenefs of fentiment which nothing but an in- 
 related, were incompreheniible to their very limit- ' ward confcioufnefs of kindred merit could give, 
 ed knowlege of the laws of nature and the uni- 'have this year, (1787) in a manner that does 
 verfe. But, on the other hand, Eratofthenes, one ' them great honour, propofed, as a fubjeft for a 
 of the moil judicious and accurate writers of anti- ' prize, the euloge of the Britifli navigator Cook.' 
 quity, confidered the work of Pytheas as an oracle: [_Governor Po-wnal's Notices of the Provincia Ro- 
 and even Strabo reluftantly does him the juftice to maim of Gaul, 1787.] 
 
 credit his account of the northern nations, of the The befl account of Pytheas that I have fees 
 
 truth of which, by the bye, he was no competent is in Fofler's Voyages in the North, B. i, c. 2. 
 judge. It is little to the credit of fomc modern f According to Strabo, [Z,. xvi, p. 1C98] the 
 
 writers that they have implicitly followed thofe houfes of Tyre were faid to be higher in his time 
 
 antient authors in abufing the Captain Cook of an- than thofe of Rome ; and there it was neceffary 
 
 liquity. His charafter, and the mercantile enter- to reftrain builders by law from exceeding the 
 
 prifing fpirit of his countrymen, are worthy of a height of I'eventy feet. See Gibbon, V, v, JB. 287, 
 
 reftoration to due honour by the hiftorical criti- ed. 1792. 
 
 Vol. I. L
 
 82 Before Chrift 3 H' 
 
 merce from the channel in which it has been accuftomed to flow. But 
 now the frefli calamity of another fiege by Antigonus, one of the moft 
 powerful of Alexander's fucceffors, again reduced the queen of the fea 
 almoft to ruin ; and the Tyrians, after fuflaining a fiege of fifteen 
 months, were obliged to fubmit to the controul and infult of a garrifon 
 placed in their city by Antigonus (a". 313). [Diod. Sicul. L. xix — Strabo, 
 L. xvi, pp. 1098, 1113, 1128.] 
 
 304 — Antigonus was not equally fuccefsful in his attempt to fubjugate 
 the Rhodians. Thofe commercial people, who were famous for the wif- 
 Gom of their laws and police, the ftrength, beauty, and convenience, of 
 their city and harbour, the extent of their trade, and the greatnefs of 
 their naval power, had preferved a llridl neutrality with all the con- 
 tending princes, who were then tearing the empire of Alexander in 
 pieces, and employed their ftiips of war only againft pirates, the general 
 enemies of all mankind. Antigonus, having demanded their afllfiance 
 againft Ptolemy king of Egypt, was fo incenfed at their refufal, that he 
 immediately fent a fleet to block up their harbour, and to feize all vef- 
 fels bound to Egypt. This did not, however, prevent the Rhodians from 
 difpatching their veflels for Egypt as ufual ; but they had the precau- 
 tion to fend a fuflficient convoy of warlike fliips, which beat off the hof- 
 tile fleet, and faw their merchant vefllels fafe into Egypt. Antigonus 
 now fent againft the Rhodians a more formidable fleet and a great army, 
 under the command of his warlike fon Demetrius, who was renowned 
 for his ingenuity in conftruding vefl^els of war, and engines for the de- 
 flruction of fortifications. The naval forces of Demetrius were aug- 
 mented by the accelTion of moft of the pirates of the Mediterranean fea, 
 eager to revenge upon the Rhodians the fevere reftraint they had iuffer- 
 ed from their fleets, and alfo longing to fliare the plunder of a com- 
 munity, whofe induftry, prudence, and commercial fpirit, had enabled 
 them to amafs great wealth during a long continuance ot tranquillity. 
 But, notwithftanding his great niilitary talents, Demetrius was com- 
 pletely baffled by the Rhodians, who bravely repulfed him in every at- 
 tempt he made to enter their city, and deftroyed feverals of the moft 
 formidable of his engines, the conftrudion of which had coft him in- 
 credible labour and expenfe. At laft, after an unavailing fiege of a 
 whole year, Antigonus directed his fon to make peace with the Rhodi- 
 ans -. and on this occafion Demetrius made them a prefent of all the 
 ftupendous engines he had uied for their deftrudion. The materials 
 of them fold for three hundred talents (/^58,i25 of modern fterling 
 money) ; and with that money, and fome addition to it, they made 
 their famous brafen ftatue of Apollo, 70 cubits (105 feet) in height, 
 which they fet up at the entrance of their harbour, where it was fo 
 placed, that veflels pafiTed between the legs of it in coming in or going 
 out. [Diod. Sicul. L. xx — Fltit. in Dcmet?-. — Strabo, L. xiv, p. 964 — Plin. 
 L. xxxiv, c. 7.]
 
 Before Chrift 3 1 1 — 302. 
 
 83 
 
 311 — According to Livy [L. ix, c. 30] the Romans appointed two 
 new officers, called duumviri navales, (or lords of the admiralty) whofc 
 duty it was to fupcrintend the equipment and repair of their fleets *. 
 
 302 — Seleucus, one of Alexander's officers, who obtained Syria, Ba- 
 bylonia, and Periia, as his fhare of the empire, had fome intercourfc 
 with India. He fent Megafthenes as his ambaflixdor to Chandragupta, 
 called by the Greeks Sandracottus, king of the Prafii, whofe capital was 
 Pataliputra, which the Greeks call Palibothra, on the Ganges f. Me- 
 gafthenes appears to have penetrated farther into the Eaft than any Eu- 
 ropean ever did before him ; and he publiflied an account of his travels 
 and difcoveries, which, containing many things incomprehenfible to the 
 Europeans, and being afterwa^-ds vitiated by tranfcribers, met with fe- 
 verer treatment from Strabo and fome other learned men than it pro- 
 bably deferved ; for in his geography of India he was much more ac- 
 curate than the fucceeding geographers, except thofe who copied from 
 him ; and it is chiefly to the fragments of his work, tvanfcribed by later 
 writers, that we are indebted for what little we know of the antient flate 
 of India. Allitrochadas, the fon of Chandragupta, (or Sandracottus) 
 i^eceived another ambafllidor, called Daimachus, from Seleucus, or his 
 fon Antiochus, who alfo fent Patrocles on a voyage of difcovery to the 
 eaftward. Both thefe travelers wrote accounts of their difcoveries, of 
 which we know next to nothing. After this the intercourfe between 
 
 * It is evident that Livy lias antedated the 
 creation of an office fuppofed antient in his own 
 time ; for Polybius, the eailieft and mod impartial 
 writer of Roman hiftory now extant, fays very ex- 
 prefsly and repeatedly, that the Romans had no 
 fleet before their firll war with Carthage. It may 
 be inferred, however, from their treaties with the 
 Carthaginians, that they, or rather their conquer- 
 ed fubjefts, had fome trading vefFels ; but their 
 traders, as we fliall frequently have occailon to ob- 
 ferve, attrafled very httle of the attention of go- 
 vernment. 
 
 It is proper, however, here to introduce a llory 
 from a refpeftable author, which, if it were given 
 by him as authentic, might infer that the Roman* 
 had probably fome veffels about this time : I fay 
 frobdhly, becaiife they might have boiTowed veffels 
 then, as wc know for certain they did long after, 
 when they wanted to ferry their army over to Si- 
 cily. Theophrallus, who was a pupil of Arillotle, 
 and died 288 years before Chriil, relates in his 
 Hiftory of phnts, [L. v, c. 9] that, ' though the 
 ' largell and moft beautiful of the Italian pines 
 * and firs grow in Latium, they are nothing in 
 ' comparifon with thofe of Corfica. For the Ro- 
 ' mans, when they went with twenty-iive veffels in 
 ' order to build a town in that iiland, are f aid to 
 ' have fallen in with a place where the trees were 
 ' fo ptodigioudy large, and their branches fo clofe 
 ' together, that the mafts of the veffels were broken 
 
 ' to pieces by them in fome bays and harbours ; 
 
 • and, as they favv that the whole idand was thick 
 ' fet, and quite wild and crowded with trees, they 
 ' are/aid to have defifted from their purpole of 
 ' building a town ; but fome of them going afliore, 
 ' cut down in a fmall fpace of ground timber fuf- 
 ' ficient to build a ftiip which was to carry fifcy 
 
 • lails, which, they moreover fay, peridred in the 
 ' fea.' They were certainly very right to put it 
 out of fight. A veffel with Jifly fails indeed ! (not 
 a numeral letter N for 50, but TmrviKoiTx iri«i5 in 
 plain words). Who ever faw or heard of a (hip 
 cai-rying fifty fails, even in the modern fyftem of 
 malls over mafts, ftudding-fail booms added to the 
 yards, and ftay-fails extended between the mafts I 
 Perhaps the reporters of the ftory mi^ook fails tor 
 oars ; and, if the Romans in that age built a velFel 
 of fifty oars, it might certainly have been fome- 
 thing to boaft of. It is fcarcely worth while to 
 notice the leffer abfurdity of the bays and harbours 
 being fo narrow, that (hips were obhged to brufli 
 through the trees. It appears, however, from this 
 hearfay ilorj', that the Romans had made an at- 
 tempt upon Corfica, which is unknown to their 
 own writers, and alfo to thofe modern writers who 
 have correfted the faithful Polybius from the ro- 
 mantic Livy. 
 
 f See the yt/iatic rtfearches, V, iv, p. 10. But 
 the pofition of this famous city is not unqueftion 
 ably afcertained. 
 
 L2
 
 84 Before Chrift 302. 
 
 Syria and India was almofl entirely given up, though the Syrian kings 
 poflefled the fhores of the Perfian gulf, famous for the fifliery of pearls, 
 with the ifland of Maceta at the mouth of it, and Diridotis at the mouth 
 of the Euphrates, which were two eftablifhed emporia for the fpice 
 trade. [Jrriam Indica.'] From thefe they could very conveniently have 
 difpatched fhips to India, the cargoes of which could be carried into the 
 heart of their dominions by the two great navigable rivers, the Euphra- 
 tes and Tigris, efpecially by the former, which has a longer courfe and 
 a more gentle ftream than the later : and they could be difperfed through 
 the weftern and northern regions by the Euxine and the Cafpian feas 
 with their great tributary rivers, by the help of fhort carriages over 
 land. It is proper, however, to obferve, that Seleucus appears to have 
 conceived the defign of fuch an exteniive inland trade, as he intended 
 to open a navigable communication between the Cimmerian Bofphorus 
 and the Cafpian fea *. And he is probably the fame King Seleucus who 
 brought plants of the amomum and nard, or fpikenard, from India by 
 fea, in hopes to cultivate them in his own dominions, wherein, how- 
 ever, he was difappointed, as they could not bear the change. [/"//«. L. 
 svi, f. 32.] 
 
 Ptolemy, who in the partition of Alexander's empire had obtained 
 Egypt for his fliare, fixed his refidence at the new city of Alexandria, 
 and carefully followed the plans laid down by Alexander for attrading 
 the commerce of the world to that favoured port. Partly by force, 
 partly by perfuafion and encouragement, but principally by the juftice 
 of his governmtnt, he drew great numbers of people to fettle in his ca- 
 piial. For the benefit of navigation, the firfl; Ptolemy, or his fon Pto- 
 lemy Philadelphus, (for authors vary) ereded a light-houfe on a fmall 
 ifland, called Pharos, before the harbour, which was built of white 
 marble in a mort magnificent manner at the expenfe of Moo talents, 
 (about ;^ 1 5,500 of modern Britifh money) under the diredion of Sof- 
 tratus, an archited of Cnidos (a". 284.) It was efleemed one of the 
 feven wonders of the world ; and its name of Pharos has been extended 
 to all fucceeding ligiu-houfes. Its light was feen at the difiance of 300. 
 fladia, or about 30 ge .graphical miles. 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus, in purfuance of his father's commercial plans, 
 refl;ored, or completed, the canal between the Nile and the weftern 
 branch of the Red fea, and thereby eflfeded a navigable communication 
 between his capital and the Indian ocean, of which the native and Per- 
 fian fovereigns of Egypt feem fcarcely ever to have conceived an idea 
 for any commercial purpofe. The canal was one hundred cubits ia 
 
 • So wc are told ob tlic aiithority of ilie cm- to tiie Cafpian was navigated by tlie orders of Se- 
 
 pcror Claudius by Piiny. [_HijL mil. L. <i\, c, n.l^ Icucus and Antigonus, wliicli, hciug impofTibW, 
 
 Pliny has bfiii mi(li-d by fomi.' prcci lii.g writer to inuft be falfc. 
 fiiv, [L ii, c. ''17] that ihc Iiuiisc fea Ibctching
 
 Before Chrift, about 280. 85 
 
 breadth, and had fufVicient depth for what were then efteemed large 
 veflels. There was a lock conftruded upon it, which, the antient writ- 
 ers fay, was intended to prevent tlic fait water of the Red fea from 
 fpoiling the water of the river, or to prevent the Red fea from over- 
 flowing the land, which, they ftrangely thought, was lower than the 
 furface of that fea *. [S/raio, L. xvii, p. 1156 — FUn. L. vi, c. 29.] 
 
 In. this infant Hate of the trade of Egypt, Heroopolis at the head of 
 the weftern branch of the Red fea was the port from which veflels fail- 
 ed, and Sabsea was the country to which they went to procure frank- 
 incenfe, myrh, cafia, cinnamon, &c. \ftheophraJli Hiji. plant. L. ix, c. 4.] 
 
 Owing to the dangerous and difficult navigation of the Red fea, or to 
 feme other caufes unknown to us, the canal, the work of fo many ages, 
 was found not fo ufeful or advantageous as was expedled. Ptolemy 
 therefor founded a town called Berenice, about 300 miles lower on the 
 Red fea, to which the flaple of the eaflern trade was removed. The 
 Egyptian, or, to fpeak more corre6lly, the Grecian, merchants, failed 
 from Berenice down the Red fea, near the mouth of which, in the 
 country of the Sabaeans, there were feveral good trading ports, and par- 
 ticularly that called Arabia Felix, about 120 miles beyond the Straits, 
 where they found a general aflbrtment of the fpices, aromatics, and 
 other productions, of Arabia and Ethiopia, and alfo thofe of India, 
 which the long experience of the Sabaeans in the nature of the periodi- 
 cal winds called monfoons, of the feas, and of the various ports of In- 
 dia, enabled them to furnifli to the merchants of Egypt cheaper than 
 they could have procured them themfelves, if they had coafted the 
 whole way to India in their own fmall veffels f. On their return they 
 
 * The obvioH3 reafon was to preferve the water Sabasa, as jufl noticed. — No Indian voyages from 
 upon a level at the lower end of the canal, and to Egypt are mentioned by Agatharchides when de- 
 let the veflels down to, or raife them up from, the fcribing the oriental commerce abont 170 years 
 ica. I (iO not, however, mean to fay, that the after the ellabliniment of the Ptolemies! n Egypt. — 
 head of the Red fea, which has a tidt, may not And Strabo, befides relating the ftory of a voyage 
 be highct at high nvater than the Mediterranean, from Egypt to India by Eudoxus, [Z,. ii, />. 155] 
 which never rifes more than nine or ten inches which, whether true or falfe, clearly proves that 
 above its ufual level. But the canal was drawn the Greeks of Egypt had not then attempted any 
 off from the rivers/ the head of the Delia, where voyages to India, fays, [L. xvii, p. 1 149] that 
 its water was probably 30 or 40 feet above the the trade of Egypt with India and the country of 
 level of the Mediterranean. Indeed the country the Troglodytes was nczv in his own time. — It is 
 mull have been very near level, if, allowing for a true that Pliny [L. vi, f. 23] cxpreffes his intcn- 
 very gentle declivity from the head to the mouth tion of defcribing the paflage of Alexander's fleet 
 of the canal, a fingle lock was fufficient to flrift from the Indus to the head of the Perfian gulf, 
 the veflels out of, or into, the fea.— Quere, if this ' and afterwards that navigation, which, being dif- 
 was the firll lock ever conflrufted upon a canal ? ♦ covered at that time, is kept up to this day.' 
 
 \ It has lately been fuppofed, that voyages But it is not too prefumptuous to fay, that tiie 
 
 were made dircft from Egypt to India from the authority of Pliny, who wrote from the works or 
 
 commencement of the Macedonian dominion in reports of others, and was particularly defciilive in 
 
 Egypt ; but there does not appear to be any fuf- oriental aflaiis, if it were even exprefs and pointed, 
 
 ficient foundation for fuch a fuppofition. Theo~ as it is not, ouglit not to be fet againil the afler- 
 
 phraftus, an author contemporary with Alexander tion, or even the fdence, of Theophrallus, Aga- 
 
 and the full of the Ptolemie.-, has not a word of tharchides, or Strabo, who wrote from their own 
 
 voyages to India, though he mentions voyages to perfona! knowlege. The
 
 S6 Before Chrift, about 280. 
 
 landed their goods at Berenice, whence they were carried over land 
 upon a road, which Philadelphus opened with his array, and provided 
 with water and hoiifes of refrefhment, to Coptos, and thence by inland 
 navigation to Alexandria. \_Strabo, L. xvii, p. 1169 — Feriplus Maris 
 Erythrm.'] 
 
 With a view to engrofs the whole of this very lucrative trade to his 
 own fubjects, Ptolemy maintained a powerful fleet in the Red fea, and 
 another in the Mediterranean. No naval force had ever yet appeared 
 in the world equal to his navy, in which there were two veifels of thirty 
 tires of oars, and one hundred and ten from tweiaty to five tires, befides 
 quadriremes, triremes, and inferior i-ates, almoft innumerable. \^Athe- 
 nceus, L. v.] Thefe prodigious fleets of obfervation, or of jealoufy, be- 
 ing vaiT:ly beyond any force that might have been neceflary to overawe 
 the pirates of Arabia Petrcea and thofe of the Mediterranean, appear to 
 have been chiefly intended to crufh the competition of the ftill-furviv- 
 ing, but almoft-expiring, commerce of Tyre on both feas. 
 
 The decided fuperiority which the merchants of Alexandria thus ob- 
 tained over the Tyrians, added to the difl:refl!es brought upon them by 
 Antigonus, when they were jufl: recovering from the deftruciion of their 
 city by Alexander, was more than fufficient to overwhelm a community 
 fo circumftanced. And in truth we after this hear but little of Tyre as 
 a capital commercial city, though it long retained fome little portion 
 of the Arabian commerce, and continued to have a confiderable trade 
 in the celebrated purple known by its name, fome manufadures of filk 
 and other fine goods, and a profitable fifliery. [Stral>o, L. xvi, p. 1098.] 
 
 It was probably with a view to eftablifli a dired intercourfe with In- 
 dia that Ptolemy fent Dionyfius as his ambafllidor to that country ; but 
 we know nothing of any confequences produced by that embafly. 
 [P/i/i. L. vi, c. 17.] 
 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus has been defervedly praifed as a patron of fai- 
 ence and literature ; and his library, which contained all that was valu- 
 able in Grecian literature, and alfo a tranflation of the books of Mofes, 
 or the whole of the Old teflament, (for authors differ as to the number 
 of the books), has been famous in all ages. 
 
 A great proportion of the mofl: civilized parts of Europe, Afia, and 
 Africa, being now by conquefl; or colonization fubje^t to the Greeks, 
 there was a freer communication of knowkge and the arts than could 
 
 The judicious D.inifli traveller Nicbuhr lias liibit any vcfill from India from proceeding beyond 
 
 fleered clear of the error into which fome of our Jidda, an Arabian poit about halt way up tlie Red 
 
 modern great authors have fallen. He informs us, fea, and that vcflfels go between the Arabian ports 
 
 that, though the difeovcry of the route to India and Egypt with Indian mcrcliandize even now, as 
 
 by the Cape of Good Hope has deprived the South they did in the remotert. ages. [Vuya^es de Nicbuhr, 
 
 Arabiaiisofthat monopoly of tiiclndiantradewhieh V. i, p. 224; V. ii, p'ljjiii'.l Purclias \_B. iii, pp. 
 
 their anccilors enjoyed, they Hill preferve the com- 230, 261] alfo defcribes Mocha, an Arabian porf, 
 
 mand of it with tefpcdt to Egypt, fo far as to pio- as a principal entrepot between India and Egypt.
 
 Before Chrift, about 280. 87 
 
 be obtained in former times ; and thence this age was pecuHarly diftin- 
 guifhed by eminent writers and philofophers, among whom there were 
 feverals who improved geography and the other fciences connedcd with 
 commerce, particularly Timocharis and Dionyfius, eminent aflronomers, 
 whofe obfervations on the ftars have been prclerved in the works of Pto- 
 lemy the allronomer and geographer ; Timoflhenes, Ptolemy's admiral, 
 who wrote a defcription of harbours; FAiclid, who even now retains the 
 firft rank among the writers on geometry ; Dicearchus, (perhaps dead 
 before this reign) a natural philofopher, geographer, and hiftorian, who 
 was a follower of Pytheas in his defcription of Britain ; and, contempo- 
 rary with thefe philofophers, (though perhaps younger than them) Cle- 
 anthes of Samos, who was accufed by Ariftarchus of violating the reli- 
 gious creed of the age, and overturning the whole fyftem of the uni- 
 verfe, becaufe he taught that the heavens remained immoveable, and 
 that the earth was carried round in an oblique orbit, revolving in the 
 meantime round its own axis. [^Plut. de facie in orhe lunce.~\ Thus Clean- 
 thes had the honour, of all who lived in the weftern world after Pythag- 
 oras, and before Cardinal Cufa *, to approach the nearefl to the true 
 fyftem of the uiiiverfe, as it was explained in later times by Copernicus, 
 and afterwards demonflrated by the ufe of the telefcope. 
 
 Beddes Dicearchus, fome other writers of this age have thrown fome 
 faint glimmerings of light upon the hiftory oi BritiJJj counnerce, particU' 
 larly Timseus, a Sicilian, and a follower of Pytheas, whofe account of 
 the tin trade will be prefently noticed ; and Ifidorus, who feems alfo to 
 have derived his information from the fame great difcoverer. Our ifland 
 was alfo noticed in the work upon the world, afcribed to Ariftotle, but 
 more probably of this age, and by Sotacus, an author feemingly as early 
 as the others, who thought amber a diftillation from trees growing in 
 Britain f. [P/w. L. iv, c. 16 ; L. xxxvii, c. 2.] 
 
 The Britiih commerce, hitherto engrofled by the Phoenicians of 
 
 * Ariftarchus flourifhed about 260 years before of Gadir or Carthage, the Grecian authors were, 
 the commencement of the Chriftian xra, and Cufa till a late period, the only ones from whom he 
 in the middle of the fifteenth century. could poffibly obtain any account of Britain ; for 
 -j- Thefe were all Gieeks, and they were fome Rome does not appear to have had any writers in 
 of the writers who induced Pliny to fay in his veiy the times now under our confideration. But I 
 brief defcription of Britain, [L. iv, c, 16] that it know of no warrant in hiftory for a belief that 
 was renowned in Grecian and Roman records, any native cf Greece ever landed on the coaft cf 
 (' clara Grscts noftrifque monumentis.') And this Britain before the Roman invafion, far Icfs carried 
 claufe is with fome modern writers a fufficient on a long-continued intcrcourfc, fufRcient, if any 
 proof that the Greeks had fo great an intercourfe furh inlercourfe could e-vcr be fujficieni, to change the 
 with this ifland as to introduce their language and language and manners of the people, as has been ' 
 manners. fuppofed. Pytheas, a Maifiiian, was of very re- 
 It is natural to fuppofe that the remote and al- mote Greek anceftry : but his intercourfe with 
 moft-unknown ifland of Britain would be frequent- Britain was not near fo much as that of Captain 
 ly mentioned, after the difcovery of it by Pytheas, Cook with Otahelte in his repeated vifits to that 
 by the Grecian writers, ever fond of the marvel- ifland ; and yet the people ot Otahcite do not 
 ous : and as Pliny probably had not read, or per- fpcak Englifh. 
 haps could not read, any of the Phcenician writers 4
 
 88 Before Chrift 280. 
 
 Gadir, (unlefs their brethren of Carthage participated in it) and car- 
 ried on at the weftern extremity of the country, or the Silley iflands, 
 feems now to have been alfo fhared by fome other people fettled on the 
 north coaft of Gaul, who, we may prefume, were conneded with, or 
 agents of, the Maffilians. The flaple of this new commerce was there- 
 upon eftablifhed at Midis *, (one of the iflands on the fouth coafl:) to 
 which the tin was carried by the Britons in their leather boats, as we 
 learn from the contemporary teftimony of Timseus. [ap. Plin. L. v, c. 
 16 — Biod. Sicul. L. V, § 22.] And the change of the flaple, and prefer- 
 ence of inland navigation by the principal rivers of Gaul , or of land car- 
 riage, appear to have been owing to the apprehenfion of meeting with 
 the fliips of the Phoenicians, whofe naval fuperiority was univerfally ac- 
 knowleged, if they fliould venture to coaft along the fliores of Gaul and 
 Spain, or perhaps merely to the averfion of the Maflilian navigators to 
 fo long a circuit by fea. It is reafonable to fuppofe that thefe new ar- 
 rangements were effeded by the negotiations of Pytheas with the Bri- 
 tons. 
 
 The repeated calamities of Tyre, among which may be reckoned the 
 eftablifliment of Alexandria, muft have greatly deranged the commerce 
 of the Phoenicians. The oriental trade, which, by the afliftance of land 
 carriage acrofs the ifthmus between Africa and Afia, they had enjoyed 
 exclufively during many centuries, (for the tranfient participation of it 
 by the Ifraelites was only for their own confumption, and lafted but a 
 few years) was in a great meafure transferred to that new emporium, 
 where it could not fail to take root and flourifli by the favour and pro- 
 tedion of the Macedonian kings of Egypt, who had powerful fleets in 
 
 * There can be little doubt that Mic\is was the bay in Wight, it has feven fathom and a half at 
 fame ifland which was afterwards called litis by low water. Though the many changes made by 
 Diodoriis Siciilus. [L. v, { 21. ed. ylm/lel. 1746.] the fea on this part of the coall render it not irr.- 
 By the moderns it has been fuppofed Silley, or pojjllk that the anticnt Miftis or Iftis and the mo- 
 Wight : the former, bccanfe Timxns, as copied deni Wight may be the fame, yet the iflands of 
 by Pliny, reprefents it as producing tin ; and the Portland and Purbeck, wiiicli, though now pcnin- 
 later, apparently for no better reafon than the flip- fulas, are conftantly called iflands, probably in me- 
 pofcd relemblance of the name, which is fuither mory of having formerly been fiich, (asTlianet on 
 faid to remain with little variation to this day the coall of Kent alfo is) tlie fmail illands in Poole 
 among the Welfli, who call it Guith ; and perhaps bay, and alfo Portfey and Haling, may all compete 
 alio bccaufe it is the principal ifland on the fouth for the name of Mic\is or litis with more proba- 
 coalt, and moft confpicnous on the map. But bility than Silley or Wight. But of the whole 
 Timxus mnft have had his information from fea- Portland anfwers bell to the defcriptlon of Dio- 
 men, with whom it is iifiial to call every article dorus. 
 
 the production of the place where they take it in : The error of placing Midis at the didance (jf 
 
 and Diodorus, from later, and apparently better, fix days' fail from Britain need not be wondered 
 
 information, defcribes litis as the port to which at in Timxns, a Sicilian Greek, who wrote of this 
 
 tlie tin was brought from the place of its produc- trade when it was in its infancy. Perhaps the au- 
 
 tion in order to be Ihipped. — litis was fcparated thor of his information underllood it to be fix days' 
 
 from the main by a channel fordablc at low water j fail from that part of Britain which was nearcll to 
 
 but the channel between Wight and the main has the continent ; and that is the only explanation 
 
 a depth of above thirty fathom where it is nar- which can make it apply to any ifland conneited 
 
 rowell at Hurl' calUe, and, where it is Ihallowell with Britain, or indeed to any ifland whatever. 
 
 between Bcauly river in Hamp-fliirc and Gurnard 1
 
 Before Chrift 280 — 271. 89 
 
 the Mediterranean and Red feas. The univerfal ufe of the Greek lan- 
 guage among the fuperior people of almoft every part of the Mediter- 
 ranean coaft, as flir wefl as Sicily on the one hand and Cyrenaica on 
 the other, alfo contributed to give the merchants of Alexandria a very 
 great advantage over the Phoenicians in every port throughout thofe 
 rich and extenfive trails of coaft. Thefe great difcouragements, co- 
 operating with the infalts of the foldiers placed among tliem by Anti- 
 gonus, muft have compelled many of the merchants, rnanufadturers, 
 and other inhabitants, of Tyre and the neighbouring towns, to remove 
 their families, their capitals, and as much as poffible of their commerce, 
 to Carthage, where they could enjoy liberty among a free people of kin- 
 dred manners and fpeech. Such an acceflion of wealthy and induftrious 
 inhabitants was fufficient to raife Carthage in the fcale of commercial 
 profperity and naval fuperiority beyond any degree of competition 
 which could be attempted (except in the one branch of trade with Ara- 
 bia) by the new-eftabliflied port of Alexandria, by Syracufe, by Co- 
 rinth, or by any other port in the Mediterranean lea. And this reafon- 
 ing, highly probable from the natural confequence of known hiftoric 
 events, receives clear confirmation from the pofitive and unqueftion- 
 able teftimony of Polybius, who repeatedly informs us that the Cartha- 
 ginians were at this time the acknowleged fovereigns of the fea, and in 
 every refped at the zenith of their profperity. 
 
 280 — At this time the invafion of Italy by Pyrrhus, a valiant and 
 turbulent king of Epirus, obliged the Romans to court the friendfhip 
 of the Carthaginians, to fecure their powerful afliftance, if neceflary, 
 againft the moft formidable enemy they had ever encountered. A third 
 treaty between the two republics was accordingly concluded, wherein 
 they contraded, that each (hould aflift the other, if invaded ; the fliips 
 in either cafe to be furnilhed by the Carthaginians, and the troops to 
 be paid by the ftate requiring their afliftance. [Poijl?. L. iii, c. 25.] 
 
 271 — When the Carthaginians, by an unremitting attention to com- 
 merce, had raifed themfelves, with the general good will of the neigh- 
 bouring nations, to a height of wealth and profperity, which Appian 
 compares to the empire of the Macedonians for power, and to that of 
 the Perfians for opulence, the Romans, by an equally-unremitting at- 
 tention to war and plunder^ had now extended their dominion over al- 
 moft all the peninlular part of Italy ; and their ambition now afpired 
 to the empire of the v.'orld. 
 
 A band of Campanian banditti had treacheroufly got into the city of 
 Meffana in Sicily, where they murdered the citizens, raviftied their 
 wives, and feized their property. They afterwards intefted the Cartha- 
 ginian and Grecian colonies in Sicily with frequent plundering excur- 
 fions, wherein they were aflifted by a fimilar gang of ruffians, who, by 
 a fimilar villany, had feized on Rhegium upon the oppolite fide of the 
 
 Vol. T. M
 
 go Before Chrift 264 — 260. 
 
 ftrait in Italy, till they were exterminated by the Romans, who were at 
 that time defirous of fhowing to the world their great abhorrence of 
 treachery. 
 
 The Campanian robbers of MaiTana, who aflumed the name of Ma- 
 mertini (Warriors, or fons of Mars) were thereupon obliged to furrend- 
 er their citadel to a Carthaginian garrifon. Some of them, however, 
 who were difcontented with this meafure, applied to the Romans for af- 
 fiftance: and in favour of allies, fo worthy of their protedion, the Ro- 
 mans, who were exceedingly glad of any pretence for intei'fering in the 
 affairs of Sicily, engaged in a war againfl the Carthaginians and Syra- 
 cufians ; but they foon concluded a feparate peace with the later, that 
 they might have only one enemy to c-intend with. 
 
 264 — ^In order to tranfport their army to Sicily, the Romans borrow- 
 ed veffels from the Tarentines, Eleates, Locrians, and Neapolitans ; for 
 their repubhc did not poflefs a iingle veffel of any kind, even for fo trif- 
 ling a navigation as to ferry their troops over the ftrait of Meflana *. 
 
 At the beginning of the war the Carthaginians, who were abfolute 
 maflers of the fea, diftrelTed the whole coaft of Italy with prsedatory in- 
 curfions, while their ovrn country, inacceffible to the Romans, almofl 
 enjoyed the comforts of peace. The Romans therefor refolved to ella- 
 blifli a naval force, though they had neither fliip-carpenters to build, 
 nor feamen to man, a fleet : and this is one of many inftances of the 
 perfevering intrepidity and refolution by which they obtained the em- 
 pire of the Vvorld. In palling the Strait of Meflana they had got poflef- 
 fion of a Carthaginian quhiqueremes, which was ftranded. In imitation 
 of this veffel their carpenters conllruded 1 00 quhiqueremes ; and they al- 
 io built 20 triremes, of which kind they had already feen fome in Italy. 
 This fleet, if Phny \^H'i/i. nat. L. xvi, c. 39] was truely informed, was 
 ready for fea in fixty days, reckoning from the time of cutting down the 
 trees f . 
 
 26'5 — The firfl: naval eflay of the Romans, as might be expedted, was 
 
 * The ten Roman fliips of war al Tarcntum a that fuch difpatcli was fcarcely credible. ^Ve 
 
 few years before tin's time, and alfo the Roman mull remember, that Polybius received the inate- 
 
 duunwirt navales, or lords of the ntlinlralty, in an rials for the early part of his liillory from the Ro- 
 
 earlier age, mull vanlili befoie this unqueltionable mans ; and indeed he remarks [i. i, c. 64] from his 
 
 truth, which is exprefsiy, formally, and repeatedly, own ohfervnllot!, ihat the Romans though much 
 
 nlfiriixd by Polybius, one of die bed informed and more powcrfnl after the dellni>^!on of Carthage, 
 
 mo(k impartial writers of antiqnity. [L.'\,c. 20. J could fit ont no fuch fleets in his time. 
 
 •) Florus [Z. ii, c. 2] Rels tiiis maivelonsdifpateh When the experience of almoll fix centuries, 
 
 rather too flrong an cmbellilhnienl, even for his and the colleiled fcienee of the wliolc wcilern 
 
 florid hidory, and feems defnons to cfcape from the world, had greatly improved the Roman marine, 
 
 ablurdity under the (hclter of a miraculous meta- feveral years were emidoyed in getting icady a fleet 
 
 morphofis of trees into (hips. Polybius fays no- againfl the Britilh emperor Caraufius. And this 
 
 thing of the time employed in gettinij ready this unque(lit>nablc fact renders fuch wonderfid difpatch 
 
 iirft of the R iman fletts : but, when he tells us in the very infancy of tlic Roman navigation iit- 
 
 [L. i, (. ■^S] that another fleet built by the Romans, tcrly incredible to every pcrfcn who chufes to t>C- 
 
 aftcr their carpenters had gnt fix years' experience, amine what he reads, 
 
 was ready for fea in thicc months, he remarks, 4
 
 Before Chrift 260. ^t 
 
 unfortunate. Seventeen fhips were blocked up in the harbour of Lipara 
 by the Carthaginians, whereupon the Roman failors fled to the land, and 
 left their conful and their fhips a prey to the enemy. Soon after fifry 
 Carthaginian fliips unexpededly found themfelves in the midfl: of the 
 whole Roman fleet, and a confiderable part of them were taken. The 
 next engagement was a general one, wherein the Romans were for the 
 firfl; time to have a fair trial of their valour upon an unknown element. 
 The anxiety, infeparable from the novelty of the danger, put their in- 
 vention on the rack to difcover fome means of making up for the great 
 fuperiority of their enemies in the conflrudion of their fliips, their ma- 
 rine difcipline, and naval tadtics. The mind, unfettered by precedents, 
 often fl:rikes out new thoughts, which the experienced veterans do not 
 venture to conceive, but endeavour to conceal the fterility of their own 
 brains under an affected contempt of the untaught genius of others. So 
 it happened with the Carthaginian lords of the fea : they laughed to 
 fcorn the grapling crows and boarding ftages ereded upon the clumfy 
 fliips of the Roman landfmen, and the natural confequence of defpifing 
 an enemy neceflarily followed. They were defeated by Duilius, a com- 
 mander ignorant of the fea, whofe name is immortalized by the adion, 
 while that of the inventor of the crows, which effeded the vidory, is 
 imknown*. [Polyb. L. i, cc. 21-23.] 
 
 In the courfe of this war the Romans, notwithflanding the vaft infe- 
 riority of their vefl^els and of their feamanfliip, which fubjeded them to 
 prodigious lofl^es byfliormsf, as well as by battles, were feveral times 
 vidorious at fea; and by the general fuperiority of their military dif- 
 cipline they got pofl^eflion of the greateft part of the Carthaginian ter- 
 ritory in Sicily. They even carried the war into Africa (a". 256), where 
 the favage and arrogant conful Regulus, after ravaging the country al- 
 mofl; to the gates of Carthage, was made prifoner; an event, which has 
 furniflied a foundation for ample fiditious embelUfliments. A remark- 
 ably fmft galley, having got aground in the night, fell into the hands of 
 the Romans, who, by means of her, got pofl^eflion of another very faft-go- 
 ing veflTel, which had repeatedly run through the Roman fleet in defiance. 
 The Roman treafury was now exhaufl:ed ; but the citizens at their own ex- 
 penfe furniflied two hundred quinqueremes, built in exad imitation of the 
 two fwift Carthaginian vefl^els (a°. 242) : and with them the Romans, now 
 conliderably improved in nautical knowlege, gained a complete vidory 
 
 * Grappling irons, invented by Nicias, were ed, through the obllinate ignorance of the confuh, 
 
 ufed by the Athenians in their engagements with who defpifed the advice of their pilots. Another 
 
 the Syracufians 413 years before Chrift. But the ftorm made a total deftrufkion of the Roman fleet, 
 
 Romans cannot be fuppofed to have known any leaving not fo much as a plank of it unbroken, 
 
 thing of that invention. The Carthaginian fleet, which was at fea at the 
 
 ■\ In one ftorm 384 of their ftiips were wrecked fame time, got into a good harbour, and was ner- 
 
 or foundered, and almoft every foul onboard perifli- fedlly fafe. 
 
 M 2
 
 5 2 Before Chrifl: 240. 
 
 over the Carchaginians, M'ho were obliged to fue for peace, which they 
 obtained on the hard terms of refigning all their territory in Sicily and 
 the iflands on the north fide of it, and paying to the Romans three thou- 
 fand two hundred Euboic talents, which contained as much filver as 
 would make fix hundred and twenty thoufand pounds of modern Britifli 
 filver money. And fuch, notwithftanding the acknowleged fuperior ta- 
 lents of the Carthaginian commanders by land as well as by fea, was the 
 end of the Sicilian war, called by later writers the firft Punic war. 
 
 At this time the modius (a fmall fradion more than a peck) of corn 
 (far) was fold at Rome for an as, which then contained two ounces of 
 iDrafs. The fame money might purchafe a congius (7^ pints) of wine, 
 thirty p07ido of dried figs, ttn pondo of oil, or twelve pon do of butcher 
 meat. \Varro, ap Pliii. Hiji. nat. L. xviii, c. 3.] N. B. The pondo isfome- 
 
 what leis than our pound troye If fuch were the prices in the time of 
 
 an exhaufting war, what might they have been, had the Romans ever 
 been at peace ? 
 
 Immediately after the peace the Carthaginians experienced the dread- 
 ful confequences of trufting their arms (agreeable to the erroneous max- 
 ims of their Tyrian ancefiors) almofl: entirely in the hands of mercena- 
 ries. Thofe foldiers, who had no regard for Carthage, oflfended at fome 
 imprudent, or inevitable, delay in difcharging their pay, took advantage 
 of the reduced fi;ate of the republic, and drew in almoft all the neigh- 
 bouring fiates of Africa to affifl: them to ruin Carthage, The dreadfvil 
 atrocities of this war, which are unparalleled in the hiflory of human 
 crimes and calamities, were at lafi: terminated (a". 238) by the condudl of 
 Amilcar. 
 
 During this war Italian merchants fupplied Carthage with neceflaries, 
 by permiflion of the Romans, who prohibited them from carrying any 
 to the revolted mercenaries. 
 
 The Sardinians had taken the opportunity of the troubles of Carthage 
 to fliake off their dependence upon that republic ; and the Romans, 
 though for fome time they had fhcwn an appearance of adhering with 
 the ftrideft honour to the treaty of peace, made themfelves mafters of 
 the noble ifland of Sardinia in a manner, which even Livy \L xxi, f. i] 
 acknowleges to be fraudulent, and Polybius \L. iii, c. 28] execrates 
 with the warm refentment, which an honeft man feels at the perpetra- 
 tion of a bale fraud. Not contented with robbing the Carthaginians 
 of the ifland, they even prefumed fo far on their diftrefled fituation as 
 to extort twelve hundred talents in name of re-imburfement for the ex- 
 penle of the robbery. 
 
 About this time a banker (r^xTs^iT)i() of Sicyon, a city of Peloponnefus, 
 is mentioned by Plutarch in his Life of Aratus. His bufineis feems to 
 have confif\ed in exchanging one fpecies of money for another. 
 
 240 — Aradus, or Arvad, was a fmall rocky ifland, which the Sidoniaits
 
 Before Chrlft 240. 9j 
 
 had occupied in former ages. Tt became a little independent kingdom 
 or community of merchants and feamen ; and it was fo populous, that 
 the houfes covered the whole of the rock, and were raifed aloft in the 
 air to the height of feveral ftories, each a feparate habitation. About 
 this time, in confideration of afliflance given to Seleucus Callinicus king 
 of Syria, they got an afFurance from him, that he would never attempt 
 to force any perfon from them who fhould take refuge in their city, in 
 confequence of which much treafure was poured in upon them by weal- 
 thy criminals flying from juftice, as we learn from Strabo. [L. xvu,p. 
 1094.] He alio remarks, what is much more to their honour, that, be- 
 ing merchants and navigators, they never concerned themfelves with pi- 
 racy, like their neighbours the Cilicians. 
 
 At this time Ptolemy Euergetes was king of Egypt. He imitated his 
 father and grandfather in their attention to the commerce and profperity 
 of the country, and in their tafte for literature and colleding books, 
 which he ufed to procure at a vafl expenfe from all countries, in order 
 to be tranfcribed for his library. Having borrowed the works of So- 
 phocles, Euripides, and ^fchylus, from the Athenians, with whom he 
 depofited fifteen talents (£2,^06 : 5 fterling) as a fecurity for their fafe 
 return, he fent them, inftead of the old books, new copies of them mag- 
 nificently executed, and at the fame time requefled their acceptance of 
 the fifteen talents. Such was the premium which he gave for the loan 
 of three books *. 
 
 Euergetes was fo happy as to have his library under the care of Era- 
 
 * Varro, as quoted by Pliny, fays, that the mod c. 29.] The variations, and the grofs abfurdities, 
 
 valuable and important art of making paper from prove the whole of them to be bungling fiftions. 
 an aquatic plant, produced in the lower part of Thefe are fume of the many inllanccs of the an- 
 
 Egypt, was not invented till after the foundation tients falling into grofs blunders from not confult- 
 
 of Alexandria ; and he afcribcs the invention of ing Herodotus, who would have let them know, 
 
 parchment or vellum for writing upon to an emula- [£. v, c. ^S^ that in times, which h^ thought an- 
 
 tion between Ptolemy and Eumenes king of Perga- tient, both paper and ilcins were commonly ufed 
 
 mus about their libraries, the former of whom hav- fur writing upon. 
 
 ing invidioufly prohibited the exportation of paper, A fiflion is often of fume ufe, though generally 
 
 the later had rccourfe to the fliins of animals as a very different from the intention of the contriver of 
 
 fubftitute for it. it. The fable of Numa's books demonftrates, that 
 
 PUny, not fatisfied with the a;ra affigned to the Hemina and the other Roman writers quoted by 
 
 invention of paper by Varro, quotes an hiftorian Pliny and Livy, were totally ignorant of hiftory, 
 
 called Hemina for a ftory of fome paper books and that the Romans of their times had not yet 
 
 found (181 years before Chrift) in a coffin with determined what duration they Ihould aflign to 
 
 the body of King Numa, wherein they had lain un- their city. It is alfo worthy of obfervatiun, that 
 
 corrupted 535 years, as he reckons, thereby adding Pliny calls Hemina, who could not be above two 
 
 about half a century to the Roman chronology of centuries older than himfelf, a moft antient annal- 
 
 later times. According to Hemina thofe books ift (' vetulliflimus autor annalium') : and the fame 
 
 contained the philofophy of Pythagoras, ('•who Pliny in the preceding chapter talks of manufcripts 
 
 Jlourifhed about two centuries after the fuppofrd age of 200 years old as monuments of very remote anti- 
 
 iVumd^ and they were burnt by the prKtor, ia.7!^ quity ('jlonginqua monumenta'). Do not thefe 
 
 they contained philofophy. Pliny then quotes fome circumftances afford rather more than a ftrong 
 
 other authors, who relate the itory with many va- prefumption, that the generally-received pompous 
 
 nations; and Livy differs from all of them. \_Pi'm. hiflory of the Roman republic for the firft fix f«p- 
 
 Hift. nal, L, xiii, ce. 11, i^.—Liv. HiJI. L. xl, pofed centuries is mere romance ?
 
 t)4 Before ChTill 229. 
 
 tofthencs, a man of an almofl uni%^erfal genius, of vafl erudition and in- 
 defatigable induftry. The accuracy of his hiftorical and chronological 
 refearches have 'entitled him to the appellation o^ father of chronology. 
 But he chiefly excelled in aflronomy and geography ; and in his geo- 
 graphical writings and his maps he followed Pytheas in defcribing our 
 Britifh jflands ; but the inoll of the exterior coaft of Europe, from Spain 
 northward, was then but very imperfectly knowai to the greatefl geo- 
 grapher that had ever yet appeared in the world. He obferved the obli- 
 quity of the ecliptic to be 23°, 51', 20": and from his obfervations on 
 the projedion of fhadows he calculated the equatorial circumference of 
 the earth to be 252,000 ftadia, equal to about 24,990 geographical miles ; 
 which, being only about 3,390 too much, if we confider the imperfeftion 
 of inftruments in his age, mufl be allowed to be wonderfully near the 
 truth *. From his knowlege of the nature of the globe, he declared 
 that the vaft extant of the Atlantic ocean was the only obftacle to the 
 navigation between Spain and India by going due weft : the very fame 
 idea, which with the help of the compafs fet Chriftopher Columbus on 
 the fcheme of fearching for India by the fame courfef . \Straho, L. i, p. 
 113 et pajfim — TUn. Hifl. nat. L. ii, r. 18 ; L. vi, c. 29 et pojfim.'] 
 
 Some fliips belonging to Italian merchants had been taken by the 
 pirates of Illyria, a country on the eaft fide of the Adriatic fea. It is 
 probable that thefe merchants, as well as thofe who had fupplied Car- 
 thage with neceflliries during the revolt of the mercenaries, were of Etru- 
 ria or Campania, the later of whom, Polybius \L. iii, f. 91] fays, had 
 commerce with almoft every part of the world (by which maybe under- 
 ftoodthe greateft part of the Mediterranean fea) ; and, as a confequence 
 of their commerce, their towns were handfomer than any others in Italy. 
 
 229 — The Romans paid little attention to the complaints of the mer- 
 chants, a clafs of people, who were in 110 great eftimation in their eyes, 
 till now that they wanted a pretence for making war upon the Illyrians. 
 They accordingly demanded fatisfadlion, which being refufed, they fitted 
 out a fleet of two hundred gallies, wherewith they fubdued the coun- 
 try. \folyh. L. ii, c. 2. £t feqq.'\ 
 
 The Carthaginians were compelled by the Roman luft of univcrfal 
 dominion to deviate from their peaceful commercial fyftem, and in 
 emulation of that republic to eftablifli a regular and permanent mili- 
 tary force, which might oppofe the Romans in their evident defire to 
 enflave the world. But the condition of the republics differed widely. 
 
 * Hippiichus, endcavo 
 tliene 
 
 f 111 thi3 idea, as well as in the meafuic of the philoiopliers thought the Columns of Hercules (in 
 
 circumference of the globe, he improved very much Spain and Africa )_/o/nfrf to thofe places which are 
 
 upon the geography of Ariilotlc, who contracted near to India, 
 the bounds of tic ocean fo much as to reprcfcnt In-
 
 Before Chrift 229 — 222, 95 
 
 The fole bufinefs of the Romans was war : by war they could not ori- 
 ginally lofe any thing ; and by war they had acquired every thing they 
 poiTefled. By a fuccefsful war the Carthaginians could fcarcely gain 
 any thing, their trade muft be diflrefled, and the attention of their 
 people drawn off from its proper objecfi: : and from an unfuccefsful war 
 they might dread abfolute ruin. Infligated however by refentment 
 againft Rome, and goaded on by the eagernefs of the generals, whom 
 the late wars had formed to military fcience, and raifed to power and 
 popularity, the Carthaginian fenate refolved, that their fliips, inilead of 
 carrying goods to Spain for fale, fhould tranfport an army to that coun- 
 try to effecfb the conqueft of it. The intention of the fenate, or, to 
 fpeak more correftly, of Amilcar their general, was to get poffeffion of 
 the rich mines and other wealth of Spain, in order to recruit and fup- 
 port the armies necelTary to carry on the contefl: with the Romans, and 
 to make amends for the lols of Sicily, out of which the Romans had 
 beaten them, and Sardinia, which they had treacheroully robbed them 
 of. 
 
 Amilcar, after having reduced a great part of Spain to the Cartha- 
 ginian yoke, fell in battle, and was fucceeded in the command by his 
 fon-in-law Afdrubal, who immediately built a new capital city, which, 
 perhaps from the refemblance of its fituation and its harbour, obtained 
 the name of New Carthage, or Carthagena. This general is accufed of 
 corrupting the morals of the Carthaginians by introducing bribery 
 among them : [C. Nep. Vit. Hamilc. c. 3] and he was lufped:ed of a de- 
 fign to make himfelf fovereign of Spain. When he had commanded 
 eight years, and greatly extended the dominion of Carthage in Spain, 
 he was murdered by a Gaul, whom he had offended (a". 222). The 
 fupreme command was then conferred upon Hannibal, the fon of Amil- 
 car, the greateft general that ever was oppofed to the Romans, and who 
 never for a moment loft light of his father's injunftion, to keep up an 
 invincible enmity to Rome, and to make it the bufinefs of his life. 
 
 The Carthaginians had now alTumed the charader of a v/arlike na- 
 tion. A great part of the citizens had exchanged agriculture, manu- 
 taftures, and commercial purfuits, for a military life. The gradual ac- 
 quilition of wealth by patient indnftry appeared contemptible, when 
 compared with the feizure of it by war and plunder. The people be- 
 came intoxicated by conqueft; their judgement was perverted, and their 
 avarice excited, by the example of the Romans, whom they faw proiper- 
 ing by a perpetual violation of juftice. The national virtue was relax- 
 ed ; and the military fuccefles, v/hich filled the city with exultation, laid 
 the foundation of its ruin. 
 
 The Romans, who thought all acquifitions of territory by other na- 
 tions encroachments upon what they already confidered as their own, 
 could not fail to look upon the warlike progrefs of the Carth.aginians
 
 gG Before Chrift 222. 
 
 with an evil eye : but being at prefent threatened with an invafion from 
 rhe Gauls, the defcendents of their antient conquerors, they were 
 obliged to difTemble, and to propofe a treaty, whereby the river Iberus 
 in the north-eafl part of Spain was agreed to be the frontier of the 
 Carthaginian territories, exempting however from their dominion the 
 city of Saguntum, which being on the Carthaginian fide of that river, 
 would eafily fnrnifh either of the parties with a pretence for war, when 
 they fhould find it convenient to engage in ir. 
 
 About this time, we are told, a law was pafled at Rome, prohibiting 
 the fenators from being owners of any veflels exceeding the burthen of 
 300 amphora (about 2,000 gallons). Such boats were thought fuffi- 
 cient to bring home the produce of their farms : and all kind of trade 
 was thought unbecoming the higher ranks. Many of the fenators how- 
 ever allowed their avarice fo far to get the better of their pride, that 
 they wifiied to partake of the profits of trade, and were iriuch enraged 
 at the promoters of the law. [Liv. Hijl. L. xxi, c. 63.] Hence it ap- 
 pears, that fome trade was now carried on by the Romans, but that the 
 exercife of it was rather difreputable ; a clear proof that the Roman 
 trade was on a very trifling fcale. 
 
 The diftincflion between foldiers and feamen was another proof of the 
 low eftimation in which commerce was held among the Romans. While 
 the military fervice was the road to every preferment, feamen were de- 
 fpifed, and drawn from the meanefl; cLifs of the populace, confifiing of 
 men whofe whole property did not amount to 400 Grecian drachmae, 
 (about £'] : 10 fl:erling) and who were therefor fuppofed not fufficiently 
 interefted in the profperity of the commonwealth to be intru ed wit i 
 arms. [Folyl/. L.\\,c. 17.] The fame notions were retained in the 
 mofl flourifhing ages of Rome, as we fhall have occafion to obferve in 
 due time. How widely different from Tyre and Carthage, where na- 
 vigators and feamen were held in deferved efteem ! 
 
 About this time a great earthquake threw down the famous coloilus 
 of Rhodes, and defi:royed the naval arfenals, with a great part of the 
 city. The general good will of the other Itates of Grecian origin, with 
 all of whom the Rhodians were connected in the friendly band of com- 
 mercial intercourfe, turned this accident much to their advantage : for 
 the Grecian kings and dates of Europe, Afia, and Egypt, drove who 
 fliould be moft liberal in contributing corn and other provifions, fliips, 
 timber, and naval (lores, and alfo money to a great amount, for repair- 
 ing their damages, and particularly for renewing their colofllis *. On 
 this occafion liicro^ king oi Syracufe, and fome other princes, moreover 
 cxcnipted the Rhodians from paying any duties in their ports. And 
 
 • Tlic Rliiidlaiis, prob;il)ly thiiiking tlic coIofTus funds, dfllimd for llint piiipofc hy tht' libcitilily 
 nn idle cxptiifc, uoi il;c oracle of Dclpli! to ])u)- of their friends, to olticr ufes. 
 liibit the rcftoration of it, and applied the ample 4
 
 Before Chrift 2 22 — 219. 97 
 
 thus a calamity, which would have encouraged the neighbouring flates 
 to complete the ruin of a turbulent and warlike community, was the 
 means of raifing the Rhodians to greater profperity, than they had ever 
 enjoyed before : and we find them immediately after this event the pre- 
 dominant power in the eaftern part of the Mediterranean. \_Polyb. L. 
 V, cc. 88 et/eqq.] 
 
 Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, in the later part of his reign 
 over-ran a great part of the Macedonian empire in Afia, and on his re- 
 turn fubdued many African tribes in the neighbourhood of Egypt. Of 
 this expedition he is himfelf almoft the only hiftorian, having infcribed 
 a pompous narrative of his conquefts upon a marble chair dedicated to 
 Mars, which was remaining at Aduli on the coait of the Red fea in the 
 fixth century, when Cofmas Indicopleuftes copied the infcription, which 
 has thereby come down to us. The only notice concerning commerce, 
 to be found in it, is, that, having by his fleet reduced fome tribes of the 
 Arabs on the eafl fide of the Red fea *, he charged them to guard the 
 roads from robbers and the feas from pirates. 
 
 Byzantium (afterwards called Confiantinople) was a city founded by 
 a Grecian colony on the European fide of the fi;rait, which feparates 
 Europe from Afia. The Byzantines imported from the countries lying 
 around the Pontus, or Euxine fea, flaves, hides, falted provifions, honey, 
 wax, and corn, which, with vaft quantities of tunnies caught and cured 
 by themfelves, they exported to every part of Greece. Their territory 
 was very fertile, but very fmall ; and they found it neceffary to pur- 
 chafe the friendfliip, or rather the forbearance, of their neighbours by 
 a heavy annual tribute of eighty talents (;^i 5,500 fierling). Unable or 
 unwilling to raife fo large a fum among themfelves, and being abfolute 
 mafters of the flrait, not only by its fmall breadth of half a mile, but 
 alfo by the nature of the current, which fets in upon their fliore, and 
 forces every veflel clofe under their walls, they thought of renewing an 
 impoft, formerly exacted by the Athenia-ns, when they were mafi:ers of 
 Byzantium, in the time of Alcibiades ; and they accordingly compelled 
 all ftrangers, whom they perhaps confidered as interlopers, to pay a toll 
 for permiflion to pafs into the Euxine (a". 219). The trade mufl have 
 been very great indeed, if a moderate fum from each fhip belonging to 
 llrangers coald be equal to fuch a fubfidy ; or the fum extorted from 
 caA velTel muft have been intolerably great. 
 
 The later feems to have been the cafe ; for, though a fimilar demand 
 is complied with by the mofl powerful of the maritime and commercial 
 
 * He fays, he fubdacd the whole coafl from were independent, when Ptolemy Philometor wai 
 
 Leuke kome to Sabsa. It may be piefumed, that king of Egypt ; and Diodorus Siculus, a later 
 
 he does not include the opulent and commercial author, adds [L, iii, § 47] that they had pre- 
 
 nation of the Sabseans in the number of his con- ferved that happinels unimpaired during many agee. 
 quells ; as we know' from Agatharchides, that they 
 
 Vol I. N
 
 gb' Before Chrift 219. 
 
 nations of modern Europe, the impoft was loudly complained of by 
 all the ftates who traded to the Euxine. The Rhodians, as the people 
 principally aggrieved, (for the Grecian voyages, as we learn from Po- 
 lyblus, feldom extended fo far) and as the firft maritime power of the 
 Eaft, after inefFecT:ual negotiation, made war upon the Byzantines, who 
 were foon obliged to allow the paflage of the ft rait to be free to all na- 
 tions *. [^Polyb. L. iv, cc. 38 et feqq.^ 
 
 A kind of rage for building iliips, vaflly exceeding every purpofe of 
 utility in enormous bulk and extravagant ornament, infeded fome of 
 the opulent kings of this age. One of thefe was Hiero, king of Syra- 
 cufe, whom the Romans, not yet ready for the redudion of his king- 
 dom, had detached from his alliance with Carthage, and permitted to 
 pafs a long life in a kind of dependent and tributary alliance with them. 
 His fubjeds were thereby almoft exempted from war ; and their mer- 
 cantile induftry, wherein they were perhaps next to the Carthaginians, 
 together with the great fertility of the country, made the people, and 
 confequently the king, very wealthy. By the affiftance of the famous 
 mechanic philofopher Archimedes, Hiero conftruded a galley of twenty 
 tires of oars, fheathed with lead, and carrying three malls f , which no 
 veflel had hitherto done ; and fhe is faid to have had all the accommo- 
 dations and embellifliments of a palace, together with the fortifications 
 and warlike flores of a caftle. Though fhe was launched before her 
 upperworks were built, it was neceflary, in order to get her into the 
 water, for Archimedes to invent a machine called a helice, which feems 
 to have been a large jack-fcrew. 
 
 Ptolemy Philopator, kiiig of Egypt, built two huge fliips. One of 
 them, faid to be intended for the fea, was 420 feet long, and only 57 
 feet broad, furniflied with two heads and two flerns, whence we may 
 fuppoie, that the lower part confifted of two long flat vefTels united by 
 one deck, like the warlike canoes of the South-fea iflands. She carried 
 4,000 oars difpofed in 40 tires. Befides 4,000 rowers, fhe carried 2,850 
 foidiers, and an innumerable mob of couks, fervants, &c. This fhip* 
 could not be launched, owing to her prodigious bulk ; and fhe muil 
 have remained, a monument of folly, upon the dry land, if a Phoeni- 
 
 * According to Herodian [L. iii] the impoft kep; in Inverncfs-rtiire. There can be little reafon 
 
 was again cxadted by the Byzantines in his own to doubt, that the maft was cut in the celebrated 
 
 time, bef'jrc tlieir city was dedroycd by the army fir wood extending 700 ftadia in Brettia or Cru- 
 
 of Scverus. tium, \_Slraho, L. vi, p. 400] whence it could be 
 
 + The learned and judicious Camden has been very ealily towed acrols the llrait, and aloii<T the 
 
 mifled ill one place by an error proceeding from fliore to Syracufe ; whereas to tranfport fo large a 
 
 llic fimilarily ot Bfirna (Brutiuni in the fouthern tree from Britain would fcarcely have been pof. 
 
 extremity of Italy) and BfiTrawxii (Britain) to fible. [^BiilDmiia, eJ. 1607,/!. 21; and fee/). 24, 
 
 iiippofe, that the main maft for Hiero's ftupendous where he is alnioft inclined lo give the maft to its 
 
 fliip was carried from Britain: and Speed [/////aWc own native country.] Even a niiftake of fuch an 
 
 »f Bntaiiie, p. 9] has fo far improved upon the author as Camden is entitled to notice, and to a 
 
 idea, as almoft to condefcend upon the very fpot candid examination, 
 where the tree grew, viz. the banks of Loch Ar-
 
 Before Chrift 219. 99, 
 
 clan had not .taught them to dig a canal to bring the water to her *. 
 The other one, intended only for the river, was about 300 feet long, 
 and above 45 feet broad, and had alfo a double bottom. But this was 
 not properly a Ihip, of which it had not even the form, but rather a 
 floating ifland, or pleafure palace, conllrudled upon two very large 
 fcows, probably fuch as the coal-barges on the Thames, which was con- 
 ceived by luxurious idlenefs, and executed by fuperabundant wealth. 
 
 Though a peace had been concluded between Rome and Carthage, it 
 was not the intention of either party to keep it any longer than till it 
 fhould be convenient to renew the war. The Carthaginians were inlli- 
 gated by revenge for the unfair advantages' taken of them. It was a 
 maxim of the Romans never to be truely at peace with any nation, who 
 did not become fubjedl to them, even though poor ; and of all nations 
 the Carthaginians could beft pay for the labour of deftroying them. 
 The Romans, in fhort, were a people, whom it was neceflary to extermi- 
 nate, or to fubmit to. But this alternative, the only one they allowed 
 to the nations of the earth, though fo evident to every attentive reader 
 of hiflory, does not appear to have been fufficiently attended to by any 
 of the nations of antiquity, nor even by any individual whofe name is 
 recorded in hiflory, except the great Carthaginian general Amilcar, and 
 his fon, the greater Hannibal f. 
 
 Since the conclufion of the firft war with Rome, the armies of Car- 
 thage had been confhantly exercifed for above twenty years in all the 
 duties and hardfhips of war ; and were in all refpeds fuperior to thofe 
 of Rome. Their dominions at this time extended along the fhores of 
 the Mediterranean from the confines of Cyrenaica, fubjed: to the kings 
 of Egypt, weftward to the Straits, and thence northward almoft to the 
 Pyrenaean mountains, and comprehended the iflands between Spain and 
 Africa, and thofe between Sicily and Africa. Now therefor Hannibal 
 thought it was the proper time to be revenged of the Romans; and hav- 
 ing taken Saguntum in order to begin the quarrel, he immediately 
 
 * According to the allowance made by General mod 120 feet afunder ; a prodigious breadth aloft, 
 
 Melville for the perpendicular height between the to be fupported upon only 57 feet of breadth at 
 
 tires of oars, the uppermoll row-ports of this en- the water-line. [See above, p. 31, Note, and the 
 
 ormous Ihip could not be Icfs than 52 feet from place.] 
 
 the water. But with fuch a height the length of Pliny raifes Philopator's (hip to fifty tires of 
 the uppermoft oars, being only ^^{^ feet, allows oars ; and he afcribes one of forty to his grand- 
 nothing either for immerfioii in the water, or for father Pliiladelphus. But the authority of Cal- 
 the neceffary angle with the furface of it. It is lixenus and Mofepion, as handed down to us by 
 therefor pretty certain, that the great number of AtlieuKus, from wliom I have taken the account 
 the tires was intended merely for idle parade, and of thefe three fliips, appears to be preferable, 
 that it was effe6led, as the great length of the (liip f To thefe might be added Hcrennius, who fa- 
 would eafily permit, by placing them not quite ten gacioufly advifed his Ion Pontius, the general of 
 inches in perpendicular height above each-other, the Samnites, either to malTacre a Roman army. 
 And even with that height, and the uppermoft who were totally in his power, or generoufly to fet 
 oars fcarcely dipping in the water, the gunnels, them at liberty ; if the ilory were within the li- 
 as I find by a drawing made from a fcale, mull mils of authentic hiftory. \_Li'v. HlJ]. L.'i'X.,c. ^.'\ 
 
 have been about 38 feet above the water, and al- 
 
 N 2
 
 loo Before Chrifl 2 1 8 — 201. 
 
 made his famous paffage over the Alps, and rulhed hke a torrent upon 
 Italy with an army of only twenty thoufand foot and fix thoufand horfe 
 (a°. 218); but they were moflly approved veterans, trained to war under 
 three fucceflive great generals. Ai'my after army of the Romans was 
 defeated, and almoft all Italy was delivered from the Roman yoke by 
 Hannibal, who if envy had not prevented him from being properly 
 fupported from Carthage, would probably, in fpite of the determined 
 perfeverance of the Romans, have extinguilhed their power, and prevent- 
 ed their eagles from taking the wide flights over the world, which they 
 did, as foon as they were delivered from the oppofition of Carthage. 
 But in the courfe of fifteen years the vigour of his army, he having al- 
 moft no refources for recruiting or fupporting it, but what he drew 
 from his conquefts in Italy, was exhaufl:ed, while that of the Romans 
 was dayly improving. By the influence of the fame envious fadion the 
 Carthaginian army in Spain was left to fi:ruggle againft the power of the 
 Romans and the fluduating diliiffedion of the natives. New Carthage, 
 Saguntum, and every other pofl: in that extenfive country, fell under the 
 Roman dominion. Emboldened bythefe fuccefles, the Romans carried the 
 war into Africa (a". 204), and Hannibal was obliged to abandon Italy in or- 
 der to defendCarthage* (a°. 203). AtZama that great generalwas defeated 
 by the great Roman general Scipio (a". 202) : and that battle, which, Poly- 
 bius fays, conferred upon the Romans the fovereignty of the world, com- 
 pelled the Carthaginians to fue for peace (a". 201). One of the articles of 
 the peace obliged them to pay to the Romans ten thoufand Euboic talents 
 (jC^ ,937,500 fterling) in fifty years. But perhaps the mofi mortifying 
 article was that, which obliged them to referve only ten triremes, and 
 to deliver the reft of their fhips of war to the Romans, all which, to the 
 number of five hundred as we are told, Scipio burnt in their fight ; a 
 condud not very eafily to be accounted for, (as the Romans might now 
 be luppofed to know the value of fiiips) and which feems even to go 
 beyond the madnefs of Alexander in burning his own palace at Perfe- 
 polis. The Carthaginians are faid to have been in great diftrefs on fee- 
 ing the deftrudion of their fleet ; but they would have had much more 
 caufe for lamentation, if Scipio had made a more rational ufe of them 
 by carrying them home and ftationing them in the ports of Italy. 
 Some other articles were contrived by the Romans to afford a fubjedt of 
 perpetual quarrels between the princes of Africa in dependent alliance 
 with them and the Carthaginians, in order to furnifli a pretence for re- 
 
 • If Hanno's party liad been defeated Iji their of iiidudrioiis farmers, nianufafturers, merchants, 
 
 envious obftruflions of Hannibal's meafiirts, it is and navigators, conferring mutual benefits upon 
 
 more tlian probable, tliat the Roman republic each-other, while they were enriching and polilh- 
 
 would have been cxtingiiiflied : that portion of the ing the world ; mariy centuries would have been 
 
 inhabitants of tiie eartli, which was afterwards ex- added to the authentic hillory of aftive commerce, 
 
 iihingly called the Roman lunrld, inilead of a fo- which would have been illuRrated by the genuine 
 
 ciety compofed of one tyrant and many millions of records of the Carthaginians, and nlfo of their 
 
 flavcs, would have conltituted many communities Phceiiician anccflors.
 
 Before Chrift 201. 10 1 
 
 newing the war : fo that this treaty of peace was in all refpeds worfe 
 than a total fubjugation. 
 
 Such was the calamitous termination of the war of Hannibal, which 
 later writers, willing to forget the fraudulent declaration of war and 
 adual hoftilities of the Romans foon after the firft peace, call the fe- 
 cotid* Punic war ; a war, which being carried on mofllyby land, would 
 be quite foreign to the plan of this work, if any other but the greateft 
 commercial community of the antient world had been engaged in it f . 
 
 At the commencement of Hannibal's war his brother Mago made 
 himfelf mafter of Genua. [Liv. L. xxxviii, c 46.] This, if I miftake 
 not, is the earlieft notice of this famous city, which Strabo, whenever he 
 has occafion to mention it, calls the emporium of the Ligurians, and 
 which afterwards rofe to fuch diftinguilhed commercial pre-emience 
 in the middle ages. 
 
 In the fcale of commercial dignity Syracufe might perhaps contend 
 with Corinth or Alexandria for the rank next to Carthage. This opu- 
 lent city, which, during the life of its obfequious king, Hiero, had 
 been fpared by the Romans, was reduced during the war of Hanni- 
 bal. What is deferving of notice in the hiftory of its fiege, is the de- 
 fence made by the wonderful abilities of Archimedes, who, himfelf, 
 more powerful than an army, baffled every attempt of the Roman fleet 
 and army. He dafhed their fhips and mofl formidable engines in pieces 
 by diicharging from the lofty walls ftones of between 500 and 600 
 pounds weight upon them. Some he lifted by their heads, keeping 
 their fterns dipping in the water, and, after fufpending them for fome 
 time, fuddenly let them go, whereby they were filled with water, over- 
 fet, or deftroyed. On the land fide he overwhelmed the Roman army 
 with fhowers of fi:ones and darts, and feizing the foldiers with hooks, 
 hoifted them aloft in the air, as a terror to their ailoniihed companions, 
 who were more difmayed by the fcience of this one man than by the 
 force of great armies. \_Polyh. L. viii, cc. 5 et feqq.\ -After a fiege of 
 eight months,' Syracufe, wafted by plague and famine, and betrayed by 
 one of its own governors, was taken by the Romans (a''. 211). Though 
 Marcellus, who happened to be a man of fome humanity, as well as po- 
 licy, had given Arid: orders to preferve Archimedes, he was maflacred 
 by a foldier, who miftook his box of inftruments for a golden treafure. 
 
 Archimedes did not confine the benefit of his inventions to Sicily : 
 the fcrew-pump, known by his name, wherein water rifes by defcend- 
 
 * It was the third war between the Romans and be : but unfortunately we are deprived of the mofl: 
 
 Carthaginians. valuable part of his works, the thirty-five books, 
 
 f For the wars of the Carthaginians with the which contained the hiftory of his own times, of 
 
 Romans I have generally followed Polybius, who which we pofTefs only a few detached fragments, 
 
 13 much older than any other writer upon the fub- which are, however, of very great ufe in confirming 
 
 jeft now extant, and as faithful as a writer, receiv- or correfting the accounts of later writers. 
 ing his materials from the Romans, can poffibly i
 
 I o z Before Chrift, 201. 
 
 ing, was contrived by him for draining the hollow grounds of Egypt af- 
 ter the recefs of the Nile. He was apparently the firft who dil'covered 
 the propriety of balancing the aftion of the wind upon a fliip by three 
 mafts The combination of puUies is alfo believed to be an invention 
 of his. Thefe improvements, though the leaft noticed by hiftorians, are 
 alone fufficient to immortalize his name in commercial and nautical 
 hiflory. (See above, p. 98.) He gave a fublime idea of his confidence 
 in the powers of mechanics, vvhen_ he faid to King Hiero, ' Give me 
 ' but a place to ftand upon, and I will remove the world.' His great 
 knowlege of aflronomy appeared in the conflirudion of a fphere of 
 glafs, which by means of machinery exhibited the motions of the plan- 
 ets ; and feems by the defcriptions of it to have come very near to what 
 is now called the orrery. [Cic. Tufcul. qucejl. L. i. — Clnndiajii Epigr. lO.] 
 He compofed many geometrical and aftronomical works, of which, to 
 the great lofs of fcience, onlv a few are now extant *. 
 
 203 — We are told, that during thefe wars gold was for the firft time coin- 
 ed at Rome, which had not even any filver coin till a little before the com- 
 mencement of the Sicilian war (a". 265). The gold coin was called fimply 
 aureus (golden), and was nearly of the fame weight with our guinea. The 
 filver coins were the denarius, viBoriatus \, ^ndfejieitius. The denarius 
 palled for ten a/Jes of brafs, till the Roman government, being greatly 
 diftrcfled for money in the war of Hannibal, gave it the nominal value 
 of fixteen affes, whereby they defrauded their creditors of fix in every 
 lixteen. But the pay was llill iiTued at the old currency to the army, 
 whom they did not dare to offend. [Plin. H'ljl. nat. L. xxxiii, c. 3.] 
 
 Previous to the introduction of filver coin the current money of the 
 Romans was brafs reckoned by the ^vj', which, from containing original- 
 ly a pound of brafs, was by feveral ftages of depretiation reduced to half 
 an ounce. As foon as they got acquainted with the Greeks fettled in 
 Italy, they reckoned large funis in Grecian money of account. 
 
 The long continuarxe of brafs money, the grofs violation of the pro- 
 portion between the denarius and the os, and the adoption of foreign de- 
 nominations for large funis, afford a clear demonftration, that hitherto 
 the Romans had fcarcely had any intercourl'e with the more enlighten- 
 ed nations, and that their dealings were on too trifling a fcale to be dig- 
 nified with the name of commerce. 
 
 • The mirrors, wlitrcvvith Arcln'medcs is faid j- According to Pliny the •v'tdorialus was firft 
 
 to have burnt the Roman fleet, have employed the brought from lllyricum, which might thus be fup- 
 
 fpcciilations of many of the pliilofophers of modern pofcd to have paid a balance in trade to the 
 
 times. The ftory probably fprung from the cxag- merchants of Italy. 
 
 geration, which ufually follows wiiat is in itfelf The frequent variations in the value of the Ro- 
 furptlfing and extraordinary. Polyb'us has not a man money form a very intricate, and a moll un- 
 word of it, though jiretty full in his dcfcription of fatisfattory, (ludy. The bell guide to it is pro- 
 thc artilleiy of Archimedes ; nor even Livy or bably tho elaborate work of Dr. Arbuthnot, en- 
 Plutarch, though both rather fond of the marvel- titled Tables of ancient coins, lueightt, and mca- 
 ous. liut they arc mentioned by Diodorus, as qiiot- furcs. 
 cd by Tzet/.cs, and by Dion, as quoted byZonaras. 4
 
 Before Chriil 200 — 170. 103 
 
 200 to T 49 — The Romans, no longer apprehending any oppofition from 
 Carthage, fet no bounds to their ambition, cruelty, and contempt of na- 
 tional faith. They interfered in the moft infolent and arbitrary manner 
 in the affairs of all nations, and took upon them to regulate, or rather to 
 pervert.thefucceflion of kings. Perfeus kingof Macedonia, Antiochus king 
 of Syria, and a multitude of fmaller kings and ftates, including all the Gal- 
 lic part of Italy and almoft the whole peninfula of Spain, were fubjecled 
 to the dominion of Rome. Antiochus, and feveral others of the Afiatic 
 princes, were permitted to retain a nominal royalty. But they were 
 merely deputed magiftrates, effectually deprived of fovereign power, and 
 particularly of their naval force : and, after affifling in the redudion of 
 their neighboui-s, wherein they gratified their refentments without con- 
 fidering that they were thereby accelerating their own deftrucT:ion, they 
 were flripped of their tolerated fhadow of power, and had only the com- 
 fort, which, according to the fable, Polyphemus promifed to UlyiFes, of 
 being laft devoured. Such is the brief hiftory of the Romans for about 
 half a century, as colleded from their own writers and the romanized 
 
 Greeks What would it be, if the hiftorians of other nations were alio 
 
 extant to tell the tale ? 
 
 According to Appian, the commerce of the Carthaginians began to 
 fpring up with renewed vigour almofi: iinmediately after the conclufion 
 of the difaftrous v^ar with Rome, noiwithftanding their lofs of territory, 
 the deftruction of their warlike (hips, and the heavy burthen of two 
 hundred talents paid every year to the Romans. A clear proof, that 
 commerce needs not the fupport of power or of laws to bind markets to 
 it, and that the mercantile fpirit of Carthage was capable of rifing fu- 
 perior to every difficulty. And fuch is the vigorous nature of a judici- 
 oufly-conduded trade, that they would have furmounted all their hard- 
 fhips, and long continued to flourifli, had it been pollible for any mer- 
 cantile nation to flourifh within the grafp of Rome. 
 
 About 170 — Secure as yet -beyond the fartheft reach of Roman inva- 
 fion, commerce fiourifhed in tranquillity among the inhabitants of the 
 fouth coaft of Arabia*. We are indebted to Agatharchides, an author 
 who fiourifhed in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor, for a fplendid and 
 interefting defcription of their commercial profperity, and of their trade 
 with India and other oriental countries, which I give, as nearly as a 
 tranflated abridgement can be, in his own words. 
 
 The Sabseans, who poffels the fouthern extremity of Arabia, are the 
 
 * It does not appear that the Romans ever of this land of frankincenfe and perfumes. [P^n. 
 made any confiderable or lafting acquifitlons in the L. vl, c. 28 — Sirabo, L. xvi, ^. 1 12S.] The com- 
 fouth part of Arabia. When Ph'ny was employ- plcte conqiielt of Arabia, and particularly the de- 
 ed upon his Natural hiftory (about the 75th year llruttion of the noble commercial city of Arabia 
 of the Chriftian sera) no Roman general had ever Felix, has been afcribed to Trajan, but contrary to 
 led an army into Arabia, except /Elius Gallus, authority, 
 whofe fartheft progrefswas two day's journey fliott
 
 104 Before Chrifl about 170. 
 
 greatefl of the Arabian nations, and enjoy every kind of felicity. Their 
 herds of cattle are innumerable. Their country produces, in the mofl; 
 luxuriant abundance, myrh, frankincenfe, balfam, cinnamon, and cafia. 
 They have alfo an odoriferous fruit, called in their own language larym- 
 na, and a fragrant incenfe, by which the vigour of the body is reftored. 
 The whole country abounds with every thing delightful ; and the very 
 ocean is perfumed by the fragrance of their fpices and odours *. 
 
 Near the main land there are fome iflands, where their veflels are fta- 
 tioned. Moft of them trade to the port, which Alexander eilabliflied at 
 the mouth of the Indus f ; and many alfo trade to Perfia, Carmania, 
 and all other parts of the adjoining continent. Their coafting trade is 
 partly conduded upon large rafts :};, by which they bring in the larymna 
 and other aromatic fruits from diflant parts of the country : and they 
 alfo ufe boats made of leather. 
 
 No people in the world have acquired greater opulence by commerce 
 than the Sabaeans, and Gerrhaeans : for, being in pofTeflion of the car- 
 rying trade between the eaft and weft parts of the world (' Afia and 
 Europe') they command the commerce of both. They convey their 
 pretious merchandize by land carriage j] as far as Syria and Mefopota- 
 mia : they have filled the dominions of Ptolemy with gold ; and they 
 have provided the moft profitable employment, and a thoufand other 
 advantages, to the induftry of the Phoenicians. They have alfo eftablifh- 
 ed feveral colonies in other countries §. 
 
 Thus enriched by their profperous commerce, they are profufe in 
 their expenfes for ornamental plate, and admirable fculptures, a variety 
 of cups and vafes of gold and filver, and fumptuous beds and tripods. 
 The columns of their houfes are covered with gold, or made entirely of 
 filver ; and even the doors and cielings are adorned with gold, filver, 
 ivory, gems, and pretious ftones. In fliort, whatever is to be feen of 
 rich or elegant furniture, difperfed in other countries, is here afl!embled 
 in the greateft abundance and variety in the magnificent houfes of the 
 Sabaeans, many of whom rival kings in their expenditure. 
 
 It is happy for thefe opulent people, that they are far removed from 
 
 • Agatharcliidcs probably vifittJ till:; delightful f See ^4rriarr, L. \\. Diodonis Siculus calls 
 country. He is quite in raptures in tiis dcfcrip- tlie port I'otaiia. 
 
 tion of the luxuries produced in it. His deferip- | Strabo, [Z,. xvi, A. IM4] alfo notices the 
 
 tion fecms to have fuggcfled to Mi'.ton the follow- carriage by rafts (' <r^iiiitii') among the iilands in 
 
 ing beautiful fimilc. the Straits. 
 
 ' As when to them who fall || Strnbo, [/.. xvi,/i. 1 127] compares thegieat 
 
 ' Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are pall multitude of men and camels in a caravan, travcl- 
 
 ' Mozambic, olf at fca north-call winds blow ing fecurcly from llonc to (lone acrofs the dcfcrt, 
 
 ' Sabcan odours from the fplcy fliore to an army. 
 
 ' Of Araby the Blell : with fuch delay § A curious and iiUcrcfting inftatice of their co- 
 
 * Well plcas'd they flack their courfe, and many Ionization, confirming the account of Agatharchi- 
 ' a league, des, will be given from the Periplus of the Eryth- 
 
 •• ChearM with the grateful fmell, old Ocean rjean fea. See below at A. D. 73. 
 * fmiles.'
 
 Before Chrift 170 — 149. 105 
 
 thofe Ibvereigns, who conftantly keep on foot great armies ready to in- 
 vade every country ; or, inftead of being the principals, and having the 
 command of the commerce between the eallern and weftern worlds, 
 they would foon be reduced to the condition of agents, and be compell- 
 ed to condud the trade for the emolument of others. \^Agatharchides, 
 L. V, cc. 50, 51, ap. Photii Bibl — See alfo Diod. Sic. L. iii, § 46, 47 — 
 Strabo, L. xvi, p. 1 1 24.] 
 
 This defcription of the happy condition of the Sabaeans, which is 
 much more copious than thofe ufually given by antient writers upon 
 fimilar fubjefts (and it is even prolix in fome parts of the original) does 
 not appear to give any fupport to the fuppoiition of an active trade from 
 Egypt to India. Surely an author, who was in the fervice of the king 
 of Egypt, would not have negleded to mention fuch a trade, if it had at 
 all exifted, when he particularizes the various countries, to which the 
 Sabaean veffels made their voyages. It feems even probable, that the 
 Sabaeans failed to the ports of Egypt, and that it was by the agency and 
 duties paid on their trade there, that the merchants of Egypt and their 
 fovereign were enriched. And it is certain, that the Sabaeans, and the 
 Gerrhaeans, who feem to have been conneded with them in commerce, 
 enjoyed a monopoly of the commerce with India, and thereby acquired 
 the opulence which has ever attended thofe who have obtained the 
 command of that univerfally-coveted trade. 
 
 168 — Sulpicius Gallus was the firft of the Romans who could fore- 
 tell an eclipfe. Previous to a lunar one he made a fpeech to the army, 
 alTuring them that it was a natural event, and noway portentous. \_Plin. 
 Hiji. nat. L. i, c. 12. — Fronthii Stratag. L. i, c. 12.] 
 
 161 — Some years afterwards they got the firll fun-dial conftruded for 
 the latitude of Rome, after having for about a century had nothing bet- 
 ter than a dial, made for the latitude of Sicily, to regulate their time. 
 A few years after (a". 158) Scipio Nafica, obferving the defedivenefs of 
 the dial in cloudy weather and in the night-time, introduced the clep- 
 fydra, an inftrument for meafuring time by the running of water. 
 [Plin. Hi/i. nat. L. vii, c. 40.] 
 
 Such, by the account of one of the bed of their own writers, was the 
 tardy progrefs of fcience among the Romans, whom many fuppofe to 
 have been at this time a very polifhed and enlightened people. 
 
 149 — Fifty years were required to pay up the whole of the tribute 
 exacted from Carthage by the Romans : and that time being now elapf- 
 ed, they were defirous of renewing .the operations of plunder. With 
 that view they had encouraged Mafinifla, a king of Numidia, whom they 
 kept in a flate of dependent alliance, to harafs the Carthaginians with 
 perpetual quarrels, which they carefully prevented from ever being 
 fully accommodated, and in vrhich they continually interfered with the 
 
 Vol. I O
 
 io6 Before Chrift 149 — 146. 
 
 moft glaring partiality in favour of their tool, Mafinifla * : and at 
 length, with fcarcely the (hadow of a pretence, they declared war againll 
 Carthage. 
 
 The Carthaginians, now convinced that war mufl: be the ruin of com- 
 merce, made great conceffions to avert it. They even offered to be- 
 come fubjeds to the Romans. But thofe relentlefs barbarians, whom 
 nothing could fatisfy but their deftrucTiion, after manygrofs and perfidi- 
 ous abufes of their patience, had the infolence to propole as the condi- 
 tions of peace, (or, more truely fpeaking, of a precarious temporary for- 
 bearance) that they fhould give up their city to deftrudhon, abandon 
 their maritime fituation, and remove to a new and defencelefs city to 
 be built at a diftance from the fea. Such conditions it was impoffible 
 for a mercantile people to comply with : and the confequences were 
 what the Romans had forefeen, and delired. The Carthaginians were 
 driven to defperation, and though previoully deprived of all their arms 
 and engines of defence by a bafe trick of the Roman confuls, yet, by 
 the aftonifhing exertion and perfeverance of all the men, women, and 
 bigger children, in the city, they inftantaneoufiy provided new arms and 
 engines, and made a noble ftand againft their inveterate enemies, whom 
 they feveral times defeated with confiderable flaughter. When even 
 fhut up within their city by lines drawn acrofs the neck of land behind 
 it, when the one harbour was completely blocked up by the Roman 
 fleet, and the other was rendered ufelefs by a mole formed with prodi- 
 gious labour by the enemy, they in a few days created a new harbour, 
 and a new fleet of fifty triremes, with which they engaged their ene- 
 mies. At another time they deftroyed their engines, and put them to 
 flight, though armed only with lighted torches. But it was impolfible 
 for an exhaufted and diminiflied community, however courageous, to 
 refifl: the frefh and vigorous armies of Rome. The city, when it had 
 held out four years after the time that the Romans thought they had 
 only to take pofTefllon of it, was utterly deftroyed ; the inhabitants of 
 both fexes and all ages, excepting a few, who were referved for the more 
 bitter d- ath of flavery, were butchered ; and Rome triumphed over the 
 afhes of Carthage (a". 146) f. 
 
 Tims, after having for many ages animated and civilized the weftern 
 parts of the world by the vaft extent of her commerce, and by her 
 Icience, after having eclipfed the moft brilliant period in the hiftory of 
 
 * ' Huic bono focioque rcgl favcbalur.' Fkr. (and lie was then romanized) as well as a veiy 
 
 /,. ii, c, 15. faitlilul hiilorian. 
 
 f The account of this waf, or rather carnage, The moft. genuine remains of the Carthaginian 
 
 is chiefly from Appian, with fomc alTillancc from people and language now exiiling are fuppoTed to 
 
 the fragments of Folybius, who was prcfent at tiie be in Malta. \_Sl:ylax, Stcphanus, Wf. ap. Bocbart. 
 
 dtftruttion of Carthage, and contributed to it by Chaiman, I., i, c. 26. — Purchai, B. vi, p. 916.3 
 
 hiB advice : for he was a warrior and a confunimatc Mr. Eton, who has lived at Malta, told me that 
 
 |>olitician in ihc cationalfelfifh ftnfe^pf the word the Maltrfc call their language Punic, and he finde 
 
 1 it much akin to the Arabic.
 
 Before Chrifl 146. 107 
 
 Tyre, her mother country, and after havmg rivaled even in miUtary 
 prowefs the haughty Roman repubUc, whofe fole and unremitting pur- 
 suit was the aggrandizement of her dominions by war and conqueft, 
 and whom ihe brought to tremble on the brink of deflrudion, fell the 
 mofl; illuftrious of the republics of antiquity. In her fall commerce re- 
 ceived a wound, under which it languilhed (at leaft in the weftern world) 
 during many dark centuries of Roman oppreflion, and of fubfequent 
 ignorance, brought upon the civilized part of the world by the nations, 
 whom Providence in due time raifed up to revenge upon Rome the in- 
 juries of Carthage, of commerce, and of mankind. 
 
 The Romans, as if determined upon the total abolition of commerce, 
 in this fame year alfo deftroyed the mercantile city of Corinth, which 
 till now had retained the epithet of wealthy, bellowed upon it fo many 
 ages before by the father of Grecian poetry. In confequence of its 
 opulence and tafte it had long been the repofitory of the mofl admired 
 produdions of Grecian art. But now the mofl capital paintings were 
 made tables for the Roman favages to play at dice upon : and fo utter- 
 ly ignorant was the conful Mummius, that, when a picture of Bachus 
 by Ariflides, (faid to be the firll painter who reprefented the paffions of 
 the foul in his figures) which had been got out of the hands of the 
 foldiers by giving them a more convenient table, was bought by Attains 
 king of Pergamus at the price of fix thoufand fellertium, he, aflonifhed 
 at the greatnefs of the fum, and concluding that the pidlure muft pof^ 
 fefs lome myflerious or magic virtue, refufed to let him have it, and 
 fent it to Rome. He gave another fpecimen of his grofs ignorance, 
 when he (hipped the mofl capital ftatues of the Grecian fculptors, by- 
 threatening to make the mailers of the veflels, if they loft any of them, 
 find others at their own coft. This importation introduced the firfl ru- 
 diments of tafle for the fine arts among the Romans, who had hitherto 
 feen nothing fuperior to the paltry performance of their own imitators 
 of the Etrulcan painters and flatuaries. \Folyb. * ap. Strabo, L. viii, 
 p. 584 — Vel. Paterc. L. i, c. 13 — Flin. Hi/}, nat. L. xxxv, c. 4.] 
 
 The few merchants, who were now left alive in the countries liable 
 to be infefled by the Romans, fled for refuge from the fword of oppref- 
 fion or extermination to the fhelter of fuperftition. They eflablilhed 
 themfelves at Delos, a fmall illand of the ^Egaean fea, which, with every 
 perfon and thing in it being under the protedion of Apollo, was 
 efleemed fo facred, that hitherto it had never been violated either by- 
 Greeks or foreigners ; and it foon became a noted emporium, where 
 merchants of various nations met in tranquillity, even when their coun- 
 tries were engaged in hoflilities. But it is a melancholy confideration, 
 
 * Polybius went from the ruins of Carthage to cities in the weftern world: and he faw with his own 
 Corinth, and thus in a few months witnefTed tiie eyes the profanation of Ariltidcs's pifture by thf 
 total deftruftion of two of the mofl flourifliing dice-players. 
 
 O2
 
 io8 Before Chriil: 146 — 138. 
 
 that human creatures formed the principal article of fale, of whom 
 fometimes ten thoufand were brought in, or fliipped off, in one day. 
 \_Strabo, L. x, p. 744 ; L. xiv, p. 985.] The trade of Delos, however, 
 had it been for commodities or mariufadures prepared by induftry, in- 
 Head of flaves procured by the defolations of war, was not capable of 
 making amends to the world for that of Corinth, and was a mere no- 
 thing if compar.ed to the commerce of Carthage. 
 
 The deftruclion at the fame time of thefe two mercantile republics 
 made a complete revolution in the affairs of every part of the world, 
 which had any connexion with the Mediterranean fea. General in- 
 duftry, plenty, tranquillity, and felicity, no longer blefled the nations ; 
 bu' rapine, want, tumults, and mifery everywhere prevailed. The 
 millions of induftrious people, who had been fet to work, in every coun- 
 try they traded with, by the merchants of Carthage and Corinth, de- 
 prived of their accuflomed fources of honourable and independent fub- 
 fidence, were compelled to look for other refources, generally difficult 
 to be found, often not to be found at all. Thofe who had been bred 
 to the fea, no longer employed in carrying on the beneficial intercourfe, 
 which binds diflant nations together by the ftrong ties of friendfhip and 
 intereft, no longer permitted to be the ufeful fervants, were driven by 
 defperation to become the enqmies, of mankind in the charader of pi- 
 rates. Neither were the Ron^ians themfelves exempted from feeling a 
 fliare of the diflrefs they brought upon the world. The fudden accel- 
 lion of fo many hundred thoufands of" indignant flaves (as in thofe times 
 to be a prifoner of war was to be a flave) was a matter of mofi: formid- 
 able apprehcnfion to the conquerors : for the right of one nian to the 
 unrequited fcrvices of another, being founded only in power, rnuft of 
 neceflity be reverfed the moment the flave becomes fenfible that the 
 balance of power is in his own hands. 
 
 The people of Spain, who perhaps of all others mofl feverely fuffered. 
 by the abolition of the Carthaginian trade, flew to arms under the con- 
 dud of Viriathus, who for thirteen years (152 — 140) fupported the in- 
 dependence of his country, and fhowed the world, that the Roman 
 armies could be defeated by inferior numbers fighting for their liberty. 
 The Romans at lafl fubmitted to acknowledge the great fuperiority of 
 his military talents by bribing traitors to murder him (a". 140). Such^ 
 and fo difgracef ul to his enemies, was the end of this true patriot hero, 
 whom'Florus, thinking to do him honour, calls the Romulus of Spain,, 
 but worthy to be compared to the great Hannibal. The army, of 
 which he was the fbul, after a noble flruggle, in which even the women 
 fought bravely for their liberty, was traniplanted to Valentia (a\ 138),, 
 where they became a colony of farmers, fubjed to the power of Rome. 
 The defper?.tely-brave citizens of Numantia, after dilplaying their owti- 
 generofity and Roman perfidy in the mofl ftriking colours, and after
 
 Before Chrili 134 or 133. 109: 
 
 fending many thoufands -of their enemies out of the world before t-hern, 
 at laft reduced their city, and every thing dear to them, together with 
 themfelves, to a heap of aflies (a". 1 t^^). Their deftrudioh was effeded 
 by the fame Scipio, who had completed tlie ruin of Carthage, and who, 
 for the butchery oftwo communities, infinitely more valuable than the 
 den of robbers from which he fprung, has been the theme of much 
 prodituted praife to the writers of fuccceding ages. j 
 
 While the Spanifh wars were drawing to a conclufiorv, feveral infLrri* 
 redionsof the flaves broke out in Sicily. Under the command of their 
 elected king Eunus, or Antiochus, they frequently defeated the Roman 
 armies with great daughter. But all their attempts to emancipate them- 
 felves were finally frufirated. In the courfe of fix ye.ars many thoufands 
 of thofe unfortunate people, and a pwsporti'onal number of their oppref- 
 fors, were flain, before they were finally fupprefled, or exterrninated 
 (a". 132). Similar commotions of the flaves took place about this time, 
 and afterwards, in Sicily and other countries, and particularly in Dclos, 
 which has jufl: been noted as a gi-eat flave -market. 
 
 134 or 133 — It was -apparently when Scipio palled through Gaul in 
 going to, or returning from, Spain, that he had fome conferences with 
 the merchants of Maflilia, Narbo, and Gorbilo, then the principal cities 
 of Gaul, wherein he endeavoured to draw froin them fome account of 
 Britain. But' they, knowing that no good could arife to their com- 
 merce from the interference of the Romans, prudently declined giving 
 him any information. We hereby learn from the mofi; refpecftable au- 
 thority, \_Polyb. ap. Sfrab. L. iv, p. 289] that a part, perhaps the greatefi: 
 part, of the Britifh trade was now in the hands of the Gallic merchants, 
 and idfo (from this notice of Polybius compared with fubfequent autho- 
 rities to be produced in the'ir proper time) that it was carried on over 
 land by inland^ navigation and land carriage, for which mode of con- 
 veyance the large rivers in Gaul are remarkably convenient. The ruin 
 of Carthage and the fubjection of Gadir to the Romans about feventy 
 years before this time, were circumfi:ances exceedingly favourable to the 
 commerce of the Gallic merchants *. 
 
 * Polybius in his Hiilory [/,. iii, c. 57] expreffes mear.inc; of tlie pafTage \_PoIyb. L. in,c. 38] quoc- 
 
 an intention of ilefcribing the ocean beyond the ed by Camden, as appears from the context, is. 
 
 Straits, the British is^ANns. with the manner of that, as it was unknown, Whether Ethiopia was 
 
 preparing 'le tin, the Spanilli mines, &c. in a fe- furrounded by the fea on the fouth, or joined to a 
 
 parate work; which- he appears to have accom- foiithern continent ; fo that part of Europe l)ing. 
 
 phflied, as may be iuferrt'd from a palTage of I'Stra- to the northward i>i iiaxho [Nar bonne) and the 
 
 bo, ^L. ii, p. 163] apparenfly taken' from it, Tanats, was hitherto imexplored. Thai is to fay, 
 
 wherein Polybius criticizes the accounts of Britain he knew not, whether it had fea to the northward 
 
 by Dicearchus, Eratoithenes, and Pytheas; It is or not. Any otlier interpretation makes Poly- 
 
 thus evident, that Polybius has made mentipu of bias inconfiilent with himfclf ; for he not only 
 
 Britain in at leail two places, which had cfoaped knew of the exiftence of Britain, which 13 far to 
 
 the refcarch of the indullriuus Camden, or he the northward of Narbo, but he alfo cleaily knew, 
 
 would not have faid, that this part of the world that it was an ifland, and had other iilands adja- 
 
 was not at all known to that p^reathiftorian. The ccntto it. The-
 
 no Before Chrift 130— 127, 
 
 130 — VelleiusPaterculus [-^.ii.r. 1] remarks, that the firllScipio iliewed 
 'the Romans the way to power, and the fecond, to luxury. But, how- 
 ever rich the pubUc treafury might be with the fpoils of induftrious na- 
 tions, individuals were not yet arrived at any great degree of opulence : 
 and the houfes of the greateft of the Romans at this time, though fub- 
 ftantial, were by no means elegant. They were all eclipfed by a houfe 
 built by Lepidus about fifty years after, which, in the progrefs of luxury, 
 was exceeded in magnificence by above a hundred houfes in thirty-five 
 years more. [/*/?>/. L. xvii, c. 1 ; L. xxxvi, c. 15.] 
 
 The marriage portions of women may be reckoned a pretty good 
 flandard of the general wealth of a nation. The fenate of Rome, as a 
 mark of their refped for Scipio, then commanding their army in Spain, 
 gave his daughter a portion of 1 1,000 affes {£,2S '• ^° • 5) fterling : and 
 it was a greater fortune than that of Tatia the daughter of Ceefo, whofe 
 portion of 1 0,000 afles (^^32 : 5 : 10) was efleemed very great. Megul- 
 lia, indeed, greatly exceeded both of them, for Ihe had 50,000 afles 
 (;,^322 : 1 8 : 4), and in confideration of fuch extraordinary wealth fhe was 
 furnamed the Fortune (' Dotata'). [Valer. Max. L. iv, c. 4.] 
 
 The fecond Scipio does not appear to have been luxurious, avari- 
 cious, nor rich ; for at his death he left only 32 pounds of filver and 2~ 
 pounds of gold * ; a fmall fortune for one who had commanded at the 
 deftrudion and plunder of the richefl; city in the weftern world. \_Sext, 
 All r el. Victor de viris i//i//?r.] 
 
 About this time the pay of the Roman foldiers was two obeli (about 
 27d) a day, of the centurions four oboli, and of the horfemen a drachma 
 or fix oboli (j^d). In the north part of Italy, afterwards called Lom- 
 bardy, the medimnus (about a bufhel and a half) of wheat was fold for 
 four oboli ; barley at half that price ; and wine was exchanged for bar- 
 ley, meafure for meafure. Polybius, [L. n,c. 15 ; Z,. vi, c. 37] to whom 
 we are indebted for thefe rates of pay and prices, by remarking the ex- 
 traordinary cheapnefs in the north part of Italy, fhows us, that provifions 
 were then higher in Rome. But though they had coft there even the 
 double of thefe prices, a foldier could fl:ill purchafe a peck and a half of 
 wheat with his day's pay, which of courfe mud be confidered as very 
 high : or, in other words, the Romans paid the defl:royers of mankind 
 at a much higher rate than their feeders. 
 
 The 127th year before the Chriflian aera is diftinguifhed by the laft 
 obfervation made by Hipparchus, a Bithynian Greek, who is with rea- 
 fon called the prince of aflronomers. He calculated the eclipfes of the 
 
 The ovctfight of the prince of Rritifli gcograpli- Necos king of Egypt had demoiiftrated, that the 
 
 ers and antiquaries is kept in countenance by an ioulh part of it was furrounded by the ocean.— 
 
 ovcrfight of Polybius liimfclf in the vciy paffage See above, p. 35. 
 
 quoted ; wlio nilght have learned from Herodotus * The Roman pound waj equal to twelve ounces 
 
 .that the circumravigation of Africa in the reign of 01 our avoirdupois weight.
 
 Before Chrift 1 1 8 — loo. rii 
 
 fun and the moon for fix hundred years, ' as if he had aififted at the 
 councils of Nature,' fays Pliny, who adds, that his predidions were ve- 
 rified by time. He undertook the arduous tafk of making a catalogue 
 of the ftars, and defer ibing the pofuion and magnitude of each. He 
 alfo wrote feveral aflronomical treatifes ; and he was the firft, who ap- 
 plied the principles of aftronomy to geography. In his geography he 
 often differed from Eratofthenes, for which he is reprehended by Stra- 
 bo. Inflead of correding the error of Eratofthenes in the circumfer- 
 ence of the earth, he augmented it by about 25,000 ftadia. Indeed the 
 geographical knowlege of Eratofthenes was fuch, that his calculations 
 could not well be correded without the aid of inftruments of fuperior 
 accuracy. [Plin. Hi/i. nat. L. ii, cc. 18, 32, 26. — Ptolem. LI. iij, v.] 
 
 1 1 8 — A Roman colony was fettled at Narbo in Gaul ; [Vel. Paterc, 
 L. i, c. 15] whence it has been fuppofed that it was only founded now. 
 We have juft feen, from Polybius, that it was a trading town in his 
 time, and apparently engaged in the Britifh trade. 
 
 105 Jugurtha king of Numidia, who had learned the arts of war 
 
 and perfidy in the camp of the Romans at Numantia, was now con- 
 quered by them after a refiftance of about feven years, 3,700 pounds 
 of gold, 5,775 pounds of filver in bars, and a great quantity in coin, 
 conftituted part of the plunder carried to Rome. Numidia muft have 
 been a very opulent country to afford fo much wealth, after being drain- 
 ed by the war, and by very great bribes profufely fcattered among the 
 Romans and Mauritanians by Jugurtha. 
 
 100 — About this time flourifhed Artemidorus, an Ephefian Greek, 
 who is quoted by Strabo, [i^. iv, p. 304] as mentioning an ifland near 
 Britain, wherein the flime religious ceremonies were performed, which 
 were eftabliflied in Samothrace. It is very probable, that in both iflands 
 the fame ceremonies were introduced by the Phoenicians. [See Bocharto 
 Chatiaan, coll. 394, 650.] 
 
 Strabo repeats a ftory of a veffel being found in the Red fea vvith on- 
 ly one man, almoft dead, onboard, who reported, that he was from In- 
 dia, and that all his ftiipmates had died of famine. He undertook to pilot 
 a veffel to India ; and Ptolemy Euergetes II, king of Egypt, thereupon 
 fent Eudoxus, who made the voyage, and returned with aromaiics and 
 pretious ftones. This is, I believe, the onlyantient account of a voyage 
 made to India from Egypt during the Macedonian dominion in that 
 country « and the fabrication of fuch a ftory (for it has every appear- 
 tmce of a fidion) is of itfelf a ftrong prefumption againft the previous ex- 
 iftence of an India trade. The fame Eudoxus is alfo faid to have af- 
 terwards explored the coaft of Africa, which he pretended that he cir- 
 cumnavigated, though not in one voyage. His firft departure was from 
 the Red fea ; and his fecond was from Gadir, whence he ftretched along 
 the weft coaft, till he reached, or fuppofed, or pretended, he reached,
 
 ^j^ . .Before Chrift loO' — 87. 
 
 the fartheft nation he had vifited m his former voyage *. [Strabo^ L. ii, 
 p. 155 — Pli/i. L. ii, c. 67.] 
 
 ^ The celebrated Mithridates, king of Pontus, built a palace, a water 
 mill, and fome other conveniencies, : in his city of Cabira. This, I be- 
 lieve, "is the earliefl: notice we have of a water mill, an engine fo ufeful 
 'in preparing the mofl: valuable article of our dayiy fubfiflence ; and 
 from its being mentioned along with the palace, it may be prefumed to 
 have been tli/en a recent difcovery f. \Strabo, L. xii, p. 834.] 
 . After the depreflion of Tyre, and tlie dellrudion of Carthage, the 
 only trading community of the Phoenicians, remaining in any degree of 
 profperity, feems to have been that of Gadir. They have already been 
 noted as the original difcoverers of the Cafliterides. They alfo carried 
 on a great fidiery on the weft coaft of Africa, at a place which has been 
 long after noted for the great abundance of fifh : and they appear to 
 have traded to the two Fortunate iflands, which are defcribed as fepa- 
 rated from each other by a narrow channel, and as blefied with a de- 
 lightful climate and a fertile foil, yielding fpontaneoufly every thing ne- 
 ceflary to the fubliftence of mankind \. 
 
 I have already obferved, that after the deftrudion of Carthage the 
 feafaring people were driven by neceffity or defpair, to become free- 
 booters and pirates. But as the languifhing ftate, to which commerce 
 was now reduced, afforded them few prizes upon the fea, their plunder 
 was chiefly collected by ravaging the coafts ; and they had every reafon to 
 make the Romans tlje principal objects of their hoftility and revenge. 
 In time they became mafters of the Mediterranean fea from end to 
 end, and alfo of feveral hundreds of towns upon its coafts : but Cilicia, the 
 Balearic iflands, and Crete, were their principal ftations. Mithridates 
 king of Pontus, being at war with the Romans (a' . 87), was fenfible 
 how much it was his intereft to cultivate the friendfliip of thofe nlafters 
 of the fea, who poflefled a thoufand warlike vefl"els, and fcarcely permit- 
 ted a cargo of corn to proceed to Rome, or a Roman governor to go by 
 water to his province. Long they rode triumphant in the Mediterran- 
 
 * Strabo, after relating the voyages of Eudoxus could be no other than the Canaries, the only con- 
 nives feveial arguments proving the whole to be fidcrablc idands vifible from the coaft of Africa-, 
 fabuloue, vvhicli, however, arc more captious than The innacuracy in the number of the iflands is 
 folid. eafily explained from the account being given by 
 
 ■}■ Papcirolhis, who feems not to have read Strabo fcamcn to Sertorius, who, Plutarch fays, had fome 
 
 er Vitruvius, fuppofes, that Bclifarius con(lru£lcd thoughts of retiring to thofe happy iflands to pais 
 
 the firll water mills, wlien he was befieged in Rome the remainder of his life in bliistul cafe, free from 
 
 by the Goths. The mills he means were couflruflcd the alarms and the fatigues of war. Florus goes 
 
 in barges moored in the Tiber, and weredcviftd by fo far as to fay, that he afliially arrived at them ; 
 
 that great general ssfiiLJlilula for the vfual 'water but from the relation of Plutarch, and from the 
 
 mjV/j-, bccanfe the fmall dreams were tlicn in the very bufy life of that commander, there is iiafon 
 
 power of tlie enemy. to believe, that he never put his defign in execu- 
 
 X So ihefe iflan Is are defcribed by Plutarch in lion, fo far as even to vifit them. If he had, wii 
 
 the Life of Sertorius. He adds, that they were fluuild probably have known inpre oJF .them than 
 
 ten thoufand lladia from Libya, which mull be un- wc do. • 4 • •' '' 
 
 fltrftood as meaning from the Straits : for they ilil ,/!>;■ .
 
 . Before Chrift 67. 11^ 
 
 can, and ftill rofe fuperior to every attack, till the Romans, who thought 
 themfelves entitled to the exclufive privilege of plundering the world, at 
 lad determined to exert their utmoft force againfl this formidable aflb- 
 ciation of enemies, or rivals. Pompey, whofe warlike atchievements 
 had already procured him a great name, was appointed to condudt the 
 war, and inverted with unlimited power to command all the kings and 
 ftates within 400 ftadia of the whole Mediterranean fhore ; and 120,000 
 foot, 5,000 horfe, and 500 fliips, with a treafury of 6,000 Attic talents, 
 were put under his command. The Rhodians alfo, a mercantile peo- 
 ple, and confequently no friends to freebooters, joined their forces with 
 the Romans. 
 
 67 — Pompey diftributed his fleet in thirteen divifions, to each of which 
 he appointed a portion of the fea as a ftation. In confequence of this 
 difpofition the exiles were everywhere attacked at once, and had no 
 place of fafety to retire to. Pompey himfelf attacked them in their 
 head-quarters in Cilicia, beat the principal divifion of their forces in a 
 naval battle, and aflaulted the caflles, in which they had fhut themfelves 
 up. Having in a fhort time taken 400 * of their fliips, with 1 20 of 
 their towns, and (if it can be believed) not lofing a fmgle fliip of his 
 own, he put an end to the war. Then, in order to detach them from a 
 maritime life, and remove them from all temptation to refume their for- 
 mer occupation, he impofed upon them the terms which had been pre- 
 fcribed to the Carthaginians, and obliged them to occupy towns and lands 
 which he afligned to them at a diftance from the fea. 
 
 The victory having put Pompey in polTeffion of the wealth accumu- 
 lated by the independent corfairs, he bellowed upon every one of his 
 foldiers a fum equal to ;^48 18:9 of our money f , and brought into 
 the public treafury ;Cr93?75°- Among the wonders of eaftern magni- 
 ficence carried in Pompey's triumphal proceflion, there was a mufeum 
 of pearls, on the top of which was a horologium, [P/in. Z,. xxxvii, c. 2.] 
 which appears, from the defcription of fuch inftruments by Vitruvius, 
 to have been merely a dial embelliflied by oriental ingenuity and opu- 
 lence. It was a Angularity in his triumph, that none of the captives 
 were put to death at it. 
 
 The Romans being now mailers of the fovereignty of the fea without 
 a competitor, and having deftroyed almoft all the mercantile nations, 
 were under a neceflity to befl:ow at lead fo much attention upon com- 
 merce, as to provide for the importation of the articles, neceflary for the 
 confumption of their crowded metropolis, from their difl:ant provinces. 
 
 * 846 according to Pliny. [_Hi/l. nat. L. vii, cc. 2j, 26.] 
 
 f This funi, when compared with the price of food, the only real ftandard of the value of money, 
 xvas at leaft equal to /^ 1,500 at this time. 
 
 Vol. I. P
 
 114 -Before Chrift 66. 
 
 It was refolved that the budnefs of providing corn iliould be put under 
 the direction of ibme man of high rank, who might be called in modern 
 language comviijfary-general : and we find Pompey himfelf foon after the 
 reduction of the maritime community appointed to that office. The 
 Romans having adorned their city with the works of the Grecian artifts, 
 they henceforth began to cultivate a tafte for the fine arts ; and from 
 this time they began to be a civilized, but at the lame time, a very cor- 
 rupted, people, even thofe of the firfl rank being ready to commit every 
 crime for money. That extended felfifhuefs which they called patriot- 
 ifm or love of their country, but which was merely a lull of domineer- 
 ing over other nations, became in the minds of their great men iecond- 
 ary to the ambition of domineering over their countrymen. And this 
 ambitious fpirit, which broke out foon after the deflrudion of Carthage, 
 never was extinguiflied, till it finally abolifhed the republican form of 
 government. 
 
 66 — LucuUus returning from Afi-a, brought with him a number of 
 books (part of his plunder), the ufe of which he allowed to the public. 
 This was the fecond library in Rome, the firft being brought by Paulas 
 yEmilius from the plunder of Perfeus king of Macedonia. [Pint, in Lu- 
 ciillo Ifidor.i Orig. L. ^y, c. =f.'] Lucullus is alfo confidered as the, au- 
 thor of luxury in buildings, furniture, and entertainments, among the 
 Romans. {Vel Taterc. L. ii, c ■^'^^^ Reintroduced the culture of cher- 
 ry trees in Italy from Pontus. And many other fruits were alfo intro- 
 duced from the Eaft, e. g. quinces from Crete ; damfons from Damaf- 
 cus -, peaches from Perfia ; lemons from Media ; figs from Egypt and 
 Cyprus; walnuts from Pontus and: Perfia ; chefnuts from Sardes : but 
 mofl of them were imported iiTiniediately from Greece, which had got 
 them from their native countries. The particular time, when each of 
 thefe were firfl planted in Italy is not accurately known. {PUn. Hljl. tiat. 
 L. XV, prij/it//-] 
 
 57 — Ptolemy king of Cyprus was very rich. He had alfo aftroijted 
 a profligate Roman patrician called Clodius, by offering only two talents 
 (£^^y : lo) to raniom him from the Cilician corfairs.. The Roman 
 treafiu-y at this time was poor. For all thefe reafons a decree was paflL- 
 ed at Rome, declaring that he had forfeited his kingdom. Florus [L. iii, 
 c. 9] fays, ' So great was the fame of his riches, (nor was it groundlefs) 
 ' that that people, who were the conquerors of nations and accuftomed 
 ' to give away kingdoms, at the infiigation of Publius Clodius, a tribune, 
 ' commanded the confifcation of an allied king in his Hfetime. And he 
 ' truely on hearing of it anticipated iiis fate by poifon. Moreover Por- 
 ' cius Cato [that model of virtue] brought the wealth of Cyprus in Li- 
 * burnian gallics into the mouth of the Tiber, This tranfadion enrich- 
 ' cd the t;eafury of the Romans more than any of their triumphs.' The
 
 Before Chrift 57- ^^$ 
 
 aRiount of the plunder, fo honourably obtained, was near 7,000 talents, 
 -or £1 ,356,250 fterling *. _ 
 
 The Veneti, faid by Strabo [L. iv, p. 297] to be a Belgic nation fet- 
 tled near the north-weft extremity of Gaul, were diftinguiflied by their 
 nautical fcience and experience. They had great numbers of vefTels, 
 and carried on a confiderable trade with Britain, though we are not in- 
 formed of any particulars of it, unlefs that brafs was then an article im- 
 ported into Britain. Their dominion extended over a confiderable part 
 of the coalT: ; and they even levied a cuflom, or tranfit duty, upon ftran- 
 gers ufmg their feas ; a circumftance which infers the poffcflion of a 
 warlike fleet. Their veilels were built entirely of oak, ftrongly bolted, 
 and their feams calked with fea-weed. They were fo fubftantially 
 built, that their fides were impenetrable by the roftra, or beaks, of the 
 Roman gallies. They were calculated to take the ground, were high 
 fore and aft, and were upon the whole excellent fea-boats. Their fails 
 were made of leather ; and, their fhore being very rocky, they ufed iron 
 chains inftead of cables f. With a fleet of about 220 of fuch veflels they 
 encountered the Roman fleet of twice or thrice that number ; and in the 
 engagement they had greatly the advantage of the Romans, by pouring 
 down upon them a fliower of miflile weapons from their lofty fl:ems, 
 which were higher than the towers raifed upon the decks of the Roman 
 gallies. But the Veneti, notwithftanding their acknowleged fuperiori- 
 ty, were defeated by a contrivance of the Romans, who obferving the 
 advantage they had over them in manoeuvring (as it is now called) with 
 their fails, fixed fcythes upon long poles, with which, attacking each fhip 
 \vith two or three of their own, they cut the haulyards of the Venetic 
 veffels, whereupon the fails came down upon the decks, and their fleet 
 was rendered unmanageable. The lofs of time occafioned by this dif- 
 afl:er was irretrievable, for, though they might have flung their yards a- 
 new, a dead calm, which enfued immediately after, threw the balance of 
 nautical adivity entirely into the hands of the Romans : for the Veneti 
 ieem to have defpifed the freih-water failors' expedient of oars ; and per- 
 
 * Ammianus Marcellliius, who wrote above tinefs of their decks, which gave tliem fuch an ad- 
 four centuries after this time, acknowleges, that vantage over the low gallics of the Romans, af- 
 avarice prevailed ov€r juftice iu the feii^ure of Cyp- fords a clear proof, that the Mediterranean gallies 
 rus. of feveral rows of oars, were not, as moll people 
 
 f I have been thus ample in defcribing the fliips have fuppofed, of fo many (lories or decks in 
 
 of the Veneti, — ij becaufe they are the full vef- height. 
 
 fcls, of which we have any knowlege, built and It is worthy of remark, that the defcription of 
 
 navigated by the hardy fons of the North, who have thcfe antient Belgic fliips applies in fome rcfpeftn 
 
 rn all ages been remarkable as intiepid and ikilful tolerably well to tliofe ot the modern Belgium, the 
 
 feamen : — 2) becaufe, from the furprife of the Ro- natives of which are remarkable for their attach- 
 
 mans at their roltra making no impreffion upon the ment to the manners and culloms of their anceilors. 
 
 fides of their fhips, they appear to have been fu- Some account of the iTiipping and naval affaire 
 
 perior in llrength to any velfcls ever encountered of the Roman empire will be found uadcr the year 
 
 by them in the Mediterranean, even thofe of the 73 of the Ciiriflian xra. 
 Caithaginians net excepted;— 3) becaufe the lof- 
 
 J P 2
 
 ii6 Before Chrift 55. 
 
 haps, like the Carthagmians in their firft naval battle againft the Romans, 
 they allowed a confidence in their own naval fuperiority to throw them 
 too much off their guard. The confequence was, that almofl the whole 
 fleer, containing all the fighting men of the country, fell into the hands 
 of the Romans ; the Veneti, deprived of every means of defence by one 
 decifive battle, furrendered themfelves and all their property to the mer- 
 cy of Cgefar, who mafTacred the whole fenate, and fold all the people for 
 liaves. And thus a nation, who, of all thofe on the weft coaft of Eu- 
 rope, appear to have been next to the citizens of Gadir in comrriercial 
 importance, were totally fwept away from the face of the earth. Such 
 was the revenge taken by Caefar for the detention of his commiflaries of 
 .provifions, whom he pretends to dignify with the name and inviolabi- 
 lity of ambafladors. [Ci^s. Bell. Gall. L. iii, cc. 7-16 ; L. v, r.-^2.] 
 
 5 j; The commerce of the Britons muft have fuffered greatly by the 
 
 deftrudion of the Veneti. But Caefar was preparing to bring greater 
 calamities upon them : for, on pretence that they had affifted the Ve- 
 neti, he refolved to invade this ifland, the very exiftence of which was 
 hitherto fcarcely heard of at Rome. The Gallic merchants, whom he 
 examined, in order to procure intelligence of the country, and particu- 
 larly of the harbours, profeffed total ignorance. Notwiihftanding, after 
 fending one of his officers to explore the coaft, he embarked his army 
 and landed in Kent, where he met with a warm reception from the 
 Britons. From the flight notices of other writers, compared with his 
 own, when duely confidered, it is evident that he added nothing to his 
 mihtary fame by the trial he made of the Britilh valour ; and, indeed, 
 he himfelf acknowleges, that he retreated to the continent in the night 
 time. 
 
 5^4 — Next year, in order to wipe off the difcredit brought upon his- 
 arms by the former repulle, he collected above eight hundred fliips, in 
 which he embarked no lefs than five legions *, befides a fupernumerary 
 body of horfe. In this expedition, he fays, he fubdued a great many 
 kings, four of whom were in Kent ; and, having ordered them to pay 
 a tribute to the Romans, he departed, without leaving either an army, 
 or a fort, to maintain the conquefts he alleges he had made. 
 
 In each of his expeditions, Caefar loft a great many of his fliips, owing 
 to his feamen being totally ignorant of the nature of the tides in the 
 Ocean. 
 
 We may more fafely truft to Cfefar, in his account of the ftate of 
 Britain, which is very valuable, as being more particular and accurate 
 than any preceding accotint which has come down to our times. 
 
 He diftinguiflies an original, and an adventitious, people in Britain. 
 
 * In the time of Polybiiis, each legion confiC- foot. The numbers were afterwards increafcd ; 
 ed of 4,200 foot, and '3C0 horfe, at the lowcft and a boily uf auxiliaries, as numerous as itfelf, 
 «ftabU(hrarnt : and they were fomeliinea 5,000 was generally attached tn each of the legions.
 
 Before Chriit 54* 117' 
 
 The former he places in the interior part of the country, (whereby we 
 muft underftand tlie part mofl diftant from his landing place) and he 
 defcribes them as ni a paftoral ftate, living on flelli and milk, clothed 
 with the (kins of their beads, and generally negledful of agriculture. 
 The later people, who occupied the maritime parts, (or rather thofe 
 neareft to Kent) were of the Belgic race, who, having firfl: invaded the 
 country for the lake of plunder, (which (hows, that the aboriginal Bri- 
 tons, in their fimpleft ftate, poflefled fomething to invite the depreda- 
 tions of foreigners) had, in procefs of time, made themfelves mafters of 
 part of it. They were in a more advanced ftate of fociety than the ori- 
 ginal inhabitants : they cultivated the ground, had great abundance of 
 corn, as well as cattle, and built houfes like thofe of their brethren on 
 the oppofite coaft of Gaul. Their money was paid by weight, and con- ■ 
 filled of brafs and iron, the former 0/ which was imported, and the lat- 
 er found in their own mines : and it argues no fmall degree of know- 
 lege in metallurgy, that they underftood the procefs of making iron, 
 which is at once the moll valuable, and the moll difficult of all metals 
 in preparing it for ufe. Caefar fays, that there was an infinite multitude 
 of the people : but this part of his information is very fufpicious, even 
 with refped: to the Belgic colonies ; and, if applied to the aborigines, 
 it is manifeftly contradicted by his defcription of their manner of living. 
 He adds, that the people of the maritime county of Kent, (thofe whom he 
 knew bell) very much refembled thofe of Gaul in their manners, and were 
 far more civilized than any of the other communities. Tin, the great 
 flaple of Britain, was, according to his account, produced in the inland 
 part of the country *: but moft of the fliips from Gaul arrived in Kent ; 
 which, perhaps, he erroneoully extends as far well as the ifland, which, 
 from the account of Timaeus, compared with that of Diodorus Siculus, 
 feems at this time to have been the flation of the tin trade. {CctJ. Bel. 
 Gal. L.. iii, cc 8, 9 ; L. iv, cc. 28, etfeqq. — Strabo, L. iv, p, 305. — Diod. 
 Sic. L. V — TviKEus ap. Plin. Hijl. nat. L. iv, c. 16. — '21?^:. Ann. L. xii, c. 
 34; Vit. Agric. c. 13 — Dion. Cajf. LI. xxxix, xl f.] 
 
 It does not appear, that the Romans ever . got one penny of the tri- 
 bute, which, Caefar fays, he ordered the Britains to pay ; unlefs the 
 duties levied in Gaul upon their imports and exports, which any na- 
 tion may levy in their own ports upon the fubjeds of any other nation, 
 can be called a tribute : for after this time the Romans, or rather their 
 Gallic fubjeds, had fome commercial intercourfe with Britain, {Strabo, 
 L. iv, />. 306] which will be more fully narrated in the general view to 
 be taken of the flate of trade under the Roman empire. 
 
 • 
 
 This is another iiiftance of calh'ng the moft f To the fe may be added the poetical autho- 
 
 diftant parts of the ifland the interior parts of it. rity of Propcrtius, Horace, Lucan, &c. and th^ 
 
 Cornwall, the tin country, is even more maritime fomewhat-fiifpicious authority of Nennius. . 
 than Kent, 1
 
 I r8 Before Chrill 54. 
 
 Contemporary with Caefar was Diodorus, a Sicilian Greek, who 
 wrote a general hiftory. In a fliort defcription which he gives of Bri- 
 tain, [L. V, § 21] it is remarkable that he mentions the name of Orkas, 
 the headland, which, he fays, forms the northern extremity of the illand. 
 Thus the moil remote corner of the country, now called Scotland, is 
 the very firft part of it mentioned by any antient author now extant. 
 As there is no reafon to believe, that ever any Greek navigator went fo 
 far north, except Pytheas, it is almofl certain, that the information con- 
 cerning Orkas, tranfmitted to us by Diodorus, is extraded from the 
 works of that great Maflilian difcoverer, and is of courfe fome centuries 
 older than Diodorus. 
 
 .At this time Lutecia, the capital of a Gallic nation called the Pari- 
 fii, was entirely contained in the little ifland of the River Sequana, 
 (Seine) which is now fo fmall a part of the great city of Paris *. [C\e/ar. 
 Bell. Gall. L. vi, c. 3 ; L. vii, c. 57.] 
 
 CrafTus, a Roman general, plundered the temple of Jerufalem of 
 gold to the value, as we are told, of ten thoufand talents. Jofephus, 
 \Antiq. L. xiv, c. I 2] aware of being doubted on account of the great- 
 nefs of the fum, produces the authority of Strabo, in an hiftorical work 
 of his, now loft f . 
 
 Qelar \s chiefly indebted for his fime to his extraordinary military 
 talents, his numerous vidtories, wherein the cut-throats under his com- 
 mand butchered above a million of their fellow creatures, and his be- 
 ing the firft of the Roman emperors. But Caefar was alfo a man of 
 faience ; and that left renowned, but more meritorious, part of his cha- 
 rafter is what alone concerns this work. He obfcrved, that the year 
 had run totally into confufion, (the firil day of the month called Jan- 
 uary, being in reality that which ought to have been the thirteenth of 
 October) and, with the help of Sofigenes, a celebrated Grecian aftrono- 
 mer of Alexandria, he correded the calendar. Letting the current year 
 run on, till it had 445 days, he inflituted a year of 365 days, to com- 
 mence on the firft day of the enfuing January ; and he ordered, that 
 every fourth year ftiould confift of 366 days, which came very near to 
 the truth +. But the ftupidity of thole, whofe bufniefs it was to regu- 
 
 * I liave infcrtcd this earliefl. notice of Paris, wliofc time, however, agreeable to the ciiilom of 
 fliough Its inland litiialion on a river, not capable that age, the national name of Parihi, had alniolt 
 of carrying large velfcls up to it, prevents it frnni fiipLrlcdcd the old name, which is afterwards only- 
 being a city ot great foreign trade, partly bccaufe ukd, 1 believe, by writers who affeft clalTic names. 
 it ii.is become the capital of a great nation ; but, \ Snrcly Jofephus ought to have known more 
 (Chiefly, that I might not feem to detraft from its of the niatler liimfclf tliaii Strabo. So, in modern 
 antiquity, as fome writers have done, who, by a times, De Witt, a Dutcti auliior, cjnotes Raleigh, 
 itrange inadvertency, have fuppofcd the iirll no- an Knglilhman, for a fplendid account of the 
 ficc of it t<) be, when Julian hxed iiis refidence in Dntcii liihtry. 
 
 it above four hniuhcd years afterwards. Its ori- % Tiieir calculation exceeded the truth by 1 1 
 
 ginal name is varioully written ; Lukotokia by minutes and 14-^ feconds in a year, which make a 
 
 iSltabo ; Lutecia, and I.uticia, in Antoninc's Iti- day in 333 years. The accunuilation of tiiis etior 
 
 nerary ; and Lcuketia by the emperor Julian, in gave occalloii to Pope Gregory, in the year 1582,
 
 Before Chrift 43. ricj 
 
 late the intercalary days, repeated the leap-years every third year ; and 
 the error ran on after the death of Caefar, till it was reformed in the 
 reign of Auguftus. [P/i?i. Hift. nat. L. xviii, c. 25 — Sucton. in "Jul. c. 40 ; 
 Oclav. f. 31. — Dion Cciffl L. x\xd — ,Cenforin. c. 8.] Cafar firll planned 
 a general furvey of the whole empire, and committed the execution of 
 it to three Grecian geographers, to each of whom was alligned a por- 
 tion of the Roman world : and 25 years i month and 10 days elapfcd 
 before the laft part of this vafl: furvey was completed, which, with the 
 fupplementary fvirveys of new provinces, when they were conquered, 
 formed the chief ground-work of Ptolemy's fyftem, which was till lately 
 
 the univerfal ftandard of geographical fcience. {^JEthici Cofmographia 
 
 Veget. de re inilit. L. iii, c. 6. J In one year (44) he rellored the two 
 commercial cities of Carthage * and Corinth, which had been deftroyed 
 in one year by his predeceflbrs. Both recovered Ibme (hare of their 
 antient importance ; and in about half a century Carthage became as 
 populous as any city on the north coafl of Africa. [Sfral/o, L. v'ni, p. 
 585 ; L. xvn,p. 1 190.] Thefe adions fliow, that Caefar, Hke Alexan- 
 der, had a foul capable of the ufeful virtues, and might have been as 
 beneficent as illuftrious, if the folly of mankind did not bellow greater 
 applaufe upon their deftroyers than their benefadors. 
 
 43 — Cicero, who at this time fell a facrifice to the rage of civil war, 
 obferves, that thofe. who afcribe the creation of the world to the fortui- 
 tous concourfe of matter, might as well iuppofe, that innumerable forms 
 of the twenty-one letters, made of gold or any other material, if jum- 
 bled together, and then fhaken out upon the ground, could produce a 
 copy of the Annals of Ennius. And he elfewhere talks of imprinting the 
 notes, or marks, of letters upon wax f . [De nat. deor. L. ii ; Part, orat :j:.] 
 From thefe notices it feems probable, that the antients knew how to 
 print letters : but we may be allured, that they knew nothing of a per- 
 manent colouring matter, or ink, nor of a prefs, as their forms (or types) 
 do not appear to have been ever appUed to the valuable purpofe of mul- 
 tiplying the copies of books. 
 
 Luxury, or rather profufion, being introduced in Rome by the con- 
 quell of the wealthy and enervated kingdoms of Alia, had now made 
 iuch progrefs, thai there were this year above an hundred houfes, more 
 
 to matce a new regulation, vviiich is now adopted deiitly have approached to the nature of modern 
 
 in every part of Europe, and the European co- types. For feveral paffages of antient authors, 
 
 lonies, excepting RulCa and Turkey. coiicerii^ng their letters, writing, &c. fee Hugo de 
 
 * Gracchus attempted to rebuild Carthr.ge foon faihci'.diorig.c. lO. 
 
 after its deftrudlon ; but the enterprife feems to \ The chapters, or fedions, in the various edi- 
 
 have been foon abandoned. tions of Cicero are very difcordantly numbered. 
 
 _ t Quintilian \_De tnjl. i^nit. L. i, c. Il] men- That containing the paflage here quot-.-d from 
 
 tions ivory letters, iii commonly put into the hands Natura deorum is numbered 20, 37, and 95. The 
 
 of children to affill them in learning to read. But other from the Pflr//V;V>nfj I have found numbered 
 
 thofe letters, wherewith impreflions were made up- 7 and 26 in two editions I have examined. 
 on tables or plates covered with wax, muft evi-
 
 I20 Before Chrift 31' 
 
 magnificent than that of M. ^milius Lepidus, which, in his confulate, 
 thirty-five years before, was the fineft houfe in Rome*. [Plin. Hiji. nat. 
 L. xxxvi, c. 15.] 
 
 31 — The naval battle of Adium gave the laft blow to the republican 
 form of government in Rome by throwing the whole undivided power 
 into the hands of Odavianus, the grandfon of Caefar's fifter, who after- 
 wards affumed the furname, or title, of Auguftus. 
 
 29 — The great influx of money from the conquered provinces re- 
 duced the rate of intereft at Rome from ten to four per cent. 
 
 25 — AmballL dors are faid to have been fent from India, and, accord- 
 ing to 1: lores, s'.fo from the Scythians, Sarmatians, and even the Seres, 
 to court the friendfliip of Augufiius, who was then in Spain. We are 
 told, that thofe of India were four years upon their journey ; and if fo, 
 they fet out two years after the battle of Adtium, which fcarcely allows 
 fufl^cient time for thofe very diftant nations to have received intelligence 
 of the good fortune and eflablifhed power of Auguftus f. [Florus^ L. 
 iv, c. 1 2. — Siietonin 0£lav.'] 
 
 23 — Auguftus, having reduced Egypt to the condition of a province 
 of Rome, and being informed of the great opulence of the Arabians, 
 wifli'^d either to make ufe of them as wealthy friends, or to levy heavy 
 tributes from them as rich fubjeds. The army he fent into their coun- 
 try was wafted by famine, thirft, and difeafe, more than by battle ; and, 
 after having penetrated within two days journey, as they were told, of 
 the land of aromatics and frankincenfe, the rich objedl of their expedi- 
 tion, the remainder of them were glad to get back to Egypt. [Strabo, 
 L.xvi,p. 1 1 28.] That this invafion did not afFed the tranquillity, or 
 the commerce, of the Sabaeans, is evident from Diodorus Siculus, (who 
 wrote after this time) who fays, [Z. iii, § 47] that they had preferved 
 their liberty unimpared by any conqueft during many ages ; and, from 
 Pliny [L. vi, c. 28] we know, that no other Roman army had ever 
 marched into Arabia, when he wrote, about the 75th year of the Chrift- 
 ian aera. 
 
 The Romans at the fame time made an expedition againft the Ethiop- 
 ians above Egypt, and reduced them to the neceflity of begging for 
 
 * It may asjuftly be faid of the city of Edin- expedition of Trajan, lii/l. Je I'acarffmie royale, V, 
 
 (lurgh, lliat many, which miyhtbe eftceiiied capital xxii) fufpcfts, that fuch embaflies were fometimes 
 
 hoiifcs i.i it in the year 1 760, were cch'pfed by above mere farces, performed by lome foreign merchants, 
 
 an hundred better ones in 1 790; a (lill fliorter who wanted to obtain favours from the emperors, 
 
 period for fo great a clianj^e in the llilc of building. It is alfo probable, that the Romans of that age had 
 
 It is Hill more to the honour of our Scottifli me- not any very accurate idea of what part of the 
 
 iropolis, that the wealtli, by which ' the poor arc world was to be underrtood by the name of India, 
 
 « cloath'd, the hungry fed, Health to himltlf, and and that fuch (lories were mere puffs. In modern 
 
 ' to his infants bread, The lab'rer bears,' in the times, and in the clear light fprcad over the world 
 
 conftruclion of thofe beautiful and durable edifices, by the art of piiiiting, we are told, that ambafla- 
 
 was not acquired, like that of the Romans, by the dors from Japan arrived in Holland in the year 
 
 jilunder of the world. 1609, in order to negotiate a treaty of commerce 
 
 \ Mr. Frcret (in a differlation on the caflcrn with the Dutch.
 
 Before Chrift 20. 121 
 
 peace. The Ethiopian ambafladors were fent by Petronius, the Roman 
 general, to Auguftus, then in the ifland of Samos, who remitted the tri- 
 bute demanded by his general, the colledion of which he probably 
 thought impradicable : but he feems to have retained fome kind of 
 fuperiority, at leaft upon the coaft, as we not only find that the mer- 
 chants of Egypt immediately opened a new trade with the Troglodytes, 
 an Ethiopian nation, occupying the weft coafl of the Red fea ; {^Strabo, 
 L. xvn,pp. 1 149, 1176] but alfo, that the Romans, at leaft foon after 
 this time, levied a cuftom duty on the coaft of the Red fea, as far as the 
 Ocean, [P/i/i. L. vi, c. 22] which may be prefumed to be on the weft 
 fide of it, in confequence of the treaty concluded with the Ethiopian 
 ambaftadors at Samos, as the fruftrated expedition againft the rich com- 
 mercial part of Arabia fhows, that it could not be (as fome have fup- 
 pofed) on the fliore of that country. 
 
 20 — An Indian prince, called Porus, is faid to have fent amballlidors 
 to Auguftus, who received them in the ifland of Samos. This is fup- 
 pofed to be a fecond embafly from the fame prince, who had fent thofe 
 who traveled to Spain. [Nicol. Damafcen ap. Strah. L. xv, p. 1 047 ; and 
 fee p. 1006.] 
 
 19 — Virgil, the chief of the Roman poets, had flattered Auguftus fo 
 fuccefsfully, that, according to his commentator and biographer, Servius, 
 he died worth £%o,'j2^ of our modern fterling money. Was there ever 
 any other poet half as rich } 
 
 13 — Auguftus raifed the dayly pay of the Roman foldiers to five 
 pence of our modern money : but thole who guarded the facred perfon 
 of the emperor were rewarded with twelve pence. About the fame 
 time wheat coft from i/i i to 2/6 a buftiel, as appears from one of Ci- 
 cero's fpeeches againft Verres. 
 
 A. D. 14 — The remarkably-long reign of Auguftus was terminated 
 by a natural death ; a termination which fell to the lot of Icarcely any 
 other emperor before the elevation of the Flavian family. After he 
 found himfelf eftablifhed fole monarch of the Roman empire by the 
 deftrudion of all his competitors and their adherents, he endeavoured 
 to make the people forget his ufurpation by an affected moderation in 
 the ufe of his power, and by aipecious appearance of attention to their 
 happinefs in every thing which did not interfere with his own fuprem- 
 acy. The embellifliment of Rome in his reign is exprefled by a well 
 known faying of his, that ' he found it a city of brick, and Ihould leave 
 ' it a city of marble.' He may be called the father of the Roman im- 
 perial navy ; for which he appointed Ravenna, in the Adriatic fea, as 
 the principal ftation of the eaftern fquadron, and Milenum, in the Gulf 
 of Naples, of the weftern. Somefmaller divifions were alfo ftationed in 
 the Euxine fea, on the fouth coaft of Gaul, and between the north 
 coaft of Gaul and Britain. It muft be acknowleged, that his navy was 
 
 Vol. I. (^
 
 122 A. D. 14. 
 
 not very formidable, either for the number or ilrength of the velfels : 
 but then he had not one enemy in the whole extent of the Mediterranean 
 to contend with. Having obferved the diladvantage of Antony's unweildy 
 fhips at the battle of A(fHum, he built no very large veffels : and, after 
 this time, we hear no more of flilps with very numerous tires of oars *. 
 
 In the reign of Auguflus, fome Roman navigators explored the coafl 
 of the North fea, as far as the promontory of the Cimbri (the north 
 point of Denmark, called the Scaw). [Plin. Hift. nat. L. ii, c, 67.] The 
 voyage, however, was not intended to be fubfervient to trade, but to 
 conquefl: ; for the emperor then flattered himfelf, that all Germany 
 was to be reduced under his yoke by Tiberius, who fucceeded him in the 
 empire. But, to the Romans, the Ocean was flill an objedl of terror, 
 which they endeavoured to difguife, under the pretence of religious 
 awe f , and it was feldom encountered by any veflels from the Roman 
 dominions \. 1 he Mediterranean fea was the proper fphere of their 
 navigation ; and the whole extent of its fhores, with all its iflands, the 
 mofl: infignificant not excepted, being now fubjed to their dominion, 
 there was no receptacle for pirates. Had there been any confiderable 
 mercantile community remaining among the fubjeds of Rome, there 
 was now a fair opportunity of carrying on an extenfive and undi- 
 fturbed commerce among the great variety of nations, who enjoyed a 
 flavidi tranquillity from foreign wars, under the oppreflion of the go- 
 vernors appointed by one fovereign. And during the reign of an em- 
 peror, who was convinced, that his dominions needed no extenfion, and 
 that he had more to fear than to hope from war, commerce mud have 
 been as flourifliing as it could be, in the fituation to which the world 
 was reduced by the deftrudion of the commercial flates. This, there- 
 for, is the time which I think mofl proper for laying before the reader 
 a concife account of the Roman trade, or rather importation, together 
 with fome commercial notices of the various countries, which could not 
 fo conveniently be introduced elfewhere §. 
 
 * About t'.ir year 390 Vcgctius was almod \ To prevent the iiifurtion of quotations at 
 
 apprcliei:fivc tliat he fliould not be believed, when every claiifc, and ahiioll at every word, the reader 
 
 he fald, tliat fome veficls had carried live tires of will plenfc to obferve, that the following account 
 
 aars. \_Vegtt. L. iv, c. 37] And Zofinuis, a is eoileded and digefted, fron\ notices difpcrfcd 
 
 tew years later than Vegctius, talks of vclTels of through the great geographical work of Strabo, 
 
 fix, and even of three, tires of oars, as the works the woiks of Cicero, and tlie Univerfal hittorical 
 
 t>f antient times, of which he feems to have had library of Diodorus Siculus, who were all contem- 
 
 \\o char idea. [/,. v, p. 319, ed. Oxon. 1679.] porary with Angullus : and it is fupplied and cor- 
 
 f For this remark 1 am indebted to Mr. Gib- reded from the hillorians, poets, and other au- 
 
 kon. [^, I, p. 29.] thors, nearly conteiiiporaiy, cfpecially from the 
 
 I • Adverfus oceanus raro ab orbc noflro navi- vail (lore of Pliny's Natural hillory. 
 
 'bus aditur.' \_Taati Gam. c. i.] If I may The reader will not expett, that every article 
 
 prefumc to fay fo of fo gieat a critic, Lipfius has imported from every country (hould be infcrted. 
 
 found a difficulty in the word adverfus, where It is fulfieienc to mention thofe vvhicli were dillin- 
 
 llicre feems to be none, the plain meaning being, guillicd for their excellence, or, as being the llaple, 
 
 that the Ocean was lioftile, or adverfr, the very being reniaikably plenty, or being peculiar to thf 
 
 (iimc word naturalized in Englifti^ eountries from which they were inipoited.
 
 A. D. 14. 12^ 
 
 The principal trade of the Roman world, was the conveyance of corn, 
 and other provifions, to the all-devouring capital ; and this mofl im- 
 portant concern was under the immediate dire6tion of the emperor him- 
 felf, one of his many titles or offices, being that of commiflary-general 
 of corn. 
 
 Italy, cultivated to the highefl degree of perfedion, produced abun- 
 dance of corn and cattle to fupply itfelf, if Rome had been the capital 
 of Italy only. 
 
 The northern part of Italy, called Cifalpine Gaul, furniflied a quan- 
 tity of fait pork almoft fufficient for the whole confumption of Rome ; 
 magnificent tapeftry, and woollen drapery, the manufadture of Patavia 
 (Padua) ; and wools of various qualities, whereof thofe of Mutina {Mo- 
 dena) and Altinura, were remarked as the beft ; many fpecies of mar- 
 bles, the produce of the Alps, for the conveyance of which vefTels were 
 conftruded on purpofe ; good fleel, made at Comum (Como), where the 
 water was of fuch a quality, as to. give a peculiar hardnefs to the metal ; 
 excellent chryftal ; ice, the ufe of which in the burning fummers of 
 Italy, could fcarcely be called an extravagant luxury ; and cheefe, for 
 which thofe mountainous regions ilill preferve their reputation, by their 
 parmefan. 
 
 Liguria fent from its port of Genua large wood, fome trees being 
 eight feet in diameter ; fliip timber ; wood, nothing inferior to the 
 thya wood for making tables ; cattle ; hides ; honey ; and a coarfe 
 kind of wool, which ferved to make clothing for the flaves. Etruria 
 produced large timber ; marble, efteemed not inferior to the Parian ; 
 and huge blocks of flone, for capital buildings, fliipped at the ports of 
 Pifa and Luna, which later was remarkable for its cheefe, of the aflonifh- 
 ing weight of a thoufand pondo, and for its wines, efteemed the beft 
 in Etruria. The Sabine country fent in excellent oil and wine. La- 
 tium, and Campania, where Bachus and Ceres are poetically faid to 
 have ftriven which of them fliould be moft profufe in their favours to 
 the happy foil, furniftied the beft wheat, rice, barley, and wines, of 
 which leveral particular growths were in high requeft with the epicures 
 of Rome, efpecially the Falernian, which has been rendered famous by 
 the immortal lines of Horace. Apulia excelled in the quality of its 
 wool ; and Brutium abounded in fir trees of great fize, together with 
 pitch and tar, the produce of them. 
 
 In Rome itfelf, feveral manufactures were carried on, chiefly by the 
 knowlege and induftry of the flaves, the captives, or defcendents of the 
 captives, carried off by the Romans from all the induftrious nations 
 with whom they had been at war. But manufactures are fcarcely fcen 
 or heard of in the buftle of a great capital ; and they are totally over- 
 looked by hiftorians, only concerned with the deftrudion of mankind, 
 and the fucceftlon of their deftrovers. 
 
 3 ' Ct2
 
 124 -^^ ^' H* 
 
 Corsica fupplled timber for {hip-building. 
 
 Sardinia had feme mines of filver ; tmd it had corn and cattle to 
 fpare for the ufe of the capital. 
 
 Sicily, which the poets thought proper to make the birth-place and 
 refidence of Ceres, their goddefs of agriculture, and which Cicero calls 
 the granary and treafury of the empire, furnhhed Rome with vaft quan- 
 tities of wine, honey, whereof that of Hybla was eminently famous, fait, 
 faffron, cheefe, cattle, hides, pigeons, (for the Romans were great 
 pigeon-fanciers *) corals, and emeralds. But all thefe were trifling, if 
 compared to the prodigious quantities of wheat exported from this 
 noble ifland, which, before it fell under the dominion of Rome, has, 
 upon fome occafions, even fupplied the temporary deficiency of corn, 
 in fo fertile a country as Egypt. 
 
 The inhabitants of Melita, (Mali a) who weve a Carthaginian colony, 
 carried on a confiderable manufadure of very fine white cloth, called 
 linen, by fome authors, and woollen, by others. As the Romans called 
 cotton the wool of trees, and the ifland produces cotton of a mofl 
 excellent quality in the prefent day, there can be little doubt that 
 thefe fine cloths were calicos, or muflins. The houfes of Melita were 
 difl:inguiflied by their elegance, the comfortable fruits of fuccefsful 
 indufl:ry. 
 
 Greece furniflied honey, and particularly a remarkably fine kind 
 from Attica. Lacedsemon fent its beautiful green marble, and the dye 
 of the purple fliell-fifti ; and Elis furniftied its fine fl:uflr called byflinus, 
 probably of the nature of cambric, which ufed to fell for its weight in 
 gold f . 
 
 Many of the Grecian islands produced excellent marble : Paros was 
 particularly celebrated for the kind fo well known by its name, and fo 
 valuable to statuaries, for its pure and uniform white colour, and its ex- 
 emption from the fparkles, which, by giving a falfe light, injure the ef- 
 fect in fl:atues made of other marbles. Samos fl:ill excelled in manufac- 
 tures of fine earthen-ware. Lemnos furniflied the befl; vermilion, (fino- 
 }Ms) which fold at Rome for thirteen denarii (8/4-|- fl:erling) a pound. 
 Cos manufadured an inferior kind of filk, faid to be produced by worms 
 of a fpecies different from the genuine filk-worms, which, from the 
 cenfures on its indecent tranfparency, feems to have been like the mo- 
 dern farcenets, or perfians. 
 
 From Thrace were imported great quantities of corn, and faked tun- 
 nies, which abound in the Euxine fea. 
 
 Colchis produced wool of an excellent quality, and far more valuable 
 than the golden fleece, which Jafon and his companions are faid to have 
 
 • Alius, r Roman knijjlit, fold a pair of pijreons for four hundred denarii, equal to ^12 : 18:4 
 ftcrling. [^ytibulhnol't Tables sf ancient coins, tsfc. p. 129.J 
 
 ■j i>ec an attempt to explain the nature of byflinui, fen'cum, &c. ander tke year 73.
 
 A. D. 14. 125 
 
 carried off from that country ; alfo hemp, wax, and pitch ; and it ftill kept 
 up its credit for the manufacture of fine linens of the Egyptian fabric, 
 fuch as were adduced by Herodotus as an argument for the truth of 
 an Egyptian colony having fettled there. Goods, brought over-land 
 from India, were fliipped at Phafis for the ports of Europe. 
 
 The article chiefly noted as imported from Galatia and Cappa- 
 DociA *, was vermilion, called Sinopis, from the port at which it was 
 {hipped. 
 
 Of the cheefe, brought to Rome from any confiderable diftance, the 
 befl was from Bithynia. 
 
 Phrygia farnifhed large columns and flabs of a beautiful flone like 
 alabafter, dug in the quarries of Synnada, an inland town, about two 
 hundred miles from the Euxine, and as many from the Mediterranean. 
 The country about Laodicea produced excellent wool, fome of which was 
 naturally as black as jet. 
 
 Clazomenc in Ionia furniflied the befl of all the foreign wines which 
 were carried to Rome. 
 
 Miletus in Caria poflelled a breed of Iheep, the wool of which was 
 very generally preferred to all others. There was alfo a confiderable 
 manufafture of woollen goods, of which thofe dyed with Tyrian purple 
 ■were highly efteemed. 
 
 The moft remarkable produ6lions of Cyprus were pretious ftones, 
 among which there was an inferior kind of diamonds. Copper was im- 
 ported from this ifland in confiderable quantities ; and alfo the befl 
 refin, and a fweet oil, made from a fhrub called by the name of the 
 ifland. 
 
 Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine, furniflied cedar, gums,balfam, and 
 alabafter. Sidon and Tyre, names fo illuftrious in the earlieft hiftory 
 of commerce, were now chiefly noted for the glafs manufaftures and 
 embroidery of the former, and for the purple dye and fifhery of the 
 later f . The goods, brought from India, over-land, by the merchants 
 of Palmyra, were fliipped for Rome from the ports of Syria : and fome 
 were probably ftill brought from Arabia by the way of the Red fea by 
 fome few merchants remaining in Tyre. 
 
 Egypt was called by the antients the granary of the world ; and it 
 fupplied Rome with corn fufficient, if we can credit Jofephus, for one 
 third of its whole confumption. Its other exports were flax ; linens of 
 all qualities, for which it was famous from the earlieft ages ; cotton 
 
 * In order to fave trouble to the critics, if any f In nautical knowlege the Phoenicians were 
 
 of them (hall condefccnd to examine the body of ftill acknowleged fuperior to all the fcamen of the 
 
 this work, I acknowlege, that I do not pvofefs to Mediterranean, after the extermination of the 
 
 be minutely accurate in the chronology of the Carthaginians. It was to them that the great Mi- 
 
 provinciation of each countiy, and that feveral de- thridatcs applied for feamen proper to command 
 
 pendent nominal kingdoms, e. g. Cappadocia, and navigate the fleet he fitted ctit againll tke 
 
 Judca, Mauritania, &c. are here confidcred as Remans, 
 parts of the empire. 4
 
 126 A. D. 14. 
 
 goods, made from cotton produced in the upper Egypt; coflly oint- 
 ments ; marble; alabafter; lalt ; alum of the very beft quality j gums; 
 paper, the general ufe of which, Pliny finely remarks, polidies and im- 
 mortalizes man ; alfo the rufli called papyrus, froni which paper was 
 likeways manufactured at Rome. Paper varied in its qualities and 
 fizes, from the wrapping Emporetica for the fhops, of fix inches in 
 breadth, to the Augufla, Liviana, and Kieratica, as they were called at 
 Rome, which were of thirteen inches *. Glafs ware was alfo Ihipped from 
 Alexandria, which rivaled Sidon in that manufadture f . The Egyptians 
 had a procefs, which, as defcribed by Pliny, [L. xxxv, f. 1 1] had, at leafl: 
 in its effect, fome refemblance to the modern art of printing upon cot- 
 ton, linen, &c. They drew figures upon cloth with various colourlefs 
 materials, which, when the cloth was plunged into a cauldron of hot 
 dye-ftuff, in a moment aflumed various colours fuitable to the figures, 
 which were fo flrongly fixed, that no wafhing could efface them. 
 
 Egypt was alio the entrepot of the principal trade carried on between 
 the Oriental countries and Rome, which will be defcribed under the 
 head of India. 
 
 Alexandria, the port at which all the produce and manufadures of 
 Egypt, and all the goods carried through it, were fhipped, was a large 
 and beautiful city, when it was the capital of the Macedonian kings of 
 Egypt, and the feat of the Egyptian commerce. Being now not only 
 the feat of the Roman government, but alfo of a commerce greatly ex- 
 tended by the confumption of the Roman world, and proteded by the 
 Roman power, it almofl inflantaneoufly increafed to an extent and po- 
 pulation, which yielded only to the imperial city itfelf, containing, ac- 
 cording to Diodorus Siculus, three hundred thoufand free people, whence 
 its whole population may be fiirly fuppofed above a million. It is, 
 therefor, chieliy from the reign of Auguftus, that Alexandria is entitled 
 to the rank of the commercial capital of the Mediterranean, or, as Stra^ 
 bo exprefles it, the greateft emporium of the whole world. 
 
 Though Egypt was a Roman province, the whole of the commerce . 
 continued now, and afterwards in its more extended ffate, in the hands 
 «f the Greeks, the haughty Romans, thinking commercial concerns 
 
 * Tlie Augufta proving too traiifparent, a paper the paper is taken.] A fpecimen, wliicli is in tlic 
 
 of a thicker quality, and greater breadth, being Mnfcum, is about nine feet long, and twelve or 
 
 eighteen inches, was iiitioduced in the reign of thirteen inches broad. It contains a donation by. 
 
 Claudius, which of courfe was called Claudia, a pious lady, dated in the twenty-feventh year of 
 
 Each fhect of the aiitient paper was double, the Juftinian, i. c. A. D. 553. 
 
 principal fide being the largell dice that could be f The Ethiopians to the fouthward of Egypt 
 
 got, of uniform breadth, in the whole length of preferved their dead bihde them in tianfparcnt 
 
 the papyrus, which was covered, or lined, with coffins, nade of fofllle glafs, or ehrydal. [IlcroJ, 
 
 fiiorter pieces, faflened on with the glutinous water /,. iii, c. 24.] Such a cofiin Ptolemy Coctus fub- 
 
 of the Nile, or with paltc. The longitudinal fibres llituted for the golden one, wherein the body of 
 
 of the plant, crofTing each other, gave the paper Alexander the Great had been preferred at Alex- 
 
 the appearance of linen. [P/in. llijl. nat. L. xiii, andria. 
 (C. II, n; whence the iiifonnalion concerning
 
 A, D. 14. 127 
 
 beneath their dignity, and the aboriginal Egyptians, a poor deprefled 
 race, not being admitted to a participation of it, and, probably, ftill re- 
 ftrided by their fuperflitious prejudices from going upon fait water in 
 any capacity *. 
 
 Africa proper, the antient territory of the Carthaginians, was a 
 country remarkably fertile. It furnifhed Rome with great quantities 
 of corn; honey; drugs of various forts; marble; the feathers and eggs of 
 the oflrich ; alfo living oflriches, elephants, and lions, for the fanguin- 
 ary fports of the Romans, whofe game laws did not permit the poor 
 African to kill a lion, even in his own defence. But fuch a prepofterpus 
 law may be prefumed to have have been enacted by one of the lefs 
 prudent tyrants, who came after Auguflus. 
 
 Mauritania furnifhed fine, and very large, timber, called cedar, but, 
 by its charaderiftics, apparently mahogany, whereof very large tables 
 were made, which fold for fuch enormous prices, that the Roman ladies 
 thought their extravagance in pearls fully kept in countenance by the 
 rage of their hufbands for purchafing thofe tables. Some trading fettle- 
 ments, in the weft part of this country upon the Ocean, appear to have 
 been ftill inhabited by Phoenicians. 
 
 The natural advantages of Spain were fo great and fo various, that 
 Pliny reckons it next to Italy ; which, from an Italian, may be confider- 
 cd as an acknowlegement, that it was efteemed for foil, climate, and pro- 
 dudions of every kind, the very firft country in Europe. The whole 
 country abounded with mines of lead, iron, copper, filver, and gold, 
 and alio with marble. But each province had peculiar advantages ; 
 and they muft, therefor, be confidered diftinctly. 
 
 The fouth part of Spain, called Bsetica or Turdetania, had the appear- 
 ance of a vaft garden, interfered with many navigable rivers, the very 
 iflands of which were highly cultivated, and adorned with buildings. 
 This delightful region, apparently the Elyllan fields of antient fable, and 
 comprehending Andalufia and moft of Granada with part of Portugal in 
 modern geography, was occupied by the Turdetani, Turtutani, or Tur- 
 tuli, who were probably the defcendents, or mixed with the defcend- 
 ents, of fome very antient colonies of the Phoenicians. They v\'ere dif- 
 tinguifhed from the other nations of Spain by fuperior civihzation and 
 learning ; and they boafted of pofi^efling records and poems of prodigi- 
 ous antiquity. Their numerous population, befides fully cultivating 
 the rich fields, working the mines, and attending the fifheries, had filled 
 two hundred opulent trading towns fpread along the fea coaft and the 
 
 * In the Pcriplus of the Erythraan fea, and fixth century from the work of Cofmas Indico- 
 
 in the works of Ptolemy, efpecially in the later, pleulles. The only exception I liave found is 
 
 the names of many merchants and navigators oc- Firmus, a merchant of Egypt, who kt up for an 
 
 cur ; and they are all Greek— no Roman— no emperor in the third century. 
 Egyptian. The fame may be obferyed in the
 
 128 A. D. 14. 
 
 banks of the navigable rivers. The chief of thefe were Corduba (Cor- 
 dova), Malaca (Malaga), lUpa (Penaflor), HifpaUs (Seville), with many- 
 others, which after being colonized by the Romans, who thereupon fre- 
 quently affumed the credit of being their founders, retain to this day 
 fome fliare of fplendour, and eveii, when compared with fome parts of 
 modern Spain, a portion of the induflry, derived from their Phoenician 
 founders through the revolutions of thirty centuries. But the chief of 
 the whole for commercial dignity, as already obferved, was Gadir (call- 
 ed by the Romans Gadcs, and at this day Cadiz), which was now be- 
 come the greateft emporium in the weftern world, the rival of Alexan- 
 dria in commerce, and by fome fuppoied inferior only to Rome in the 
 number of its inhabitants, many of whom, not able to find houfe-room 
 on the fmall ifland whereon the town was built, lived entirely upon the 
 water. The Turtuli exported great quantities of corn, and wine ; ex- 
 cellent oil, but in fmall quantity ; honey, and wax ; pitch ; much fear- 
 let dye {zoKzoi), and vermilion (p'?tro;), which the Romans obliged them 
 to bring in a rude ftate, to be refined at Rome ; fait ; faked provifions 
 of a fuperior quality ; wool of fo e::cellent a kind, that a talent (^193 : 
 i5yfl;erling) was an ufual price for a good breeding ram. They had 
 formerly exported confiderable quantities of woollen drapery ; but they 
 were now apparently obliged to give up that manufacture, and to carry 
 their raw wool to the Romans, who probably put the manufadure into 
 the hands of their own domeftic Haves. Befides their agriculture, ma- 
 nufadtures, and commerce, they were enriched by a great fifliery, which 
 they carried on, not only in the feas adjacent to their own coail, which 
 fwarmed with great variety of ufcful fifli of a fuperior quality and fize, 
 but alio on the coaft of Africa to a confiderable diftance : and before 
 they fell under a foreign dominion, they had had the produce of their 
 own very rich mines, which were now the property of the conquerors. 
 So extenfive a commerce and fifhery employed a quantity of fliipping 
 fcarcely inferior to that employed in the whole of the African trade; 
 and all their veflx;Is were built of timber produced in the country. The 
 merchaiats of Gadir in particular had fliips of very great burthen, where- 
 with they traded in the Mediterranean and alfo in the Ocean, as far at 
 lead as the Fortunate iflands (the Canaries), and probably alfo to the re- 
 mote fettlements and trading poflis, which the Carthaginians had efl:ab- 
 liflicd on the weft coaft of Africa. There is alio reafon to believe, that 
 they ftill poflefied a fliare of the Britifti tin trade in the antient channel 
 of diredl importation from the Cafiiterides. 
 
 The eaft coaft of the northern province of Spain, called Tarraconen- 
 fis, aUb contained many good trading towns. The firft and the beft of 
 thefe was New Carthage, called alio Carthago fpartaria from the great 
 abundance of fpartum produced in the fields adjacent to it, (and now 
 Carthagcna), which ftill retained fome of the mercantile genius of its
 
 A. D. 14. 129 
 
 Carthaginian founders, and furnifhed the commodities of diftant lands 
 to an extenfiveback country in return for faked provifions, and cordage 
 made of the plant called fpartum, which were carried chiefly to Rome, 
 along with the filver of the mines. Saguntuin (Morviedro), was celebrated 
 for its manufadure of earthen-ware : and Tarracon (Tarragona), for its 
 linens, remarkable for their fliining whitenefs and the wonderful thin- 
 nefs of their fabric. Some of the bell fleel in Europe was made at Bil- 
 bilis (Xiloca), and in its neighbourhood, the waters in that part of the 
 country having a peculiar virtue in hardening the metal. • 
 
 Strabo remarks, that the people of the mountainous country in the 
 well part of this province, bordering on the Ocean, were homely and un- 
 cultivated by reafon of their remote fituation, and little commerce or 
 intercourfe with flrangers. The trade among themfelves was nothing 
 but barter, and they adjufled their bargain by paying the balance with 
 a piece cut off from a fheet of filver. They had alfo fome little inter- 
 courfe with foreigners, who purchafed their lead and tin. Their boats 
 were made of leather, a very few excepted, which they had lately learn- 
 ed to build of wood. The men were all drefled in black clothes, and 
 moil of them wore mantles or plaids, in which they alfo fleeped upon 
 beds made of herbs. Th6 drefs of the women was adorned with figures 
 of flowers. They had plenty of cattle and goats ; and they made much 
 butter, which, Strabo fays, they ufed as -x fuhjlitute for oil. Though far 
 from being wealthy, they were very hofpitable, and delighted in making 
 entertainments for their friends, afligning the mofl; honourable feats to 
 age and dignity. On thefe occafions they treated with ale, their ufual 
 beverage, and with the little wine they had, the whole vintage being 
 ufually exhauflied at one feafl:. The entertainments were accompanied 
 with dancing to the mufic of the pipe and trumpet. Their other amufe- 
 ments were manly and warlike exercifes. Their agility, their martial 
 temper, and their talent for ftratagem, had made them in pafl; times very 
 formidable neighbo^urs to the fubjeds of the Romans : but they were 
 now enlifted in their legions Is this the pidlure of the mountain- 
 eers in the north-wefl; part of Spain, or of thofe in the north-well; part 
 of Scotland in the lafl: age, which Strabo has been drawing ? The fl:rik- 
 ing likenefs will, I prefume, apologize with aBritifli reader for inferting 
 fome traits of it, which may belong more properly to the hifl;ory of 
 manners than to that of commerce. 
 
 The wefl: coafl; of Spain appears to have been but little known to the 
 Romans. 
 
 The Balearic islands furniflied fome wine, efteemed equal to any 
 of the growth of Italy. 
 
 Gaul was alfo a very opulent province, the government of 
 which was efl:eemed by the Romans as profitable as that of Syria. 
 That part of the coafl;, which bordered upon the Mediterranean, con- 
 tained the only ports, with which Rome had any dired intercourfe. 
 
 Vol. I. R
 
 ^^3' 
 
 A. D. 14. 
 
 The chief of thefe were Maffilia (Marfeilk), Arelate (Aries), and 
 Narbo (Narhonne), from which laft, being a Roman colony, the name 
 of Narbonenfis was extended to a large province, including the modern 
 di^afions of Languedoc, Proveiice, and Daiiphine. . By the favour of the 
 Romans Narbo became the mofl populous city in Gaul, and it alfo had 
 the greareft trade, which, according to the poetical authority of Aufoni- 
 us, extended to the eaftern fea, Spain, Africa, Sicily, and the whole 
 world. The antient Phoccean colony of Maflilia had now declined 
 very much from its former opulence in confequence of the partiality of 
 the Romans to Narbo, which was at this time efleemed the chief em- 
 porium of the v^hole country. The Romans received from Gaul, be- 
 lides the tributary metals of gold, filver, iron, &c. dug from the mines 
 of the province, linens, which were made in every part of the country, 
 corn; cheefe; excellent faked pork, and plaids, which two articles Belgic 
 Gaul fupplied in great quantities. Great flocks of geefe from the coun- 
 try of the Morini oppofite to Britain formed an article of importation ; 
 if they could be faid to be imported, which required no carriage, but 
 performed the long journey of 1,254 miles to Rome upon their own 
 feet. But our information concerning the imports from Gaul is very 
 defedive, though there is good reafon to believe, that they were very 
 confiderable. 
 
 The chief trading ports of Gaul upon the Ocean were Burdigala (Bour^ 
 deaux), fituated on a noble sefliuary or firth at the mouth of the Garum- 
 na (Garonne), in the country of the Bituriges, a Gallic or Celtic nation 
 (occupying the modern Guienne proper) among the Aquitani, who 
 were of Spanifh origin ; Corbilo upon the Ligeris (Loire), which in the 
 time of Polybius had been a confiderable emporium, and one of the 
 three beft towns then in Gaul, (the others being Maflilia and Narbo) 
 but now declined ; the port of the Veneti, if not deferted after the ruin 
 of the people by Caefar ; a port of the Lexobii at the mouth of the Se- 
 quana (Seine); and the Portus Itius, concerning the pofltion of which 
 the learned differ in their opinions. All thefe feem to have had fome 
 intercourfe with Britain, and probably with other countries, of which 
 we have no information. 
 
 Gaul was a country peculiarly favoured in the convenience of inland 
 navigation, being everywhere interfered by navigable rivers running 
 in very oppofite diredions ; fo that goods could be carried between the 
 Mediterranean and the Ocean with very little aflift:ance of land carriage. 
 From Narbo, above which the Atax (Jiude) was feldom navigable, they 
 were carried a few miles over-land, and refliipped on the Garumna, 
 which carried them to Burdigala. The Ligeris, the Sequana, and the 
 Rhtnus (Rhine) afforded water carriage to the very heart of the coun- 
 try, and all of them to the neighbourhood of the Rhodanus (Rhone) or 
 ■•its great navigable branches, which completed the inland water carriage
 
 A. D. 14. 131 
 
 between the Mediterranean and the whole of the weft and north ftiores 
 of Gaul ; while almoft every other part of the country was acceflible by 
 the navigable branches of thole great rivers, to the great advantage of 
 the community, as well as the emolument of the proprietors of the lands 
 adjacent to the rivers before the Roman conqueft, who ufed to levy a 
 toll or tranfit duty on the boats palling through their territories. In 
 the very center of all this inland conveyance, at the jundion of the Rho- 
 danus with the Arar (Sonne), a river of a longer courfe and gentler cur- 
 rent than itfelf, and within an eafy diftance of the other navigable 
 rivers which flowed in the oppofite diredion, flood the great inland em- 
 porium of Lugdunum (Lions), a Gallic city, fo greatly augmented by a 
 Roman colony, the relidence of a Roman governor, and the eftablifli- 
 ment of a mint for gold and filver money, that for population it exceed- 
 ed every other city in Gaul except Narbo. With thefe advantages it 
 neceflarily became the general depofit of all the inland trade of the 
 country, and the great thoroughfare of the inland navigation; for even 
 thofe, who, on account of the rapidity of the Rhodanus, preferred land 
 carriage for the fpace between Lugdunum and the coaft, brought their 
 goods to that city to be further forwarded by water or by land. [Stra- 
 bo, L. iv, pp. 268, 288, 292, 294, 295, 318.] Even before the lettle- 
 meiit of the Romans in it, it mufl have been a place of great trade and 
 intercourfe, enlivening the whole of the river below it, which was cover- 
 ed with canoes and fmall veflels, employed in the carrying trade, as ear- 
 ly as the famous pafTage of the great Hannibal over the Alps. \_Polyb. 
 L. iii, c. 42.} 
 
 The only vines in Gaul were on the fouth coaft : but fo fond were 
 the inland people of wine, that the Italian merchants, who carried it up 
 the Rhodanus, frequently exchanged a vefl^el of it containing about 
 eighteen gallons for a young flave. Their ufual liquor was extracted 
 from barley, or prepared by mixing honey with water. 
 
 Having now completed the circuit of the Roman provinces, as they 
 lay extended on both fides of the Mediterranean, it only remains to ob- 
 ferve that almoft all thofe countries poured their wines into the capital ; 
 which alfo received corn from every province, that had any to ipare, 
 befides the more regular fupplies from thofe, which were pecuUarly not- 
 ed for their abundance. 
 
 But all this importation was merely for fupplying the vaft confump- 
 tion of an all-devouring capital. There was Icarcely any exportation ; 
 there was no reciprocation of good offices ; their was no commerce *. 
 
 • The carriage of necefTaries and luxuries for the come defirous of partaking of the fame comforts 
 
 ufe of tl'.e Roman governors and their rttinucs fet- and kixuries, what was at fir'! the carriage of pri- 
 
 tled in the provinces does not come under the de- vate baggage, would gradually fwcll into commer- 
 
 fcription of commercial exportation. But as the cial importance. 
 provincials, in imitation of the Romans, would be- 
 
 + R 2^ ^
 
 132 A. D. 14. 
 
 The payments were made with the tributes extorted from the conquered 
 provinces ; and thus the money given for produce and manufadures 
 preferved fome degree of balance between induflry and rapine, without 
 which the later mufl in a fhort time have drained the fprings, from 
 which its infatiable appetite was fed : or in other words, the farmers 
 and manufadurers were paid with their own money. But let us hear 
 from a Roman author, what Rome beftowed upon the world. ' Italy 
 ' [or rather Rome] is the nurfe and mother of all countries, chofen by 
 * divine providence to make the heavens themfelves more bright, to col- 
 ' ledl into one point the fcattered jurifdidions, and to polifh the rude 
 ' cuftoms of other countries, to unite by intercourfe and converfation 
 ' the difcordant and favage languages of lo many nations, to civilize 
 ' mankind, and, in a word, is deftined to become the one mother-coun- 
 ' try of all the nations upon the face of the earth.' [P/in. Hijl. nat. L. 
 iii, c. 5.] 
 
 But luxury and fuperabundant wealth could not be fatisfied with the 
 produdions of nature and art within the Roman empire, however plen- 
 tiful and various, while there were other gratifications to be found in 
 remoter countries. In order to relieve the wealthy Roman from the 
 load of his fuperfluous riches, the induflrious natives of the moit dif- 
 tant parts of the world were employed in preparing and tranfmitting 
 articles, which were of no real utility, and which, for that very reafon, 
 are mofl eagerly fought after by thofe who want nothing. 
 
 In the review of what may be called the foreign trade of Rome, our 
 own ifland of Britain prefents itfelf firft to our notice, as being con- 
 neded by vicinity and intercourfe with Gaul, the country which con- 
 cluded the furvey of the home trade of that great empire. We luckily 
 pofTefs the materials for a more ample detail of the Britifh trade ; and 
 in a work intended for Britifh readers, a more particular attention to 
 the antient commerce of our own ifland, will not, I prefume, need any 
 apology. 
 
 The commercial and friendly intercourfe between the Britons and 
 Gauls, which had fubfifl;ed before the invafion of Julius Caefar, flill 
 continued, and was probably increafed in confequence of the greater 
 aflortment of goods now in the hands of the Romanized Gallic mer- 
 chants. But the trade appears to have been entirely paffive on the part 
 of the Britons No antient author has mentioned any other kind of 
 veflels belonging to them than boats, of which the keel and principal 
 timbers were made of light wood, and the bottom and fides of a kind 
 of bafket work of ofiers, the whole being covered with hides. [T'inueus 
 ap. Plin. L. iv, c. 16 — C<^f. Bell. civ. L. i, c. 54 Solin. c. 24 and ap- 
 parently Ruf. Fejl. ylvien. Or a mar. v. 105] At this time the Ibuthern 
 mouth of the Rhcnus, or, more properly fpcaking, the fliore of the 
 Morini (antient inhabitants of Ficardy and Flanders) in whofe terri-
 
 A. D. 14, 133 
 
 ' tory was the celebrated Portus Itius, the mouths of the Sequana, the 
 Ligeris, and the Garumna, were the principal ports for the communi- 
 cation and trade between Britain and Gaul, after the Veneti were de- 
 ftroyed by Ca^far. [Strah, L. iv, p. 305.] 
 
 The tin, which was ftill the chief article of Britifh commerce, after 
 being cafl into cubic mafles, was carried in carts at the time of low 
 water acrofs the narrow channel between the main land and the ifland 
 of Idtis (apparently the fame with the Midlis of Timseus already men- 
 tioned, p. 88.) That ifland ftill remained the general ftaple of the 
 Britifli trade ; and there the Gallic merchants met the Britilh traders 
 and miners or their agents, from whom they received the tin ; and 
 along with it alfo lead ; fome corn ; cattle ; hides, under the defcription 
 of which perhaps wool is included ; gold ; filver ; iron ; ornaments for 
 bridles, and other toys, made of a fubftance, which the Romans called 
 ivory, but more probably the bone of fome large fifh * ; ornamental 
 chains ; veflels made of amber and of glafs f ; with fome other trifling 
 articles: alfo pretious ftones and pearls J ; flaves, who were captives 
 taken in the wars carried on by the tribes againfl: each other ; dogs of 
 various fpecies, all excellent in their kinds, which were highly valued 
 by the Roman connoiflxiurs in hunting, and by the Gauls, who ufed 
 them, not only againfl wild animals in the chafe, but alfo againfl their 
 enemies in the field of battle ; and bears § for the fanguinary fports of 
 the Roman circus, though probably not fo early as the age of Auguftus. 
 
 [Diod. Sicul. L. v, § 21 Strabo^ L. i'v, pp. 305, 307 Mela^ L. iii, c. 3 
 
 Ma ft talis SpeSl. 9.] 
 
 Of the goods imported into Britain we know but very little. Brafs, 
 brafen utenfils, eartiien-ware, and lalt, are all that we find any mention 
 of: neither is it certain, that they belong to fo late a period of our 
 hiftory, as that now under confideration. [Strabo, L. iv, pp. 305-307.] 
 
 * Solinus fa^'s, that in his time the fine gentle- and tbey thence appear to have been an objeft of 
 
 men in Ireland had thtir fword-iiandles adorned commerce. If it be true, that none of the rivers 
 
 with the teeth of lilhes poh'fhcd as bright as ivory : farther fouth than the Solway firth produced any, 
 
 and the fame kind of ornament continued in re- and that they were only found in confiderable quan- 
 
 queft at Icall till the fix:h century, .as appears from tities in thofe north of the Firth of Forth, we 
 
 the biographers of fome of the Irifli faints. mud believe, that the commercial intercourfe of 
 
 \ The bridle ornaments, chains, airber, and the Britifh nations with each-other was much more 
 glafs ware, are tncntioned by Strabo [L. iv, p. confiderable than has been fuppofed. Cxfar col- 
 3073 in a manner which leaves it almoft doubtful, lecled a large quantity of Britilh pearls, and dedi- 
 whether they were imported into Britain, or ex- cateJ a breaft-plate compofed of them to the god- 
 ported from it. That they vine, imported, is the dels Venus. [_Sueton. in Jul. c. /^"j ."—P/in. L. ix, 
 opinion of the annotator on the paffige, and of c. 35.] 
 
 Doftor Henry. \_HiJl. of Drlt. V. ii, /. 227, ed. ^ The exiflencc of bears in Britain has becB 
 
 1788.] But the contrary opinion is held by al- queftioned, becaufe there are none now : but we 
 
 mod all others, who have had occafion to confider know from the undoubted teftimony of Domef- 
 
 the fubjeft. day book, that the city of Norwich was bound to 
 
 X Julius Csfsr is faid to have been ftimulated furnilh one bear, and fix dogs for baiting him, to 
 
 to the invafiou of Britain by the fight of the pearls King Edward the Confeflbr. 
 brought from it. Thefe he probably faw in Gaul; i
 
 134 A. D. 14. 
 
 From this enumeration of the exports and imports of the Britons, 
 and from the notices to be found in antient authors, it appears, that, 
 beiides pafturage and agriculture, they underflood the arts of extracfting 
 tin and lead, and even gold, lilver, and iron, from their mines *, the 
 manufadure of glafs and amber, and alio fome works merely orna- 
 mental. For their own ufe they had manufadures of arms, the objedl 
 of the firfl attention to every warlike people, and which were by no 
 means fo contemptible, as fome modern writers have reprefented them. 
 Beiides carts for carrying their tin and other heavy burthens, they had 
 chariots f , fometimes armed with fchythes for mowing down the enemy, 
 which were ufed in battle, from the coaft of Kent in the louth to the 
 Gram.pian mountain in the north. \Ccef. Bell. Gall. L. iv, c. 2,2,- — 'Tac. 
 Vit. Agric. cc. 12, 35.] Their chief drink was ale, which they made 
 from barley and fometimes from wheat. [Diofcorides, L. ii, c. yS.] They 
 had a manufadure of fome kind of drapery, as appears from Caefar's 
 obfervation, that the diftant and lefs civilized Britons were clothed in 
 fkins, which proves, that the nearer and more civilized Britons had 
 clothing of a better and more comfortable kind ; and that could fcarce- 
 ly be any other than woollen cloth, which in its improved flate has 
 long been the great and favourite ftaple manufadure of England \. 
 
 The Britiih goods, deftined for Rome or any part of the Mediterra- 
 nean coafls, after their arrival in Gaul were put into river-craft and 
 conveyed to Narbo and Maffilia by the inland navigation, which I have 
 already defcribed, chiefly on account of its great connedion with the 
 
 * Mr. Whitaker fuppofcs, that coal was ufed ufeful animals, becaufe no antient author has men- 
 as fuel by the Britons before the arrival of the tioned them. \^Biiti/h %oolngy, V. i, />. 23, ec^. 
 Romans: and Mr. Pennant fays, that a flint axe, 1768.] But againil this negative argument may 
 an inllrument of the aboriginal Biitons, was found we not fet the queftion, What author has men- 
 flicking in a vein of coal, expofed to day, at tioned thejir/l importation of them ? Is it not rea- 
 Craig-) -park in Monmouth-fliirc. But it does not fonable to fuppofe, that, if the primitive or in- 
 clearly appear, tliat the coal was ufed as fuel, land Britons were dcilitute of fheep, they would 
 Nor can the coal cinders, found among the ruins be imported along with the Belgic colonies ? Nay, 
 of the Roman llation at Caervorran in Northum- it is mod probable, that even among the inland 
 berland, be admitted as a proof, that the Romans inhabitants flicep were a part of the animals, on 
 ufed coal for fuel. '1 hat town may have had the flefh and milk of which they fubfilled, as we 
 many revolutions unnoted in liillory j and many arc told by Casfar, who exprefsly mentions flocks 
 fires of coal may liave been in houfes tiow buried '(' pecoiis') in CalTivcUaun's (or CafTibelin's) town: 
 in ruins, though built many ceniuiics after the de- \_BeU. Gall. 1,. v, c 11] and ^»5x>i^«T« (a word 
 parture of tlie Romans. \_See Whitaker'' s Hifl. of including flocks and herds, and apparently rather 
 Manchcjlir, p. .^02. — Pennant's Tour in IVales, p. appropriated to the former) are repeatedly men- 
 Ifj. — IVai'tis's Ni/l. of Nort/jumlier/antl, f^.i, p. lic). tioned by Strabo in his defcription of Britain. 
 — a/fm ^rnol's hifl. of Ei:inlurgh, p. 82. j The But no antient author mentions woollen cloths 
 fuppofed notice of coal in the year 852 will be among the articles im/i«r/(v/ »n/o Britain. Befide?, 
 confidered in its proper lime. the panegyric upon Conflaiitius exprefsly mentions 
 
 •j" tjncli war-chariots were ufed by the Par- flocks loaded with wool (' pecora onulla velleri- 
 
 thians, and by the Perfiana in the time of Alex- ' bus') as natives of Britain : and the Britifli 
 
 ander the Great, and alio in the time of Alexan- names of the animal, as given by Mr. Pennant, 
 
 der Severus emperor of Rome. have no rcfemblancc to the Latin, to warrant even 
 
 X I liave I'vrc prefumed, that at lead the more a fufpicion, that tlicy were introduced by the Ro- 
 
 poliflied Biitons had Iheep ; though llic great na- mans, 
 turalift, Mr. Pennant, thinks they had not thofe
 
 A. D. 14. 
 
 35 
 
 Britifh trade, pretty fully, in the account of the commerce of Gaul ; 
 or they were carried quite acrofs the country in carts or upon the backs 
 of horfes, which mode of conveyance required thirty days to traverfe 
 the country from the Ocean to the mouth of the Rhodanus *, where 
 Arelate flood on the main channel of the river, with which Mallilia 
 was connedled by a canal, made in the preceding age by Marius. [^Diod. 
 Sic. L. V, § 22. — Fofidonius ap. Strab. L. iii, p. 1 19. — Strab. L. ii, p. 190 ; 
 jL. iv,pp. '2.']g, 318.] With the charge of fuch a multiphcity of car- 
 riages the Britilh tin cofl in Rome four fliillings and ten pence of our 
 money a pound. [P//«. L. xxxiv, c. 17,] 
 
 The duties paid in Gaul upon the imports and exports of Britain 
 conflituted the only fpecies of revenue derived from it by the Romans, 
 according to the exprefs teftimony of Strabo ; [L. ii, p. 176; L. iv, p. 
 306] who thus proves, that the tribute, which Caefar alleges he ordered 
 the Britons to pay, was a mere flourifh. Strabo indeed afFeds to fay, 
 that any tribute, which could be levied on the ifland, would be too 
 trifling to bear the expenfe of the garrifons neceflary to enforce it, 
 which would require at leafl one legion and fome additional cavalry. 
 But the Roman emperors of fucceeding ages thought very differently 
 from him in that refpedt, when they employed four, or more, legions 
 in the conquefl of this country, and to garrifon it after it was fub- 
 dued f . 
 
 * Diodorus, to whom we are indebted for this 
 information, leaves us ignorant, whether the jour- 
 ney of thirty days was from Burdigala acrofs the 
 narrow part of Gaul ; from the mouth of the Li- 
 geris ; or from the coaft oppofite to Britain, and 
 through the whole extent of the country. Mr. 
 Melot has endeavoured to fupply that defect in an 
 elaborate eflay on the antient commerce of Britain 
 in the Memoires tie Vacademie royale, V. xvi, in- 
 tended chiefly to confute the fancy of a very ear- 
 ly intercourfe of the Greeks with this country : 
 but as he has not made the journey commence from 
 any of the four ports noted by Strabo as the fta- 
 tions for pafiing over to Britain, I doubt we arc 
 ftill as much to feek as ever. 
 
 f Some have fuppofed, that this country was 
 kept in fubjeclion by a fmaller force than four le- 
 gions. But Agrippa in a fpeech to the Jews, 
 wherein he magnifies the Roman valour, and (hows, 
 that the very reputation of it was fufiicient to keep 
 the world in awe, tells them, that all Spain was 
 commanded by only one legion, Egypt by two, 
 and all tlic reil of Africa by one ; and that Bri- 
 tain, almoft as large as all the reft of the world, 
 luhofe lualls -were the Ocean, yet was kept by only 
 four legions. [_J"feph. BcU. Jud. L. ii, c. 16.] 
 This fpeech has been often quoted ; but it has not 
 been fufficiently obferved, that the aim of the 
 fpeaker was to extenuate the force neceflary to 
 keep greater provinces than Judaea in fubjeftion. 
 
 It ought therefor to be received as proof, that the 
 number of legions in Britain was at leajl four. But 
 to leave flowers of rhetoric, we have the clear hif- 
 torical evidence of Tacitus for the fecond, ninth, 
 fourteenth, and tiuent'teth, legions being in Britain 
 under Paulinus in the reign of Nero ; and there 
 may have been more. ^JTac. Annnl. L. xiv, cc. 
 32, 34, 37 ; Hijl. L. iii, c. 4J.] There is alfo 
 the authority of Ptolemy, the Itinerary, and Dion 
 Caflius, for the refidence of ti\e Jixth -viSor ous, and 
 apparently good authority for that of vhefeventh 
 Claud'mn, the ninth, and the tenth legions in Bri- 
 tain. But it does not follow, that there were 
 eight legions in it at once ; and we know, that the 
 fourteenth was for fome time drawn off by Vitel- 
 lius, and that during his reign one of thcjlxth le- 
 gions (for there were often feverals of the fame 
 number) and the frventh Claudian were alfo upon 
 the continent. It is, however, probable, that there 
 were generally more than four ; for Agricola had 
 three, if not four, legions with him at the battle 
 of the Grampian hill ; and the flendereft garrifons, 
 he could leave in the conquered country, would 
 require at leaft two legions. There was alio a 
 fleet of armed veffels with a proper eftablifliment 
 of marine forces conitantly kept up in the different 
 ports. So important in the eyes of the Roman 
 emperors was Britain : and its importance is, I 
 hope, a fufiicient apology for this rather uncom- 
 mercial note.
 
 1^6 A. D. 14. 
 
 During the long and peaceful reign of Auguflus the Britifh princes 
 courted his friendfhip by embaflies and prefents : and the Britons by 
 their long-continued friendly intercourfe with the Romanized Gauls 
 became acquainted with the Romans, and in fome degree with their 
 arts and fciences. Even before Caefar vifited this ifland, their own 
 knowlege of agriculture was by no means contemptible, as appears from 
 their long experience in the ufe of a variety of marles enumerated by- 
 Pliny*, [L. xvii, cc. 6, 7, 8] and their plentiful crops, which now (and 
 perhaps before now) enabled them to fpare fome corn for exportation. 
 They had now alfo adopted many improvements from their Gallic neigh- 
 bours, and were fo generally induflrious, that a negligent management 
 of the dairy, or the want of a garden, came to be noted as marks of 
 inferior talents or flothfulnefs in fome few individuals. [Strabo, L. iv. 
 
 It was, no doubt, in this interval of tranquillity and advancing pro- 
 fperity, that Cunobelin, king of the countries lying between the Thames 
 and the Nen, eflabliflied his inint at Camulodunum [Colchejler), and 
 coined money of gold, filver, and brafs ; ot all which at leaft forty dif- 
 ferent fpecimensf have reached our times. And thus, inflead of dwell- 
 ing fome centuries upon brafen money, and then flowly creeping to 
 liiver, and at laft to gold, like the Romans, did the firfi: effort of the 
 Britifh coinage at once comprehend all the ufeful varieties of current 
 money %. Camulodunum by means of its^ mint has the advantage of 
 being the firft Britifli town, which is authentically known by its ge- 
 nuine antient name ; as it is alfo the very firfl that is mentioned by any 
 
 * Pliny [/,.xvii,(-. 8] obfcrves, that the ftrength with fome Yanations of fpelh'ng, on many of thofe 
 
 of the Britifli chalk marie (the pits of which he coins, which moft of our antiquaries (though 
 
 defcrihes exaftly as they are now to be feen in Dodor Pettingall almoll Humbled upon the truth 
 
 Kent) laftcd eighty years, and that there was no in a Diffcrtatiou written exprefsly on the fcnfe of 
 
 inftance of any man ufing it twice in his life time that word) have ftrangely interpreted tax, or tri- 
 
 on the fame land. Ste this fubjeft more largely bute, payable to the Romans, at a time when 
 
 liandled in Wh'itaker^i Hjjlory of Manchffler, B. i, they had no dominion in this idand ; but which, 
 
 (h. 7, \ 3. according to his interpretation, fignifies leader or 
 
 It appears from an infcription found in Zeland, i'nf, as, indeed, variations of the worcf do in the 
 
 that the Britifli chalk was exported to improve the Gaelic languages to this day. — That the Britons 
 
 mardiy groimds of that country by people, who ponclfed and wrought mines of gold and filver be- 
 
 werc called Britifli chalk-merchants, and the poly- fore the Roman conqueft, appears unquellionably 
 
 theiftic fpirit of the Romans created a new god- from Strabo, and may be inferred from Tacitus ; 
 
 dcfs to prefide over this mw trade, the date of though Cicero, writing when Julius Cxfar was in 
 
 which is unknown, but is apparently older than Britain, and fcarcely any thing was known of it 
 
 Varro (who died A. U. 27) as he was in fome in Rome, had faid, that there was no gold or filver 
 
 diftridts on the banks of the Rhine, where the in the ifland. \_Slrnbo, L. iv, p. 305. — Tac. Vit. 
 
 lands were manured with chalk (' Candida foffitia yf^ric. c. 12.— Cic. adfamil. L. vii, ep. 7 ; ad jit' 
 
 * crcta'). \_Varro de re rujliea, L. i, c. 9. — Caw's tic. L. iv, cp. 15.] 
 ylntonine, p. 43, tor the infcription.] \ Some have fuppofed, that the Britons had the 
 
 f Prints of them may be fcen in Speed's H'ljlorie, ufe of money befurc Ca:far's iiivalion. But the 
 
 Camden's Brilnnnin, i'eg^e^s Ceins of Cunobelin, fuppolition is founded oil an explanation, apparent- 
 
 IVhilaker's Ilijlury rif Mmchrjler, Uc. Mr. Whit- ly erroneous, of a paflagc of Casfar, [A//. Gall. 
 
 aker, in his fecond edition, has apparently given L. v, c. 12] which is conteilcd, and fecms to be 
 
 the true explanation of the word Tojc, occurring, corrupted.
 
 A. D. 14. f37 
 
 writer now extant. [P/h. Hijl. nat. L. ii, c. 75.] It is reafonable to 
 fuppofe that this town, the refidence of CunobeUn, was better built 
 than the fenced colledions of huts, defcribed by Caefar as the towns of 
 the Britons : for we find, that their architeftural (kill was even equal to 
 the tafk of building a bridge over the Thames. [Dion. L. Ix.] But the 
 improvements, which the Britons may be fuppofed to have made in 
 building, were unknown to Strabo, the geographer of this age, whofe 
 defcription of their houfes appears to be copied from Caefar's. 
 
 Ireland was fometimes vifited by navigators from Gaul, and they 
 knew, that there were other iflands adjacent to Britain ; but we have 
 no account of their tranfadions or dealings. Strabo acknowleges his 
 ignorance of Ireland, the people of which, be bad beard, were very 
 favage, ate human flefh, &c. the character ufually given to the moil 
 remote and unknown nations, which he judicioufly cenfures as un- 
 worthy of credit *. [Strabo, L. iv, p. 307.] 
 
 The nations to the northward of Gaul were as yet but little known 
 to the Romans. The Bruderi were defeated by Drufus in a naval battle 
 on the River Amafia (Ems), whence it appears that the people of thofe 
 coafts poilelled fome kind of veffels, probably no other than the long- 
 canoes made of fingle trees, and capable of carrying thirty men each, 
 defcribed by Pliny [/.. xvi, c. 40] as ufed by the pirates of Germany. 
 In the following age the Suiones, a nation occupying an ifland in the 
 Baltic fea, according to Tacitus, [Germania} were powerful by their 
 fleets, and fenfible of the advantages of opulence. He adds, that the 
 ufe of arms was not general among them, as among the other German 
 nations, becaufe tbey were defended from Jiidden invnfions by tbe furrounding 
 ocean. It is probable, that at this time their circumftances were nearly 
 the fame, and that their opulence was as much the produce of rapine 
 as of induftry. We have very little pofitive authority for any com- 
 mercial tranfadions of the Germans, except in two articles. The 
 feathers of the German geefe were preferred to all others at Rome : and 
 amber was bought up for the Romans with fuch avidity from the yEftii, 
 a nation in the modern Pruffia, whofe language refembled that of the 
 Britons, that they were utterly afloniftied at the prices, which they re- 
 ceived for an article of no real utility, which they had been accuftom- 
 ed to leave unnoticed on the beach, where the fea threw it up on the 
 coafl of Auftravia, an ifland (or perhaps now a peninfula, the Abalus 
 or Baltia of Pytheas) called Gleflarium by the Romans from the great 
 abundance of amber, the genuine name of which, according to Pliny 
 
 * The charadler of the natives of Ireland, given that the manners of the people were totally iin- 
 
 by Strabo as a ftory unworthy of credit, has been known to them. For cannibalifm, promifcuous 
 
 carelefsly or malicioufly brought forward by fome concubinage, and fuch enormities, have in all ages 
 
 modern writers, in order to prove that the an- been the charafterillics afcribed by ignorance to 
 
 ceflors of the Iridi were the vileft favages in the unknown nations ; and they have been gradually 
 
 world; whereas it only proves, that the Gallic removed farther an J farther, as difcovcry advanced, 
 flrangcrs had fo little intercourfe with tlie country, 
 
 Vol. I. ' S
 
 n^ 
 
 A. D. i4« 
 
 and Tacitus, wz*, gleOum 01: glefum. Unlefs when the Romans fent mef^ 
 fengers on purpofe to procure the amber, it was carried acrofs the con- 
 tinent through Pannonia, where it was received by the Veneti (the an- 
 ceftors of the Venetians), who forwarded it to Rome ; and thence arofe 
 the fable of its being produced on the banks of the Padus or Eridanus 
 
 {Po). 
 
 ScYTHiA the vaft unknown country beyond Germany, fupplied fome 
 
 vakiable furs. 
 
 Media, Parthia, and Bactria, were too remote, or too far inland, 
 to furnifh Rome with any articles, but fuch as were of great value and 
 little bulk ; and we accordingly hear of Uttie elfe but pretious Hones, 
 brought from thole countries. 
 
 The Seres, the moft remote people of Afia known even by report 
 to the Europeans, were, according to Florus, among the nations, who 
 fent ambafladors to Auguftus. But the Romans do not appear to have 
 learned any thing from the amballlidors concerning the lituation, the 
 produce, or the trade, of the nation. Strabo [L. xv, p. 1028] knew 
 only their name, and a report that the people hved to the age of 200 
 years; and he mentions, I think only once, [L. xv, p. 1016] tXiQ/eri- 
 £um, or filk, (and that from fo old an author as Nearchus the admiral 
 of Alexander's fleet) which he confounds with cotton. Dionyfius the 
 geographer, whom Auguftus had fent to compile an account of the 
 oriental regions, about this time informed the people of Europe, that 
 pretious garments were manufactured by tha Seres from threads, finer 
 than thofe of the fpider, which they combed from flowers. [^PeriegeT. 
 Z'. 752.] This pretious manufadure found its way to Rome : but com- 
 ing from a people who had the monopoly of it in their own hands, by 
 a long fucceffion of tedious and dangerous carriages by land and water, 
 through the territories of various nations, and perhaps through the 
 hands of fome monopohfts, and moreover in very fmall quantities *, 
 it was fold at a moft; enormous price, fo that the ufe of it was reftri(5ted 
 to a few women of the greateft fortunes f . [Seneea de beneficiis, L. vii.] 
 
 Persia and Babylonia alfo furniflied pretious ftones and pearls. The 
 
 » \Vc are told by Dion Cafiiiis [Z. xliil] that 
 Julius Cncfar, whoii he treated the Romans with 
 magnificent fptftacles, covered the amphitheatre 
 with awnings oi Jiricum to Ihclter them from the 
 fun. 13ut it may well be doubted, if a quantity 
 of filk, fufficicnt for fuch a purpcifc, could have 
 been collected In all the countiies to the wcftvvard 
 of India ii: the age of Jiiliu;'. : and Pliny, [Z. xix, 
 c. i] dcfcribing apparently the fame awninjr, fays, 
 it was of linen (ciirbafiis) ; and lie is furely an evi- 
 dence preferable to Dion, who lived fo many ages 
 '.atcr. Silk could not be plenty in Rome, when 
 the ladies wttc obliged to content thcmfelves with 
 .1 ftimfy ftuff made by undoing the fubilantial 
 Oriental filks, and tt-wcaving them again, as wc 
 
 learn from Puhllns Syrus, an author contemporary 
 with C;efar, and many others after him. 
 
 ■f- What the price of fiik was on its firft appear- 
 ance in Rome, we are not informed. I5ut it mud 
 have been enormoufly high ; for, even in the later 
 part of the third century, the imperor Aurelian, 
 when his wife begged of him to let her have but 
 one fmgle gown of pm-ple filk, refufcd it, faying, 
 he would not buy it at the price of guld. f /'/- 
 plfius iiiAuirl. c. 45.] And wc find by the Rliodian 
 naval laws, piefeived in the eleventli book of the 
 Digejls, that unmixed filk. goods, when (lilpwreck- 
 td, if they were faved free irom wet, were to pay 
 a falvagc of ten per cent, as being equal to gold in 
 value. 
 
 (^
 
 A. D. 14. 1^5 
 
 Babylonia*!! tricrviaria or tricliniaria (coftly furniture of the eating room, 
 varioufly tranflated, quilts, carpets, and curtains), and the incenfe of 
 Perfia, were highly efteemed. 
 
 But the moft important of all the foreign trades was that which Avas 
 carried on with the Oriental countries by the way of Egypt and the 
 Red fea. The commencement of this trade in the reign of the firfl, or 
 rather the fecond, Ptolemy, and the removal of it from Heroopolis at 
 the end of the canal to Berenice, are already related. The trade does 
 not appear to have ever increafed, and there is veafon to believe, thgt 
 after the reigns of the three firfl Ptolemies it was rather in a progreflive 
 decay, till the extindion of the Macedonian fovereignty in Egypt, when 
 it had dwindled down to fcarcely twenty fmall veflels in a year * : and 
 they feldom went beyond the mouth of the Red fea, where, on the Ara- 
 bian coaft, they found aflbrtments of merchandize fully fufficient for 
 their demand. But when Strabo was in Egypt, very foon after thefub- 
 jugation of the kingdom by the Romans, he learned that fleets of one 
 hundred and twenty veflels went from Myos Hormos (then the chief 
 port of the Egyptian trade in the Red fea, which he calls a great port, 
 protected by iflands before it, and a winding entrance through them) 
 and proceeded as far as India and the moft remote known parts of Ethi- 
 opia, from which they imported into Egypt the moft pretious mer- 
 chandize. But the veflels were fmall, and their timid coafting voyages 
 feem as yet to have extended no farther than Pattalaf, a port in the 
 delta, or ifland, formed by the branches of the river Sind, or Indus : and 
 there is reafon to believe, that many of then, completed their cargoes at 
 the port of Arabia Felix. A few of the traders from Egypt appear, 
 however, to have penetrated into India as far as the Ganges : but it is 
 moft probable, that they traveled over-land upon the magnificient royal 
 high way extending acrofs the country from the Indus to the Ganges %. 
 
 * Mr. Browne fays, that duly tliirty-feveii vef- pjives the names of two ports and two or three na- 
 
 fels are now (1792) employed in the Red fea by tions beyor/<l it on the well coaft, lie does it with 
 
 perfons refiding in Egypt ; and that the feamen fome degree of exultation, that they were not to be 
 
 are fo unflvilful, that continual building barely found in any preceding author. It is true, he 
 
 keeps up the number. [Travels in E^ypt, l^fc. mentions a more diftant port called Perimula as the 
 
 p. 75.] moft famous emporium of India, iltuated on the 
 
 \ Strabo does not inform us what port or ports caft coaft and near the fouthcrn extremity of it, 
 
 they failed to : and, indeed, he appears not to have and he notes the abundance of pearls found there, 
 
 known a finglc fea port of India j for though he [L. ii, c. 73; L. vi, cc. 20, 23; Z,. ix, r. 35.] 
 
 defcribes Pattalena as a delta of the Indus, con- 13ut as no fuch place is mentioned in the Periplu* 
 
 laining the famous city of Pattala, he does not call of the Erythrxan fea, and as Ptolemy, from later 
 
 that city an emporium or port ; and lic immediately information, wiiicli in geographical matters is pre- 
 
 takes a prodigious flcip from it to Taprobanc. In ferable, places Perimula in India beyond the Gan- 
 
 ihort, his knowlege of India is founded entirely up- gcs, we have reafon to fulpcfl Pliny's inforroation 
 
 on the information of Alexander's officers. [L. xv, concerning it, as well as other parts of India, to be 
 
 pp. loii, 1012, 1026. J Phny, who wrote, when confufed and erroneous, and alio to beheve tliat the 
 
 the Oriental trade had been carried on a whole cen- merchants of Egypt were not willing to impart 
 
 tury by the Egyptian-Greek fubjefts of Rome, their knowlege to their Roman mafters. 
 
 lecms to make Pattala the only port reforted to J The navigation of the Ganges from the fea up 
 
 by them, even after the difcovery of the monfoon, to Palibothra, as niiticed by Strabo, [^L. xv, p. 
 
 which will be noticed afterwards ; and when he loioj nppenri pretty clearly to have been per- 
 
 3 2 formed
 
 ■140 A, D. 14. 
 
 3trabo gives us incidentally the important information, that the trade to 
 '•India and Ethiopia (or the country of the Troglodytes) was a new accef- 
 fion to the commerce of Egypt, which took place after the commence- 
 ment of the Roman dominion in that country. [Strabo, L. ii, />. 179; 
 L. XY, pp. 1006, 1 010; L.xwi,p. 1 1 14; L. xvii,/>. 1149 Pcriplus Ma- 
 ris Erythriti, p. 174, ed. Blanc ard.'\ 
 
 The commodities imported from Arabia, India, and Ethiopia, were 
 landed at Myos Hormos, and thence carried by camels upon the road 
 made acrofs the defertby Ptolemy Philadelphus to Coptos, a town jointly 
 occupied by Egyptian and Arabian inhabitants, which was the general 
 emporium of the upper part of Egypt. From Coptos the goods were 
 conveyed by a canal of three miles to the Nile, the llream of which 
 floated them down to the canal leading into the Lake of Maraea, whence 
 they proceeded by another canal to the interior harbour of Alexandria ; 
 and from the exterior or fea harbour they were refliipped for every part 
 of the Mediterranean by the merchants of that city, who hadalmofl: the 
 whole of the trade in their own hands, and thereby acquired prodigious 
 great fortunes. [Straio, L. xv'i, p. 1128; L. xw'n, pp. 1169, 1170.] 
 ( The revenue of Egypt was now alfo raifed far beyond what it had 
 ever been in the days of the Macedonian fovereigns *, partly by a more 
 ilridl: and vigorous management, but chiefly by the vaft increafe of the 
 ■commerce of the country, the exports from Egypt being enlarged by 
 the great and increafing demand of almoft the whole Roman empire for 
 Orieiital luxuries, all which paid duties, both upon importation and ex- 
 portation, and the duties were particularly heavy upon the pretious ar- 
 ticles. [Stral>o, L. ii, p. 179; L. xvii, p. 1149.] 
 
 The pretious articles of India were alfo bi'ought, partly by fea and 
 river navigation, and partly over land, to Palmyra, a flouriftiing com- 
 mercial repubhc, feated in a fertile fpot furrounded by a fandy defert, 
 which, being found beneficial to the world in general by its fpirited 
 adive commerce, had the Angular good fortune to remain independent 
 of the great empires of Rome and Parthia, though fituated on the con- 
 fines of both. The goods from Palmyra were forwarded to Rome and 
 other weflern countries by the ports of Syria or Phoenicia, [yippiarii 
 Bell. civ. L. V. — Pli/i. L. v, c. 25.] 
 
 formed by the natives of India : and even in a later it den'ved from liis father's (liare of the phinder of 
 
 H^c the Pcriphis of the Krythrxan fea gives us the Perfian empire, is beyond all boinids of credi- 
 
 reafon to believe, that the voyages of the Greeks bility. According to a loft fpcech of Cicero, 
 
 of Egypt had not extended to any part of the eaft (cjuoted by Strabo, L. xvii, />. 1 149) Ptolemy 
 
 coall of India. Aiiletes, one of the moft diffolute of the degcne- 
 
 * The accounts of the wealth and icvtnuc of rate Ptolemies, had an annual revenue of 12,300 
 
 the Ptolemies fc< m to be much exaggerated. Wc talents (equal to y^2, 421,875 (Icrling). But what- 
 
 are told by Appian, that Ptolemy Philadelphus at ever the revenue of Egyj't may have been, it i$ 
 
 his death left in his treafury 740,000 talents, cq\ial not fair to derive it entirely from commerce, 
 
 in weight of metal to ^191,166,666 : 13 : 4 of mo- There can lie no doubt, that a great part, per- 
 
 dern fterliiig money, (as reckoned by Arbuthnot, liaps the moft of it, arofe from the very produftive 
 
 f>. 192) which, though wc fliould fuppofe moft ot agriculture of the fertile foil.
 
 A. D. 14. 141 
 
 Indian goods were alfo conveyed from a diftrift in the north part of 
 India, within feven days' jnurney of Badria, through that country, 
 and thence down the River Oxus, and acrofs the Cafpian (ea, whence 
 they were carried up the River Cyrus, and, after a land carriage of five 
 days, refliipped on the Phafis, a river of Colchis, running into the eaft 
 end of the Euxine fea, at the mouth of which there was a town of the 
 fame name, whence they were difperfed to the weftern countries. [Plin. 
 L. vi, c. 17.] We may be pretty certain, that the valuable merchandize 
 of the Seres was alfo conveyed by the fame route. 
 
 Arabia furnifhed the traders from Egypt with various aromatics ; 
 pretious ointments ; fmall diamonds and other gems ; pearls ; frankin- 
 cenfe; the beft myrh, and other pretious drugs; and fugar of a quali- 
 ty inferior to that of India. The Arabs alfo re-exported, or fold to fo- 
 reign traders, the goods they imported from the Eaft, among which 
 were fome aromatics fuperior in quality to any produced in their o^vll 
 country : and they took in exchange fome European goods, one article 
 of which was tin, probably the produce of the BritiJIj ?nijies and deflined 
 for India ; but they were chiefly paid in money. Thus, participating 
 largely in the increafed commerce of Egypt, and having the balance of 
 a brilk, conflant, and well-conduded, adive trade greatly in their favour, 
 they abounded in riches and plenty of all things. [Strabo, L. i, p. 67.] 
 Pliny fays [L. vi, c. 28] that they took no goods in exchange, and that 
 they fold their plunder (for fome of the nations comprehended under 
 the exteniive name of Arabia acquired goods by piracy and robbery) 
 to the Romans and Parthians for money only, whereby a great part of 
 the cafli of both empires refted with them. It is almoft needlefs to ob- 
 ferve, that the commercial nations of Arabia were not the perpetrators, 
 but the viftims, of the depredations committed by the roving Arabs. 
 [See Strabo L. xv'i, p. 1097.} 
 
 From Ethiopia were imported cinnamon; marble; gems; ivory; 
 the horns of the rhinoceros ; turtle, and turtle-fhell *. 
 
 Getulia, the country on the fouth fide of Mauritania, furniflied no- 
 thing, that I can difcover, except the dye-fi:uff extradled from the 
 purple fhell-fifli, found in great abundance on the fliore of the Atlantic 
 ocean. 
 
 After this fecond circuit of the Roman trade it is proper to obferve, as. 
 an exception from the general terror of the Ocean among the Romans, 
 that fome vefl^els of theirs had before this time ventured to navigate the 
 Atlantic. The firfl we know of was one, which, we are told, followed 
 the track of a Phoenician bound to the Cafliterides, in order to difcover 
 the fecret, where that mine of wealth was fituated. The Phoenician 
 
 * As the feveral branches of trade carried on from the Red fea were apparently much increafed 
 after this time, the confideration of them will be refimied with more ample, and better authenticated, 
 materials than could be obtained in the liitherto-infant Hate of the trade. 4
 
 142 A. D. 14' 
 
 commander (wh0m modern writers generally fuppofe to have been of 
 Carthage, but who, I think, muft rather have been of Gadir, and pofte- 
 rior to the deftrudion of Carthage) led his follower into deflrudion by 
 running his own vefTel upon a Ihoal. The fkilful Phoenician, who 
 knew the nature of the ground and of the tides, got off by throwing 
 part of his cargo overboard, and was recompenfed by the public for the 
 damage, which he had fo patriotically incurred. The Romans, how- 
 ever, flill perlifted in their trials, and at lafl P. CralTus difcovered the 
 place, and fhowed the way to others. [Straho, L. iii, p. 265.] We have 
 no knowlege of the time, when any of thefe voyages were made: nor is 
 there any particular acc6unt, I believe, of any other Roman vellels upon 
 the Atlantic ocean, except on the bufinefs of war, whereof we have an 
 inftance in the voyages of Polybius the hiftorian along the coafls of 
 Africa, Spain, and Gaul, till Britain became a Roman province ; though 
 Pliny fays in general that in his time the weftern coafls of Spain and 
 Gaul were navigated, but without telling by what nation, or for what 
 purpofe. [Hi/i. nat. L. ii, c. 67.] 
 
 After much inveftigation I muft acknowlege, that I can find nothing 
 fatisfadory concerning the rate of the cuftoras paid at the Roman ports 
 upon the importation of goods in the reign ofAuguftus*; nor upon 
 the proportion of the value of gold to filver f . 
 
 Notwithftanding the pompous, but fuperficial and unfounded, ac- 
 counts, given by fome modern writers, of a flourifliing commerce car- 
 ried on by the Romans, it is evident that the trade was entirely con- 
 duced by their fubjefts. It is not proper, fays Cicero, that the fame 
 people fliould be the commanders, and the carriers, of the world. Ac- 
 cordingly we find, that among the Romans the charader of a merchant, 
 inftead of being efteemed honourable, as it was among the wife Phceni- 
 cians, was held in contempt, and clafl'ed in their eftimation with buf- 
 foons, gladiators, flaves, and ftrumpets. And certainly no profefllon, 
 that is difreputable, can ever be in a flourifhing or profperous condition. 
 
 Cicero, writing to his fon upon the fubjed of profeflions, condemns 
 iill retail trade as vile and fordid, which can thrive only by means of 
 
 * A French tu-atifc on the Roman revenue, was, according to \.\\c\Pei-iplus of the Erythraan ft-a, 
 
 written at the Jelli.- if Mr. Culbrrt, has- notliii/^ one quarter of the tarj^o : but that was after the 
 
 to the purpjfc : neither han Burman, in his work age of Augiiilus. When Cappadocia was made a 
 
 De vefiigalidus papuli Romanifhctn able to afcer- Roman province, Til)erius reduced the inland duty, 
 
 tain the rate of tiic duty upon any particular ar- or excife, levied upon all falcs, from one to one half 
 
 tides of mcrcliandi/c. Arbuthnot (apparently per cent, but it was loon railed again to one. \^Dio 
 
 from a pah.ifje of Velleius Paterculus, but without Ciiffius, L. lix.] 
 
 any chi'ouology ) rates the duties from 2 to 50 per f The great quar»tity of plundered gold brought 
 
 cent. And even Gibbon, whofe refearches are in by Julius Ca-fur is faid to have lowered the va- 
 
 Kcncrally fo accurate, has contented himfelf with luc of it to nine times its weight in filvsr. Sue/on. 
 
 ikating them widely at from 2 (to 12-^ per cent, in Jii/io, c. ^4, whh y^iiulhiiol'sTtiHes, />. ^[^.^^int 
 
 ■[Decllnr cf the R'jman empire, F. i, p. 261.] The that price was only temporary; and one to ten 
 
 fluty taUcti by the Romans at their port of Leukc feenis rather to have been the ufual proportion in 
 
 kumh ( Wbiv: town) near the head of the Red fea, this age.
 
 A. D. 14* 143 
 
 much lying. Merchandize, if not carried to a great extent, is, in his 
 opinion, no better. But the merchant, wlio imports from every quarter 
 great quantities of goods, and diflributes them to the pubUc without 
 falfehood, is not very much to be blamed : and if, after making a for- 
 tune, he retires from trade to the country, he may with great propriety 
 even be praifed *. Such were the fentiments of one of the mofl en- 
 Ughtened of the Romans upon the merit and dignity of commerce : and 
 no evidence of an author, writing exprefsly for the pubhc, can be com- 
 pared with this work of Cicero, addreifed to his own fon, for a genuine 
 reprefentation of the low eflimation, in which trade was held by the 
 Romans. It may alfo be obferved, that Pliny, who in his univerfal 
 work expatiates in the juft praifes of agriculture and gardening, of me- 
 dicine, painting, and ftatuary ; and alfo pays due attention to works in 
 gold, filver, brafs, jewels, v^^ood, &c. yet has not a word upon merchan- 
 dize, except juft obferving, that it was invented by the Phoenicians. 
 The proud fenators, however, with all their contempt for fair trade, had 
 from the earlieft ages of their republic made a practice of increafing 
 their wealth by a bafe and extortionate trade of ufury. 
 
 The citizens of Rome thought themfelves fuperior to all kings f ; 
 and feveral commanders of armies and governors of provinces, whofe 
 rank entitled them to large dividends of the plunder of the world, pof- 
 fefled greater quantities of gold and filver, than fome fovereign princes 
 can command, even in the prefent depretiated flate of the pretious 
 metals. 
 
 The Romans, glutted with the fpoils of the earth, fet no bounds to 
 their extravagance. Whatever was very expenfive became the object of 
 their defire ; and the moft enormous (or even incredible) prices were 
 given for things of little or no real ufe. Silk, and a fine fpecies of linen 
 called byflinus, fold for their weight in gold. The value of pretious 
 ftones and pearls, being merely imaginary, can be rated only by the re- 
 dundant wealth, or folly, of the buyer. We are told by Pliny, that he 
 
 * ' SordiJi enim putandi, qui meivantur a mer- order to prove the Romans to have been a com- 
 
 ' catoribus quod llatlm vendunt : nihil enini profi- inercial people, liave elevated the alFociatious of 
 
 ' ciunt, nlli admodum mentiantur : nee vero quid- river boatmen, and the fullers of the Roman camps, 
 
 ' quam ell turpins vanitate. Mercatura au- into tlie charailer of mercantile compaaies. 
 
 ' tern, fi tenuis ell, fordida putanda eft. Sin mag- f The noble Romans wcie prohib'ted from dc- 
 
 * na et copiofa, multa undlquc apportans, multifque gyad'm^ themfelves by marrying into royal faniihes: 
 ' fine vanitate impartiens, iion ejt achnodum I'ltvper- and thence Berenice, a Jewifh princefs, was obliged 
 ' anda : atque etiam, li fatiata qiiaellu, vel conten- to be content with the rank of concubine to the 
 ' ta polius, utfxpe ex alto in portum, ex ipfo portu emperor Titus ; ar.d even Cleopatra, the fovereign 
 ' fe in agros poirelTionefque contulerit, videtur jure queen of the rich and populous kingdom of Egypt, 
 
 • Optimo poiTe laudan,' Cicero de o£ic. I., i, rt. was only the concubine of Antony. But Felix, 
 150, 151. the procurator of Judxa, Samaria, and Gallilee, 
 
 In this paffage there is not a word of exports- mentioned in the Aib of the apoftles, who had beea 
 
 tion : and indeed it is evident, that the Romans a flave, was of fulBcient quahty to be the hulband 
 
 had little or no idea of any thing in the charailer of three fucceflive queens, \Sueton in Claud, e. 28j 
 
 of a merchant beyond that of a purveyor of fubfift- or rather princelTcs, one o: whom was a grand-- 
 
 cnce and luxuries. But fome modern writers, in daughter of the celebrated Cleopatra,
 
 144 ^^' ■^' ^ -I- 
 
 faw I^oUia Paulina at a moderate entertainment (not a folemn occafion) 
 drefied in jewels which coft /?322,9i6: 13 : 4. of our modern fterling 
 
 money *. \HiJI. nat. L. ix, c. ;^^ jrlrriatii Indica, p. 525, ed. Blancard — 
 
 Arbuthnot's I'ables, p. 141.] No antient author, T believe, fays any thing 
 of the price of diamonds at Rome; but Julius Caeflir gave /^48,437 : 10 
 for a pearl, which he prefented to one of his miftrelles : and he gave 
 ^15,500 for a picture. A ftatue of Apollo fold for above /Tag.ooo. For 
 the kinds of fifli, which happened to be in fafhion (for one kind fre- 
 quently drove out another) they gave the moft extravagant prices ; 
 £6\ was the price of a mullet (' muUus') ; and the mursena (fuppofed 
 to be the lamprey) was too pretious in the eftimation of fome epicures 
 to be fold for money. The price of fat thrufhes was about two fhillings 
 each ; and a white nightingale fold for ^^48 : 8 : 9. [See Arbiithnofs 
 l'ables.'\ 
 
 But, though the Romans went fo prodigioully beyond the moderns in 
 extravagant expenfes, they appear to have had much lefs tafte ; or lea- 
 ther, inftead of tafte, they had only a rage for luxuries, many of which 
 had nothing but their monftrous expenfe to recommend them. Indeed, 
 from Pliny it is evident, that, even in his time, when a fucceflion of 
 three or four mad emperors had given the imperial fanction to the ex- 
 cefs of profufion, luxury was new, and, as we may fay, unformed, in 
 Rome. 
 
 While the rich Romans were giving the wealth of a province for a 
 fingle article of frantic luxury, bread and butcher meat appear to have 
 beeii fold as low, as their moft moderate prices have been with us in 
 times of peace for forty or fifty years paft : fo that the luxury of the 
 rich was hitherto harmlefs to the great body of the people, at leaft 
 with refped to thofe eflentially-necelTary articles of dayly confumption. 
 But it was very different with refped to houfe rent. The ample fpaces 
 occupied by the pleafure grounds, attached to the fpacious palaces of the 
 rich \, left very little room within the walls for houfes to accommodate 
 people of middling or fmall incomes. Hence they were obliged to 
 raile them aloft in the air to the inconvenient height of above feventy 
 feet X ; and each floor was let to a feparate family at annual rents equal 
 to the complete purchafe of a moderate houfe and garden in other 
 towns of Italy, if we may truft to the poetical and fatyrical information 
 
 • Pliny adds thnt lier grandfather M. Lollius, ' fufficient lodging room in houl'ts, which occupy 
 
 from whom fne inherited her fortinie, became fo ' more ground than the Dictator Cii cinnatus had 
 
 infamous for his extortions, that he withdrew from ' in his wliole ellate.' [_Fale>: Max. L. iv, c, 4.] 
 the difgracc by poifoning himfclf. But, in the J Auguitus made a law that houfes fhould not 
 
 progrcfs of corruption, extortion was no longer exceed feventy feet in height. But the law was 
 
 branded with infamy ; and even the manumitted eluded, or overlooked, zt appears by its being re- 
 
 flaves of the emperors amatfed fortunes of fome peattd by fucceeding emperors. [See Lipfins de 
 
 millions of fterling money. magnitudmc Rom. L. iii, c. 4.J 
 
 •)• • They nowadays complain that they have not
 
 A. D. 14. 145 
 
 of Juvenal. l^Sat. ili,] The rent of an i/ifi/la or houfe fo divided, was in 
 the age of Auguftus forty thoufand feflerccs, or/?322 : 18 : 4 fterling. 
 
 An inquiry, whether the antlents poflelfed the mod ul'eful art of 
 BOOK-KEEPING as now pra6lifed, may be properly connected with the 
 general view of the trade of the antient world. Upon this occafion we 
 muft again regret the total lofs of the literary monuments of all the 
 antient mercantile communities, which obliges us to feek our informa- 
 tion from the writings of one of the mod uncommercial nations of an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 It is plain from the works of Cicero and fome other authors, that the 
 Romans kept their accounts {rationes) in a book, which they called Co- 
 dex accept! et expenfi (the book of received and paid away), which ap- 
 pears to me to have contained the various accounts titled with each per- 
 fon's name, called tabula accepti et expcnfi, into which were polled (rela- 
 ta) from the culvejjaria, at lead once a month, the various tranfadions 
 of debit and credit, which it was incumbent on every upright account- 
 ant to date fxirly and pundtually, for ' as it was bale to charge what was 
 ' not judly due, fo was it villainous to omit entering what was owing to 
 ' others.' It was alfo a fufpicious circumdance, if any article was al- 
 lowed to lie in the adverjaria unpoded beyond a proper time. The Codex 
 (book) containing, as I think, the various tabula or rationes (accounts) 
 with their proper names or titles, was carefully prepared, and accurate- 
 ly written ; and every tranfadion was duely transferred (or poded) in 
 it for perpetual prefervation, that it might be produced upon occafions 
 of dif]5ute ; and it was admitted as evidence in courts of judice, where 
 the accounts (tabula) were publicly read. In each tabula there were 
 apparently two columns or pages ; one for the acceptuui (debit), and the 
 other for the cxpenjum (credit), as in our modern ledgers. 
 
 The Adverjaria were only temporary notes, hadily written, with al- 
 terations or blottings ; and they were thrown away or dedroyed, and 
 new ones were begun every month. They were not admitted as evi- 
 dence in the courts *. 
 
 * ' QuemadiTiodum turpe eft fcribere, quod non ' omnes, qui tabulas conficiunt, menflruas peiie 
 
 • dcbeatur ; iic improbum eft non referre quod de- ' rationes in tabulas transferant, tu hoc nomcn 
 
 • beas : xquc enim tabula: coiidemnantur tjus, qui ' triennium amplius in adverfariis jacere paten's ? 
 
 • verum non rctulitjCt ejus, qui faliumpcrlcriplit.' — ' Utrum cetera nomina in codiccm accepti ct ex- 
 ' Q_iiid eft quod negligenter fcribamus adverfatia ? ' penli digefta babes, ?.n non ? Si non, qnomodo 
 ' quid eft, quod diligcnter conSciamus tabulas ? ' tabulas conficis ? fi ttiam, quamobicm, cum ce- 
 ' qua de ciufa ? Quia bxc funt menftrua ; illtt funt ' tera nomina in ordinem refercbas, hoc nomen 
 ' xterna; : lixc delentur ftacim ; iilae fervantur ' triennio amplius, quod erat iiiprimis magnum, in 
 
 • fandl^ : h;EC parvi temporis memoriam ; il!.e per- ' adverfariis relinquebas ?' \_Cuironis Ornt. iii, cc. 
 ' petua; exiftimationis iidem et rcligionem amplcc- i, z, 3.] The whofe of the oration ought to be 
 
 • tuntur : bxc funt dejciTtje ; ilia: iii ordinem con- peruled, being in defence of Rofcius, (the cele- 
 
 • feftx. Itaque adverfaria in judicium protulit brated aClor) for money claimed by Fannius, for 
 ' nemo : codicem protulit ; tabulas recitavit.' — which he had not even raifed an account in his co- 
 ' Cur tamdiu jacet hoc nomen in adverfariis ? Quid aVx rtccf^/i f/ fx/'cn/?, but pretended, that he ought 
 ' fi tandem amplius triennium eft ? Q_uomodo, cum to recover it upon the authority of a note in his 
 
 adverfaria ; 
 
 Vol. I. T
 
 1^6 
 
 A. D. 14. 
 
 From thefe defcrlptions we may almofl: prefume to fay, that the ^d- 
 veffaria were what the Romans had in place of our Waste-book, or 
 Blotter, as fome call it. But they were far inferior to it in accuracy 
 and authenticity ; and they differed very materially from it in not be- 
 ing thought worthy of prefervation. — They ieem to have had nothing 
 equivalent to our Journal, which is only a different modification of the 
 Waffe-book, and is even omitted by fome book-keepers. — The Codex 
 nccepti et expenfi anfwers to our Ledger, and the Tabulce, with their two 
 pages or columns * to the particular accounts. 
 
 I believe, there is nothing extant, which can inform us, whether they 
 raifed accounts for the feveral articles of merchandize in their books, 
 or whether each tranfadion was entered in two accounts ; or, in other 
 words, whether they underftood any thing of double entry. 
 
 As book-keeping is an art fo effentially neceffary to commerce, and 
 fo fimple in its principles, it cannot be fuppofcd, that the Phoenicians, 
 or indeed any nation carrying on trade, and underflanding arithmetic, 
 could be deftitute of it. With the Phoenician colonies it may have 
 fpread into Rhodes, Crete, Thebes in Greece, and other places, where 
 they were mixed with the Greeks : and from the Greeks, it is mofl pro- 
 bable, that the Romans received it along with the other branches of 
 their knowlege. 
 
 20 — Soon after the death of Auguflus Strabo flnifhed his great and 
 valuable geographical work ; wherein he lays down the globofity, and 
 
 ^dverfaria ; ' non liahere fe Iioc nomen in codice 
 accepti ct expeiiil rtlatum confitetm ; fed in ad- 
 • verfariis patcre comendit.' — The learned Fr. 
 Hotman, in liis Commentary on this oration, has 
 never once conceived an idea of any refemblance to 
 the modern books of accounts. 
 
 Aulus Gclh'us [L. xiv, c. 2] gives an account of 
 a caufe tried before himfelf for money faid to be 
 owing, but ' neque tabuh's nequc ttftibus ;' and 
 he alfo notices the want of the chirogniph or hand 
 writing and figning of the tabuU. This feems to 
 lead to an inquiry, wlictlur the debtor figned the 
 account in the creditor's books ; or wliether tlie 
 tahuU in this cafe may mean a bond : for the po- 
 verty of the Latin language, wherein many very 
 different meanings are cxpreffed by the one word 
 tabula, leaves iis m obfcurity. 
 
 • We might almoil take it for granted from the 
 reafon of the thing, iliat every titbiila 01 account 
 had two pages, or ratlicr columns ; for the books 
 of the ancients were not like ours, which are bound 
 together by the inner fides of the leaves, but were 
 long rolls containing divifions cvWui^ fia^itm, which 
 we call columns. But we have apparently the au- 
 thority of I'liny, \_L. ii, c. 7] who fays allcgorically 
 ofForlunc, ' Huic omnia f.v/>tn/a, huic omnia /ir- 
 « runtiir auefa ; et iu tola ratione mortalium fola 
 * iilran.qiie pj^'mam Tacit.' I mull tlierefor pre- 
 
 fume to differ from the learned Scaliger, who, hav- 
 ing occafion incidentally to touch upon ad-verfaria, 
 &c. fuppofes the account of what is given or paid 
 away to have been on the face of the paper, and 
 that of what is received, on the back of it ; which 
 would be a very awkward and inconvenient ar- 
 rangement. {_Scali^cr in Gui/iinJiuiim, Opiifc. p. 
 48.] 
 
 In thefe two notes I have given the quotation! 
 thus at large, contrary to my ufual cuftom, in or- 
 der to fave trouble to the reader, and becaufe they 
 arc particularly nfeful in ilhiflrating a very curious 
 point of commercial antiquity : and they are fc- 
 Ictted, as mod to the purpole, from a large col- 
 leftion of paffages of Cicero and other authors. 
 To do jullice lo the fubjcft, an ample diflertation, 
 or rather a whole volume, ought to be devoted to 
 it. And fucli a work, entitled, Lii'ic dc comple de. 
 prince a la manitrc d'Jtnlis en domains ti finance ordi- 
 naire. — conlenant cc in quoi s\xerce it Ires-illuflre el 
 trts-excclleni prince ct feigneur Maurice prince 
 d'Orange, l^c. par Simon Slevin, Leyden, 1602, fo- 
 lio, is quoted by Mr. Anderfon \_l^. i, p. 409] af 
 being in his own polTeffion. I have never been able 
 to obtain a fight of this fyftem of princely book- 
 keeping, though I have applied at every place, 
 where there feeraed to be any probability of find- 
 ing it.
 
 A. D. 20. lAj 
 
 the centripetal force or gravitation, of the earth, as fundamental princi- 
 ples of geography ; and he gives rules for conftrudling globes, which, 
 he fays, ought not to be lefs than ten feet in diameter, and alfo for maps. 
 But he has injudicioufly negleited the great and important improvement 
 of fixing the pofitions of places by their latitude and longitude, which 
 was introduced by Hipparchus. Strabo traveled over mofl of the 
 countries between Armenia in the eafl and Etruria in the weft, and 
 from the Ihore of the Euxine fea (near which at Amafia he was born) 
 as far fouth as the borders of Ethiopia. In defcribing the countries 
 which he had feen, he is generally very accurate ; but in thofe beyond 
 his own knowlege he is frequently very erroneous. And it muft be 
 acknowleged, that he is too conceited of his own opinions ; whence he 
 is betrayed into frequent and even indecent abufe of fome authors, who 
 appear to have been at lead not inferior to himfelf in accuracy of in- 
 formation, particularly Herodotus, Pytheas, Megafthenes, and Eratof- 
 thenes ; wherein he has been implicitly followed by many, who lived 
 in later ages, when the veracity of thofe great men, and the errors of 
 Strabo, have been demonflrated by experimental philofophy and new 
 difcoveries. But, fetting afide thefe defeds, his work, upon the v;hole,. 
 as it is one of the oldeft, is alfo in many refpeds the beft, general fyf- 
 tem of ancient geography, which has come down to our times * : and I 
 have to acknowlege many and great obligations to it in the courfe of 
 this work. 
 
 30 — There were bankers or exchangers in Judaea, who made a trade 
 of receiving money in depofit, and paying intereft for it. \^Malbew, c. 
 25.] I have not d.'covered any inftance of fuch a profeflion in Greece 
 or Rome, where the borrowers upon intereft were apparently only thofe 
 who wanted money for their own occafions. The Roman nummularii 
 feem to have been only exchangers of one fpecies of money for another, 
 and perhaps they were employed to pay the public money. [See S.ictoru - 
 in Galba, <r. 9.] 
 
 41 — The firil knowlege of the exiftence of the ifland of Taprobane 
 (Seylan or Ceylon) was conveyed to Europe by the writings of Onefi- 
 critiis, one of the commanders of Alexander's fleet ; and his account of 
 its magnitude was not near fo much exaggerated as thofe of fucceeding 
 writers, who even made it a feparate world. It was known before this 
 time, that ivory, turtle-fliell, and other merchandize, were carried from.. 
 it to the ports of India ; that the navigators of thofe feas ventured to ■• 
 go out of fight of land, and, like the northern Europeans in the middle 
 ages, ufed birds to point out the land they wanted to go to, whereby 
 they in fome meafure made up for the want of a compafs j and that 
 
 * The works of Pytheas, Megafthenes, Eratofthenes, and many other antient geographers, are only 
 known to us by quotations from ihcm preferved by Strabo, Pliny, and forae »tLcr writers. 
 
 T2
 
 148 
 
 A. D. 41. 
 
 their veflels were alike at both ends, and could change their covirfc 
 without going about, being probably the fame which are now called 
 proas. [Stra5o, L. ii, p. 124 ; L. xv, p. 1012. — P/in. L.vi, c. 22.] But 
 in the reign of the emperor Claudius the Europeans, by means of an 
 accident, acquired fome further knowlege of that celebrated ifland *. 
 A veflel belonging to Plocamus, the Roman farmer of the cuftoms in the 
 Red fea, being blown off the coaft of Arabia by ftrong north-eaft winds, 
 (' aquilonibus :' quere, if not rather north-weft ?) and being driven by 
 them in the Ocean for fifteen days, was carried beyond Carmania, and 
 arrived at the port of Hippuros in Taprobane f . The king of that part 
 of the ifland entertained the officer hofpitably during fix months, (be- 
 ing probably the time neceflary to wait for the commencement of the 
 monfoon proper for his return) and being informed of the greatnefs 
 and power of the Roman emperor, he fent ambafladors to him. As it 
 cannot be fuppofed, that the cuftom-farmer's feamen were capable of 
 finding their way back to the Red Tea through the Ocean, we muft be- 
 lieve, that the ambafllidors failed, either in a vefi^el belonging to their 
 own country, or in a foreign trading veflel, which would moft likely be 
 an Arabian one %. They informed the emperor, that their country con- 
 
 * DIodorus Siculus, who wrote in the reign of 
 Augiilliu;, relates a (Irange ftory [i. ii, § 55-60] 
 of one lambulus being turned adrift in a boat, with 
 only one companion, by the people of Ethiopia, 
 with orders, diclattd by an oracle, to fteer due 
 fouth, and of his arrival in four months at a large 
 ifland, not named by him, bnt fuppofed by moft 
 modern writers to be Taprobane, though Mada- 
 gafcar anfwcrs better to the courfe fteercd. He 
 wrote an account of his voyages and difcoveries, 
 containing fome probabilities mixed with many 
 falfclioods. It appears from Sttabo, \_L. xv, p. 
 loizj that this pretended difcovcrer, or romancer, 
 was unk.nown to, or difregarded by, iiim. 
 
 •|- To reach the loutli part of Ceylon in fifteen 
 days the vciicl mull have drifted about 140 geo- 
 graphical miles every day, even if fiie kept in a 
 ilraight courfe for it, which, after making every 
 allowance for the ftrong cunent generally running 
 to the eaftwaid in that Ra, is a very gveat drift. 
 Yet fome people endeavour to pcifuade us that 
 Taprobane was not Ceylon, but Sumatra, which 
 is about 7C0 miles farther. If the wind which 
 V;lew her off was really north-eaft, or noith-north- 
 eaft, ^aqui/o ; bnt it is impoffible to adjuft the 
 /■zi-e/ve, or c/j//, winds of the antitnts, concerning 
 the diieflion of which they do not agree among 
 themfelvcs, to the modern points of tile compafs^ 
 flic could never have got near the coall of Carma- 
 nia, and mull have made good a courfe within 
 cigiit points of the wind, allowing it to be north- 
 north-caft, which is fully as much as moll modern 
 vcfTcls can do in a hard gale of wind. It might 
 
 therefor be fuppofed, that flie would rather have 
 gone to Madagalcar, or fome of the other iflands 
 on the eaft fide of Africa. But the name of Ta- 
 probane, unqueftionably proved by the Periplus of 
 the Erythrsan fea and Cofmas Indicopleullcs, and 
 alfo by its polition near the fuuth part of India, to 
 be the fame with the modern Ceylon, will by no 
 means admit of fuch a fuppolition ; and wc mull 
 fuppofe, that Pliny, in the ambiguity of the Latin 
 names of the winds, has applied aquilo to any of 
 the northerly winds. 
 
 \ The ambafladors are faid to liave defcribed 
 the religious woilhip of their country as refembling 
 that of the Arabs, while their king worfhipped 
 Baehus the Greek god of wine, not one drop of 
 whieli was produced in his dominions. If the in- 
 formation co\ild be depended upon, it would infer 
 a very ftrong connettion indeed between Arabia 
 and Taprobane, and alfo prefent a very curious 
 coincidence in the antient and modern hiftory of 
 religion in Ceylon, the piefent principal king of 
 the ifland being of the Hindu leligion, while the 
 hulk of his fubjefts are worflrippers of Boodh, as 
 we learn from Captain Mackenzie's /intiquiiies of 
 Ctylon in the fixtli volume of the Afuittc refcarches. 
 But the relation of fuch abftrufe matters, received 
 through the medium of feveral interpreters fcarcely 
 knowing each-other's languages and the reports of 
 others after the lirft hearers, has very probiibly been 
 mifrcprefented to Pliny ; and therefor no cllimate 
 of the Arabian commercial intercourfc with Ta- 
 probane can fafely be founded upon it.
 
 A. D. 42. 
 
 149 
 
 tained five hundred towns, was very opulent, and abounded with gold, 
 filver, and pearls ; a piece of intelligence, which, if it had been within 
 the reach of a Roman invafion, might have proved fatal to it. The na- 
 tion they belonged to ufed to trade with a neighbouring nation, whom 
 they called the Seres, without the ufe of fpeech, each party laying down 
 their wares, and making the exchange, when the quantities were adjuft- 
 ed to mutual fatisfadion *. They are alfo faid to have related many 
 things very wonderful, and fome abfolutely impoffible, if they were not 
 rather mifreprefented by the hearers or reporters. [Plin.L. vi, c. 22.] 
 It is worthy of remark, that all the writers of antiquity, and among 
 the reft Cofmas Indicopleuftes, who profefles to write chiefly from his 
 own knowlege, appear not to have known any thing of cinnamon be- 
 ing produced in that illand, though it is the moft remarkable and valu- 
 able of its produdions f . 
 
 42 — We are not informed, that the embafly from Taprobane gave 
 birth to any commercial intercourfe between that ifland and the Ro- 
 man fubjeds in Egypt. But it feems very probable, that the involun- 
 tary drift of the cuftom-firmer's vefTel acrofs the Ocean led the way to 
 the important diicovery, or application, of the regular winds called the 
 monfoons, by the Greek navigators of Egypt, which took place very 
 foon, or more probably immediately, after the return of Plocamus's of- 
 ficer with the ambafllidors of Taprobane. The firft Grecian command- 
 er, who availed himfelf of the periodical regularity of the winds in the 
 Indian ocean, was Hippalus ; and he was therefor, according to the 
 
 * The Seres arc generally fuppofed the anceftors 
 of the people now called by us the Chinefc. But 
 Pliny fays, that thefe Seres were in fight of the 
 country, from which the ambalTadors came, and he 
 appears even to infer that they were divided from 
 it only by a river. Moreover they are defcribed 
 as men of large ftaturc, with reddirfi hair and blue 
 eyes, and fpeaking a language unintelligible to tlie 
 people of Hippuros. Thefe charafterillics anfwer 
 to a Scythian or Gothic people. Quere, if a co- 
 lony of the Scythians, who occupied the banks of 
 the Indus, have made a fcltlemeiit on the ifland, 
 and if it was from them that it has received the 
 name of Seren-dib, the laft part of which differs 
 nothing from div, the ufual termination of the 
 names of iflands in that part of the Indian ocean. 
 It was alfo called Sclan-div, which, when divefttd 
 of the termination, is the modern name, by which 
 we call it. — China, fo far from being vifible in 
 Ceylon, as the country of the Seres was, is by 
 coalting navigatian at leall five thoufand miles from 
 it ; fo that it is rather improbable, that there was 
 any intercourfe at all between them iu tiiofe days. 
 Some learned men, however, on the ftrength of 
 this paffage of Pliny, and another in the 17th 
 
 chapter of the fame book, have perfuaded them- 
 felves, that they have found the fame cautious or 
 jealous policy among them, which regulates the 
 conduft of their fuppofed defcendents, the Chi- 
 nefe, in their intercourle with the Europeans. But 
 the Seres of the tyth chapter are evidently a con- 
 tinental people ; though Pliny himfelf feems in fome 
 refpefts to confound them with the Seres men- 
 tioned in tlie defcription of Taprobane. 
 
 f Quere, if the cinnamon has been imported In- 
 to and naturalized in Ceylon, as cloves were in 
 Amboyna. See Siavorinus's Voyages, V. ii, p. 330, 
 En^liJJ} tranjlation. 
 
 L,inlchotcu [^yoyagcs, p. 112] names feveral 
 places in India producing cinnamon, but none equal 
 to that of Ceylon, which, he fays, is thrice the 
 value of any other. Since his time the Dutch are 
 faid to have extirpated the bell cinnamon in all 
 parts of India fubjeift to tlieir powtr, except Cey- 
 lon, that they might there enjoy a monopoly of it. 
 But fome alTert that the real genuine cinnamon 
 never grew iu any other part of the world than 
 Ceylon. See Boyd's embq^'y to Ceykn in the jdfia^ 
 lie Anr.ual rcgijlcr for 1799.
 
 i^o A. D. 42. 
 
 ufual practice of the Greeks, called the difcoverer of it *. This judici- 
 ous navigator, having a good idea (and perhaps a rude kind of chart) of 
 the form of the coaft, and fituation of the ports, inftead of going up the 
 fouth fide of the entry of the Perfian gulf till he could fee the oppofite 
 fhore, then going down it, and coafting along Carmania and Gadrofia, 
 and every bay and creek of the coaft, as all his predeceffors had done, 
 obferved the proper feafon of the monfoon, launched out at once in the 
 Ocean, and committing his vefiel to the fure and regular impulfe of the 
 fouth-vveft wind (Libonotus) fleered as ftraight a courfe as he could for 
 his port. And in commemoration of this grand improvement, which 
 forms a new and very important 3?ra in the hiftory of the commercial 
 intercourfe between India and Europe, the Greeks immortalized the 
 name of Hippalus by coiiferring it upon the fouth-weft monfoon, which 
 he firft taught them to avail themfelves of in their voyages to India f . 
 {Feriplus Maris Erytbrai. — Flin, L. vi, c. 23.] 
 
 Previous to the new fyftem of navigation introduced by Hippalus, 
 the traders from Egypt coafted in fmall vefiels to the mouth of the Ind- 
 us, and alfo to Barygaza, Mufiris, and Barake, feemingly in about 12 
 degrees north latitude J, the trade of all which will be afterwards given 
 more at large. [Feriplus Maris Erythrai.'\ 
 
 Hitherto the corn fhips from Alexandria and elfewhere appear to 
 have difcharged their cargoes at Puteoli, a port about feventy-five miles 
 from Rome, which being found very inconvenient, the emperor Clau- 
 dius, in purfuance of a plan projected by Julius Csefar, made an artifi- 
 cial harbour in the mouth of the Tiber at Oftia, by digging a fpacious 
 bafin in the main land, which was defended by a pier on each fide, and 
 
 • I have all along prefumed, that the monfoons found. This feries of improvements infers a confi- 
 
 were known, and applied to the purpofes of navi- derable length of time between the firft nie of the 
 
 gation, by the Oiicntal nations, and efpeeially by wind Hippalus and the compofition of Pliny's 
 
 the Arabs. As we know, that they were navigat- work, which he finilhtd in the year 7^. Therefor, 
 
 ors in the earlicft ages, and we are fure they muft in order to allow for all thofe impiovemcnts as 
 
 have obferved the periodical regularity and l^eady much time as poflible, confiftent with tlie prefump- 
 
 continuation of thofe winds, we may be equally tion that the ufe of the monfoons in navigation 
 
 fure, that they were not fo mad as to attempt fail- was \inknown to the Egyptian Greeks till the ar- 
 
 ing in oppofition to them, or to neglett the olivi- rival of the Taprobanian ambaOadors, we muil be- 
 
 ous advantage of falling before them, and that they licve that they arrived in the very beginniiig of the 
 
 aadc their voyages accoidingly. reign of Claudius, Avhich commenced in January 
 
 \ Unfortunately the date of Hippalus's firft 41, the cullom-farmer's veflcl having diifted to 
 voyage to India by the monfoc<ns cannot be afcer- Taprobane in that of his prcdeccfibr, and that the 
 laincd with the prccifion due to its importance. It firft oceanic voyage of Hippalus took place with 
 was certainly not fo early as Strabo's vifit to Kgypt the return of the proper monloon in the year 42. 
 about 28 years before Cluift : and, as it was un- J Pliny makes Patala at the mouth ot the In- 
 known to that author, it was apparently not be- dus the farthcft extent of their voyages for a cun- 
 fore he finiflied In's great work, wliieh was about fidcrablc time after they began to iail with the 
 the 20th year of the Chiiftian ocra. Pliny [i. vi, wind Hippalus. But Pliny's information was ex- 
 c. 23] mentions the courfe for Patala by the wind ccedlngly defeflivc in Oriental ailairs, as I have al- 
 Hippalus, and a nearer and fafer courfe ftecred in ready had oceafion to obferve, and is nothing when 
 ihc age "which followed (' fecuta Ktat') which was fet againft the Periplus of the lirythirean fca. 
 long ufcd, and afiavjards ftill (hotter routes were
 
 A. D. 43. - 
 
 ^5i 
 
 a mole or little ifland before It, on which was erected n light houfe In 
 imitation of the Pharos at Alexandria. 
 
 The importation of corn being the branch of trafic which engaged 
 the mofl general attention among the Romans, CLiuuius, during a time 
 of fcarcity, did every thing in his power to perfuade the merchants to 
 import it even in the winter, when it was cuftomary to lay up the (hips. 
 He took upon himfelf all lofles and accidents which might arife from the 
 inclemency of the feafon, and he alfo made the importers fare of a cer- 
 tain rate of profit*. He moreover gave large premiums for building 
 fhips. ISueton. in Claud, cc. 18, 20. — Dion. Cajs. L. Ix.] 
 
 43 — The U'anquiUity of the Britons, and their friendly intercourfe 
 with the Romans and their Gallic iubjeds, were now interrupted. 
 Claudius the Roman emperor, on pretence of reinftating a Britifli refu- 
 gee prince called Beric, fent an army into our ifland ; and Plautius the 
 Roman commander, having conquered fome of the fouth part of t-he 
 country, fent notice of it to the emperor, that he might by his prefence 
 alfume the honour of the conqueft. In the mean time he pofl:ed his ar- 
 my on the fouth bank of the Thames in a flation, which Gale [Antotiim 
 Iter Britanniarum, p. 64] fuppofes to have been near the Horfe-ferry at 
 Lambeth ; and he thinks, that thence the great and flourifliing city of 
 London had its commencement f . The Roman army, with the em- 
 
 • It was an improvement upon the premium of 
 two nummi (almoft four pence (lerling) upon the 
 inoilius (about a peck) of corn, allowed to the 
 mercliants by Tiberius. [ Taciti yinna/i's, L. ii, 
 c. 87.] And this feems the only foundation for an 
 affertiun, that Claudius was the inventor of infur- 
 ance upon fl-u'ps. 
 
 N. B. Thefe regulations did not take place 
 till the year 5 I. But I have introduced them here 
 as fomewhat connefted with the preceding para- 
 graph, and to avoid breaking the connexion of 
 Britifh affairs in the fubfequent years. 
 
 f The arguments of Gale, Salmon, and fome 
 others, for London being originally on the fouth 
 fide of the river, are, i ) The Roman road from 
 Verulam is faid by Ralph Higden [_Polychroniroii, 
 p. 196, ed. Ga/f] to have paCfed to the well ward of 
 the i)rcfent city, and to have crofftd the river at 
 the Horfe-ferr)' near Lambeth, vi'here there are 
 iome remains of Roman works ; and another road, 
 of which Oxford llreet and Old ftrect are parts, 
 ilretched from call to weft, alfo quite away from 
 the prcfent city, int-o which it was afterwards bent. 
 — 2) Ptolemy long after this lime pofitively places 
 l,ondon in the province of Kent, which he extends 
 laithcr weft than its modern limits. The people 
 of Kent, being comparatively an enlightened and 
 commercial nation, eftabliflied an emporium at the 
 extremity of their country in order to enjoy the 
 ■Trade of the inland tribes by the navigation of the 
 Thames. When both fides of the river fell under 
 
 the Roman dominion, an appendage of the town 
 was built on the north bank of the river, which by 
 its more healthy and pleafant fituation attradled the 
 Roman magiftrates, merchants, and principal people, 
 and in proc-efs of time eclipfed the original town. 
 Now, Ptolemy, who accufes Marinus of Tyre of 
 placing London erroneoufly, muft have furely been 
 very careful not to fall into an error himfelf.-»- 
 3) The monk of Ravenna, who hved feveral cen- 
 turies after Ptolemy, has Londini along with fome 
 places on the fouth fide of the Thames ; and he 
 afterwards has Londinium Augufla along with 
 others on the north fide of that river : and, as it 
 is not to be fuppof;;d, that he mentions the fame 
 place twice, there muft have been then a London 
 on C3ch fide of the river. 
 
 To thefe it may be anfwered, — i ) There Is rea- 
 fon to believe that the Roman road, which is faid 
 to have croHed the river at the Horfe-ferry, is ima- 
 ginar)' ; the works, which are adduced to fupport 
 the confufed account of Higden, being not Ro- 
 man, nor even aiitient, but raifed by the parliament 
 in the year 1643. And it is as probable that 
 Stane ftreet (or Stone ftreet) in Southwark it the 
 road conntftcd with th.e Roman fmy. [See 
 Maitliini's Hij'hr^ of London, pp. 10, I l.j-^-z) It 
 muft be remembered, that, when the country was 
 in a ftat* of nature, the low grounds on the banki 
 of the Thames were overflowed every tide to a 
 great extent ; and indeed it is doubtful, if there 
 was any part of its banks oppofite to the modern 
 ^- ■'"'■■ Londoa
 
 152 A. D. 52. 
 
 peror at their iiead, cTolTed the Thames, and took the cky of Carnulo- 
 dunum. And Claudius, having reinftated Plautius in the fupreme 
 command, after a ftay of fixteen days in Britain, returned to Rome. 
 
 52 The noble Britifli prince Caradacus,Caradauc, or Cearatic*, af- 
 ter a gallant oppolition during nine years, which rendered his name 
 famous throughout the Roman empire, at laft funk under the fuperior 
 difcipline of the invaders, and the treachery of his flepmother, the 
 queen of the Brigantes, and was carried prifoner to Rome. 
 
 Camulodunum (Colchefter), apparently the principal city at this time 
 In Britain, was made a Roman colony ; as appears by a coin of Clau- 
 dius, dated in the twelfth year of his reign : and Verulam ("near St. Al- 
 bans) was made a municipium f . It is highly probable that the Ro- 
 mans alfo began to inhabit London about this time. 
 
 £;4 ' Wherever the Roman conquers, he inhabits.' [Senecev Confol. ad 
 
 Helviam, c. 6.] The fecurity of the government and the interefl: of indi- 
 viduals co-operated in feizing on the flrongeft, or the mofl fertile, fitua- 
 tions for the eflablifhment of colonies to be occupied by Romans or 
 their conciliated fubjeds, who, in the capacities of foldiers, farmers, and 
 traders, reaped the greateft advantages, which could be derived from 
 the property of the foil in the conquered territories, while the original 
 proprietors were compelled to cultivate their own lands for the emolu- 
 ment of their new lords. As foon as the colonifls were eftabhfhed in 
 their new fettlements, they immediately introduced a new fyftem ot 
 agriculture, building, and other arts and manufadures ; one inftance of 
 which is, that we find cherries were cultivated in this country in eleven 
 years after their firfl landing in it : \Fl'in. H'l/i. nat. L. xv, c. 25] and 
 Kent, which being their firft conquefl:, was probably firfl: planted with 
 c-herry-trecs, retains a charader for that fruit to this day %. 
 
 London or Wellminftcr fit for the habitation of founded on the word novane or notanit ; but 
 man. Tlie furfacc of the ground, even on the the conneilion between it and London can only be 
 iiorth fide of the river, was tlien about twenty feet fnggeltcd by Geffrey's vile fable of his Troy- 
 lower, than it is now, as appears by Roman llrects novantum or New Troy. The Grecian coin 
 and buildings having been difcovcred at that depth, has not the (hadow of a conneftion with Biitilh 
 The argument for Ptolemy's accuracy fronr his affairs. 
 
 cenfurc of Marinus is of no weight : for we have • The name of Cearatic (pronounced Keaia- 
 
 often fecn thofc, who are the fliarpcft in rcpre- tic) appears on a Britifli coin, probably of this, 
 
 bending others^ the readied to fall into nnftakes.— prince. 
 
 3) The monk of Raveiuia, who has been mofl un- •}• A brief explanation of the nature of colonies, 
 
 defervedly honoured with the appellation of the municipia, and other Roman diflinftions of towns> 
 
 ^^'f»fr/2/iicr of Ravenna, is fo irregular and eironeous, will be given along with an account of Roman 
 
 that it it really a fluune to quote him. Hit un- Britain in its mofl nourifliing flatc about the year 
 
 connedlcd catalogue of blundered namet, if it can I 70. 
 
 prore any thing, proves too much ; for he has J Many other fruits, trees, &c. were introduced 
 
 three, if not four, names, which may ;dl be taken by the Roman fcttlers, fcveial fpecics ot whicli aie 
 
 loi- London, vii. Londinis, Londini, Londinium pointed out by Mr. Whilaker, their Roman-like 
 
 Augulla, asd Lugundino. names being his chief guide ; in which kind of 
 
 Some antiquaries think they have found London proof, though often very fallacious, I believe, 
 
 before the reign of Claudius in the infcriptions on he is generally vigiit. \_lJi'l- "f Maiichcfler, j>. 
 
 fomc Britifli coins, and, what is wonderful indeed, 313. J 
 on a Roman-Grecian one. The firfl notion in
 
 A. D. 6i. 
 
 ^53 
 
 61 — In the reign of Nero we have the firft undoubted mention of 
 London, which had for fome time been a Roman fettlement. It was at 
 this time very much celebrated as the refidcnce of a great number of 
 fuch dealers, as the Romans called merchants ; and it contained great 
 {lores of provifions. We cannot doubt that the fagacity of the Romans 
 foon marked its convenient fituation for water carriage, and eftablifhed 
 a military magazine of provifions and ftores in it. Tacitus, the author 
 who firft mentions this city, adds, that it was not diftinguifhed by the 
 name of a colony; a Roman honour, which, however, was afterwards 
 conferred upon it *. 
 
 * ' Londinium perrexit, cognomento quidem 
 coloniie non iiifigne, led copia negotiatonim et 
 ' commeatuum maxime celebrc' [^Taciti Anna/, 
 L. xiv, c. 33.] Tbefe few plain words have been 
 varnidied over with falfe glofles, in order to make 
 a great and magnificent city of London at the very 
 commencement of its hiftory. [See in particular 
 Burton's Comment, on Antonhie, p. 154.] But 
 London, like moft communities or individuals, who 
 owe their dignity to intrinfic merit, has the real 
 honour to be indebted to no fplendid origin or ad- 
 ventitious helps, (except being the feat of govern- 
 ment) but has rifen to the firll rank among the 
 commercial cities of the world, by the advantage 
 of its fituation, and the indefatigable iuduflry and 
 commercial fpirit of its inhabitants. 
 
 Much fttidy has been employed in tracing the 
 origin of the name of London. Though this is 
 not a work proper for the difcuflion of etymologi- 
 cal or antiquarian fubjefts, and though I am fully 
 aware, that etymology is a fource of information fo 
 fallacious, that thole, who are bell qualified to 
 judge of it, will place the fmallefl dependence upon 
 it ; yet, as fuch a city deferves the moll careful re- 
 fearch into its antiquity, and as I think, that fome 
 degree of light upon the origin of London may be 
 ftruck out of what feems to me to be the genuine 
 name of it, I beg leave for this once to fubmit to 
 the reader fome etymological obfervations. 
 
 The name, being evidently not Roman, affords 
 a prclumption, that, before the Romans took pof- 
 felTion of this fpot, there cxilled upon it a town, 
 village, or colleftion of houfes, known to the inha- 
 bitants and neighbouring people by a name, which 
 the Romans, adapting it to the genius of their own 
 language, have called Londinium, and Lundonium, 
 or Lundinium. It was in the country of the Belgic 
 Britons, and molt probably firft built by them 
 on an elevated fpot, which on account of its being 
 almoft furrountled every tide by the river, (not 
 then, as now, confined by artificial banks and the 
 elevation of the foil) had been neglected by them, 
 when they firft cleared and cultivated the adjacent 
 country. [' Agros colere coeperunt.' Cars. Bell. 
 Gall. L. v, c. 12.] The Belgic Britons were a 
 •:o!ony of the Belgic Gauls, who were a mixed race 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 of Germans and Gauls, the grtateft number of 
 them, however, being of German dcfcent : confe- 
 quently in their language tlie German was predo- 
 minant. [' Reperiebat, plerofque Belgas effe ortos 
 • ab Germanis, Rhenumque antiquitus tranfdudlos, 
 ' propter loci fertilitatem ibi confediffe ; Gallofque, 
 ' qui ea loca incolerent, expulifTe.' That is to lay, 
 they expelled thofe Gauls, who would not be fub- 
 jeft to them : for if all were expelled, then not the 
 moft [plerofque) but the whole of the inhabitants 
 of that part of the country muft thenceforth have 
 been Germans. Ci^s. Bell. Gall. L. ii, c. 4.J Cz- 
 far tells us, that the towns of the Belgic Britons 
 (the only Britons known to him) were built in the 
 midft of thick woods, and fortified with ramparts 
 and ditches. [' Oppidum antem Britanni vocant, 
 ' quum filvas impeditas vallo atque foffa munie- 
 ' runt.' Bell. Gall. L.M,c. 21.^ The ground, 
 where St. Paul's church ftands, (even now higher 
 than moft of the adjacent grounds, though they 
 have acquired in fome places about twenty feet of 
 adventitious height) was probably called Lund, or 
 the -wood, as ftill retaining its native trees, when 
 the reft of the country was tolerably well cleared. 
 Such an elevated fpot would be preferred to the 
 adjacent marfhy or Ilimy grounds for the fituation 
 of a new village or town, which would naturally 
 get the name of Lund-duyn or Lund-dun, the hill, 
 or fortified hill, of the wood, or Lund-tun, the in- 
 clofnre, or town of the wood, as the names of new 
 foundations muft undoubtedly be in the language 
 of the predominant people, and their language muft 
 have continued for fome time diftinft from that of 
 the aboriginal Britons. See theDidllonaries of the 
 Icelandic, Saxon, German, and Dutch, languages, 
 which are all kindred branches of the Gothic ; 
 and alfo of the WeKh language, wherein, if I mif- 
 take not, much of the Belgic is preferved. 
 
 To this fuppofition, or hypothefis, it will be ob- 
 jected, that the name is not Li/ndan but London. 
 But the objedlion will not be made by any, who 
 have read the Saxon and old Engliih authors, or 
 even all the Roman writers who have mentioned 
 the place : and fome of thcfe I fhall lay before the 
 reader for his fatisfaction. 
 
 Tacitus, the father of the hiftory of I^onJon, 
 
 u
 
 154 A. D. 6i. 
 
 Euabliiliments founded in rapine and injuftice mufl; be in conflan 
 dread from the revenge of the oppreUed. During the reign of Nero 
 the infolence of the ioldiery, and the extortions of the procurator and 
 his fubordinate tax-gatherers, were carried to a pitch beyond all pofli- 
 bility of endurance. Prafutag, king of the Iceni, an opulent prince, 
 endeavoured to purchafe the forbearance and pi-otedion of the Roman 
 government, with the fafe pofTeflion of a moderate fortune, for his two 
 daughters, by the facrifice of one half of his kingdom and property, 
 which he left by his will to the emperor. But he had not read the hif- 
 tory of Egypt or Afia, to know what kind of guardians the Romans 
 were to princes in their minority. Immediately after his death, inflead 
 of the prote6tion his family hoped for, his kingdom, and even his houfe, 
 were feized upon, his relations were treated like flaves, the virgin prin- 
 ceffes were made the vidims of brutal lull, and Boadicia, the queen, 
 was ignominioufly fcourged like the vileft criminal. Such atrocities 
 excited the warmeft refentment in a people not inured to llavery : the 
 Britifh fpirit was roufed : and a great army was foon in the field under 
 the command of the injured queen, who, taking advantage of the ab- 
 fence of the Roman governor in the weft, immediately burnt Camulo- 
 dunum and Verulam, and facrificed to her revenge every Roman in 
 them, and all thofe who had not abandoned London. She alfo engag- 
 ed, and cut to 'pieces the moft of, the ninth legion ; a legion deftined to 
 fufFer by Britifli valour in both ends of the illand. But at laft the fpirit 
 of this noble heroine, and the undifciplined valour of her army, were 
 found unable to contend with two other Roman legions under the com- 
 mand of the experienced Paulinus. Her death foon after put an end to 
 the war, in which near tv/o hundred thoufand of Bricifli and Roman 
 
 calls it Zij^iAWam, as does alfo the Itinerary of An- times writes it with o) William of Ncwburgh, 
 
 toniniis. Ptolemy has Londitiion, wherein the on- Roger Hovcdeii, Ralph Diceto (who was dean of 
 
 ly difTercnce is the Greek termination. Heddius Lundon), and feveral other Englifii hillorians who 
 
 and Bedc (in foine editions, for others have Lnn- wrote in Latin, all iiave Liirii/ in the beginning of 
 
 donia) the oldcil of the Anglo-Saxon writers, in the name. And the old Scottilh writers alfo wrote 
 
 their Latin works call it Lont/onia, in imitation of it in the fame manner, as appears in the Chronicle 
 
 the Romans, moll of whom followed Tacitus, of Melros and Wyntown's Chronicle. Since tlic 
 
 And a few of the coins of the Anglo-Saxon kings revival of literature the fpclling of London has 
 
 have Land (ox the initial part of tlie name. On been fupported by the gnat elalTical authority of 
 
 the other hand, Ammianus Marc-llinus, a Roman Tacitus, and by Bcde, alfo and ilefcrvcdly a great 
 
 author, writes Lund'jitium and Lundinium. The authority ; though every body pronounces Lun- 
 
 greatell part of the Anglo-Saxon coins (prints of dun, in perfeCl conformity to what I conceive to 
 
 which may be fctn in Hickes's Thefaurus) and be the genuine original name. 
 
 fome editions of Bcde have Lund for the initial. As to the fabulous name of Troynovaiitum, if it 
 
 The Saxon Clironicle, written by different Ijands had any foundation at all, it may have been Tr^ 
 
 in fucctlTive ages, lias Luntlenc, Lundone, Lundunc, Novant, llgnifying in Welfli ihi town of the No- 
 
 l.uiiden-byrig, Lundtn-burh, and Luiukn-ivic. •y<7«/fj', whofe capital it may have. become ^ftcr the 
 
 Kin-T Alfred writes it Lunihn-ccn/Ier. Nennius, dellruflion of Camulodunum : for there is no fuf- 
 
 an antient Welfh writer, has Cair-I.unden ; and the ficient authority for the ad'ertion of fome modern 
 
 preftnt Wclflt write Llundain. Ethelwerd, l'1o- writers, that London was dtlhoyed or burnt by 
 
 renee, Eadmcr, William of Malmlbury, Henry of Boadicia. 
 Huntington, Simeon of Durham (who alfo fome-
 
 A. D. 6i. 
 
 '55 
 
 lives were facrificed to the rapine, luft, and extortion, of the Roman op- 
 preflors. And this was the laftconfiderablc flruggle made by the Brit- 
 ons of the fouth for their independence, of which we have any particu- 
 lar account. [Trtr. /Innal. L. xiv, cc. 31-37 — Dion. Ca[f. L. Ixii.] 
 
 The portrait of the Britifh heroine, as drawn by Bion Caflius, ferves 
 to give us fomeideaof the manufadures and drefs of the Britons. Bun- 
 duika (fo he calls her) was tall and elegantly formed, with a modell 
 countenance, a clear voice, and long yellow hair. She wore a large gold 
 chain, and a flowing party-coloured robe, which was covered with a 
 thick cloak : and in her hand flie bore a fpear, the emblem of her com- 
 mand. He alfo fays, that the war was entirely conducted by her, and 
 that {he fupported her authority with great dignity and with mafculine 
 valour*. 
 
 y2 The Romans, who conquered many other countries almofl as 
 
 foon as they marched into them, gained their ground in Britain by 
 inches. For though Vefpafian, who was afterwards emperor, had been 
 engaged in thirty battles, while he was a fubordinate officer in Britain, 
 and fubdued two great nations with above twenty towns, together with 
 the ifland of Veda (Wight), and though the fpirit of liberty, roufed by 
 Boadicia, feems to have been completely cruflied ; yet they had about 
 this time eflabliflied their dominion no farther north than the neigh- 
 bourhood of Northampton, or the banks of the Severn and the Nen f : 
 
 * Gildas, who feems to regret, that he was born 
 too late to be a ilave of Rome, execrates the noble 
 llruggle made by Boadicia in defence of Britifh li- 
 berty and the rights of human nature, and from 
 his ample ilore of bombafl; and foul language he 
 abufes, or dignifies, her with the epithet of a 
 treacherous lionefs. 
 
 \ We have the authority of Pliny to fay, that 
 in almoft thirty years from the firfl invafion the 
 Roman arms had penetrated no farther than the 
 neighbourhood of the Calidonian (or Caledonian) 
 wood. [Hijl- nat. L. iv, c. 1 6.] But where was 
 it ? Some pretend to fay, that there was no Cale- 
 donian wood, but in the Highlands of Scotland ; 
 and Richard of Cirencefter, a writer whofe name, 
 notwithftanding fome fpecks of the darknefs of 
 the age he Uved in, will ever be refpefted by all 
 who lludy the antient'hiftory and geography of Brit- 
 ain, has been abufed for ignorantly planting a Cale- 
 donian wood in Kent, and another in Lincoln-fliire. 
 But his Caledonian wood in Kent, and the adjacent 
 country, has the authority of Floras, [Z. iii, c. lo] 
 and apparently that of Lucari. [i. vi.] The next 
 Calgilunian wood, which has probably left its name 
 in Calcdon near Coventry, and overfpread not only 
 Lincoln-fliire, but the whole of the wide-extended 
 nation of the Coritani or Coitani (i. e. woodland- 
 men, a name afterwards exaftly tranflated by the 
 Saxons to Myrce, Myrcas, and Myrcwara) was 
 that, which now bounded the Roman conquefts. 
 
 according to Pliny. And here muft have been the 
 Calydonian fields, where Vettius Bolanns gave 
 laws, and in fight of which were the watch-towers 
 and caftles, which he fortified with ditches, being 
 apparently thofe originally built by Oftorius Sca- 
 pula along the Severn and the Antona or Aufona 
 (probably the Nen), and the boundary now allud- 
 ed to by Pliny. [Tflc. Annal. L. xii, c. ^t, with 
 Ric. Corin. L. i, ^j 8, 30, 52. — Statii Silv. L. v.] 
 Nay, fo widely extended w.is the Caledonian-name, 
 that the fca between Gaul and Britain was called 
 the Caledonian ocean by Valerius Flaccus, and the 
 Caledonian fea by Aufonius. Now, Lucan and 
 Pliny were dead, and Vettius Bolanus was fuper- 
 feded in his command in Britain, before any Ro- 
 man army had approached the Scottith Caledonian 
 wood, and before any Roman writer can be ration- 
 ally fuppofed to know of its exiftence. Hedor 
 Boyfc, in !i-ed, in his romance, which he prefumes 
 to call The Hiftory of the Scots, pretends to quote 
 fome national records, wherein Julius Caefar, as if 
 he had not dune hnnfelf fufficient honour, is faid 
 to have pens-trated to the Caledonian wood, and 
 deftroyed Camelodunum, which he has tranfported 
 from Ed'ex to the banks of the Carroii : for in- 
 ventors of hiftory find no difficulty in removing 
 mountains, towns, and whole nations. There is 
 fome nonfenfe of the fame fort alfo in Fordun, 
 though not fo circumftantial. Butfuch ignorance 
 
 was 
 
 U 2
 
 156 A, D. 73. 
 
 for the ifland of Mon (Anglefey)^ and the country of the Ordovices 
 {North Wales), though over-run by PauUnus, retained their Uberty, till 
 they were reduced by Agricola feveral years after. 
 
 The fouth-eafl part of the country feems to have now funk into a 
 contented fubje6lion to the Roman yoke : and the trade, formerly car- 
 ried on between Britain and Rome by the way of Gaul, may be pre- 
 fumed to have gradually increafed. But the only additional articles, that 
 I find any account of, were very trifling in a commercial view, viz. a 
 kind of fowl called cheneros, fuppofed by Mr. Whitaker to have been 
 the goofander ; and oyfters from the coaft of Kent, which, though after 
 fo long a carriage they muft have been in a very bad condition, were 
 admired by the epicures of Rome. [Plin. L. ix. c. 54 ; L. x, c. 22. — Ju- 
 venal. Sat. 4.] 
 
 73 — There is reafon to believe, that Hippalus, who taught the Greek 
 traders of Egypt to abridge the navigation to India by trufting their vef- 
 fels in fome degree to the guidance of the monfoons, flretched no farth- 
 er to fea in his firfl: voyage out of fight of land than jufl crofling the 
 wideft part of the entry of the Perfian gulf*. But improvements of real 
 utility are generally carried far beyond the firfl views of the projedor. 
 Succeeding Grecian navigators, having their eyes opened to the many 
 advantages of a fpeedy pafTage, ventured to take their departure from 
 Cane, on the coaft of Arabia, or the promontory of Aromata (Cape Gar- 
 dafui) the eafternmoft point of Africa, and fleer a dired courfe for the 
 more diftant ports on the weft coaft of India. The improvement in 
 their courfe, which exempted them in a great meafure from the danger 
 of rocks and ftioals, and the ftill-increafing demand for Oriental luxuries 
 in the Roman empire, encouraged the merchants to enlarge the fize of 
 their vefTels, which, by carrying cargoes of greater value, enabled them 
 to fliip a band of archers in each veil'el to beat off the pirates f, who in- 
 fefted feveral parts of the coaft of India, and to bear the expenfe of the 
 prefents, which the fupercargo of every vefTel was obliged to make to 
 the fovereigns, in order to bribe them to permit their fubjeds to enjoy 
 the advantages of trade. [Perip/us Maris Erythr^i. — Plhi. L. vi, c. 23.] 
 
 Though almoft all the ports on the weft coaft of India had been re- 
 forted to by vefTels from Egypt, even before the improvement introduc- 
 
 was much more excufable in their ages than io Gat, the eaftern extremity of Arabia) to Patala at 
 
 ours. the mouth of the Indus. 
 
 The authorities adduced In this note might be •)■ The dcfcendcnts of thofe antient pirates ftiU 
 
 greatly enlarged and reinforced : but I wifh to bo continue to infeft the navigation on the ucll coaft 
 
 45 brief at jK.fiible, whenever it is neceffary to in- of India ; and other piratical tribes, called Sanga- 
 
 troducc any antiquarian difcufTion. rians or Sangarits, and the Kulis, and fome Arab 
 
 • So we may infer from Pliny, who fays, [Z. tribes, commit depredations at the mouths of the 
 
 vi, f. 2j] tint the courfe ftccred at firft by the Indus, and other parts of the coall. {Nichuhr,V. 
 
 wind Hippalus (the fouth-well monfoon) was from ii,/>. 5. — Rcnnell^ Memoir of a Map of HindooJIan, 
 
 fhc Promontory of Ryagros (apparently Ras-al- /'. z^l-'^
 
 A. D. 73. 157 
 
 ed by Hippalus, [Periplus, p. 174] yet till about this time Patala was the 
 only Indian port heard of at Rome; and now the names of two or three 
 ports beyond it were for the firfl time announced to the Romans by 
 Pliny [L. vi, c. 23.] The fome author has given us the following cir- 
 cumftantial account of the inland navigation and land carriage in Egypt, 
 by which the adventure from Alexandria commenced. 
 
 From Juliopolis, a kind of fuburb of Alexandria, they failed 303 Ro- 
 man miles up the Nile to Coptos, the emporium of the trade in Upper 
 Egypt, by favour of the etefian winds in twelve days *, From Coptos 
 the goods were carried by camels 258 miles acrofs the defert to Bere- 
 nice upon a road which had been furnifhed with proper refting places 
 by the attention of the Ptolemies : and this journey performed, accord- 
 ing to the cuflom of thofe climates, moftly in the night-time on account 
 of the heat, took up other twelve days f . At Berenice or Myos Hormos, 
 a port farther up the coaft, they embarked with their goods for their 
 various voyages. Thofe bound for India took their departure (in modern 
 nautical language) from Okelis on the fouth coafl of Arabia, and arrived 
 in forty days at Muziris on the weft coaft of India. The homeward 
 paflage was begun in December, or early in January, with the north-eaft 
 monfoon (which Pliny erroneoufly calls Vulturnus, a wind about eaft- 
 fouth-eaft) by which they were carried to the entrance of the Red fea, 
 where they generally met with foutherly winds, which carried them up 
 to their port. Of their various voyages, and the outward and home- 
 ward cargoes, I fhall now have an opportunity of giving an account from 
 better materials thaa were known to Pliny. 
 
 Very unfortunately the age of the author of the Periplus % of the 
 ERYTHRiEAN SEA, a work, which, for approved accuracy of geographical, 
 nautical, and commercial, information, ftands unrivaled by any produc- 
 tion of antiquity which has come down to our times, cannot be fettled 
 fo near as, whether he lived about the middle of the firft, or the middle 
 of the fecond, century §. In this uncertainty I here introduce an ex- 
 tradb of the commercial information contained in this pretious relique. . 
 
 * Agatharchides [£. v, c. 32] fays, that vef- harbours, and trade, as far as Nelkynda near the 
 
 fels could eafily fail in ten days from Alexandria foutheni extremity of India, are given from his 
 
 to Ethiopia, the neareft part of which is far above own judicious obfervations, the plain narrative of 
 
 Coptos. an honeft man, teliing what he faw and knew. His 
 
 •j- In S.rabo's time they went from Coptos to account of tlie eall fide of India, though far inferi- 
 
 Myos Hormos, a journey of fix or feven days, or indeed, is the narrative of the fame honeft man, 
 
 ^Strata, L. \\\\, p. 11 70.] . ufing his bell endeavour to convey inftruclion to his 
 
 X Periphis, faih'ng round, or circumnavigation. countrymen, but frequently mifled by the ignorance 
 
 J The Periplus not being quoted or mentioned or roguery of thofe, whom his tliirft of knowlege 
 
 by any antient writer, we can have no knowlege urged him to apply to in every port for information 
 
 of the author, but what we can derive from him- refpefting their native countries, or thofe they had 
 
 feir. And from himfe'.f we know, that he was an traveled to. He mentions the names of feveral 
 
 Egyptian Greek, a merchant, and a navigator upon kings reigning when lie wrote, and embaffies fent 
 
 the Erythraean fea ; and, indeed, it is eafy to fee, by Charibael, king of the Homerites and Sabxans 
 
 that all the very accurate dcfcriptions of the coafts, to the Roman emperors. Some of the fame kingj 
 I, ar».
 
 158 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 Under the name of the Erythraanjea the author comprehends that part 
 of the Ocean, which is between Africa and India, and apparently aHb the 
 Gulf of Bengal. He obferves, that the unexplored ocean extends to the font h- 
 ivard till it joins the Atlantic ; a moft capital and important piece of geo- 
 graphical and commercial knowlege, which had lain concealed from al- 
 moh the whole world from the age of Necos king of Egypt (about fix 
 hundred years before the Chriftian tera) till the re-difcovery of the Cape of 
 Good Hope by the Portuguefe : for Herodotus, though he recorded the 
 circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenicians in the reign of Necos, 
 appears not to have believed it himfelf : and no other Greek or Roman 
 writer, to the beft of my knowlege, unlefs the Mauritanian prince Ju- 
 ba * may be reckoned among them, had the fmallefl idea of the true 
 
 are mentioned by Pliny as his contemporaries ; and 
 he alfo notices ambaffadovs from Arabia, evidently 
 fi-om the fouth part of it (perhaps thofe fent by 
 Charibael) who were in Rome in his time. \_Plin. 
 L. vi, c. 23 ; L. xii, c. 14.] It is thence not im- 
 probable, that our author and Pliny lived at the 
 fame time. But it mull be acknowleged, that fome 
 kings of the fame names are alfo mentioned by 
 Ptolemy, who was near a century later than Pliny; 
 though he might copy them from older documents, 
 or the names might be preferved in the families, or 
 be permanent titles rather than names of individu- 
 als. Our author alfo fays that the city of Arabia 
 Felix was deftroyed a httle before his own time by 
 Cos far, that is, the Roman emperor. But the de- 
 flruftion of the city not being mentioned by any 
 other author extant, it affords us no aflillance in 
 finding his age. It has been afcribed to Trajan, 
 for no other reafon than becaufe that emperor was 
 in Arabia, and did a grot deal of mifchief in his 
 progrefs : for the aflertions of Eutropius and Ru- 
 fus r"cllus, that Trajan reduced Ai'abia to the con- 
 dition of a province, are contradidled by the fubfe- 
 quent hiftory of Adrian ; and a hyperbolical paf- 
 fage in the Philopatris, a dialogue afcribed to Lu- 
 cian, ie mere rodomontade and prophecy. Trajan 
 marched, indeed, from Ctcfiphon a^rMnft the Aga- 
 rcncs, an Arabian nation bordering upon Judaa, 
 and above a thoufand miles from the city of Arabia 
 Felix, from whom lie was obliged to retreat witli 
 great lofs. But a proper chronological attention 
 to all the ciicumftances of his eallern expedition 
 might Ihow, that he could not poffibly have ever 
 gone near the fouth part of Arabia, and confe- 
 quently could not be the deflroyer of the city of 
 Arabia Felix ; though the mod learned Dodwell, 
 who might be fuppofcd to have examined the hif- 
 tory of the later years of Trajan with the moll fcru- 
 pnlous attention, when compofing his ledlurcs on 
 the life of Adrian the fuccelTor of Trajan, has af- 
 cribed the dellrudlion of it to him, and has made 
 our author contemporary with the joint emperors 
 Marcus Antoninus and Verus, becaufe he fays that 
 
 Charibael ' fends frequent embaflies and prefents to 
 ' our emperors,' by which plural word, he thinks, 
 we muft underftand a conjundlion of emperors, 
 though there feems no reaioii why the embaf[ies,bc- 
 'ya<g frequent, might not be to a fucceffion of emper- 
 ors : or, if there muft be a conjunftion of emperors, 
 let us not forget, that Titus was afibciated with his 
 father in the imperial dignity long before the age 
 of Antoninus. But it is very clear, that the dc- 
 ftruftion of that city was neither the work of Tra- 
 jan, nor of any other Roman emperor in perfon. 
 If we could tell exaAly, when anchors began to be 
 made of iron, it might perhaps help to fix our au- 
 thor's Kra, which was prior to that moft important 
 improvement. (See below in the nautical notices 
 under this fame year.) But, after much refearch, 
 I am inclined to believe, that neither the date of 
 the deftru£tion of Arabia Felix, nor that of the in- 
 troduftion of iron anchors, can be afcertained, how- 
 ever defirable_j^they may be, as helping to fix the 
 chronology of the Periplus, and alfo on account of 
 their own importance in commercial hillory. 
 
 The name of this valuable author, and his coun- 
 try, are alfo mifreprefented. The work is com- 
 monly afcribed to Arriau, a Bithynian Greek, 
 and governor of Cappadocia under the emperor 
 Adrian, who wrote the Hiftory of Alexander the 
 Great ; though it is not in the lift of his works 
 given by Pholius, who tlouiiftied in the ninth cen- 
 tury, and though it contains fome miftakes con- 
 cerning Alexander, which Artian could not poffi- 
 bly have fallen into. The only reafon feems to be, 
 that Arrian alfo wrote a Periplus, which, iiotwith- 
 ftanding his acknowleged fuperior literary merit, 
 is as far inferior in interefting informaiion to our 
 author's Periplus, as flie Euxine fea, Arrian's fub- 
 jcft, is inferior to the Indian ocean. 
 
 * Juba, as quoted by Pliny, [i. vi, c. 29] had 
 fome idea of the communication of the Indian and 
 Atlantic oceans ; for he extends the later as far as 
 tlie MolTyllite promontory (Cape Guardafui), 
 which other writers call the Aromatic promon- 
 tory.
 
 A. D. Ti^. 
 
 '59 
 
 geography of the fouth part of Africa, though feverals of them have fa- 
 bulous ftories of wonderful adventures on fome of its coafls. He alone, 
 of all the writers of antiquity, truely defcribes the coaft of India as 
 trending from north to fouth as far as Colchos ("Travancore), where, he 
 fays, the fhore bends to the eaft, and afterwards to the north, and then 
 more eafterly to the Ganges, the greateft river of India, which increafes 
 and decreafes like the Nile. He is alfo, if I miftake not, the only ex- 
 tant antient writer, who knew the true name of the great fouthern divi- 
 fion of India, which he calls Dachinabades, becaufe ' the South is there 
 called Bachan-Qs^ a word differing only by the adjundt Greek termina- 
 tion from Deccan, ftill the general name of all the country fouth from 
 Baroach, the very limit ftated by our accurate author. 
 
 He defcribes Myos Hormos as the firfl: port of Egypt on the Red fea *; 
 and from it and Berenice the Grecian traders failed down for their va- 
 rious deftinations. Thofe who were only bound to the ports within the 
 Red fea failed any time from January to September, though moil 
 feafonably in September : but July was the time for commencing voy- 
 ages to all parts beyond the Straits, whether to the eaft coaft of Africa, 
 the fouth coaft of Arabia, or the weft coaft of India. 
 
 The firft confiderable trading port on the weft fide of the Red fea was 
 Aduli in the country now called Abyflinia, fubjed: to Zofcales, a prince 
 diftinguiftied as fuperior to his neighbours in probity and liberality, and 
 alfo acquainted with the Greek language, a circumftance feemingly in- 
 ferring a confiderable refort of the Grecian traders to his dominions. 
 This was an eftabliftied port, to which were brought from the inland 
 markets of Coloe and Axomite (or Axuma) all the ivory coUeded in 
 the interior country on both fides of the Nile, and the turtle-fhell from 
 a neighbouring nation, called by the Greeks Ichthyophagi (eaters of 
 fifh). 
 
 Into this port the Greeks imported 
 
 Coarfe cloths unmilled, manufadur- 
 ed in Egypt for this market ; 
 
 Robes, made at Arfinoe ; 
 
 Abollas f (cloaks) of counterfeit or 
 baftard colour ^ 
 
 Linens ; 
 
 Fringed mantles ; 
 
 Glafs, and murrhi;ie :j: vefTels of all 
 forts, made at Diofpolis ; 
 
 Orichalcum, a kind of metal, of 
 which the natives of the country 
 made ornamental trinkets, and 
 alio coined money ; 
 
 Brafs veflels for cooking, which the 
 women of the place fometimes 
 broke into fmall pieces to make 
 bracelets, and ornaments for their 
 legs; 
 
 Heroopolis, at the veiy head of the gulf, was him his life, the tyrant Caligula, perhaps, thinkinr 
 
 -now apparently deferted. it an affeftation of foverL-ignty. IMartial. L. viii, 
 
 t The bed abollas were dyed with the Tyrian ep. 46. — Suet. Ca/ig. c. ii,f\ 
 
 purple. The rich colour of one worn by Ptolemy, ^l The murrhine vtlTcls were In fuch eftcem in 
 
 the fon of the learned African prince Juba, coll 4 Rome
 
 i6o 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 Iron, to make fpears for hunting, 
 and for war ; 
 
 Swords, edge-tools, and other iron- 
 mongery ; 
 
 Large round cups or bowls of brafs; 
 
 Wine of Laodicea and Italy in 
 fmall quantities ; 
 
 Oil, alfo in fmall quantities ; and 
 
 Roman coins (denarii) for the ufe 
 
 of the foreigners, whom com- 
 merce brought together in the 
 port: 
 
 and alfo, as a tribute to the king, 
 
 Veflels of gold and filver made af- 
 ter the fafliion of the country .; 
 
 Abollas ; and 
 
 A few plain coverlets. 
 
 There were likeways imported from Arabia 
 
 Safhes ; 
 
 Coverlets ; and 
 Lack for colouring *. 
 
 Indian iron and fteel ; 
 Indian calicoes, and other cotton 
 goods, of a variety of kinds ; 
 
 From this port the only exports noted are 
 
 Ivory ; | The horns of the rhinoceros. 
 
 On the fouth fliore of the Straits of Babelmandeb (or Babelmandel) 
 was the fmall port of Avalites, into which they went with rafts and boats. 
 To this place the Greeks imported 
 
 Corn ; 
 
 Wine ; and 
 
 Tin in fmall quantities. 
 
 Veflels of glafs and ftone, afl"orted ; 
 Unripe grapes from Diofpolis ; 
 Cloths, milled and finifhed for this 
 particular market, aflbrted ; 
 
 The natives, a rude and favage race, traded with their rafts to Okelis 
 and Muza on the coafl of Arabia, to which they carried aromatics, a 
 
 Rome, that two of them were bought by a confiil 
 and an emperor at the price of 3C0 fellcrtium 
 (^2,42 1 : I 7 : 6 lleth'ng) fur each. [ /'//'«. /,. xxxvii, 
 r. 2, with ArbuthnoC s Tables of ancient coim, (b'c.'} 
 The nature of them is much contefted, fome avert- 
 ing that they were the porcelain of China, and 
 others maintaining that they were made of a foflile 
 fubftance; and llic later opinion fecras fuppoited 
 by Pliny. [£. ^y.xw, frotem ; L. xxxv, c. 12 ; L. 
 sxxvii, c. 2.] It is certain from the Pcriplus, 
 that they were made at Diofpolis in Egypt : and 
 there is no un((uc(lionabIe authority for the real 
 porcelain of China being heard of in Europe till 
 many centuries after this time. — C^i. What might 
 be the nature of the three muiline, or perhaps ra- 
 ther murrine, cups belonging to Roger archbifliop 
 of York in tlie twelfth century ? \_M. Paris, p. 
 140, ed. 164c.] 
 
 • AH thefe articles, imported from Arabia, are 
 Indian manufaclures : and they furnilh an addition- 
 al proof of the extent of the Indian commerce in the 
 hands of the Southern Arabians, who Hill retained 
 
 their trade with their old cuftomers, who were in- 
 dependent of tlie Roman empire. 
 
 The ilecl was probably what Pliny [Z. xxxiv, 
 c. 14] calls iron from the country of the Stres of a 
 quality much fuperior to all othtr kinds (he has 
 not throughout liis whole work any word equiva- 
 lent to the Englilli word fteel) ; and he add;^, that 
 the Parthian (probably that called here Indian) 
 iron was next to it. The country at the mouth of 
 the Indus was now fubjed to Parthia : and there 
 probably both the Scric and Parthian metals were 
 fliipped for iVrabia, from which, or from Aduli, by 
 the agency of the merchants of Alexandria, they 
 found their way to Rome, as appears by Pliny's 
 knowlegc of them : and they mull have been ex- 
 cellent indeed to bear the expenfe of fucli a fuccef- 
 fion of land and water carriages. It is worthy of 
 remark, that Marco Polo, many centuries after our 
 author and Pliny, mentions oitiliinicwn, a molt ex- 
 cellent kind of Heel, the produce of a country in 
 the call part of Afia. See ForJler''s Voyages and dij- 
 coviries, pp. 135, 242, Etiglijh tranjl.
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 i6r 
 
 fmall quantity of Ivory, turtle-fhell, and myrh in very fmall quantities, 
 but of the very beft quality * 
 
 Eaflward from Avalites there was a better emporium, though a very 
 indifferent harbour, called Malao, and inhabited by a more civilized peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The imports to this place were 
 
 All the articles carried to Avalites ; 
 Tunics, or jackets, in great quanti- 
 
 ties 
 
 Cloaks (faga) of Arfinoe, milled and 
 dyed ; 
 
 Drinking cups or bowls ; 
 Meliephtha, an unknown article ; 
 Iron ; 
 
 Gold and filver Roman coins ir 
 fmall quantities. 
 
 The exports, which feem to have been to Arabia, were 
 
 Cancamus, fuppofed 
 
 gurn ; 
 Makeir J, fuppofed mace ; 
 Slaves, but very few. 
 
 a kind of 
 
 Myrh ; 
 
 Peratic frankincenfe in fmall quan- 
 
 ties ; 
 Cinnamon of feveral forts, and of 
 
 inferior qualities f ; 
 
 Farther along the coaft was Mundus, an emporium with a better har- 
 bour, the imports and exports of which were the fame with thofe of 
 Malao, with the addition to the later of thymiama mokroton §, believed 
 to be a kind of incenfe. The people of Mundus, though rude and un- 
 cultivated, were attentive to commerce. 
 
 The next emporium to the eaftward was Mofyllon, to which were car- 
 ried 
 
 All the articles noted as carried to Iron in fmall quantities ; 
 
 the others ; Pretious ftones. 
 
 Silver veffels ; 
 
 The exports were 
 
 Cafia, or baftard cinnamon || in [ fels were employed in the trade 
 fuch abundance, that larger vei- ] of this port ; 
 
 * The fame primitive rude floating craft are men- 
 tioned in the fame place by Agatharchides and Stra- 
 ho See above, p. 104. Ph'ny [Z. xii, cc. 15, 
 ig] alfo notices the trade by rafts from this fhorc 
 to Okeh's (which lie calls Ocila) whence the Afri- 
 cans carried home utcnfils of glafs and brafs, and 
 clothing, together with buckles or clafps, bracelet;/^ 
 and necklaces ; trinkets, which have in all ages 
 been acceptable to nations in a favage ilate. 
 
 |- Thefe were the produiRions of that part of the 
 country. 
 
 X Pliny [Z. xii, c. 8] fays, macir comes from 
 India ; and he prtfcntly adds, that the nature of it 
 is unknown to him. He knows nothing of an 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 African fpecies, which, however, 13 known to Di- 
 ofcorides an earlier author : and macis is meucioncd 
 by Plautus, long before either of them. 
 
 § .See Sahnalius in Solin. p. 500. 
 
 II Strabo \L. xvi, p. 1 1 19] notes the growth of 
 pfeudu-cafia (baftard cafia) as \vell as cinnamon, 
 frankincenfe, and myrh, in this country. The 
 abundance of thele produftions gave the name of 
 Aromatic, with the Greeks, to the whole country, 
 and particularly to the town and promontory at the 
 eallcrn extremity of it. — Pliny \_L. vi, c. 29 j marks 
 Molyiion as the market to which cinnamon was 
 brought, which may infer, that it was imported 
 thither from India ; and fuch inference feems fup- 
 
 ported 
 
 X
 
 l62 
 
 A. D. ri' 
 
 Peratic frankincenfe ; 
 
 Ivoi-y ; 
 
 Myrh, a fcarce article here. 
 
 Other odoriferous and aromatic ar- 
 ticles ; 
 
 Mokroton, inferior to the Munditic 
 growth ; 
 
 At the mofl eaflerly point of Africa there was an emporium with a 
 very open, and fonietimes dangerous, anchorage, of which we know no 
 other name than the Greek word Aromata, by which the adjacent point 
 or promontory (Cape Guardafui) was alio called ; and fouth from it was 
 another promontory, and alfo a trading port, both called Tabs. To 
 thefe the articles, carried to the other ports on this coaft, were alfo car- 
 ried. The produce of this part of the country confifted of cafia, gizir, 
 afyphe, magla, moto, all apparently of the cinnamon fpecies j alfo frank- 
 incenfe, and feveral kinds of aromatics. 
 
 South from Tabae lay Opone, the trade of v.'hich included all the ar- 
 ticles of import and export in the preceding ports. And from it there 
 were alfo exported fome of the beft flaves, who were moftly carried to 
 Egypt, and turtle-fliell of the very beft quality in great abundance. 
 
 The ports beyond the Red fea had an eJlahliJJjed trade with Ariakc and 
 Barygaza, both on the weft coaft of India, from which they received 
 
 Corn ; Cotton goods of various kinds ; 
 
 Rice ; Safties ; 
 
 Butter ; Cane honey, called fugar * 
 Oil of fefame ; 
 
 Some of the veflels from India failed for thofe ports on purpofe ; and 
 others only called at them, and, after taking onboard fuch articles as 
 they found ready, proceeded to their deftined ports. This trade appears 
 to have been entirely unconnefted with that of the Egyptian Greeks, 
 except as it may have fuppUed them with Indian goods in thofe ports j 
 
 ported by Diofcorides, who'[Z. i, c . 13] cJiftin- 
 guilhes the cinnamon of Mofyllon as of the beft 
 quality. He adds, that the beft cafia is called 
 Daphiiitic at Akxandiia (from Daphnon a place 
 on this coaft noted by our author), and that /igir, 
 ufyphenon, citto, and dacar, are Inferior fpecits of 
 it. I would not, however, be pofalvc that Pliny 
 did not mean merely that the produce of the adja- 
 cent country was carried to Mofyllon to be (hippvd, 
 ■IS myih is faid, three lines higher in the fame chap- 
 ter, tr) be carried to a port called Ifis. 
 
 * Our word fugar is from the Greek ^Kxp^aj, 
 which is exaftlythe Indian word facar, {^Linfcho- 
 Icn's Voyages, p. 104-3 The Pcripius gives a clear 
 proof, of what I have faid already, that fugar was 
 i;alled honey by the Greeks, till they got the ge- 
 nuine ndme of it from the Eaft : and that the ge- 
 nuine name was but very lately known, may be in- 
 ferred from the author thinking it necelfary to prc- 
 ierve the old name (cane honey) as an explanation. 
 
 It ia rather furj.rifing, that fugar does not ap- 
 
 pear in the Ptriplus among the direct imports from 
 any part of India to Egypt. We know that Ind- 
 ian fugar found its way to Rome at tliis time, ap- 
 parently through the hands of the mtichants oii 
 the eaft coaft of Africa, as Pliny [Z. xii, e. 8] dif- 
 tin^Tuilhes it from Arabian fugar by its fupcrior 
 quality. He fays, it was fcarce, being ufcd only 
 in medicine : and he defctibes it as a white gum, 
 brittle, and in pieces not larger than a filbert nut. 
 This defcrlptiou aniwers to the Indian, or perhaps 
 rather Chinefe, white fugar-candy, which Is com- 
 pared to diamonds for clearnefs and hardnefs. And 
 I fuppofe, the Indian ftone, defcribed by Megaf- 
 thcnca [ii/. Sirob. L, xv,p. 1028] as fwecter thaa 
 figs and honey, was the fame hard fugar-candy. 
 [See alfo DoHor Mofcky's Trcjiifeon Stigcii; p. jj, 
 I'econd ttl.] The Ipirltous or inebriating liquor, 
 made from the iiigar-btaring cane, mentioned by 
 Nearchus, [<;/). Slmb. L. xv, />. 1016]) was probably 
 alfo carried to Rome, though there is no mention 
 of it in I'ljny or the Peiipluj,
 
 A. D. 
 
 73' 
 
 63 
 
 and it feeras to have commenced before they began to make any voy- 
 ages out of the Red fea, but how long before, nobody can prefume to 
 conjedlure, as the eaft coafl of Africa was totally unknown to the Greeks 
 and Romans, and mofl probably alfo to the Egyptians, till a little before 
 this time *. 
 
 Though our author has many nautical and topographical remarks on 
 the coaft of Africa beyond Opone, he has not one trading port till he 
 comes to Rhapta, fo called by the Greeks, becaufe the natives ufed ca- 
 noes with raifed fides, which wei'e not nailed, but fewed to the bottom f . 
 The natives are faid to be very tall, but he fays not a word of their co^ 
 lour, which mud have been black. Though every diftricl had its own 
 chief, all of them had long been fubjed: to the king of Mapharitis in the 
 fouth part of Arabia. The country was alfo tributary to the merchants 
 of Muza who fent their veflels thither under the care of Arabian com- 
 manders and fupercargoes, connected with the natives by intercourfe and 
 affinity, and well acquainted with their language, and with the naviga- 
 tion of the coaft J. 
 
 The imports at Rhapta confifted of 
 
 Awls ; 
 
 Giafs veflels- of all forts ; 
 
 Laiices, or fpears, made at Muzaj 
 
 Axes ; 
 
 Cutlafles, or knives ; 
 
 and alfo corn and wine, not for fale, but for treating the uncivilized na- 
 tives of fome parts of the coaft. 
 
 The exports were 
 
 Ivory in great abundance, but in- 
 ferior to that of Aduli ; 
 The horns of the rhinoceros ; 
 
 * The fame trade has been kept up ever fince ; 
 and the fame kind of cargoes have been carried 
 from the neighbourhood of theZinde, or Indus, to 
 thofe parts of Africa. [See Piirchas, B. iii, p. 
 307 ; B. h,pf,. 347, 350, 351, 352.3 
 
 f Vcfrra, to few, or join together. The Greeks 
 furely could not be ignorant of the indigenous name 
 of the place, to which they traded. But this is one 
 of the innumerable inftances of the licence they 
 took in perverting the names of places, whereby 
 they have introduced much confufion and uncer- 
 tainty in geography, Ptolemy places Rhapta be- 
 tween eight and nine degrees fouth of the line, 
 which anfvrers pretty well to the fituation of Qui- 
 loa, which the Portuguefc dil'coverers fuppofed 
 Rhapta ; and there the fame fewed boats are ftill 
 uled. 
 
 J If the merchants were fo powerful as to exer- 
 cifc fuch an a6t of fovereignty at the ex»dlioB wf » 
 
 Turtle-fhell, the beft of any, next to 
 
 that of India ; 
 Nauplius §, a fmall quantity. 
 
 tribute, they muft hare been afTociated in a great 
 body, like a modern Eaft-India company. But 
 perhaps the tribute, for which the Greeks faw them 
 fend their veflels, was the produce of plantations 
 fettled on that coaft by the merchants of Mura, as 
 many Weft-India plantations are now fettled and 
 owned by Britifli merchants. 
 
 Agatharchides, at leaft two hundred years older 
 than our author, informs us, that the commercial 
 Arabians eftabliftied colonies in foreign countries ; 
 (fee above, p. 104) and the coaft on which Rhapta 
 was fituated is occupied to this day by Arabians, 
 who ftill retain the mercantile fpirit of the antient 
 founders of their colony. V/hen the Portuguefc 
 arrived on this coaft in their firft voyages of difcov- 
 ery, they found it frequented by veffels of various 
 nations. 
 
 { Nauplius, an article unknown. Pliny [_L. is, 
 c. 30^ has a defcription of a Ihell-fifh oi that name, 
 
 which 
 
 X 2
 
 164 A. D. 73. 
 
 Beyond Rhapta the coaft was unknown in the days of our author. 
 He therefor returns to the Red fea, and goes down the eaft fhore of it, 
 beginning at Leuke kome (or White town) a port and caftle in the pof- 
 feffion of the Romans, which was frequented by fmall vefleis from the 
 cpnfiderable trading ports in the fouth, loaded with merchandize for the 
 fupply of the neighbouring country and for the merchants of Tyre, upon 
 which a duty of twenty-five t:)ercent was exacted by a Roman centurion, 
 ftationed there with a competent miUtary force for that purpofe. 
 
 From Leuke kome down as far as the Burnt ifland the navigation was 
 very dangerous, and the coaft befet with rocks and without any har- 
 bours* ; and therefor the navigators were very careful never to approach 
 it. This inhofpitable coaft was occupied by various barbarous tribes, 
 differing in manners and in language, of whom fome fubfifted by fifh- 
 ing and others by pafturage : but they Avere all pirates, and plundered 
 the vefleis which came near their coaft, or were wrecked, and made 
 flaves of the people. The kings of the neighbouring induilrious nations 
 vs'cre therefor continually exerting themfelves to fupprefs thofe general 
 enemies, and carry them into captivity. 
 
 The country below the Burnt ifland was poffefl^ed by a more civilized 
 people, employed in breeding cattle and camels, the later, no doubt, for 
 the fervice of the caravans. 
 
 In the fartheft bay of the eaft coaft of the Red fea, about thirty miles 
 from the Straits, ftood Muza f , an eftabliflied emporium, inhabited by 
 experienced feamen, and numerous capital merchants, who, befides deal- 
 ing in the native commodities, traded to Barygaza and other foreign 
 countries J. 
 
 The articles imported from Egypt were 
 
 The fineft purple cloths in great 
 quantities ; 
 
 Arabian garments with and with- 
 out fleeves, adorned with gold in 
 various manners ; 
 
 Saft'ron ; 
 
 Cyperus, or galingal ; 
 
 Mullins (or perhaps rather fine 
 
 cotton fluffs of Egyptian nianu- 
 
 fadure) ; 
 Abollas or cloaks ; 
 Coverlets, a few ; 
 
 which anfwers fo well to the nautilus, dcfciibcd by f Muza is defcribed in the Periphis as having no 
 
 him in the preceding chapter, that it feems the harbour, but only a landy fhore, near which the 
 
 fame animal, taken from a difFcrent author. But vefTels lay at anchor in tlic bay. There is now a 
 
 the (hell of it, though very beauiilul, fecms rather poor village called Muza, with good water, a great 
 
 too trifling to be ranked among eilabliihcd articles objert in thofe countries, which is four miles from 
 
 of trade. the fhore at Mokha, apparently the fame place> 
 
 * If this coaft had been occupied by a commcr- though now become inland in confeijuence of the 
 
 cial people, there would have been no want of bar- conilant gradual rcceflion of the water, by which 
 
 hours. It would be eafy to enumerate many : but the whole of the flat bolder called tlie Tehama 
 
 Jidda, about mid -way between the two ends of the feems to have been formed. Mokha, built about 
 
 Red fea, is at preient the principal port, beyond four centuries ago, may be prcfurmd to have arifen 
 
 which YefTcla from India are not allowed to pa(s ; on the decline of Muza. Sec I^^kbuhr, V. i, p. 
 
 and it in capable of r.ceiving large vtlFcls, which 297. 
 
 refort to it from our Eall-Iudia fettlemcnts. [A'fV- \ Pliny was misinformed in rcfpeft to Muza, 
 
 huhr, V. I, p. 224.J wliicli, lie fays [Z. vi, c. 23J had no India trade.
 
 A. D. 7^. 
 
 165 
 
 Safhes ; 
 
 Ointment of a middling quality ; 
 
 Corn and wine in fmall quantities, 
 fome of both being produced in 
 the country ; 
 
 Money fufficient to fettle the ba- 
 lances. 
 
 The exports, confifling of native 
 
 Myrh of the choicefl quality ; 
 Stade, or tears of myrh, of the 
 mofl excellent quality % ■\ 
 
 The merchants alfo prefented to 
 
 the king 
 
 Horfes ; * 
 
 Mules for burthen ; 
 
 Veffels of gold and filver plate and 
 
 of brafs ; 
 Magnificent drefies. 
 
 productions, were 
 
 Lygdus, a fine kind of alabafter, 
 of which boxes were made ; 
 
 Alfo all the articles exported from 
 Aduli. 
 
 At iio great dlftance from Muza refided Cokebus king of Mapharitis, 
 and, as already obferved, fovereign of the diflant country adjacent to 
 Rhapta on the African coafi: ; and fomewhat farther inland was the feat 
 of Charibael king of the Homerites and Sabseans, who alfo extended his 
 fway over a part of Azania on the eaft coaft of Africa. This prince 
 cultivated the friendfhip of the Roman emperors by fending frequent 
 embaffies and gifts to them. 
 
 Fading Okelis, which was juft without the Straits, and only a water- 
 ing place and harbour for inward-bound veflels, our author proceeds 
 about 120 miles eaflward along the fliore to the port of Arabia Felix. 
 This city long flouriflied the greateft emporium on all the fhores of the 
 Erythrtean fea (or Indian ocean) wefiward from the River Indus. From 
 it Egypt and the other countries of Africa, the merchants of Phoenicia 
 and Carthage, and through them all the countries bordering upon the 
 Mediterranean, and even thofe on the Atlantic ocean, including per- 
 haps our own Britifli iflands, and, by the caravans, all the wefiern coun- 
 tries of Afia, were fupplied with Oriental produce and manufadures in 
 exchange for their own commodities. And in this happy ftate of ap- 
 parently-uninterrupted commercial profperity it continued till the 
 
 * Horfes impoited from Egypt into Arabia, 
 and into that part of it which is mod celebrated 
 for the fuperiority of its horfes ! Is it certain that 
 Arabia has been famons for its breed of horfes 
 ever fince the days of Ifhmael, as alleged by hifto- 
 rians quoted by Leo Africanus ? Or have horfes, 
 as well as coffee, (another article mentioned by no 
 antient Greek or Roman author, and believed to 
 be a native of Abyffinia) been introduced into 
 Arabia in the darknefs of the middle ages? — Horfes 
 are not mentioned in either of the two enumera- 
 tions of Job's property, though camels and other 
 animals are. — Solomon imported horfes from Egypt 
 and from other countries, but Arabia is not parti- 
 cularized. — In Ezekiel's account of the commerce 
 
 of Tyre, horfes are brought from Togormah, 
 (Cappadocia, the country which fupplied the Per- 
 Can kiiigs with horfes, a breed celebrated by many 
 antient authors) but only fheep and goats from 
 Arabia, which alfo furniihed the fame kinds of 
 animals, as we find by II Chron. c. 1 7, to Jehofo- 
 phat king of Judah. — The learned and indefa- 
 tigable Bochart has not a word of an Arabian 
 breed in all the palfagcs concerning horfes which 
 he has coUefted in his Hiero%nicon. — This fubjefl 
 will be touched upon again under the year 345. 
 
 \ 'Zray.X'n (riiv^txix, or perhaps rather Xtkatk 
 aeiigiKif«?a, myrh of the bed quality produced in 
 the country of the Minxi. See Bochart, Cso". 
 facr. snl, up.
 
 1 66 A. D. 73. 
 
 Greeks of Egypt, fupported and encouraged by the power and wealth 
 of the Roman empire, began to repair to India for the goods they had 
 hitherto received from the Arabian merchants. But the Romans, per- 
 haps not content with what their fubjeds could abflradl from the com- 
 merce of Arabia Felix by a fair competition, fuppofed, that, if they 
 could deftroy the commerce of an independent people, whom they had 
 in vain attempted to fubdue, (fee above, p. 120) it would devolve upon 
 their own fvibjects. Whether in confequence of fuch a fyllem of op- 
 preffive confidence in their own fuperior power, which they might pre- 
 tend to call a patriotic attention to the, commercial rights of their fub- 
 jeds, (for fovereigns in all ages have too often made power the llandard 
 of right) or in confequence of any quarrel, for which they were never 
 at a lofs to find a pretence, this mofl flourifhing commercial city was 
 deftroyed by the Romans a fiiort time before our author was born. We 
 may, however, be aflured, that the confequence would not be what the 
 Romans may be fuppofed to have expedled. The merchants would 
 transfer their commerce, with whatever they could fave of their pro- 
 perty, to other ports of Arabia more remote from the Roman domi- 
 nions, and to the Arabian colonies on the diftant coafts of Africa, which 
 would thereby be ftrengthened and enriched. And to fuch a forced 
 emigration was probably owing a great part of the trade between Africa 
 and India, noted by our author. 
 
 Arabia Felix was now fo far recovered from its afhes as to have the 
 appearance of a village, but we do not find that it had any commerce ; 
 and it was only reforted to on account of having a more convenient 
 harbour and better water than Okelis. 
 
 The next emporium was Cane, about 200 miles eaft from Arabia Fe- 
 lix, in the territory of Eleazus, the country producing frankincenfe, 
 which was brought to this emporium, fome by land carriage upon ca- 
 mels, and fome by water in veflels and upon rafts made of hides filled 
 with air. The'merchants of this port traded to Barygaza, Scythia (the 
 country of the Indo-Scythians at the mouth of the Indus), Omana, and 
 other places in the neighbourhood of Perfia. 
 
 The merchants of Egypt imported thither 
 
 Corn and wine, in fmall quantities, 
 
 as in Muza ; 
 Arabian clothing, common and 
 
 plain, and moftly counterfeit ; 
 
 Brafs ; 
 Tin; * 
 Coral ; f 
 Styrax,orilorax,anodoriferousgum; 
 
 • It is very probable, that .ill the tin mention^ f As the Arabs had corals in great abundance 
 
 rd here and in other ports, was the produce of the on the fliores of their own country, that which 
 
 Brililh mines, and dclllned for India. The mcr- was carried from Europe muR have been the fu- 
 
 chants of Gac'T (or Cadiz), I prefumc, fupplicd pcrior fort found on the Gallic coafl. near Mafliha, 
 
 ihofc of Alexandria with it. and in the fca adjacent to Sicily. It was »ppar-
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 167 
 
 And all the articles carried to Muza: 
 
 They alfo carried for the king 
 Silver veffels engraved or chafed ; 
 Money ; 
 
 The exports were 
 
 Frankincenfe 7 native commodi- 
 Aloes \ ties ; 
 
 Statues ; 
 Horfes ; 
 Magnificent and plain drefles. 
 
 The merchandize imported into 
 Muza from other ports. 
 
 Between Arabia and Africa, biu nearer to the former, and fubjed to 
 the fame king Eleazus, was Diofcorides, a large, defert, marfhy illand, 
 with many rivers, and abounding with crocodiles, vipers, and very large 
 lizards, the flelh of which was good to eat, and the fat for making 
 oil *. It alfo produced turtle of the genuine, the land fpecies, the white, 
 and the mountain, kind. They were remarkable for the largenefs of 
 their (hell, but efpecially the mountain kind, the ihell of which was of 
 prodigious lize and thicknefs. Of thefe fhells were made chefts, cafk- 
 ets, writing tables, and other ornamental articles f. The land produced 
 neither corn nor wine, and nothing of value, except cinnabar of the 
 Indian fpecies, a gum dropping from trees. A few Arabians and Ind- 
 ians, and fome Greek merchants, fettled there for the fake of trade, 
 who lived on the north fhore facing the continent. The merchants of 
 Muza had fonie dealings with it, and veffels in the India trade fome- 
 times called at it, and fupplied the inhabitants with rice, corn, Indian 
 linen, and fometimes female flaves, in exchange for turtle -fliell, (or 
 turtle) of which they got enough to load their velfels iji. 
 
 Beyond the vaft promontory of Syagros (apparently Ras al Gat §) was 
 the port of Mofcha {Majk.d), a great emporium for the frankincenfe 
 produced in the adjacent Sachalitic country. Velfels from Cane traded 
 to this port : and thole from Limyrica and Barygaza in India, when 
 
 ftitly deftined by the Arabian merchants for In- 
 dia, where, Pliny fays, the men were as fond of 
 the berries ot coral as the women of Rome were 
 of the Indian pearls ; and thence the demand for 
 India made them to fcarce in the place of their 
 growth, that the Gauls could not now, as former- 
 ly, indulge in the luxury of adorning their fwords, • 
 fliields, and helmets, with them. [f/in. L. xxxii, 
 
 * This appears to be the animal called the guana 
 m the Weft-Indies. 
 
 ■{• The Romans were exceedingly fond of turtle- 
 Hitll. Btfidcs the ufcs of it mentioned in the Pe- 
 fiplus, they Tidorned their bedftends, and vaneered 
 wood, with It. \_Plln. L. Ix, f . 1 1 ; L. xvi, c. 43.] 
 
 :f It is generally agreed that Socotora is the 
 Diofcorides cf the antients. As our author's de- 
 fcription of it by no means anfwers to Socotora, 
 which is rocky and dry, I have bi-en fomewhat 
 fuller in extrafting it, that thofe who ar* better 
 informed of the nature of the ifland may ascertain 
 
 whether Socotor.i, or fome of the iflands nearer 
 the Arabian ihore, has been the antient Diofcori- 
 des. Neither our author, nor Pliny in his account 
 of Diofcorides, mentions aloes as the produce of 
 it, which are now the ftaple of Socotora : and as 
 they wete an eftablifhed article in the commerce of 
 the Egyptian Greeks, our author's filence may be 
 admitted as a full proof that none grew on the 
 ifland of Diofcorides in his time. Diofcorides 
 [L. iii, c. 23] fays the Indian aloe is the befl, but 
 has not a word of any coming fronx the idand of • 
 his own name. 
 
 J Syagros is faid by Harris \_Collcilion of voyages, 
 y. \, p. 431, eJ- 1744] to be beyond controverfy 
 Cape Farcack ; but that does not correfpond with 
 our author's geography, nor with Pliny's. I ob- 
 ferve, that even in Ptolemy's time it was dlfputed 
 which headland was Syagros. Our author's de- 
 fcription of it, ' the grcateft promontory in the ■ 
 « world,' may help to decide the qucftisn.
 
 i68 
 
 A. D. T2>' 
 
 too late for accomplifliing their voyages, ufed to pafs the winter here, 
 and exchange their calicoes, corn, and oil, for frankincenfe, the fale of 
 which the king moft rigoroufly monopolized in his own hands *. 
 
 Apologus, an eftablilhed and celebrated emporium at the mouth of 
 the River Euphrates, and Omana on the coaft of Perfia, (or rather of 
 Carmania) were frequented by large veffels from Barygaza with cargoes 
 of brafs and woods of various kinds, and they received frankincenfe 
 from Cane. The exports from them to Barygaza and Arabia were 
 
 Wine ; 
 
 Palm, or perhaps palm wine, (jpohil) 
 
 in great quantities j 
 Gold ; 
 Slaves. 
 
 
 Pearls, found near the mouth of 
 the Perfian gulf, inferior in qua- 
 lity to the Indian, in great quan- 
 tities ; 
 
 Purple drapery, manufactured in 
 Perlia ; 
 
 And boats, called madaratce, joined together by fewing, were carried 
 
 from Omana to Arabia. 
 
 The tiril trading port in India, is called in the Periplus the Barbaric 
 
 emporium f, fituated on the principal llream of the Sinthus, (Sindi, 
 
 * This monopolizing fpirit is general among 
 the fovereigns of many of the Oriental countries to 
 tliis day. 
 
 AH the Bntient authors, from Herodotus down- 
 ward, who have had occalion to treat of Arabia, 
 have given us a number of labulous ftories ot won- 
 derful hardlhips and dangers incurred in coUefting 
 frankincenfe, cinnamon, Sec. from the mortal bite 
 of flying fer.pents, which infelled the frankincenlc 
 groves, terrible bats which flew at the eyes of thofe 
 who gathered calia, and cinnamon only to be ob- 
 tained from the nells of birds, which brought it 
 from the country vvlieie Bachus was born. Ac- 
 cording to Theophratlus, \_H\jL plant. L. ix, c. 4] 
 there was a report, that all the niyrii and frankin- 
 cenfe produced in Sabxa was dcpofited in the tem- 
 ple of the Sun, each proprietor placing a note ot 
 the quantity and price upoti his own parcel. The 
 merchant!-, having chofcn their parcels, carried 
 them away, leaving the fpecilied fums of money in 
 their places. Tiien came the prieft, who took a 
 third part of the money for the god, and the re- 
 mainder was facredly prtferved for the proprietor. 
 Pel haps tills is a mytliological way of telling us 
 that there was a public hall, where the cultivators 
 configned their produce to proper agents to be 
 fold for thcni, and paid a heavy duty to the priclh. 
 The author ol the i'ciiplus has no flying ferpcnts, 
 no bat ■, no birds importing cinnamon ; but he 
 fays, that the frankincenfe trees infcdled the ai>- 
 With pellilcnlial vapours, and that the gathering 
 was a talk impofeJ upon condemned crimi)ii»ls> to 
 whom it was certain death, lie adds, tliat it need- 
 ed nobody to j'uaid it, the goda taking that charge 
 upon thcinfclvcs, fu that if any perion cariicd a 
 
 Tingle grain of it onboard his veflel ivithout the 
 ling's pcrmijjtoii, it would be impoflible for her to 
 get out of the harbour unlefs by the particular inter- 
 vcntion of the deity. We find by Pliny [L. xii, c. 
 14] that thofe very vigilant gods were quite ne- 
 glectful of the frankincenfe after it was out of their 
 own country ; for in Alexandria the moll fcvere 
 rellriclions were not fuflicient to prevent the em- 
 bez'/lemcnt of it. Pliny fays, that the Arabian 
 ambalfadors who were at Rome gave fuch anfwtrs 
 to thofe who made inquiries concerning the nature 
 of frankincenfe, as left them more at a lofs than 
 ever refpefting it ; and he very jullly remarks, that 
 the wonderful ftories were circulated in order to 
 raife the prices. [Z. sii, cc. 14, ly.] They alfo 
 fcrved to prevent the Phcenicians and other fo- 
 reigners from attempting to difcover the places 
 where fome of thofe pretious articles, which were 
 not natives of Arabia, were produced. Jull fo the 
 Portuguefe in the fixteenth century fpread terrible 
 reports of the wonderful dangers and hardfliips of 
 navigating the Indian ocean. 
 
 \ It is not improbable that this emporium, af- 
 feiflcdly called Barbaric by the Greeks, was that 
 to which the Arabians traded in the time of Aga- 
 tharchidcs, and the Giceks at the commencement 
 of their India trade, (fee above, pp. 104, 157) which 
 Pliny calls Patala, a name which appears from Dio- 
 nyfius Periegetes and .Airian to be indigenous. 
 Ptolemy, indeed^ has both Uarbari aiul Patala on 
 branches of the Indus : but his Minagara is on a 
 river far diftant from tlie Indus, in dirccl contra- 
 diftion to the Periplus, which is finely fupcrior 
 auihority.
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 169 
 
 Zind, or Indus) in the country occupied by a Scythian nation *, and 
 at this time fubjed to the Parthian empire. All the commodities 
 brought into this port by the veflels of various countries were fent up 
 the river to the king at Minnagara. The imports coniifted of 
 
 Frankincenfe ; 
 
 Glafs veflels ; 
 
 Silver plate ; 
 
 Money ; 
 
 Wine in fmall quantities. 
 
 Skins from the country of the Seres; 
 Silk thread, or raw filk f, from the 
 
 fame; 
 Calicoes ; 
 Indigo. :}: 
 
 Drapery, moflly plain, fome coun- 
 terfeit ; 
 Chryfolithes ; 
 Corals ; 
 Storax ; 
 
 The exports were 
 
 Coftus, an aromatic root ; 
 Bdellium, a fragrant gum ; 
 Lycium, a drug or dye fluff; 
 Callien ftone (perhaps found in the 
 
 River Callien at Goa) ; 
 Sapphires ; 
 
 The next, and a much greater, emporium, was Barygaza, which by 
 many marks appears to be the modern Baroach, Broatch, or Broot- 
 Chia, on the Nerbuddah. On account of the great trade of this port, 
 the extraordinary tides, the danger attending the fpring tides, the bore, 
 and the difficult pilotage of the river, are defcribed with the moil mi- 
 nute attention ; though the native fifliermen were accuflomed to cruife a 
 good way offin their long veflels, called in their own language trappaga and 
 htymha, in order to meet veflels, and carry them up to the city. The love- 
 reign of the country, refolving to concentrate all the foreign trade in this 
 favourite port, fhut his ports of Acabarus, Uppara, and Calliena, againft 
 the Greek traders from Egypt, who, if they happened to put into any 
 of them, were fent with a guard to Barygaza. There the merchants 
 found all the various productions of a very extenfive inland country, 
 inhabited by a variety of induftrious manutaduring nations, together 
 with the merchandize of Bengal, and even of the country of the Seres, 
 
 * Thefe were the people called Indo-Scythce 
 by other authors. We learn from Herodotus 
 [Z/. vii, c. 64] that the Perfians gave all the Scy- 
 thians the name of 5<;/-ai, or Sah : and Scih, the 
 modern name of the people who occupy the coun- 
 try adjacent to the Indus, and bordering on the 
 call fide of Perfia, is probably a very flight varia- 
 tion of the fame word. 
 
 f ' Nii,Ki» ni^ixov,' ftriftly firic t/jiyad or yarn 
 (»?K(!£, from Hu, tofpin). But a Greek could find 
 no better name for -raw fdk fpun only by the filk- 
 worm ; and, notwithllanding the confufion of an- 
 tient authors upon the fubjetfl of /Jr/Vum, there ap- 
 pears to he no doubt that it was filk. 
 
 \ ' I»Jixo» fii>Mt,' whicli I have trandated huligo, 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 becaufe there is a great exportation of that article 
 from the country near the mouths of the Indus. 
 The inilkum of Pliny, [//. -xxxv, c. 6] however, 
 which he claffes with ivory black, fee. among 
 painters' colours, feems to be the Indian ink, 
 which we ufe in drawing ; and the addition of 
 fii>Mv, hlach, might feem to infer that the ItJoiov of 
 the Periplus was the fame, but for the confidera- 
 tion that indigo mull have become an article of 
 great importance in commerce as foon as it was 
 known, and that Indian ink muft have been too 
 trifling to be enumerated among eftabhlhsd arti- 
 cles. The authority of liidore, fuch as it is, is 
 alfo in favour of indkuni being indigo.
 
 I7<3 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 brought by land carriage over the Bala-gaut mountains *, and alfo the 
 produce of every coafl:, from Africa to the farthefl Eaft, imported by 
 the veffels of the country. And fuch was the difpatch in tranfa6ting 
 bufinefs in this great mart, that a vefTel's cargo could be fold, and a new 
 cargo put onboard in three days ; whereby we learn that the merchants 
 of Barygaza were numerous, and that they had large capitals, and were 
 extenfiive dealers f . 
 
 The imports from Egypt were 
 
 Wine of Italy, Laodicea, and Ara- 
 bia; 
 
 Brafs ; 
 
 Tin ; 
 
 Lead; 
 
 Coral ; 
 
 Chryfolithes ; 
 
 Garments, plain and counterfeit, 
 of all kinds ; 
 
 Safhes made of many threads, per- 
 haps net- work ; 
 
 Storax ; 
 
 Melilot ; 
 
 White glafs ; 
 
 Sandarak ; 
 
 Stimmi, or ftibium, (perhaps black 
 lead) ; 
 The exports were 
 
 Spikenard of various kinds, brought 
 
 from Proclais ; 
 Coftus ; 
 Bdellium ; 
 Ivory ; § 
 Onyx flones from Plithana and 
 
 Ozene (believed to be Ougein) ; 
 
 Ointment of ordinary quality, and 
 in fmall quantity ; 
 
 Money of gold and filver, in ex- 
 changing which wiih the money 
 of the country there was a con- 
 liderable profit ; :j: 
 
 And there were prefented to the 
 king, in name of tribute or cuf- 
 tom, 
 
 Pretious filver veffels ; 
 
 Mufical inflruments ; 
 
 Beautiful virgins for the feragllo ; 
 
 Wine of the firfl quality ; 
 
 Plain dreffes of the fineft fabric ; 
 
 The moft pretious ointments. 
 
 • See Lieutenant Wilford in the Aftat'ic re- 
 fiarcha, K i, p. 370. 
 
 f It is very common for tlie native merchants 
 of India to buy wliolc cargoes by tlic invoice : and 
 that there were many mcrcliants at IJarygaza who 
 did the fame in tliofe days, and alfo had Hocks of 
 ){Oods ready in their warelioufes fulficient to load 
 tlie vcfTcls immediately with the articles wanted, is 
 evident from the difpatch. The author adds, that 
 the fame difpatch was given in Scythia, meaning, 
 1 fiippofe, the Barbaric emporium ; but as the 
 goods were to be fent up the river to the king, it 
 .'5 not clear from what time the three days could 
 Nc reckoned there. 
 
 \ Roman coins, prybably thofc cnrricd from 
 
 Murrhlne flones from Ozenc ; 
 
 Myrh ; 
 
 Lycium ; 
 
 Muflins {livhovii Xv'^iKou) from Ta- 
 gara and Ozene ; 
 
 Calicoes of all iorts (or perhaps fi- 
 gured) ; 
 
 Egypt in tliis trade, .ind alfo Greek coins, are dill 
 met with at Surat, about thirty miles fouth from 
 Baroach, where foine of both kinds were collect- 
 ed by the Dutch navigator Stuvovinus. (See his 
 (Voyages, F. n, p. II, Englijh trjnjl.) The Greek 
 ones were perhaps thofe oi Apollodotus and Men- 
 ander, fovereigns of fome ot the eaiUru part of 
 Alexander's conquells, which were current at Ba- 
 ryga/a in cur author's time. We may obferve, 
 tliat every writer of veracity, who has gone over 
 the fame ground with the author of the Periplus, 
 illuflrales the accuracy of his llatenients. 
 
 § Pliny repeatedly obfervcs tliat the largeil ivory 
 was got from India. [L. viii, cc. 3, ii.^
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 171 
 
 Silk fluffs ; 
 
 Moloch inum (fuppofed cotton cloth 
 
 of the colour of mallows) from 
 
 Ozene ; 
 Silk thread, or raw filk ; 
 
 Long pepper; 
 
 Calicoes of inferior quality *, 
 brought in great quantities from 
 Minnagara and Tagara ; 
 
 with many other articles. 
 
 To the fouthward of Barygaza there were Acabarus, Uppara, and 
 Calliena, already mentioned, and alfo Semylla, Mandagora, Patepatma, 
 Melizigara, Byzantium Toparon, and Tyrannoboas, ports only fre- 
 quented by the vefTels of the country. Beyond thefe were fome iflands 
 occupied by pirates, probably the anceftors of thofe by whom the fame 
 part of the coaft is infefted in the prefent day. Then followed Naura 
 and Tyndis, fituated on the Ocean, and Muziris on a river, which were 
 all ports of Limyrica, the kingdom of Ceprobotus, uied by the country 
 traders ; but Muziris only is noted as reforted to by Grecian velTels j 
 and we arc not informed of the particular articles of its trade. 
 
 Pandion was fovereign of the next kingdom, comprehending the 
 fouth point of India, wherein the firft port was Nelkynda, about twelve 
 miles up a river, at the mouth of which was Barakc f , where the vef- 
 fels, whereof there were very great numbers, attraded by the fuperior 
 quality and abundance of the pepper and malabathrum, lay at anchor 
 to receive their cargoes. 
 
 The goods imported by the Grecian traders were 
 
 Chryfolithes ; 
 
 Plain clothing in fmall quantities ; 
 
 Stimmi ; 
 
 Corals ; 
 
 White glafs ; 
 
 Brafs ; 
 
 Tin ; 
 
 Lead; 
 
 Wine in fmall quantities ; 
 
 Sandarak ; 
 
 Arfenic ; 
 
 Confiderable fums of money to 
 
 make up the purchafe of their 
 
 homeward cargoes. 
 
 There were carried thither from the other ports of India 
 
 Pepper of Cottonara ^ in very great 
 
 abundance ; 
 Excellent pearls in great numbers ; 
 
 * Coarfe dungarees, as tranflated by Mr. Wil- 
 ford. \_p. 369.] But, to moft readers out of In- 
 dia, dungarees needs to be tranflated at lead as 
 much as i^iii^ii p^v'SaTm. If we are uncertain of 
 the application of thefe genuine Greek words to 
 Indian manufadlures, we mull be ilil! more at a 
 lofs with fcvcial names of articles in the Periplus, 
 which are apparently Indian words imported with 
 the goods, juft as we now ufe jacanet, cojfae, mid- 
 n;ul, for denominations of Indian fabrics. Thcre- 
 
 Ivory ; 
 
 Silk fluffs ; 
 
 Spikenard from the Ganges ; 
 
 for fome of them, which were apparently ufed only 
 in mercantile language, an;5 arc found nowhere but 
 in the Periplus, may perliaps be improperly tranf- 
 lated, notwithftanding all my endeavours to get at 
 their real meaning. 
 
 f Pliny calls it Becare ; and he fcems alfo to 
 write Necanidon inftead of Nelkynda. 
 
 \ This is the black pepper of Malabar, reck- 
 oned the beft in India. White pepper was alfo 
 imported, a we leaj^n from Phny. [L, xii, c. 7.3 
 
 Y2
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 from the interior 
 
 Turtle-rhell, of a kind called Chry- 
 fonetiotic (from a golden ifland), 
 and alfo from the iflands oppo- 
 fite to Limyrica. 
 
 172 
 
 Malabathrum 
 country ; 
 
 Diamonds *, hyacinths, and a va- 
 riety of other pellucid gems ; 
 
 The inveftments of the Grecian traders, which our author has not 
 fpecified, undoubtedly confifted of all the articles, native and imported, 
 found in the place. 
 
 Balita, Comar, Colchi, (near which was the principal fifhery for pearls, 
 performed entirely by condemned criminals) Camara, Poduke, and So- 
 patma, were ports in the fouth part of India which do not appear to 
 have been frequented by the Egyptian Greeks. But a great coafting 
 trade was carried on in them, partly by veflels belonging to other parts 
 '^ India, and partly by their own. From Limyrica, and other northern 
 pii'r b of India, they received the various articles imported from Egypt, 
 ti.^'^ether with the native productions and manufodures. Some of their 
 Vcifjls, confining of large canoes joined together, were cMed fangara j 
 and Qt^hers, called kolandlophofitn, which were of the largefl fize, were 
 uled in the trade with the River Ganges and the countries beyond it f . 
 
 The produclions of the large ifland near the fouth end of India, for- 
 merly called Taprobane, but at this time Palaefimundi, were pearls, 
 gems, turtle-fliell, and muflins J. 
 
 On the continent oppofite to this ifland was Argali, a country pro- 
 ducing a kind of muflin called ebargaritid, and pofl^efling a pearl fifli- 
 cry ; Mafalia, ftretching into the interior, where much muflin was ma- 
 nufactured ; and, adjacent to it, Defarene, a country abounding with 
 elephants of the fpecies called bofare. 
 
 Though our author's account of the countries beyond the fouth point 
 of India, being all from report, is much inferior to the refl: of his work, 
 
 * Pliny fays [L. xxxvii, c. 4] that the anlients 
 knew of no diamonds larger than cucumer feeds, 
 but in his time there were fome even as large as 
 the kernel of a filbert nut ; a proof that no very 
 large diamonds had yet been carried to Rome. 
 Arbutlmot, fjy a curious overlight, tianfiates eivcl- 
 lana walnut, inllead of filbert. 
 
 f I here recapitulate the names of the feveral 
 kinds of Oriental vclTels noted by our author, viz. 
 madarat^, fmall velTels joined together by fewing, 
 in the IVrfian gulf ; tni^'piiga and kolymba, long 
 veffcls, ufcd by the fifliermen and pilots of Bary- 
 gaza ; fangara, (whence the pirates called Sangar- 
 lans perhaps took their name) feemingly like the 
 double canoes of the South-fea iflands defcrlbed 
 by Captain Cook ; and kolamri'jphnnta, of whicli 
 there is no other dcfcription than their great bur- 
 then, and capacity to perform dillant voyages ; in 
 hopes that thofc who arc acquainted with the 
 Eaflcrn fcas may perhaps be able to trace the 
 names in the language of the prefent race of a 
 
 people, among whom manners, laws, religion, and 
 language, have ever been, in fpite of conqueds, 
 pcrfccutions, and devailations, fo much more lla- 
 tionary than in our quarter of the world. 
 
 \ Not a woid of cinnamon (fee above, p. 149) 
 as a produftion of this ifland. The name of it, if 
 we may trull entirely to Grecian information, was 
 remarkably fluctuating. Tiiprobanc, the name un- 
 der which it was firll announced to the wcltern 
 world by Oneficiitus, had now given place to Pa- 
 helimundi, whicli in Ptolemy's time was fuperl'eded 
 by Sa/iie, and by Seria, the name given to it by 
 Panfanias, an author of the fame age. \^Eliac. L. ii.J 
 But libout the beginning of the fixth century Ta- 
 probane was again reflored, at leail among the 
 Greeks, as we learn from Cofmas Indicopleufles, 
 who adds, that the genuine name was Siele-iiiba, 
 {^Silc-iliv, the ifland oi Scle) a flight pcrverfion of 
 which produced the Sal'tke of Ptolemy, and alfo 
 Ceylaii, Ceylon, isfr. the names now given to it by 
 the Etuopeani.
 
 A. D. 73. 173 
 
 and even wanders into the marvelous, which has in all ages vitiated and 
 charaderized the defcriptions of unknown parts of the world, he has 
 obtained a pretty accurate account of the nature of the flxmous River 
 Ganges, as already oblerved : and fo well was he informed of the trade 
 and manutaftures of that diftant region, that he remarks the fuperior 
 excellence of the Bengal muflins *, which took their name, at leafl 
 among the Grecian traders, from the river, or a town of the fame name 
 on its banks. From that port were alfo (hipped malabathrum, Gangetic 
 fpikenard, and pearls. Near the mouth of the Ganges he places an 
 ifland called Chryfe, the eaftern extremity of the world, and producing 
 the befl turtle-fhell in all the Indian ocean. And farther north, where 
 the fea terminates in the country of the Sina; f , he has a very great in- 
 land city called Thina, from which wool, (perhaps the remarkably-fine 
 wool of Thibet) thread (which muft be filk in a raw or fpun ftate) and 
 filk fluffs J, were carried over land through Badria as far as Barygaza. 
 But in his attempt to defcribe the fituation of Thina, the route of the 
 trade from it, the inhabitants, and their manner of obtaining three 
 kinds of malabathrum from offall leaves left behind them by a neigh- 
 bouring favage nation, he is confuted and embar railed, at which we 
 need not wonder, confidering how very far it was beyond the utmoft 
 limits of Grecian voyages or travels. 
 
 I have now finiflied my extracts from the very valuable Periplus of 
 the Erythrcean fea, which has never yet received the fame due to its lin- 
 gular merit : a negled: perhaps owing in fome degree to the fmall fize 
 of the book, but probably more to the abfence of battles and llaughters 
 init§. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the fubjeds of Rome, in all their eager- 
 nefs for purchafing fpices and other luxuries, appear to have known no- 
 thing as yet of nutmegs and cloves ||, and fcarcely any thing of mace ^ ; 
 and that cinnamon and fugar were hitherto imported by the Greek 
 
 * ' avSoKEs a/ ^i»(p<i^iiraTxi, ou ruyyirtx.xi MycyA' tleman poffefTing, along with claflical learning, a 
 
 v«ii' at once a noble telUmony of the long-tlla- competent knowlege ot the languages, topogra- 
 
 bhnicd charafter of the Bengal muilins, and of the phy, navigati.in, and trade, of the countries be- 
 
 vcracity of the Periplus. tween the Red lea and Ceylon, affilhd by a good 
 
 f Quere, if the Chinele ? — or Siam : — or Pegu, manufcript to correct iome errors of tranlcribers 
 
 antiently called Cheeu, as we learn from the Ayecn in numbers, points of the com.pafs, anJ. omiffioas, 
 
 Akhtry, V. i, p. 7. The editions of Blancard and it would be a very great aequilitiou to literature in 
 
 Stuckius, and the Italian tranflation of Ramutlo, general. The edition of the Periplus by Stuckius, 
 
 vary in the names of this nation or city ; and uu- with a multitude of pedantic and trifling notes, is 
 
 fortunately we know of no manufcript to appeal no exception to what I have faid in the text : nei- 
 
 to. ther does Dodwell's profulion of erudition throw 
 
 J ' Oiiiiit TO c-^uiat.' — O()o«o» is properly linen much light even upon the itra ot it, the principal 
 
 cloth, but I liave tranflated it calico, when applied objecl of his diflertation. 
 
 to Indian manufactures ; and with the addition of || Pliny [Z/. xii, c. 73 has an Indian fruit called 
 
 mjixa* (fliken) we can fcarcely conceive it to be gariophyllon, like a pepper-coin, but larger und 
 
 any other than ulken Huff. more brittle, which was imported for the lake of 
 
 J If an edition of the Periplus, with proper il- the fcent. This deiciiptiou is very unlike cloves, 
 luftrative accompaniments, were executed by a gen- «j[ Sec aboxe, p. 161, note J.. 4
 
 174 A. D. 73- 
 
 traders, not directly from India, but through the medium of the mer- 
 chants of Arabia or the eaft coafl of Africa. Could the Greek mer- 
 chants, who frequented the ports of India, pofTibly be ignoi-ant that 
 thofe articles were to be had in the greatefl perfedion in that country, 
 -when Alexander's officers knew that cinnamon, fpikenard, and other 
 aromatics, were produced in the fouth parts of it ? \_Strabo, L. xv, 
 p. 1018.] 
 
 We may be well affured that the demand throughout the wide extent 
 of the Roman empire, and, what ^as in a great meafure a confequence 
 of that, the demand in the Oriental regions, made the manufactures of 
 Egypt more flouriflaing at this time than they ever were in any former 
 age, and that they continued to profper while the Oriental commerce 
 continued to flow in a full tide, which it probably did as long as the 
 empire retained its vigour *. 
 
 Of all the merchandize imported into Egypt by the Red fea, the 
 greatefl: part was re-iliipped at the bufy port of Alexandria for the vari- 
 ous fhores of the Mediterranean ; and a great proportion of the whole, 
 as they confifled mofl;ly of articles of luxury, went to the imperial city, 
 where, for one infl^ance, cinnamon and calia were to be found in fuch 
 abundance, that Nero is faid to have confumed more than a whole 
 year's growth of them at the funeral of his wife Poppaea, or in embalm- 
 ing her f. [P//«. L. xii, c. 18 — T'ac. Ann. L. xvi, c. 6.] 
 
 The natives of India, deriving all the neceflaries and enjoyments of 
 life from their fertile foil and their own indufl:ry, cared very little for 
 the productions of the Wefl:. The Grecian merchants were therefor 
 obliged to lay in their cargoes chiefly with money ; and we are told by 
 Pliny, [L. vi, c. 23] that, at the loweft computation, five hundred fef- 
 tertia (reckoned by Arbuthnot [p. 193] eqtial to ^403,645 : 16 : 8 of 
 modern fl;erling money) were every year fent out of the Roman empire 
 to India in payment for goods, which were fold in Rome at an advance 
 of an hundred for one J. But that muft; furely be a mifl;ake, as we 
 have no reafon to believe that there was any monopoly in Alexandria 
 or Rome, or that there could be a combination of the fellers in either 
 place iufficiently powerful to command Tale at fuch enormous prices. 
 
 Nor were the natives of India the only foreigners, who received a 
 
 1 
 
 * Wc fliall have an opportunity of ffcing the And we even fiiul many kinds of Oriental fpices 
 
 decHnin^ Hate of the Oriental trade in the lixth and perfumes mentioned in the comedies of Plau- 
 
 ccntury, when tlic Roman world was reduced to tus, who died aliovc a century before Sylla. 
 the empire of Conllantinople. J ' Merces [Indicx] quit apud nos centupli- 
 
 f Before the Romans liad obtained the fove- cato vencant.' — In the improved edition of ffar- 
 
 rcignty of Egypt, and when t)ie commerce of that rii's Vcfai;t!, V. \, p. 431, tlie author has reduced 
 
 country witli Arabia may be fuppofed to have this munftrous and incredible advance to cent per 
 
 been in a declining Hate, prodigious quantities of cent, which I iuppofe would not be fufficient to 
 
 friinkincenfe, _iiinamon, and other Ipiccs, were con- cover the heavy charges upon the complex convey- 
 
 funied at the funeral of Sylla, [_Plii/. in Fila 6j7/.rj ance from India to Rome, 
 about a century and a half before that of Poppwu.
 
 A. D. 73. ^75- 
 
 large balance in money from the Roman empire. The fouthern Arab- 
 ians, notwithftanding the deftrudion of the city of Arabia Fehx, appar- 
 ently the principal leat of their commerce, ftill preferved a commercial 
 rank, wherein, if they were in any refped inferior to the merchants of 
 Alexandria*, it was entirely owing to the treafure of fo large a portion 
 of the world being in the hands of the Romans, and fo confiderable a 
 part of it being conveyed to that city to pay for the corn and other pro- 
 dudions of the fertile foil of Egypr, and the luxuries of theEafl:, for the 
 later of which a confiderable part of the Roman wealth found its way 
 into the hands of the Arabian merchants, the money annually paid to 
 them and the Seres f being together eftimated equal to that remitted to 
 India. Pliny feverely reprehends fo vafl an expenditure (the whole 
 amounting to/^807,291 : 13 : 4 of our money) for articles of mere luxury 
 and female vanity : [P/in. L. xii, c. 18, — and fee "Tac. Ann. L. iii, c. 53] 
 and it mud be acknowleged, that, as mofl of the merchandize import- 
 ed from the Eaft very juflly came under that defcription, as there were 
 no raw materials for manufaflures, except fome iron and fteel, and a fmall 
 quantity of the very extravagant article of raw filk, and as there could 
 fcarcely be any re-exportation to foreign territories, the trade was un- 
 doubtedly prejudicial not only in a moral view, but alfo upon the prin- 
 cijjle of gold and filver being the mofl valuable poffefTions. 
 
 But gold and filver being valuable to their poireflbrs, merely as they 
 enable them to obtain whatever they need or defire, thole, who pofleff- 
 ed redundant maffes of the pretious metals, might think diamonds and 
 pearls more valuable, and therefore defire to have them in exchange for 
 their fuperfiuous money. Thofe trinkets, though of no real value, were 
 very durable, and nothing the worfe for being ufed, or exhibited. But 
 filk, though liable to be deftroyed by accident, and certain to be worn 
 out by ufing, being fupplied very fparingly from the Eaft, ftill kept up 
 fo extravagant a price, that it was cuiiomary to decompofe the moft ex- 
 penfive kind, called the Aflyrian bombycina %, untwift the threads, there- 
 by reducing the fiuff to a raw material, and then re-fpin it very fmall 
 and re-weave it of fo thin a fabric (probably like the modern flight filks 
 called perfians) that it was too tranfparent to conceal what was under it. 
 
 * The judicious reader, who has attended to \ Ph'iiy fays, [L. xi, c. 22] that it was made of 
 
 the anicles of import and expoit in the trade of filk produced by filk-worms (^omi'jcw) nativesofAf- 
 
 the Egyptian Greeks with Arabia, Afiica, and fyria. But he mufl affurcdly have been misinformed ; . 
 
 India, mull have obferved feveral inftances of the and his Adyrian ii5/«ijr/«a mud have been the ma- 
 
 fuperior tomir.ercial knowlege of the Arabian nufatture of a more dillant eountry, procured by 
 
 merchants. But the Greeks were probably fupe- the a'^ency of the Affyrians : for we fliall after- 
 
 rior to them in the extent of their deahngs. wards fee, that two Perfian monks clandcllinely 
 
 f Perliaps the money paid to the Seres, in Pli- brought the eggs of the filk-worm from the couu- 
 
 iiy's eftimate, was diilincl from that paid for Seric try of the Seres to the Roman emperor at Con- 
 
 mcrchandizc in the ports of India, and was the ftantinople, which would not have been neceflary, . 
 
 coll of the goods carried through the heart of Afia if the genuine filk-worms had already been in Af- 
 
 by caravans and inland navigation to the Euxine fyiia, a province on the confines gf the Romau and 
 
 fea. See above, p. 141. Perfian empires.
 
 17^ 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 [PUn. L. vi, c. ij ; L. xi, c. 22.] For upwards of a century the moralifls 
 and fatyrifts of Rome had execrated and ridiculed the indecent expofure 
 of the perfon by fuch gowns of glafs, fuch tranfparent clothing, ' if in- 
 deed it might be called clothing,' fays Seneca, ' when a woman drefled 
 ' in it could fcarcely fweai- that fhe was not naked ;' and yet it ftill kept 
 its ground *. 
 
 There was another kind of filk of an inferior quality, faid to be pro- 
 duced by a fpecies of filk worms in the ifland of Cos, which fome of the 
 fine gentlemen of Rome wore in fummer, though the ufe of fuch effe- 
 minate drefs was difapproved by the graver people, and had adually 
 been forbidden by the fenate in the reign of Tiberius. [P/in. L. xi, 
 
 c. 23 'Tac. ylnn. L. ii, c. 32, where, however it is called Jericum.'\ But 
 
 the Aflyrian homhycina was refigned to thofe ladies, who could afford to 
 purchafe it : and thofe, whofe fortunes were not equal to their vanity, 
 \^'oxe.fubfericum, a fabric of filk with a mixture of cheaper materials f , 
 in the ufe of which the men afterwards began to indulge %. 
 
 * If we may truft to the teftimony of Publtus 
 Syrus, a dramatic writer contemporar)' with Julius 
 Casfar, and after him Varro, TlbuUus, Propertius, 
 Horace, Seneca, Ph'iiy, and Juvenal, fome of the 
 T^oman ladies really did wear drefTes fo exceffively 
 thin, that their llvins adlually appeared through 
 tiicm : and that could fcarcely be an idle ground- 
 lefs tale, (like the modern news-paper (lories of 
 naked ladies in the llreets of London) which was 
 kept up 130 years. We mult fuppofe from thofe 
 authors, that the Roman ladies had no other 
 clothing under their thin (llks. Certainly a modern 
 lady, drefled in a gown of miiflin, which is fufii- 
 ciently tranfparent, would abftvaft little or nothing, 
 cither from the warmth or the chaftity of lier drefs, 
 by divcfting herfelf entirely of her gown. 
 
 •j- I am not certain, that ih'ifulferkum was in ufe 
 fo early as this time. 
 
 J Commentators have frequently confoimded 
 the ly^mum, the bombycina, and \.\\e fer'uum, of the 
 antienls. Some have fuppofed the hjffiiium a cot- 
 ton ftufF; fome make it tlic fame with iheftricum; 
 and others, a very fme linen. It was made from a 
 plant called byjfus, which grew in Egypt, Judaea, 
 India, and Elis, the only diilridl of Greece which 
 produced it. \^E%fLtel, c. 27 in Jerom'i tranjlalion. 
 — P iiifinn.is in Etiaiis L. i.] From the fcvcral de- 
 fcrij)tions of byffus by Paufanias, [;'« Ellac. et in 
 Achaiac.'\ from its growing in Eg'ypt, which has 
 in all ages been famous for the fuperior quality of 
 its flax, and from the certainty that the Greeks 
 had neither cotton nor filk, we may be alnioll af- 
 furcd that it was a very line kind of flux ; and, if 
 ncctfiary, we nsay add the pufnive aflevtion of Ifi- 
 dore, [Orig. L. xix, c. 27] that it was an exceed- 
 ing white and foft kind of flax ; tiiough, like a 
 carelefs comjiilLr, lie elfe where calls bylJus coaife 
 flax. Conftquently the byjjinum mull have been 
 
 a very fine flaxen fabric, probably like the modern 
 cambric. Herodotus [Z. ii, c. 86] fays, the dead 
 bodies of the rich in Egypt, after being embalmed, 
 were wrapt in bandages oi bvffinejiinlon (' e-ji'?«o; 
 6u(ri7i»)5'), which could fcarcely be any other than 
 fine hnen made of byjjus, and the fame with the fine 
 Egyptian JinJun mentioned by Julius Pollux \_L. 
 vii, c. 17] and Clemens of Alexandria. [5//-s;n. i.] 
 Of the byflTus there was alfo made a fine kind of 
 net-work, perhaps like the modern lace, by the 
 manufafture of which, and of the fine byfiine cloth, 
 many women in Achaia, the diftridl next to Elis, 
 fupporttd thcmfelves. [Paufan. in Achiiic.'\ Pliny 
 fays, [i. xix, r. i j that the ladies were veiy fond 
 of lyjfinum, and uled to buy it for its weight in 
 gold, which, I believe, would not even now be a 
 very extravagant price for lace or the fineil cam- 
 bric. The Itrange defcription of I'vffiis produced 
 from trees, and worn by the iupcrioi ranks on the 
 banks of the River Indus, while the reil of the 
 people wore linen, given by Philollratus in his Life 
 of J4pollonius, need not be minded, as his work is 
 not hi(lor)' but romance. — There was another plant 
 called amor^is (from Aniorgu?, an ifland of the 
 uEgrcan fca, where it grew) apparently a fpecies 
 of flax (till finer than the byffiis, for which, and the 
 ihiff" made of it, with the authorities, fee Bochiirl, 
 Cenf^. fdcr. col. :^-\^. 
 
 1'lie bomhvcina was generally underftood to be 
 made from the threads fpun by an infeft called 
 bnmlyx. The fericum was fuppofed to be made 
 from wool, or from a woolly or downy fubllancc 
 found upon the leaves of trees, and it was alfo con- 
 founded with tlie homhydv.a, which came nearer to 
 the truth, the name 01 I'v^yiinn being evidently 
 derived from the animal i^: x.liofe fpoils the ftufi" 
 was made, ani firiciim, unqui llionably filkcn llufi^, 
 fiom the Seres, the people from whom it was got
 
 A, D. 73. 
 
 177 
 
 As a proper appendage to what has been faid of the commerce, pro- 
 duce, and manufaftures, of the Oriental countries, I annex a fpecimen 
 
 in a finiftied ftate, who long enjoyed a monopoly of 
 the pretious infeft producing the filk, and who 
 even now, by pofTeffing a better kind of filk-worms, 
 or of the mulberry trees wlierewith they are fed, 
 or by better management, and the experience of 
 thoufands of years, command the market for the 
 mod brilliant iilk. 
 
 Silk does not appear to have been known to 
 Homer, nor even to Herodotus, tliough he liim- 
 felf, and the Greeks of his age, liad much intcr- 
 courfe with the Egyptians, Phcenicians, and Per- 
 fians, opulent and luxurious nations, but who, per- 
 haps had not obtained any knowlege of it in his 
 time. Ariftotle, though the moil antient natu- 
 raliit extant, gives the bed account of the filk- 
 worm to be found in antiquity. He dtfcribes it 
 as a horned worm, which he calls bombyx, (a name 
 given by him to other infefts) and fays, that it 
 palTes through feveral transformations fn the courffe 
 of fix months, and that bombyhia is produced from 
 it. He adds, that fome women decompoftd the 
 bombyhia and le-fpun and rt-wove it, Pamphila, a 
 woman of Cos (an ifiand near the coaft of Caria) 
 being faid to have firft praftifcd that kind of weav- 
 ing. \_Hijl. anhn. L. v, c. 19.] He fays nothing 
 of the native country of the bombyx. — Pliny, 
 though he makes AfTyiia the native country of the 
 lombyx, from the ivcb of which the bumhycina was 
 made, tranfplants Pamphila, and her manufaiSure 
 of a delicate clothing for women, to Ceos, an ifland 
 on the oppofite fide of the iEgo^an fea near the coaft 
 of Attica, being apparently milled by Varro ; and 
 he immediately adds, that the bombyx was alfo ri- 
 porled to be a native of the ifland of Cos. He 
 elfevvhere fays, that the llufF (he never ufes the 
 word ferlcum) which the women of Rome undid 
 and wove anew, was made from a white woolly or 
 downy fubftance, coinbed by the Seres from the 
 leaves of trees, which were different from the 
 wool-bearing trees (cotton) of the ifland of Tylos 
 iii the Perfian gulf, and that the drapery (of that 
 kind) v.'as imported liom the Seres, along witii 
 their excellent iron, and furs or fliins. 1 have now 
 extrafted the fubftance of all that Pliny has 
 throughout his great work [L. iv, ,;. iz ; vi, 17 ; 
 xi, 22, 23 ; xii, 10; xxxiv, i^] any way con- 
 iiefted witli filk-worms or filk. — Moft of the other 
 writers afttr Ariftotle, particularly Nearchus, Ari- 
 ftobulus, Theophraftus, Virgil, (who has mifledhis 
 commentator Servius, and others) Dionyfius Perie- 
 getes, Mela, Seneca, Arrian, Rolinus, Ammianus 
 Marcellinus, Claudlan, Jerom, See. including a peri- 
 od of nine centuries, fuppofed that/JnVK/H was made 
 from fleeces growing upon trees, from the barks of 
 trees, or from flowers, and, with the confufion of 
 ideas, which is a necefTary confequence of attempt- 
 ing to defcribe what they did not know, mingling 
 I'.'hat they had heard of lllk-worms feeding on the 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 leaves of trees, of cotton growing on treet, of flax, 
 and of the coir, or inner rind, of the coco-nut, in an 
 unintelligible jumble. And Ifidorus biftrop of Hif- 
 palis in Spain, though he lived a century after the 
 introdudlion of fdk-worms and the manufafture of 
 {ilk in Greece, was as ignorant as any of them, and 
 fervilely copied Pliny. [0;-4'./,. xix, a. 17,22,27.] 
 So tardy was the progrefs of information, even to 
 learned men in public ftations, in thofe ages. But, 
 what is more furprifing, Harrifon, wlio may be 
 called a modern author, has perverted the words of 
 Dionyfius Periegetes, defcribing the maiiufafturc 
 of the Seres, which, he fays was fpun finer than 
 the work of the fpider, to yarn made of the luocl 
 of Britain, a country at the oppofite extremity of 
 the earth. \_Dionys. v. 757. — Defcriplion of Bri- 
 tain prefixed to Hohri/lied's Chronicle, V. i, p. 221, 
 ed. 1586.] 
 
 But whatever doubts or errors the autliors, who 
 wrote before filk-worms were brought to Europe, 
 might fall into, it was clearly afcertained that filk, 
 fericum, or Median drapery, was made of the flcnd- 
 er threads (fttrctl<x) fpun by worms in tlie country 
 of the Seres, by Procopitts, Gothic. L. iv, c. 17 — 
 TheophiladiSimocatta: Hiji .L.^\\\,c . g,andtheextraft 
 in Photii. Bibl.p. 93 — Theophancs in Pljulii Bibl. p. 
 79 — Suidas, "vo. Sh^e;, Sh^ocji — Zonaras, V. iii. p. 
 50, ed. Baftl. 1557 — And by all the writers of tlie 
 middle ages, who have occafion to mention filk, 
 and efpecially Otho Frifingenfis \_GeJl. Friderici I, 
 ap. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 66S] when relating 
 the tranfportation of the filk- weavers (' opifices qui 
 fericos pannos icxcre folent') from Greece, the on- 
 ly Chriftian country where the manufsfture was 
 known, to Sicily. Suidas, in particular, fays ex- 
 prefsly, \.\\M. fericum, called by fome wf/a.va, is pro- 
 duced by a worm in the country of the Seres, and 
 therefor the ftuff made of the metaxa which was 
 formerly called Median, was afterwards called _/}/■;- 
 cum. — With fo many pofitive evidences before 
 them, it is really furprifing, that any doubt con- 
 cerning the application of thofe names fhould have 
 exifted among the learned of modern times. 
 
 With ref[)eft to the filk reported to have been 
 produced in Cos, not Ceos, it muft have been of a 
 very bad quality, or in very minute quantities, if 
 the women, polTeffing it, would fubmit to the te- 
 dious and laborious operation of making raw ma- 
 terials out of foreign finiftied goods for their own 
 manufafture. But it feems to be a miftake to fay, 
 that there were any filk-worms, or bombyces, in 
 that ifland : and it may be prefumed, that what- 
 ever manufafture of filk-goods was cariicd on 
 there, was, Uke thofe of Tyre and Berytiis (to be 
 mentioned afterwards), fupplied with raw-filk im- 
 ported from the Eaft, which may be luppofed of a 
 quality inferior to that retained by the original pro- 
 prietors for their own mannfafture, and thence the 
 
 different
 
 178 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 of the prices of feveral Oriental commodities in Roman ^ew^zm and their 
 tenth parts, called ajfes, and alfo in modern pounds, {hillings, and pence, 
 fterling *, as they were fold about this time in Rome by the Roman 
 pound, equal to twelve ounces of our avoirdupois weight f . 
 
 
 Roman. | 
 
 
 Britilh. 1 
 
 
 Roman. | 
 
 
 Britifli. 
 
 
 d. 
 
 a. 
 
 £• 
 
 J*. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 d 
 
 a. 
 
 £• 
 
 s. d ■ 
 
 Sandarak 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Long pepper 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 8t 
 
 Cinnabar - 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 White pepper 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 H 
 
 Ladanum, the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Black pepper 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 7 
 
 beft 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 Coftus 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 4 
 
 Bdellium, ge- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Indian fpike 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 nuine 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 "t 
 
 nard from 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 4i 
 
 Myrh, from 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 41 
 
 to 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 7 
 
 to 
 
 22 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 2i 
 
 Cinnamon 
 
 
 
 
 
 Stade, tears of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 wood 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 II 
 
 myrh, from 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10^ 
 
 Cinnamon oil, 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 3i 
 
 formerly i 
 
 ,000 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 5 10 
 
 Frankincenfe, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 now X I 
 
 ,500 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 8 9 
 
 from 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Oy 
 
 Malabathrum, 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 from 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 Ginger, 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10^ 
 
 to 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 13 9 
 
 Cardamomum, 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 Malabathrum 
 
 
 
 
 
 Myrobalans, 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 3? 
 
 oil 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 18 9 
 
 Storax, the beft 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 3t 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 As the nautical fcience of the Greeks and Romans, or, to fpeak more 
 rbrredlly, of the Egyptian Greeks fubjedl to Rome, was probably now 
 brought to its higheft degree of improvement, I have thought this a 
 proper place to throw together a few detached hints of the naval affairs 
 of the Roman empire in thefe ages. 
 
 The Romans were apparently the moft awkward feamen in their own 
 empire ; and they knew nothing of the tides, or of the management of 
 vefl'els in the Ocean, as is evident from the damage fuftered by Caefar's 
 
 oJfFtrent eftimation of the Coan and Oriental fa- 
 brics at Rome: for wt are alTurcd Ly Theophaiies 
 and Zoiiaras, tliat, before filk-worms were brought 
 to Coiillantiiiople in the middle of the fi.\th cen- 
 tury, no perfon in that capital knew that filk was 
 produced by a worm ; a pretty (Irong evidence tliat 
 jhcrc were 110 filk worms of any kind in an ifland 
 lo near to Conltantinople as Co-; is. 
 
 * The Roman ilcnarlus is rated at fevcn pence 
 three larlhingi Iterling, reckoning the ounce of 
 Uandard fi'ver at five rtiillings. Sec Arluthnut' s 
 Tallcs,p. ij. 
 
 f ; V 11 the articles are cxtraf^cd from the great 
 thtfauius of Pliny ; and all, except the two fifft. 
 
 from his twelfth book. Moft of them are alfo in- 
 ferted in Arbuthnot's ninth cliapter. But the 
 doftor's copy of Pliny mull have differed very 
 nuich from my two, which I find agree exatllv in 
 all the numbers. 
 
 \ Tile price was fo high as 1,000 denarii In con- 
 fequence of the article being nionopoli/ed by the 
 king of the Gebanites (or Catabcni j : and the (Hl'» 
 higlier price was occafioned by the trees being wi!^ 
 fully burnt down. Pliny has nowhere given uj 
 the price of the bark of cinnamon, the n oft pretl. 
 0U8 part ; but we may judge of it from the i)r!( c 
 of the wood : or -Qu. did he call the bark wood i
 
 A. D. 73* 179 
 
 fleet on the coaft of Britain, and the wreck of that of Drufus on the 
 coaft of Germany. What Uttle nautical knowlege they had was merely 
 fubfervient to the purpofes of war : for com.merce, as beneath tlie dig- 
 nity of the conquerors of the world, was abandoned to their fubjects of 
 Gadir, New Carthage, Maflilia, Rhodes, Phoenicia, Egypt, &c. Their 
 own veflels were of two kinds, the one adapted for battle, and the other 
 for tranfporting their armies. Their fhips intended for battle, though 
 they carried feveral tires of oars, drew very little water *. They were 
 very long in proportion to their breadth ; and probably their bottoms 
 were fiat, or fo nearly fo, that they could be conveniently hauled up 
 upon the beach f , and their fides parallel to each other, being according 
 to the be ft judgement I can form of them, in the conftrudion of their 
 bodies, much more like the coal barges on the River Thames than fhips 
 fit to go upon fait water. They were called long fhips to diftinguilh them 
 from others, which, having their bottom timbers fomewhat rounded,, 
 and their fides bending in to the ftem and ftern-pofl, were called round 
 JhipsX' Their tranfports, or fliips of burthen, which Caefar calls great 
 fhips, and fays, they required (comparatively) deep water, drew in facl 
 fo little water, that the foldiers leaped over their fides, and walked 
 onfhore, as failors do from a fhip's long-boat. 
 
 The natives of Greece appear to have been even now but very indif- 
 ferent feamen. Polybius, about a century and a half before the Chriftian 
 »ra, had obferved, that in his time very few of them ventured fo far 
 from home as Byzantium ; a voyage not half fo long as that afcribed to 
 the Argonauts in the fabulous ages. If we may truft to the poetical 
 authority of Ovid, they ftill perfifted in the grofs ftupidity of preferring 
 the greater bear to the lefTer one as their mark for the north pole in the 
 enlightened age of Auguftus. And Lucian, contemporary with the 
 emperor Antoninus the Philofopher and his fon Commodus, reprefents 
 the whole city of Athens as flruck with, aftonifhment at the fight of a 
 very large fliip. It may be obferved, however, that moft of the names 
 ufed by the Roman writers to diftinguifh the different kind of velTels, 
 were received by them from the Greeks §. 
 
 * The Llbuniians decoyed their enemies, pro- out of the water required flat bottoms : and Lucf- 
 
 babty Romans, who were onboard a tn'remis, into an's fiction (in his "True hijlory) of his vefiel going 
 
 fiiallow water, which, by cronching down in it, upon the ice infers, that ihe could .land upright 
 
 they made to have the appearance iti 3, deep ica. without being I'upported by the water, and with- 
 
 (' alti marls'), wherein men's heads only could be out the additional keels given to the ice boats in 
 
 4ecn abos'c the water. The trtrtmis got aground, America. 
 
 and was taken. [_Frontini Stratii^anata, L. ii, c. % Some have fuppofed, that thofe veflels were 
 
 5.] How many feet, or rather how many inches, literally circular, or, in other words, that people 
 
 of water did this ihip of war require to float her \ went to fea in tubs. See a reprefentatiun of a 
 
 — Paulus Emilias went up the Tiber (which, if I round vefie] in the plate at p. 31. 
 am rightly infarracd, has fcarcely four feet of wa- J" A lift of the various kinds of veflels may be 
 
 ter) to Rome in a veflel ai fintccn tires of oars, found in Aulus Gellius. ^NoU. Att. L. x, c. 25. j 
 
 taken from the king of Macedonia. [Z/f/i Hiji. But as it only contains bare names, it would bs 
 
 L. xlv, c. 35.] ufekfs to tranfcribe it. 
 
 f The common praiSice of hauling their vctTtls 
 
 Z 2
 
 i8o A. D. 73. 
 
 The Greeks of Egypt were now by far the beft navigators of the 
 Roman empire, having apparently fucceeded to the nautical knowlege, 
 as well as to the commerce, of the Phcenicians : and they poflelFed the 
 important advantages, which the others fcarcely ever had, of a free na- 
 vigation in the Oriental feas as well as in the Mediterranean, and of 
 having a conflant, great, and ready, market for their merchandize in 
 the wealthy capital of the Roman world. Their induftry and ingenuity, 
 thus cheriflied and encouraged, were further ftimulated by the example 
 of the Arabians, as far as we know, the oldell, and apparently the beft, 
 navigators upon the Indian ocean, or Erythraean fea, with whom they had 
 much intercourfe. And we may prefume, that they had acquired a con- 
 fiderable degree of proficiency in the theory and pradice of navigation 
 by the aflbciation of great numbers of Phoenician feamen, who, on the 
 decline of trade in their own ports, would undoubtedly refort to Alex- 
 andria : for feamen are a clafs of people, who feel lefs inconvenience in 
 expatriating themfelves than thoie of any other profeflion ; and they 
 muft ever follow the footfteps of commerce, with which they are fo 
 clofely and fo infeparably conneded. As to the natives of the old 
 Egyptian race, they do not appear in any age to have had the fmalleft 
 concern in maritime affairs or a6tive foreign commerce. 
 
 The antient feamen trufted chiefly to their oars for making way, nei- 
 ther the hulls of their veflels nor their fails being calculated for going 
 to windward : and thence, as the motion of the veflel through the water 
 was pretty uniform, we find the diftances of places generally noted by 
 fo many days' courfes, a kind of menfuration, which, however prepofter- 
 ous it would be in modern times, was then tolerably accurate, efpecial- 
 ly when applied to paflages which had been often repeated. When the 
 wind was fair, they hoifted their fails, which appear from medals and 
 fculptures, the only kinds of information we poifefs, to have been very 
 imall, and went before it. And they alfo knew how to trim their fails 
 by ropes anfwering apparently to the Iheets and tacks, and perhaps alfo 
 to the braces, in modern veflels, fo as to avail themfelves of any wind, 
 which was not before the beam, as we find antient authors mention vef- 
 fels going oppofite courfes with the fame wind when moderate*, or, in 
 modern fea language, failing with the wind upon the beam f . In 
 the runs between the Red fea and the coaft of India they never had the 
 
 * ' The wind Argeftes (about we(l-nortli-\ve(l) oars; and alfo with v. 289, where the fail is 
 
 *• is gcntlf, and equally coiivcni<^nt for goin^ and fqiiared by the tacks or flitcts, (' Una onincs fe- 
 
 ' returning.' [AVrtcr. ^irjl. vat. L. v, c. 16.] ' cere pedeni' wliich word Servius explains as 
 
 + Compare Pliny, L. ii, c. 47, where ' prolalis meaning the rope, by whieh the fail is llretched 
 
 ' (jcdibus' ftcms to mean />au/ing fofzvarJ t/je tacit, out) and one of the /ifly yard-arms ir- hauled in^ 
 
 with Virgil, JEnrid. I,, v, v. 16, where the wind while the ollu-r is eafed off, which could only be 
 
 being northerly when the Trojans arc bound from done by braces ; the oars are laid in ; the rowers 
 
 Carthage to I.aly, but firll to make Sicily, the gone to deep on their benches ; and the fleet if^ 
 
 tliU. are trimmed to the wind, aud helped by the gliding through the water before a pleafanthrcc/''.
 
 A. D. 73, 181 
 
 monfoons right aft ; and fometimes they mufl have had them almoft 
 barely upon the beam. 
 
 The maritime part of the Itinerary of Antoninus, which was com- 
 piled by imperial authority, feemingly not long after this time, gives us 
 a good pidure of the timid practice of the Mediterranean feamen in 
 creeping into almoft every bay on the coaft. It begins with diredling 
 what ports are to be touched at in making a paflage from Achaia in 
 Greece to Africa, of which there are no fewer than twenty, and fome ot 
 them at the heads of bays on the coafts of Greece, Epirus, Italy, within 
 the Sicilian Jiraits as far as Mcffana, then along the eaft and fouth fides of 
 Sicily to the weft point of it, whence to the Maritime ifland, and from 
 it a long run, rated at nine hundred ftadia (about ninety miles) to the 
 coaft of Africa. 
 
 Though the general practice was to keep clofe to the fhore, or at leaft 
 to have it conftantly in fight, yet, as they were fure of an extenfive 
 range of coaft for their land-fall, they fometimes ventured to depart 
 from that dilatory and dangerous timidity, when they could depend 
 upon a fair wind by the regular return of the etefians in the Mediter-- 
 ranean, or the monfoons in the Indian ocean. We have feveral inftan- 
 ces of what they called the co?npendious paffage, among which I ftiall in- 
 ftance the following runs to Alexandria. Agrippa went from Rome to 
 Puteoli, where he found a veflel belonging to Alexandria ready to fail, 
 and he arrived in that port in a few days, [fofeph. Antiq. L. xviii, c. 8.] 
 Galerius was conveyed to Alexandria in the feventh, and Babilius in the 
 fixth, day from the Sicilian ftraits. \_PHn. L. xix,/>/-o^OT.] Thefe might 
 be reckoned pretty good paffages even in modern times *. 
 
 In the Mediterranean, during the winter, mild as it is in that fea-, 
 and ftaort as the nights are, compared with thofe of our more northern 
 climate, all navigation was fufpended, as well now as in the. age of the 
 antient Greek poet Hefiod, unlefs upon fome very extraordinary and 
 urgent occafions, or when avarice, as Pliny fays, overcame that cautious 
 regulation. Even the Phcenicians ufually finiftied their voyages for 
 the year about the end of autumn, and laid up their veflels during 
 the winter. \_ASs of the apoftles, cc. 27, 28. — Flin. L. ii, c. 47. — Sueton. in 
 Claud, c. 18. — Veget. L.iv,c. 39. — Lticiaui Dial. 'Toxaiis.'] We muft, 
 however, remember, that the owners of veflels or goods had not the op- 
 portunity of guarding againft the ruinous confequences of fliipwreck, , 
 by paying a moderate premium of infurance f: and, indeed, the fame 
 
 * Piiny [i- XV, c. i8] tells a ftory of the fire- Cato's aflertion mutl have been falfe with refpedl 
 
 brand Cato, ' burning with deadly hatred to Car- to the time, the paffage to Rome being at Icait 500 
 
 • thage,' fliowing a fig to the Roma.i fenate, miles, which alone was more than fufficicnt to take 
 
 which, he faid, had been pulled only three days up three days. 
 
 before at Carthage, as an argument againft per- f It has been fuppofcd, that infurance upon vef- 
 
 njitting- a powerful city fo near them to exill ; and fels was introduced by the emperor Claudius, but ■ 
 
 ht adds, with fome flowers of rhetoric, th.it that without any authority, as 1 have already obfervid.. 
 
 fingle apple (he makes figs a fpecies of apple) was p. i^ i note, 
 -ihe. caufe of the de(lru'''\ion of Carthage. But
 
 •i82 A. D. 75. 
 
 caution, and even legal reftridions againft winter navigations, have 
 continued in late ages. 
 
 As their coafting navigation neceflarily brought them among fhoals 
 and rocks, it was often neceflary to pafs the whole night lying at anchor. 
 But in crofling well-known bays, or in making a run to the oppofite 
 fide of the Mediterranean, they often ventured to proceed in the night- 
 time, {leering their courfe by the ftars, of which they had more know- 
 lege than is to be found among the untaught part of our modern fea- 
 men, vvhofe compafs diredls their courfe in the darkeft nights with cer- 
 tainty and confidence. 
 
 The navigators of the Erythraean fea were probably fuperior to thofe, 
 who confined their practice to the Mediterranean. We know that they 
 failed in the night, even in their coafting voyages along the African 
 fhore * : and we have at leaft one inftance of great knowlege of the 
 theory of the tides, of the knowlege of the polar ftar, of the nature of 
 the fpring tides, and even the difference of night tides, of the indica- 
 tions of the approach to land, and of the pilotage of the various har- 
 bours, in that judicious merchant and navigator, who wrote the Periplus 
 of the Erythrsean fea. 
 
 They liill preferred fir, and other timber of a fimilar nature, as the 
 Greeks did in the age of Theophraftus, for building their veflels, which 
 they bolted with brafs in preference to iron. They covered the bot- 
 toms with wax, which was at leaft fometimes mixed with pitch. [Theo- 
 phrajl. L. v, c. 8 — Flin. L. xvi, cc, 10, 12. — Artiani Teripl. Font. Eux. 
 p. 117, ed. Blancardi. — Veget. de re mil. L. iv, c. 34.] An inftance of ex- 
 traordinary attention to the prefervation of the bottom appeared in a 
 veflx;!, laid to have belonged to Trajan, which was dug up in the fifteenth 
 century from the Lake Nemorefe, or Lake of Aricia. It was doubly 
 planked with pine and cyprefs, over which there was a coat of pitch, to 
 which a covering of linen was faftened, and over all a ftieathing of flieet 
 lead (' chartam plumbeam') faftened with nails of brafs f. \_Leoms Bapt. 
 Alherti de re adificatoria L. v, c, 12.] 
 
 The mafts and yards were made of fir on account of its lightnefs. 
 [Plin. L. xvi,t:. 39.] The ufe of three mafts, introduced by Archimedes 
 in Hiero's great fliip, [fee above, p. 98J does not appear to have become 
 general ; for I find but one inftance (in Julius Pollux) of a ftiip of three 
 
 • Marinus, as quoted by Ptolemy [/-. i, c. 7] be admitted as very fuffitient evidence of their 
 
 quotes Diodoriis Saniiiis, as faying, that the navi- iinftuinal navigation, though it is bUuidtrcd iu 
 
 jjators in tlie Indian ocean, when p;oing ftom In- palling throuc;li fo many hands; fornofeanianciuld 
 
 dia to Limyrica (which, however, is a part of In- be fo ignorant as to think, tliat the liars would 
 
 dia) kept the conlltllation called the Bull in the bear on the fame part of his veffel through the 
 
 middle of the fl:y, and the Pleiades upon the mid- whole night. 
 
 (lie of the yards ; and thofe who failed from f The French Kncyclopedic [a;V. Dculltigc des 
 
 Arabia for Azania on tlic eafl coaft of Africa vaijfiau.v] has Girfi pitch, and nail? < f cc/>^a-, in- 
 
 Heercd by the liar Canopus. This account may (lead of Wacif pitch and nails of /r./jr.
 
 A. D. 73- i^3 
 
 niaf>s. belonging to Antigonus, which was remarkable on that account ; 
 a pr^^y pfood evidence that fuch vefTcls were uncommon. Even the 
 largeli vefiels feem to have had but one maft, and that fcarcely fo lofty 
 as the lower mafts of modern fhips, with the addition of poles fet up at 
 the head and ftern to carry fmall fails. Moft ot the mafts were raifed 
 and lowered occafionally, like thofe of modern fmall craft, which go 
 UT^der bridges. U'^rg. JEn. L. v, v. 287. — Frontiiii Stratag. L. ii, c. 5.] 
 But the Alexandrian fliips appear to have had proper (landing mafts. 
 
 Pliny fays [L. xix, procevi.'\ that in addition to the larger fails, of 
 which each veflel appears to have carried but one, and that, according 
 to our modern ideas of fails, a very fmall one, they had lately introduc- 
 ed othei"s above them, befides fails in the prow and others in the ftem * ; 
 * and by fo many ways did they challenge death.' The fails were made 
 of flax, and of a fabric much too flight for ftanding a gale of wind, if 
 we may judge from the fame names being applied to them, which ex- 
 prefled the kind of linen ufed for clothing. But we know, that the 
 large fliips of Alexandria (to be defcribed prefently) and alfo thofe of 
 the Veneti in Gaul (already defcribed, p. 115) carried fails made of 
 leather f . 
 
 The fails, beftdes their principal ufe in impelling the vefl!el by the 
 force of the wind, ferved alfo for fignals.and for diftinguifliingtheveflels 
 of a fleet, by means of the colours wherewith they were ftained. The 
 ftory of the fatal miftake in the colour of Thefeus's fail is known to every 
 fchool-boy. Various colours of the fails for diftinguifliing the divifions 
 of the fleet feem to have been introduced by Alexander the Great : and 
 we find Cleopatra's royal galley diftinguiflied by a purple fail in the fam- 
 ous battle of Allium. In the night time the veflels were dilHnguifli- 
 ed by lights : Scipio's own galley carried three lights, each tranfport, 
 
 two, and every warlike veflel in his fleet, one. {Plm. Hi/}. L. xix, c. i 
 
 Flori Hifi. L. iv, c. 11 Livii H'ljl. L. xxix, c. 25 — and fee Pclyani Stratag. 
 
 L. \i, c. II.] We learn from Procopius, that the fame diftindions by 
 fails and lights were ufed in the fleet of Belifarius in the fixth century, 
 and they appear to have continued through the middle ages, till the dif- 
 tinguifliing colour was removed from the fails to the flags fixed more 
 confpicuoufly on the heads of the mafts, or the ftern. 
 
 The gubernactilaX, or fteering paddles, of which each veflel carried 
 two §, had palms, or blades, much broader than thofe of the oars ; and 
 
 * There is an incredible ftory of a Roman (hip prcfentations, that they bore no refemblance to 
 
 intended to caMyJifty fails, already noticed, p. 83 modern rudders. 
 
 note. jj A learned commentator recommends the ufe 
 
 f Pliny has not a word of any kind of cloth be- of two rudders on the quarters of modern (hips — 
 
 Jug made of hemp, which, he only fays, [Z,. xix, becaufe the ftrcam of water paffing the (hip mufl 
 
 €. 9] is ufeful for making cordage ; though the be ftrongcr there than at the llern-poft.— Did he 
 
 Tliracians, as we learn from Herodotus, had made fuppofc a (hip formed like a chert ? The ve(rels of 
 
 cloth of hemp many ages before his time. his country, to-be-fuie, come nearer to that form 
 
 X Thefe are ufually tranflated rudders. But we than thofe of any other in Eiiope. 
 Biay be fatisfi«d from coins and other antient re-
 
 184 
 
 A. D. 73. 
 
 they feem to have been worked on the quarters much In the fame man ■ 
 ner that failors fometimes fleer a fmall boat with an oar *, except that 
 the handles were brought withm-board through little ports or pigeon- 
 holes, and that they were fixed by ropes, which during engagements 
 were fometimes cut afunder, or rendered unmanageable, by fkilful 
 divers going under the quarters. Befides the people of Tapbrobane, 
 already mentioned, [p. 148] the Suiones a German nation, the Byzant- 
 ines, and upon fome occafions the Romans, had vefTels, which fleered at 
 both ends, fo that, either end being the head, they never needed to go 
 about, [y^liani Hlft. var. L. ix, c. 40. — T'ac. Ann. L. ii, c. 6; Germ — 
 Veget. L. iv, c. 46. — Dion. Cajf. L. Ixxiv.] 
 
 Each vefTel carried two or more anchors, the largefl of which was 
 called the facred anchor, and, like the flieet anchor of modern feamen, 
 was referved for the greateft neceflity. Though the propriety of mak- 
 ing anchors of iron feems to be obvious, yet the old pradlice of making 
 them of fome weaker fubflance feems ftill to have been kept up. But 
 in the following age iron anchors became general f. 
 
 The vefTels employed in the corn trade between Egypt and Rome 
 were apparently the largefl: of any upon the Mediterranean fea, which 
 was perhaps a confequence of the corn bounty given by Tiberius. Two 
 of the three fliips, in which the apoftle Paul made his palTige from Judaea 
 to Italy, were of Alexandria ; and one of them carried two hundred and 
 feventy-fix people, befides her cargo of corn. It is probable, that the 
 vefTel, wherein Jofephus, the jewifli hiftorian, was call away on his pafT- 
 age to Rome, which carried fix hundred people, was alfo of Alexandria. 
 But thefe are nothing to the aftonifhing magnitude of the Ifis of 
 Alexandria, which, if the dimenfions of her, as defcribed by Lucian :{:, 
 in his dialogue called the Ship, be correal, mufl have meafured qhout four 
 
 * The coiTocorios of India, vvliicli were perhaps, Barak.e and Baiygaza. But iathe reign of Adrian 
 
 through the medium of the Arabians or Tyrlans, we lind, that the anchors were made of iron ; for 
 
 the models of the naval conflruftion ofthe Greeks, Arrlan, ia his Periplus of the Eiixine fea addrtfTed 
 
 are to this day fleered by two broad paddles; to that emperor, [/>. 120, ed. Blancarcl'i\ fays, 
 
 lSlavrjrinus''s yoyages, V. ii,/. ^cf) of Ev^iijh tran- that the people of Colchis pretended to polfcfs an 
 
 flaliorT] as was alio the galley wherein Captain Fo- anchor belonging to the (hip Argo, which, fava he, 
 
 reft made his voyage of difcovevy to New-Guinea, ' cannot be genuijic, l^fCiiiiF! it if mailc cf iron, 
 
 though he generally found one fufficient. ' though otherways fomewhat different from the 
 
 f I believe, no aniicnt author has told us, when ' anchors of our times.' He alfo faw at the fame 
 
 anchors were firll made of iron. In the early ages place the fragments of a very anticiit anchor made 
 
 of Mediterranean navigation the Phoenicians of Hone. — Now, of what material were the anchors 
 
 had anchors of wood loaded with lead. And of the Grecian vefTels in the Indian ocean eonipof- 
 
 in the ages now under confideration the Phcc- cd ? W^ere tliey of wood loaded with Hones, fuch 
 
 nicians, and alfo the Arabians, navigators at as arc flill ufcd inllead of graplings for fmall craft 
 
 leafl not inferior to the Pliucnicians, may be and boats in fome remote ])laces ? And were an- 
 
 prefumcd to have flill had their anchors of no chors of iron introduced fo late as between the age 
 
 better materials; feeing that the Egyptian Greeks, of the anihor of the Periplus of the Erythr;van fea 
 
 who had the example of both thofe maritime and that of Arrian, and t!ie pretcndedlyautient one 
 
 nations before their eyes, had anchors, which, ftiewn to Arrian, one of the firR rude edays ? 
 
 as wc learn from the Periplus of the Erythra:an % Though Luclan flouriflied in the later part of 
 
 Tea, were cut to pieces ami ground away by ihe the fecond century, his defcriptlon of the Ifis is in-' 
 
 .'^arp points of the rocky bottom in llie bays of fcrted here for the fake of connexion.
 
 A. D, 73, 185 
 
 thouf and tuns ^ or about twice the burthen of one of our firft-rate {hips of war. 
 As there is nowhere elfe fo complete a pidlure of an antient merchant 
 fhip, I have extraded the following defcription of this ftupendous vefTel, 
 with an account of her tedious paflage, wherein we have a good view of 
 the navigation of the beft of the Mediterranean feamen of thofe days. 
 
 Heron, the commander of the Ifis, failed from the Pharos of Alexan- 
 dria with a moderate breeze, and on the feventh day got fight of Aca- 
 mas, the weft point of Cyprus, where he met with a gale of wind from 
 the weft, which drove him out of his courfe as far as Sidon. Thence 
 he proceeded with a heavy gale through the channel between Cyprus 
 and the continent, and in ten days reached the Chelidonian iflands on 
 the coaft of Pamphylia, where there never fails to be a heavy fea when 
 the wind is at fouth-fouth-weft. There they were in great danger of 
 being loft, till feeing a hght upon the coaft of Lycia, they thereby knew 
 where they were : and at the fame time a bright ftar, one of the Diol- 
 curi (Caftor and Pollux), fettling upon the top (or maft-head) pointed 
 the way out to fea, when they were almoft aground. Thence failing 
 through the yEgjean fea, they put into the Pirseus, the port of Athens, 
 on the feventieth day after their departure from Egypt. Had they been 
 able to keep their proper courfe to the fouthward of Crete and the Pe- 
 loponnefus, they fliould have been in Italy long before that time. 
 
 One of the many Athenians, who went to gaze upon this wonderful 
 fhip, got the following account of her from her carpenter. She was one 
 hundred and twenty cubits (i 80 feet) long, her breadth above the fourth 
 part of her length, and her depth from the upper deck to the loweft 
 part of the hold at the pump-well, twenty-nine cubits *. The reft of the 
 defcription, which is without meafurement, is all in the language of ad- 
 miration at the prodigious maft and yard (no mention of more than one 
 of either) the number of hides over one another in the fail, a failor go- 
 ing up the ropes and running out to the yard-arm. Upon the upper 
 part of the ftern there was a golden figure of a goofe ; and where the 
 prow (or head) ftretched out, there was on each fide a figure of the 
 goddels Ifis. The ornaments, the paintings, the flame-coloured parafion 
 of the fail, the anchors, the engines for turning round (feemingly an- 
 fwerable to the winlafs and capftan in modern ftiips) and the lodging 
 rooms, or cabins, at the ftern, all ftruck the viiitors with aftonifhment, 
 who compared the number of people onboard her to an army. They 
 were moreover told, that her cargo of wheat would be fufficient to feed 
 all the people of Attica for a whole year, (but that muft be merely 
 failor's rodomontade) and that the annual profit made by her owner was 
 about twelve Attic talents, or ^2,325 fterlingf. 
 
 * Here the carpenter has exaggerated in what f Some farther notices concerning the (hipping 
 the flrangers could not fee, for the honour of his of the ?iitient Greeks and Romans mjy be found 
 {hip : and it is from this exaggerated dimenfion in Ifidort Orig. L. xis, cc I, 2, 3. — Non. Marcel, 
 that her burthen comes to ie about 4,000 tuns. J: proprktate fermonunt, c. 1 ^.—Fu/gcn/ius tk prij'co 
 
 Jermime. 
 
 Vol. I. A a
 
 1 86 A. D. 73. 
 
 If from the fubjeds of the Roman empire we pafs to the free nations 
 of the northern parts of Europe, we fhall find, indeed, very few materi- 
 als for naval hiftory, but thofe few very honourable to their nautical 
 knowlege and enterprife. Without the aid of afTured periodical fair 
 winds and fmooth water, without the certainty of a nightly anchorage, 
 or of a land-fall on the oppofite coaft of an inland fea, but trufting to 
 the appearance of the ftars, with probably the affiftancc derived from 
 the flight of birds carried with them for the purpofe*, they committed 
 themfelves to the boimdlefs and flormy Northern ocean, and held their 
 fearlefs courfe from Nerigon (luppofed to be Norway) to Thule ; [P//«. 
 L. iv, c. 16] which by the moft moderate and probable hypothefis was 
 Shetland. Thofe who mfift upon making it Iceland, lengthen the voy- 
 age, and exalt without, however, exaggerating, the fcience and intrepid- 
 ity, of the navigators of the North. The Suiones, a people of the Bal- 
 tic fea, are faid by Tacitus [Germania] to have had powerful fleets. Their 
 vefl^els, as already obferved, were conftruded fo as to reverfe their courfe 
 without the operation of going about ; and their oars were not fixed to 
 the row-ports, like thofe of the Mediterranean vefi'els, but loofe, and 
 ready to be fliifted or laid in, like thofe of modern boats. They made 
 no ufe of fails. - (See above, pp. 137, 184.) 
 
 77 — Pliny finifhed his great work, entitled Natural hijiory, in thirty- 
 feven books f. The firft fix, after the preliminary one, contain, in very 
 comprefled language, a complete fyftem of cofmography and geography, 
 as they were then underftood ; and the remaining thirty contain dc- 
 fcriptions of every article in the animal, vegetable, and mineral, clafi~es, 
 or kingdoms, and alfo all the works of art, together with fyftems of 
 agriculture and medicine ; the whole work containing, according to his 
 own prefatorv, or dedicatory, letter to the emperor Titus Vefpafian, twen- 
 ty thoufand things worthy of obfervation, extraded from about two 
 thoufand volumes, many of which were fcarcely ever read, even by the 
 lludious, and exhibiting a copious pidure of the univerfal fcience of the 
 age. This work, which has furniftied about half of the materials for the 
 view of the trade of the Roman world, and to which I have on fo many 
 other occafions been indebted, fully deferves the charader, given of it 
 by his nephew, of being ' copious, learned, and no lefs diverfified than 
 ' Nature herfelf ;' and it is undoubtedly one of the moil fignal monu- 
 ments of indefatigable induflry and univerfal knowlege that was ever 
 
 J'crmone. Put they were all mere gran^marians, f Though they are numbered, and quoted, as 
 
 who knew no more of the fubjitt, upon which they thirty-fcvcn books, they are in truth only thirty-fix, 
 
 have undertaken to inilrucl others, than what they wliat is called the fird book being merely a table 
 
 collciftcd from the old Roman poets and hlllorians, of contents, with catalogues of the authors cjuoted 
 
 ■who lived many centuries before them, and were or followed, who are niolUy Greeks. Winy him- 
 
 perhaps almofl as ignorant as thcmfclvet- Mar- felf calls them thirty-lix books. Hi« nephew how- 
 
 cellus fays, the yards are held fad by the anchors ! ever, in the enumeration of his finiflicd works, 
 
 * For the mcihod of lleering by the flight of icakcs them thirtyfeveii. 
 
 birds fee below under the year 890. 3
 
 A. D. 77. 187 
 
 produced by one man, and can be equaled by no other work, that ever 
 was produced in the world before the Encyclopedias of modern times, 
 which are compiled by the united labours of many colledors : and, what 
 is ftill more furprifing, it was but a part of many works compofed by 
 liim* before he completed the fifty-iixth year of a life, devoted not on- 
 ly to literature, but alfo to public bufmefs and ofRcial duties f . 
 
 When Pliny wrote, Rome was in its mofl flourifhing ftate under the 
 prudent and vigorous government of Vefpafian. Grecian literature was 
 highly efteemed, the fciences were afliduoufly cultivated, and the arts 
 were encouraged by men of liberal education and ample fortune. The 
 periods of the revolutions of the planets were known ; and the theory 
 of eclipfes was underftood, or at leafl: received from the tables conftrud- 
 ed by Hipparchus. The earth was known to be of a fpherical form ; 
 though its pofition was erroneoufly fixed in the center of the univerfe. 
 But even profefled geographers, Hipparchus alone excepted, had not yet 
 difcovered, that the application of latitude and longitude to the pofition 
 of places was the very life and foul of their fcience. [Strobo, L. ii, p. 
 194 B.] And the following furprifing inftancc of ignorance in one of 
 the befl-informed of the Romans gives room for a fufpicion, that what 
 they knew of the fyfiem of the univerfe was implicitly received from 
 more enlightened nations ; and not real fcience deduced from experi- 
 ments, and founded upon rational principles. An Egyptian obeliflc had 
 been fet up at Rome by Auguflius, with tables engraved on brafs, affix- 
 ed to it, containing rules for knowing the hours by the length of the 
 fliadow. For about thirty years before Pliny wrote, thefe rules had 
 been found erroneous ; which he, as great a philofopher as he was, en- 
 deavoured to account for by earthquakes, inundations of the river, the 
 earth having moved from its center, or even the fun itfelf having wan- 
 dered out of its place ; in fhort, by any thing rather than by the obvious 
 refledion, that there might have been an error in the original calcula- 
 tion of the tables. \_Hi/l. nat. L. xxxvi, c. 10.] 
 
 * Befides his finifhed works in one hundred and ftudy for youth, not lefs picafant, and Infinitely 
 
 two books, there were one hundred and fixty com- more ufeful, than the abfurdities, to call them ne 
 
 mon -place books of ftletlions, which he left to his worfe, of Ovid and Virgil. 
 
 nephew. Tiiey were written upon both fides of the -|- The firft eruption of Vefuvius, recorded In 
 
 paper, and very fiiiatl and clofe, lo that they were hillory, which deftroyed the cities of Herculaneum 
 
 not iuinjfome library books, nor, indeed, books at and Pompeii, was alfo fatal to Pliny, whofe curi- 
 
 all, but niaterlals for compofing from. Befoie ofity to examine tlie nature of that awful phaeno- 
 
 they became fo numerous, he was offered 4,000 menon carried him fo near to It, that he was found 
 
 nummi (^"3,229 = 3:4) for them. [P/inii £pi/loU, dead, fuffocated, as was fuppofed, by the fulphur : 
 
 L. Hi, cp. 5.] Sucli was tlie value, even of collec- and fo his valuable life fell a facrifice to that ardent 
 
 tions ol m^iterliils judicloufiy chofen. In thofe days, third of knowlege, which has rendered his name 
 
 when, for want of printing, learning was confined immortal. [^P/inii Epiji. L. \\, ep. 16.] It ap- 
 
 to the few, whom heaven had bleffcd with a tafte pears from Condaminc's Tour in linly, that the 
 
 for it, along with the enjoyment of a plentiful for- foundations of the houf^s in Herculaneum confiR 
 
 tune. of volcanic lava, which proves, that th^ eruption of 
 
 Seledions from Pliny's Natural hillory, efpecl- Vefuvius, which overwhelmed that city, wa$ not, 
 
 ally if they were accompanied with the judicious as is ufually fuppofed, the firft. 
 i-emarks of an enlightened teacher, would form a 
 
 A a 2
 
 i8$ A. D. 77. 
 
 Their knov/Iege of the furface of the earth was more defective than 
 could be fuppofed poflible, if we had not the mofl convincing proofs of 
 it. Even Strabo and PUny beheved, that the two temperate zones were 
 the only habitable portions of the earth ; and Pliny, like the poets, af- 
 ferts, that there can be no communication between them on account of 
 the intolerable fcorching heat of the intermediate torrid zone. Not- 
 with (landing this aflertion he names feveral places within the tropic, 
 where he obferves that the fun for iome time projeds fliadows fouth- 
 ward ; and he even mentions a mountain of India called Maleus, which, 
 as he defcribes it, having the fun for fix months on its north, and other 
 fix on its fouth, fide, ought to be on the equinoclial line *. [Strabo. L. ii, 
 p. 171. — PUn. L. ii, cc. 68, 73, L. vi, cc. 19, 29 et pajfwi.'] The antient 
 geographers, however, allowed lefs than its true breadth to the torrid 
 zone. They were ftill ignorant of the Cafpian fea being an inland lake. 
 Pliny fays, that Arabia is of the fame figure, and fize, and precifely in 
 the fame latitude as Italy ; with which it has nothing in common, ex- 
 cept being a peninfula and flretching to the fouth- eafl. After examin- 
 ing the accounts of Polybius, Agrippa and Artemidorus, he gives the 
 following comparative view of the magnitude of the great divifions of 
 the earth, viz. Europe fomewhat above a third, Afia abotit a fourth, 
 and Africa about a fifth, of the whole. [Hi/l. nat. L. ii, 67; L. \'\,cc. 13, 
 28, -^-^P^ Such was the knowlege obtained of the diflant parts of the 
 world by the beft-informed of the Romans, in the extended ftate of the 
 Roman empire, and the fun-ihine of Roman fcience ! 
 
 79 — Agricola, the father-in-law of Tacitus the hiflorian, was now 
 the Roman commander in Britain. Having already ferved in it under 
 Suetonius Paulinus, he was acquainted with the nature of the country, 
 and of the people ; and he employed foothing arts, as much as force, to 
 eftablifli the Roman authority : for, at the fame time that he was erect- 
 ing forts, and extending military ways, through the country, he enticed 
 the Britons to alTemble in towns, and to adopt the arts and the luxuries 
 of the Romans. After reducing the Ordovices and Mona {North-Wales 
 and Anglefe}'), he marched northward, along the weftern fhore, and led 
 the firft Roman army into that part of the ifland now called Scotland 
 (a". 80), iubduing the tribes who lay in the line of his march, and making 
 an excurfion as far as the river Tay, whence he returned (a". 81) to the 
 iflhmus between the Forth and the Clyde, which he guarded with a 
 chain of forts : and next year he reduced the fouth-weil part of the 
 country, afterwards called Galloway. 
 
 83 — Britifli liberty furvived now only on the north fide of the Forth ; 
 
 «♦ For this Pliny quotes Bcton, an artiil employ- tial line. Surely, the anticnts, when, thoy fpokc 
 
 .'d by Alexander the Great as a furvcyor, who of fouthcrly fli.ulows, mull have only meant Iha- 
 
 jnoft certair.ly never faw, and can fcarcely be fup- dows not piojedinjj fo far north at noon as thefc 
 
 pofed to have heard of, any place on the equinoc- in their own countri-.'s.
 
 A. D. 83. 189 
 
 and there Agricola determined utterly to extirpate it. He crofTed the 
 Forth, and marched along the coaft of Fife, his fleet attending and 
 fupporting him all the way ; a meafure which the event fhewed to be 
 abfolutely neceflary ; for the Caledonians watched him clofely, attacked 
 his forts, and almofl: drove him to the refolution of repafTmg the Forth. 
 The ninth legion, recruited, after being nearly exterminated iDy Eoadicia, 
 M^as again almofl totally cut to pieces by the Caledonians, who were, 
 however, afterwards repelled by the reft of the Roman army. 
 
 84 — The Caledonians, next fpring, raifed an army, confifting, by 
 Agncola's account, of above thirty thoufand men, under the command 
 of the brave Galgacus, who, we are told, were utterly defeated at the 
 Grampian mountain, and the Roman allies (for the legions were not 
 engaged) loft only three hundred and forty men. The confequence of 
 this vidory was, that Agricola abandoned the ground for which he 
 fought, and retreated into the country of the Horefti, a tribe on the 
 fouth fide of the Tay, who had fubmitted to him ; fo that it very much 
 refembled the vidory pretended to have been gained by the Phocseaiis, 
 over the united fleets of the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, after which 
 Corfica, the objecfl of their contention, was totally abandoned by the 
 pretended conquerors. (See above, p. 47.) 
 
 Agricola, having received hoftagesfrom the nations who had fubmit- 
 ted to him, ordered his fleet to fail round the whole country, though 
 the fummer was far Ipent : and fuch a voyage of difcovery and danger, 
 would need the whole of a fummer, even if conduded by the ableft 
 I'eamen. Thefe navigators alleged, that they firft difcovered the Ork- 
 neys, and that they firft; made it certain that Britain was an ifland ; dif- 
 coveries, which were made by Pytheas many centuries before, and no- 
 ticed by many authors after him, of whom I fliall mention only Csefar 
 and Pliny, whofe writings ought at this time to have been well known 
 in Rome*. [T'aciti Vjtn ^'^gricolcr,'] 
 
 ■ Tacitus alfo informs us, that at this time the harbours of Ireland, which, 
 he fays, lies half way between Britain and Spain, were better known to 
 
 * Every unprejudiced, or unroman:zed, reader, fliall we believe, that above 30,000 warriors could 
 wbo penifes the Life of Agricola by Tacitus with be raifed in Caledonia only ? for all the fouth part 
 due attention, inuft perceive, that it is not fo much of modern Scotland, as far as the Tay, was fub- 
 hiilory, as poetical pancgytic (' tiler honor! ^Igri- jedl to the Romans : and it is very probable, that 
 * cms face ri met dejl'inatus'). It may be proved, the weitern tribes of Caledonia were not concern- 
 that the Roman army was not outnumbered by ed in this war. 
 
 tin; Caledonian, even if it did confiil of 30,000 It is worthy of obfervation, that Agjricola, 
 men, which however is utterly improbable- Kinjj who makes fo great a figure iu the works of mo- 
 David I, when poileired of all Scotland and Cum- dern writers, is not fo much as mentioned by any 
 berland, could not raife 27,000 men, though he writer of general Roman hiftory now extant, ex- 
 had Englid), Normans, and Germans, befides his cept once, very (lightly, by Dion Callius. Nor 
 own fubjv'tis, in his army. King Robert I, when does his name appear in ten familiar letters from 
 liis crown and life depended on the event of a the younger Pliny to Tacitus, though the fubjedts 
 fingle battle, could not, with the exertion of feven of fonie of them feem to give a fair opportunity o£ 
 months, colled 31,000 fighting men. How then introducing it.
 
 190 A. D. 98-— 117, 
 
 the merchants, by means of their commerce, than thofe of Britain. [^/^/, 
 ^gric. c. 24.] Whether his geographical and his commercial infor- 
 mations were equally corred, I fliall not pretend to judge. 
 
 p8-ii7 — The emperor Trajan was a great conqueror. He added 
 Dacia, a large province beyond the Danube, to the Roman empire. 
 He undertook an expedition into the Eaft, and there alfo he carried the 
 Roman arms far beyond the limits of the empire, into Armenia, Mefo- 
 potamia, and Aflyria, which he reduced to the condition of provinces. But 
 his conquefts, rapid and deftructive as a whirlwind, ferved no purpofe, 
 but to exhauft the blood of his fubjefts, and of the nations who had the 
 misfortune to lie in the track of his career : for, as foon as the ftorm 
 was paft, they refumed their independence *. Trajan alfo poflefTed fe- 
 veral of the more valuable qualifications of a fovereign. He adorned 
 Rome with elegant buildings, and brought water to thofe parts of it, 
 which were deftitute of that accommodation ; he eftablifhed great libra- 
 ries ; he encouraged learning by proteding learned men ; he naade 
 good roads from one end of the empire to the other ; he conflructed a 
 convenient harbour at Centum cellae, (now Civita vecchia) and another 
 at Ancona, on the Adriatic fea ; and he apparently repaired, or renew- 
 ed, the Egyptian canal between the Nile and the Red fea f . 
 
 Adrian, the next einperor, adorned not only Rome, but the whole 
 empire, with magnificent buildings, which were executed under his 
 own eye ; for his whole reign was a continual peregrination. As the 
 Britons were not yet reconciled to the Roman yoke, he vifited this ifland 
 in one of his journies, and reformed feveral abufes in it (a°. 121). Giving 
 up all thoughts of completing the conqueflofit, he conflruded a wall of 
 about eighty miles in length, between the rivers Tine and Eden, in order 
 to cut off all communication between the Barbarians and the Romans, or 
 rather the Romanized Britons. And this kind of fortification by a con- 
 tinued wall, of which he fet the firft example, was repeatedly ufed in the 
 fucceeding ages of the Roman domination in this ifland. Adrian, for 
 ihcfe adions, obtained the title of Reflorer of Britain. 
 
 In the beginning of the reign of Antoninus Pius the Roman terri- 
 tories in Britain were under the government of Lollius Urbicus, who 
 has not obtained his due fliare of the fame ufually beflowed upon con- 
 querors. He quelled fome commotions in the conquered country (a". 140), 
 and built a fccond wall, which extended between the Firths of Forth 
 and Clyde ; the fanie which in later times has been called Gramis dyke, 
 i. e. warriors dyke. He alfo carried the Roman eagles as far as the 
 aeltuary of the river Varar, (now called the Farar, or Beulie) founded 
 
 • Modern commcutntors have extended his f I believe Ptolemy's mention of the Trajan'uxn 
 
 ia\a(;t» to the fouth coail of Arahia, and made nwr in his defcription of Egypt, is the only an- 
 
 hini the deflroyci- of tiie city of Arabia Felix, but ticnt authority we have for tliis work of Trajan, 
 without any aii'.hority. See above, p. 157, Note ij.
 
 A. D. 140. 191 
 
 Roman towns *, which he connedted by miUtary roads ; and, in fhort, 
 provinciated a traft of country, moftly unknown to former Roman com- 
 manders, extending from the wall and the Firth of Forth northward 
 to the Moray Firth ; and from the Ocean weflward to Loch Long, or, 
 perhaps, Loch Fyne, the great ridge of mountains called Drumalban, 
 and Loch Nefs. The new province was called Vefpafiana, a name given, 
 or continued, by the modeily of Antoninus, in honour of Vefpafian, in 
 whofe reign the command of the Roman forces in Britain was delegated 
 to Agricola, who, under the two fucceeding emperors, brought a fmall 
 portion of this province, on the fouth fide of the Tay, under a moment- 
 ary fubjedion to Rome. [_yid. CapitoUn. Ant, Pii Vit Ricard. Corinenr. 
 
 L. i, c. 6, § 2, 43, 50.] 
 
 It was apparently during the adminiftration of Lollius, and probably 
 under the diredlion of Seius Saturninus, who, as Jabolenus and Richard 
 of Cirenceiler inform us, was then commander of a fleet ftationed on 
 the coall of Britain, that the maritime furvey, or rather two partial fur- 
 veys, of the north part of Britain, were performed, from which the geo- 
 graphy of that part of the ifland was compiled by Ptolemy. The more 
 accurate furveys of the fouthern part of the ifland, muft be prefumed 
 to have kept pace with the gradual extenfion of the Roman conquefls. 
 
 137-160 — The emperor Antoninus, adorned Rome and many other 
 cities with public buildings, and repaired or renewed harbours, light- 
 houfes, bridges, and aqueduds. He favoured virtuous and learned men. 
 He fold forae of the fuperfluous property, attached to the imperial office, 
 for the benefit of the public, and defrayed many public expenfes out 
 of his private fortune. Under his adminiftration all the provinces of 
 the empire flourifhed. His virtues deferved the furnarae of Pius, which, 
 though it was afterwards proftituted to many imperial monfters, was 
 truely honourable to him, becaufe it was given by the unanimous con- 
 f ent of his contemporaries, and confirmed to him by the impartial fuf- 
 frage of pofterity. 
 
 161 — The worthy emperor, Antoninus Pius, was fucceeded by Mar- 
 cus Aurelius Antoninus, ufually called the Philosopher, who was no- 
 thing inferior to him in every virtue. The reigns of thefe two excel- 
 lent princes gave the Roman world above forty years of the felicity 
 flowing from a government, whofe only objed was the good of the 
 fubjeds ; a period not to be equaled in the hiflory of the Romans ; and, 
 indeed, not frequently occurring in that of any other people. 
 
 He was the author of many good laws, one of which direcfted, that 
 fhipwrecked merchandize fhould belong entirely to the lawful owners, 
 
 • The names and pofitions of the towns, or diftanccs, compiled by Richard of Cirenccfter from 
 
 ftations, as given by Ptolemy, who wrote foon af- ajitient Roman authorities, contain all the inform- 
 
 ter the conquefts of Urbicus, and the more copi- ation we poffefs refpefting this fartheft acquifi^ 
 
 ous enumeration of them, with the intermediate tion of the Romans in Britain.
 
 192 
 
 A. D. 161. 
 
 without any interference of the officers of the exchequer : and he or- 
 dered, that thofe who were guilty of plundering wrecks fhould be fe- 
 verely puniihed. Thefe laws he borrowed from the Rhodian code, 
 which he made the ftandand of his condud: in maritime affairs. When 
 Eudaemon, a merchant of Nicomedia, complained to him, that, after 
 fuffering fhipwreck, he had been plundered in the Cyclades by the im- 
 perial officers, he replied, that he indeed was lord of the earth, but that 
 the fea was governed by the Rhodian laws, and that his caufe flaould be 
 determined by them. 
 
 The emperor Antoninus alfo attended carefully to the respiration of the 
 roads ; and thence it is exceedingly probable, that the work defcribing all 
 the roads with their ftages, and intermediate diftances, and alfo the mari- 
 time ftations for veflels, throughout the Roman empire, which is fo well 
 known to the learned, under the name of the Itinerary of Antoninus, and 
 is fo ufeful in illuflrating antient geography, was compiled under his 
 authority, if not under that of his predeceffor, and has been occafional- 
 ly renewed, with alterations adapted to the times, though ftill bearing 
 the original name of Antoninus, juil as almanacks, and other modern 
 periodical compilations, retain the names of the original undertakers of 
 them through all their renovations *. 
 
 From this Itinerary, and alfo from the more copious Itinerary of Bri- 
 tain, drawn up by a Roman commander in this ifland, and happily ref- 
 cued from oblivion by Richard of Cirencefter, London appears to have 
 been already the moft important city in the ifland, as it is the center 
 of a greater number of roads than any other. 
 
 In the reign of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, flouriflied Ptolemy, 
 a Grecian native of Egypt, the moft celebrated aftronomer and geogra- 
 pher of antiquity, and, after Hipparchus, whofe works are loft, the firft 
 who applied graduation to maps, and reduced geography to fome de- 
 gree of regularity : fo that his works were defervedly entitled to the 
 pre-eminent rank they held for fourteen centuries as the ftandard in 
 thofe fciences. The copies of them abound in errors, as may be ex- 
 pedled from the frequent tranfcription of a work much in requeft, con- 
 lifting almoft entirely of tables of names and numbers. But, if ex- 
 amined with due care, and proper allowances, they will be foimd not 
 fo inaccurate or deftitute of information, as fome have rather raflily 
 pronounced them. The moft confpicuous of his errors are in the Brit- 
 
 • It was a part of the duty of a Roman gene- 
 ral to have accurate furvcys made of all the roads 
 in the country under his command, with particu- 
 lar dcfcriptions and maps. \_y'gct. de re mllitari, 
 /.. iii, c. 6.3 Ae a thing done of courfe, it is 
 only mentioned by hiftorianB, when an uncom- 
 monly great, or univcrfal, furvey or reparation of 
 the roade was made : and fuch a great work was 
 
 undertaken by Trajan ; [Aurel. Vi^or de Cas. — 
 Galen. L. ix, c. 8 j and it is probable, that tiie 
 finifliinjr hand was put to it in the reign of Mar- 
 cus. [See Jul. Capitol, in M. yfnton.J Another 
 meafurement of the provinces of the world was 
 made by order of Tiieodofuis. \_Duuil, quoted 
 in IVare't Hilerma,p. 101.]
 
 A. D. i6t. 19 j 
 
 iih iflands, with which he begins his geographical tables, and ni India. 
 In joining the ieveral Britifli iiirveys, which muft have been in a great 
 meafure, if not wholely, deftitute of celeilial obfervations, he has made 
 the north part of Britain projed: to the eaft, inftead of the north ; and 
 he has ranged the Weftern iilands eaft and weft, along the north fliore 
 of Ireland, inftead of north and fouth, along the weft coaft of the north 
 part. of Britain, the weft being the true north point in them, as the 
 eaft is in his north part of the main land. Inftead of delineating India 
 as a triangular figure, projeding from the mouths oi" the Indus and the 
 Ganges, he makes it almoft a right line, running from weft to eaft, and 
 but a little to the fouthward of a line drawn between thofe rivers. He 
 had fome information of the names of places beyond the Bay of Ben- 
 gal, but exceflively confufed and erroneous ; and be makes the Indian 
 ocean a vaft lake *, though he muft have poflefied the better informa- 
 tion of Herodotus and Megafthenes, fandioned by the corred judgement 
 of Eratofthenes f. The total ignorance of the antients refpeding the 
 northern parts of Europe, which no Grecian or Roman navigator, and 
 perhaps no one from any of the Phoenician ports had ever viiited, is al- 
 moft as little to be wondered at as their total ignorance of America:}:. 
 
 The geographical knowlege of the Roman fubjeds in Egypt appears 
 to have advanced between the age of the author of the Periplus of the 
 Erythraean fea and that of Ptolemy. The later, I have juft obferved, 
 had obtained the names of fome places beyond India, and he had alfo 
 the names of fome of the Oriental iilands with their pofitions, though 
 exceffively erroneous. Marinus, a geographer of Tyre, who wrote a 
 little while before Ptolemy, and is frequently quoted by him, was ac- 
 quainted with at leaft the name of Prafuni, a place on the Atrican coaft 
 feveral degrees beyond Rhapta, the fartheft place known to the author 
 of the Periplus. Thefe circumftances give reafon to believe, that their 
 commerce was alfo increafing. 
 
 It is due to the antient commercial pre-eminence of the city of Ara- 
 bia Felix, to obferve, that, though it was reduced to the condition of a 
 
 * The notion of a vail continent, the fouthern Periplus of the ErythrKan fca, but that his age is 
 
 bounddry of Ptolemy's great lake, was kept up, diiputcd. 
 
 after voyages quite round the globe deftroyed the X Egypt, which in the reign of Sefoltris pro- 
 belief of the lake, every illand fecn in a fouthern duced the very tir.ft geograpliical maps known in 
 latitude being fuppofed a part of die Terra au/Iral- hirtory, alfo in after ages produced iour of the 
 if. Even in tlie eighteenth century, men of the greatcll geographers of antiquity, Agalharchides, 
 firft geographical abilities, maintained the />/'_[y;c«/ Eratofthenes, the author of the periplus of the 
 wtf^/)' of a correfponding niafs of earth near the Erytlnjean fca, and Ptolemy. But our vcncra- 
 fouth pole, to balance the gr>.at proportion of land tion for the wifdom of Egypt mull not make us 
 in the northern hemifphere. The fuppofed fouth- forget, that thefe great men were all Greeks, and 
 ern continent has been gradually abridged in its that Agatharchides, Eratoflh«nes, and Ptolemy, 
 extent by the difcoveries of modern navigators ; acquired the moll of their knowlege in the Ccie- 
 and, at length, it is totally annihilated by thofe brarcd academy of Alexandria, founded and fup- 
 of Captain Cook. piivud by the Giecian fov^reigiiS of Egypt. 
 
 t To thefe might be added the author of the 
 
 Vol. I. B b
 
 194 -A* ^' ^^^• 
 
 village, and a mere watering place for fhipping, in tlie time of the au- 
 thor of the Periplus of the Erythrsean fea, it had already fo far recover^ 
 ed from the ruin brought upon it by the Romans, as to be again a trad- 
 ing emporium ; and it is defcribed under that chara6ter by Ptolemy. 
 
 The natives of India now extended their voyages beyond their for- 
 mer limits, and took an aftive fliare in the trade with Egypt. As it ap- 
 pears probable from Agatharchidcs, and certain from the Periplus, that 
 they traded to Arabia, probably from the moil remote ages ; fo we 
 know from Ptolemy [L. i, c. 17] that they no\v failed up the Red fea 
 as far as Egypt, where he converfed with ibme of them, who were from 
 Timula, an emporium on the weft fide of India, called Symylla by the 
 Greeks *. " 
 
 1 66 — The Parthians , in confequence of an embafly to Chang-ti, emperor 
 of China (who died a". 88) had carried on a commercial intercourfe with- 
 that empire, of which (according to the Chinefe writers) they were fo 
 jealous, that they would never permit any foreigners to pafs through 
 their territories to China. The Roman emperor, Marcus Antoninus ^ 
 confidering the demand for filk, which was. produced in no other part 
 of the world than China, and the exorbitant price of it in Rome, deter- 
 mined to fend ambaffadors to negotiate a more direcl: commercial in- 
 tercourfe with that country than the fubjeds of Rome had yet been abk 
 to accomplifh. His ambaffadors proceeded by the way of Egypt and 
 India, arrived in China, and prefented lome ivory, rhinoceros's horns, and 
 pretious ftones, to the emperor Ouon-ti, who, being, perhaps, informed 
 of the general charader of the Roiiians, received them very coolly. 
 After this firfl known communication of any European government 
 with that of China, the Romans began, according ta the Chinefe hiftor- 
 ians, to have a more dired intercourfe with that empire f^ But, if their 
 intercourfe was by fea, there is not the fmalleft hint of it in any Greek 
 or Roman author now extant. It is more probable, that it was effeded 
 by caravans, who traverfed the continent of Afia beyond the northern 
 boundary of the Parthian empire ; and perhaps the flation in 43° north 
 latitude, noted by Ptolemy [^Jla, tab. vii] as a refting place for the mer- 
 chants who traveled to the Seres (as thofe merchants may be prefumed 
 to have been fubjeds of Rome) was eftablifhed on that occalion : " and 
 caravans may alio have traveled to China from the weft coaft of India. 
 
 • It waf probably the port called Semylk 1f\ toun, the king of the people of the Wcftcni ocean.. 
 
 '.lie Periplus, and noted as having only a coailiii^ The reception of the Roman anibafladors at the 
 
 trade. It now fent vefTclr. to Egypt, and received Chinefe court obliges us to fuppofc, either that 
 
 JIgyptian velTtls. the Scrcf, who are faiJ to liavt lent cnibanics to 
 
 f We a^c indebted to the Chinefe hiilorian, folicit the favour of Auguftus, and other Roman 
 
 Vcn-hien-tong Kao, and to the Oriental literature emperors, and even of this fame empeiur Aiitoniii- 
 
 .iiid rcfcarch of Mr. dc Guigncs, \^Reflcxions fur us, were a people totally diifereiit from the Chi- 
 
 ./■/ liaifons dis Romains uvt: Ics Tarlares tt let Chi- nefe, or that the Roman writcis fomclimes fpokc 
 
 noil, in Memuita dt litttraturc, V. xxxii, />. 355^ at random of the diftant countries from which they 
 
 for thefe fa^ls refprifting the embady frym An- received embaffie?.
 
 A. D. 1 70. 
 
 '95 
 
 1 70 — The Roman empire in Britain having been carried by the con- 
 quefls of Lollius Urbicus in the north to a height which it never ex- 
 ceeded, but from which about this time it declined, never again to re- 
 cover, it feems proper here to take a view of the principal Roman towns 
 now in this ifland, which, according to the Itinerary of Antoninus, the 
 geography of Ptolemy, and the valuable and curious geographical com- 
 mentaries of Richard of Cirenceller, were the following *. 
 
 now Rof-chejler or Rocheflet\ 
 
 ^ J- B M, s Canterbury. 
 
 Cantiopolis, \ -^ 
 
 Rhutupis, c, the ftation of that T 
 
 divilion of the Roman fleet, > Richburgb near Sandwich. 
 
 which guarded the North fea, j 
 
 DuROBROViE, s 
 DUROVERNUM Or 
 
 noviomagus, b m 
 Caleba, b m 
 
 ViNDOMUM, BM, S 
 
 Clausentum, 
 
 Venta Belgarum, b u, s 
 
 sorbiodunum, l 
 
 THERMiE, or AqIJJE SOUS, ( 
 
 DuRiNUM or 7 
 
 DURNOVARIA, ) ' 
 
 IscA Damnoniorum, b m, s 
 
 Venta Silurum, b m, s 
 
 IscA Silurum, c, the quarters of 
 
 the fecond Auguftan legion, 
 muridunum, bm, s 
 Segontium, s 
 Uriconium, bm 
 Deva, c, the quarters of the 7 
 
 twentieth victorious legion, 3 
 corinium, bm, l 
 Glevum Claudia, c 
 Verulamium, m 
 
 LUNDINUM, B M, C f 
 
 Camulodunum, c, the quarters of 
 the twin Martian legion. 
 
 1 
 
 } 
 
 fome place in Surry. 
 
 Silchejler in Hampfliirc. 
 
 uncertain, 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 IVint-cheJler. 
 
 Old Sarum. 
 
 Bath. ^ 
 
 Dor-chejier. 
 
 Ex-cejler, or Exeter. 
 Caer-Went. 
 
 Caer-Leion. 
 
 Caer-Marthen. 
 
 Caer-Segont near Carnarvon. 
 
 Wrehen-cajler^ or Wroxeter, 
 
 Chejler. 
 
 Ciren-ce/ler. 
 Glo-ceflcr. 
 St. Albans. 
 London. 
 
 Gol-chejler, 
 
 * The BritilTi part of the Itinerary of Anton- 
 inus, has been illuftrated by the labours of Talbot, 
 C'amden, Burton, Gale, Horfeley, Scukeley, and 
 the topographical hiftorlans of almoll every lliirc. 
 Even the incoherent and blundering catalogue of 
 llations in Britain, afcribed to a monk of Ravenna, 
 h»j been laboured upon by Horfeley and Baxter, 
 
 But no commentary has yet been ^ui/i^W upon 
 the more valuable Itinerary contained in the work 
 of Richard. 
 
 f Lundinum wae made a colony, with the name 
 of Augulla, after the time of the hillorian Taci- 
 tus ; but the exact time is u-.iknown. See below 
 A. D. ^60, 368. 
 
 B b 2
 
 196 
 
 DURNOMAGUS, L 
 
 A. D. 170. 
 
 Venta Icenorum, b m, s 
 
 Camboricum, c 
 
 Race, or rather Ratte, b m, s 
 
 LlNDUM COLONIA, C 
 
 isurium, b m 
 
 Cambodunum, l 
 
 Cataracton, l 
 
 Eboracum, c, afterwards m, the 
 
 quarters of the fixth vidorious 
 
 legion, 
 coccium, l 
 Mancunium, 
 Luguballium, l 
 Curia Otadinorum. b m 
 Bremenium, s 
 Trimontium, 
 lucopibia, bi\i 
 
 Vanduara, 
 Victoria, l 
 
 Orrea, bm 
 Devana, b m 
 Ptoroton, l 
 
 Alcluith (afterwards Theodo- 
 
 SIA, 
 
 and l) 
 
 } 
 
 Befides Rhutupis, noted as a flat 
 Lundinum, a confiderable trading 
 of fome note, viz. 
 
 • Camden, llic prince of Britifli geographers, 
 pofTcfTcd no furvcys, and had very little topo- 
 graphical information, of the northern parts of 
 the ifland ; and he has been oblif;ed to depend too 
 often upon a fuppofed refemhiance of names. 
 Thence the firft pait of the name of Lucopihi.i 
 is fuppofed lo be the Greek word MvKti white (a-, 
 if Britifli tov ns could liavt Greek, names) and to 
 he the fame with the firll part of the name of 
 White-hern ; and, in confcquenec of this iniagin- 
 
 probably the town on the Nen, 
 called Kair-Dorjn, and noted, as 
 totally ruined, by Henry of Hunt- 
 ingdon, f. 171 b. 
 
 feems Ca/ler near Norwich. 
 
 feems Attlebiirgh in Norfolk. 
 
 Leicejler. 
 
 Litid-coln, or JJncoln. 
 
 Aidd'burgh in York-fhire. 
 
 Slack near Huddersfield. 
 
 Thornhaugb at Catterick. 
 
 Yori. 
 
 Blackrode in Lancaftiire. 
 
 Manchejier. 
 
 Car-lile. 
 
 Melros on the Tweed. 
 
 probably 'Rifingham on the Reed. 
 
 perhaps Middlehy in Anandale. 
 
 fome place on the eaft fide of Wig- 
 ton bay *. ' . 
 
 perhaps Pojley. 
 
 perhaps the ruins at the mouth of 
 the Earn ; perhaps Abernethy, 
 
 Scone, or near it. 
 
 Aber-deen. 
 
 perhaps the old caftle of Nairn, now 
 overwhelmed by the fea ; per- 
 haps Inveniefs. 
 
 Dunbarton. 
 
 ion for the government veflels, and 
 port, there were feveral other ports 
 
 ary identity he is obliged to remove Lucopibia 
 from the eaft fide of Wigtoa bay, where Ptolemy 
 placed it, to the ivcft fide. Trimontium is in like 
 manner removed from the well, to the ead, fide of 
 the country, becaufe a hill near Melros has three 
 fiinimits. As Camden has been implicitly follow- 
 ed by moll of our great antiquaries, to whom in- 
 crealing knowlegc offered better lights, I have 
 thought it necelTary in thefe two infiances to hinr 
 my reafons for prcfuming to differ from them.
 
 A. D. 170. 197 
 
 PoRTUS FELIX, the profperous har- 1 C feems Filey bay in York-{hire,near 
 
 bour, or bay of the Gabran- > < wliich is Flix-towii, apparently 
 
 tuiki, 3 L preferving the Roman name. 
 
 DuBRit, Dover. 
 
 PoRTUS Lemanus, apparentlyZ./V«^",though now inland. 
 
 New HARBOUR, feemingly after- 7 „ -. 
 
 wards called Anderida, j -^ -^ J- in Suflex. 
 
 PoRTUS Adurni, the mouth of the Adur 
 
 Magnus portus, or Great harbour, Fort-chefter. 
 
 Menapia, the port for Ireland, St. Davids. 
 
 PoRTUS SeTANTIORUM, or SlSTUN- 7 ,1 n. r T n-- 
 
 > on the coalt or Lancalhire ; 
 
 TIORUM, J ' 
 
 befides fome noted only as ferrying places. 
 
 There were alfo about one hundred and forty ixiore towns or places, 
 the names of which are mentioned in geographical lifts and itineraries ; 
 but we know nothing further of their condition. Some of them un- 
 doubtedly were conftderable, and others appear to have been noted 
 merely as being ftages or refting places for the army or travelers, as 
 fingle inns appear along with towns in modern books of the roads. 
 
 Of the above towns the two marked m were Municipia. In virtue of 
 that diftindion they were invefted with the privilege of enacting laws 
 for the regulation of their own affairs, and they were exempted from 
 being fubjed to thofe of the empire. The inhabitants, without being 
 diverted of the citizenfhip of their native towns, were alfo citizens of 
 Rome. 
 
 The ten marked c were Colonies. Towns of this clafs were occupied 
 by. Romans, and moftly by the legionary foldiers, who received por- 
 tions of land in the neighbourhood as a reward for their fervices, and 
 as an encouragement to be vigilant in fupprefling any attempts of the 
 natives to recover their liberty. Their conftitutions, their courts of 
 juftice, and all their offices were copied from Rome ; and the inhabit- 
 ants were Roman citizens, and governed by Roman laws. 
 
 The ten marked l were invefted with Lat'ian privileges. They were 
 exempted from the ordinary jurifdidtion of the prsetor, and were per- 
 mitted to chute their magiftrates among themfelves ; and thofe magif- 
 trates were invefted with the rank and privileges of Roman citizens. 
 
 The twelve Stipendiary towns marked s were governed by officers de- 
 puted by the praetor *. 
 
 B M affixed to a town mark it as the metropolis of a Britifti nation. 
 
 Several towns in Ireland were now known to geographers, which in- 
 fers, that there was fome trading intercourfe with that ifland, though 
 
 * In this brief account of tlic nature of munklpla, &c. 1 have followed Mr. Whitaker [_Hift. of 
 Manchejler, B. i, c. 8J who may he confulted for the authorities. *
 
 198 A. D. 170. 
 
 the nature of it is unknown. The following feem to have been the 
 
 moft conliderable of them. 
 
 Nagnata, diftinguifhed by Pto- 7 ^^ ^^^ ^,^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 lemy as a ramous towii, 3 
 
 Manapia, oppofite to, and pro-^ 
 
 bably a colony from, Menapia 
 
 in Britain. 
 Eblana, Dublin. 
 
 and feven inland towns, noted by Ptolemy, and by Richard, who has 
 alfo feveral others unknown to Ptolemy. 
 
 Some commotions broke out in Britain ; and Calphurnius Agricola 
 was fent to fupprefs them : but of his fuccefs the Roman writers are 
 entirely filent *. {Capitoliiii M. Ant. Philos.'] 
 
 175 — The Romans being again threatened with war by the Britons, 
 or, to fpeak more corredly, the Caledonians, the emperor fent over a 
 large body of lazygian horfemen to reinforce his legions. 
 
 183 — The war with the Britons of Caledonia was the moft formidable 
 of all thofe in which the Romans were now eiigaged. The Caledonians, 
 not fatisfied with the recovery of that part of their own country, which 
 had for fome years been a Roman province under the name of Vefpa- 
 fiana, broke down the wall ereded by LoUius Urbicus, ravaged the 
 country, flew the Roman general, and cut his army in pieces. Mar- 
 cellus, the next Roman commander, repulfed them with fome lofs : but 
 the Romans never recovered their loft province of Vefpafiana. This, 
 if I miftake not, is the very firft province of their empire, from which 
 
 the Romans were driven out by the natives f . \_Dio7u Cajf. L. Ixxii 
 
 Lamp rid. in Com mod.'] 
 
 193 — It is perhaps rather beneath the dignity of commercial hiftory 
 to relate, that the ruffians of the praetorian guard, whole duty it was 
 to defend the perfon of the emperor, after murdering Pertinax, becaufe 
 he was too virtuous to tolerate their abufes, had the infolence to pro- 
 claim an auftion of the imperial title to the higheft bidder. Didius 
 Julian became the purchafer at the price of above two hundj-ed pounds 
 fterling to each man, the total fum being between three and four mil- 
 lions llerling ; probably the largeft purchafe ever made by an indivi- 
 dual. In return for fuch an enormous fum of money he enjoyed the 
 
 * Cicero obfcrvif, that it was a common prac- man tluonulopy to tlie years of the world he has 
 
 t'tcc with the Roman writer; to pafs over their Je- nejjlefted the names of the coiiluls, and as in 
 
 feats in filence. £Oiut. pro If^e Manil.'] events of known date lie fomctimes differs a few 
 
 ■f Richard of Circnctfter \_p. 32] dates the ex- years from the truth, I wonld not be pofitivc, that 
 
 piilfion of the Romans from Vefpafiana in the year tlie txpulfion from tliat part of tlic country took 
 
 of the world 4170 or A. D. 170 ; and the fliort pl.icc fo early. At any rate we arc certain, that 
 
 hints V.'- have of two wars in IJritain during the it was now (183) entirely delivered fram the Ro- 
 
 rcipfn of AntoninuG the Philofophcr favour his man yoke, 
 rhroiso'ogy. ijowcvrr, a: in adapting the Ro-
 
 A. D. 198. 199 
 
 rgnomlnious and dangerous elevation fixty-fix days, and then was exe- 
 cuted as a criminal in his own palace, 
 
 198 — The Romans began now to employ their money, the finews of 
 war as well as of trade, in purchafing from the braver barbarians, as 
 their arrogance ftiled all the free nations in the world, a temporary for- 
 bearance of hoflilities, thereby enabling, as well as alluring, them to 
 renew their invafions with augmented vigour : and henceforth this hu- 
 miliating mode of making peace was often reforted to by the makers 
 of the world. Such a tribute was now paid by Lupus, the governor of the 
 north part of Roman Britain, to the Caledonians. [Digcji. L. xxviii, tit. 6.] 
 
 208 — Severus, now fole mafter of the Roman empire, conld not reft 
 fatisfied with having conquered three rival emperors, deftroyed the un- 
 commonly ftro-ng and commercial city of Byzantium, and fubdued fe- 
 veral eaftern nations, unlefs by the total conquefl of Britaiii he could 
 add to his other titles that of Britannicus. He therefore tranfported 
 himfelf and his two fons with a prodigious army mto Britain, and next 
 year marched againft the Caledonians and Mge.i.ae, who wifely avoided 
 coming to a pitched battle, but led him into fo many fnares and diffi- 
 culties, that fifty, or according to others feventy, thoufand of his men 
 perifhed in ambufcades and Ikirmifhes, and by the multiplied hardfliips 
 of their march to fome part of the coimtry, which the writers of that 
 age call the extremity of Britain, The Caledonians, however, to get 
 rid of the enemy, confented to yield to him fome part, either of their 
 own country, or of iheir conquefts. Severus thereupon returned to 
 Eboraeum {TorK), now. apparently the chief city of Britain, and there 
 fixed his refidence, while his army v;as employed in building a new 
 wall acrofs the ifland (a". 210), 
 
 The Caledonians foon after, refumed the pofleflion of the dift:ri<Sl, 
 which had been extorted from them ; whereupon Severus was fo pro- 
 voked, that he ordered Baffianus Antoninus, his oldeft fon, to march 
 into their country, and to flaughter every niian, woman, and child in 
 it. But the emperor dying foon after, his fon, more intent upon de- 
 ftroying his hated brother than the Caledonians, purchafed a peace from 
 them with the refignation of the lands in difpute. Bremenium (ap- 
 parently Rifingbam in Northumberland) on the eaft, and Blatum Eul- 
 gium, twelve * miles beyond Lugubalhum {Carltle) on the weft, fide of 
 the country, appear to have been fixed upon on this occafion as the 
 frontier pofts of the Roman empire in this ifland. 
 
 It is very furpriling, that the knowlege of the Romans concerning . 
 Britain feems to have diminiftied in proportion as their opportunities of 
 knowing it increafed. Although it was alTuredly known to be an ifland 
 
 * Twenty-four, according to Tome copies ; which ad<l to the difficulties attending one of the ob- 
 fcurcft parts of the Itinerary, fofar a« it cenccrns Britain.
 
 200 A. D, 200« 
 
 ever fince the difcoveries of Pytheas ; though Ariflotle, or the autlior 
 of the book upon the world afcribed to him, Caefar, who was a man of 
 fcience as well as a foldier, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo a profefTed geo- 
 grapher, Pliny, &c. had exprefsly and repeatedly called it an ifland ; 
 though Tacitus had faid, that his father-in-law's fleet had confirmed 
 (what they pretended was doubtful) its being an ifland ; and though 
 Ptolemy the geographer, who flouriflied only about forty years before 
 the invafion of Severus, had defcribed the whole circuit of the coaft, 
 and alfo a number of iflands beyond it ; we are informed by Dion Caf- 
 lius, that a queftion, whether the north part of it was joined to the con- 
 tinent, was now agitated, and became a frequent fubjeft of difquifition, 
 among their philofophers, who in the thick mift of their ignorance 
 wrote many volumes on both fides of the queftion, which have all had 
 the good fortune to fink into the quiet grave of due oblivion. Even 
 after the expedition of Severus had in fome meafure cleared up this al- 
 moft incredible doubt, it was believed in Rome, that the unconquered 
 part of the ifland, which furniflied fuch armies as could baffle the moft 
 ftrenuous exertions of the conquerors of the world, muft be more ex- 
 tenCve than the part fubjecft to them ; though it was in truth not equal 
 to one third of it in extent, and ftill more inferior to it in fertility and 
 population. Can we believe from thefe fymptoms of a retrogradation 
 of knowlege among the Romans, that the works of the celebrated au- 
 thors above mentioned were unknown to them, or are we to fuppofe, 
 that their government, for fome reafons of ftate, thought proper to 
 fpread a veil of ignorance and myftery over the geography of the un- 
 conquerable ISLAND ? 
 
 211 It is worthy of obfervation, that the great abundance of fifli, 
 
 which fwarmed on the northern fhores of Britain, was known to Dion 
 Caflius, who aUb remarks the negle6l of that blefling by the natives, 
 who, perhaps from motives of fuperftition, even abftained from tafting 
 fifli. This is the earlieft notice of the fuperior advantage, which Scot- 
 land might in all ages have enjoyed in carrying on a moft extenfive 
 fifliery. But Solinus who lived at the fame time with, or immediately- 
 after, Dion *, fays, that the people of the Htebudes (JVeJlern {[lands of 
 Scotland) derived a principal part of their fubfiftence from fifliing. Both 
 accounts may be true : the fifliery might be negleded on the eaft coaft, 
 which was beft known to the Romans ; and it might be attended to by 
 the natives ot the weft coaft and the iflands. 
 
 214 — The Romans again had recourfe to the wretched expedient of 
 purchaflng treaties of peace ; and the Catti, Alemanni, and other na- 
 tions of Germany, who had much valour and little money, were in- 
 duced bv all-powerful gold to permit the Roman emperor to retire from 
 
 * Sec DoJwdl on the aera of Ifidorus Characenus, ap. Hudfoiu Geograph. vet. Grac
 
 A. D. 214. 201 
 
 their country, and to make peace with him. Such tributes foon ex- 
 haufted his ill-managed treafury ; and he was driven to the tyrannical 
 (hift of creating a fiditious kind of money, made of gilded copper and 
 lead plated with filver, which, as he could not pay his allies in fuch 
 coin, he compelled his unhappy fubjeds to receive and circulate among 
 themfelves. [Dion. Cajf. L, Ixxvii.] 
 
 216 — The fanguinary monfler, to whofe frantic and arbitrary com- 
 mands the many millioTis of people compofing the Roman empire tame- 
 ly fubmitted the difpofal of their lives and fortunes, thought proper to 
 amufe himfelf with the fpecflacle of a general maflacre of the citizens 
 and flrangers in Alexandria, whereby he very nearly depopulated that 
 , hitherto flourifliing city, almofl the only feat of commerce within the 
 grafp of their power, which had been preferved from dellrudion by the 
 Romans. 
 
 The ruin of almoil every commercial ftate, which fell under the do- 
 minion of Rome, neceffarily reduces the materials for commercial hif- 
 tory in thefe ages to a very narrow compafs, and in a manner obliges 
 me, in order to preferve fome degree of chronological connexion, to 
 deviate a little into the general hiftory of our own ifland, deftined to 
 make fo important a figure in the commercial hiftory of fucceeding 
 ages. 
 
 230 — The emperor Alexander Severus made fome regulations in the 
 cuftoms, which, being flill extant, (hew that the Oriental trade was then 
 nearly in the fame flate as it is delcribed by the author of the Periplus 
 of the Erythraean fea. In order to induce merchants to refort to Rome, 
 he favoured them with feveral immunities. He reduced the rate of in- 
 tereft to four per cent (' ad trientes penfiones'). And he encouraged li- 
 terature and learned men. 
 
 272 — The commercial republic of Palmyra, after maintaining its in- 
 dependence for ages, had been Iwallowed up in the vaftnefs of the Ro- 
 man empire. The merchants of Palmyra being found ufeful as com- 
 petitors with thofe of Alexandria for conveying the rich merchandize 
 of the eail to Rome, their commerce was not crufhed, but appears even 
 to have increafed during their fubjedion to Rome. In the confufions, 
 •which now announced the approaching downfall of the Roman empire, 
 the citizens of Palmyra, under the iovereignty of Odenathus and his 
 heroic widow Zenobia, afpired to conquelt and dominion, and acTiuaily 
 formed a new empire confifting of moll of the Aliatic provinces and 
 Egypt, all which they had rent from tue dominions of Rome. But 
 merchants never profper as conquerors ; nor do the imaginary advan- 
 tages of victory by any means compeul'ate the real calamities of even a 
 luccefsful war, which at the expenl'e of the blood and treafure of the 
 community only elevates individuals to a lupremacy over their fellow 
 
 Vol. I. ' Co
 
 .202 A. D. 272. 
 
 citizens, and often to be their fcourge, while the fplendid delufion of 
 their conquefts feduces their minds, and abftrads their capitals from 
 their proper objects of laudable commercial activity ; whereas the whole 
 community is overwhelmed in irretrievable ruin upon a reverfe of for- 
 tune. Such was the fate of the illuftrious commercial republic of Car- 
 thage ; and fuch was the more fudden fate of Palmyra : for Aurelian, 
 who during a (hort reign revived the military fuperiority of Rome, eager 
 to wipe off the difgrace of a captive emperor languifhing in Perfian 
 chains, and of the fineft provinces of the empire being withheld from 
 Rome by a woman, led his forces into the Eaft, and fpeedily recovered 
 the provinces which formed the Palmyrene empire. The city of Pal- 
 myra, after a refiflance, which does great honour to the military fcience 
 of its defenders, who affailed the Romans with every engine then known 
 in the art of war, fome of which darted artificial fire, being betrayed 
 by their mercenary allies, furrendered to the Roman emperor, who was 
 fo merciful as only to plunder the inhabitants of all their property, in- 
 cluding, befides gold and filver, great ftores of jewels, filk, and other 
 rich merchandize of Arabia and India (ji". 273). 
 
 The citizens of Palmyra having made an attempt to recover their h- 
 berty, their city was de'ftroyed, and all the people found in it, not ex- 
 cepting helplefs age and infancy, were mafllicred by Aurelian ; who fooii 
 after, regreting the lofs of the trade of Palmyra, gave permiifion to 
 fome few of the inhabitants, who had efcaped the general flaughter, to 
 rebuild their city, and reftore their commerce. But commerce does not 
 fiart into exiftence at the command of a tyrant, though any favage, in- 
 vefted with power, may deftroy in one day the accumulated labours of 
 ages of fcience and induilry. The defolation of Palmyra was complete 
 and irretrievable : and, though it was afterwards made the ftation of a 
 band of Roman foldiers, and even fortified and fuppUed with water by 
 the emperor Juftinian, it has in all fucceeding ages been only the re- 
 treat of a few miferable families, whofe wretched huts deform the ftill- 
 fplendid remains of antient magnificence. 
 
 Firmus, an opulent merchant of Egypt, was largely concerned in 
 trade with India, with the Blemyes an Ethiopian nation, and with the 
 Saracens of Arabia, and feems to have alfo carried on very extenfive 
 manufadures of paper and glue, fince he boafted, that he could main- 
 tain an army with the produce of thofe articles. Unfortunately for 
 himfelf he preferred the perilous fituation of a pretender to fovereign 
 power to the calm felicity of a profperous merchant. Perfuading the 
 people of Egypt, that he was able, by his wealth and his foreign con- 
 nexions, to deliver them from the dominion of Rome, he affumed the 
 title of emperor, lliled himfelf the ally of Zcnobia, made himfelf maf- 
 ter of Alexandria, and prevented the ufual fupplies of corn from being
 
 A. D. 272. 20^ 
 
 {hipped for Rome. His deftrudion was the confequence of his miftaken 
 Ambition *. 
 
 282 — The emperor Probus is faid to have granted permiflion to the 
 people of Gaul and Pannonia, and alfo, according to Vopifcus, to the 
 Britons, to cultivate vines and make wine, which had been prohibited 
 by a decree of Domitian. 
 
 284 — The Perfians, who had recovered the fovereignty of their coun- 
 try from the Parthians, were no lefs careful than they had been to ex- 
 clude the Romans from a participation in the trade with Serica, or 
 China. There was moreover at this time a war between the two em- 
 pires ; and the Romans, finding the intercourfe with China by the way 
 of India too tedious and expensive, had allowed the trade to fall off al- 
 moft to nothing. For thefe reafons a fecond embalTy was diipatched 
 from Rome to China f ; and probably fome new arrangements were 
 then fettled, which may have produced the caravan trade, whereof the 
 route by the way of the Stone tower will be noticed under the year 
 
 353- 
 
 285 — The Franks and other German nations, fituated near the mouth 
 
 of the Rhine, ufed to infefl the adjacent coafts with piratical incurfions. 
 In order to reprefs thofe fea rovers, the emperor Maximian built a fleet 
 of fhips, the command of which he gave to Caraufius, an officer of 
 great experience in naval and military affairs, appointing Geflbriacum 
 (Boulogne) in Gaul for their principal ftation. The new admiral was 
 foon accufed of retaining for himfelf the prizes he retook, inftead of 
 delivering them to the owners, or to the imperial treafury ; and orders 
 were already given to put him to death. But Caraufius, having the 
 people in the fleet ftrongly attached to him, prevented his fate by fail- 
 ing over to Britain, where he perfuaded the military forces alfo to join 
 his fl:andard, and aflumed the title of emperor (a\ 286), his dominions 
 
 * As an inftance of the opulence and luxury of of the antient authors, gives roum to fuppofe him 
 
 Firmus, it is faid that he had fqiiares of glafs fix- equally ignorant of the ui'e of window gUus, tiiough 
 
 ed wiih bitumen in his lioule ; and, though Vo- common in moil parts of Europe in his time, 
 
 pifcus, the author who mentions the circumitance. In the rinlofof-hkal IrjrfaHions, V. \, part 2, isnd 
 
 [^tila Ftrml, c. 3] has not a word of windows, V. Hi, part I, there are two papers by Mr. Nixcr. 
 
 this has been fuppoled the earlicft ialtance of win- on the ule of plate glafs among the antients, oc- 
 
 dows furnillied with glafs. However, Laclantius, cafioned by a piece of plnte glafs being found in 
 
 an author contemporary with Firmus, fpeaks of the ruins of Herculaneum, which was overwhelm- 
 
 glafs in a manner that infers, that it and the more ed by the lava from Mount Vefuvius in the year 79. 
 
 antient thin plates of an almoll-tranfparent kind of Mr. Valois [-ffi/?. ile racad. ties inf.ripl. V. V\ 
 
 ilone-were both ufed in windows ill his tune ;' per fuppofes the laph fpecularts of the antients the 
 
 ' feneftras lucente vitro aut fpcculari lapide.' \_De fame with the modem talc of Ruffia. This later 
 
 ipifido Del, c. 5.] is a fulule fubftance called marienglas : it fplits in- 
 
 Pliny, who defcribes the manufaflure and the to lamina:' like fheets of paper, quite tranfparent, 
 
 various ufes -of glafs, [£. xxxvi, c. 26] appc*:-3 and is ufed for windows and lanterns all over Ruffia, 
 
 to have been ignorant of the molt valuable appli- ha\ing this advantage over glafs, that it is not Labie 
 
 cation of it in admitting the light into, and ex- to break by the explofion of cannon, 
 
 eluding the cold and the rain from, our houfes. f For tiie knowlege of the fecond embalTy, as 
 
 And Polydore Vergil, in his compilation upon In- well as the firft. We are indebted to the Chinefe 
 
 vcntions, by merely tranfcribing the moll comrr.on Juftoriau-; and Mr. de Guignes. See above, p. 194.. 
 
 C C 2
 
 204 -A. D. 285. 
 
 comprehending the Roman part of Britain, with a confiderable diftri^t 
 Dn the o])pofite coaft of Gaul. 
 
 Caraufius knew, that a naval force, which had conferred the fove- 
 reignty upon him, could alone maintain him in it againft the power of 
 the Roman emperors. He therefor beftowed the greateft attention on 
 that mofl important objed : and he encouraged foreign feamen and art- 
 ifts of every defcription to refort to his dominions. A fleet, which 
 Maximian, after long preparation, had fitted out againfl him, was com- 
 pletely defeated by his experienced feamen ; and the joint emperors of 
 Rome found themfelves under the neceflity of acknowleging the inde- 
 pendent fovereignty of the Britifh emperor (a". 289). 
 
 Britain feems to have flourifhed under the government of Caraufius. 
 The general opulence, and the flourifhing fl.ate of the arts are atteft:ed 
 by the number and elegance of his coins, three hundred of which, all 
 different, have been publiflied by his biographer, Dodlor Stukely. He 
 firfl: repelled, and then lived in friendfhip with, the Caledonians. His 
 fleets for feveral years rode triumphant in the narrow feas, and even 
 gave laws to the Atlantic ocean as far as the African fliore : and now 
 for the firfl time Britannia ruixd the waves. 
 
 The Roman emperors could not fit down contented with the depriva- 
 tion of Britain, the value of which they feem to have been more fen- 
 fible of from the vyant of it. In order to depofe Caraufius, a great naval 
 and military force was colleciled under the command of Conftantius 
 Csefar, whofe firfl attempt was againil Gefl!briacum, which after an ob- 
 flinate defence fell into his hands, together with a part of the fleet 
 (a". 292). 
 
 294 — While the Romans were carrying on their preparations for in- 
 vading the Britifli emperor, he was treacheroufly murdered by Aledlus, 
 one of his officers, who immediately ufurped the dangerous pre-emin- 
 ence, and, with very inferior talents, expofed himfelf to be the firfl ob- 
 ject of the vengeance of the Roman empire. 
 
 296 — At length Conftantius put to fea with the fleet, which he had 
 been about four years * employed in getting ready ; and the w^onderful 
 courage of the Romans, who ventured out with a fide wind, and in 
 weather fomewhat boiflerous, was thought worthy of panegyrical cele- 
 bration. They furely had no Phoenician or Alexandrian navigators in 
 their fleet. Conftantius effeded his landing in two divifions ; and Alec- 
 tus, hated and deferted by his involuntary fubjeds, who were moreover 
 harafl!ed with a long march from London, was flain in battle on the 
 fouth coaft near the ifle of Wight. » 
 
 * Thefc feveral Roman fleets, and the time cm- of tlieir navnl undertakings, and without the af- 
 
 ploycd ill prtparinf; them, may he compared with fiftance of any people experienced in maritime af- 
 
 thofe, wliicli the Romans, when mailers of only fairs. See the judicious remark of 'Gibbon, /W. 
 
 ihc pcninftilar part of Italy, are faid to liavc fitted vi, p. I 79. AW, ed. 1792. 
 out completely in a few days, ia the very infancy 4
 
 A. D. 296. 205 
 
 A body of Franks, who had efcaped, or withdrawn, from the battle, 
 haftened to London, intending to pillage it, and then to retreat to their 
 own country with the plunder by feizing the vefTels in the Thames. 
 But a part of the Roman fleet, which had been driven into the river, 
 came very opportunely to protect the city, and drove off the intended 
 plunderers with great flaughter. 
 
 Thus a fingle battle, fimilar in feveral of its circumftances, and in 
 its decifive confequence, to that which was fought near the fame place 
 between Harold king of England and William duke of Normandy 
 fevcn hundred and feventy years afterwards, reunited the Britifli domi- 
 nions of Caraufius to the Roman empire, after a feparation of about 
 ten years. 
 
 It is remarked by Eutnenius in his panegyric upon Conftantius, that 
 Britain produced fuch abundance of corn, that it was fufficient to fup- 
 ply not only bread, but alfo a drink which was comparable to wine *. 
 He alfo remarks the innumerable multitude of tame animals, fome with 
 their udders diflended with milk, and others loaded with fleeces of 
 wool. From him alfo we learn, that the artificers of Britain in the 
 reign of Caraufius were efteemed excellent in their profeflions, and were 
 therefor employed by Conftantius, in preference to thofe on the con- 
 tinent, in rebuilding the city of Auguflodunum in Gaul. 
 
 At the fame time Diocletian re-annexed Egypt to the empire, and we 
 may believe, that the commerce of that country with India muft have 
 fuffered upon the occalion ; for he almoft depopulated Alexandria, which 
 fl:ood a fiege of eight months ; and he totally deftroyed Coptos, the 
 town at which the Oriental goods were unloaded from the backs of the 
 camels, and fhipped in boats on the Nile for Alexandria. 
 
 The Egyptian expedition of Diocletian furniflies the earlieft notice of 
 the pretended fcience of alchymy. He found in Egypt books, faid to 
 be antient, which profefled to teach the wonderful art of making gold 
 and filver. The emperor, who appears to have formed a very proper 
 judgement of the delufion and its dangerous confequence, committed 
 the whole of them to the flames. 
 
 306 — The emperor Conftantius, having made an expedition againft 
 the Caledonians, took up his refidence, and foon after died, in the im- 
 perial palace at Eboracum (Tbri), which was thus a fecond time diftin- 
 guiftied by the refidence, death, and deification of a Roman emperor. 
 His fon Conftantine there alfo took upon him the title of emperor as 
 colleague with Galerius. He afterwards became fo'e emperor, made 
 Chriftianity the eftabliftied religion of the Roman empire, and removed 
 the feat of the imperial government from Rome to Conftantinople. 
 
 314 — York, London, and Colchefter, were apparently the principal cities 
 
 » < 
 
 Segetum tanta fxcunditas, ut munerlbus utrifque fufficiat, et Cereiis et Liberi,
 
 2o6 A. D. 314. 
 
 of Roman Britain at this time; for we find three bifiiops taking their titles 
 from them at the council, or fynod, of bifiiops held at Arelate in Gaul. 
 On this, as on former occafions, York (or Eboracum) appears to have 
 had the firfl: rank among the Ronian-Britifli cities, and London had, 
 probably by means of its advantageous lituation for trade, nov/ rifen to 
 the lecond rank, Colchefler, which feems to have been once the mofl 
 confiderable, as the earlieil Roman colony, having funk to the third 
 place *. 
 
 323 — The fleets colledled by Conftantine and Licinius, when they 
 contended for the monarchy of the Roman world, furnifh a pretty juft 
 comparative eftimate of the opulence, commerce, and fliipping, of the 
 •feveral countries bordering on the Mediterranean fea at this time. Con- 
 ftantine, emperor of the Weft, appears to have got no Ihips of war 
 from Italy. The fleets appointed by the policy of Augufl;us to be per- 
 manent and ftationary at Miienum and Ravenna, had gone to ruin for 
 want of commerce to fupport and man them. His force confifl:ed of 
 only two hundred fniall warlike vefTels, furniflied by Greece, which, ac- 
 cording to Zofimus, carried only thirty oars each, and above two thou- 
 fand tranfports, of the fize of which we have no information. Lici- 
 nius, the fovereign of the Eafl:, ifllied his orders to his fubjects to pro- 
 vide vefl!els proper for war ; and they amounted to three hundred and 
 fifty, as enumerated by Zofimus, viz. eighty trirernes furnifhed by Egypt, 
 eighty by Phoinicia, iixty by Ionia and Doria, thirty by Cyprus, twenty 
 by Caria, thirty by Bithynia, and fifty by Africa. Though thefe feem 
 .to be all ranked as triremes, yet from a fubfequent paflage of Zofimus 
 it appears, that fome of them were only vefiels of fifty oars in fingle 
 tires. [Zofim. L. ii, pp. 94, 95, 98, ed. Oxon. 1679.] Sluinqiiereines and 
 other larger fhips were now unknown ; and foon after this time they 
 were almofl; forgotten among the Romans. {Vegct. L. iv, c, 37.] 
 
 If from this view of the naval power of the Mediterranean countries 
 we turn the flightefl: glance to their profperous flate, before the Ro- 
 man empire arofc, what a prodigious diflference fliall we find ! Phoenicia 
 alone, when even reduced to a province of Perfia, furnifhed three hun- 
 
 * III the lid of ecglcfiaftics, who attended the chejier) ; or perhaps Lindenfium [the inhabitants of 
 
 fynod of Artlate, the three Briti/li bifiiops are Lincoln) ; and the former feems the moll probable, 
 
 placed alter the eiglit billirips of Gaul, and before The corrupted name has no rtfeinblance to any 
 
 the one bifliop and feveral prefbytcrs of Spain, as other of the Roman colonies. [^Uffcrii Jhitann. 
 
 follows. _ ecdcf. antiq. pp. 98, 195 and 6c, ci'l. 1639 Spel- 
 
 Eboriiis cpifcopns, de civltate Eboraceiili, jiro- nuinConcil. Brilann. p. 42, cd. 1639.] 
 
 vincia britannia. I'he critics in ccclcliallical hilloiy dilfer wic'ely 
 
 Rellitutns cpifcopns, de civltate Lotditienfi, pro- in the date of this fyuod. I'hc profound rcfearchcs 
 
 vineia iiiprafcrlpta. and erudition of tlie two authors, I have quoted, 
 
 Adelfius cpifcopus, de civitate Colonia Londin- v.arrant me in fullowinif them in what appears tb 
 
 cnfuim. be the earlieil genuine notice of Brltilh bilhops, as 
 
 The hifl word is crroneotidy written. It ought denoting the pre-eminence of Britifli cities. 
 
 to be Camulodimenfium {the inhabitants of Col- 4
 
 A. D. 323. 207 
 
 dred warlike fliips ; about one quarter of the armada, with which Xerxes 
 invaded Greece. The ifland of Samos, without drawing any from its 
 own fleet, could [pare forty triremes as a gratuitous afll (lance to Cam- 
 byfes. But now the fleets of both the rival emperors, who had the ab- 
 folute command of the wealth of the Roman world, though they had 
 been joined together, were far from being equal to fome of thofe, 
 which were equipped by the Angle city of Athens, when in its free and 
 flourifliing flate : nor have we any reafon to believe that the inferiority 
 in number was compenfated by any improvement, either in the lize or 
 force of the vefl^els. 
 
 324-334 * — The imperial refidence and feat of the Roman govern- 
 ment, which for about forty years had flu6tuated between Rome, Me- 
 diolanum (Milan), and Nicomedia (Cofnidia), was finally fixed by Con- 
 flantine at Byzantium, which thenceforth obtained the name of Con- 
 ftantinopolis. It is almoft unnecefll^ry to add, that the favoured capital, 
 tfeough it had repeatedly been befieged and ruined, foon grew up to be 
 a large and beautiful city. 
 
 Before the invention of the compafs rendered the mofl: difl;ant parts 
 of the Ocean pervious to the fkilful navigator, no fpot in the weftern 
 world could be more happily chofen for the capital of a great com- 
 mercial people than that, which was chofen by Conftantine for the ca- 
 pital of a military government. Situated on a peninfula projecting in- 
 to the narrow channel, which divides Ei;rope from Afia, and the Medi- 
 terranean from the Euxine fea, it invited, and could almofl: command, 
 the trade of every country bordering on the Mediterranean. A branch 
 from the main channel,- of feven imiles in length, and only five hun- 
 dred yards in breadth at the entrance, formed its harbour, and had 
 water fuflicient to enable large fliips to lay their fides to the quays : and 
 befides affording fuch convenience for fhipping, it moreover fed and 
 enriched the inhabitants with innumerable annual flioles of a kind of 
 fifli called pelamides (or tunnies), the copious captures of which had 
 for many ages enriched the Byzantines. 
 
 It is well known to every reader of hiftory, that the new arrange- 
 ments, which took place in confequence of the removal of the imperial 
 refidence, accelerated the fall of the weftern divifion of the declining 
 empire of Rome : but then it may with juftice be called the principal 
 fupport of the eaftern empire. 
 
 306-337 — Since the reign of Severus the Roman part of Britain had 
 been divided into two provinces, superior and inferior. The further 
 
 * The building and dedication of Conftantinople, content myfelf with following the learned and in- 
 fo important in the hiftory of the empire, cannot defatigable Gibbon, who dates the firft defion of 
 be reduced to certain chronology, though they the new capital in 324, and the completion of it 
 have employed the acute inveftigations of feveral about ten years after, 
 hiftorical critics. In fuch an uncertainty I may
 
 2o8 A. D. 306 — 337. 
 
 divifion into four provinces is believed to have taken place in the reign 
 of Conftantine; and they were as follows. Britannia ^rima compre- 
 hended the country fouth of the Thamefis {Thames) and the Sabrina 
 {Severn) ; and Rhutupis {Richburgb in Kent) was the capital. Britannia 
 SECUNDA was bounded by the Sabrina and the Deva {Dee) on the eaft, 
 and on the other fides by the Trifli fea, Ifca Silurum {Caerkion) being 
 the capital. Flavia C^sariensis * was bounded on the fouth by the 
 Thamefis ; on the weft by the oabrina, the Deva, and the Infli fea ; 
 on the north by the Seteia {Merfea), the Danus {Don), and the Abus 
 {Huviber) \ and on the eaft by the German fea. The capital is not cer- 
 tainly known, but may be prefumed to have been the antient colony 
 of Camulodunum {Colchejler), or perhaps rather the now more flourifti- 
 ing city of Lundinum {London). Maxima f comprehended all the re- 
 maining part of the conquered country, which, while the Romans were 
 able to preferve the limits fixed by the treaty between the emperor ^ 
 Antoninus Baflianus (or Caracalla) and the Caledonians, feems to have 
 extended as far north as the Cheviot hills and the range of mountains 
 dividing Galloway (in its largeft extent) irom Tiviotdale. Tweeddale, and 
 Clydefdale. Eboracum {York) was the capital of this province, and, at 
 leaft occafionally, of the whole of the Roman dominions in Britain : 
 and all thefe capital cities were Roman colonies. \Sexti Rufi Breviarium. 
 — Ric.Corin. L.\,c.6.'\ 
 
 About this time the Romans, perhaps dropping the ufe of their own 
 money of account c^Wtil fejiertiu?n, and of the Greek or Oriental talent, 
 feem to have reckoned their large fums by pounds of gold ; at leaft we 
 find the falaries of their great officers of ftate, bilhops, &c. fo reckon- 
 ed :j:. ' 
 
 The Roman pound of gold, which may be reckoned equal to forty 
 pounds of our modern fterling money, was exchanged at this time for 
 fourteen pounds eight ounces of filver. 
 
 About 345 — From the circumftance of an embafly being fent by the 
 emperor Conftantius to the king of the Homerites, (formerly called Sa- 
 b^eans) in order to convert him to the Chriftian religion, and probably 
 alfo to engage him to harafs the coaft of Perfia with naval invafions §, 
 we learn that that king now extended his fway over all the fouth coaft 
 of Arabia, which the Greeks called the Great Arabia and the Happy 
 
 * Apparently fo called from tlic prxiiomcn of tions, being lefs opulent, counted pounds oijiher 
 
 Flavlus, iiffumcd by Conltantii/t, aiui after him by iiillcad of pounds of gold, 
 inany of the 'uccceding emperors. J Tliat tlie Roman emperors kept up alliances 
 
 f Perhaps fo called, as being crroneoufly fnp- with the Homerites and the Axiimites, a people 
 
 pofed the largeft of the whole (whereas it was not on the well coall of t!;c Red lea, in the year 356, 
 
 near fo extenlive as Flavia) ; or as pretending that and alfo in the reigns of Jullin and Judiuian, ap- 
 
 ihe unconciuercd country was a part of it. pears from an older cuueeining the e.xpenles of 
 
 \ Probablj the numeration of money by pounds, thole who were fcr.t to them, from Noi.nofus, am- 
 
 wliicli became general among all the nations of £u- ballador to Axuma, \_ap. Photii Bibliothcc. cod. iii} 
 
 rope, was copied from them; but the other na- and from Procopius, IPcrJic, L. i, c, 19, 20.]
 
 A. D. 353. 209 
 
 Arabia ; and that one of his fea ports, fituated in the diflridt of Adane 
 on the Ocean, was called the Roman emporium *, and another, at the mouth 
 of the Perfian giilf, the Perjian emporium, from the fubjedls of the Roman 
 and Perfian empires trading to them. Among the prefents fent by the 
 Roman emperor to the king of the Homerites there were two hundred 
 horfes of the noblefl: breed of Cappadocia, conveyed in veffels conftru6l- 
 ed for the purpofe f . [Philojiorgii Hijl. cedes. L. iii, c. 4.] 
 
 353 — It was cullomary now (and how long before we know not) to 
 hold an annual fair about the beginning of September at Batnae, a town 
 of Macedonian origin, lying eafl from Antioch, and near the banks of 
 the Euphrates. It was attended by great multitudes, for the purpofe of 
 dealing with the opulent merchants of the place, and others aflembled 
 from all quarters, in goods brought from India and other countries by 
 land and by water %, as we learn from Ammianus Marcellinus, [Z,. xiv] 
 who mentions an attempt of the Perfians to plunder it. 
 
 That diligent and judicious writer, who deferves to be called a geo- 
 grapher as well as an hillorian, gives a defcription of the countries be- 
 yond the eaftern limits of the Roman empire in his twenty-third book, 
 wherein he informs us, that the long route of the merchants trading to 
 the famous nation of the Seres lay through a village called Lithinos- 
 Pyrgos (the tower of ftone), and along the ranges of mountains called 
 Afcanimia and Comedus §. He does not tell us of what country thefe 
 merchants were, but it is probable that they were fubjefts of the Roman 
 empire. Eaft from the River laxartes (Sibon), fays Ammianus, and 
 furrounded by a vafl: circuit of lofty mountains, lies the extenfive and 
 fertile country of the Seres, bounded on the weft by the Scythians, on 
 the north and eafl: by deferts covered with fnow, and on the fouth by 
 India and the Ganges ||. He proceeds to defcribe the Seres as a fedate 
 
 * This is fiippofed the emporliim called Arabia chart's Geog. facr. col. 175, Z'n^ Hicro%o'icon, col. 
 
 Felix in the Periplus of the Erythraean fea, but I IC9, and in Gothofred's Dijfertatton on Plnlojhrgms. 
 
 know not whether the identity is futiiciently ella- \ ' Terra mariqiie,' hy land and by fni. But the 
 
 blilhed. town is far from the Mediterranean, the neareft 
 
 •j- It may be an inquiry worth the inveftigation fea : nor is it clofe upon the Euphrates, which, 
 
 of the naturalift, whether thefe Cappadocian horfes however, is the only navigable channel by which 
 
 were the progenitors of the famous Arabian breed. Indian goods could be conveyed to it. The land 
 
 It is pretty evident that Arabia was not dillinguifh- conveyance was probably by the caravans of rner- 
 
 ed for the qnahty of its horfes in eaily times. See chants, of whofe route in the centra] part of Afia 
 
 above, p. 165 note, where I have obfcrved that the he gives us a flight notice in his geography of that 
 
 horfes of Cappadocia were highly elleemed in Tyre continent. 
 
 and Perfia. They were no lels pretious in the eyes J' Thefe feem the ranges now called Hindoo- 
 
 of the Roman emperors, who did not permit even kho and Cuttore. See RnncU's Map of the court' 
 
 confuls to poffefs * the divine animals'' of the firll tries befaven the Ganges and the Cajpianfea. 
 
 quality, or pureft breed, of Cappadocia. In Ihort, || This defcription anfwers that part of Tartaiy 
 
 they were then, what the Arabian horfes of the containing the country now called Little Bucbaria 
 
 tnonaki Jhaduhi breed, purer than milk, are in the or Mognllftan. [|See R nnell's Map as above, and 
 
 prefent day, the very bell of their kind. The many the third J'eBion of Im Memoir, p. 198.] The fitua- 
 
 quotations in fupport of the fupetior excellence of tion alio agrees tolerably well, making due allow- 
 
 tlie antient Cappadocian horfes, which it would be ance for the imperfeftion of antient geography, 
 
 improper to introduce here, may be feen in Bo- with the great city of Thina in the Petiplus of the 
 
 Erythijjjn 
 
 Vol. I. D d
 
 aio A. D. 353. 
 
 and gentle people, who never quarrel with their neighbours, arc ex- 
 empted from the alarms of war, and are even without the ufe of arms. 
 Eleiled with a fertile foil, and a delicious and falubrious climate, they 
 pafs their happy days in perfect tranquillity amid fhady groves, which 
 are fanned by gentle breezes, and produce fleeces of wool, which, after 
 being fprinkled with water, is combed off in the fined threads, and 
 woven into fcrictim *. The Seres, fatisfied with the happinefs of their 
 own condition, are very fliy of having any intercourfe with th^^ reft of 
 mankind ; and when. foreigners have pafled a river to buy thread (feem- 
 ingly raw filk) or other goods, they confider the price offered in filence, 
 and tranfad their bufinefs without exchanging a word. And as the pro- 
 dudions of their own country are fufficient to fupply all their wants, 
 and fatisfy all their wiflies, they receive nothing in exchange from the 
 flrangers but hard money. Such is the befl account which Ammianus 
 could obtain of the country, from which, through the agency of a great 
 many hands, the Romans obtained the luxurious drefs called fericum, 
 which, though formerly confined to the nobles, was now indifcriminate- 
 ly ufed by all claffes of people, not only in clothing, but alfo in cover- 
 lets for their beds f. 
 
 357 — Paris, firft mentioned by Julius Csefar under the name of Lu- 
 tecia or Lutetia, was now the refidence of Julian, who, with the rank 
 of Ccefar, governed the weftern provinces of the empire. It appears to 
 have been fiill confined within the fmall ifland in the river, and to have 
 been confidered rather as a fortified poll or cafl:le than as a town. 
 
 359 — When Julian was occupied in confiirudling a chain of fortified 
 towns on the banks of the Rhine, he found that the adjacent country, 
 neglected and exhaufted by the calamities of war, was incapable of fup- 
 porting the garrifons and inhabitants of his new fettlements. He im- 
 mediately conftruded fix hundred :j: velTels with the wood growing on 
 
 Erythraean fea, and the Sera metro])(ilis of Ptole- f Some parts of tliis defeription may feem to 
 
 my, which the learned geographer D'Anville makes be copied fiom Ph'iiy. [_Hi/h iiat. L. vi, cc. 17, 
 
 the fame with the modem city ot Kan-tche>i-foo, 22.] Three or four ceiitiiricii had not made tlie 
 
 fituated in that divifion of Taiigut, whitli is inchid- fmalleft addition to the knowlcgc of the nature of 
 
 ed in the province of Shcn-fec, in the north-weft ytr.v«») among the Romans, beyond what they pof- 
 
 part of tlie empire. \_Iii'cl.>erclie3 fur In Scrique des itflld in the days of Virgil or Pliny. 
 
 eincicns, in Mem. de lllleralure, V. xxxii, p. 579. j % Such is the number by Julian's own account 
 
 This pofition of the Sftes agrees pretty well with in his Letter to the Athenians. Zofimus fays, there 
 
 tlie iiillory, or tradition, of the origin of the Chi- were eight hundred fliips larger than lembi (' vXtiK 
 
 iicfe, fuppofing them the defcendents of the Seres, ftfi|5»a /!,«£«»') ; and he has been often referred 
 
 that their lirll fettlements were in the north-wefl to, not quoted, to prove that Britain exported ci'er'\) 
 
 parts of the prefent empire of China, as it was year corn fufficient to load eight hundred large 
 
 pointed out by a well-informed Pandit to Sir VVil- (hips ; whereas, without affirming or denying that 
 
 liani Jones. [Sec his Difcourfe on the origin of the Britain could fpare an equal quantity every year, 
 
 Chinrfe, in the /Ifiatic refearches, V. ii.] he only fays that fuch an exportation took place 
 
 * Perliaps the Seres were themfelves the invent- on that occailon. Of the burthen of the velTcls 
 
 ors of this llory, whicii ftemcd to render it impof- we can form no accurate judgment, unlefs we knew 
 
 fiblc for any other nation to obtain a participation the ordinary fize of lembi, which, if we may trull 
 
 in the filk harvell, jull as fimilar fables were pro- to fuch guides as Ifidore, Nonius Marcellus, and 
 
 pagated rtfpe6ting the production of fpices. FulgeiUius, were fmall vcffcls or fjfliing boats ; and
 
 A. D. 359. itr 
 
 the banks of the river, and fent them to Britam, whence each of them 
 carried feveral cargoes of corn, which fuppUed the wants of the fettlers 
 till their own lands were capable of fupporting them with corn raifed 
 from the Britifh feed : and he alfo ereded granaries in place of thofe 
 which had been burnt down, for the reception of the corn nfually im- 
 ported from Britain. \^idiani Oral, ad Athen. — Amm. Marcellln. L. xviii. 
 — Zofimus, L. iii.] This authentic fadl furnifhes an unqueflionable proof 
 of the fertility of Britain, and alfo of the flourifhing ftate of agriculture 
 in it. And the vaft fums paid by the Anglo-Saxons in after ages to the 
 northern invaders, afford a ftrong prefumption, that Britain, while un- 
 der the Roman government, was enriched by a great and long-conti- 
 nued favourable balance of trade, and thereby poflelTed a very great 
 quantity of money at the final abdication of the Romans. 
 
 360 — The Roman fubjeds in Britain were miferably harafTed by the 
 incurfions of the Scots and Pichts *, two fierce nations, ' who, breaking 
 ' the terms of the pacification, ravaged the frontiers, and fpread terror 
 ' through the Roman provinces, ftill exhaufted by the calamities of 
 ' their former invafions.' Julian difpatched Lupicinus againfl them 
 with an army from Gaul, who landed at Rhutupiae, and marched to 
 Lundinium (London), whence he was to proceed againft the invaders. 
 What his fuccefs was, we are not told ; but his flay in the ifland was not 
 above three or four months. Rhutupiae or Rhutupis (Richburgh on the 
 eafl coafl of Kent) was now the principal landing place froni the conti- 
 nent ; and Lundinium may be prefumed to be a place of confiderable 
 importance, where the Roman general was to concert the operations of 
 the campaign with the provincial governor. \_Amm. Marc ell. L. xx.] 
 
 364 — The Saxons, a nation of Germany, who aftonifhed and terrified 
 the Romans and their fubjeds by the daring intrepidity with which they 
 
 Procopuis tells us, [Gothic. L. ii, c. ij] that the undertook an expedition againft them in the year 
 lemhi belonging to a Roman fleet were carried upon 343, referred to by Ammianus Marcelh'nus, as re- 
 carts from Genoa to the River Po. Perhaps we Jated in the early part of his work, which is un- 
 (hall not greatly err, if we eftimate Julian's river- fortunately loft. If we could truft to rhetorical 
 built veflels rather under than above fifty tuns, flourifli, both thofe nations might be faid to have 
 which, inftead of being called large Jli'ips, would frequently fought againft the Britons of the foutli 
 not now be honoured widi the name ofyZ;;)ij-. But in the age of Julius Ccefar ; but we cannot with 
 our antiquiries, if they had duely attended to Zo- any degree of propriety venture to extraft hifto- 
 fimus, who (ays, that the veflels r-iade feveral voy- rical facts from the hyperbolical adulation of pane- 
 ages, and ti Marcellinus, who has ' annona a Brit- gyric, cfpecially in this age, when the emperors 
 ' mhfueia transftn-i,' might have very fairly ere- ufed to arrogate to themfelves the adual merit of 
 dited Britain for at leaft two thoufand cargots of victories in battles which they never faw, ana even 
 corn. Part of the corn carried from Gaul to had the prepoftcrous impudence to afl"ume the titles 
 Rome in the year 398, when Gildo withheld the of conquerors of nations who had in reahty defeat- 
 African fupplits, may with great prob.ibility be cd their armies. The name of the Scots occurs in 
 prefum^ed to have been the produce of Britain. a quotation from Porphyry, who lived about a cen- 
 * This is the earlieft unqucftionable extant au- tnry before Ammianus ; but it is doubted by fome, 
 thority for thefe new names of the invaders of the whether Jerom, who makes the quotation, be not 
 Romanized part of Britain, but they were appa- himfelf the original author of it. 
 rently known bv the fame name before Conftans 
 
 D d 2
 
 ±11 A. D. 364^ 
 
 fklmmed over the roughefl feas in. boats made of leather, and by the 
 fuddennefs of their plundering incurfions, now invaded the Roman pro- 
 vinces in Britain, (wherein their grandfons were to obtain fuch ample 
 poffeflions) in conjundion with the Pichts, the Scots, and the Attacots, 
 a warlike nation, who now for the fi.rfl time ftart into hifloric notice. 
 [Anim. Mar cell L. xxvi,] 
 
 3^5~3^^ — The provincials of Britain, accuflcmed to look for pro- 
 tedion from their Roman fovereigns, and not daring, perhaps not being 
 permitted, to take arms in their own defence, were ruined by the con- 
 tinual irruptions of thefe tremendous enemies, and by the gangs of fol- 
 diers, cheated of their pay by their officers, who infefted the highways 
 as robbers, and extorted provifions from the natives. The count of the 
 fea coaft, an officer appointed to repell the piracies of the Saxons, was 
 flain in battle ; and the duke of Britain, to whom the defence of the 
 northern frontier was committed, was outgeneraled by the military 
 pohcy of the barbarians. The fucceeding Roman commanders appear 
 to have had no better fuccefs, till Theodofius was fent with a powerful- 
 reinforcement. 
 
 367 — That general, when he landed at Rhutupise, found that the 
 Pichts, the Attacots, and the Scots, were roving at large through the 
 whole country, and that fome parties of them, almoft clofe upon him, 
 were driving before them the captive people with their cattle and other 
 property. But the undifciplined valour of the invaders was unable to 
 contend with the military fcience of the Roman general and the tried 
 courage of his numerous veteran troops. Theodofius, having recovered 
 all the plunder, made a triumphal entry into Lundonium (now called 
 Augufta, and a colony, as all towns of that name were *), which was 
 faved from ruin or pillage by his feafonable arrival. \_Amm. Mar cell. L- 
 xxvii. — Liban. Oral, parent, c. 39.] 
 
 369 — Theodofius, having reformed the abufes in the army, and re- 
 ftored the cities and frontier ports in Britain, reconquered all the coun- 
 try occupied by the northern nations as far as the wall between the 
 Forth and the Clyde, which he erected into a fifth province, bounded 
 by the north and fouth walls, and gave it the name of Valentia iiv 
 honour of the reigning emperors. [Amm. Marcell. L. xxvii.] 
 
 383 — The mofi of the Roman forces, and a very great part of the 
 Britifh youth, being carried over to the continent by Maxim us to fup- 
 port his pretenfions to the empire, the defencelefs provinces were every 
 
 f Stillingflcet [_Orig. Brilan. p. 196] fuppofes * of the provinces.' Perhaps a better arfjument 
 
 that Augufta was the capital of all Roman Britain, for its fupremacy may be derived from tlie trcafiirc 
 
 and he quotes the opinion of Vtlfcrus, [Ar. Vin- of the province bting ilcpofited in it, as we Icarn 
 
 /irl. L. vj that all towns dignified with that appcl- from tiic Nolilui imperii, 
 l.«tion * were capita gentium, the chief mctropolcs
 
 A. D. 388 — ^400. f'rj 
 
 year overrun by the two cruel tranfmarinc nations, the Scots from the 
 north-wefl, and the Pichts from the north *. [^Gildas de excidio Britan- 
 nice, c. xi.] 
 
 388 — The weft coafts of Britam were alfo infulted with frequent 
 praedatory incurfions by the Scots of Ireland, probably accompanied by 
 the aboriginal Irifh. One of the beft atiefted of the expeditions of thefe 
 coriairs was that in which they failed up the Clyde as high as Dunbar- 
 ton (apparently then called Theodolia}, and carried oflf a great number 
 of prifoners, whom they fold for flaves. Among their captives was Pa- 
 tric, a youth in his fixteenth year, the fon of Calpornius, a deacon of 
 the church, and apparently a Roman, who afterwards became fo very 
 famous as the patron faint of Ireland. This fad we learn from the 
 works of Patric himfelf, the oldeft native or inhabitant of the Britifh 
 iflands, whofe writings have come down to our times f . 
 
 396 — An army, fent into Britain by Stilico the regent of the weftern 
 empire, reprefled the invaders ; and a legion was quartered on the north 
 frontier of the empire in Britain : but it was recalled very foon after. 
 [Claudian. Laud. Stilic. L. ii ; Bel/. Get.^ 
 
 400 — About this time the Noiiiia, or Court calendar ij:, of the two 
 Roman empires, feems to have been compiled. Among the great offi- 
 cers upon the Britifh eftablifhment the following appear to have been 
 the principal. 
 
 The VicARius Brit A NNi ARUM, who was fo called, as being the imme- 
 diate deputy of the Pr^fectus prjetorio of Gaul, whofe almoft-impe- 
 rial fway extended over Gaul, Spain, and Britain. The vicarius had un- 
 der him 
 
 the CONSULAR GOVERNORS of Maxima Ccejarienfis ^ 
 
 and of Valentia; 
 and the presidents of Britannia prima, 
 
 Britannia fecunda, 
 and Flavia Ccefarienjis. 
 Thefe great officers, who in modern language might be called the go- 
 vernor-general and lieutenant-governors, had in their hands the civil 
 
 * Bede, after tranfciibing thefe words from Gil- ' clofe upon a river of that name.' \_HJl. cedes, 
 
 das, in Older to prevent his readers from being mif- Z, i, c. 12.] 
 
 led, immediately adds, ' Now, we ciJl thefe nations f Of late the very exiftence of Patric, and cor.- 
 
 * tranfmaiirc, not as being lituated out of Britain, fequently of the work which goes under his name, 
 ' but as bung divided from the country of the has been denied. 1 cannot at prefent enter into 
 ' [Romanized] Britons by the intervention of two the merits of fuch a queftion, nor would, perhaps, 
 
 * arms of the fea, which lun fsr into the land on any reader of this woik tliank me for attempting 
 ' the call and weft fides ot Britain. In the middle it. I may, however, obferve, that the narrative of 
 ' of the caftern one is tlie town of Guidi (on/n/Zi. Patric throws light upon, and is itfelf fupported 
 ' Kieth, or perhaps Injlj-Garvy'). On the nght by, the poetical flourilhes of Claudian, and alfo il- 
 ' fide of the wellern one is the town of Alcluith lullrates the obfcurity of Nennius. 
 
 * {Duntartoii), the name of which fignifies in their % It differs from a court calendar in having only 
 
 * language t/:e rod of Cluith {Clyde) ; for it Hands the names of the offices without thofe of the per > 
 
 fons who held them.
 
 2 14 ■^' ^* 4-00. 
 
 adminiflration of the five provinces. The miUtary force was under the 
 command of three great officers, viz. 
 
 Comes limitum Britanniarum, whofe diftrid is not exprefled ; 
 
 Comes littoris Saxonici *, who had under his command nine mari- 
 time garrifons on the eaft and fouth coafts, his particular duty being 
 the defence of the country againft the Saxon freebooters ; 
 
 Dux LiMiTUM Britanniarum, who commanded the garrifons of four- 
 teen towns in the province of Maxima, and twenty-three parties of fol- 
 diers, Rationed at fortified pofls on, or near, the fouth wall. 
 
 Thefe three military commanders had under them 19,200 foot and 
 1 ,700 horfe ; a great redudion from, the army fiationed in Britain in 
 former ages. But the Romans, whofe wars were now not for conquefl:, 
 but for defence, found it necefiary to draw their forces homeward ; and 
 the provincial Britons were fully reconciled to the Roman dominion, 
 and the towns were in a great meafure peopled by the defcendents of 
 Roman foldiers and colonifts. 
 
 There were alfo the following revenue officers, who in modern lan- 
 guage may be called 
 
 the receivei'- general of the Britifli revenue; 
 
 the receiver of the emperor's private demefne rents ; 
 
 the comraifiloner of the treafury at Augufia f (London) ; 
 
 and the fuperintendant of a public manufacture carried on by women 
 at Ventaij: (Winchejler, or perhaps CaJIer near Norwich). 
 
 About this time an epifcopal church built of ftone, a kind of fliruc- 
 ture unufal among the Britons, was erected by Ninian, a Britifli prieft, 
 in a fmall ifland on the coaft of the Novantes {Gal/otvay), which, from 
 the white appearance of the building, obtained the name of Whit-hern 
 (or in Latin Candida cafa) §. 
 
 Bells are faid by fome to have been invented by Paulinus, bifliop of 
 
 * He is called hy Ammiamis comes of the fea be pofitivc of the cxiftence of the manufaftiire ; for 
 
 coaft ; anil the warden of the Cinque ports is fup- various readings have Vcntenfis (belonging to, or 
 
 pofed to have been appointed in imitation of his at, Venta), and Bentejifxs (meaning iniknown, if 
 
 office. any) ; gyuKcii (manufactory conduced by \vomen)j 
 
 I have given thefe titles in the original Latin, and cynegii (dog^kenntl). Therefor they have 
 
 becaufe we have not flriftly any coirefpondlng gone much too far who have adduced thefe words 
 
 terms in Englilh. The reader may confult Se/dcn's as a proof of the antient fuperiority of Britifli 
 
 Villes 0/ honour, part ii, c. I. wool. 
 
 f The office of the treafury was probably in § This was by far the moft antient birtioprick 
 
 the fame fpot where the Tower Hands, and it is in the ■;ou!itry fince called Scotland : but York, 
 
 likely that there wa« alfo a mint in the fame place, and th'j ^)thet old iiritilli billiopriiks in the Rom- 
 
 An ingot of filvcr, infcribed ' Ex officio Honorii,' an part of the ifland, if ttie notice concerning 
 
 was found, with fome gold coins of Arcadius and ilu-m be affurcdly authentic, were about a century 
 
 llonorius, in the old foundation of the ordinance earlier, which I did not advert to, when, tiufliiig 
 
 office in the Tower in the year 1777. \_ylrchitoh- too implicitly tu Bfde and William of Mainillniry, 
 
 gia, V. v, p, 291.] who have totally omitted the Britifli billiops of 
 
 \ Though Camden has fixed this mannfafture York, &c. I fiid [.n Cc grnphicnl iUnfti-aiivits of 
 
 at Winchtller, as being the nioft confiderablc of ScnuiJ}) hiflory, vo. ^ihii-hentl ti1.1t tl'is was the 
 
 the three towns in Britain called Venta, we hnre mod antient bllliopin.k on the north lide of the 
 
 110 certain knowlegc of the place, nor can we i.Tcn Hunibcr. 4
 
 A. D. 400-^—422. 215 
 
 Nola in Campania * : but it could only be an improvement upon the 
 bells adapted to churches ; for bells of gold, which founded, are men- 
 tioned in the book of Exodus [c. 28.] Every claflical reader knows, 
 that inftruments of brafs, which feem to have been bells, were found- 
 ed in Rome, to give notice to the people, when the public baths were 
 ready f . 
 
 409 — ^The Britons, abandoned to the ravages of the Saxons, Pichts, 
 Scots, and Attacots, by the degenerate emperor Honorius, who did not 
 dare to venture his perfon on the outfide of the walls of Ravenna, re- 
 fumed their independence ; and, trufting to their own courage and ex- 
 ertions, they found that thefe were fufficient, without any foreign aid, 
 to deliver their country from the invaders. If their feceffion could de- 
 rive any validity from tiae confcnt or approbation of fuch a fovereign 
 as Honorius, that was alfo beftowed in letters v/hich he addreffed to the 
 cities or ftates of Britain, wherein he exhorted them to take the ma- 
 nagement of their aflfliirs into their own hands. The example of the 
 Britons was foon followed by their neighbours on the nearell coafl: of 
 Gaul, who alio withdrew their allegiance from a mafter incapable of 
 affording them any protedion. YLofimi Hiji. L. iv.] 
 
 410 — Alaric, the great king of the Goths, after having humbled 
 Rome by exadling a tribute of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of 
 filver, 4,000 garments of filk (or fericum), 3,000 fl<ins, or fleeces, of a 
 purple, fcarlet, or crimfon, colour, and 3,000 pounds of pepper 'J:, by 
 three fieges, and the creation and degradation of a vaflal emperor, took, 
 pofleffion of the no-longer-proud and infulting capital, gave his foldiers 
 permiflion to feize the accumulated plunder of eight hundred years (for 
 fo long was it lince the city had been taken by the Gauls), and in fome 
 degree avenged upon Rome the caufe of mankind. {Zojimi HiJi. L. v.] 
 
 419 — Theodolius, the emperor of the Eaft, was fo fenlible of the im- 
 portance of a naval force, that he prohibited his fubjeds, under pain of 
 death, from teaching the art of fhip-building to the barbarians, i. e. na- 
 tions not fubjed: to the Roman empire. [Cod. T'heod. L. ii, tit. 40.] 
 
 422 — It might be fuppofed, that the Britons, pofTefled of independ- 
 ence, and improved in agriculture, arts, fcience, and manufadures, by 
 
 * Thefe bells are called nolis and catnpaiKs in the the money without melting down the (latues of 
 
 Latin of the fiicceeding ages. feveral gold and filver deities, among which Zofi- 
 
 f Bells (tintinabula) are mentioned by Plautus, mus particularly regrets the goddefs Virtus or Va— 
 
 \_Trinum. ci&. iv, fc. 3] and by Varro, as quoted lour, the deftuiilion of which, he fays, was the 
 
 by Pliny, [i. xxxvi, c. 13] authors who lived about extinftion of the laft fpark of fortitude and viitue 
 
 hvc hundred years before Paulinus. Jofephus \_/in- among the Romans.— The meaning of the words 
 
 tiq. L. iii, c. II, 12, or 13, as numbered in the i>a- y.oxy.coapii ^i^fiara is uncertain: the lirll was a very 
 
 rious cdilions} fays, tliat the wide end of the trum- expenfive colour, but whether purple, fcarlet, or 
 
 pets, made in the camp of Mofes, was in the form nf crimfon, is unknown : the fecond is tranflated by 
 
 a bell, which inferi that the form ef them was the Mr. Gibbon pieces of Jitie cloth. It appears from 
 
 fame in his days as at prefent. Pliny [Z. viii, c. 48] that they had a method of 
 
 I Rome, now a fubordinate city, could not raifc dying the wool upon the living fheep.
 
 ^i6 A. D. 4*2. 
 
 almofl four centuries of Roman inftrudion, would immediately have 
 ihone out a great and flourifhing people ; that the abundance of their 
 produce and manufad:ures would have fupplied the materials of a very 
 extenfive commerce ; and that they would have availed themfelves of 
 their infular fituation, and their knowlege of the Latin language, (then 
 generally underflood in the weftern parts of Europe) to carry on a great 
 adive trade to at leafl all the neighbouring countries *. The very re- 
 verfe was the truth. Weakened by many and great levies of Britifh 
 foldiers repeatedly drawn off, not only by the pretenders to the empire, 
 but alfo for regular garrifons in diftant provinces f ; accuftomed to look 
 up to Rome for prote6lion as well as government ; and probably de- 
 prived by death, or envy, of the fuperior talents which had given life 
 to their fpirited condudl in the year 410, they funk into dejedion and 
 inadivity. Finding themfelves incapable of conduding their own af- 
 fairs, they difpatched ambaffadors to the Roman court, begging permif- 
 lion to return to their former allegiance, and imploring afliftance againfl 
 their enemies. A legion was accordingly fent to their relief, the whole 
 Roman part of the ifland was recovered, and the wall of Lollius Urbi- 
 
 cus was rebuilt, though in a very imperfed manner. [Gild. c. 12 
 
 Bed. H'lft. cedes. L. i, c. 12. — Paul. Diacon. L. xiv.J 
 
 The Roman legion being again withdrawn, the northern invaders, 
 without taking the trouble of attacking the ufelefs wall, croffed the firths 
 in their boats, and repeated their cuftomary ravages. A Roman legion 
 was again granted to the prayers of the Britons, and the invaders, who 
 were driving off their annual prey, were attacked, and repelled beyond 
 the firths (a", 426). But the Roman commander, exhorting the Britons 
 to apply to the art of war, and depend on their own valour for their 
 protedion, gave them notice that no more afliftance could be afforded 
 them in future. Before leaving them he gave them diredions and af- 
 fiftance in rebuilding the fouth wall in a fubflantial manner, whereby 
 the province of Valentia was abandoned, and it was immediately occu- 
 pied by the Pichts. The Romans alfo affifted in ereding watch-towers 
 along the fouth coafl of the ifland, to give notice of, and afford fome 
 defence againll, the incurfions of the Saxon rovers ; and having accom- 
 plifhed thefe works, they took leave of Britain for ever. [Gild. c. 14. — 
 Sigeherli Chi'on. ad an. 426.] 
 
 441 — The attention of Theodofius to his marine has been already 
 obferved. In order to prevent the deflrudion of the weftern empire, 
 threatened by the formidable fleets ot Genleric, the Vandal fovereign 
 
 • Glldas, in his florid dcfcription of Britain, fiiys th.it the hixurics (dclilijc) of foreign countries 
 were imported into the mouth* of tlie Thames and tlic iijcvern in timca preceding his own. [G'ddt 
 hift.c.u] 
 
 f Sec the Notitia imperii for the ftationnry troops, or Camden {^Brllann. p. Co, cJ. 1607] for the 
 ttIioIc of them coUcited in one vicvr.
 
 A. D. 446. 217 
 
 of Africa, he equipped eleven hundred large fliips, with a proportional 
 army, to ad in conjundion with the weftern forces. But this prodigious 
 armament only proceeded as far as Sicily, and performed nothing. 
 
 446 — Though the unfortunate Britons had almoft a certainty of be- 
 ing refufed, they were again driven by the cruel oppreflion of their 
 northern neighbours to implore the pi-oteclion of ^tius, who then go- 
 verned the weftern empire in the name of Valentinian. But the Ro- 
 mans, who at this time dreaded the lofs of Italy itfelf, had given up all 
 pretenfions to the protedion of diftant fubjeds or allies. 
 
 449 — In a few years (for the precife date is uncertain *) the affift- 
 ance, which the Romans were incapable of giving, was afforded by a 
 party of Yutes, or Geats, who, arriving on the coaft of Kent in a fleet, 
 confifting of only three long fliips, under the command of two brothers 
 called Hengift and Horfa, and immediately joining the Britons, march- 
 ed againft the invaders, whom they encountered and defeated (accord- 
 ing to the old Englifli authors, at Stanford in the fouth corner of Lin- 
 coln-fliire). The feafonable relief was rewarded with a grant of the 
 ifland of Thanet, wherein the Yutes fettled. They immediately tranf- 
 mitted a flattering account of their fuccefs to their friends on the con- 
 tinent, which procured a reinforcement of five thoufand men in feven- 
 teen fliips f . 
 
 So great an acceflion of followers enabled Hengift to become the 
 mafter, inftead of the mercenary ally, of the unhappy Britons. He 
 foon found an opportunity of quarreling with them, and, ftriking up 
 a peace with the Pichts, bent his whole force againft his late friends. 
 He and his fucceflbrs, and the chiefs of the numerous fwarms of the 
 Saxons, whom Zofimus diftinguifties as the braveft of the Germans, with 
 other bold adventurers from the continent, who, with their wives and 
 children, crowded over to fliare the fertile lands of Britain, in the courfe 
 of about a century and a half made themfelves mafters of the beft part 
 of the country from the Channel on the fouth to the Firth of Forth on 
 the north. Such of the furviving natives of the conquered country as 
 did not fubniit to live under them, were obliged to retire before them 
 to the weft fide of the ifland, of which, from the Lands-end to the Firths 
 of Clyde and Forth, they maintained the poflellion for many ages, till 
 they were gradually fubdued, and annexed to the more powerful mo- 
 narchies of England and Scotland. 
 
 * It is impoffible to fix the piecife date of the f If thefe numbers are nearly accurate, (for tlic 
 
 memorable arrival of Hengift and Horfa. Beds different accounts vary from fixteen to eigj-.teen 
 
 afTnmcs the year 449, as appears by King Alfred's fliips) the German rovers, befides their leather 
 
 Saxon tranllation, as well as the Latin original ; boats and large canoes, muft have had very re- 
 
 and he is followed by the Saxon Chronicle and the fpeclable vefiVls, properly and ftrongly conllruci- 
 
 fueceeding writers. But the various dates and facts ed, to be capable of carrying about three iumdred 
 
 ftated by Camden rBrilaiinia, p. 94, ed. 1607] men each, btfides women and children, even for a 
 
 deftrrve the attention of the critical reader. fliort paflage. 
 
 Vol. I. ' E e
 
 2i8 A. D. 450. 
 
 450 — If we may truft to Joceline, one of the many biographers of 
 St. Patric, the Irifh town called Eblana by the geographers of the Ro- 
 man empire, called at this time Ath-cliath by the Irifli, and afterwards 
 Difflin, Dufelin, Duvelin, and Dublin, was ' a noble city, famoub for 
 • its commerce, and furrounded by woods of oaks and dens of wild 
 ' beads.' But the later part of this defcription does not very well agree 
 with a populous or commercial city. 
 
 452 — The invafion of Italy by Attila, king of the Huns, with his tre- 
 mendous army, confifting of a vafl number of nations aflembled under 
 his vidorious flandard, gave birth to a new city, which in time rofe to 
 fuch commercial eminence, as to rival the antient fame of Tyre and 
 Carthage, and the more recent pre-eminence of Alexandria. The Ve- 
 NETi, a very antient nation, refembling the Gauls in their manners, 
 but of a different language, pofTelled the fertile country w^atered by the 
 Padus {Po), from the confines of the Kenomani (or Cenomani) down 
 to the head of the Adriatic gulf. Their name was famous in the tragic, 
 and in the fabulous, poetry of antiquity : but the firfl hiftoric notice of 
 them, according to Livy, [L. v, c. ^^^^ is their maintaining their pofTef- 
 fions, when all the neighbouring country was over-run by the Tyrrheni- 
 ans, or Tufcans. Many ages afterwards, in the abfence of their neigh- 
 bours the Gauls on their expedition againfl the Romans, wherein, after 
 defeating them and their allies, and chafing them for three days toge- 
 ther, they followed them into Rome, v/hich they took pofl^elfion of, 
 (390 years before the Chriftian sera) the Veneti made an irruption into 
 their country, which was a happy circumftance to the Romans, as it 
 obliged the Gauls to abandon Rome, in order to march to the defence 
 of their own territories. [Poijb. Hift. L. ii, cc. 17, 18.] The Veneti, 
 being afterwards iwallowed up in the Roman empire, had a fubordinate 
 fhare of its proiperity ; and they had now an abundant fhare of its mi- 
 fery. Their property was pillaged, their towns were leveled with the 
 ground, and thole who efcaped from the fword were compelled to fly 
 from their native country. Moft of them fled to a numerous clufter of 
 fmall muddy iflands, ieparated from each other only by narrow chan- 
 nels, wherein they found an obfcure and fafe retreat, proteded from 
 the attacks of land forces by a fea, probably then about ten miles 
 broad *, too fliallow and intricate to be navigated by vefle;ls of any 
 force, but too deep to be forded, and fecured againfl naval attacks by 
 a chain of long narrow iflands, which line the coaft for many miles, 
 and render the approach of a hoftile fleet almofl impoilible. There the 
 
 • It 13 not near fo broad now. Everywhere centuries been covered with trees, and is called 
 
 upon this coad the fea has retired conliderably C/;;'(7^, a corruption of the Latin word <,7.^'^x, the 
 
 from the laid Ravenna is now four miles from name of the fubinb adjacent to the harbour, I'c 
 
 the fea, and its liarbonr, in which Auguftus kept called as being the llation of the fleets, cla/fes. 
 t\vo hundred and lifty fliips of war, has for mauy
 
 A. D. 452. 219 
 
 miferable remains of the Veneti, the noble and the plebeian reduced to 
 the common level of poverty, conftrufted fome poor huts, and fupport- 
 ed themfelves by fifhing, and by making fait, the lirft article of their 
 trade, which they carried in their boats to the neighbouring coafts, and 
 even into the interior regions, by means of the rivers ; and they receiv- 
 ed in exchange corn and other neceflaries ; for their own iflands afford- 
 ed them nothing at all but room for their huts. Such was the humble 
 and diflrefsful origin of the illuftrious commercial city of Venice. 
 
 455 — Carthage, after being rebuilt by the Romans, was confidered 
 as the firft city of Africa *. But in every refpe6l it was far inferior to 
 its antient condition ; and in a commercial view the Roman Carthage 
 fcarcely deferved to be called the fhadow of the Phoenician Carthage, 
 Of its manufadures we know no more than that one of the gyn^tcia, or 
 factories wherein women were employed, had been eftabliihed in it 
 [Notitia imperii, § 42] ; and that its trade confifted in colleding the corn 
 from the induftrious farmers of Africa, and tranfporting it for the fup- 
 port of their idle Roman mafters. Genferic, the king of the Vandals, 
 was now mafter of Africa and Carthage ; and a numerous and power- 
 ful fleet was once more cbnduded out of its harbour to flrike terror 
 into Rome. Whatever the citizens of Rome had acquired during a re- 
 pofe of forty-five years, whatever the piety, the mercy, or the hafte, of 
 Alaric had fpared, was deliberately collefted in a fearch of fourteen days 
 by the Vandals, and, together with many thoufands of the wretched 
 Romans, was conveyed onboard the fleet, and landed in Carthage, the 
 fl:reets of which exhibited on this occafion the fpoils of the heathen and 
 Chrifl:ian temples of Rome, and thole of the temple of Jerufalem, which 
 had been carried off by Titus Vefpafian. Thus did Genferic in a fmall 
 meafure revenge the deflrudion of Carthage upon Rome. 
 
 468 — Leo, the emperor of the Eafl:, fitted out a fleet of eleven hun- 
 dred and thirteen fliips f , carrying above one hundred thoufand men. 
 The expenfe of the expedition, which was no lefs than one hundred and 
 thirty thoufand pounds of gold, (above five millions fterling) exhaufled 
 the revenue, and ruined many of the cities. It was an effort difpropor- 
 tioned to the weak ftate of the empire, not yet recovered from the heavy 
 expenfe of the ufelefs fleet of Theodofius ; and it ended in ruin and dif- 
 grace. Genferic became the fovereign of the Mediterranean fea, and 
 as the poffeflion of the iflands mufl ever follow the dominion of the fea, 
 Sicily, Sardinia, &c. were added to the African dominions of Genferic, 
 and the weftern Roman empire was almofl flirunk to Italy. 
 
 472 — Rome was taken and lacked by the Gothic chief Ricomer, the 
 mighty maker and deftroyer of many emperors of the Weft ; and in a 
 
 * In ihofe days the name of Africa did not extend to Egypt. 
 
 t This number, which is furely not too fmall, is enlarged by fome writers to a hundred thoufand 
 fliips. • 
 
 E e 2
 
 220 A. D. 472. 
 
 few years it was taken pofleflion of by Odoacer, who finally extinguish- 
 ed the weftern Roman empire, which had for fo many ages given laws 
 to a great portion of mankind, Odoacer, in contemptuous mercy, per- 
 niitted Romulus, who was the lafl nominally-Roman emperor of Rome, 
 to retire to a delightful and magnificent villa in Campania, and even 
 allowed him an annual penfion of fix thoufand pieces of gold. Italy 
 (for the other provinces were all by this time alienated from it) now 
 became fubjed to a fovereign who fcorned to affume the name of Ro- 
 man or emperor, or to permit an ufelefs and expenfive phantom to con- 
 vey his commands to his fubjeds, as the mafl;ers of the nominal empe- 
 rors for fome time had done. 
 
 4^2 — By the defeat and death of Odoacer the fovereignty of Italy 
 was transferred to Theodoric, the chief or king of the Oftro-Goths. 
 Under the peaceable reign of this benevolent conqueror Italy again be- 
 gan to flourifli. A fleet of a thoufand armed boats was eftabliflied to 
 protect the coafl;s from the piratical invafions of the African Vandals 
 and the eaftern Romans. Large tradls of marfliy land, which had be- 
 come ufelefs by negled:, were reclaimed and cultivated ; the exertions 
 of protefted induftry reftored the country to its natural fertility ; and 
 Rome no longer depended for fubfiftence upon Carthage or Alexandria. 
 As a proof of the abundance of the harveflis, we are told that wheat was 
 fold at the rate of five fliillings andfixpence of fiierling money a quarter, 
 and wine at lefs than three farthings a gallon. \^Frag?>i. Valefian.^ By the 
 munificent attention of Theodoric, an ample fund in money and mate- 
 rials, under the care of a profefled archited and proper guardians, was 
 affigned for the prefervation of the public buildings and other monu- 
 ments of antient art*, and new buildings for ufe or embellifhment were 
 ereded. The Italians (or Romans, as they chofe to call themfelves) re- 
 covered from the defolation of the preceding ages. They ■ acquired 
 wealth, and they were not afraid to enjoy it. Italy, which in its mofl: 
 favage ftate before the age of Homer had furniflied fome commodities 
 which attracted the vifits of the indufl:rious Phoenicians, was again re- 
 forted to by foreign merchants ; and feveral fairs were appointed for 
 exchanging its redundant produce with the merchandize of other coun- 
 tries. About this time (a'. 500) many rich Jews, attra(fl:ed by the flatter- 
 ing profpect of commerce in a country apparently rifing into profperity, 
 and where religious perfecution was prohibited by the wifdom and the 
 power of the fovereign, eflabliflied themfelves in the principal cities of 
 Italy ; and it is very probable 'that the mofl: of the trade of it pafl"ed 
 through their hands. But it was a trade more refembling the firft ef- 
 forts of an infant colony, or of a nation jufl emerging from barbarifm, 
 than what might have been expected from a great country, which by 
 
 * Apd yet the dcftruftion of the monuments of antient art is generally, but moft ignorantly, im- 
 puted to the Goths. 4
 
 A. D. 500. 221 
 
 its advinfages of climate, foil, and fituation, to fay nothing of its un- 
 tien' railiiary fupeviority, might have commanded at leaft the com- 
 merce of everv coafl: of the Mediterranean fea, if it had been in the 
 hands of au in'dufcrious and mercantile people. 
 
 At the conclufion of the fifiii century of the Chriftian aera the weft- 
 em Roman empire, which had included the moft temperate and fertile, 
 the moft populous, and the beft cultivated, regions of Europe, and at 
 leaft an equal ftiare of the moft fertile part of y^.frica, was divided as 
 follows. Theodoric, king of the Goths and of Italy, poflefled, along 
 with it and Sicily, that part of Gaul which lies eaft of the Rhone, the 
 provinces of Rhsetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalraatia, the Danube 
 forming the northern boundary of his ample dominions, which com- 
 prehended the moft valuable part of the late WeftexTi empire. The 
 African provinces were fubjed: to the Vandals. Spain was divided be- 
 tween the Goths and Swevians. Gaul, except what lay eaft from the 
 Rhone, was occupied by the Franks, the Burgundians, and a colony of 
 Britons. 
 
 The Eaftern empire was ftill entire, if it could properly be called fo, 
 when not only the frontier provinces on the lov.^er Danube, but even 
 the whole country to the very gates of Conftantinople, and to the fouth- 
 ern extremity of Greece, were frequently pillaged with impunity, and 
 fometimes taken pofleflion of, by roving nations, who, whether they 
 profefled hoftility or fubjection to the empire, were almoft equally 
 dreadful to the unhappy fubjects, whom they fweeped before them in 
 war, or exhaufted by heavy tributes in peace. Such was generally the 
 condition of the Eaftern, Roman, Conftantinopolitan, or Greek, empire, 
 which dragged out a feeble exiftence of many centuries, till it was final- 
 ly fubdued by the Turks, in whofe hands it continues to this day. 
 
 It muft be evident to every attentive reader of the preceding pages, 
 that, if we except the Oriental regions, the tranfactions of which are un- 
 fortunately almoft unknown to us, there was very little of real com- 
 merce in the world after the deftruftion of the illuftrious commercial 
 city of Carthage. The conveyance to Rome, and afterwards to Con- 
 ftantinople, of the corn and other provifions, the manufactures of all 
 parts of the empire, and the luxuries of the Eaft by the agency of the 
 merchants of Alexandria and thofe concerned in the over-land trade, 
 was all that remained to the fabjects of the Roman empire in place of 
 the active commerce by which industry had been created, animated, 
 and fupported, in every country which had the happinefs of being con- 
 nected with the MERCHANTS of SiDON, of Tyre, and of Carthage. 
 
 The Britons, who had long ago been left to themfelves by the Ro- 
 mans, were ftruggling for their lives and liberties againft fierce invaders 
 on every fide. The Yutes, who fliowed the way to the other German 
 nations, had eftabliflied themfelves in their fmall kingdom of Kent, un-
 
 222 A. D. 500. 
 
 der the fovereignty of Hengift and his family. The kingdom of the 
 South-Saxons, comprehending the modern (hires of Surrey and SufTex, 
 was alfo eftabliflied. And Cerdic, whofe pofterity were deflined to 
 fway the fceptre of all the Britifh iflands, had jufl laid the foundation of 
 his more extenfive kingdom of the Weft-Saxons. As yet no Angles (or 
 Englifh) had arrived, at leaft not in fuch numbers as to form eftablifti- 
 ments in their own name. All thefe nations, together with the leffer 
 bands of Frifians, Rugians, Danes, &c. have in fucceeding ages been 
 known under the general names of Saxons *, Anglo-Saxon, Angles, and 
 Englifh. 
 
 The northern part of the late Roman provinces in Britain, except a 
 fmall kingdom of the Britons in the fouth-weft part of ScotLmd, was 
 occupied by the Pichts, who extended their dominion at leaft as far 
 fouth as the wall between the Tine and the Solway firth. 
 
 A colony of Scots (or Dalreudini, as Bede calls them from their lead- 
 er Reuda, or Riada) had palTedover from Ireland, probably in the third 
 century, and occupied Argyle-fhire, with fome of the adjacent lands, 
 and, apparently, the neighbouring iflands. About the end of the fifth 
 century, they were reinforced by another colony of the fame race, 
 under the command of three brothers, called Lorn, ^ngus, and Fer- 
 gus, the later of whom appears to have fucceeded to the dominions of 
 one or both of his brothers (a". 503") ; and he is generally reckoned the 
 firftof the Scottifli kings, and the anceftorof the kings of Scotland, and 
 of thofe of Great Britain. 
 
 Ireland at this time contained, befides the tribes enumerated by Ptole- 
 my, a colony of the Pichts, and a nation called Scots, who appear from 
 the works of St. Patric to have been the ruling people. It is is probable, 
 and we can have nothing better than probability, that all the tribes, or 
 nations of Ireland, migrated at different times from the weftern fliores 
 of Britain f . 
 
 Such were about this time the nations, whofe pofterity, with a mix- 
 ture of Norwegians, Danes, and Norman-French, conftitute the popula- 
 tion of the Britifh iflands. And, though migrations and conquefts do 
 not in ftrid propriety belong to commercial hiftory, I have thought it 
 incumbent upon me to give at leaft a very brief account of events, 
 which gave almoft an entire new population to thefe iflands, which were 
 deftmed by Providence to furpafs the commercial fame of all the na- 
 tions of antiquity, to extend their commercial enterprifes to every port 
 upon the furface of the globe, and to cover the ocean with their innu- 
 merable fails. 
 
 • The Wclfli ;iiiJ the Highlanders of Soot- Davids in Wales ; and it is but fixtcen miles from 
 
 land to this day fcarc.ly know the Englidi by the Mull of Galloway, and only ten fiom the Mull 
 
 any oiher name than Snjfitnach. of Kenlirc, in ijcotlaiid. 
 
 \ Ireland is vifiljlc in clear weather from St.
 
 A. D. 500. 223 
 
 The Romanized Britons were much fuperior to all their invaders in 
 the arts and faiences, except the art of war. But the faint light of learn- 
 ing and knowlege remaining in the idand, was almofl extinguifhed by 
 the long continued and bloody wars, which during feveral dark cen- 
 turies depopulated the country, and defolated the cities of Britain. 
 
 The following particulars of the manners, manufadures, &c. of the 
 inhabitants of the Britifh iflands beyond the limits of the Roman con- 
 quefts (to whom I have fcarcely had an opportunity of paying any at- 
 tention hitherto), are chiefly colleded from the antient biographers of 
 the faints, almofl the only writers of the weflern world in the dark ages, 
 and brought together as throwing fome glimmering of light upon the 
 fmall portion of arts, manufadures, trade, and navigation, exifling in 
 thefe remote regions about this time *. 
 
 The Irifli ftill retained the cuflom, noted by SoHnus, of adorning 
 their fwords and daggers with the poliflied teeth of animals. [Adamnani 
 Vita Columbce, MS. Bib. Reg. 8, d, ix. L. iii, c. 39.] The manufadture of 
 fwords and other weapons was in very early times pradifed in every 
 part of the Britifli iflands. 
 
 The luxury of riding in chariots was common in Britain and Ireland. 
 IPatricii Synod, can. 9. — Cogitofi Vita Brigita, ap. MeJJingham, cc. 6, 7, 1 1. 
 — Adamn. L. i, c. qq ; L. ii, c. 43.] 
 
 A common article of drefs was a cloak or plaid (peplum, pallium, 
 fagum) adorned with a variety of colours, which was probably of home 
 manufadure. \^Adamn. L. iii, c. i.] They had fine Unen, which, with 
 other articles of fumptuous drefs, may be prefumed to have been im- 
 ported. The bodies of the dead, at leaft thofe of eminent rank, were 
 wrapped in fine linen. IPatricii Synod, can. 9 — Cogitos. c. 11. — Adamn. 
 L. iii, c. 26.] Decency of drefs Vv^as recommended to all, but particu- 
 larly to clergyiTien and their wives. [Patrlcii Synod, can. 6.] 
 
 In the churches and abbays there were bells, which the pious and in- 
 duftrious abbats fometimes made with their own hands. [Fita Gilda 
 quoted in U//erii Brit, eccles. antiq. p. 905, cd. 1639.! — Adamn. L. i, £•. H ; 
 L. iii, c. 23.] 
 
 Water mills were introduced in Britain by the Romans, as appears 
 by the remains of a Roman mill lately difcovered at Mancheft;er : [JVbit- 
 akcr's Hiji. of Manchejier, p. 315] and as they are frequently mentioned 
 during the Saxon period, we may be aflured, that an engine fo very ufe- 
 ful, and alfoof fuch limple confl:rudion, was never allowed to go out 
 of ufe. About this time they were alfo ufed in Ireland. \_Cogitos.- 
 
 ^- 13-] 
 
 Veflels made of glafs for drinking out of were ufed even in the ex- 
 
 * Patric flourifhed from A. D. 432, the year td were written very foon after their own time,, 
 of his mlffion, to 493 : Brigit, about 500 : and and may be trufted to in every thing but thee 
 Columba, from 522 to J97. The lives here quot- miracles. 3
 
 2 24 -^' ^' 5°^* 
 
 trernity of Britain by the northern Pichts * ; but whether they were 
 nnnufadured by themfelves, or imported, we are not told. [Adamn. 
 L. ii, c. 32 ] We have reafon to believe that the art of manufaduring 
 glafs was known to the fouthern Britons before the invafion of the Ro- 
 mans. 
 
 Ale was a common drink, and made at home. Wine was alfo ufed 
 
 upon fome occafions, and moil probably imported. ICo^itos. c. 4 
 
 Adamn. L.'\\,c.\.'\ 
 
 The natives of Ireland, and the north-weft coaft of Britain, and the 
 adjacent iflands, caught falmon, and other fifh with nets. [Adamn. L. 
 ii, cc. 17, 18; L. iii, c. 25.] So it appears that they had no averfion to 
 fiih, VN^hatever their anceftors may have had. (See above, p. 200.) But 
 they knew nothing of the vaft advantage to be derived from an exten- 
 live fiihery, and only caught fifli for their own vife. 
 
 Though the leather boats of the Britons chiefly attraded the attention 
 of foreigners, as being unufual with them, we mufi; not fuppofe they 
 had no others. They certainly learned to build vefTels of wood while 
 under the Roman dominion, if they had them not before. About this 
 time, even in the remote Weflern iflands, they had long velTels built ot 
 oak planks ; and they all carried at leafl one fail. Some of the veflels 
 covered with leather, were fufficient to go long voyages ; at leafl as far 
 as from Ireland to Orkney, and even to advance as far into the North- 
 ern ocean as a run of fourteen days with full fail before a fouth wind f. 
 [Adamn. L. i,c. F ; L. ii, cc. 42, 45.] 
 
 I may here alfo obierve, that inftruments and trinkets made of gold, 
 fome of them of coniiderable weight, were by no means uncommon in 
 Ireland, as appears from the great numbers of them found in various 
 parts of the country, though they probably belong to ages prior to any 
 authentic hiflory %. As civilized nations do not carry the prctious merals 
 to countries in an inferior flate of civilization, it ieems more probable 
 that the gold was found in mines, of which there are flill fome veftiges 
 in Ireland, than that it was imported, though we fhould even f ppofe 
 with Tacitus (lee above, p. 189), that Ireland had a greater foreign 
 trade than Britain. 
 
 * It is proper to ohfci"ve, tliat Cumin, who fociety) had adlually failed to Iceland, whrre they 
 
 died ill the year 669, and was the original writer fettled, it being moil probably impofliiile f^i them 
 
 oi the Life of Columba, has not a word of the to lind their way back again ; and their hooks in 
 
 llorv Containing the notice of the drinking glafs. tlie Iiilh language, bells, okc. were found there by 
 
 It is tjot known in what year Adamnan wrote his the full colonills from Norway. [_/Iili Schcda dc 
 
 greatly-enlarged copy of Cuniiii'a Life of Coluni- JJlatidia, c. 2.] 
 
 ba. The mannfaiSure of glafs was introduced \ Sic y4rchieolo^ia Britann. V. ii, ip. 3; V. iii, 
 
 among the Erigliih of Northumberland in the year p. 55 q — (^aHmicry's CoUeBanca de rebus Hibcruicis, 
 
 •674. n°. xlii. One gold Hhula of ten ounces (rtprcfent- 
 
 -j- It appears, , that fome wrong-headed monks, ed in plate vi, 11°. 2) was fold to a goldt'nitli, who 
 
 ^:.i,,.. I,,, ■, r. ,1 ..... .tijp,.^ Of hy dtfigijj (for the informed Colonel Vallanccy, that he had melted 
 
 fiij/pofed to confill in down feveral of that form, one of which weighed 
 
 -1.1 111^ UH.U.. i.tj iiicieis by withdrawing from fixttcn ounces.
 
 A, D, 517—522. 225 
 
 517 — ^The Danes made their firfl appearance under that name in hif- 
 tory, when an army of them landed in Gaul, and ravaged the country 
 between the Macfe and the Rhine. In their retreat they were attacked 
 by the Franks, who recovered all the plunder from them. [Greyer. 
 'Turofi. L. iii, c. 3.] 
 
 522 — The Oriental commerce of the Red fea appears to have made 
 a regular progrefs down the well coafl of it. The earlieft port I find 
 mentioned is Heroopolis, at the very head of the weft branch, or on a 
 canal drawn from the Nile to it *. Myos-hormos and Berenice, after- 
 wards became the feats of the trade. And we find, from the w^orks 
 of Cofmas Indicopleuftes f , that it had now quite deferted the Roman 
 dominions, probably in confequence of the calamities brought upon 
 Egypt by Caracalla and Diocletian, and fettled at Aduli, a port of Ethi- 
 opia, (or Abyflinia) near the mouth of the Red fea, and far beyond the 
 utmoft limits of the empire. That port was now frequented by the 
 merchants of Alexandria, by Cofmas, and his neighbours (who refided 
 in fome other part of Egypt), and by the merchants of Aela, an Arabian 
 port belonging to the Roman at the head of the eaftern branch, where, 
 in an earlier age, Solomon had his harbour of Eziongeber ; and from it 
 fuch of the Egyptian Greeks, as defired to adventure upon the Ocean, 
 embarked, apparently as charterers or freighters, onboard the veflels of 
 the port. The aromatics, incence, and fpiceries, the ivory, and the 
 emeralds, of Ethiopia, were coUeded in the'port of Aduli, and fhipped 
 by the merchants of the place onboard their own veflels, which they 
 fent to India, Perfia, South Arabia, and the Roman empire, the only 
 parts of which, acceflible by their veflTels, were Egypt and the north 
 part of Arabia. 
 
 The great illand of Siele-div (or Ceylon), again called Taprobane by 
 the Greeks ij;, was now the chief feat of the commerce of the Indian 
 ocean. Its ports were frequented by vefl!els from India, Perfia, Ethio- 
 pia, South Arabia, Tzinitza § (or China), and other eaftern countries; 
 and the merchants of Siele-div carried on a great adive trade in their 
 
 * The pofition of it cannot be precifcly afcer- —This defcription makes it clear, that the dolphin 
 
 tained. of the antients is very different from the modern 
 
 f Indicopleuftes fignifies navi-^alor of India, dolphin : and it anfwers very well to the porpus, 
 
 He was a merchant ; and he founds his narrative, the form of which alfo comes near to the antient 
 
 he tells us, upon his own kuowlcge, aflilled by in- reprefentations of the dolphin. But his compari- 
 
 quiries made in every place to which he traded, fon of turtle to mutton mull be allowed to be in- 
 
 In his old age he became a monk, as did alfo an- accurate ; and the connoifeurs in eating will think 
 
 other Greek merchant of his acquaintance. ' Egypt, meanly of his taile, in putting the dolphin (or por- 
 
 « the fruitful parent of fuperltition, afforded the pus) on a level with the turtle. 
 
 • firft example of the monalh'c life,' in the early J See above, p. 132, note for the revolutions of 
 
 part of the fourth century. names of this ifland. 
 
 A paffagc of Cofmas may through fome light § Whether the Sinae, mentioned at the end of 
 
 on the quellion tefpefting the dolphin of the an- the Periplus of the Eiythrxaii fea, (fee above, p. 
 
 tienta. He fays, ' the flefh of tiie turtle is liko 133), were the Cliincfe or not, there can be little 
 
 ' mutton : that of the dophin is like pork, tender, doubt that the Tzinitza of Cofmas is the empire 
 
 ' and nearly as agreeable to the tafte as the turtle.' of China. 
 
 Vol. I. F f
 
 226 A. D. 522. 
 
 o\vn veflels to all thofe countries. They received from Tzinitza lilk, 
 now called by the new name of metaxa, aloes, cloves, the wood of cloves, 
 fandal wood, and other articles ; from Male {Malabar) they imported 
 pepper; from Calliena *, now a place of great trade, copper, wood of 
 fefame like ebony, and a variety of (luffs ; and from Sindu, mu/k, cailo- 
 reum, and Ipikenard. All thele articles, together with fome fpiceries f, 
 and the hyacinths, for which the ifland was famous, were exported to 
 every fhore of the Indian ocean. 
 
 The Perfian traders to Siele-div appear to have been very numerous, 
 fince there was a church erected for them, the clergy of which received 
 ordination in Perfia. A principal part of their cargoes confided of Per- 
 fian hories for the ule of the king. 
 
 The chief ports of the mainland of India at this time were Sindu:}: 
 on the River Sind or Indus, Orotha, Calliena, Sibor, Male famous for 
 pepper, as were alio the five ports of Parti, Mangaruth, Salopatana, Na- 
 lopatana, and Pudapatana §. 
 
 Tzinitza, which is exprefsly noted as the country producing the filk, 
 is, according to Cofmas, as far beyond Siele-div, as Siele-div is from the 
 head of the Perfian gulf; and it is bounded by the Ocean, there being 
 no inhabited country beyond it. The fhort land carriage between 
 Tzinitza and Perfia, (which, however, he elfewhere calls a journey of a 
 hundred and fifty days) is affigned as the reafon of the great abundance 
 of filk in the later. 
 
 Cofmas alfo defcribes a trade conducted by caravans, fent by Elef- 
 baan||, the king of the Axumites on the eafl coafl of Africa, who ex- 
 changed iron, fait, and cattle, for pieces of gold, with an inland nation 
 in the fame filent manner that the Carthaginians carried on a trade on 
 the wefl coafl of Africa, defcribed by Herodotus many centuries before 
 Cofmas, and by Cadamofto and Dodor Shaw, many centuries after 
 him f . 
 
 From the view of the Oriental trade given by Cofmas, we fee that 
 the Roman province of Egypt had now the fmalleft concern in it, and 
 that only by the medium of a foreign port ; and the Perfians and Ethi- 
 opians of this age appear to have been more largely engaged in it than 
 
 • Calliena was one of the ports formerly (hut § The names of places found fomewhat more 
 
 againfl the Egyjitian Greeks, in order to force Indian-like in Cofmas than in the Periphis. I'he 
 
 all the trade to go to Barygaza. See above, p. Greeks were very tardy in adopting tlie genuine 
 
 169. names of the foreign places they liad occafion to 
 
 f Cofmas has not a word of cinnamon as the mention, 
 produce of Siclediv, or indeed of any of the Ori- ]: When Cofmas was at Aduli, Elefbaan, call- 
 
 tntal countries. He fccms to confme the growth cd alfo HclliiUixus and Calcd, was preparing to 
 
 of it to Ethiopia, in a country near the ocean of make an expedition againll the Homerites of Ara- 
 
 Zingion, which "is probably the name now called bia Felix, which is mentioned by fcveral other au- 
 
 Zanguc-bar. » thors. 
 
 J Perhaps Pata!a, or the Barbaric emporium f Sec above, p. 55. 
 •f the Periplus. 4
 
 A. D. 522. 227 
 
 the Arabians, unlefs the later, in confequence of his having no tranfac- 
 tions with them, have been neglecfted in his narrative. 
 
 From the writings of Cofmas we may alfo learn the deplorable decay 
 of fcience fmce the age of Pliny. The chief intent of his work, which 
 he calls Chrijlian topography, was to confute the heretical opinion of the 
 earth being a globe, together with the pagan aflertion that there was a 
 temperate zone on the fouth fide of the torrid zone ; and to inform his 
 readers, that, according to the true orthodox fyftem of cofmography, it 
 was a quandrangular plane, extending four hundred courfes, or days 
 journeys, from eaft to wefl, and exadlly half as much from north to 
 fouth*, inclofed by lofty walls, upon which the canopy or vault of the 
 firmament refl:cd ; that a huge mountain on the north fide of the earth, 
 by intercepting the light of the fun, produced the viciflitudes of day 
 and night ; and that the plane of the earth had a declivity from north 
 to fouth, by reafon of which the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers 
 running fouth, are rapid, whereas the Nile, having to run up hill, 
 hasneceflarily a very flow current. \CoJmas, 'Topog. Chrijl. — Procop. Per- 
 fic. L. i, c. 20.] 
 
 523 — The Venetians, who efcaped the deftroying fword of Attila in 
 the year 452, appear to have now eflabliflied a regular internal govern- 
 ment or police. Their boats were enlarged to vefTels capable of vifiting 
 every part of the Adriatic gulf, and worthy of the attention of the fu- 
 preme government, now in the hands of the Gothic king of Italy, whofe 
 minifter, Cafliodorus, addrefl~ed a letter to the maritime tribimes of Ve- 
 nice, requiring them to tranfport the public ftores of wine and oil from 
 Iftria to Ravenna f . 
 
 After difpatching his official bufinefs, Cafliodorus, very fortunately 
 for the caufe of genuine hiftory, runs out in a kind of poetical, but ap- 
 parently a true, defcription of the celebrated city of Venice, (' Venetise 
 ' praedicabiles') which he compares to the Cyclades, as he does their 
 houfes to the nefts of aquatic fowls, fet upon ground not provided by 
 nature, but made by human induftry, and confolidated by means of 
 flender fences made of twifted ofiers (fuch as the Dutch call_y?^^<"^ and 
 rijs'). The diflinflion of rich and poor was ftill unknown in Venice : 
 all the houfes were alike : all the citizens lived on the iame fifli diet. 
 Their only emulation was in the manuflidure of fait, an article, which, 
 as he obferves to the comfort of the Venetians, is more indifpenfibly 
 
 * The antient Chinefe believed the earth to ance of which has remained entire in V'enice. The 
 
 be a perfeft fquare. \_Staunton's Emhajfy, V. ii, reqiiifition of Theodoric, by the letter of his mi- 
 
 p. ■X^2\. fecund cdr^ nittcr, fliows that he at Icafl thought otherways, 
 
 f When individuals or coinmunitics become and reckoned tiiem in the number of his fubjefts : 
 
 profperous, their vanity requires to be flattered and it is not likely, that they ventured to dilputc 
 
 with the imaginary dignity of their ancellors. his claim to their allegiance. It is alfo certain. 
 
 The Venetians have accordingly pretended, that that they afterwards acknowleged themfelves va''- 
 
 their (late Is the only true and legitimate offspring fals of both the Eaflern and Weftern empires fo- 
 
 of the Roman republic, the freedom and indcpend- fome sges. 
 
 Ff 2
 
 228 A. D. 523. 
 
 neceflary than gold. Cafliodorus remarks their cuflom of tying their 
 boats to their walls, as people tye their horfes and cows in other places ; 
 their navigation through their country, or city; their fafe and pleafant 
 voyages upon the rivers of the adjacent continent, wherein their vefTels 
 appear to a fpedator, who does not fea the water, to be gliding through 
 the meadows, and the mariner, exempted from all danger of fliipwreck, 
 inftead of being carried by his veffel, drags it along with a rope, while 
 he walks upon the dry land. [CaJJiodori Var. L. xii, epiji. 24.] 
 
 533 — The profperity of Europe and Africa was interrupted by the 
 weak ambition, or avarice, of Juflinian, who, being defirous to recover 
 the Weflern empire from the barbarians, fent againft Africa a fleet con- 
 fifting of five hundred tranfports, from thirty to five hundred tuns, 
 which carried thirty-five thoufand men, five thoufand horfes, warlike 
 ftores, provifions, &c. and thefe were proteded by ninety-two dromones, 
 or warlike fhips. This fleet, not half fo numerous as thofe which had 
 been fitted out by the preceding emperors for the fame purpofe, com- 
 pletely broke the power of the Vandals, and added the African provin- 
 ces, Sardinia, and Corfica, to the eaftern Roman empire. But it was 
 conduced by Belifarius : and fuch was the eflfed of the fuperior talents 
 of one man. 
 
 c^'^^ — The fame vidlorious general was employed to wrefl: Sicily from 
 the Goths : and their government being at this time in fome confufion, 
 that fertile ifland fubmitted to Belifarius, almofl; without oppofition. 
 He next attacked Italy, and he even got pofl^eflion of Rome, (a°. 536), the 
 inhabitants of which rejoiced in being again fubjed to a fovereign, who 
 had the name of a /?o;7Zrt« emperor. The great talentsof Belifarius, who, 
 though a native of Thrace, and living in a degenerate age, mayjuftly 
 be called one of the beft, and the laft, of the Roman generals, were emi- 
 nently diiplayed in fuftaining a fiege of above a year by a very great, 
 but ill-conduded, army of the Goths. 
 
 537 Rome being in want of flour during the fiege, and the fmall 
 
 ftreams, by which the mills were turned, being in the pofleflion of the 
 Goths, the provident genius of BeUfarius contrived to moor barges in 
 the flream of the Tiber, and on them he conftruded mills, which ground 
 corn for the fupport of the people, as long as the fiege continued. 
 \Froc'jp. Gothic. L. i, c. 19,] 
 
 538 — Belifarius, having repelled the enemy from Rome, purfued his 
 advantages, till he brought the kingdom of the Goths in Italy to the 
 brink of ruin, and fent their king Vitiges a prifoner to Conftantinople. 
 
 At the commencement of this war the Goths ceded the cities of Are- 
 late (Aries), and Maflllia (Marfeille) the antient colony of the Phocteans^ 
 with the adjacent territories, to the Franks, who were already mafters of 
 almoft all the refl: of Gaul and a confiderable part of Germany, and now 
 by the pofleflion of the fouth coaft of Gaul acquired the command of
 
 A. D. 538. 229 
 
 the adjacent Tea. Upon this occafion the fovereign of the Franks ac- 
 cepted from Juftinian a refignation of the right, which he, as emperor 
 of Rome, might claim to thofe territories, and to the allegiance of the 
 fubjeds. The Roman, or rather Grecian, hiftorian adds, that the kings 
 of the Franks were permitted to coin money made of Gallic gold, and to 
 mark it with their own portrait inftead of the emperor's ; a privilege 
 denied even to the kings of Perlia, who could put their own heads only 
 upon filver coins, as gold coins with any other head than the emperor's 
 would not be accepted even among the barbarous nations, that is to fay, 
 nations not fubjed to the Roman, or Conftantinopolitan, empire *. 
 {Procop. Gothic. L. iii, c 33.] 
 
 539 The folly of Juftinian, who now flattered himfelf, that he was 
 
 mafter of the Roman empire in its antient greateft extent, while he was 
 in fa(5l, in fpite of his long wall and other vain fortifications, a tributary 
 to all the nations bordering on the Danube, to the Perfians, and to the 
 Turks (who in his reign firft: appear in European hiflory) accelerated 
 the ruin of his own empire by calling off the Goths from the Danube 
 to the defence of Italy, and plunged that country again into the mifery 
 and oppreffion from which it had been refcued by the prudent and be- 
 neficent government of Theodoric. 
 
 546 — From the oppreffion and mifcondu6l of Juftinian's officers and 
 tax-gatherers Italy was delivered by the valour and virtue of Totila the 
 king of the Goths, who punifhed the defedion of Rome by banifhing 
 the fenators, and giving the city to be plundered by his army ; after 
 which he abandoned the antient capital of the world, as unworthy of 
 his attention. It was immediately taken pofTeflion of by Belifarius. 
 But that great general was drawn off by the imprudence, or the envy, of 
 Jufi:inian (a°. 548) ; and the fluduating dominion of Italy and the adjacent 
 iflands was refiored to the Goths, and foon torn from them again (ao. 553) 
 by the military condud of Narfes, who, though an eunuch, was more 
 worthy than any other fubjed of Jufiinian to be the fucceflor of Belifarius. 
 The Gothic empire in Italy was now finally ex tinguiflied : and Narfes 
 was appointed, with the title of exarch, to govern the miferable coun- 
 try, depopulated and ravaged by a war of twenty years. The feat of 
 government was hereupon fixed at Ravenna ; and Rome became they^-- 
 cond city of Italy (a°. 554). 
 
 * How the powerful fovereigns of Perfia, to fomely engraved ; whereas the Perfian was oi.ly 
 
 whom the emperors of Conftantinople were fie- of filver, and of inferior execution. — ^Was there 
 
 qutntly tributary, fliould be prohibited from coin- really a general confent of nations to prefer the 
 
 iiig whatever kind of money they might think pro- gold coins bearing the heads of the Roman era- 
 
 per, it is not veiy eafy to conceive. Yet there perors, and has it efcaped the attention of the 
 
 is a (lory told by Cofnias Indlcopleuftes, of a con- learned ? — Or are we to undcrftand the emperor's 
 
 left for the dignity of the Perfian and Roman em- permiflion to fignify a ftipulation, that the Frank- 
 
 pires, in the prefcnce of the king of Siele-div, be- idi gold coins Ihould be received as current money 
 
 ing decided by the fuperiority of the Roman coin, in the dominions of the emperor ? 
 which was of gold, with the emperor's head hand-
 
 1^0 A. D. 529. 
 
 529 — The incomprebenfible mafs of the innumerable Roman laws 
 was in fome degree methodized, and abridged in twelve books, called 
 the Code of Jtijlinian. The opinions and comments of the moft cele- 
 brated lawyers, contained in two thoufand treatifes, were compreffed in- 
 to fifty, which were called the PandeBs (a''. $33)- Another colledion was 
 made of the Injlitutes of the Roman law. And thefe compilations, 
 fanclioned by the authority and the fignature of the emperor, were or- 
 dained to be the ftandard for all legal proceedings in fucceeding ages. 
 Though a correSied edition of the Code was publifhed foon after by Juf- 
 tinian, and many new and contradidory laws w^re added during his 
 long reign, the colledion of which was called the Novels (a''. 565), his fyf- 
 tem of law has been in a great meafure adopted in the jurifprudencc- 
 of feveral nations of Europe, and has confequently had great influence 
 in the regulation of commercial contrads, and the decifion of commer- 
 cial difputes, long after the total extindion of the empire for which they 
 xvere enaded. 
 
 527-565 — Juftinian delighted much in building; and during his long 
 reign innumerable forts were ereded to proted, or confefs the weak- 
 nefs of, the frontiers. The moft capital of all his edifices was the ca- 
 thedral of Saint Sophia, which remains to this day, a fuperb monument" 
 of the bell tafte of an age, in which all the fine arts were rapidly de- 
 clining. 
 
 Eut the interefl:s of commerce were facrificed to his rage for conquefts 
 and exhaufting wars. He ftationed an officer at the port of Conftantin-. 
 ople, who compelled the commanders of velfels to pay enormous duties, 
 or to commute them by the carriage of cargoes for the emperor to Afri- 
 ca or Italy, which exadions were found fo intolerable, that many vefl^els 
 were adually burnt, or abandoned, by their owners : and thofe merch- 
 ants, who did pay the duties, were obliged to advance the prices of their 
 goods in a proportion, that was ruinous to themfelves and to the con- 
 fumers. His money-changers, inftead of giving 210 foles for the golden 
 ftater, gave only 1 80. And every branch of commerce, except the 
 clothing trades, was fettered and opprefled by monopolies. [P/ocop. 
 Aiiecd. c. 25.] 
 
 The legal rate of intereft was eftablifhed at7?r per cent ; but perfons 
 of rank were not permitted to take more than four ; while eight was al- 
 lowed for the convenience of merchants and manufadurers, and twelve 
 upon the rifle of bottomry. [Pandc6f. L. xxii, ///. 1,2; Cod. L. iv, ///. 
 
 32, 33-] 
 
 The merchants of Egypt were no longer capable of conduding the 
 
 Oriental trade, as their predeceflbrs had done. Their voyages did not 
 
 often extend beyond AduJi or the port of Aden in Arabia Felix. Many 
 
 of them removed their refi'Jence to Aduli, and confequently transferred 
 
 their allegiance to the fovercign of Axuma (or Abyiliuia), and ii fome
 
 A. 0.527-565- 231 
 
 of them traded to Siele-dlv or any other part of India, they failed in 
 veflels belonging to the port of Aduli ; and thus the commerce, which 
 for feveral centuries rendered Kgypt the repofitory of the wealth of 
 the weftern world, was lofl to that country and to the Roman empire. 
 \?hUQj}orgu H'ljl.eccl. L. iii, c. 4 — Cojm. Indicopl. — Procop. Perfic.L.i, 
 cc. 19, 20.] 
 
 Silk, which had never been worn by any Roman man before the 
 reign of the worthlefs and effeminate Elagabalus, had now come into 
 general ufe among the rich; and, notwithftanding the very high price of 
 it, it was fought after with aftonifhin^ eagernefs by the opulent and 
 luxurious inhabitants of Conflantinople. Confequently it formed at all 
 times a very coxdiderable part, at leall in value, of the imports from the 
 Eaft. 
 
 The manufadure of filk goods from raw filk imported from the Eaft 
 had long been carried on in the antient Phoenician cities of Tyre and 
 Berytus, whence the weftern world ufed to be fupplied. But the en- 
 hanced prices the manufadurers were obliged to pay to the Perfians 
 (the caufe of v/hich will prefently be explained) made it impoilible for 
 them to furnifli their goods at the former prices, efpecially in the Ro- 
 man territories, where they were fubjedl to a duty of ten per cent. 
 The emperor, however, ordered that filk fhould be fold at the rate of 
 eight pieces of gold * for the pound (twelve ounces of our avoirdupois 
 w'eight) on penalty of the forfeiture of the whole property of the of- 
 fender. The dealers immediately gave up their bufinefs, and clandef- 
 tinely difpofed of their flock on hand in the beft way they could ; where- 
 upon Theodora, whom, from a common proftitute, Juftinian had made 
 his concubine, his wife, and at lad his aifociated partner in the imperial 
 power, feized all the filks, and fined the proprietors a hundred pieces 
 of gold. By thefe tyrannical proceedings the fcarcity was immediately 
 converted to abiolute want. 
 
 Juftinian, defpairing, or carelefs, of the re-eftablifliment of the com- 
 merce of Egypt, fent JuKan as his ambafTador to Elafbaan (or Hellif- 
 thgeus) king of Axuma, requefting that, for the fake of their commu- 
 nion in religion, he would allift him in his war againft Perfia, and di- 
 red his fubjeds to purchafe filks f in India, in order to fell them to the 
 Romans, whereby the Axumites would acquire great wealth, and the 
 Romans would have the iatisfadion of paying their gold into the hands 
 of their friends inftead of enriching their Perfian enemies. Julian alfo 
 proceeded on the fame errand to Efimiphgeus, who was king of the Ho- 
 
 * Alemanus, in his notes on this paflage of called Median among the Greek? ; and the fame 
 
 Procopius, makes a pound of gold contain a hun- remark is made by Suldas, (vo. SijjiK») who adds, 
 
 dred anrei ; and at that rate eight aurci amounted tliat the emperor wiihtd the Axumites to impoit 
 
 to about ^3 : 4 : o of our modern money. the filk in a raw (late, (^iza^x), whence it appears, - 
 
 f Procopius, or the emperor, remarks, that the that he was fenfibte of the benefit of having the 
 
 iluff now called Smc ^filk) had formerly been manufaflure in his own dotninions.
 
 -232 A. D. 527—5^5- 
 
 merites in Arabia Felix, now under vaflalage to the fovereign of Axu- 
 ma *. Both kings promifed to comply with Juftinian's requeft ; but 
 neither of them was able to perform what he promifed. 
 
 I have obferved, that about the commencement of the Chriflian aera, 
 if not earlier, the merchants of India had taken a {hare of the carrying 
 trade to the weftward into their own hands f ; and they appear to have 
 tjow made themfelves mafters of the greatefl part of it. In their out- 
 ward voyages they generally called in at the ports of Perfia for the 
 chance of a nearer market, and they fcarcely ever failed of having their 
 whole cargoes bought up by the Perfian merchants. By this pre- 
 emption, and by having the command of the land carriage from the 
 country of the Seres, which could not eafily be conduced by any other 
 route than through their territories, there was almoft a monopoly, with 
 refpecl to the weftern nations, of India commodities and manufadures, 
 but more efpecially of filk, thrown into the hands of the Perfian merch- 
 ants, who fupplied the remoter nations at their own prices. Such being 
 the flate of the trade, the Axumites, who found themfelves generally 
 difappointed in obtaining filks, foon defifted from a fruitlefs competi- 
 tion ; and the luxurious Romans of Conftantinople were obliged to live 
 without filk, or to comply with the exorbitant demands of their Perfian 
 enemies. 
 
 From this difiirefs, which, though it would have provoked the laughter 
 and the contempt of their ancefiiors, was felt and lamented as a real mis- 
 fortune by the fenators of the Roman empire, they were relieved in a 
 very extraordinary and unexpeded manner. Two Perfian monks, in- 
 fpired by religious zeal or curiofity, had traveled to Serinda %, the 
 country of the Seres, and lived in it long enough to make themfelves 
 mafi;ers of the whole procefs of the filk manufadare. On their return 
 to the weftward, inflead of communicating the knowlege to their own 
 countrymen, they proceeded to Conftantinople, induced perhaps by the 
 famenefs of their religion, and imparted to the emperor the fecret, hi- 
 therto fo well preferved by the Seres, that Ji/l was produced by a [pedes 
 ofzvorms, the eggs of which miglit be traniported with fafety, and pro- 
 pagated in his dominions. By the promife of a great reward they were 
 engaged to return to Serinda, whence they adlually brought off a quan- 
 tity of the filk-worms' eggs concealed in a hollow cane, and conveyed 
 them fafely to Conftantinople (a^. 552). The pretiouseggs were hatched 
 in the proper feafon by the warmth of a dunghill, and the worms pro- 
 duced from them were fed with the leaves of the mulberry tree, fpun 
 
 • Nonnofus was alfo f-nt on a Cmilar errand to f A name apparently compounded of Seres and 
 
 the Axumites, Homeritis, and Saracens. His Indi, the later of vvhirli was !;ivcn by tht Greeks 
 
 own accoui.t of liis embalTy is abridged by Plio- and Romans to remote nations vvitli as httle pre- 
 
 tiiis in Ills Dlblioiljeci:, p. 6, cil. i6i2. clfiun as Indian is _;ivi."i by modern Europeans. 
 
 f Sec above, p. 194. 3
 
 A. D. 527.565. 233 
 
 their filk, and propagated their race under the diredlion of the monks, 
 who alfo taught the Romans the whole myftery of the manufadure. 
 [Procop. Gothic. L. iv, c. 17. — Theophan. Byzant. ap. Pbotiuni. — Theophy- 
 laB. L. viii, et ap. Pbotium. — Zonaras, V. \n, p. 50, ed. 1557.] The im- 
 portant infeds, fo happily produced, were the progenitors of all the filk- 
 worms in Europe * and the weftern parts of Alia ; and a caneful of the 
 eggs of an Oriental infed became the means of eflablifliing a manufac- 
 ture, which luxury and fafliion rendered important, and of laving many 
 millions of money to Europe f . 
 
 The infant manufadure was conduded under the aufpices of the em- 
 peror and the management of his treafurer. The filk-weavers, appar- 
 ently thofe of Tyre and Berytus as well as thofe inflruded by the monks, 
 were compelled to work for the imperial manufadure, which, for at leafl 
 fome years, mufl have depended on fupplies of raw filk from the Eall. 
 When Procopius wrote his Anecdotes, the imperial treafurer fold filks 
 at prices prodigioufly beyond thofe which had formerly been prohibited 
 as exorbitant, thofe of common colours being charged at fix pieces of 
 gold for the ounce., and thofe which were tinged with the royal colour, 
 at twenty-four and upwards. 
 
 The imperial monopoly of the filk trade was feverely felt by the in- 
 habitants of the antient cities of Tyre and Berytus, who had long de- 
 pended almoft entirely upon their manufadures ; and many of them 
 emigrated to the Perfian dominions, where the acceilion bf fuch valu- 
 able fubjeds probably compenfated the diminution in the fales of filk 
 to the Roman empire. {Procop. Anecd. c. 25,] 
 
 The weftern parts of Europe were nov/ very little known in the eaft- , 
 ern Roman empire, as appears from feveral paflages in the works of Pro- 
 copius, who was a man of bufinefs as well as literature, being fecretary 
 to Belifarius the commander in chief of the imperial army. He de- 
 
 * De Witt fays, that the Italians got fome feed fion of knowlege by printing, (whether by fingle 
 
 of filk-vvorms from China and Perfia, by means of moveable types, or by wiiole pages cut upon 
 
 their trade to the Levant. \JntereJl of Holland, blocks, as praftifed in China) might have fooner 
 
 part\,c.\\.'\ But as we can trace the migrations ioftened the ferocity of the invaders, and have 
 
 of the filk-worm from Conftantinople to Greece, averted the daik cloud of barbarifm which vvaj 
 
 Sicily, and Italy, I apprehend that great author now gathering over Europe, and which debafed 
 
 has made a miftake in a matter which the nature the human faculties during many dark centuries 
 
 of his work did not requires ftritt invcftigntion of. of papal dominion over the rcafon and property 
 
 f Suppofing it true, as is alleged, that the Chin- of mankind. Antient hiftory would have come 
 
 efe polTened in very remote ages the knowlege of down to us more full and correft than we now 
 
 the compafs and the art of printing, the monks have it. We might have polTcfled the entire 
 
 would have conferred a more important favour works of Polybius, Tacitus, and Ammianus Mar- 
 
 upon the weftern world, if they had brought thofe echinus; and, to come nearer home, we mio-ht 
 
 moft valuable improvements with them. The im- have had defcriptions of antient Biitain, with ac- 
 
 provement and extenfion of navigation by the counts of Britifti commerce, by Pytheas and Hi- 
 
 compafs might have opened new fields for com- niilco. I fay nothing «f the lofl decads of Livy, 
 
 mercial enterprife, and have furnifhcd fafe re- though it is cuitomary to deplore the want of 
 
 treats from the exterminating fwords of Scythian theni as the only valuable dipirclita of antiquity, 
 and Arabian invaders. And the univcrfal diffu- 
 
 VoL. I. G g
 
 234 A. D. 527-565- 
 
 livers a kind of a fairy tale of an ifland called Brittia, lying beyond 
 Gnul and between Britain and Thule *, inhabited by the Angles (or 
 AngiU), Frifons, and Britons ; divided in two parts by a wall built in 
 antient times, which was the boundary between a fertile and populous 
 country on the eafl fide and the receptacle of ferpents and other 
 poifonous animals on the weft fide. He had alfo heard, that Brittia was 
 the land of departed fpirits ; and he gives a ftrange account of the man- 
 ner of ferrying them over to their ifland f . 
 
 The reign of Juftinian may be clofed by obferving, that during the 
 period of it the number of mankind was greatly diminifhed, and their 
 miferies greatly increafed, by earthquakes, plagues, religious perfecu- 
 tions, and the accumulated calamities of perpetual wars with their con- 
 comitant evils, negled of agriculture and famine %. 
 
 547 — The north part of the antient Roman dominions in Britain, 
 after lying almoft uncultivated for fome time as an untenable frontier, 
 had ever fince the abdication of the Romans been thinly fettled by the 
 Pichts along with the remains of the moft antient inhabitants. It was 
 now invaded and occupied by the Angles, or Englifh, a branch of that 
 great divifion of the Germans called the Suevians, whofe military val- 
 our, as the Ufipetes and Tenchtheri told Julius Caefar, not even the 
 immortal gods could refift. Ida, their chief, fixed his refidence in the 
 caftle of Bebbanburgh §, and laid the foundation of the great and flour- 
 ifhing kingdom of Northumberland, [Ccff. Bell. Gall. L. iv, c. 7. — Tac. 
 
 Germ. c. 40. — Gildas, cc. 15, 19 — Bedce Hijl. eccL L. i, c. 15 Chron. i'^x.] 
 
 which his i'ucceflbrs extended fouthward to the Humber, the Don, and 
 the Merfee, and northward to the Forth and the Dune, thus compre- 
 hending the two Roman provinces of Maxima, and Valentia, except the 
 fmall Britifh kingdom of Strathcluyd, which, though Northumberland 
 was generally the moft powerful kingdom in Britain, refifted all its at- 
 tacks, and even furvived it as a kingdom. Succeeding colonies of the 
 Angles extended themfelves fouthward, till they interfered with the 
 conquefls of the Saxons, and occupied almoft all the country from the 
 Thames to the Forth, except the fmall kingdom of the Eaft Saxons. 
 
 * Tlie Thule of Procopius is unqui.(lloiiably den has inferteJ the begiiuiiiig of the llory as hif- 
 
 iScandimvin, which, he fays, is an iflaiui ten times toi')', and the ghoHs and tlieir ferry-boats, with 
 
 as larcje as Britain, ai d lying northward from the feme other ftrajige ilorics, as fables, in his Br'ttati' 
 
 eunntry of the Danes, having the fun above the nia, pp. 94, 849, eil. 1607.] 
 
 liori/on forty days in funimcr, and poncffed by the % Tlie events of the long reign of Juftinian, 
 
 Scrit-firmi, Gauti, and other nations. \_Gothic. L. which I have thouglit it neceffiiry to notice as me- 
 
 ii, c. It.] diately or immediately afTccfting t)ie little commerce 
 
 -j- Notwithftanding the name of Brittia, the ac- now cxifiing in the welKrn worlil, which have no 
 
 count iif thib (Irange country fccms moie applic- partieulir references, are chiefly taken from the 
 
 able to Denmark, or ihe adjacent iflands, than to works of Proeopius, a contem]>orary writer. 
 
 Brit.iln. The Ead Angles and Merkian Angles, § Now called Bambnrgli, and well known to 
 
 bad not arr'vcd in Britain in the age of Proco- the coalling mariner, and tor the holpitabic recep- 
 
 pius, and the ariival of the firft Angles in fo re- lion afforded to the fliipwrccked by cpifcopal mii- 
 
 n>ote a country as Northumberland, and fo late as niliccncc. 
 
 54.7, was moft probably unknown to him. Cam- 3
 
 A. D. 5 64. 
 
 ^35 
 
 564 — When Gildas who is, next to Patric, the mofl antient Britiflr 
 writer extant, wrote his lamentable hiflory of the ruin, or excifion 
 (' excidium') of Britain, Conftantine, Aurelius, Vortipor, Cuneglas, and 
 Maglocun, were kings of fome tribes or communities of the Britons. It 
 feems probable from their names, that the two firft were of Roman 
 origin, and perhaps Conftantine was of the family of that Conftantine, 
 who was eleded emperor by the army in Britain in the beginning of 
 the fifth century. [Gilda Epi/iola.'] 
 
 Gildas fays, [_Hi/i. c. i] that there were twenty-eight cities in Britain, 
 befides fome caftles flrongly fortified. An authentic lift of the principal 
 cities or towns of Britain in the fixth century would be curious, and 
 would throw much important light on the ftate of the country. But 
 Gildas, who delights in declamation, is very fparing of fads, and total- 
 ly negledful of geography. Nennius, the next oldeft Britifti author, or 
 more probably his continuator, in a work which ufed to pafs under the 
 name of Gildas, has given a bare lift of cities, which, being much cor- 
 rupted by tranfcribers, affords very little information. However, as 
 there is no other, after the Romans, equally antient, I fliall here gitQ 
 it, as extraded from two very old manufcripts by Archbifhop Ufher, 
 with the modern names agreeable to the fame learned writer : and I 
 fliall fet oppofite to it the Britifti names handed down to us by Henry 
 of Huntingdon, together with his modern names, as being the oldeft and 
 fuUeft lift after that of Nennius. 
 
 Carlile. 
 
 Cities from Nennius, by Uftier, 
 Cair-Guntuig, Wiriwik in Lanca- 
 
 fliire. 
 Cair-Municip, F'erulam at St. Al- 
 bans. 
 Cair-Lualid, or 7 
 Ligualid, 3 
 Cair-Meguaid, 1 Meivod in Mont- 
 
 or Meiguod, ^ gomery. 
 Cair-Colon, Colchejler. 
 
 Cair-Ebrauc, York. 
 
 Cair-Cufteint, Cair-Seiont near 
 
 Carnarvon *. 
 Cair-Caratauc 
 
 Cities from Henry of Huntingdon. 
 
 Kair-Mercipit. 
 
 Kair-Lion, 
 
 Kair-Meguaid. 
 
 Kair-CoUon, 
 Kair-Ebranc, 
 
 Kair-Cucerat. 
 
 C/irlile. 
 
 Colchejler. 
 York. 
 
 * The Britilh monk« in the dark ages having 
 d'lfcovered, that Conftantine, the firll Chriftian em- 
 peror, was of Britifh birth and parentage, and 
 prcfuming that othert were as ignorant as them- 
 ielves, they refolved alfo to provide a burying place 
 for him, or his fatiier Conftantius, near Carnarvon, 
 where in the year 1283 they even found his body. 
 
 {_UJfirni Brit, ecclef. atitlq. p. 6c.'\ But, as thefe 
 are very grofs fiftions, it is at lead as probable, 
 that Conftanton in Cornwall near Falmouth, which 
 in the time of Gildas was fubjeiS to Conftantine, 
 a Britilh petty king (not a Roman emperor) is 
 the place here called Cair-Cufteint. 
 
 Gg2
 
 136 
 
 A. D. 564. 
 
 Cities from Nennius, by Ufher. 
 Cair-Grant, Grantchejier near 
 
 Cambridge. 
 Cair-Mauchguid. 
 Cair-Lundein, London. 
 Cair-Guorthigirn. 
 Cair-Ceint, Canterbury. 
 
 Cair-Guorangon, Worcejler. 
 Cair-Peris, Fortchefter. 
 
 Cair-Daun, ' Doncqfler. 
 Cair-Legion, Chefter. 
 
 Cair-Guorichon, Warwick. 
 
 Cair-Segeinc, 
 
 Cair-Legion- 
 
 guar-Uiic, 
 
 Cair-Guenr, 
 
 Cair-Seiont. 
 
 Cairleion on XJJk. 
 Wint chefter ; or 
 C air-Went in 
 Monmouth- 
 Ihire. 
 [Dunbarton.^ 
 Leici'Jler. 
 
 Draiton in Shrop- 
 lliire. 
 
 Cair-Penfavelcoit,Pfz;fff/tj. 
 Cair-Urnach, Wroxeter. 
 
 Cair-Celemion, Crtwa/^/ in Somer- 
 
 fet. 
 Cair-Luit-coyt, Lincoln. 
 
 Cair-Brithon, 
 Cair-Lirion, 
 
 Cair-Drauon *, 
 
 Cities from Henry of Huntingdon. 
 Kair-Grant, Cambridge. 
 
 Kair-Meguaid. 
 Kair-Lundene, Lundoti. 
 Kair-Guortigern. 
 Kair-Chent, Canterbury. 
 
 Kair-Gorangon, Worcejler. 
 
 Kair-Peris, 
 
 Kair-Guorcon. 
 Kair-Segent, 
 
 Kair-Legion, 
 
 Porichejier. 
 
 Silchejler. 
 Cairleion on U/k^ 
 
 Kair-Lirion, 
 Kair-Draiton. 
 
 Kair-Urnac. 
 
 Leice/ler. 
 
 Kair-Loitchoit, Lincoln. 
 
 Some places mentioned by Nennius are omitted by Henry, who has 
 the following, not found in the earlier lift. 
 
 Kair-Glou, 
 Kair-Cei, 
 Kair-Briftou, 
 Kair-Ceri, 
 
 Glouccjler. 
 Cicejler. 
 Bri/lol. 
 Cirencejler. 
 
 Kair-Dauri, 
 Kair-Dorm, 
 Kair-Merdin, 
 Kair-Licelid. 
 
 Dorche/ler. 
 
 ruins on the Nen. 
 
 Carmarthen. 
 
 And Alfred of Beverly, whofe lift contains only twenty names, has 
 Caer-Badun, Bath; and Caer-Palodour, Shajtjbury\. 
 
 Thefe lifts being evidently corrupt and imperfed, and moreover of 
 an uncertain age, it would be idle to draw any conclufions from them 
 refpeding the antient ftate of the towns Juppofed to be mentioned in 
 them. Indeed, I fear, fome readers will think the page occupied by 
 them ill beftowed : but I did not think myfelf at liberty to i'upprefs 
 
 • This has much tlie appearance of an Eiigli(h name. 
 
 I iJunic of tlie modern names giren by Aliicd and Henry are evidently erroneous, c. g. Silchefter,
 
 A. D. 564. 237 
 
 what has been repeatedly adduced as a complete view of the ftate of 
 the country in the fixth century. 
 
 The eftabliflimtnt of the Turkifh power in Afia about the middle of 
 the fixth century, together with the fubfequent wars, had interrupted 
 the communication by caravans between China (or Serica) and Perfia. 
 On the return of peace the Sogdians, who had the greateft intereft in 
 the revival of the trade, perfuaded the Turkifh fovereign, to whom they 
 were now fubjedt, to fend an embafly to Chofroes, or Nufliirvan, king of 
 Perfia : and Maniak, a Sogdian prince who was appointed ambaflador, 
 was inftruded to requeft permifliou for the Sogdians to fupply the Per- 
 fian empire with filk. But Chofroes, who found the conveyance by fea 
 to the Perfian gulf more advantageous to his fubjeds, bought up the 
 whole of a parcel of filk the ambafllidor had carried with him, and 
 then, to fhow how little he valued it, immediately fet fire to it. After 
 this the Perfian and Chinefe empires confederated againft the Turks, 
 who thereupon made an alliance with Juftin the emperor of Conftan- 
 tinople (a°. 569). Maniak, who was alio employed as ambafiador to ne- 
 gotiate the aUiance, and his aflociates, were aftonifhed and difappointed 
 upon feeing filk-worms and manufadures of filk at Conftantinople ; and 
 they acknowleged, perhaps with overfl:raincd compliment, that the Ro- 
 mans were fully equal to the Chinefe in the management of the worms-, 
 and the manufadure of their filk. This firft intercourfe of the Turks 
 with Europe, however, produced a revival of the inland trade, which, 
 by a route to the northward of the Cafpian fea, extended from China 
 to Conftantinople, and furniihed the later with great quantities of Chin- 
 efe merchandize, being, I prefume, chiefly condudcd by the Sogdi- 
 ans. [Mejia7ider, Excerp. legnt. p. 107 — T'heophanes, p. 204.] 
 
 584 The laft kingdom eftabliflied by the Angles in Britain was call- 
 ed Myrcna-ric (latinized Mercia*); and it comprehended all the middle 
 part of modern England, extending from the Humber as far fouth in 
 fome parts as the Thames. 
 
 590 — The ancient city of Maflilia (or Marfeille) fi;ill preferved a por- 
 tion of its original induilry and commercial fpirit, as appears from 
 Sulpicius Severus, [Dial, i] from Agathias, IHi/i. L. xiii] and from fe- 
 veral pafl'ages of Gregory of Tours, writers of this, and the preceding, 
 age, who fliow, that there was a confiderable commercial intercourfe 
 between the eaftern countries and this city, which probably fupplied the 
 nations of the north-weft; parts of Europe with the few Oriental luxuries, 
 which they were able to purchafe. 
 
 604 — The church of St. Paul in London was built by Ethelbert, 
 
 * We are generally told, tbat Merc'ia fignifies agrees very clofely with CojVanJ, the latinized name 
 
 the march or frontin; a fignification peculiarly im- of the old Britilh inhabitants, fignifying 'weodlanJ 
 
 proper for a central country. Myrcna-ric in the men ox forejlers. 
 Anglo-Saxon fignifies the lueadland kingdom, which 4;
 
 238 A. D. 604. 
 
 king of Ken: and monarch of all the country on the fouth fide of the 
 Humber. {Bed. Hijl. ecclef. L. ii, c. 3.] Sabereth, nephew of Ethel- 
 bert, and the immediate king of the Eaft-Saxons, whofe capital London 
 was, is faid to have allb founded a church at Thorney on the weft fide 
 of London in honour of St. Peter, which, from its fituation, afterwards 
 obtained the name of Weftminfter, a name fince extended to a large 
 city, which has arifen between the church of St. Peter and London. 
 l^ilred, col. 385. — Gervaf. Cant. col. 1633.] 
 
 628 — Hitherto all the churches, and moft probably all the houfes 
 alfo, in England were built of wood, or of wattles. A church of flone, 
 apparently the fecond in Britain, (fee above, p. 214) was founded at 
 York by Edwin, king of Northumberland, and the moft powerful of 
 all the Englifh kings at this time, who did not live to finifh it. About 
 the fame time a church of flone was alfo built at Lincoln : and in the 
 following age Bilhop Wilfrid reflored or completed that which Edwin 
 had begun at York, covering the roof with lead, and filling the win- 
 dows with glafs *, ' which, while it excluded the birds and the rain, 
 * admitted light into the church.' Wilfrid built another church of po- 
 lifhed flone at Rippon, which was furnifhed with columns and porticoes, 
 and adorned with gold, lilver, and purple. Among the donations to 
 the church of Rippon by this magnificent prelate, there was one, which 
 was thought a wonderful work ; the four gofpels written in letters of 
 gold upon purple vellum, with a cafe of pure gold fet v/ith gems for 
 preferving the pretious volume. Unfortunately we are not told, whe- 
 ther this fuperb book and cai'e were executed in England, or imported ; 
 though the words ' he gave orders to write' and the like, may feem 
 rather to infer, that the work was performed at home. The fame great 
 bifhop built a third church at Hexham in the fame manner, which was 
 fo long and fo lofty, that his biographer thought, that no building on 
 this fide of the Alps could be compared to it. \_Eddi Vita Wilfridi, cc. 16, 
 17, 22. — Bedtt HiJl. ecclef. L. ii, cc. 14, 16.] 
 
 674 — The tafte for ecclefiaftical magnificence being now introduced 
 in the Northumbrian kingdom, Benedid: Bifcop built an abbay at the 
 mouth of the River Were with flone in the Roman manner. For this 
 work he brought mafons from the continent, and alfo glafs-makers, 
 who taught the Englilh the art of making window-glais, and lamps, 
 vefTels for drinking, &c. of glafs : and thus was the elegant and ufeful 
 art of making glafs, an art fo eflential to our comfortable lodging in 
 thefe cold northern climates, introduced in England f . Benedidl made 
 
 * Tilt f;lafs for the church of York muft have pofing it to remain among their pofterity, it does 
 
 been imported, as appears from the fubfequcut pa- not follow, that they would impart the knowlcge 
 
 rjgraph. N. B. Kddius, the biographer of Wil- of it to their Englidi enemies. According to 
 
 i'tid, lired before Bcde. Adamnan the ufe of glafs was known to the re- 
 
 f Strabo feems to fay, that the antient Britons mote Northern Pichts before this time. (See aboTC 
 
 jmdcrllood the manufailure of glafs. But, fup- pp. 133, 223.)
 
 A. D. 674. 239 
 
 many journies to Rome, whence he imported a prodigious number of 
 flatues, reliques, books, and pidures of fcripture hiftory, wherewith he 
 adorned, and almoft filled, his church. [Bedcv H'lft. ahbat Wer£miitbi\ 
 
 710 — From Northumberland the tafte for fine churches fpread into 
 the neighbouring kingdom of the Pichts, where a church of ftone in 
 the Roman flile was built by workmen fent from Weremouih at the 
 requeft of King Nechton the fon of Dereli. {Eeda Hijl. ecclef. L. v, 
 
 C. 22.] 
 
 About 630 — King Edwin, who began the building of the church at 
 York, feems to have been alfo the founder of the caflle of Edwynefburg * 
 {^Edhiburgli), fituated on a precipitous rock in the north part of his do- 
 minions. We have not the fmalleft information of the nature of the 
 architedure of this caflle, which communicated its name to the town, 
 built upon the Hoping ridge of the hill adjacent to the eaft lide of it, 
 which in after ages became the capital city of Scotland. 
 
 A filver penny, coined at Eoferwic {Tork), and marked with the name 
 of Edwin, is believed to be the earliefl extant fpecimen of coinage in this 
 ifland after the abdication of the Romans, unlefs that of Ethelbert king 
 of Kent belong to the firfl king of that name, who died in the year pre- 
 ceding the accefhon of Edwin f . 
 
 I have here thrown together fome notices of the progrefs of eccle- 
 fiaftical and military architedure, and of fome of the other arts in 
 Britain, which as yet furnifhes but fcanty materials for commercial- 
 hiflory. Our attention is now recalled to the EalL 
 
 616 — Alexandria, though greatly reduced in the general decay of the 
 Eaflern empire, and by the removal of mofl of the Oriental trade to 
 Perfia, was flill the commercial capital of the Mediterranean. That city, 
 with the fertile country of Egypt, was now wrefled from the fuccefTors 
 of Auguflus and Coni^antine by Chofroes, the vidlorious king of Perfia. 
 Conflantinople, deprived of the ufual fupply of eight millions of modii 
 of corn J, the annual importation from Egypt, was ready to perifh for 
 want of food ; and the miferable emperor was reduced to the neceffity 
 of figning a treaty (a°. 621), binding himfelf to pay annually to the Pex- 
 fian monarch a tribute of 1000 talents of gold, looo talents of filver, 
 1000 robes of filk, 1000 horfes, and, moll ignominious of all, 1000 
 virgins. Perhaps (for the writers of the age have left us to conjedlure) 
 it was impoffible for an exhaufled empire to pay the tribute. Whatever 
 
 * So the name is fpellej in a diarter of King foundation of a foolifh fable. [See Geographical 
 
 David I, tlie molt antient writing in which it is illujlralions of Scottijh hijiory, vo. Edinburgh, Puel- 
 
 mentioned ; and the name of Edwin is alfo pre- Lirum,'\ 
 
 ferved, as it is fpelled by Simeon of Durham and f Ethelbert's coin, being, I apprehend, of un- 
 
 in the Chronicle of Lanercoll, which expvefsly certain age, will be mentioned in a note under the 
 
 calls him the builder of the calile, and alfo gives year 1066. 
 
 the ftory of his feven daughters being preferved io \ The Roman modius being 3 fmall matter more ■ 
 
 it ; which ftory, together with its other name of than the Englifh peck, the fupply from Egypt '.va: 
 
 Maydyn caftle, has furniQied Hedor Boyfe the above two millions of bullicls.
 
 240 A. D. 616. 
 
 was the caufe, a mofl marvelous change took place, and the unfleady 
 and pufillanimous emperor Heraclius became all at once a vigorous and 
 intrepid hero. As the lands were defolated, and commerce ruined, it 
 was as impoflible to raii'e funds for carrying on a war as for purchafing 
 a peace. But Heraclius flill poflefled a fleet of gallies, to which the 
 unemployed merchant fhips were added ; and in his abfolute want he 
 prefumed to feize the hoarded wealth of the churches, promifing, however, 
 to return it with large intereft (a". 622). By a wonderful feries of vidories 
 the circumftances of the two empires were completely reverfed : the Ro- 
 man arms were carried into Perfia ; the haughty Chofroes adually be- 
 took himfelf to flight and concealment, and was foon after depofed. 
 Heraclius recovered Egypt and the other provinces wrefted from his 
 empire by the Perfians (a". 628); and he had the wifdom not to demand 
 any acceflion of territory from them, which would at once have weak- 
 ened himfelf and fown the feeds of future wars. But the arts, fcience, 
 and commerce, never recovered. The fplendid vidories of Heraclius 
 were the lafl bright gleam of the militai-y glory of the Roman, or Gre- 
 cian, empire, againft which there was now fpringing up in the deferts 
 of Arabia a new, and fl:ill more formidable, enemy, deftined with rapid 
 ftrides to fpread over the eaftern, and a great part of the weftern, world, 
 and to eftablifh a new empire, and a new religion, upon the ruins of 
 thofe of Conflantinople. 
 
 It has already been obferved, that a great portion of the Oriental 
 commerce, which formerly enriched the Roman fubjeds in Egypt, had 
 pafl^ed into the hands of the Perfians, who appear to have eclipfed the 
 Arabians in the extent and adivity of their commerce : But when the 
 later in the rapid career of their conquefts reached the Euphrates, they 
 immediately perceived the advantages to be derived from an emporium 
 fituatcd upon a river, which opened on the one hand a fliorter route to 
 India than they had hitherto had, and on the other an extenfive inland 
 navigation through a wealthy country ; and Baflx)ra which they built on 
 the wefl: bank of the river (a". 6^6), foon became a great commercial city, 
 artd entirely cut off" the independent part of Perfla from the Oriental 
 trade. The Arabian merchants of Baflbra, extended their difcoveries to 
 the eaftward far beyond the trads of all preceding navigators, and im- 
 ported diredly from the places of their growth many Indian articles, 
 hitherto procured at fecond hand in Ceylon, which they furnifhed on 
 their own terms to the nations of the Wefl;. 
 
 640 — The vidorious Arabs had now deprived Heraclius, who after 
 his Perfian triumph had relapfed into his former lethargy, of the wealthy, 
 and in fome degree commercial, province of Syria. The little com- 
 merce, now remaining to the Roman empire, alfo fell into their hands 
 with the city of Alexandria and the province of Egypt ; and the road
 
 A. D. 640. 841 
 
 from Egypt to Medina was covered by a long train of camels loaded 
 with the corn, which ufed to feed Conftantinople *. 
 
 645 — The antient canal between the Nile and the Red fea is faid to 
 have been cleared out, and again rendered navigable, by Amrou, the 
 Arabian conqueror and governor of Egypt, in order to furnifh a (horter 
 and cheaper conveyance for the corn and other bulky produce of that 
 country f . 
 
 The Arabian, or Saracen, armies, enflamed by fanaticifm, ambition, 
 and avarice, proceeded with a rapid and irrefiflible torrent of vidories, 
 unexampled in the hiftory of mankind, till they became mafters of the 
 fineft provinces of the world, extending eaftward to the confines of 
 China, and weftward to the Atlantic ocean. Their vidtories enlarged 
 their commerce, as well as their empire ; and almoft the whole trade of 
 the world fell into their hands. 
 
 660 — The lofs of Jerufalem having rendered its holy places more 
 pretious than ever in the eyes of the Chriflians, pilgrimages to it were: 
 now become very frequent : and in thefe commerce was united with 
 devotion, which was probably the reafon that they were tolerated, and 
 even encouraged, by the Saracens, who allowed a fair to be annually held 
 on the 15'" of September, as Adamnan, abbat of Hyona, on the au- 
 thority of St. Arculf, relates in his book on the holy places, honourably 
 inentioned by Bede. It is probable, that the trade, thus carried on at 
 Jerufalem, was in a great meafure for goods brought from the Eafl by 
 the conveyance of Bafl()ra, the River Euphrates, and the caravans. 
 IBeda Hijl. ecclef. L. v, cc. 16 et feqq. — De Guignes, Mem. de litteratiire, V. 
 xxxvii, /. 475.] 
 
 668 — ^The Saracens, whofe fleets now rode triumphant in the Medi- 
 terranean, had already taken pofTeilion of Cyprus, Rhodes, and many 
 others of the Grecian iflands. The imperial city of Conftantinople was 
 now for the firft time befieged by the followers of Mohamed, who came 
 againft it with a great fleet and army. During feven years they annual- 
 ly renewed their attacks, which were finally baffled (a". 674). After lofing 
 thirty thouiand men, and moft of their fhips, the Saracens gave up all 
 hopes of taking the city; and the calif even fubmitted to the humiliating 
 terms of paying an annual tribute of 3,000 pieces of gold, 50 horfes, 
 and 50 flaves, to the Roman emperor during a truce of thirty years. 
 
 The repulfe at Conftaiuinople threw a temporary cloud over the mi- 
 litary glory of the Saracens, and flied a faint ray of light upon the ex- 
 piring reputation of the Greeks, or Romans. But the whole praife was 
 
 * Literally fow/W, if the foremofl; of the train Butier. [See Ochky's Hiflory of the Saracens, p. 
 
 reached Medina before the lalt of them got out of 362. — Phillips's HiP.jry of inland navigation, p. y. 
 
 Egypt, as Ockley fays. — Browne's Travels in Africa, p. 94, who copies 
 
 f This celebrated canal was again flopped up from Cardonne's Hfl. de I' Afrique, i^c. compiled 
 
 at the end next the Red fea in the year 775. In from Arabic manufcripts in the royal library of 
 
 I 707 the end next the Nik was difcovercd by Mr. France, 
 
 Vol. I. H h .
 
 242 A. D. 668. 
 
 due to the ingenuity of an individual. Conftantinople and the remainder 
 of the empire owed their prefervation to a new and wonderful inven- 
 tion of Callinicus, a Syrian or Egyptian Greek, whofe fcience on this 
 occafion, like that of Archimedes in the fiege of Syracufe, was infinite- 
 ly more valuable than the ftrength and courage of the greateft armies. 
 This invention was the famous Greek fire, a fubftance or preparation, 
 which communicated unextinguifhable fire to every thing it came in 
 contadl with, and which could be launched from the military engines, 
 {hot through a tube, and conveyed in every diredion, even water itfelf 
 being no impediment, but rather giving additional vigour to its opera- 
 tion. The fecret of preparing this aftonifhing engine of deftrudion, or 
 defence, was preferved with the ftrideft vigilance by the Roman (or 
 Grecian) government above four hundred years, after which the Sara- 
 cens got pofleffion of the art. It continued to be ufed in war, till it 
 was fuperfeded by the invention of gun-powder, and then even the 
 knowlege of it was loft. 
 
 690 — Benedid Bifcop, who made fo many journies to Rome, and im- 
 ported fo much church furniture to Northumberland, as already relat- 
 ed, fold a book upon cofmography to Aldfrid, his fovereign, for eight 
 hides of land. At that rate fcarcely any but a king could afford to have 
 a book ; and even in the very higheft ranks there were then but few 
 in Britain, who could read. Indeed, as books were almoft inacceilible, 
 reading could be of little ufe. 
 
 694 — ^The kingdom of Kent is faid to have paid a fine of thirty thou- 
 fand pounds of ftlver to Ine, king of the Weft-Saxons, for the flaughter 
 of his brother. \Cbr. Sax. ad an.'\ Notwithftanding the refpedable au- 
 thority of the Saxon chronicle, it is difficult to conceive how fo fmall a 
 country (for the kingdom of Kent contained only the prefent fhire of 
 that name) could in thofe days raife a fum, equal, as appears by the 
 laws of the fame King Ine, to the value of 1,440,000 fheep with as 
 many young lambs, reckoning 48 {hillings in the money pound, and 
 one fhilling as the price of a fheep with her lamb, as rated in King 
 Tne's laws *. 
 
 The feventieth law of Ine fixes the quantity of the various articles to 
 be paid annually by the pofTeflbr of a farm of ten hides of land, or as 
 much as required ten ploughs : but we are not informed, whether it v;as 
 ■,\ regulation for the farms of the king's own property, like the farming 
 laws of Charlemagne, or was generally binding upon the land-holders 
 
 * William Tliorni-, [cjA 1770 ap. Tivyfilcn\ gold. The conjtftiire of Dodor Henry \_Hij}. of 
 
 though comparatively a late writer, (ccms to coim: L'lilain, F. iv, p. 280 cd. 1788] that pounds have 
 
 nearrr the truth, when he rates the fine at three cript into the text iiiilcad of pennies, 30,000 pcn- 
 
 thoii/and pounJs, which lie, being a monk of Can- iiies being the full wtrcgeld of a king, is cxtremc- 
 
 trrbiiry, may have taken from an authentic record. ly probable. 
 WiUiau; of Mtliiifbury raifes it to ^0,000 marks of ^
 
 A. D. 694. 243 
 
 and farmers throughout the kingdom of the Well-Saxons. The ar- 
 ticles were 
 
 10 fats of honey, 20 hens, 
 
 300 loaves, locheefes, 
 
 12 ambers * of Welfh ale, i amber of butter, 
 
 30 hluttres f , 6 falmon, 
 
 2 full-grown oxen or 10 wethers, 20 pound weight of fodder f, 
 10 geefe, 100 eels. 
 
 Though we find the payment of falmon and eels, both indeed river 
 fifh, ordered by law among the Weft-Saxons, we are told that the Saxons 
 at Bofenham on the very confines of the Weft-Saxon and South-Saxon 
 kingdoms, did not know, that fifti could be caught in the lea, till Wil- 
 frid, a Northumbrian bifhop, taught them to make a leine by joining 
 their eel nets together (a°. 678), whereby they caught 300 fifti in the Tea 
 at the firft haul §. [Beda Hi/}, ecckf. L. iv, c 13.] 
 
 698 — The remains of the epifcopal, rather than commercial, city of 
 Carthage were utterly deftroyed by the Saracens. Its antient com- 
 mercial fplendour may entitle its afhes to this brief notice in commer- 
 cial hiftory. 
 
 710 — All the provinces formerly belonging to the Roman empire in 
 Africa being now fubjed to the Saracens, except only the fort of Ceuta 
 on the fouth fliore of the Strait, they were invited into Europe by Ju- 
 lian, the commander of that fort and of the oppofite coaft of Spain, 
 who took that method of revenging an injury done to him by his fo- 
 vereign ||. They were alfo encouraged by promifes of afllftance from 
 the Jews of Spain, who were unable to live under the bigotted perfe- 
 curion of the Gothic clergy. The fuccefsful inroad of a ftnall party, 
 who returned loaded with fpoil, enflamed the ambition and the avarice 
 of the Saracens to make a total conqueft of that rich country. A more 
 numerous army landed on the rock, fince called from their leader Gebel 
 al Tarik, now corrupted to Gibraltar, marched to Xerxes, and fought 
 the Gothic army, which was totally defeated (a". 711). In a few months 
 
 * Spelman fubftitutes for amber the Roman J Dodlor Henry fufpefts a miftake in this very 
 
 meafure amphora, and gives the Roman explana- trifling quantity of fodder. 
 
 tion of the quantity contained in it. \_GloJf. -vo. § That the defcendents of thofe Saxons who for 
 
 Firma.2 Arbuthnot [Table of coins'] makes the feveral ages were the moll experienced and intrepid 
 
 amphora above feven gallons of Englilh wine mea- feamen in the Northern ocean, and muft be pre- 
 
 fure. Lambard, makes the amber nearly the fame fumed to have alfo been good filhermen, fhould 
 
 with the modern firkin, and fays, the word is not have already loft the knowlege of catching fifh in 
 
 quite obfolete : and his explanation is tranfcribed the fea, v.'hich was juft befide them at Bofenham, 
 
 by Wheloc. But it is very doubtful whether the is rather too wonderful : and, with all our venera- 
 
 8axon meafure had any connexion with the Roman, tion for the hillorical integrity of Bede, we muft 
 
 f Lambard, Spelman, and Wheloc make /;/a«rcx remember, that the ftory is connetted with a mi- 
 weaker ale ; but Bromton, who lived much nearer raclc. 
 
 the Saxon times than any of them, has left it un- || The common ftory of the violation of Julian's 
 
 tranflated. The word is an adjeftive fignifying daughter by King Roderic feems to have Little cr 
 
 lucid, pure, fimpk, no foundation. 
 
 Hh2
 
 244 ' A. D. yii. 
 
 the whole of that great peninfula, which for two centuries withftood the 
 attacks of Rome when in the zenith of her miUtary glory, fell under 
 the power of the Saracens, excepting the mountains of Afturia, where 
 a few unconquerable fpirits flill preferved their independence ; and 
 whence ia after ages they defcended to recover the fovereignty of their 
 country from the pofterity of the Saracen conquerors, then called 
 Moors. 
 
 yi6 — A fecond and more formidable attack upon Conftantinople was 
 made by the Saracens under the command of Moflemah, the brother of 
 Soliman the calif. Belides a great army, who marched by land to the 
 Hellefpont, they had a fleet, faid to confifl of eighteen hundred veflels, 
 twenty of which, capable of carrying a hundred foldiers each, were 
 efteemed large fhips ; whence it appears, that the reft were very fmall. 
 The Greek fire, conveyed among them by means of fire-fhips, totally 
 deftroyed this very numerous fleet, which, being crowded together in 
 fo narrow a channel, had no poflibility of efcaping from the flames. 
 A reinforcement of fhips and provifions from Egypt and Africa in the 
 following year fcarcely efcaped the fame defl:ru61:ion. The Saracens at 
 lafl: gave up the imdertaking as hopelefs : and Conftantinople was a fe- 
 cond time faved by the invention of Callinicus. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the mountains of Libanus, which fur- 
 niftied timber for building the fliips of Sidon in the infancy of navi- 
 gation, were ftill the great nurfery for ftiip timbers, vaft fl;ores of which 
 were colleded on the coaft of Phoenicia by the Saracens for building 
 their fleets. 
 
 718, September 4''' The earlieft naval battle recorded in Britifli 
 
 hiftory was fought at a place called Ardanefs (apparently on the weft 
 coaft of Scotland) between Duncha-beg, king of Kentire, and Celvac 
 (or Selvac), king of Lorn, the fovereigns of two divifions or tribes of 
 the Scots. [J/i/i. Ult. MS. in MuJ. Biitan. Cat. Ayfc. N". 4,795.] 
 
 About 730 — Now, and probably long before (for the notice is con- 
 nected by Bede with events of the year 604) London, though the ca- 
 pital of one of the fmalleft kingdoms in England, by its happy fituation 
 on the bank of the noble navigable River Thames, was an emporium 
 for many nations repairing to it by land and by fea *. This undoubted 
 teftimony of the trade of London fliows us, that the commerce of 
 England, which now anjmates the induftry of all the world, was then 
 chiefly, or entirely, of the paflive kind, and carried on by ftrangers. 
 
 Bede, to whom we are indebted for this earlieft commercial notice of 
 
 • ' Lomloiiia civitas eft, fupcr ripam prxf.iti ' ccaftfi' — ' and fco is moiiisjra folcc ccnp (tow.' 
 
 ' fliimlnis \_TI.Himefis'\ pofita, ct ipfa miiltoriim cm- Ceap (low (incicliaiuUzc pl.ice) will explain the 
 
 ' poriiim prpiilo.um terra mariquc vemcniiwn.' modern name of one of the principal trading ihccts 
 
 [Beilx Hijl. ecchf. L. ii, c. 3.] King Alfred, in liis of the city, 
 tranflation of this paffage, calU the city ' Lunden- o
 
 A. D. 730. 
 
 245 
 
 London after the abdication of Britain by the Romans, flourifhed at 
 this time. He is allowed, by the impartial voice of all fucceeding ages 
 and of every nation, to have been the greateft ornament, not only of 
 Northumberland and of England, but of all the weftern world, and 
 the moft illuftrious mathematician and aftronomer, as well as the great- 
 efl fcholar, of the middle ages. Almoft the whole circle of the fciences 
 of antient Greece and Rome was known to him ; and it particularly 
 deferves our notice, that he aflerted the rotundity of the earth, [Beda 
 Opera, V. i, p. 376; V. ii, p. 125, ed. Colon. 161 2] and that he was not 
 condemned as a heretic for his knowlege *. 
 
 732 — The Saracens from Spain had now penetrated into the center 
 of France. It was but another flep to Britain. But the valour of 
 Charles Martel, the founder of a dynafty of kings of France, repelled 
 the torrent. The Saracen army was defeated with prodigious llaughter 
 in a battle, which lafled a whole week ; and France and the countries 
 beyond it were for ever preferved from Arabian conqueft. 
 
 Notwithftanding this check, the Saracens continued the moft power- 
 ful people in the world. They were the undoubted, and the unrivaled, 
 fovereigns of the fea, and almoft the only traders, upon the Mediter- 
 ranean, and on the Indian ocean. But the Chriftians of Europe were 
 excluded from almoft every channel, by which the pretious goods of 
 the Eaft had formerly been conveyed to them f . An inveterate anti- 
 pathy, excited by mutual flaughters, and inflamed by religious bigotry, 
 which made the Chriftians conlider the Mohamedans as difciples of an 
 
 * The wonderful pi-oficicncy of Bede in ftudy 
 could only be equaled by his induftry in corriniu- 
 nicating to others the treafures of his knowlege, 
 which he did in a prodigious number of compoli- 
 tions, one hundred and thirty-nine of which, ilill ex- 
 tant, and collefted in eight folio volumes, may be 
 confidered as a complete body of the learning and 
 fcience, as well as the theology, of the middle ages. 
 Befides his knowlege of the rotundity of the earth, 
 the following may be noted as fpecimens of his in- 
 ftruflions in the fciences connected with commerce. 
 
 V- i, />. 103 Multiplication tables, which he 
 calls Pythagoric tables. (They are in figures, but 
 that is a liberty, and a very improper one, taken 
 by the editor.) 
 
 p. 135 Arithmetical cafes for the exercife of 
 learners, many of which are ftill retained in our 
 modern books of arithmetic. One of them (hows 
 that 20 (hillings made a pound, at lead in weight, 
 in the Northumbrian kingdom ; ' Eil difcus qui 
 *- penfat libras 30 five folidos 6co ;' and the folu- 
 tion of this queftion proves that the pound confill- 
 ed of i2 otuices. Another fuppofes a man leaving 
 30 glafs bottles (' ampullas vitreas') to his fons : 
 this, unlefs it was copied from a work compofed 
 in a more civilized country, may feem to infer that 
 glafs bottles were common in Northumbcrlaud.. 
 
 p. 163 The circumference of the earth 252,000 
 ftadia ; copied from Eratofthenes. See above, p. 
 94. 
 
 p. 387 The revolution of Saturn in 30 years, 
 Jupiter in 12, Mars in 2, the fun in 365I days ; 
 wherein he follows the antients. 
 
 p. 463 Rules for conilrufting dials, and aftro- 
 labes. 
 
 f It has been fuppofed, that, after the Saracens 
 got poffefllon of Egypt, the communication be- 
 tween India and Euiope through Alexandria ftill 
 continued as before ; and I thought fo myfelf, till 
 upon examination I found no authority whatever 
 for any intercourfe of the Chriilians with Alexan- 
 dria before the beginning of the ninth century. In 
 the almoft-total darknefs of hiilory in thefe be- 
 nighted ages probable prcfumptions muft be re- 
 ceived for want of better evidence : and we find,., 
 that before Egypt fell into the hands of the Sara- 
 cens, writings of importance in Europe were exe- 
 cuted upon the Egyptian papyrus ; but after that 
 period they ate upon parchment. This amountt 
 almoft to a proof, that the trade with Egypt, the 
 only country producing the papyrus, was interrupt- 
 ed. [See Muratori Antiq. ltd. V. iii, col. %iz et 
 pajim.'}
 
 i^6 A. D. 732. 
 
 impoftor (or of the devil), pagans, and enemies of God *, while they 
 on the other hand abhorred the Chriftians as idolaters and enemies of 
 God, was an almoft infuperable bar to commercial intercourfe. But 
 the mutual alienation produced little or no inconvenience to the Sara- 
 cens, who found an ample fcope for commercial enterprife within the 
 vafl extent of their own dominions. The fcanty fupply of Oriental goods 
 from the fairs of Jerufalem, and perhaps a few other privileged places, 
 being very inadequate to the demand, fome merchants were tempted 
 by the increafed price to traverfe the vafl extent of Afia in a latitude 
 beyond the northern boundary of the Saracen power, and to import by 
 caravans the filks of China, and the valuable fpices of India, which, 
 with the expenfe and rifk of fuch a land carriage, muft have coft a moft 
 enormous price, when they reached Conftantinople, where they were, 
 notwithftanding, eagerly purchafed by the luxurious and wealthy cour- 
 tiers, whofe demands for filks the manufactures of Greece were not 
 capable of fupplying to their full extent. 
 
 Next to thofe of Conflantinople, the citizens of Venice appear to 
 have been in this age the moft diftinguifhed among the Chriftians of 
 Europe for commercial efforts. The origin and dawning profperity of 
 this city have been already noticed. The total want of territory di- 
 reded their attention and their hopes to the fea, which was at once 
 their frontier, their fortification, and the only field to be ploughed by 
 their induftry. The perpetual wars, and the rapid fucceffion of con- 
 querors, which had for feveral ages convulfed Italy, drove into the 
 rifing city a gradual and conftant accellion of free-fpirited, induftrious, 
 and wealthy, inhabitants, the trueft fource of the profperity of any 
 ftate. Their vefTels now ventured beyond the limits of the Adriatic 
 gulf; they doubled the fouthern extremity of Greece, and made voyages 
 to Conflantinople and other places. They carried home valuable car- 
 goes of filks, and all the rich produce of the Eaft, the magnificent 
 purple drapery of Tyre, and the furs of ermines and other northern 
 animals ; all which they fold with prodigious profit to the nations of 
 the north and weft parts of Europe. It is a melancholy confideration, 
 that human creatures, the produce of the wars, formed alfo a principal 
 article of their trade : and it is much to the credit of Pope Zacharia, 
 that he purchafed, and gave liberty to, a number of flaves of both 
 fexes, whom the Venetian traders were going to carry over to the coaft 
 of Africa to be fold to the Saracens. [Monacb. Smigall. de reh. Car. Mag. 
 ap. Miiratori Ant'tq. V. ii, col. 409 ; Vita Zacharia, ib. col. 883.] 
 
 * This iiariow-miiidtil and ignorant mifrtpre- • cens and Turks worniip (jod tlic Creator, cftecnl- 
 
 fcnlalion coutimud for many agts to difgrace the ' ing Malumitt not a god, but the projiliet of 
 
 pagts of llie Chrilliau writers, with the exception « God.' [6V//. rf^. y^nf/./. 43 bj M.-11 hew Paris 
 
 of a very few; among whom William of Malmf- [/i. 426] alfo fays, that the Saracens believe in 
 
 bury defervcs to be noliced, who, with his ufual one God, the creator of all things, and deleft 
 
 fuperiority of judgment, obfcncs, that ' the Sara- idola.
 
 A. D. 732. 247 
 
 After feeing the deplorable decay of fcience among theGreeksand Rom- 
 ans, as it appears in the work of Cofmas, &c. it is not a little furprifmg, 
 that fuch remote countries as Britain and Ireland fhould produce fome 
 geniufes, who foared above the darknefs of their age, and ventured to 
 alFert, that the earth, which we inhabit, is a globe, and that there are 
 people on the oppofite fide of it. Virgil, bifhop of Sultzburg in Ger- 
 many, for maintaining thefe truths was condemned as a heretic by the 
 philanthropic Pope Zacharia, who was greatly alarmed at fuch dan- 
 gerous dodirine. In the ftrange revolutions, which often took place in 
 the affairs of the clergy, the heretical philofopher was afterwards can- 
 onized as a faint, I know not for what merit, but furely not for his 
 fcience. Ireland has the honour of having produced this enlightened 
 faint *. 
 
 75 3 — The Saxons and their affociates, who make their firff appear- 
 ance in hiftory as the tremendous mafters of the Ocean, and the dread 
 of all the maritime provinces of the weilern Roman empire, feem, after 
 their complete fettlement in Britain, and their converlion to the Chrifl- 
 ian religion, to have entirely changed their national character. The 
 ufe of arms was generally abandoned ; all thoughts of naval affairs were 
 given up ; and their ftiips, the chief inffrument of their conquefts, as 
 no longer of any ufe, were allowed to rot upon the beach. Vaft num- 
 bers of people of all ranks, kings and queens not excepted, perfuaded 
 that a life of retirement from fecular cares and bufmefs was the moft 
 pleafing to the Deity, renounced the world, and fhut themfelves up in 
 monafteries f . The event was fuch as feems to have been almoft pre- 
 dided by Bede. \_H?Ji. cedes. L. v, c. 23 ; Epifi. ad Egberd.'] The mi- 
 feries which the nations had fuffered from their anceftors were now as 
 fully inflided upon them by the ferocious roving warriors defcended of 
 their own remote anceflors, who, under the names of Danes, Norwe- 
 gians, or Normans, fucceeded to the naval dominion of the Northern 
 ocean. The firft outrage of thofe plunderers, which is recorded, was 
 upon the coaft of Thanet. [Chronol. Aiigujlin. ap. T^zvyjden, col. 2,236.] 
 Succeeding incurfions harafled and ruined England, till the invaders 
 effeded ft-ttlements for themfelves in the eaft part of the country ; and 
 at laffc a dynafty of Danifli kings were for a fhort time feated upon the 
 throne of England. 
 
 * We have feen the rotundity of the earth con- ' were in this kingdom more monks than miUtary- 
 
 demned as herely two hundred years before this ' men ; and to this bad policy fome have not . 
 
 time by Cofmas, an Egyptian Greek,. and now by ' fcrupled to attribute the fiiccefs of the Danes in , 
 
 the infalh'ble head of the Roman church. But ' their feveral vifitations.' \Ha'U>k'ini's Hi/}, of mn- 
 
 Photiiis, the patriarch of Conllantinople in the Jic, F. ii, />. 261.] That Scotland was not alfo 
 
 ninth century, was more enlightened, for he repre- conquered by the northern invaders, may with 
 
 hcnds a namelefs author, apparently Cofmas, for great probability be afcribed to the fmaller influ- 
 
 denying that the earth is a globe. \_BlbliDtheca, ence of monaftic fuperftition in that lefs opulent 
 
 cod. 36.] _ country. 
 
 f ' It is faid, that in the ninth century there
 
 248 A. D. 795. 
 
 795 — ^We now find the firft certain accounts of the northern piratical 
 rovers, called Normans, Norwegians, Danes, or Oftmen, landing in Ire- 
 land and the iflands on the north fide of it, many of which were fettled 
 ■by monks, mofi; of whom they drove from their monafl:eries. [^nn. Ult. 
 ad an. 794, with VJJerii Brit, ecclef. antiq. p. 958.] There is no reafon 
 to fuppofe that the north part of Britain could efcape their ravages, 
 though there is no certain account of any invafion of it by them till 
 > about forty years after this time. 
 
 796 — The commerce of Britain, which fince the time of the Roman 
 •dominion in the ifland had been almofi: totally extmguifhed, appears to 
 have begun to revive about this time. Some Englifh traders reforted 
 to the continent ; and they even went as far as Rome, and perhaps Ve- 
 nice. Some of them, in order to evade payment of the cuftoms exa6l- 
 -ed from them in their tranfit through France, pretended to be pilgrims 
 on their journey to Rome,, the baggage of all fuch being exempted from 
 duties. The Englifh goods, which were of fuch value in refpedl to their 
 bulk as to admit of being fmuggled in a traveler's baggage, were pro- 
 bably nice works in gold and filver, in making which the Anglo-Saxon 
 artifts appear to have been eminently fkilful*. Reliques, images, of faints, 
 pretious ftones, books, pidures for churches, and drefl^es for priefls, were 
 probably the chief articles of the homeward cargoes. The French col- 
 ledors of the cuftoms, difcovering the deception of the pretended pil- 
 grims, obliged them to pay the duties upon their goods ; whereupon 
 they complained to Offa, the moft powerful of the Englifh kings, in 
 confequence of which an embargo was laid upon the Ihipping on both 
 fides for fome time. But when Offa had compelled all the other Eng- 
 lifli and Saxon kings to acknowlege his fuperiority, Charles the Great 
 became willing to enter into friendfhip with him, without, however, 
 giving up his claim to the cuftomary duties on merchandize. I have 
 already (p. 60) given a tranflation of the oldeft commercial treaty in 
 the world ; and the reader, I dare fiiy, will be pleafed to fee a tranfla- 
 tion of Charles's letter to Offa, then in effed the monarch of England, 
 as far as it relates to commercial objeds, as it is, properly fpeaking, the 
 very firft of the many commercial treaties between England and the 
 other countries of Europe. It begins thus : 
 
 ' Charles, by the grace of God king of the Franks and Lombards, 
 * and patrician of the Romans, to our venerable and moft dear brother, 
 ' Ofta, king of the Merkians, greeting. Firft, we give thanks to all- 
 ' mighty God for the fincere catholic faith which we fee fo laudably 
 ' exprcitdd in your letters. Concerning the ftrangers, who, for the love 
 ' of God and the falvation of their fouls, wifli to repair to the threftiolds 
 ' of the blefied apoftles, let them travel in peace without any trouble. 
 
 * The Englifh works in gold and filver in thefc ages were famous even in Italy. [^Muralori ylnliq. 
 
 y. V, Co/. 12.] ■ '
 
 A. D. 796. 249 
 
 * Neverthclefs, if any are found among them not in the fervice of reh- 
 ' gion, but in the purfuit of gain, let them pay the eftabUfhed duties at 
 
 * the proper places. We alfo will, that merchants fhall have lawful pro- 
 
 * tedion in our kingdom according to our command ; and if they are 
 ' in any place unjuflly aggrieved, let them apply to us or our judges, 
 
 * and we fliall take care that ample juftice be done to them.' — After 
 fome ecclefiaflical particulars, he concludes, by informing Offli, that he 
 had fent him a prefent of a belt, a Hunnifh fword, and two robes of 
 filk * f. [M. Paris Vit. Offcs, p. 20.— or Will. Mahnjb. f. 17.] 
 
 The kingdom of Northumberland appears to have furpafled the other 
 divifions of Britain in wealth, as well as in learning and fcience. There 
 is even reafon to believe that the Jews, a race of people, who, ever fmce 
 the deftrudlion of their capital city by the Romans, have fpread them- 
 felves into every wealthy country, had before this time penetrated into 
 this remote kingdom, as we may infer from a foreign canon being 
 tranfcribed by Egbert archbifhop of York into his Excerpts X, which pro- 
 hibits Chriilians from imitating the manners of the Jews, or partaking 
 of their feafts. [Spelman. Concil. p. 275.] The fame prelate eftabhlhed 
 a noble library at York, the capital city of Northumberland, to which 
 Alcuin propofed, with the approbation of the emperor Charles, to fend 
 the youth of France for improvement. \]¥ill. Mahnjb. f. 153 a.] 
 
 800 Charles the Great (or Charlemagne), in confequence of his ex- 
 
 tenfive conquefts and great power, and the policy of the pope, was 
 crowned at Rome by the title of emperor of the Romans ; a title ftill 
 kept up by the emperors of Germany as his fucceflbrs. Some time af- 
 
 • This treaty was brought about chiefly by the the great embelh'lher of Scottifli hillory, liaving 
 
 condudl of Alcuin, one of the ambafFadors fent by given the fanaion of his authority to the ilory, it 
 
 Offa to Charles. That great monarch was fo de- was almult uiiiverfally believed till lately. Mr. 
 
 lighted with the talents and learning of Alcuin, Anderfon, carried away by the tide of eftabliflied 
 
 that he entreated him to remain with him in order prejudice, which had carried away Su' George 
 
 to inftruft his fubjefts. And to this learned na- Mackenzie, Sir James Dalrymple, Sir Robert Sib- 
 
 tive of the Northumbrian kingdom, who flione, af- bald, Thomas Ruddiman, and other writers, whofr 
 
 ter Bede, the brighteft luminary of the benighted profefled line of ftudy led them to a more critical 
 
 wellern world, the French are in a great meafure inveftigation of Scottilh hiltory, has noticed this 
 
 indebted for the origin of learning and fcience in league in his work. It would be eafy to Ihew that 
 
 their country. there is no authority to fay that any luch league 
 
 The hillorians of England have taken but little ever exilled, but it would lead me into a diflerta- 
 
 notice of Charles's letter, which is an authentic tion very foreign to the nature of this work, 
 
 treaty of friendfhip and commerce. But Fordun f Mathew Paris remarks, probably from tradi- 
 
 and the later Scottifh hiftorians, thinking it high- tional report, that Vulli;;, abbat of St. Albans, a 
 
 ly honourable for their country that it fhould have favourite, and perhaps a relation, of King Offa, 
 
 attradled the nolice of fo great a prince as Charles, affetled great magniticence, and was clothed in 
 
 have wrcfted a paffage, wherein Eginhart mentions lilk. \_Vittc abbatum, p. 37.] Perhaps the po.T.p- 
 
 Ihe kings [' regei') of the Scots (unquellionably ous abbat had filks imported on purpofe tor hi» 
 
 the Scots of Ireland) as the humble fervants of own ufe ; for we cannot fuppofc, that what was a 
 
 Charles, into a proof of an alliance between him proper prefent from the greateft fovercign on the 
 
 and Achaius, king of the Scots in Argyle. Wyn- continent to the greateft fovercign in Britain, was 
 
 town, a writer contemporary with Fordun, knew common in the wcftern parts of the world, 
 
 nothing of the alliance, nor of any one event of % Spelman thinks that the Excerpts of Egbert 
 
 the reign of Achaius or Eokal ; [See his Orygynale may have been written about the year 750. Ho 
 
 Ci-onyiil of Scotland, B. vl, c. 4] but Hcftor Bovfc, pofTeffed the fee of York from 735 to 766. 
 
 Vol. I. ' I i
 
 250 
 
 A. D. 800. 
 
 ter two dukes of Venice *, and a duke of ladera in Dalmatia, are faid 
 to have received at his hands a contirmation of their dignities. 
 
 Amidft the devaftations and flaughters of a reign of forty -feven years, 
 pafled in perpetual warfare, Charles paid fome attention to learning and 
 icience, and apparently alfo to commerce, though he Ihowed grenft ig- 
 norance of the principles of it, when he allowed the priefts to make a 
 canon, declaring all intereil for the nfe of money to be finful. The 
 fairs of Aquifgranum (Aix la Chapelle) and Troye were frequented 
 during his reign by traders from mod parts of Europe : and the weight 
 ufed at the later has been generally adopted, and is now ufed by us for 
 weighing gold and filver. He colleded what was then efleemed a great 
 library, and he founded the univerlities of Paris and Pavia, which fet 
 the example to fimilar inftitutions, wherein the lamp of fcience, though 
 it burnt but very dimly during feveral dark ages, was at lead preferved 
 from utter extindion. He ftudied aftronomy under the Englifh philo- 
 fopher and poet Alcuin ; and his tafte for geography may be prefumed 
 from his three filver plates, on one of which was engraved a map of 
 Conftantinople, on another Rome, and on the third and largefl the three 
 parts of the world, viz. Europe, Afia, and Africa, each inclofed in a 
 circle. To curb the maritime depredations of the Normans and Sara- 
 cens he kept fome fhips on the Ocean and the Mediterranean ; and he 
 reftored the light-houfe at Bononia {Boulogne), that it might dired his 
 fliips in the night. His attempts to join the Meufe with the Saone, and 
 the Rhine with the Danube, though intended only for the purpofes of 
 war, if they could have been rendered efFedual and permanent, would 
 have been ufeful to inland navigation. {^Eginharti Vita Caroli magni. — 
 Aimon. Gejl. Franc. L. iv, cc. 68-102.] 
 
 808 — Charlemagne, having fubdued the remains of the old Saxons 
 on the north fide of the Elbe, ereded two callles on the banks of that 
 river to curb the Slavi and other hoflile tribes. In two years after, one 
 of them, called Hochbuchi, Hocburi, or Hamburgh, was taken and de- 
 ftroyed, and next year it was rebuilt. \_Eginha?-ti Aruiales ad an — Alberti 
 Stadcnfis Chron. ad «//.] After many tmimportant revolutions of de- 
 flrudion and renovation, the caftle gave birth to a town, which has 
 grown up to be the celebrated and important commercial city of Ham- 
 burgh f . 
 
 813 — In- the later end of the reign of Charlemagne the merchants 
 of Lyons, Marfcille, and Avignon, confiding in the power and tame of 
 their fovereign, and the friendfhip fubfifting between him and Harun 
 al Rafhid, the powerful and famous fovereign of the Eafl, joined in fit- 
 
 * They are called Willcrus and Beatiis by Ai- f Hamburgli, like oilier cities which have ac- 
 
 monius. [/,. iv, c. 94.] But I fee no fuch names, quired fame and opulence, has fome fables of an 
 
 '.or any conjunft dukes, in the catalogue of the earlier origin than what can be warranted by hif- 
 
 rfukcE or doges of Venice. tory, 4
 
 A. D. 813. 251 
 
 ting out veflels twice a year for Alexandria, to which no Chriflians, that 
 we know of, had failed, fmce it belonged to the Saracens. The fpiceries 
 of India and the perfumes of Arabia were conveyed by thofe nnerchants 
 up the Rhone and the Saone, and re-embarked on the Mofelle, which 
 carried them to the Rhine ; and by means of that river they were dif- 
 perfed through Germany and the northern countries. And thus the 
 French, while in the zenith of their military glory, appear to have alfo 
 taken the lead as the general merchants for the Chriftian nations in the 
 weftern part of Europe *. A Jewifh merchant, who was a favourite 
 with Charlemagne, alfo made frequent voyages to Paleftine, and return- 
 ed with pretious merchandize, hitherto unknown in the Weft. [Monncb. 
 Sangall. L. i, c. 18, ap. Muratori Antiq. V. i, col. 895.] 
 
 823 — The Saracens, now the only maritime power in the Mediter- 
 ranean, after plundering mofk of the Grecian iflands, took pofTcffion of 
 Crete, which, from the town wherein they fixed their chief refidence, 
 thenceforth got the name of Candax, afterwards corrupted to Candia. 
 This illand, fo happily fituated for commerce, is equally well fituated 
 for prffidatory naval war ; and it was in that way that its new mafters 
 chiefly employed their talents, to the unfpeakable diftrefs of the wretch- 
 ed fubjeds of the Greek empire and the other Chriftian ftates border- 
 ing on the Mediterranean. 
 
 813-833 — During the reign of the calif Almamon, who went beyond 
 all his predeceflbrs in the encouragement of learning and tlie fciences, 
 two menfurations of a degree were made, one on the plain of Sinaar, 
 and the other on that of Cufa. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the light of literature and fcicnce fhone 
 out with the brighteft luftre among the Saracens, and particularly among 
 thofe of Spain, when all-over the Chriftian part of Europe the human 
 faculties were debafed by the moft; wretched fuperftition, the belief of 
 the moft prepofterous miracles, and the idolatrous worfliip of images. 
 Chymiftry, a fcience fo important in our modern manufadures, which 
 had been pradifed in Egypt from the earlieft ages with ftationary im- 
 perfedion, is indebted to the ingenuity of the Saracens for many of its 
 moft valuable improvements. The alembic for diftillation is believed 
 to be of their invention. The nature of acids and alkalis was afcertaiia- 
 ed by them. To them we are obliged for the introduction, or, as moft 
 people think, the invention, of the Ample and comprehenfive fet of fi- 
 gures now univerfally ufed in arithmetic, which is one of the moft im- 
 portant improvements that ever was made in any of the fciences con- 
 neded with commerce. In fliort, the very names of alembic, alkali, 
 almanack, algebra, alchymy, elixir, zenith, nadir, azimuth, cipher, &c. 
 remain perpetual monuments of the Arabic derivation, or conveyance 
 
 * This curious and important notice reds on the authority of Poullin de Lumina, ^H'lfl. de Lyons, 
 />. 31] who has negleded to produce his vouchers. [See Mem. de litterature, V. xsxvli,/. 483.] 
 
 I i 2
 
 252 A. D. 813-833. 
 
 to us, of feveral branches of our fcience. It mufl: be acknowleged that 
 their fludies were often perverted to the abfurd purfuits of aftrology, 
 the philofopher's ftone, or tranfmutation of the bafer metals into gold, 
 and the elixir of health, which was fuppofed to confer a perpetual re- 
 novation of youth and vigour. But fcientific refearches, notwithftand- 
 ing the partial abufe or wrong direction of them, muft ultimately tend 
 to the increafe of human knowlege, and thereby add to the felicity of 
 mankind. During the five darkefl centuries of European barbarifm 
 the Saracens were the only enlightened people in the weftern world. 
 There are indeed a few individual inflances of heaven-born geniufes 
 among the Chriftians, who, furmounting the difficulty of an unknown 
 language, and defying the terrors of excommunication, ventured to 
 learfi fcience among the Saracens, and to dilTeminate fome fparks of it 
 among their rude and benighted countrymen, who in return treated 
 them as conjurers and articled fervants of the devil. To their intrepid 
 thirfl; of knowlege Europe is in a great meafure indebted for the revival 
 of fcience, which, as it increafed among the Chriftians, fell off and lan- 
 guifhed among the Saracens, who are not now diflinguiflied by any 
 ftrong attachment to fludy. 
 
 825 — About this time there was prefented to the emperor Louis a 
 prefbyter called George, who undertook to conflruft organs, hitherto 
 fcarcely known in France *, as they were made in Greece. [^/>w«. de 
 gejlis Franc. L. iv, c. 114.] 
 
 827 — Egbert, king of the Weft Saxons, who had pafled his youth in 
 exile, and learned the arts of war and government under Charles, the 
 greateft prince in Europe, was recalled to his paternal dominions in the 
 year 800. In twenty-feven years he fubdued, or reduced to a (late of 
 dependence, all the other Englifh and Saxon kings on the fouth fide of 
 the Humber ; and he is thenceforth ufually accounted (though not with 
 ftricl propriety) the firft monarch of England. 
 
 This fame year, according to the annals of Ulfter, there was ' a dread- 
 ' ful invufion of Ireland by the Englifli,' which, if I miftake not, is omit- 
 ted by all the Englifh hiftorians. 
 
 828 — Ten Venetian fliips went to Alexandria in violation of a law of 
 the ftate ; and they were, for ought that appears, the firfl that ever 
 went from Venice to that port. The moft noted part of their home- 
 ward cargo was the (fuppol'ed) body of St. Mark, which they furrepti- 
 tioufly carried off with them. [Cbron. Atid. DanduU diicis Fend. dp. Mii- 
 ratori, Script. V. xii, col. 170.] This notice, though in other refpeds 
 
 * An organ had been fent from Conftantinople organ, tlicn a wondcifnl thing in England, was 
 
 to Pepin king of France by the emperor Conftan- prilcnttd to the chnrch of Malmlbury by Dunf- 
 
 tme Copronymus. {^Marian. Scot, nd an. 757.— tan. [H^ill. AJ^i/ni/i. up. Giilr, p. 366.] Organs, 
 
 Hep'ulanni Chron. ad an. 754, ap. Goldajl. — Ahnon. if there is no millake in the name, were in Ireland 
 
 L. iv, c. 64.] In the reign of King Edgar an bcfoie the year 814. \_^Ann. Uh. ad an. 814.]
 
 A. D. 828. 253 
 
 of little confequeuce, may be confidered as a pretty good proof that the 
 commerce between Venice and Alexandria had not, as has been aflert- 
 ed, been carried on to a great extent for fome ages before this time. 
 
 Amalfi, Genoa, and Pifa, maritime cities on the weft fide of Italy, 
 followed the example of Venice in trading to Alexandria ; but their 
 trade never became very confiderable, till the frenzy of the holy wars 
 placed in their hands the treafures of the Weft, and gave a vaft addi- 
 tional fpring to their carrying trade, their manufadures, commerce, and 
 general profperity. [Muratori Antiq. V. ii, col. 905.] 
 
 836 — ' Some writers fpeak of the Netherlanders reforting to Scot- 
 
 * land as early as about the year 836, for the buying of faked fifli of 
 ' the Scotifh fiftiermen, which they then carried home merely for the 
 
 * fuftenance of their people, whereby the Scots were greatly enriched. 
 ' But it is alledged, that the Scots afterward putting fome hardfliips on 
 ' thofe Dutch purchafers, the latter learning the manner of catching 
 
 * and faking the fifli themfelves, not only left dealing with the former 
 ' (to their impoverilhing), but flruck into the fupplying of other na- 
 
 * tions with fifli caught on the Britifli coafts *.' 
 
 838 — The firft invafion upon record of the country of the Pichts in 
 the north part of Britain by the Norwegian or Danilh rovers is dated 
 in the year 838. \^Ann. Ult.\ 
 
 843 — Keneth,. after, reigning two years in the Scottifh kingdom of 
 Dalrieta in the weft, acquired the moft valuable part of the country of 
 the Pichts ; and henceforth the kings of the Scots (fometimes called al- 
 fo kings of the Pichts), were, next to thofe of the Englifti, the moft 
 pov^^erful fovereigns in Britain. 
 
 848 — Turges, or Thorgils, the leader or king of the northern adven- 
 turers, who had opprefled Ireland about thirty years by praedatory in- 
 curfions, by feizing on large trads of the country, and by exacting griev- 
 ous tributes, was taken prifoner by Maolfechlin, the Inpreme king ot 
 Ireland, and drowned in Loch-Vair f . His countrymen, however, 
 
 * Thefe are the words of Mr. Anderfon, ?.nd fufpeft tliat the ftory has oiiginally proceeded from 
 
 they have been repeated, n\ more pofitive language no other fountain than the ' beautiful genius and 
 
 than he ufed, by feverals who have had occafion ' fine fancy' of Heftor Boyfe, that copious mine 
 
 to write upon the fubjeft of the filheries, though of falfifications in Scottifh hiftory, [_Scotorum Hijl. 
 
 without quoting him, as he has alfo neglefted to f. 29 b] and has got a few improvements from 
 
 adduce his authority, which ought by no means to fome later embeUillier. 
 
 be omitted in a matter of fnch importance as the f Snorro Sturlefon fays, that Thorgils and Fro- 
 
 firfl notice of a Britifh fifhcry as a commercial ob- da, the fons of Harold Harfagur, king of Norway, 
 
 jeft. If the people of the Netherlands aflually plundered the coafts of Scotland, Wales, and Irt- 
 
 bought fifh upon our north coall in that age land, and were the firil Norwegians who potTefTed 
 
 (which, after a great deal of relearch, I have not Uyfflin (or Dublin) ; that Froda was polfoned, 
 
 been able to verify), the name of the Pichts, the and Thorgils, after leigning long in DyiBIn, was 
 
 people on the eail fide of the country, to which circumvented a id flain by tlie Irifh. With all my 
 
 they had the eafieft accefs, ought fiirely to be fub- refpetl for the venerable Herodotus of the Nortli, 
 
 ftituted for that of the Scots, whofe dominion was I apprehend he Is here confounding two perfoiii 
 
 at this time reilrifted to Dalrieta, nearly the fame of the fame or fimilar names, as there Is leafon to 
 
 with the prefent fhire of Argyle. But I much believe that this event was recorded in the Iriiii 
 
 4 AnnaJs
 
 254 A. D. 848. 
 
 though they were driven out of the reft of the ifland, were fo well efta- 
 blifhed m Dublin, that they fortified it, and held it out againft the Irifli ; 
 and new colonies of them afterwards took, poffeffion of almoft all the 
 maritime parts of the ifland. They improved the fortifications of Dub- 
 lin ; they built or fortified Waterford, Limerik, and other cities : and 
 Olaf, the moft powerful chief among them, afiliming the title of king 
 of Ireland and -the Ifles, compelled the Irifh to pay him tribute. Hence- 
 forth the native Irifli were almoft flnit up in the central part of the 
 country, while the Norwegians and Danes, under the names of Oftmen 
 (i. e. Eaftern men), Gaols, Gentiles, Pagans, &c. v/ere the chief, or ra- 
 tlier the only, commercial people in Ireland, and continued for feveral 
 centuries to carry on trade with their mother countries and other places 
 on the weft coafts of Europe from their Irifli fettlements. [^fin. Ult. ad 
 an. 844, 852 — Girald. Cambr. T'op. Hib. L. iii, cc. 40 et feqq. — and fee 
 Ufferii Brit, eccles. antiq. pp. 860, 717, for other authorities.] 
 
 849 — Amalfi, Naples, and Gaeta, maritime cities of Italy, were now 
 in fad independent, though profefllng a flight acknowlegement of al- 
 legiance to the Greek empire. Their pofl^lTion of ftiipping prefumes 
 that they had fome commerce ; for in thefe times the Italians do not 
 appear to have had any vefl^ls calculated folely for the purpofes of war. 
 Their ftiips were now employed in defending Rome from the attack of 
 a formidable army of Saracens, whofe numerous fleet, by the feafonable 
 intervention of a fudden fquall of wind, was completely deftroyed : and 
 the pontifical, and once imperial, city of Rome, was laved from the do- 
 minion and the religion of the Saracens by the merchants of thole ci~ 
 ties. 
 
 But the beneficial effedls of the induftry and profperity of thofe cities, 
 and of Venice, extended as yet but a very little way beyond their own 
 boundaries. The greateft part of Italy had lain wafte during feveral 
 centuries ; the cities were ruined and depopulated, and the wild beafts 
 had refumed the pofleflion of the uncultivated country, which was co- 
 vered with woods, and deluged with ftagnant waters. Such was now 
 the condition of Italy, once the moft highly cultivated country in Eu- 
 rope ; and fuch it continued throughout the ninth century. [Murafori 
 Script. V. ii, part ii, col. 691 — and fee other authorities colledted in his 
 jhitiq. V. ii, coll. 149, 153, 163.] The defolation of the other parts of 
 Europe, though not fo amply attefted, appears from the few writers of 
 thofe dark ages to have been ftill more extenfive. 
 
 While fuch was the general ftate of Europe, the commerce of thofe 
 which w'crc efteemed commercial communities could only be confider- 
 
 Annals many years before any foil of Harold Har- from that of Alexander^ the fon of Amyntas king 
 
 fagtir was born. of Macedonia, who cut off the I'erlian ambiifTadorc 
 
 Later Irifli writers have embelh'flied the dcatji by means of young men in women's drefs. 
 of Turgcs with a ilralagcm, perhaps borrowed
 
 A, D. 849. 255 
 
 able by companion with the total want of it among their neighbours: 
 and that the commercial intercourfe, or intercourfe of any kind, in Ita- 
 ly, was not very confiderable, is evident from the want of inns for the 
 reception of travelers upon the roads, and even in fome of the principal 
 cities of that country *. 
 
 The decline of the Grecian empire, and the conqucll of Perfia, re- 
 ftored to the victorious Arabians the antient m.aritime commerce of In- 
 dia with a very great augmentation. But the principal feat of the trade 
 had long been removed from the fouth coaft of Arabia to the Perfian 
 eulf, as we learn from the Chinefe annals of the feventli and eighth 
 centuries f, and more particularly from an account written by SoUman, 
 an Arabian merchant, which, as a valuable monument of Oriental com- 
 mercial hiftory, deferves, even in the mutilated flate wherein we receive 
 it, to be ranked next to the Periplus of the Erythraean fea. 
 
 851 — From Soliman's relation we learn that the Arabian merchants 
 had now extended their commerce and their difcoveries in the Eaft far 
 beyond the utmoft knowlege of their own anceflors, the Greek mer- 
 chants of Egypt, or the Ethiopian merchants ofAduli, which in the 
 time of Cofmas Indicopleuftes (and we have no particvilar account of 
 any later date) had never gone beyond Siele-div (or Ceylon) J. Their 
 vefTels now traded to every part of the continent as far as the fouth coaft 
 of China, and to many of the iflands, of all which he gives defcriptions, 
 whereof very few can be reconciled to our ideas or appellations of Ori- 
 ental geography. The very exiftence of China being hitherto almoft 
 unknown in the weftern parts of the world, he gives a pretty ample ac- 
 covuit of it, from which I extradt the following particulars, illuftrative 
 of the commercial hiftory of that lingular empire. 
 
 When foreign vellels arrive at Can-fu (luppofed to be Canton §) the 
 Chinefe take poifenion of their cargoes, and ftore them in warehoufes 
 till the arrival of all the other Ihips which are expected, whereby they 
 are fometimes detained fix months. They then levy a duty of thirty 
 
 * In the year 840, fome merchants of Amalfi, the fecond century. (See above, p. 194, or Mr. De 
 
 being at Tarcntum, were invited by the keepers Guignes, as quoted in the preceding note). But 
 
 ol the prifon to lodge in it, tlicre being tio inn in we know no particulars of their route or their 
 
 the city. The merchants were glad to accept their trade : and, with fubmidion, I may obfcrve, that 
 
 offei', and gave them money to purcliafe vidluals as their navigation extended no farther than Cey- 
 
 and wine for them, \_j4nonymus Siilerriitaniis, ap. Ion in the fixth century, and even that under a 
 
 Muratori Script. V. ii, part ii, p. 221 — and fee foreign flag (to borrow a modern phrafe), any ac- 
 
 Muralori's 37 th dijfcrtation in Antiq. V. iii, ch hof- count of earlier navigations to more diilant ports 
 
 pitalibus peregrinorum.'} would need to be iupported by very ftrong au- 
 
 f For the information derived from thofe an- thority._ 
 
 nals we are indebted to the erudition and induilry § Caa-fu does not appear among the old names 
 
 of Mr. De Guignes. {^Reflexions fur ks liaifons des of Quangcheu or Canton, given by Martin Mar- 
 
 Romains a-vec les Tarlarei et Chiiioii, in Mem. de tinius in Thevenot's Foyages curieux, V. ii, p. 167. 
 
 litterature, V. xxxii, p. 367.] In Sir George Staunton's Emhijfy to China the 
 
 \ Some fubjedls of the Roman empire are fup- name is Quang-Tchoo-Foo. 
 pofed to have traded to China by fea as early as
 
 256 A. D. 851. 
 
 per cent on the goods in kind, and reftore the remainder to the mer- 
 chants. The emperor has a right of pre-emption ; but his officers fair- 
 ly, and immediately, pay for what he takes at the higheft price of the 
 articles. 
 
 Can-fu is a place of great trade, to which all foreign merchants refort. 
 The Mohamedans are fo numerous in it, that a cadi, or judge, of their 
 own religion, is allowed to prelide over them, under the authority of 
 the emperor. 
 
 Chinefe fhips trade to Siraf in the Perfian gulf, and there take in 
 goods brought from Baflbra, Oman, and other places, to which they do 
 not venture to proceed on account of the frequent ftorms and other 
 dangers in that fea *. From the account of their route, which is con- 
 flantly along the fhore, the Chinefe of this age appear to be rather more 
 timid navigators than the Arabs and Egyptian Greeks were many cen- 
 turies before f. 
 
 China is more populous than India, and the cities are numerous and 
 ■well fortified. The only coined money among the Chinefe is of cop- 
 per. They confider gold and filver, which they have in great abund- 
 ance, merely as merchandize, in the fame manner as pearls, filks, or 
 other goods. The Chinefe of all ranks drefs in iilk, in fummer and in 
 winter. They have no wine, but inftead of it a fpiritous liquor made 
 from rice (which we now call arrak). Their general drink is an in- 
 fufion of the leaves of fah (tea), the duty upon which brings in a vaft 
 revenue to the fovereign. They have an excellent kind of earth, where- 
 with they make all forts of veflels for the table, of equal finenefs with 
 glafs, and equally tranfparent. For meafuring time they have dials and 
 clocks with weights. There is no land tax in China. Every male child 
 is regiftered when born ; at the age of eighteen he begins to pay a ca- 
 pitation tax, and at eighty he becomes entitled to a penfion J. 
 
 • Father Michfl Boym, wlio rtfided fo long in not indeed fail fo far now ; but tliat might pro- 
 China as ahiioft to forget the Itahan language, in hably be at leafl as much owing to the jealous po- 
 a narrative drawii up in the year 1652, agrees re- Ucy of their government as to want of knowlege 
 markably with Soliman. He fays, that informer or ability, till their knowlege fell off from want of 
 limes the Chinefe took in cinnamon at Ceylon, and praftice. The authenticity of Soliman's relation 
 carried it to Ormus in the Perfian gulf, whence was fufpedlcd, when it was firft publilhed in a 
 other merchants conveyed it to Aleppo and Greece. French tranflation by Eufebius Renaudot in the 
 Sometimes there were four hundred Chinefe vefTela year 1718 ; but Mr. De Gnignes has fince remov- 
 together in the Perfian gulf, loaded with gold, ed eveiy (hadow of doubt.by attelling (In the yoa;-- 
 filks, pretious flones, mu(k, porcelain, copper, nal dcs Savaris, Nov. 1764, and in the Memoires 
 alum, nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, an article Je Utteralure, V. xxxvii, p, 477) that he had found 
 of which they carried large quantities. \ILlal\nns the original Arabic manufcript in the king's libra- 
 de la Chine, in Thcvenot's Voyages curieux, V. ii, ry at Paris. Independent of that fupport, its crc- 
 /i. 25 of Lift f cries 'f pi'ges.'^ dit feems to he abundantly clear from the artlefs 
 
 f We may thence conclude that the fuppofi- ajid genuine appearance of the narrative ; and it is 
 
 lion of the mariner's compafs being known to highly valuable, were it only for conveying to us 
 
 them long before this time is deftitutc of founda- the e:\rlicll notice of clocks, tea, and china-ware, 
 
 tion. articles now fo common in every houfe. The mag- 
 
 X It has been doubted whether the Ciiinefc nificent piece of mcclumifm prefented to Charlc- 
 
 evcr failed as far as the Perfian gulf. They do magne by Harun al Ralhild was evidently not a 
 
 clock.
 
 A. D. 852. 257 
 
 852 — Some fuppoie coals to have been ufed as fuel in England at 
 this time, twelve cart-loads of them, with fixty loads of wood, and fix 
 loads of turf (or peat) being enumerated among the articles conftitut- 
 ing the rent of Sempringham, an eftate belonging to the abbay of Me- 
 delhamftede (Peterburgh), in the -Saxon Chronicle, as tranflated by 
 Dodor Gibfon *. 
 
 877 — Baichu, a rebel, made himfelf mafter of moft of the empire of 
 China. When Can-fu (Canton), the port for all the Arabian merchants, 
 fell into his hands, he maflacred all the inhabitants, among whom there 
 are faid to have been one hundred and twenty thoufand foreign mer- 
 chants, confining of Mohamedans, Jews, Chriftians, and Perfees. This 
 favage cut down all the mulberry trees, which fed the filk-worms, and 
 confequently abolifhed the filk trade during his reign. To complete 
 the ruin of the country, he pradlifed fuch extortions upon foreign mer- 
 chants, that they "gave up trading to China f. 
 
 The weft fide of the Red fea appears to have been now deprived of 
 all foreign trade : the vefl^els from Siraf in the Perfian gulf (and we 
 hear of none from India) delivered their cargoes at Judda, or Jidda, an 
 Arabian port, feemingly not ufed when the Periplus of the Erythrsean 
 fea was written ; and thence the goods deftined for Egypt, Europe, and 
 Africa, were forwarded in vefi^els conduded by people acquainted with 
 the navigation of the Red fea, the many dangers of which deterred the 
 foreign navigators from proceeding any farther in it. We are told that 
 the Red-fea coafters carried the goods to Cairo, which had now fuper- 
 feded Coptos as the general depofit of merchandize upon the Nile ; and 
 if that is fl;ridly true, the vefi^els muft have proceeded through the 
 canal, which was reftored by Amrou the Arabian conqueror of Egypt %. 
 And thus we find the trade of the Red fea nearly fallen back to the 
 ftate in which it was under the firft Ptolemies, and alfo, if we except 
 
 deck, but a clepfydia, or water time-meafurer : other fubftance dug out of the ground as wd] as 
 
 \_AmQn. Gejl. Franc. L.iv, c. 95] and that, which coal ; and indeed it may as well be turf, which is 
 
 his father Pepin received froni Pope Paul I, was alfo dug out of the ground, though not fo deep, 
 
 probably on the fame principle, though I have not unlefs it appeared that Sempringham produced 
 
 iTiet with any particular account of it. For the coal, which, I believe, it does not. It may be ob- 
 
 antient murrhine vefllls, fuppofed by fome to have jccled, that gearda muft be turf; and if tlic fofGle 
 
 bceu the porcelain of China, fee above, p. fubftance (grasfan) were coal, that interpretation 
 
 * The words in the original Anglo-Saxon are would be apparently right. Its various meanings 
 
 ' fixtiga fothva wuda, and twaelf fotliur grsefan, are earth, th; ivorU, a yard or inchfure. The 
 
 '' and fex futhur gearda.' — As it is not ufual tranfaiSion is entirely omitted in Wheloc's edition 
 
 with me to depend on the infallibility of any of the Saxou chronicle. 
 
 .perfon, I cannoc help having fome ■ doubt as to f Baichu feems the fame, who is called the rob- 
 
 the propriety cf Doftor Gibfon's trauilation ; ber Hiam-ciao in the Hifloria Sinka in The'vemt, 
 
 and I lubmit it to thofe, who imderftand the K. n, p. 52. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon belter than myfclf, whether grsefau % Thele two articles of Oriental information are 
 
 can, without any better warrant, be tranflated conveyed to us by Abu Zeid al Haftan, a mer- 
 
 coal (' carbonum foffilium') feeing that grab- chant of Siraf, whofe work, in a great meafure, a 
 
 an, graf-a, graf-an, fignify in Moefo Gothic, Ice- comment upon that of Soliman, was publillieH 
 
 landic, and Anglo-Saxon, to dig, ccrvi, grave along with it by Mr. Renaudot. 
 or engrc-uc, and confequently may apply to any 
 
 Voi. T. K k
 
 258 
 
 A. D. 877. 
 
 the conveyance by the canal, nearly in the fame ftate that it is in the 
 prefent age *. 
 
 878 — Syracufe, formerly great in commerce and naval power, had 
 fuffered a gradual, but continual, decline from the time when it fell 
 under the Roman dominion till now, that it was contraded to its origi- 
 nal limits in the fmall ifland of Ortygia, and dwindled into a village. 
 Neverthelefs, its infular iituation enabled it to refill the power of the 
 Saracens, who had begun the conqueft of Sicily in the year 827, for 
 above half a century, when at laft the redudlion of that obflinate little 
 city completed their conqueft of the largeft and mofl fertile of the Me- 
 diterranean iflands (21'' May 878). [Chron. Sic. ap. Muratori Script. V. 
 i,part. ii, pp. 2^4., 24.$.} 
 
 Sugar-canes appear to have been cultivated, and their juice made in- 
 to fugar, in the louthern countries of Afia, and fome parts of Africa, in 
 the earliefl ages. But they were probably unknown in Europe, till the 
 Saracens introduced them in Sicily, the fertile foil, and warm climate, 
 of w^hich were favourable to their production. In procefs of time the 
 canes were tranfplanted from Sicily to the fouthern provinces of Spain, 
 whence the cultivation of them is faid to have extended to Madeira and 
 the Canaries, and finally to Brafil and the Weft-India iflands, if they 
 were not indigenous in the later f . 
 
 Notwithftanding the pious endeavours of Pope Zacharia, and an ex- 
 prefs law of the fi:ate of Venice pafiTed in the year 864 againft the flave 
 
 * Though the modern Arabs do not permit fo- 
 reign vefTels to go higher than Jidda, fome Brit- 
 i(h navigators, in fpite of the prohibition and the 
 increafing fhallownefs of the Red fea, have failed 
 quite to the head of it in veflels drawing more wa- 
 ter than any that the antient Arabians, Greeks, or 
 Ethiopians, had upon it. 
 
 f The champions of the crofs found fiigar-canes 
 in Paleftine, Egypt, Cyprus, Rhodes, &c. But, 
 though the defcription of fugar-canes (or honey- 
 canes, ' canna: meUie') gixjwing near Panormus in 
 Sicily, given by the Sicilian author Falcandus [a^. 
 Muratori Script, vol. vii, col. 258], who wrote in 
 1189 or 1 190, is perfeftly jult and accurate, the 
 accounts of the procefs of making fugar {' zucare, 
 or 7-uchara') given by Jacobus de Vitriaco \_H\fl. 
 •Orient, ic. 53, 86], who wrote about 1200, and 
 thofe by the other hidon'ans of the holy war, arc 
 very dcfcdlive and confufed, as defcribing a thing 
 little known. Indeed, we mull fuppofe, that the 
 fugar >n Paleftine was of very bad quality, or very 
 trifling in quantity, as we find fngar one of the ar- 
 ticles brought to that country along with cinna- 
 mon, pepper, Sec. from Babylon by a caravan, 
 which was plundered by Richard I king of Eng- 
 land. [6'. i'.c Vinifauf,ap.Gale, V. ii,/. 407.] 
 »-• I have not been able to afcertain the date of the 
 jmroduition of the fugar-can. in Sicily by the Sa- 
 
 racens. According to Raynal \W'ijl. fhll. et pol. 
 V. vi, p. i^j,cd. 1782J it was not till about the 
 middle of the twelfth century. But he never 
 quotes authorities : and the Saracens had loft the 
 dominion of the ifland long before that time. That 
 fugar-canes were firft planted by the Saracens in 
 Sicily, is generally allowed ; and they probably 
 introduced them, foon after they got poffcflion of 
 the ifland. See Gibbon [K x, p. iii, eJ. 1 1 9*3 
 who, very contraiy to his general prattice, has 
 ncglefted quoting his authority : but his profound 
 refearch and approved accuracy entitle him, be- 
 yond moft writers, to be credited for the fidelity 
 of his aflcrtion. — Along with the authors here 
 quoted, fee Albertus Aqiienjls, Fulcherius Carnoten- 
 Jis, and JViUlelmus Tyrius, all in the Gf/la Dei per 
 Francos.— De Cui^ncs in Mem. de I'acaJemie, y. 
 xxxvii,/. ^0^.— Edwards's Hijl. of the IVeJl-Jndie], 
 V. ii, p. ig.—Mofe/cy's Hifl. of fugar. 
 
 It is not improper to obferve here, that the cul- 
 tivation of the fugar-canc is now neglcdlcd in Si- 
 cily, owing (as Biydone in his Tuur in Sicily in- 
 forms us) to the enormous duties impofcd upon it : 
 and certain it is, that that moft fertile ifland, per- 
 haps the mother of all the fugar-canes in the weft- 
 ern world, now receives fugar from Britain and 
 other countric' .
 
 A. D. 878, 259 
 
 trade, it was found neceflary to enforce the prohibition by a new and 
 ftridler law, which made it criminal for any Venetian to permit any 
 flaves to be received onboard his veflel. [DanduU Chron. ap. Muratori 
 Script. Kxii, col. 883.] 
 
 Alfred, at his acceflion to the crown had found England almoft 
 entirely over-run by the Danes, and had been even obliged to abandon 
 his kingdom to their rage, and to conceal himfelf, with the few faithful 
 fubjeds who had not deferted him, from their puriuit. Emerging fud- 
 denly from his concealment, he now gained a great and decilive viclory 
 over the Danes, fecure in the belief that the Englifh could no longer 
 prefume to make head againfl them. The confequence was, that Al- 
 fred recovered poffeflion of nearly a half of England, the Danilh king 
 Godrun being by treaty reftrided to the eaflern part of the country, 
 and profeffing himfelf a Chriftian, By this treaty there was a new na- 
 tion fettled as inhabitants of Britain *. 
 
 886 — Paris, though the capital feat of the French kings, was ftill a 
 fmall town, contained in the little ifland of the river Seine, jufl as it 
 was when Julius Ccefar gave the fir ft hiftoric notice of it. [Afferii Vita 
 JElfredi,p. 51, ed. 1722.] 
 
 London, which appears to have been almoft totally deftroyedand de- 
 populated by the Danes, was reftored by king Alfred in the nobleft 
 manner, and foon after filled with inhabitants, who had been driven 
 into exile, or kept in captivity by the Danes. \^A[fer. p. 51.] 
 
 890 — About this time the iilands adjacent to the north part of Bri- 
 tain were occupied by a colony of Norwegians, who, unwilling to fub- 
 mit to Harold Harfigur, the firft fole king of all Norway, had put to 
 fea in queft of independent fettlements. Thefe fugitives frequently 
 harafi^ed the coaft of Norway with praedatory invafions, which provoked 
 Harold to follow them to their iflands with a powerful fleet. Having 
 fubdued the Orkneys and Hialtland (Shetland), he beftowed them on 
 one of his nobles, as an earldom to be held of the crown of Norwary f. 
 
 The iflands on the weft fide of Scotland, which had been often vifit- 
 ed by the Normans in their voyages to Ireland, were now in a great 
 meafure peopled by them ; and, as being more foutherly than Shetland 
 and Orkney, they were called in their language by the general nam.e of 
 Sudureyar (i. e. the fouthern iflands). Harold lent Ketil, a nobleman 
 whofe ample eftates in Norway he wiflied for an opportunity to feize 
 upon, to reduce thofe iflands, and to govern them as his lieutenant. 
 
 * This treaty of partition may be fecn among pendence upon, the foversigns of the adjacent 
 
 tlie laws of Alfred. main land, it was probably very flender. The 
 
 f We know from Adamnan's Life of Colnniba, fucceeding earls of Orkney feized upon Catnefs, 
 
 tliat in the fixth ccntuiy the Orkneys conlb'tutcd (then including the (hire of Sutherland) and for 
 
 a petty kingdom, which acknawleged the fuprem- it their fucceilors acknowleged themfelves vaffals 
 
 acy of the neighbouring kingdom of the Pichts. of the crown of Scotland. 
 But, if they had now any conpeclion with, or de- 
 
 Kk2
 
 i6o A. D. 890. 
 
 But Keti], when he got himfelf eftabUfhed m his government, and had 
 conciliated the afFeilions of the chiefs by intermarriages with his fstf 
 mily, fet up for an independent fovereign ; and from him the kings 
 and lords of the Ifles are defcended. Thus were the Norwegians addl- 
 ed to the nations inhabiting the Britifh iflands. 
 
 The arts ai:id manufadlures flouriflied in fome degree in thofe remote 
 iflands ; and the drapery of the Sudureyans was even famous in the 
 northern parts of Europe *. They very foon became fo populous, that 
 they fent out colonies to the Foeroes, to Iceland, and even to France. 
 This laft colony joined a band led by the famous Hrolf or Rollo, the 
 firft duke of Normandy, a fon of the firft earl of Orkney, and the an- 
 ceftor of the Norman kings of England. 
 
 The ufurpation or conquefts of Harold alfo gave birth to other fet- 
 tlements in the northern extremity of the world, which was hitherto in 
 a great raeafure unoccupied f. Of thefe the moil diflinguifhed was Ice- 
 land, which had been accidentally difcovered in the year 861, revifited 
 in 864, 865, and 874, and began to be fettled in 878. It now received) 
 a conliderable colony, which fpread over all the extent of the illand : 
 and this, unlefs we may perhaps except fome of thofe of the antient 
 Greeks, is the only colony in the world, prior to the recent European 
 fettlements in America, of which we have an accurate and regular hif- 
 tory from its commencement. About the beginning of the tenth cen- 
 tury the Icelanders eftabliflied a colony in Greenland, which increafed 
 and profpered for near four hundred years, after which the intercourfe 
 between Greenland and the refl of the world was interrupted by the 
 increafing rigoiu: of the wmter in that inholpitable climate, by which 
 in all probability the colony periflied. We fhall alfo have occafion to 
 notice the Icelanders as the firft European difcoverers of America about 
 the year 1000. 
 
 Navigators accuftomed to depend on the almoft-infallible ffifta nee 
 of the compafs and quadrant, and of arithmetical and aftronomical 
 tables ready conftruded by men of eminence in the various depart- 
 
 * A northern poet defcriblng the magnificent particularizes the names of feverul provinces of 
 
 Jrefs of a hero of the fcventh century fays, it was Scandinavia, wblcli were now for the iirll time 
 
 fpun by the Sudurey is. See Johnrtonc's Note cleared and inhabited by people retiring from the 
 
 on S'. XV of his Lodlrotar-quiJa. Tlie faft may country conquered by Hai'oUl.— Thele unqucf- 
 
 be true, though it is certainly antedated. tionable tcllimonics (how, th;it the notion of the 
 
 f We learn from Procopius, [^Be!l. Golh'ie. L. antient redundant population of the great nortlicrn 
 
 li, c, 15] that about the middle of the fixth ccn- peninfula, called by the general name of Scandina- 
 
 tury a confiderable body of the Heruli migrated via, has no foundation in truth, but, like many 
 
 northward, parted the country of the Danes, and other generally-received opinions, has pafTed with- 
 
 ftttled in Scandinavia, called by him Thule, the out examination upon the credit of being frequent. 
 
 i')habitant8 allowipg them to occupy a part of ly repeated. Its foundation is a foolidi expreliion 
 
 rheir lands. See above p. 234, note • .— of Jornandcs, who calls Scandia (or Scandinavia) 
 
 Ohther, in his narrative prefcrved by King Alfred, officina ^cnlium, the warehoufe, or worklhop, of na- 
 
 alTures us, that the northern part of Norway was tions. 
 unmhabiied in his time. And Snorro Sturlcfon 3
 
 A. D. 890. 261 
 
 ments of fcience, will be aftonifhed, when they refledl on the intrepid 
 fpirit of thofe advenrurous fons of the Northern ocean, who, alTuredly 
 deflitute of the eompafs, for wliich they fubflituted the flight of birds "*, 
 and with very poor fubftitutes for the other guides, dared to commit 
 their barks for feveral days, perhaps often weeks, to a boundlefs cx- 
 panfe of ocean, and trufl their lives to the chance of feeing the fun and 
 the ftars. 
 
 During feveral centuries the free and independent inhabitants of 
 Iceland drove a confiderable carrying trade in the Northern feas, their 
 {hips vifiting Britain, Ireland, and the adjacent iflands, France, Ger- 
 many, and all the northern parts of Europe. In that fequefl:ered cor- 
 ner of the world liberty, induftry, commerce, and learning, flouriflied 
 in the dark ages ; and they continued to embellilh and to dignify that 
 poor illand, till it fell under the dominion of Norway in the year i 262. 
 Even in the prefent day its literary eminence remains to confole it in 
 fome degree for the lofs of its other advantages. 
 
 897 — Alfred was the firft of the Englifli kings, who had the judge- 
 ment to perceive,' that an ifland without a maritime force mufi: ever be 
 at the mercy of every piratical plunderer, and that a maritime invader 
 could only be repulfed by a v;e]l-appointed navy, the braved and bed 
 difciplined army being of but little avail againft an enemy, who by his 
 naval fuperiority could chufe and vary his points of attack at pleafure. 
 He therefor determined to meet the invaders upon their own ele- 
 ment ; and the very earlieft of his naval efforts were crowned with fuc- 
 cefs. His fuperior genius did not merely imitate the vefiels of the 
 Danes or Frifons, but conceived a new model of conftrudion with im- 
 provemeiats upon theirs. His gallies were almoil twice as long as thofe 
 of the enemy, and carried fixty oars f , fome of them even more ; they 
 made better way, and were lefs crank or lels apt to roll p By an unre- 
 
 * Anigrim Jonas tells us, that when Flok, a expedient when (klmming along the tranquil Air- 
 famous Norwegian navigator, was going to fet face of tlie Indian ocean. [_FIinu Hi/i- nat. L. 
 out from Shetland for Iceland, then called Gar- vi, c. 2 3.] 
 
 darfholm, he took on board fome crows, lecaiifs \ Henry of Huntingdon and Brounton fay forty 
 
 the mariner's eompafs ii'as not yel in ufe. When he or more oars. The tianfpofition of L and X 
 
 thought he had made a confiderable part of his m.akes the difference. 
 
 way, he threw up one of his crows, which feeing J The Saxon Chronicle, Florence of Worcefter, 
 
 ]andaftern,flew toil; whence Flok, concluding that Simeon of Durham, and the Chronicle of Melros, 
 
 he was nearer to Shetland (perhaps rather Foeroe) add, that the vefftls were loftier than thofe of the 
 
 than any other land, kept on his courfe for fome old conllnadlion, in which there feems a miltake ; 
 
 time, and then fent out another crow, which, feeing for greater height mull have made them crankcr, 
 
 no land at all, returned to the vefiTel. At laft hav- unlefs the r.dditional length was accompanied with 
 
 ing run the grcateft part of his way, another crow fufficient additional breath, which in row-gallies 
 
 was fent out by him, which, feeing land ahead, im- they probably did not attend to. 
 mediately flew for it; and Flok, following his guide, ' The form of the Saxon ftips at the end of the 
 
 fell in with the eaft end of the ifland. Such was • eight century, or the beginning of the ninth, is 
 
 the fimple mode of keeping their reckoning and ' happily preferved in fome of the ancient manu- 
 
 ftecring their courfe, praftifed by thofe bold navi- ' fcripts of that date : they were fcarcely more 
 
 gators of ihe ftormy North.ern ocean. The an- ' than a very large boat, and feem to be built of 
 
 lient natives of Taprobane (Ceylon) ufed the fame ' ftout planks, laid one over the other, in the man- 
 
 ' ner
 
 ^6,1 A. D. 897. 
 
 mitting attention to his fleet this illuftrious prince, who may with great 
 propriety be called f be father of the Britijl) navy, protedled his fhores from 
 frefh invafions ; and he alfo kept his Danifli allies of the eaftern parts 
 of England more quiet, than their own inclinations led them to be. 
 
 871-900 — At the acceflion of Alfred, England, owing to the long- 
 continued ravages of the Danes, had fallen into a flate of degeneracy, 
 rather below barbarifm. Scarcely a nobleman could read, and there 
 was not, by Alfred's own account, one perfon on the fouth fide of the 
 Thames capable of tranflating a common prayer from Latin into Eng- 
 lifli. Alfred himfelf, though he was fent to Rome (which was, next to 
 Conftantinople, the feat of what little learning remained in the Chrif- 
 tian world) when he was five years of age, returned to England without 
 learning to read, and continued ignorant till his twelfth year. His 
 great proficiency in learning and fcience, though he had the advantage 
 of not being heir apparent to the crown till his eighteenth year, is 
 truely wonderful, considering the grofs darknefs of the age, and the tur- 
 bulent fi:ate of the country His literary works alone, which are ftili 
 extant, are fufficient, independent of all his other excellencies, to im- 
 mortalize the name of their author. 
 
 When the treaty of partition with Godrun gave the miferable coun- 
 try fome refpite from the horrors and devaftations of war, Alfred, ever 
 intent upon augmenting the knowlege and the happinefs of his people, 
 applied to thofe very countries, which had formerly been enlightened 
 by the learning of England, for teachers to reclaim his fubjefts from 
 ignorance ; fo that by his paternal care the youth were at leafl taught 
 to read. It has been a matter of fierce contefl:, whether the imiverfity 
 of Oxford is of higher antiquity, or owes its foundation to Alfred. He 
 kept up a frequent correfpondence with the pope, and alfo with Abel 
 the patriarch of Jerufalem, who fent him feveral valuable prefents of 
 (Jriental commodities. 
 
 Alfred was the firfi; native of Britain, that we know of, who made 
 any attempt to extend the fcience of geography beyond the bounds of 
 
 ' ncr as Is done in the prefent time ; their heads fail to be trimmed by its clues (or lower corners) 
 
 « and (lerns arc very ercA,'and rift high out of the fo as to go with the wind on the beam, if not even 
 
 ' water, ornamented at top with fome uncouth nearer, thoiigli the yard has no braces. The malt: 
 
 ' head of an animal, rudely cut ; they have but one has two flirouds leading to ihe gunnels, one fore 
 
 « niaft, the top of which is alfo decorated with a flay to the head, and two back ilays to the ttcrn. 
 
 ' bird, the head of a bird, or fome fuch device ; If I were not aware, that the iigurcs of men are 
 
 ' to this mad is made fail a large fail, which from generally made much too large, in proportion to 
 
 * its nature and conftruftion could only be ufeful, other objects, by the artills of the dark ages, thefc 
 ' when the vefTel went before the wind : the fliip boats might be faid to be not above ten or twelve 
 
 * was (leered by a large oar with a flat end very teet long. The bird on tlic mad-head turned on 
 
 • broad, paffing by the fide cf the ilcrn ; and this a fpindle to (how the wind, as appears from the 
 
 ♦ was managed by the pilot, who fat in the (Icrn, defeription of Cnut's fleet in tlie Encomium of 
 ' and thence ifTucd his orders to the mariners.' Emma, \_ap. Dit Chefne,p. 166] which exhibits the 
 
 The above are the wonia of Mr. Strult. \_Chron- appearance of warlike (hips, but in language ra- 
 icle of England, y. \, p. ^Ti'] ."^ From his engraved thcr too pompous. 
 copy of the drawings, I fee nothing to hinder tlic
 
 A. D. 871-900. 263 
 
 Ptolemy's knowlege ; and he obtained from Ohther and Wulfftan fuch 
 information of the Baltic fea with the adjacent countries, and of the ex- 
 treme northern regions of Europe, as far exceeded that ofprofefTed geo- 
 graphers, either before or after his time *, till the route of Ohther was 
 retraced in the year 1553 by the Englifh navigator Chancellor, who 
 was fuppofed the original difcoverer of the northern pafTage to Ruflia. 
 The royal author has himfelf preferved the account of the voyages per- 
 formed by thofe navigators. Ohther, a Norwegian, coafled along the 
 country of the Fins, now called Lapland, palled the North cape, and pe- 
 netrated into the great bay (Quen fe, or White fea) where Archangel 
 now iiands. From his relation we learn, that in that age the northern 
 people were accuftomed to catch whales and feals, of the fkins of which 
 they made ropes of all fizes, and alfo horfe-whales, the teeth of which 
 were valuable as well as their fkins, which were likeways ufed for mak- 
 ing ropes. Whales of forty-eight and fifty elns (72 and 75 feet) were 
 fo numerous on the coafl; of Norway, that Ohther with the help of five 
 men could kill fixty of them in two days. Ohther alfo made a voyage 
 up the Baltic. And Wulfftan likeways navigated the Baltic as far as 
 the country now called Pruflia. He remarked, that the people of that 
 country brewed no ale, becaufe they had fuch plenty of honey (noted 
 many centuries before by Pytheas) that mead was the common drink 
 of the meanell of the people, wliile the rich drank mare's milk, or per 
 haps rather a fpiritous liquor prepared from it. 
 
 Perhaps the letters f of the patriarch of Jerufalem and his'prefents 
 may have fuggefted to Alfred the defign of fending reHef to the Chrif- 
 tians of St. Thomas in India, and attempting to ellablifh a commercial 
 intercourfe with that country. We are told by William of Malmf- 
 bury, that Sighelm bilhop of Shireburn was fent by the king with m.any 
 gifts to St. Thomas, that he accomplifhed his expedition profperoufly, 
 and, which was thought very wonderful, penetrated even to India, 
 from which he brought aromatic liquors, or oils, and fplendid jewels, 
 fome of which were ftill remaining in the treafury of the church, when 
 he wrote J. \GeJl. reg. Atiglf. ^\ ^-y Geji. pontif.f. i^\ 2..'] This import^ 
 
 * Scbaflian Munfter [^Giographia -vetus et nova, Diccto, the only other relaters of it, are ftill more 
 Rafilidc 1540] makes Norway, Greenland, and barren of circumftances. It is much to be regret- 
 Newfoundland (or the land of cods), all one con- ted, that the king himfelf has not left us any ac- 
 tinent. Such was the retrograde progrefs of geo- count of Sigheim's travels by land and water, 
 graphical knowlege in Eutope, even in the lix- which, if he really reached India, were nnich more 
 teenth century. worthy of being recorded than the voyages of Oh- 
 
 f It is a pity that AITer, who faw thofe letters, ther and Wulfltan, which he has related with a de- 
 has not favoured us with any extrafts from them, gree of minuttncfs. The filence of Alfred, of 
 They were probably much more interefling than Afler his contemporar)- biographer, and of moil of 
 the bulk of the unmeaning or incomprehenfible rub- t!ie other hiftorian?, has induced a fufpicion, that 
 bifh of letters of thofe ages, which have been tranf- the whole is fabulous. But the early writers, who 
 mitted to us. have Recorded it, had neither motive nor capacity 
 
 X Such is the meagre account we have of fo f:.>r Inventing fuch a ftory, though it may perhaps 
 
 important an event as an Englidi expedition to not be lliidly true in its fullell extent. Sighelm 
 
 Lndia : and the Saxon chronicle, and Radulf de went from England to Rome in the year 8S3, and 
 
 probably
 
 264 A. D. 871-900. 
 
 ation probably furniihed the prefent made by Alfred to Afler his bio- 
 grapher, which confifted of a very pretious robe of filk, and as much 
 incenfe as a flrong man was able to carry. [^Jerii Vita jEIfredi, p. 50, 
 e4. 1722.] 
 
 All foreigners, who excelled in any ufeful branch of knowlege or in 
 manual trades, were fure of a welcome reception and liberal encourage- 
 ment from Alfred. By their help he rebuilt the towns, which were 
 generally in a ruinous condition ; and he took that opportunity to in- 
 ti'oduce a fafer and more elegant flile of building by fubflituting Hone 
 or brick for timber, which hitherto had been almofl the only material 
 ufed in building. 
 
 Although glafs for windows was introduced in Northumberland fo 
 long ago as the year 628, and amanufa6iory of glafs was even eftablifh- 
 ed in that kingdom by the care of Benedid Bifcop in 674, as already 
 obferved, the ufe of that noble convenience had either not extended in- 
 to the fouth parts of England, or was now loft in the convullions of the 
 Daniih invafions. So it was, that the churches in King Alfred's domi- 
 nions were deftitute of glafs windows ; and the wax candles, which he 
 burnt day and night for meafuring the time, were expofed to the wind, 
 which made them burn irregularly. He therefor invented lanterns, 
 which he furniflied with plates of horn fcraped fo thin as to be pellu- 
 cid, glafs being apparently inaccellible, though it could not be unknown 
 to him *. 
 
 For the more fpeedy and equal diftribution of juftice, Alfred divided 
 the whole of his kingdom into diftrids called hundreds, and each of 
 thefe into ten tithings. He is alio fuppofed the author of the divifion 
 into fhires or counties ; but thefe appear to have been as antient in his 
 hereditary kingdom of Weflex as King Ine, if we may depend on the 
 genuinenefs of the laws of that monarch f. Alfred may perhaps have 
 extended that kind of divifion to the other parts of England fubjed: to 
 him. He ordered a general furvey of his kingdom, the particulars of 
 which were recorded with the greateft accuracy in the book of Win- 
 chefter, which appears to have furnifhed the model of the celebrated 
 Domefday book of William the Conqueror. He revifed the laws of 
 the Anglo-Saxons, and feleding the beft of them, and thofe of other 
 
 probably got a pafTage from feme of tlie Italian the nature of glafs, for he compares horn to it for 
 
 ports to Altxaiidria or Pliccnicia. It is not im- lianfpavcncy. 
 
 pofliblt (tiiough very diificuk for a Chrillian) that Lanterns are fuppofed to be alluded to by 
 
 lit may have made his way to the fouth coall of Plautus, who niintions carrying fire in a horn. 
 
 Arabia, or to Baffora, and have pioccedcd even But their being known in antient Rome does not 
 
 to India. But if he purthafed Oriental commodi- hinder them from being alfo a new invention of 
 
 tics in Alexandria, Arabia, or Ballora, any of AJfted's. 
 
 thefe placet would be confounded with India by f In the 3gth law of King Inc we find • feirc' 
 
 his countrymen, who were ignorant of the geo- as a divilion of the kingdom, and in the 36" it is 
 
 giapliy ol tountrics much nearer to them. mtntiojicd as the dillricl or province of an ' ealdor- 
 
 • His bio^r»phcr Aifcr wa» atqunintcd with man,' apparently the fame kind of officer, \\lic i» 
 
 , culled fcirman (or fhirrcf) in the 8'".
 
 A. D. 871-900. 
 
 265 
 
 nations, he compofed a code for the regulation of his fubjeds. He is 
 believed by feme to be the firll, who eftablidied in England the trial 
 by a jury of twelve men of fair charader, and of rank as nearly as pof- 
 fible equal with that of the party, whofe life or property was the iub- 
 jeft of the trial ; while others, apparently with good reafon, carry the 
 ufe of that mode of trial in England to the earlieft ages of the govern- 
 ment of the Angles, Saxons, &c. and fuppofe, it was brought over with 
 them from Germany *. 
 
 If England had but little commerce in the reign of Alfred, and 
 the polTeffion of jewels, fillcen robes, and incenfe, proves that there 
 was at leaft fome, his improvements of {hipping, reftoration of de- 
 cayed towns, encouragement of arts and fcience, and unremitting at- 
 tention to the diftribution of juftice, at leaft paved the way to the ex- 
 tenfion of commerce X- 
 
 It may be prefumed, that Alfred was the richefi; man in England ; 
 yet fo high was the value of money, that he left only five hundred 
 pounds of fdver, together with lands, to each of his two fons, and one 
 hundred pounds, with fome lands, to each of his three daughters; and, 
 from his will, which is fortunately extant, his whole flock of ready mo- 
 ney cannot be fuppofed to have exceeded three thoufand pounds, equal 
 in weight to about nine thoufand pounds of modern money. But Al- 
 fred was a good flaepherd, more intent upon feeding, than upon fleec- 
 ing, his flock. He is almoft the only charader in hiftory, whom no 
 writer has charged with any crime or weaknefs : and the whole bright 
 aflemblage of his virtues and talents prefents a pleafing and fplendid 
 pidure of a heaven-born genius riling out of the darknefs of one of the 
 darkell ages, and diflinguiflies this truely great prince from the crowd 
 
 * The trial by jury, and even by a jury of 
 twelve, fcenis to be as antient as the days of Gre- 
 lian fable, which reports, that Mars, the god of 
 war, was tried for murder by a jury of twelve gods. 
 For examples of the general ufe of trial by jury in 
 the middle ages fee Speiman^s Glojfury, 110. jfurnta. 
 
 \ Late writers have gone fo far as to fay, that 
 England had a moft wonderfully-extenfivc trade 
 m the reign of Alfred. They affert that he fent 
 (hips, or even fleets, to India. — Were they aware, 
 that thofe fhips or fleets mufi have doubled the 
 Cape of Goud Hope I TJiey add, that he built 
 nthcr fliips for trade as well as for war, and lent 
 :hem, together with competent fums of money, 
 lo merchants, who, thus royally fupported, traded 
 to Alexandria, and even to India ! following, no 
 doubt, the tratl of the king's fleet. They alfo 
 tell us, that the voyages of Ohther and Wulfftan, 
 were undertaken at Alfred's defire, with a view to 
 the extenfion of commerce. Bat Alfred himfelf, 
 a far better authority, tells uj they were perform- 
 
 Vol.!. 
 
 ed before thofe navigators came to his court : and 
 liis inquiries evidently proceeded from the thivft of 
 knowlege natural to a man of learning and fci- 
 ence. — The thirtieth of Alfred's laws fhows, that 
 merchant Ihips fometimes arrived in England ; but 
 the regulation refpctts the pafTengcrs and not the 
 cargo. — The only notice I can find of any ex- 
 portation in the time of Alfred, if it may be call- 
 ed exportation, is a prefcnt of the famous Britifti 
 dogs to Folk, archbirtiop of Rlieims in France. 
 Upon the whole it mull be acknowleged, that a 
 fenfe of the importance of comracrce, of which no 
 Chriilian nation out of Italy liad then any idea, 
 does riot appear to have formed any part of the 
 great and fcliacquircd knowlege of Alfred, whofe 
 illuftrious character ftands in no need of any fidi- 
 tious embellilhments. 
 
 What I have faid of Alfred is extrafted from 
 his own works, and that of his contemporary bio- 
 grapher Afler, with fome ailllliiuce from tbe earli- 
 eft of the fut-cecding writers. 
 
 LI
 
 266 A. D. 871-900. 
 
 of kings, whofe names are of no ufe in hiftory, but to mark the revolu- 
 tion of dark or languinary years. 
 
 912 — Hrolf, or RoUo, after long infefting the coafts of France and the 
 adjacent countries with piratical invalions, now by a treaty with Charles 
 the Simple, king of France, eilablifned himfelf and his followers in the 
 province of Neullria, which from them has obtained the name of Nor- 
 mandy ; and he became the father of a race of dukes of Normandy, 
 whofe ducal title in the fifth generation was adorned with the fuperior 
 fplendour of that of king of England. 
 
 900-925 — King Edward gradually recovered the dominion of the 
 country, which had been ceded to Godrun. He clofely followed the 
 example of his father Alfred in his attention to his fleet, and in reftor- 
 ing and fortifying the ruined towns, particularly in Cheihire, the Peak- 
 land of Derby, and Nottingham-fliire, which bordered on the Northum- 
 brian kingdom, then pofTeiTed by the Danes ; and he even feized and 
 fortified Manigeceafter (fuppofed Manchefter) within the limits of that 
 kingdom. 
 
 About 930 — King Athelftan enaded, that the money fhould be the 
 fame through all his dominions, and that no money fhould be coined but 
 in towns, of which the following lifl: (hows which were then the places of 
 chief importance in the kingdom, and alfo lets us know, that the clergy 
 of the fuperior ranks fhared with the king in the prerogative of coin- 
 ing. 
 
 Cantwarabyrig {Canterbury), to have feven coiners, viz. four for the 
 
 king, two for the archbifhop, and one for the abbat, 
 Hrofeceaftre {Rochefter'),i\\xt.^; two for the king, and one for the bifhop. 
 Lundenbyrig [London')^ eight coiners. 
 "Winteceaftre {JVincheJler), fix. 
 Lewes, two. 
 
 Haeftingaceaftre {Ha/lines'), one. 
 Cyfleceallre {Chlchcjler), one. 
 Hamtun {^Southampton'), two. 
 Werham {Wareham), two. 
 Eaxanceaftre {Exeter), two. 
 Sceaftfbyrig {Shaftjhury), two. 
 Other burghs, not named, one each. 
 
 It follows of courfe, that there were artificers at every one of the 
 above towns capable of working in filver, and engraving the dies ufed 
 in coining. 
 
 Even in the more remote kingdom of Scotland, we find at this time 
 a cafe for containing the gofpel at St. Andrews, which was covered with 
 filver, nioft probably by a native artificer, and had two Latin verfes in-
 
 A. D. 930. 267 
 
 fcribed upon it by a Scottifli engraver. \Wyntoivn*i Cronykil. V. i, p. 
 
 About this time many fhips from the adjacent parts of Norway, and 
 «lfo from Denmark and Saxony, frequented Tunfberg, a port of Nor- 
 way, at the head of the bay oppofiteto Yutland. Biorn, viceroy of this 
 part of Norway under his father Harold, declining his ufual occupation 
 of piracy, employed his fhips in trading voyages. \_Stwrro, Hijl. Har. 
 
 938 — Athelflan having taken advantage of the death of his brother- 
 in-law Sitrik, the Danifh king of Northumberland, to feize upon his 
 dominions, Aulaf *, the fon of Sitrik by his firft marriage, in order to 
 recover his heritage, procured a very general confederacy of the neigh- 
 bouring kings, among whom was Conftantine king of Scotland, the 
 Britiih king of Cumberland, and the Danifh and Norwegian kings of 
 Ireland and the Ifles. The allies entered the Humber with a fleet, faid 
 to confift of no lefs than fix hundred and fifteen fliips f, and proceeded 
 to Brunanburh, (probably Burn in Lincoln-fhire) where they were met 
 by Athelftan ; and there enfued one of the mofl obftinate, and mod 
 celebrated, battles recorded in antient Englifli hiftory, which began in the 
 morning, and continued till the evening, when Athelflan remained 
 mafter of the field. Five kings, and leven great officers, were flain on 
 the fide of the allies ; and Aulaf and Conftantine efcaped to their fhips. 
 Athelflan does not feem to have had any fleet to oppofe to that of his 
 enemies, which appears to have retired unbroken ; and we afterwards 
 find Aulaf and his nephew Regnald joint kings of Northumberland. 
 
 The fame of this great battle is faid to have fpread all-over Europe, 
 the feveral kings of which courted the alliance and friendfhip of Athel- 
 flan, by embalfies and prefents. The king of Norway fent on this oc- 
 cafion a magnificent fhip, with gilded beaks, or roftra, and a purple fail, 
 her fides being guarded all round with gilded fhields %. The German 
 emperor fent aromatics, fuch as had never been feen in England, gems, 
 running horfes, a vefFel of oynx with figures carved upon it with won- 
 derful art, the fword of Conftantine, the lance of Charlemagne, a crowTi 
 made of gold and pretious ftones, fome fuperftitious reliques, &c. 
 
 Athelftan, who appears to have had a higher idea of the importance 
 of commerce, than could be expedled in an age wherein only the cleri- 
 
 • So he appears to have been called on his own Harold Harfagur. He fays, the rofli a of the 
 
 coins. I believe his name oiiglit rather to be fhip were of gold ; but that muft be taken with 
 
 Olaf, as the northern writers i'pell it. In thofe allowance. To be able to gild upon metal, ( foi- 
 
 ages uniformity of fpelling was not at all attended we cannot fuppofe the rollra to have confided of 
 
 so. maflt's of folid gold) fo as to refift the corrolion 
 
 f Some authors make the number of Ihips of the fait water, may be confidcred a£ a mark of 
 
 much greater. very great progrefs made in that art, efpecially if 
 
 I William of Malmfbury [_GtJl. reg. jingl. f. we attend to the remotenefs of Norway fiom thofe 
 
 aS a] calls the king of Norway Harold ; but the countries which were then cileemed the iroft civtI- 
 
 chronology anfwers better to one of the fons of i/.cd. 
 
 LI 2
 
 268 A. D. 938. 
 
 cal and military profeflions were thought honourable in Europe, allured 
 his fubjeds to engage in it by a law, which conferred the rank of a 
 thane on every merchant, who made three voyages over the fea with a 
 veflel and cargo of his own. The premium, thus held out to commer- 
 cial enterprife, was very judicioufly chofen, as, by rendering it the path 
 to rank as well as to wealth, it operated upon the two mod powerful 
 paffions of the human breafl. It proves, however, that there murt have 
 been but very few merchants in the kingdom, who were capable of 
 thus raifing themfelves to the order of nobility. 
 
 c)4.y — India, from Caflimere to Cape Comori.;, was now pretty well 
 known by the Arabs, and is deicribed by Maffoudi, with its divifion into 
 feveral potent kingdoms, as follows. The kingdom of Sind, adjacent to 
 the River Sind, or Indus. Canodge, or Bourouh, near the Ganges. 
 Calhmere, a country full of towns and villages, and entirely furround- 
 ed by a ftupendous wall of impafliible mountains, the only entry of 
 which is clofed by a gate *. The dominions of the great Balhara, ( a 
 permanent title like Pharaoh or Auguftusf) or the king of kings, 
 whofe capital is called Mankir, or the great Houfa. The Arabians were 
 much favoured by the Balhara, (doubtlefs for the advantage of their 
 commerce) and were permitted to build mofques for the performance 
 of their religious worlhip. Moultan, between Canodge and the Ara- 
 bian or Saracen dominions in Perlia. Manfura, alfo near the Indus. 
 To the fouthward of all thefe is the kingdom of Zanedge, or Zindge,. 
 governed by the Mehrage, or great raja ; and beyond it the kingdom 
 ofComar (or Comorin). 
 
 This delcription gives reafon to believe, that the commerce from 
 the Weft ftill continued to be chiefly upon the weftern fide of India ; 
 and it is valuable, as giving a view of the progrefs of geography, a 
 fcience fo infeparably conneded with commerce. 
 
 From India, our author proceeds to China. Canton had now recover- 
 ed from the calamities, which, he obferves, it had fuffered vmder Bai- 
 chu, and it was again reforted to by many Arabian merchants from 
 Baflbra, Siraf, and Oman, and alfo by veflels from India, the iflands of 
 Zanedge, Senef, and other places. He fays, that traders went to China 
 not only by fea, but alio by land, through Korafan, Thibet, and Ileftan, 
 which laft is a country mentioned perhaps by no other author, and fup^ 
 poled to be inhabited by a colony from Perfia. 
 
 He next gives an account of Africa, which, though brief, is in fome 
 
 * Tlil'J finguhir country, the paradifc of India, p. \ci, and the map. .See alfo tlie map of the 
 
 IS not fo compli-tcly locked up as Matl'oudi was tliijd fiitlon tonxdtcd, wliicti exhibits levcn lo.ida 
 
 iiiadc to believe ; for in 1783, Mr. Fordcr enter- thioii^h tlic mountainous boundary of Caflimcte. 
 c<l Callinierc at the upper part of it, .nnd following + 'I'he name and fupremacy of the Balhara were 
 
 llie courfe of a navigable river, the txiftencc of noticed by Solinian, ihc Arabian merchant, about 
 
 which Maffoudi was not appn'/ed of, went out at a century before Maflbudi. 
 til* lower part of it. Sec Major Rcr.ucll's Memoir,
 
 A. D. 947. 269 
 
 refpec^s beyond our prefent knowlege of it. The Arabian merchants 
 from Oman and Siraf traded to Sofala, which produced abundance of 
 gold, and to an ifland called Phanbalou, or Caniclou (perhaps Madagaf- 
 car), where they had even eflablifhed colonies. \_Ma[pnidi's Meadows 
 of ^f; old and mines of pretiousjlones, in Notices des manufcripts du roi, V. i, pp. 
 
 Ebn Haukal, an Arabian traveler of the fame age *, compofed a geo- 
 graphical account of all the countries occupied by the Mohamedans. In 
 his time, as in the preceding century, Siraf was the chief port of Ferfia, 
 and abounded with the commodities of the Eaft, which were diftributed 
 to all quarters of the world by the merchants of the place, many of 
 whom pofTefled fortunes of four millions of dinars, and fome ftill more f . 
 Hormuz was the emporium of Kerman (or Carmaiiiii) : the people of 
 that country cultivat^ fugar, and were noted for induftry and probity. 
 In Daibul, the port of Sind, there were merchants who traded in all 
 places. The countries adjacent to the Cafpian fea produced great quan- 
 tities of filk, whereof that of Meru in Khoraflm was moft ffteemed^ 
 the eggs of the filk-worms being carried thence to other places. In 
 thofe countries there were great raanufadures of filk, wool, hair, and 
 gold ftuffs. The Armenians excelled in hangings and carpets, and they 
 poflefled the beautiful colour called kermez, which the author underftood 
 to be a worm or infcft. The paper made at Samarcand was the beft in 
 the world. Khozr (a country on the north-weft coaft of the Cafpian 
 fea) contained two nations, the one of a dark colour and refembling 
 the Hindoos, and the other white people, who made a pradice of felling 
 their children. There were many veflels trading between the feverai 
 ports of the Cafpian fea, or fea of Khozr. Trabzoun (or Trebifond on 
 the Black fea) was much frequented by merchants. In Antakiah (An- 
 tioch), and many other cities of Afia, the water, an objecl: of the firil 
 atcention to an Arabian obferver, was made to flow through the flreets, 
 and into the chief buildings. Efkanderia (Alexandria in Egypt), though 
 frequently mentioned, is not noticed as a place of trade : three hundred 
 houles, built of marble, contained all the inhabitants. In Bajeh, a. 
 country adjacent to Upper Egypt, there were the richeft gold nunes in 
 the world ; and thence Egypt was furnifhed with flaves. A community 
 of white people fettled in Zingbar (or Ethiopia) imported articles of 
 food and clothing into that country. The author notes the great ex- 
 tent of the laud of the Blacks, bordering on the Ocean (apparently the 
 Gulf of Guinea) on the fouth, and bounded by deferts on the north, 
 
 ♦ Sir Wiiliam Oufcley, in his preface, mak.es f He elfewhere Hates thtir furtur.cs at fiity 
 
 it app;irent, that Ebn Haukal lived l)ctvveen A. 1). mil. ions of direms. I am not acquainted wiijj ths 
 
 go2 and 968; ;iuJ that Edrifil, Ebn Kordadbali, anticnt val.ie cf thofe monies of accoiUit, 
 and other witer-j of higli ceputaxio.'i, wai copi'jrs 
 from hirr. » j
 
 ayo A. D. 947. 
 
 which fituation obliged all that was brought to them to come in on the 
 weft fide of their country *. Their fkins were obferved to be of a finer 
 and deeper black than thofe of the Habefhis (Abyfllnians) or Zingians 
 (Ethiopians). In Andalus (Spain) there were feveral mines of gold 
 and filver. [Oriental geography of Ebn Haiikal, tranjlated by Sir William 
 Oufelcy.\ 
 
 950 — In the book of Tadics, written by the emperor Leo, and tran- 
 fcribed by his fon Conftantine Porphyrogenitus, the gallies of the im- 
 perial navy are directed to be of due length, and to carry two tires of 
 oars, one above and another below. On this reduced fcale, we fliall find 
 the antient conftrudion of the gallies retained in the Mediterranean, at 
 leaft to the end of the twelfth century. 
 
 Among the laws of Conftantine, entitled the Bafilics, there is an ab- 
 folute prohibition of taking intereft for the ufe of money ; a fufficient 
 proof, that the value of money, and the principles of commerce, were 
 as utterly unknown in the Greek empire, as they were in the weftern 
 parts of Europe, where a canon of fimilar import, pafled in the reign of 
 Charlemagne, was fo managed by the priefts, that they made themfelves 
 the arbiters of every bargain between man and man. 
 
 960 — About this time, or perhaps fomewhat earlier, the woollen raa- 
 nufaclure of Flanders commenced, which continued flouriftiing and in- 
 ereafing for feveral centuries, during which the chief part of the cloth- 
 ing trade of Europe was in the hands of the Flemings. At firft the fales 
 were moftly to the French, whofe fertile and comparatively well-cultiv- 
 ated foil, enabled them to purchafe fine woollen cloths from their in- 
 duftrious Flemilh neighbours. On account of the fcarcity of money 
 the trade was carried on moftly by barter, to facilitate which Baldwin, 
 earl of Flanders, who feems to have exceeded moft of the fovereigns of 
 his age in difcerning the real intereft of himfelf and his fubjeds, fet up 
 weekly markets, and eftabliflied regular fairs at Bruges, Ccurtray, Tor- 
 hout, and Mont-Cafel, at all which he exempted the goods fold, or ex- 
 changed, from paying any duties on being brought in or carried out. 
 \_Meyeri Ann. Flandr.J. i8 b — De Witt's Interejl of Hullana-\, p. 47. EngL 
 tranjl.'\ 
 
 * The trade with the Negroes was mod pro- biifiiiefs of weaving is familiar, and, as It were, pe- 
 
 bahly entirely managed by the Moorifli caravans, culiar to the Flemings : and Ralph de Diccto 
 
 iinlcis the fcamen of Moroceo ventured to double {coL 528] marks ihem as a manufacluring nation, 
 
 the ftormy capes, whieli in alter ages io long con- — The hi^;h value of wool in England (which will 
 
 tinued bugbears to tlie Portugutfe navigators. be noted under the year 1066) feems to infer that 
 
 ■\ It m\i(l be acknowlegcd, that the authority it was exported ; and Flanders was apparently the 
 
 of De Witt, though very rcfpectable, is much too only country that could have a demand for it, and, 
 
 modern for an event of the tenth eentury. But being adjacent to the River Rhine, was apparently 
 
 it is corroborated by that of Giraldus Cambrenfis, the country which lent filver by that river to pur- 
 
 \_llm. Camhiix, L- ii, c. 2] who alcribes :;reat (lull chafe ' the moll prctious wool,' and other articles 
 
 in the woolln maiuifafture to a colony of Flemings, of Englilh produce, as we are told by Henry of 
 
 who fettled in England in the enfuing centurj-. — Huntingdon, in the beginning of his hillory. — 
 
 Gervafc of Canterbury [co/. J 349] fays, that the The epithet of the weaver, twice given to Flan. 
 
 den
 
 A. D. 963. 271 
 
 563 Among many other donations and privileges granted by King 
 
 Edgar to the abbay of Medefliamftede (afterwards called Peterburgh) 
 there was the right of having a mint at Stanford with one coiner. [^Chr. 
 Sax. ad. an.\ None of the towns, named as coining places in Athelftan's 
 law, were near fo far north as this one. 
 
 964 — According to a pompous charter, afcribed to Edgar, ' the great- 
 ' eft part of Ireland, with its moft noble city Dublin,' was fubjed to 
 him. But the Irifh conquefts, achieved for Edgar by the monks, are 
 unknown to the fober hiflorians of England, as well as to thofe of Ire- 
 land. The later relate, that for fome years before this time Dublin 
 was taken and retaken almoft every year by the native Irifh and Oft- 
 men ; and that their perpetual wars with the Oftmen, and among them- 
 felves, had reduced the Irifli, a people deftitute of commerce, to fuch a 
 tremendous excefs of mifery, that ' the father fold his fon and daughter 
 • for meat.' \Spelmaii,Concil. p. 432. — Warcei Ant'tq. Hihern. p. iii. — An. 
 Uit. ad. an. 964.] 
 
 968 The emperor Otto firft opened the filver mines in the Hercy- 
 
 nian mountains, which have greatly enriched Germany ; and he built 
 the town of Goflar near them, whence they are now called the mines 
 of Goflar, [Spencr HiJi.Germ. pragmat. V. i, p. 35 1 — Cluverii Hijl. miin- 
 di, p. 450.] Some think the filver mines of Chemnitz in Hungary more 
 antient than thofe of Goflar. 
 
 969 — According to the contemporary teftimony of Liutprand, bifliop 
 of Cremona, and ambalfador from the Weilern to the Eaftern Roman 
 empire, the trade andnavigationof Amalfiat this time emulated thofe of 
 Venice. The Amalfians, though poflefling a very narrow trait of country, 
 acquired wealth, and fupportcd liberty, by their foreign commerce, 
 which extended to the oppoiite coaft of Africa, to Conftantinople, and 
 to fome of the ports in the eafl: end of the Mediterranean : and they, 
 together with t^ie Venetians fupplied Italy and other parts of Europe, 
 with the pretious produce and rich manufaduresof the Eafl:. [Muraiori, 
 Script. V. \\,p. 487 ; Ant'tq. V. ii, p. 884.] 
 
 970 — But the commerce of the Saracens in the Mediterranean was 
 much more extenfive than that of the Chriftians ; and they were alfo 
 fuperior to them in naval power, and particularly in the fize of their 
 veffels. Abdirraman, the Saracen fultan, or calif, of the greateil part 
 of Spain, built a vefTel larger than had ever been feen before, and load- 
 ed her with innumerable articles of merchandize, to be fold in the eaft- 
 ern regions. On her way fhe met with a fhip carrying difpatches from 
 
 ders in GcftVey Vinifauf's pot-m, [i?ii:^arfl'/'_5'/f, o^. though a later writer, as he introduces a perfon 
 
 Gale, p. 433] might refer equally to woollen, addreffing himfclf to England, [/. 396] and fay- 
 
 or any other, goods made in t.!i^- loom. — All thefe ing of former times, ' Flanders, thy weaver made 
 
 authors flouriihed about the vear 1 200. And to ' pretious clothing for tiicc from thy ov.'n raate- 
 
 them may be added MatLcw of Weftminfter, ' rials.'
 
 272 A. D. 970. 
 
 the amir of Sicily to Almoez, a fovereign on the African coaft, and pil- 
 laged her. Almoez, who was alfo fovereign of Sicily, which he govern- 
 ed by an amir, or viceroy, fitted out a fleet, which took the great Span- 
 iih fliip returning from Alexandria, loaded with rich wares for Abdir- 
 raman's own ufe, and particularly beautiful flaves, among whom were 
 fome women very fkilful in mufic. \_Hi/i. Saracen, ap. Muratori Script. 
 V. i, part ii, p. 252.] We fliall afterwards meet with feveral other great 
 fhips built by the Saracens in various places. It was probably in imi- 
 tation of thofe built in Spain, that the Chrixlian Spaniards introduced 
 the ufe of large fhips, for which tbey were diflinguifhed at leaft down 
 to the age of Philip II, whofe invincible armada confided of fhips much 
 larger than the Englifh veflt;Is oppofed to them. 
 
 The moft illuftrious charader of the tenth century was undoubtedly 
 Gerbert, a native of France, and a monk of Fleury. Born in an age, 
 which is juftly reprobated by hiftorians as overwhelmed with the deep- 
 efi: fliade of that mental darknefs, wherein Europe was buried for lb 
 many centuries, this heaven-born philofopher furmounted the prejudices 
 of education, and, in defiance of ecclefiaftical cenfures, withdrew from 
 teachers who could add nothing to his ftock of knowlege, to feek from 
 the profelTors of a different religion the treafures of fcience, for which 
 lie fo ardently thirfted, and which they alone of all the people of Eu- 
 rope then pofi^efl'ed *. At Seville in Spain he learned the language of 
 the Arabs, and foon made himfelf maiier of their fuperior knowlege in 
 aftronomy, geometry, mechanics, and apparently arithmetic. On his 
 return to France in the year 970 he liberally imparted to his country- 
 men the fruits of his ftudies. His mufic, his hydraulic organs, his me- 
 chanic horologe, &c. 1 fay nothing of, as not fo immediately connected 
 with commerce ; but that part of his imported ftock of knowlege, which 
 moft; eminently entitles him to the gratitude of the Europeans in all 
 fucceeding ages, and efpecially of every merchant, was the glorious fci- 
 ence of ARITHMETIC, as now pradifcd by means of the numeral figures, 
 which the Arabs had brought with them from the Eafl. It was thought 
 a moft: wonderful thing by the French, that the fame figure could ex- 
 prefs one, one hundred, one thoufand, 8cc. and the rules of arithmetic, 
 which he publiflied, could fcarcely be comprehended by the mofl: labor- 
 ious fludents, even in the twelfth century f. It is, however, not impro- 
 
 * Sclden quotes (from memory) fome author ly withheld fiom the piibh'c Gcrbcrt's trcatife up- 
 
 of thofe ages, who calls the ftudy of natural phi- on arithmetic, liitnigh he acknovvlcgcs he had it 
 
 lofophy and the arts iJ/wiyid S'arjcff/iiraTO. \_Tules of in his poficlTion, and at the end of the 160''' 
 
 honour, preface.'}^ fpIUle, whicli was prefixed to it, even gives a fpc- 
 
 ■}• ' Abaeumcertc primus a Saraccnis rapicns, re- cimcn of it as follows. 
 
 ♦ gulas dedit, quae a fudantibus abaciflis vix intelli- ' De fimplicc. 
 
 ' guntur.' [_IV. Miilvijb.f. ■i,C>3i.'] Whether that ' Si nuiltiplicavcris fmgularcni niimerum per 
 
 was owing to the want of compi thenlion in the ' fingularcm, dabis unicuique digito fuigularem, ct 
 
 lludcnts, or to the imperfetlion of the rules, it is ini- • omni articulo decern, difcrte ct converCm, &c.'— 
 
 pofiibk for 113 to know, as MaiFon has inyfl ftrangc- and
 
 A. D. 973. 
 
 '^IZ 
 
 bable, that, within five years after Gerbert's return from Spain, fome 
 native of England had learned at leaft as much of the new arithmetic, 
 as to combine the figures 975, which are fuppofed to be infcribcd upon 
 an antient portal of Saxon architedurc at Worcefiier *. 
 
 By the favour of Robert king of France, and Otto emperor of Ger- 
 many, who had both been his pupils, Gerbert was promoted fucceflive- 
 ly to the fees of Rheims, Ravenna, and at lafl: Rome itfelf under the 
 name of Silvefier 11. The ignorant vulgar and the envious pretenders 
 to fcience agreed in afcribing the wonders of his fuperior knowlege to 
 a compadl with the devil ; and a number of extravagant fictions were 
 invented to fupport the flander ; whereupon William of Malmfbury, 
 though not entirely above aflenting to the abfurdity, obferves, that it 
 was common to afperfe the fame of learned men, and to afcribe their 
 pre-eminence to intercourfe with the devil f . Such is too often the un- 
 grateful return made by mankind to their beft benefadors j and fuch 
 
 and fo lie concliidca liis edition of Gerbert's Epiilles. 
 [Vide Prff.etp.ult.-\ 
 
 Do6lor North {^^rchiiologui, V. x] has adduced 
 many arguments to proYC, that the Arabians were 
 not yet niaftera of that kind of numeration by 
 figures, to which we give their name. Without 
 prefuming to determine on either fide of fo difficult 
 a queftion, I may be permitted to obferve, that his 
 poiitive eviderci! reds chiefly upon the authority of 
 Theophanes, ' the father of many a lie,' \_Gibbon, 
 I''. ix,p. 253] and that his other arguments are of* 
 the negative kind. It ia not at all fingular, that 
 the evidences of Gerbert's introduftion of this moft 
 important fcience into Chriftendora are but flight, 
 when we advert to the extraordinary darknefs 
 of the age, in which he flione a folitary ftar : but, 
 ns there is not equal evidence of the introdudlion 
 of it by auy other perfon, and it war introduced 
 by fomebcdy, the balance of evidence is in favour 
 of Gerbert. The benevoleiit inventors of arts or 
 improvements, which add to the happinefs of man- 
 kind, have fcarcely ever received their due praife, 
 though fame has in all ages been lavifhed upon the 
 deftroyers and fcourges of the human lace. When 
 not one of a thoufand could read, and flill fewer 
 concerned themfelves with arithmetic of any kind, 
 we need not wonder that the knowlege of it ftould 
 fpread very flowly : and, indeed, the progrefs of 
 any improvement muft have been very tardy, be- 
 fore the propagation of knowlege was facilitated 
 by the art of printing. I have already obferved, 
 that the introduction of filk-worms in Europe was 
 unknown to Ifidore, bi(hop of Hifpalis in Spain, 
 when manufaftures from their filk had been efta- 
 bliftied a hundred years in Greece. — It mull be ac- 
 knowleged, that Bzovius, in his treatife, entitled 
 ♦ Sil-veflcr II a calumniis iiindlcatus,'' has not a word 
 of arithmetic : but fuch a matter wras of little con- 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 fequence to an author, who fets out with deducing 
 the parentage of his hero from Hercules, and la- 
 bours to vindicate him from the guilt of acquiring 
 fcience from the Saracens of Spain — his chief 
 glory, and probably the caufc of his exaltation. 
 
 * The time when numeral figures were intro- 
 duced in this country has been much difputed by 
 the learned ; and, confequently, the genuinenef* 
 of this date is denied by thofe who do not allow 
 tiiem to be fo antient ; as is alfo that of 1090, 
 fuppofed to be remaining on the fill of a window 
 at Colchefter, and fome others even later. [See 
 Philofophical tranfaBions, V. yi.yi\, p 2Sj, and DoSor 
 North' s EJfay abonie mcntinned.1 But nothing can 
 be concluded on cither fide of the queftion from 
 fuppofed numbers, which require conjefture to read 
 them, and which, if they v/ere perfeclly plain, 
 might be only renovations of more antient fculp- 
 tures. — The introduftiou of our numeral figures 
 is a fubjeft well worthy of inveftigation in a judi- 
 cious treatife. 
 
 •f- William of Malmfbury confounds Gerbert 
 (or Silvefter II) with John XV, between whom 
 and Gerbert there were no fewer than four popes, 
 Sergius, who fucceeded to the papal chair in one 
 year after the death of Gerbert, infcribcd on his 
 monument an epitaph, containing an excellent cha- 
 raiffer of him. The continuator of Airaonius, 
 who wrote in France about the fame time that 
 Malmlbnry wrote in England, calls Gerbert fimply 
 a philofophcr, and fays, that his elevation to the 
 popedom was at the unanimous defire of the whole 
 people of Rome. But neither lie, nor any of the 
 writers of the age immediately after that of Ger- 
 bert, has one word of devils, or any thing fuper- 
 natural. — Marvelous ftories improre prodigioufly 
 by tcmotenefs of time and place. 
 
 M na
 
 274 ^' ^' 972« 
 
 was the method contrived by maUce and ignorance to atteft tiieir invol- 
 untary admiration of this iUuftrious charafter. 
 
 gj2 — Tlie filver mines of Rammelfberg in Germany are foid to have 
 been difcovered at this time. They feem to have been exhauftrd in 
 about forty years. [Rimius's Mefiiui/s of the houfe of Bninfimck, p. 258.] 
 
 973 — The monks in their great zeal to extoll their creature and pa- 
 tron, King Edgar, have turned his hiflory into romance. The fimplc 
 and unimportant facl, that he afTerabled his fleet at Chefter immediate- 
 ly after the ceremony of a coronation, or confecration, at Bath, and 
 that fix kings (mod probably all of Wales *) met him there, and enter- 
 ed into an alliance with him, [CZv. Sax. ad. (77/.] has been diftorted by 
 the grofs impudence of monkilli exaggeration for various purpofes, one 
 of which was to fliow what a prodigious fleet he had; for the different 
 writers reckon it from three to four thoufand iliips : and thence, among 
 other ridiculous pretenfions, it lias been inferred, that this founder and 
 fupporter of forty-eight monafteries, was fovereign ot the fea f . 
 
 0)^5 — It does more real honour to Edgar that he made a law for an 
 tuiiformity of money throughout all his kingdom, and for the general 
 ufe of the Winchefter meafure. \_Edga?'i leges, c. 8.] 
 
 9-78 — At this time the herring fifhery was very plentiful on the coafl 
 of Norway ; and it appears from feveral paffages of Snorro, the Hero- 
 dotus of the North, to have been confidered as an important object of 
 attention. But whether the Norwegians only ufed the herrings for im- 
 mediate home confumption, or falted and exported them, we are not 
 certainly informed, though the later feems very probable. One circum- 
 ftance, well deferving our attention, is, that thS abund;mce of herrings 
 an,d corn is marked as the charaderiftic of a beneficent reign, which 
 proves that the wifefl of their kings were careful to encourage the fifh- 
 eries and agriculture. [^Sjiorro, Hi/t. Olafi 'Tngv. c. 16; Hiji. Olafi Saudi, 
 c. 22.] And this, if I miftake not, is the earliefi: undoubted account of 
 a herring fiOiery. 
 
 * Tbe apparently-real fubmifliDi) of a great trained to tlic proper management of vtflels in 
 
 number, perliaps the wliole, of the WclHi kings to Edgar's reign. [Chron. Hax. iiiJ. ami. ico8, 
 
 Alfred, is recorded by Afler, liimfclf a Welih- IC09.] 
 man. [K;Vrt /ElJ'rvdi, pp. 47,49, cJ. Oxoii. l'22.1 Edgar'sftnpendousflcet is completely outdone by 
 
 f A llrong prefumplion that Edgar's fleet mull the thirty thonfand (liips, and nine million of men, 
 
 have been very incoiiUderablc, is,, that tlic fleet, bronglit by the king of tlie Huns againll Frotlil 
 
 which liis fou Ethelred raifed by a requilition up- hin Fredegod, an antc-hilloi ical king of Denmark, 
 
 on all the lands of the kingdom, and which is ex- who defeated the king of the Huns, and Hew every 
 
 prefsly fald to have been l/jc mofi niimeroui that ever one of his men. The bafikus of the Englith, and 
 
 iiHis fccn in En^laiul, was found infufTicicnt to re- emperor of all the kings of the iflands in the 
 
 pell the northern invaders, or even to guard the Ocean, was alfo fiupafFed in titles by Frothi hin 
 
 entrance of the Tiiamet ; and a great part of it Fredegod, king of Denmark, Sweden, Britain, 
 
 was dalhed to pieces in a llorm, which would not iScolland, Norway, Saxony, Frifia, Ungary, and 
 
 have happened, at leall not to fo great an extent, if all the countries of the Eall as far as Greece, 
 
 it had been built by carpenters acquainted with It is eafy to muller fliips and men, and even vaflal 
 
 their bufincfs, and manned by experienced icamen, kings, upon paper ; and titles coll nothing.
 
 A. D. 993. 275 
 
 993 — The flourifhing commerce of Venice li;\d long ago created its 
 natural attendant and fafeguard, a powerful fleet, the firfl effort of which, 
 recorded in hiftory, was the fuppreflion of the piracies of the Dalmatians 
 in the year 823. [C/jron. yliid. Datiduli, np. Muratori Scriptorcs, V. xii, 
 col. 175.] But as thofe reftlefs corfairs continued to infeft the Venetian 
 trade, the republic now equipped a refpeftable fleet, which took many 
 veflels belonging to the pirates, defl:royed Narenta their chief port, and 
 fubdued the whole province of Dalmatia, to which they foon after add- 
 ed Croatia, another piratical fl:ate. Having now acquired an ample ter- 
 ritory, and the unrivaled fovereignty of the Adriatic gulf, the Venetians 
 conferred upon their chief magiftrate, the doge or duke, the additional 
 titles of duke of Dalmatia and Croatia. They had lately obtained from 
 the Greek emperors a favourable grant of liberties and immunities for 
 their navigators and merchants throughout the whole empire ; and they 
 alio obtained from Otto, the emperor of Germany, a confirmation of fe- 
 veral privileges in his dominions granted to them by his father, and a 
 difcharge from the obligation of delivering a pallium, which had been 
 claimed by his predeceflbrs as fovereigns of Italy (a". 998) *. {Dandidi 
 Chron. coll. 223, 225, 227, 231.] 
 
 The Chriftians of the northern and mountainous parts of Spain, who 
 had preferved themfelves from the yoke of the Saracens, were now re- 
 covering a part of the territory of their anceftors ; and they alfo refum- 
 ed the iron and fteel manufactures, for which their country had been 
 famous before it fell under the dominion of the Romans. About the 
 end of the tenth century they began to carry on fome foreign trade, 
 chiefly from their port of Bilboa f . But they were very far from being 
 comparable to the Saracens of Spain for cultivation, opulence, or civi- 
 lization. 
 
 In the long and difaftrous reign of Ethelred, which is reckoned from 
 the year 978 to 1016, the Englifli were opprefled by a continual re- 
 petition of miferies, greatly exceeding the meafure of their former ca- 
 lamities. The Danifli and Norwegian robbers, now united, and led by 
 Swein king of Denmark and Olaf Trygvafon, who afterwards became 
 king of Norway, fpread the horrors of flaughter, captivity, and defola- 
 tion, over all the country. After wafting the lands, and" utterly extin- 
 guifliing all cultivation and induftry, they compelled the miferable peo- 
 ple to bring in provifions for their fubfiftence ; and they moreover ex- 
 torted, in the name of tribute or the price of peace, but in reality the 
 premium for invafion, the enormous fums of ten thoufand pounds of 
 
 * Hitherto the Venetians had profeffed a flight emperois renounced their claim to the fovereignty 
 
 divided allegiance to both empires, which with re- of Dalmatia and Croatia. 
 
 fpe6t to that of Conftantinople was perhaps never f I have taken this notice of the trade of Bil- 
 
 formally extinguilhed, bnt mull have been cancel- boa from Mr. Anderfon, thongh I have not found 
 
 led when the Venetians became mafters of that em- his authority for it. 
 pire. It was not till the year 1085 that the Greek 
 
 M m 2
 
 276 A. D. 978-1016. 
 
 filver in the year 991, fixteen thoufand pounds in 994, twenty-four' 
 thoufand pounds in 1002, thirty thoufand pounds in 1007, and forty - 
 eight thoufand * pounds in 1012 ; after which the greatefl part of the 
 country funk under the power of the Danes, whofe king Swein died in 
 the year 10 14 in England, of which he had been for fome time the real 
 and abfolute fovereign. 
 
 Hiflorians attempt to account for thefe uninterrupted calamities by 
 laying the blame on wicked, incapable, and treacherous, minifters and 
 generals, to whom the weak king entrufted the conduit of government 
 and the defence of the country. Certain it is that the Enghfli armies 
 appear to have been totally enervated throughout this reign, and that 
 the fleet raifed by a requifition upon all the lands of the kingdom, 
 which was more numerous than that of any preceding king of England, 
 anfwered no purpofe but exhaufring the ftrength and treafure of the 
 country, and encouraging the enemy. 
 
 The city of London was burnt in 982 or 983. Stow \^Annales, p. 114, 
 cd. 1600] copying from Rudburn, an unedited writer of the fifteenth 
 century, fays, that the greatefl; part of the houfes were then on the wefl; 
 fide of Ludgate, and only fome fcattering houfes where the heart of the 
 city now is ; and that Canterbury, York, and fome other citigfs in Eng- 
 land, then furpaflTed London in building. The fea contributed to the 
 diftrefs of the times by an extraordinary inundation in the year 1014, 
 which fwept away feveral towns and a prodigious number of people. 
 To complete the general calamity of England, it was harafl^ed by civil 
 diflienfions, and affhdled by contagious diforders, which deftroyed both 
 man and beaft, the neceflliry confequence of famine and unwholefome 
 food. 
 
 London foon recovered from the conflagration ; and the citizens dif- 
 tinguiflied thcmfelves as the only people in England who made any 
 flrenuous or eftedual oppofition to the enemy. In the year 994, when, 
 Olaf and Swein came up the river with nitiety-four fliips, and attempt- 
 ed to burn the city, they were repulfed with more bravery than they 
 fuppofed any citizens were capable of. This perhaps inclined Okif more 
 readily to accept Ethelred's propofal for buying him off" from the con- 
 federacy : and it is remarked, that he honourably adhered to the terms 
 of the treaty, his piracies being thenceforth exercifed in Northumber- 
 land, Scotland, the Iflands, Ireland, and France. The Danes were fruf- 
 trated in all their attempts upon the city in 1008, and in 1013 they- 
 were again repulfed with their king Swein. It is upon this occafion ihac 
 
 * The Saxon Chronicle has only eight tliou- repeat, their dcftriidivc vilit:; by an cxhaufted 
 
 fand ; but Florence, Simeon, &c. have tiunfciibed cuiiiitry, pofTcfling iu> mines of iilvcr, tliat we kno>r. 
 
 from copies wherein the number Hood 48,000, of, and Icarcely any commerce, may ftajjgcr cre- 
 
 which accords with tlie progrctTivc augmentation dibility, though vmiclicd liy the rcfpcitable aii- 
 
 sf the extorfion. The fiims thus paid to induce thority of the Saxon Chronicle and the oldcil Eng- 
 
 ihc Northern inTadera to defift from, or rather to liili hiflorians.
 
 A. D. 978-1016. 277 
 
 we have the earlieil certahi notice of London bridge ; for we are told, 
 that in coming from WinchelT:er to London many of the Danes were 
 drowned in the Thames, becaufc they negleded the bridge *, 
 
 Amidfl the delolations of this unhappy reign, but mofl probably in 
 the early part of it, fome attention was paid to regulations for internal 
 and coafting trade, both of which were apparently on a fmall fcale for 
 articles of fubfillence ; and England had even fome paflive foreign trade, 
 as appears from the twenty-third chapter of the laws ena<5ted by Ethel- 
 red and his wife men at Vcnetyng or Wanating {IVantnge in Berk-fhire), 
 according to whicii every boat arriving at Bilynggefgate paid for toll 
 or cuftom one halfpenny ; a larger boat with fails, one penny ; a keel 
 or hulk, four pennies ; a veflel with wood, one piece of wood ; a boat 
 with fifh coming to the bridge, one halfpenny, or one penny, according 
 to her fize. The men of Rouen, who brought wine and large fifli -(-, 
 thofe of Flanders, Ponthieu, Normandy, and France, fliowed their goods, 
 and cleared the duties % ; as did alfo thofe of Hegge §, Liege, and Nivell. 
 The emperor's men who came with their Ihips were deemed worthy of 
 good (or favourable) laws ; but they were not to foreftall the market to 
 the prejudice of the citizens, and they were to pay their duties. At 
 Chriftmas thofe German merchants paid two grey cloths and one brown 
 one, ten pounds of pepper, five pair of men's gloves, and two vefTels |[ 
 of vinegar. The fame dues were alfo levied from them at Eafter. 
 [Bromton, col. 897.] 
 
 The merchants, called in this hi^N x\\t emperor'' s men, are fuppofed to 
 have been the predeceffors of thofe who were afterwards called the Mer- 
 chants oj'ihe T'euionic gUdhall. ^^. . . : 
 
 AtJ the- iame time the number; Qf coiners in England was reduced to 
 three for every principal port,- or towr^,' and one for every fmaller one, 
 who fliQuld be anfwerable for their \yprkmen as to the quality and juft 
 weight of the money. The mark.et \yeights were slfo ordered to be uni- 
 form with. that of the moneys viz., (fifteen, c/-^ (a Danifh denomination) 
 to each pound. {Bromton, coL.i<^^\\' 
 
 * A bridge at I.oirdon is mentioned in a Ihw of ' of wllicli i:i remarked to have been fiifficicnt for two 
 
 Ethelred of uncertain date, but fuppofed by Spcl- carnages) Oiaf made fall his (liips at liigli water 
 
 mail \_Concilia, p. J32] to be prior to his treaty to ttit wooden piles of it, and then, rowing them 
 
 with 0!af in 994. Stow [Survey of London, p. 1^%, vigoroitfly dbwir the river with the ebb tide, he 
 
 «/. lOiS!] dates this firft notice of the bridge in <hook down the bridge, and London thereupon 
 
 994, but the SasLon Chronicle exprefsly in I013. fubmitted to EtKehed. [////?. Olqfi Snnai, c. 1 1.] 
 
 WilHani of Malmibury [/. 38 b] feems to have This (Iratagem, I bth'eve, is Act mentioned by any 
 
 confounded the two fieges of London by Swein, of the Englilh hiilorians. ^ 
 
 and thus milled Stow. We may however prcfume, f « Crafpifce.' See the Gloffary to the Scrlp- 
 
 from fundry notices in Domefday book, that bridges tores decern, in vo. Crafpifcis. 
 
 had long been common even in the inland and re- J ' Monftrabant res fuas, el extolneabant.' 
 
 mote parts of England. J So it is printed in Bromton's Chronicle. This 
 
 Snotro Sturlefon relates that Olaf Haraldfon law is not publirtied by Lambard, Wheloc, SpeU- 
 
 aflifted Ethelred to recover London from the Dan- man, or Wilkins. 
 
 ifh king Cnnt, the foiv of Swein. Meeting with || • Duos cabillinos colennos,' the meaning of- 
 
 an obllrurtion from London bridge (the breadth which the glofiarift is unable to explain.
 
 27S A. D. 978-1016. 
 
 A council held by the wife men of England and the counfelors of 
 Wales, for regulating- the intercourfc between the two nations, during 
 this reign as is fuppofed, fcarcely deferves notice in commercial hiftory. 
 By it fix Englifh and fix Welfh law-men (or men fkilled in the law) 
 were appointed to fettle all difputes between individuals of the two na- 
 tions ; and the rates of compenfation for flaves, cattle, &c. were afcer- 
 tained. {Lninbanli Archoiommia, f. 90, ed. 1568.] 
 
 996-1 000 — Olaf Trygvafon, having by his piratical expeditions acquir- 
 ed fome knowlege of the produdions and the wants of various countries, 
 after his acceffion to the crown of Norway endeavoured to encourage 
 commerce in his own country. With this view he founded Nidaros 
 (i. e. Nid's motith), and appointed it to be an emporium for trade, as 
 it ftill remains under the name of Drontheim. {Snorro^ Hiji. Olafi Tryg. 
 c. 77.] 
 
 King Olaf went beyond all his predeceflbrs in his attention to mari- 
 time affairs ; and he built fome fhips of war larger than had ever been 
 feen iti the northern feas. One of thefe, called the Dreki (or Dragon), 
 was feventy-four elns * by the keel ; fhe had thirty-four benches for the 
 rowers ; her fides are faid to have been as lofty as thofe of fhips of bur- 
 then ; and her head and ftern were finely adorned with carving and 
 gilding by an artift, whofe name was Thorberg Skaff hog. 
 
 The battles of the northern nations were moft frequently fought up- 
 on the water. Their warlike fhips, or gallies, were long, narrow, and. 
 low ; and they were adorned with figure heads, the ule of which ap- 
 pears to have come down from the earlieft ages. Befides fwords, bows 
 and arrows, and pikes, they took onboard a quantity of ftones to throw 
 into their enemy's veflels. A parapet, or breafl-work, compofed of 
 fiiields, was fet up around the fides of the fhips f. Like the antient 
 naval combatants of the Mediterranean, they drove the beaks of their 
 gallies by the force of the oars againfl; the fides of the enemy, and the 
 battle was fupported chiefly on the fore part of the deck. It was a great 
 object to have the heads and flerns lofty for the fake of pouring dowTi 
 flones, darts, &c. on the enemy's deck. They generally endeavoured 
 to grapple their enemy, and board him. Sometimes by mutual confent 
 the hoflile fliips were bound to each other, and the men fought hand to 
 hand, till one of the fifips was overpowered. [Snorro, HiJl. Olafi T'ryg. 
 cc. 124-128 ; liyi. Olafi Sa?i8i, c. 47 ; HiJl. Haraldi Hardrad, c. 2. — l'o?fa:i 
 O trades, L. i, cc. 14, 22, 39.J 
 
 That foreign articles of elegant drefs and ornament were not un- 
 
 * The tin of Norway is equal to a foot and a fiircd I 1 1 feet, which is equal to the length of our 
 Ivalf of our moafurc, as 1 was informed by Do6tor larjje modeiri frigates of 32 or 36 guns. 
 Tliorkelln, the learned l:ecper of the Danifli royal f The (liicldc, &e. foniotiiiieB now painted upon 
 
 h'brary. The keel of the Dragon therefor mea- the quartcr-cl'.iilis, Icein to be a vcftige or memo- 
 rial of this ciillom.
 
 A. D. 996-1000. 279 
 
 known iu thole remote regions, appears from the following defcription. 
 Sigurd Syr, the ftepfathcr of King Olaf the Saint, who is noted as a 
 plain man, a good farmer, and a lover of peace, could on extraordinary 
 occafjons drefs in breeches, or troufers, of Cordovan leather, and clothes 
 made of filk, with a fcarlet cloak over them. His fword was richly 
 adorned with carving in gold, and his helmet and Ipurs were gilded. 
 His horle had a faddle embelliflied with golden ornaments, and a bridle 
 fliining with gold and gems. Thofe articles of finery were not, how- 
 ever, fo often acquired by fair trade as by piracy, then the chief trade 
 of all the northern nations ; for, though fome of the Vikveriar (people 
 of the fouth part of Norway) are faid to have been confiderable traders 
 (according to the eftimation of their age and country) to England, Ire- 
 land, Saxony, Flanders, and Denmark, yet their attachment to trade did 
 not prevent them from fometimes amuling themfelves with piracy when 
 they found an opportunity, and taking free winter quarters in the coun- 
 tries of the Cbriftians *. ISnorro, HiJL Qlafi Saricti, cc. 31, 32, 62.] 
 
 About this time periodical public markets, or feirs, were eflabliflied 
 in feveral towns of Germany and the northern kingdoms ; and a prin- 
 cipal part of the merchandize brought to them in thefe days of rapine 
 confifted of flaves taken in the wars, which were indeed often made 
 merely for the purpofe of carrying off captives^ Helmold relates that 
 he fow feven thoufand Danilli flaves at one time expofed to fale in the 
 market at Meklenburg. The common price of ordinary flaves of either 
 fex was about a mark (or eight ounces) of filver ; but fome female flaves, 
 for their beauty or qualifications, were rated as high as three marks. 
 Ifthorkeliji's EJfay on the Jltive t?-ade, pp. 4-9.] 
 
 1000 or 1 00 1— -It was in the lafl: year of the tenth century, or the firfl 
 year of the eleventh, that the adventurous fpirit of the northern navigators 
 of Iceland carried them to a country fituated fouth-weft from Greenland,, 
 and having in the fliortefl: day the fan eight hours above the horizon, 
 which infers that it was about the forty-ninth degree of latitude. The 
 fertile foil was covered with wood, whence they called the country Merk- 
 land ; but having difcovered that it produced grapes fpontaneoufly, they 
 altered the name to Winland. The rivers were well fl:ored with fifti, and 
 efpecially with Large falmon. The natives, whom the Icelanders never" 
 faw till the third year of their voyages to the country, were a diminu- 
 tive race, who ufed boats covered with leather, and fought with bows 
 and arrows. Thefe people, after having a flsiirmifli with the Icelanders, 
 traded with them, giving them fine furs in exchange for their goods. 
 
 Several of the fhips, which failed from Iceland for this new-found land, 
 carried a number of families in order to eftabliili a permanent fettle- 
 ment, which appears to have fubfifted at leaft above a century, as we 
 
 _ * For the fake of conneding the detached parts of Norwegian commercial hillory, this paragraph is 
 introduced a few years earlier than its proper date. .
 
 •28o A. D. 1000 or looi. 
 
 find that a bifhop went from Greenland in the year 1 1 2 1 to convert the 
 colonifts of Winland to the Chriftian religion. After that time there 
 is no further certain account of the colony, and the connexion between 
 •Iceland and Winland feems to have been entirely dropt *. But if there 
 is, as has been alTerted, a tribe of people in the interior part of New- 
 foundland who differ in perfon and manners from the Efkimaux of the 
 north end of the ifland, they may not improbably be fuppofed the re- 
 mains of the Icelandic colony -)-. 
 
 Winland was evidently fome part of the continent at the mouth of 
 the River St. Laurence, or Newfoundland, more probably the later ; and 
 the vagrant natives, called by the Icelanders Skrelingur, were apparent- 
 ly the Eflvimaux. 
 
 The accidental difcoverer of this weflern land was Biorn, the fon of 
 Heriolf ; and Lief, the fon of Erik Raud, fitted out the firft veflel whicli 
 failed purpofely for it. Snorro, the fon of Torfin, was the firft perfon 
 of European parentage born on the weft fide of the Atlantic ocean ; and 
 from him defcended a family, which long flourifhed, and probably fl;ill 
 flourifhes, in Iceland. 
 
 As the difcovery of Ar.iERicA by the Icelanders, though an event ex- 
 tremely curious and interefling in the hiftory of mankind, is not fo ge- 
 nerally known as it ought to be (even fome of thofe who have profefl- 
 edly written upon the difcovery of that continent being ignorant of it), 
 it is proper to obferve, that it is moft unqueftionably authenticated by 
 the teflimony of contemporary authors, and others who lived foon after ; 
 all of them long before the generally-fuppofed firft difcovery by Colon, 
 or Columbus J. Therefor, without detrad:ing in the fmalleft degree 
 from the merit of that illuftrious navigator, who fet out upon fcientific 
 principles, and with fome previous afllirances colleded from the acci- 
 dental difcoveries of preceding navigators, to fearch for a weftern route 
 
 • According to Doftor Foifter's expofition of as. IC98: he flourifhed about i\\o.~-SnorroSiur- 
 
 the geography of Zeno's royage, Winland vvas af- lefrm, ti'tfl. Ohifi Trygv. cc. 105-11 1 : he was the 
 
 terwards called Ellotlland, and it was in a flourifli- earlicfl gtneial liKlorian of the North, and was rc- 
 
 ing condition in the fourteenth century. See For- pcatedly cliitf magiftrate of Iceland, A. D. 1215- 
 
 Jier's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 188, 203, Engl. 1232. — The Flaleyan vianufcript in the ting of Den- 
 
 tranjl. and below under the year 1360. mark's library, which was finiflud in 1394. — 1 fay 
 
 + Whether thofe people are of Norwegian or!- nothing of Arngrim Jonas, Torfacus, and other 
 
 gin or not, may be very eafily afcertaincd by their northern writers, who have flourifhed after the age 
 
 lant^uage, which to a proper judge muft appear, of Columbus. 
 
 through all the tluffuations of eight centuries, to Forller in his Uijlory of Voyages, tf}c. in the 
 
 be radically Norwegian, if tliey are the remains of North, and Mallet in his Introdudion to the hifiory 
 
 a Norwegian colony, though they may have loft of Denmark, have given accounts at fome length 
 
 ;ill traditional knowlegc of their ancellors, if any of the difcovery and colonization of Winland : yet 
 
 perfon in Newfoundland, properly qualified, would though Englifh tranflations of both thefe works 
 
 take the trouble to make the inquiry. Such an have been publinicd, it is furpriling how many 
 
 inquiry I have myfelf fet on foot, but hitherto people there are, even among thofe of general 
 
 without fucccfs. reading, who believe that no European CTer fet a 
 
 X Ailiwi Bremen/is defitu Danid, p. 36, ed. 1629 : foot in America before Columbus, 
 h* died in 1076. — Orderici Vitalis Hiji. tctUf. ad
 
 A. D. 1000 or rooi. 281 
 
 to India, we muft acknowlege that the reputation of the firft difcovery 
 of lands in the weflern hemifphere unqueftionably belongs to Biorn. 
 
 SUUM CUIQUE. 
 
 1000-1024 — From the regions of the North-weft, where commerce 
 was yet in its infancy, our attention is now called to the Eaft by the revo- 
 lutions of, probably, the firft civilized country in the world, where manu- 
 fadures, commerce, and fcience, had attained to maturity many centuries 
 before any human footftep had penetrated the Britifh woods, or prefled the 
 Norwegian fnows. The great, rich, and populous, country of Baratta *, 
 called by the Europeans India or Hindooftan, had never, that we know 
 of, fufFered to any great extent the violation of a foreign conqueftf, till 
 it was invaded by Mahmood, the Turkifh prince or fultan of Ga^na, 
 who in twelve expeditions fubdued the greateft part of the northern 
 provinces (or of the proper Hindooftan), as far eaft as the Ganges, and 
 as far fouth as the Nerbudda. This delightful country has ever fince 
 been fubjedl to various dynafties of princes, all of foreign extradion. 
 
 1013 — From the accounts written by two Arabian merchants we 
 have feen that the Chinefe were a more commercial and enterprifing 
 people in the ninth century than in the eighteenth. About this time, 
 if we may depend on the information, perhaps traditional, obtained by 
 Hugo Grotius ij:, [y^««. de reb, Belg. L. xv, p. 702] they extended their 
 conquefts throughout the Indian feas, and, with confiderable expcnfe of 
 blood and treafure, made themfelves mafters of Ternate, Tidor, Motiel 
 (or Motir), Makiam, and Bakiam, iflands celebrated for the produdion 
 of fpices, efpecially cloves, and kept pofleflion of them about fixty years. 
 The iflands were next occupied by a colony of Malays, whom the Arabs, 
 aftlfted by the Perfians, drove out, and eftabliflied themfelves firnily in 
 their place §. 
 
 Hamburgh, which had been feveral times deftroyed by its turbulent 
 neighbours, was now rebuilt with wood in a more magnificent manner 
 than before, and was foon repeopled by its difperfed citizens and an ac- 
 ceffion of new inhabitants. [Original authors, op. Lambecii Orig. Hamburg. 
 
 P- 43-] 
 
 1 01 6 — The filver mines of Rammelflierg no longer anfwering the ex- 
 pectation of the proprietdrs, new ones were fearched for and difcovered 
 
 * For this genuine name I am indebted to Ma- Quicquid Gnecia mendas 
 
 jor Rennell's Memoir of a map of Himhnflan. Q£. Audet in hilloriis. 
 
 is not Maralta the fame name ? But it may per- :j: There is no account of any fuch conqueft at 
 haps be doubted whether fo large a country ever this time In the Hifloria Sinica ap. T.hevcnot, V. ii. 
 was comprehended under one indigenous general But the commercial enterprife of the Chinefe re- 
 name, mained in full vigour in the thirteenth century, 
 
 t The impreflion made by Alexander on the when Marco Polo was in their country. 
 
 wellern border of India was neither extenfive nor J Grotius obfcrvcs that Molucco, the general 
 
 permanent. The more antient conquefts afcribed name by which thofe iflands are known to us, and 
 
 to Bachus, Ofiris, &c. feem to be little better than fultan, the title of the fovereign, are Arabic words, 
 fidions of romantic Greece ; 
 
 Vol. I. * Nn
 
 aSa A. D. 1016. 
 
 in the Upper Hartz (the Hercynian forefl of antient geography). They 
 were worked till the year 1 1 8 1 , when they were ruined by war, and ne- 
 glected till the emperor Otto again worked them in the year 1 208, when 
 another war again involved them in ruin, from which they were reco- 
 vered in the fixteenth century by Erneft prince of Grubenhagen, who 
 gave great encouragement to all who would engage in working them, 
 and built a town for the accommodation of the labourers. Thefe mines 
 ilill yield a confiderable revenue to the houfe of Brunfwick. IR/mius^s 
 Mem. of the houfe of Brunfwick, p. 258.] 
 
 The citizens of London were now of fuch confequence, that they, in 
 conjunction with the nobles who were in the city, chofe a king for the 
 whole Englifli nation. The objett of their choice was Edmund Iron- 
 fide, the fon of the late king Ethelred, who, after a brave flruggle, 
 wherein he was well fupported by the city of London, at laft funk un- 
 der the fuperior power of Cnut, who had fuccecded his father Swein in 
 the command of the Danifli army, and had been chofen king by the 
 Danes and a great part of the Englifh. 
 
 During the war between Edmund and Cnut, the later, in order to get 
 his fleet above the bridge to befiege the city of London, dug a ditch, or 
 canal, fufficient to carry the fhips, on the fouth fide of the river, by 
 which he pafled the bridge, and kept the city clofely inverted, till it was 
 relieved by the arrival of Edmund. 
 
 1 01 8 — Cnut, now the acknowleged fovereign of all England, in order 
 to reward his Danes, and induce them to return quietly home, levied 
 eleven thoufand pounds of filver from the city of London *, and feven- 
 ty-two thoufand from the reft of the kingdom ; a moft wonderful fum 
 to be collected in a country already fo drained by the great and fre- 
 quent extorfions of his father. Of all his forces Cnut retained only forty 
 Danifli fliips ; fo well was he fatisfied of the good will of the Englifh. 
 
 1020 — The citizens of Amalfi, whofe fpirited commereuil exertions 
 have already been repeatedly noticed, were now in very great favour 
 with the rulers and people of the Mohamedan countries in the Eaft, 
 ' bccaufe they imported many articles of merchandize hitherto un- 
 * known in thofe countries.' They had already obtained permiflion to 
 eftablifh houfes, or fadories, in the maritime towns ; and, becaufe they 
 had no houie in Jerufalem, the calif of Egypt gave them a letter to the 
 prefident of that city, who afligned them fufficient ground for building 
 upon. The merchants immediately built two monafteries and an hof- 
 pital for travelers, whereupon many Chriftians repaired to the holy city 
 on account of religion as well as of trade. An hofpital for men, dedi- 
 cated to St. John, and anodier for women, dedicated to St. Mary Mag- 
 dalen, were afterwards added. The keepers of the former became fam- 
 
 • ilorence of Worcefter makes the fum paid by London fifteen thoufand pound*-
 
 A. D. I020. 
 
 283 
 
 ous in hiflory by the title of Hofpitalers and Johannites, which in the 
 changes of their fortune gave place to that of knights of Rhodes ; and 
 
 now they are called knights of Malta. [Willielm. Tyr. L. xviii, c. 4 
 
 Brencman. de rep. Amalf. § 8.] 
 
 1028 — So far was Cnut from entertaining any apprehenfions of an 
 inclination to revolt among the Englifli, that he made frequent voyages 
 to the continent, where he enlarged his dominions by the conqueft of 
 Norway. This acquifition, which united all the maritime nations of 
 the North under one fovereign, was effeded chiefly by Englifh Ihips, 
 and by the help of his Englifh fubjeits, whofe courage revived under 
 the condudt of a general capable of direding it. 
 
 Some of the fhips of Cnut's fleet (but whether built in England or 
 Denmark, we are not told) exceeded in magnitude the largeft fhip built 
 by Olaf Trygvafon king of Norway, or any other fliips hitherto feen 
 upon the Weftern ocean. \S710rro., Hijl. Olafi Sandi, c. 158.] 
 
 1 03 1 — Cnut alfo made a journey to Rome, * becaufe he was told by 
 ' wife men that St. Peter kept the key of the celeftial kingdom,' where 
 he fpent a great deal of money. There he met with the emperor Cun- 
 rad and other princes, from whom he obtained for all his fubjeds, whe- 
 ther merchants or pilgrims, a complete exemption from the heavy tolls 
 ufually exadled on their journey to Rome. [See Cnut's own letter ap. 
 Will. Malmjh.f. 41 b.] 
 
 Cnut is believed to have eftablilhed, or authorized, mints at a greater 
 number of places than any other king of England; and the following 
 modernized lift of the names, found upon money coined in his reign, 
 fhows that at leafl: thirty-feven cities and towns had that privilege. 
 
 Briftol, 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 Canterbury, 
 
 Chefter, 
 
 Colchefter, 
 
 Crookhorn, 
 
 Derby, 
 
 Dorchefter, 
 
 Dover, 
 
 Exeter, 
 
 Gloucefter, 
 
 Haftings, 
 
 Hereford, 
 
 Hertford, 
 
 Hythe, 
 
 Huntingdon, 
 
 Ipfwich, 
 
 Leicefter, 
 
 Lincoln, 
 
 London, 
 
 Manchefler, 
 
 Norwich, 
 
 Nottingham, 
 
 Oxford, 
 
 Rochefter, 
 
 Sarum, 
 
 Shaftfbury, 
 
 Shrewfljury, 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 Southwark, 
 
 Stamford, 
 
 Sudbury, 
 
 Tamworth, 
 
 Thetford, 
 
 Wells, 
 
 Winchefter, 
 
 York *. 
 
 1036 — On the death of Cnut the citizens f of London were again a 
 
 • This lift is extraftcd from a Catalogue of the 
 coins of Canute king of Denmark and England, 410, 
 1777, publifhed in coiil'equence of a great variety 
 of his coins beinij found in the year 1774 in a 
 ■peat mofs near Kiikwall in Orkney, whither they 
 mijrht be conveyed either by trade or by piracy, 
 in thofe ages the chief trade of the Norwegian in- 
 habitants of the Orkney iflands, which were fub- 
 jed to the crown of Norway till the year J468. 
 
 f The Saxon Chronicle calls them feamen or 
 navigators (' liths-men'). They were probably 
 merchants who went in their own vcffels. William 
 of Malnifbury on this occafion obferves, that the 
 citizens of London, by their great intercourfe with 
 the Danes, vihom he calls barbarians, refenibleJ 
 them very much in their manners. 
 
 N n 2
 
 -284 A. D. 1036. 
 
 confiderable part of the electors, by whom his natural fon Harold was 
 made king of England. 
 
 1 037-1 054 — Scotland was at this time governed by King Macbeth, 
 whom the flatterers of the pofterity of King Malcolm Kenmor have re- 
 prei'ented as a tyrant and an ufurper, whole hiflory Boyfe has turned 
 into a fairy tale, and Shakfpeare into a dramatic romance. The little 
 we know of him, which is rather more than we know of mofl: of his 
 predecefTors, entitles him to fome notice in this work. The original 
 part of the Latin Elegiac chronicle of the Scottifh kings fays, that Scot- 
 land enjoyed plentiful feafons during his reign ; and Wyntown, copy- 
 ing from it and fome other impartial antient record, fays, that 
 ' All hys tyme wes gret plente 
 ' Abowndand, bath on land and fe.' 
 
 {IVyritown's Cronykil of Scotland, B. vi, c. 18, //. 47, 408.] 
 
 The only influence a king of Scotland could pollibly have in pro- 
 ducing plenty by land and fea muft have been by mild and judicious 
 government, -by giving encouragement to agriculture, the prime fource 
 of wealth in every country, and to the fifhery, that inexhauftible fecond- 
 ary fund of wealth, wherewith bountiful Nature has furrounded Scot- 
 land. That Macbeth's government was beneficent, and eftablifhed in 
 the affedions of his people, notwithflanding the claims and efforts of 
 the rival family, appears from the comparatively-long duration and 
 tranquillity of his reign, and from his venturing to delegate his power 
 in order to make a journey to Rome in the year 1050. As an addition- 
 al proof of his merit I may adduce the abfurd obloquy thrown upon his 
 memory. That Scotland in his reign enjoyed fome foreign commerce, 
 the bafis of which was probably the fifliery, and that a balance of cafh 
 was even paid by the neighbouring nations, is fufficiently evident from 
 the great expenfe of his journey to Rome, where his charity to the poor 
 was confpicuous even in that general refort of wealthy pilgrims. [^Mari- 
 ani Chron. ad an. 1050.] 
 
 1050 — About the middle of the eleventh century Sliafwig {Slefwik), 
 or Heithebu, is defcribed as a port of the Barbaric, Baltic, or Scythic, fea, 
 from which fhips failed to Slavonia, Semland, and even to Greece, by 
 which name we are furely to underfland Ruflia *. Ripa was a port on 
 the oppofite fide of Yutland, whence veflels failed to Frefia, Saxony, 
 and England. Arhufen, on the eaft fide of Yutland, was the port ot 
 departure for Fionia or Seland, Sconia, and Norway. \_Adami Bremens. 
 Lib. defitii Dani(e, p. 2, ed. 1629.] 
 
 At this time, if Adam of Bremen [p. 17] was rightly informed, Swe- 
 den was full of foreign merchandize : but this account may be taken 
 with large allowance. 
 
 • ' The name of Greeks was applied to the Ruflians even before tlicir converrtyn.' [_Ciilion, V. x> 
 f. 226, Note, where the original authors arc quoted. J ■♦
 
 A. D. 1050. 285 
 
 Adam of Bpemen and fome other old German writers fpeak in drains 
 of high admiration of the populoufnefs and wealth of the great commer- 
 cial cities of Winet and Julin, both at the mouth of the River Oder on 
 the fouth fide of the Baltic fea. But as all things are great or fmall by 
 comparifon, and as it is difficult to conceive how any port of the Baltic 
 fea could pollibly have a very great trade at that time, and more efpe- 
 cially two adjacent ports, we mull believe that thofe accounts arc pro- 
 digioufly exaggerated *. 
 
 The rotundity of the earth and the theory of the inequality of the 
 length of the day were known by Adam of Bremen ; and we do not 
 hear of his being excommunicated or reprehended for his knowlege. 
 
 1052 — Pefenefea, Rumenea, Hythe, Folces-ftane, Dofra, and Sand- 
 wic f , are noted as ports having (hips, which were all feized and carried 
 off by Earl Godwin, after his fon-in-law King Edward had driven him 
 out of the kingdom. 
 
 1063 — The commercial republic of Pifa on the weft fide of Italy was 
 now in a flourifhing flate. The Pifans, defpifing the narrow didates of 
 religious bigotry, made frequent voyages to Panormus (or Palermo) in 
 Sicily, where they traded with the Saracen inhabitants. They alfo trad- 
 ed to the coaft of Africa, where, fome time after this, conceiving them- 
 fclves on fome occafion to be injured, they led an army againft the royal 
 city of Tunis, of which they made themfelves maflers, except one ftrong 
 tower, in which the Saracen king or chief was obliged to fhut himfelf 
 up. {Galfr'idi Mnlaterrce Hijl. Sicul. L. ii, c. 34; L. iv, c. 3.] 
 
 1064 — About the fame time the Genoefe appear to have had a con^^ 
 fiderable fhare of the trade to the Levant, or eaft end of the Mediter- 
 ranean. A fleet of their fliips, which arrived at Joppa, after the mer- 
 chants had bartered their goods among the maritime cities, and paid 
 their adorations to the holy places, brought off the remains of a conir- 
 pany, or rather an army, of pilgrims, who had traveled over land from 
 France and Germany, as we learn from Ingulf, an Englifli hiftorian^ 
 [/». 74, ed. Gale] who was one of the number. 
 
 1065 — The church of Weflminfl:er, which was founded, or refound- 
 ed on a larger fcale, by King Edward, was the iirfl fpecimen in Eng- 
 land of a kind of architedure, which, according to William of Malmf- 
 bury, [f. 52 b] afterwards became very general. It may be prefumed 
 to have been that which is generally, but feemingly improperly, deno- 
 minated the Gothic X- 
 
 * Helmold, the author of the Chronicle of the -j- Now called Pevenfey, Rumney, Hyth, Folk- 
 
 Slavi, who wrote about the end of the twelfth fton, Dover, Sandwich. 
 
 centun-, fays, that the reports of the wonderful + If the Gothic architefture was not introduced 
 wealth of Winet are incredilile. It was the greateft in England till the reign of Henry II, as is gene- 
 city in Europe — and it was reported that it was to- rally fuppofcd, what kind was this ? 
 tally deftroyed by fome namelefs king of Denmark. 
 [C/;/o«. Slav. L, i, c. 2.]
 
 286 A. D. 1065. 
 
 In the reign of Edward the Confeffor the Engllfh recovered their mi- 
 litary and naval character, chiefly under the condu6l of his brother-in- 
 law Harold ; for the king himfelf was much better qualified to perform 
 the offices of a monk than to difcharge the duties of a fovereign. On 
 the death of Edward without ilTue, his nephew, Edgar Atheling, who 
 ■was under age, was fet afide, and Harold was chofen king (a". 1066). 
 He appears to have been, after Alfred, the greateft of the Saxon princes ; 
 and like him he was fenlible that a well-appointed navy was the natural 
 fafeguard of England *. As foon as he became king, he was threaten- 
 ed with an invafion by William duke of Normandy, who alleged that 
 the late king had promifed to appoint him his fuccellbr. Knowing the 
 great power and military talents of the duke, he provided a fleet of 
 above feven hundred fhips, which he ftationed on the coafl; oppofite to 
 France. Unfortunately a part of it was called oflf by the unexped:ed at- 
 tack of the fleets of Norway and Orkney, led by Harold Hardrad f, king 
 of Norway, whofe life paid the forfeit of his unprovoked hoihlity. And 
 William, who landed on the fouth coafl; almofl: at the fame time, would 
 probably in like manner have expiated his unprovoked attack of a people 
 who had never injured him, had not Harold been flain by a random fhot 
 of an arrow, after fupporting with his army, fatigued by their march 
 from Stanford to the coafl of Suflex, a battle of a whole day with great 
 courage and conduft, if we except his mifcondud: in fighting at all. But 
 the prudence of allowing an invader to wafte his ftrength and the ar- 
 dour of his troops by delay was unknown in the art of war of that age. 
 
 Even after the difafter of Harold's death the fleet of England was 
 fuperior to that of the invaders, which it kept blocked up in the ports 
 of Pevenfev and Haftings. The fleet of William and his allies is moft 
 difcordantly numbered, from feven hundred to three thouiand fhips, by 
 the various writers upon that famous expedition. 
 
 Soon after the death of Harold, the Englith, finding themfelves with- 
 out a leader, and influenced by the clergy, fubmitted to Williani, who 
 on the 25''' day of December was crowned as king of England in Wefl:- 
 minfter abbay. 
 
 The acceflion of William conflitutes a new ara in the hiftory of 
 England, which is thenceforth much more fully known than in the 
 preceding ages, its aflfairs being now much connected with thofe of the 
 continent, and illuftrated by a continued fucceflion of good hiftorians, 
 domeftic and foreign. The materials for commercial hiflory, and par- 
 ticularly of that of this ifland, will confequeutly be more ample in the 
 
 • The fiipprcflion of tlic Wclfli In the reign of -f Tlic nnmc of H;iro!tl Harfogiir, given to this 
 
 Edward \v;i9 cfiected by Harold, chiefly by means king by moll writers, is one of the many inilances 
 
 of a licet ot (hips, wliercwith he failed from Brif- of the a6lions of iefs celebrated characters being 
 
 tol. The army and fleet of Northumberland, transferred to more famous perfonages of the fame 
 
 whicii alTilkd Malcolm ])rincc of Scotland againft name. 
 
 Matbctlij «a at. : DaniHi than Englifh. 3
 
 A. D. 1066. 287 
 
 fucceeding ages than in the paft ; and the labour of the writer will not, 
 as in the preceding part of this work, confift chiefly in fearching for 
 materials, but in feleding thofe which are moll worthy of being laid 
 before the reader. 
 
 Before proceeding to what may comparatively be called the modern 
 hiftory of commerce, it will be proper to introduce fome notices con- 
 cerning the trade of the Anglo-Saxons, which could not conveniently 
 be referred to any particular dates. 
 
 Before the eftabhfliment of the feudal fyflem in this country, which 
 the bed antiquaries feem agreed in afcribing to the Norman kings, 
 [See Spclman^ Glojf. vo. Feodum] landed property was more abfolutely at 
 the difpofal of the proprietors, than when all eftates were held by feudal 
 tenures. From the hiftories of churches and abbays, (of which many 
 are extant in manufcript, and alfo feverals publifhed) we have numerous 
 accounts of fales of eftates *. We find five hides of land at Holland, on 
 the coafl; of EfTex, fold for twenty pounds of filver ; [H't/l. Ellens, ap. Gale, 
 p. 48 1] and it appears, that the price fcarcely ever exceeded five pounds 
 of filver for a hide of land, even of the befl: quality f. So low a price 
 of land affords the clearefl: demonfiration, that the country was very 
 thinly peopled, and that few of the people were in opulent circum- 
 fi:ances. 
 
 Agriculture, which was in fuch a flourifhing fiate in Britain when 
 under the Roman government, was much negledled during the long 
 wars between the Britons and the Saxons, Angles, &c. and it never re- 
 covered its former degree of perfection during the whole period of the 
 Anglo-Saxon government. There is not, I believe, any authority to fay, 
 that one cargo of corn was ever fhipped from England in all that long 
 fucceffion of ages. It is unneceflliry to add, that a bad harvefl: brought 
 on univerfal diftrefs %. 
 
 * See efpecially the Hiilories of Ramfey and ing. In the reign of Edward the ConfefTor 
 
 Ely, ap. Gait, Scriptorcs, V. i, 1691. The later Lieofftaii, abbat of St. Albans, cut down the trees 
 
 in particular is full of fuch purchafes, many of adjoining to the great road called Watling-llreet, 
 
 which, even by the account of a monk of the beginning at the Chiltern, and proceeding almoft 
 
 abbay, appear to have been fiauduleiit. to London, that travelers might be lefs expofed 
 
 \ There is great diiFcrence of opinion concern- to the depredations of robbers, who haunted the 
 
 ing the quantity of land contained in a hide, which wood, which was alfo occupied by wolves, boars, 
 
 appears to h.ive varied from 96 to 160 acres, wild bulls, and deer. And he gave a grant of the 
 
 The average price of an acre of good land may, manor of Flamllead to Thurnoth, on condition 
 
 therefvjr, be Hated at about half an ounce of filver. that he fliould clear the wood of noxious animals 
 
 In the reign of Cnut two niilis were purchafed and robbers, and make good the lofs fullained by 
 
 for two marks of gold ; but I know not it it was any perfon robbed within his dillrift. The wood, 
 
 a fair price, for tlie eftate to which they belonged however, was not fufliciently cleared, or thinned, 
 
 was acquired by a fwindlJng tiick. [f/y?. Ramf. between St. Alban's and London ; for we find, 
 
 p. 442.3 tluit Frederic, the next abbat, gave the manor of 
 
 J The languid condition of agriculture is evi* Aldcnham on the fame terms to the abbat of 
 
 dent from a great part of the country having re- Wcllminfter. After tiie conqueil many of the 
 
 verted to the natural ftate of an uncultivated foreft, Englilh fled from the oppieffion of the Normans 
 
 which was only ufeful for feeding hogs and wild to the woods, where they fupported themfelves 
 
 animals, and furnilhing fuel and timber for build- by plunder. \_M, Paris Vit. abbatum,pp. 45, 46.] ' 
 
 Whru .
 
 288 A. D. 1066. 
 
 The fertile and extenfive paflures of the Britifli iflands, exempted, 
 by the changeable nature of our climate, from the long-continued 
 parching droughts, which frequently deftroy the grafs in other coun- 
 tries, have, from the earlieft ages that we have any account of, nourifh- 
 ed innumerable herds and flocks, from which the natives derived the 
 principal part of their food, their clothing, bedding, armour, and even 
 their boats. The flvins alfo furniflied an article of the rude commerce 
 of the Britons, before they became fubject to the Romans. And, 
 though there is not, I believe, any pofitive authority to eftablifli the 
 fa6t, there can be little doubt, that the Flemings, the great manufactur- 
 ers of fine woollen goods for the whole of Europe, carried great quan- 
 tities of wool from this country in the period now under our confider- 
 ation, as, we know for certain, they did in the following ages : [M. 
 Wejlm. p. 396] and we may thereby account for the difproportionate 
 price of the fleece, which feems to be valued at two pennies in the 68''^ 
 law of Ine, king of the Weft Saxons, whereas the value of a fheep with 
 her lamb, by the ^di'^ law of the fame king, was only one fliilling, i. e. 
 either five or four pennies. By the S'*" law of King Edgar, the higheft 
 price which could be taken for a weigh of wool, was fixed at half a 
 pound of filver, being, if the weigh contained then as now, 182 pounds 
 of wool, near three fourths of a penny for a pound ; a price which, as 
 far as we are enabled to compare it with the prices of other articles, 
 may be thought high. 
 
 We know that lead was frequently ufed for the roofs of churches and 
 other buildings ; and we know from Domefday book, that in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Gloucefter, there were iron works in the time of Edward 
 the ConfefFor, which had probably been kept up fince before the invafion 
 of the Romans. Though there is no account of the exportation of any 
 metals in the ages now under our confideration, it. is reafonable to fup- 
 pofe, that the demand from other countries muft at all times have pre- 
 vented the owners of the mines from negleding them ; and we may 
 prefume, that at leaft lead and tin *, if not iron, formed a confiderable 
 part of the few exports during the Anglo-Saxon period. 
 
 It may be prefumed, that horfes had been fometimes exported, as 
 King Athelftan made a law againft carrying any out of the kingdom, 
 unlefs they were to be given as prefents. 
 
 When the couutiy was alnwd covered with wood in the times of the Anglo-Saxons ; and he fays, 
 
 fo near the capital, the remoter dillrifts mull af- the exhaufted mines arc called in Corni(h Attal 
 
 furcdly have l)cen in a dill lower degree of culti- Surifin, which he interprets the Ua-viiigi of the Sa- 
 
 vation. f which indeed many poiitive proofs might racens. 
 
 be adduced, if it were ncceflary. Raynal [_Hi/l. phil. et polit. V. ii, p. 177, eJ. 
 
 * Mathew Paris \_Hil}. p. 570] fays, errone- 1782] fays, that in the fevcnth century the Sax- 
 
 oufly, tl.at fiom ihe creation of tiie world to the ons carried thtir tin and lead to the fairs cdablilh- 
 
 year 12^1 :;o tin had ever been found anywhere cd in France by Dagolitrt. It is a pity that that 
 
 , but in Cor. '.'•all Camden \_Briian. p. i34Jfup- valuable author never produces his authorities. 
 pofes, that the Saracens worked the Cornilh mines
 
 A. D. 1066. 289 
 
 It will found ftrange to the ears of many, that human creatures, not 
 Africans of a different colour, but white people, natives of Britain, con- 
 ftituted an article of trade in thofe days. The people of Briftol were 
 great dealers in Haves, whom they generally exported to Ireland. \_W. 
 Malmjhur. Vit. Uljiani, in Augl'ia facra, V. ii, p. 258 — Gir. Camhr. Hib. 
 exp. L. i, c. 18.] Some Northumbrian flaves were carried as far as 
 Rome, where, being expofed to fale in the flave-market, their handfome 
 figure fo engaged the compaflion of a monk called Gregory, that he 
 afterwards, v/hen he was pope, fcnt Augufline to convert their nation 
 to the Chriftian religion, who, inflead of proceeding to Northumber- 
 land, took up his refidence at Canterbury. {Bedx Hiji. ecclef. L. ii. 
 
 The foreign trade appears to have been chiefly carried on by ftran- 
 gers, and was therefor a paflive trade on the part of England. The at- 
 tempt of Athelftan to allure his fubjeds to avail themfelves of the na- 
 tural advantages of their infular fituation would not have been either 
 neceffary or proper, if many Englifh merchants had traded to foreign 
 countries, or if many of them had been capable of fitting out and load- 
 ing a velTel. 
 
 The internal trade of England muft alfo have been on a very dimi- 
 nutive fcale, when the prefence of two or more witnefles, of the chief 
 niagiftrate, the liiirref, the prieft, or the lord of the manor, was necef- 
 fary to give validity to a bargain of more than twenty pennies. If we 
 may place any dependence on the laws afcribed to Edward the ConfcfT- 
 or, the clergy were entitled to draw their tenths even from the profits, 
 of trade, which was a fafe and good trade for them. 
 
 The inland trade was aflifted not only by the many navigable rivers, 
 which interfed England, but alfo apparently by artificial canals, where 
 the ground was level. Abbo of Fleury defcribes the kingdom of the 
 Eafl-Angles us bounded on the weft by a rampart and ditch. {^See 
 Camdeni Brit an. in Cambridge-JJjire, where feveral Juch are noted.} A canal 
 in Huntington-fhire, called Kingsdelf, is at leaft as old as the year 963. 
 [Chron. Sav. ad an. — Hi/i. Ra?nes. ap. Gale, p. 457.] It is not impolTible, 
 that thefe canals may be of ftill higher antiquity, and may owe their 
 origin to Roman policy and Britifli labour. 
 
 Though the fubjedion of the Englifh by the Danes was fatal to fome 
 great families, it muft be acknowleged that it was highly advantageous 
 to the great bulk of the people, and more efpecially to fuch of them as 
 were engaged in any kind of commerce. The merchants of all the 
 northern countries of Europe, poftefling any quantity of fliipping, being 
 iellow-fubjedls in the reign of Cmtt, navigation was perfectly free from 
 the danger of pirates, and trade was fafe. The fubjeds of fo great a. 
 king were alio, upon his account, more refpeded and favoured in other- 
 parts of Europe, as we have already had occafion to obferve. 
 
 Vol. I. O o
 
 2^0 A. D. 10 66. 
 
 Concerning the manufadures of this country, the meagre chronicles 
 of the times now under confideration afford Httle addition to what has 
 been already faid upon the introdudion of the art of making glafs in 
 Northumberland ; except in a department, which might be fuppofed 
 to belong to a flate of fociety vaflly more advanced in refinement than 
 the Englifh then were. We have undoubted proof that the Englifli 
 jewelers and workers in gold and filver were eminent in their profell- 
 ions, and that probably as early as the beginning of the feventh cen- 
 tury (fee above, p. 238) ; and certainly as early as the time of Alfred. 
 A piece of ornamental work in gold, with an infcription Ihowing that 
 it was made by the order of that great prince, is preferved in the Aili- 
 molean mufeum, and engravings of it have been repeatedly publifhed. 
 Though the drawing of the figure upon It proves that the arts of deflgn 
 were in a very low flate indeed, yet the nice fculpture of the goldfmith's 
 tools has been greatly admired. [See Hickefn 'thejaiir. Angl. Sax. V. i, 
 pp. 142, 173 — AJJerii Vit. JElfredi, pp. 43, 171, ed. 1722 — Philof. 
 tranfaB. n°. 247.] So great was the demand for highly-finifhcd trinkets 
 of gold and filver, that the mofl capital artifls of Germany reforted to 
 England ; and, moreover, the mofl pretious fpecimens of foreign work- 
 manfhip were imported by the merchants. The women of England 
 were fo famous for their tafle and fkill in embroidering with fdk of 
 various colours, and with threads oPgold and filver, that embroidery 
 was now called Euglijh work, as in antient times it was called Phrygian. 
 William the Conqueror fent to his patron, Pope Alexander II, the ban- 
 ner of King Harold, wliich contained the figure of an armed man in 
 pure gold, and along with it feveral other ornamental works, ' which 
 might be greatly admired even at Conflantinople.* The prefents fent 
 by the f\me conqueror to the church of Caen in Normandy, were ' fuch 
 ' as Grangers of the highefl rank, who had feen the treafures of many 
 * noble churches, might look upon with delight ; and even the natives 
 ' of Greece or Arabia, if they were to travel thither, would be equally 
 ' charmed with them.' What renders thefe praifes of the Englifh male 
 and female artifts the more valuable, is, that it is bellowed by foreign- 
 ers *. \GuL Pi£lav. ap. Du Chefne Script. Norm. pp. 206, 211. — Muratori 
 Antiq. V. ii, coll. 404, 405.] 
 
 The imports of England in thofe ages comprehended filk, and other 
 expcnfive articles of drefs for the great, pretious flones, perfumes, and 
 other Oriental luxuries, purchafed in the ports of Italy, and probably 
 fometimes at Marfeille. To thefe may be added books, and alfo, what 
 will appear furpriling to a modern proteftant reader, dead carcafes, legs, 
 arms, fingers, toes, and old rags, fuppofed to have belonged to the can- 
 onized faints. 
 
 * See alfo the account of Matildis, a woman very fl<ilfiil in the art of dying purple, and adorn- 
 ing the drcfTcs of the rich ,\vlth gold, gems, pidures, and flowers, by Ailrcd, a natire writer. 
 \Col. 409, ap. Tivyfden.'] 4
 
 A. D. 1066, 291 
 
 With fucli flender refources as the foreign trade of England appears 
 to have furniflied, it may be afked, how the country could raife fuch 
 fums as were repeatedly paid to procure the forbearance, or to allure 
 the invafioiis, of the Danes ; to fay nothing of the permanent taxes of 
 Dane-geld and Peter-pence, the later of which, with the innumerable 
 pilgrimages, made a perpetual drain of money to Rome. As we can 
 fee no reafon to fuppofe that the little trade then carried on produced 
 any regular or lafting balance in cafh, we mufl believe, that thofe heavy 
 demands were fupplied, either from mines of the pretious metals, though 
 unnoticed by any hiftorian fince the beginning of the Roman dominion 
 in the ifland, except Bede, \_HiJl. ecclef. L. i, c. i] or from the remainder 
 of the vaft treafure, which the fertile fields, the copious mines of tin 
 and lead, and the other valuable productions of Britain, long continued 
 to draw from Rome and the provinces of the empire in former ages. 
 That all thofe heavy drains did not exhauft the flock of the pretious me- 
 tals in England, is abundantly evident from many fads to be found in 
 antient writers, which fliow, that the kings, the clergy, and the nobles, 
 were ftill very rich. King Cnut expended vaft fums in his pilgrimage 
 to Rome, as already obferved. Edward the ConfelTor built Weftminf- 
 ter and other churches at an uncommon expenfe. The great quantity 
 of money, found in Harold's treafury, enabled William to be incredibly 
 liberal to the church of Rome, as his biographer exprefles it *. Egel- 
 noth, archbifliop of Canterbury, being on his return from Rome, made 
 a purchafe at Pavia of an arm of S^ Auguftine (or of fome other body) 
 for one hundred talents of filver and one talent of gold f ; an excellent 
 bargain — for the knavifli feller. \}V. Malmjb. f. 42 a.] But, what was 
 at leaft equally aftonifhing, we are told, that Elfsig, abbat of Peterburgh, 
 in the year 1013, in the very midft of the convuUions, gave five thou- 
 fand pounds of filver for a headlefs carcafe. \Chron. Sax. ad a/i.'\ Of 
 the opulence of the nobles I fliall fele6l only one example, which, after 
 making a large dedudtion for the exaggeration of tradition, Ihows that 
 they were very rich, and the court very venal. Earl Godwin appeafed 
 the wrath of King Hardacnut by a prefent of a galley with golden (or 
 gilded) roftra, carrying eighty foldiers, each of whom had two bracelets 
 on each hand containing fixteen ounces of gold, being in all 320 brace- 
 lets, and 5,120 ounces of gold; a fum equal in real eftedive value to at 
 leaft two hundred thoufand pounds of our modern money. We are fur- 
 
 * ' Peciiniam in auro atque argento, ampliorem ftood to be mere monkiiTi rant. \^JV. Malmjb, ap, 
 
 ' quam didu credibile fit.' \_Gul. Pidav. ap. Du Gfl/°, />. 3 1 o. 3 
 Chefne, p. 206.] •[- As the writers of the middle ages often affedl- 
 
 In^ king of the Weft Saxons is faid to have ed claflical words, when veiy improper for their 
 
 ffiven near three thoufand pounds of filver, and fiibjeft, it is probable that this impoitant purchafe 
 
 about three hundred pounds of gold, to adorn a was tranfatled in more modern money. Surely 
 
 chapel at Glaftonbury. But this mult be under- 100 pounds of filver and one pound of gold was noti 
 
 too fmall a price for a rotten arm. 
 
 Oo 2
 
 29.2 'A. D. 1066. 
 
 •ther told that even the battle-axes, fpears, &c. of thefe fplendid foldieri 
 were completely covered with gold. [Pl^. Malvijb. f. 43 a.] Of the 
 wealth of the great body of the people nothing is recorded ; and there 
 was moft probably nothing to be recorded, except that they were de- 
 voured by the unconfcionable avarice of their fupcriors. \j\^. Malmjh, 
 
 £' 57 b.] 
 
 Slaves and cattle conflituted that kind of property, ufually transferred 
 with the foil, which is often mentioned by the early Englifh writers 
 under the name of living money ; whereas money made of metal was 
 called dead money. 
 
 It feems agreed upon by the learned, that, during the Anglo-Saxon 
 period of our hiflory, the nominal pound in money was a real pound of 
 filver in weight ; and that weight may, with great appearance of truth, 
 be prefumed to have been brought from Germany *. Authors agree, 
 that the pound was coined into 240 pennies ; but they vary greatly as 
 to the number of fhillings of account contained in the pound, fome 
 reckoning forty-eight fhillings of five pennies each, fome fixty, and fome 
 only twenty. The fliortefl abridgement that could be made of the ar- 
 guments and proofs in fupport ot the various opinions would be too 
 tedious to be admitted in this work, and would ftill be unfatisfadory to 
 thofe who wifh to invefligate the matter. I fhall only fuggeft, that it 
 is very probable, that in different parts of England, or in different ages, 
 the kings, who did not think of introducing a depretiated nominal 
 pound, divided the pound of filver, the only metal generally ufed for 
 current money, into a greater or leffer number of parts, which ftill re- 
 tained the fame names of pennies and fiiillings, though the later was 
 probably not a real coin till many ages after. The mark was alfo 
 not a real coin, but a denomination for two thirds of a pound, and was 
 apparently introduced by the Danes in the time of Alfred. The man- 
 cus, according to SXixic, \Grommat. p. 52] contained tliirty pennies, 
 and is fuppofed to have been a gold coin f , a little better than a third 
 part of our guinea. The thrymfa, ora, fceata, and the brafs ftyca, were 
 coins, or denominations of money, concerning which the learned are 
 not at all agreed. 
 
 The proportion of filver to gold, in the Anglo-Saxon times, is gener- 
 ally believed to have been twelve to one. 
 
 The Yutes, Saxons, and Angles, appear to have furpaffed the people 
 of the northern countries of Europe, whence they themfelves came, in 
 
 * The oUl Saxon pound contained 5,400 grains Tables of Englip) coins. — C'arle on coins. — Tleel- 
 
 of Ttoyc weight, or 1 2 ounces of 450 grains each, •wood's Chroiiicon prec'wfum, £s*r. 
 
 The ftandard ounce of Cologne and Strafbiirg con- f This fuppofition is agaiiill the general belief, 
 
 tains at prefent 451. ^(8 grains ; a rcfemblancc, or that no gold was coined in England iiefure the 
 
 rather identity, not to be afcribed to accident. year 1344. See Pfggc''s DiJJertation on Angln^ 
 
 For the nature of the Saxon money, the readc Haxon remains. 
 aiay confult Hickefii Difcrtatio epiJiolaris.—Folket't
 
 A. D. 1066. 293 
 
 coining money ; an important point in tbe progrefs of civilization, 
 which the Scandinavians had not attained in the tenth century *. Spe- 
 cimens of the coins of the various kingdoms in England, from the be- 
 ginning of the feventh century f , and alfo of the monarchs of all Eng- 
 land, are preferved in cabinets ; and engravings of them have been 
 repeatedly publiflied. 
 
 No Scotti{h coins have hitherto been difcovered of any king preced- 
 ing Alexander I ; if thofe afcribed to him are indeed his; for the total 
 want of numbers and dates, renders the difcrimination of the antient 
 coins of kings of the fame name almofl impoflible. [See Anderfon^s Di- 
 plomata et Numifmata Scotice, tab. clvii, ivitb Rudd'wian^s judicious Preface, 
 
 PP- 57' 97-] 
 
 From the unqueftionable authority of Domefday book :j: the follow- 
 ing particulars are feleded, as illuftrative of the condition of fome of 
 the ports and trading towns, and as containing hints of the ftate of com- 
 merce in England, in the time of Edward the Confeifor. 
 
 Dovere paid to the king and the earl £1^. The burgefTes were 
 bound to find twenty fliips, carrying twenty-one men each, for fifteen 
 days in a year ; and they were therefor exempted from fac and foe, and 
 were free from toll throughout all England. 
 
 In the city of Cantuaria (Canterbury) the king had 51 burgeflcs pay- 
 ing rent or cuftoms (*■ gablum ), and 212 liable to fac and foe; and 
 three mills of 40 fhillings rent. 
 
 The city of Roveceftre (Rochejler) paid 100 fhillings. 
 
 The burgh of Sanwic (Sandwich) paid ^15, and rendered the fame 
 fervices to the king as Dover. 
 
 In the burgh of Pevenfel (Pevenfey) there were 24 burgefles in the 
 king's demefne, who paid feveralfmall fums for rent, toll, port-dues, &c. 
 There were other burgefles fubje6t to the bifhops, the priefts, &c. 
 
 The city of Cicefire (Chichejier) paid 100 fliillings, wanting one 
 penny. 
 
 The burgh of Lewes paid £6 14: i ^ ; and the king had 1 27 burgeflTes 
 in his demefne, who colle6led 20 fliillings for marine fervice. 
 
 * In the tenth century, when Hofkold bought king of Denmark to fuperintend his works in gold, 
 a beautiful female (lave at the great fair in Brcn- and be the keeper of his mone}', and chief banker, 
 ncyar near Gothenburg, he iveigh^d three marks or money-changer (' trapezita'}. He h'ved feven 
 of filvet, which he paid for her to Gilli, a rich years in Denmark, and very probably coined mo- 
 merchant of Rufria. \_LaxJicla faga, AIS. in mufeo ney there. \_M. Paris, Vit. alhat. p. 59.] 
 Brit. Cat. Ayfc. 4861 ; unc of the Icelandic manu- f Camden \^Remains p. 181, ed. 16J7] fays, 
 feripts prcfented ly Sir JoftphBanis.^ he had feen a coin of Ethelbcrc, the firll Chrilliau 
 
 The piece marked with three crowns, and king of Kent, who died in the year 616. It 
 
 afcribed to Olaf, king of Sweden about the year might however belong to one of his fuccellor* of 
 
 800, \_Br£nm,-i Thefaur. numm. SucG-Goth. tab. ij the fame name. 
 
 is of very doubtful age. Tiie earlieft undoubted J It was called the looh of Winchejler {^ "VJ^ex 
 
 Swedifh coins are of the twelfth century. About ' de Wintoiiia') by the compilers of it: but 
 
 the beginning of that century Anketll, a very ZJowf/iAzji j^co^- has afterwards become the cltablill'.- 
 
 ingenious Englifh goldfmith, was inTJted by tlic ed name.
 
 294 
 
 A. D. 1066. 
 
 Gildeford paid ;^ 1 8 : o : 3. 
 
 In Sudwerche (Southivark) the king had a duty upon fhips coming 
 into a dock (' aquge fludus,' — ' exitus aquas') and a toll on the ftrand. 
 
 In the burgh of Walingeford the king drew ^11 of rent or cuftom 
 '(' gabhim'), with fome fervices. There was one coiner. 
 
 In Doreceftre (Dorche/Ier) there were 172 houfes, which paid the 
 geld often hides of land, viz. one mark of filver for the king's houfe- 
 hold. There were two coiners, who paid one mark, and alio 20 {hil- 
 lings each. 
 
 In Brideport there were 120 houfes, paying, as for five hides, half a 
 mark to the houfehold. There was one coiner, who paid as thofe of 
 Doreceftre. 
 
 In Warham there were 143 houfes in the king's demefne, paying one 
 mark as Doreceftre ; alfo two coiners, who paid as thofe of Doreceftre. 
 
 In the burgh of Scepteftjerie f^'Z'fl/iy^'tf/jJ there were 104 houfes in 
 the king's demefne ; and they paid to the houfehold two marks, as for 
 twenty hides. The abbefs had 153 houfes in her diftridl. Three coin- 
 ers here paid as thofe of Doreceftre. 
 
 The burgh of Bade (Bath) gelded as for twenty hides, when the 
 fhire gelded. The king had 64 burgeffes paying ^^4 ; and other fupe- 
 riors had 90 burgeftes paying 60 fliillings. This burgh, with Eftone, 
 paid £60 by tale, and one mark of gold. It alfo paid ^^30 to the queen. 
 Moreover, the coiners paid xoo fliillings. 
 
 The city of Exonia (Exeter) paid no geld, except when London, 
 York, and Winchefter, paid, and then half a mark for the army, with 
 the military fervices due from five hides of land. Twelve carucates of 
 land near the city paid no cuftom but to it. 
 
 The burgh of Totnais fTo/«^J belonged to the king. It contained 
 95 burgeftes ; and it paid;(^3, the filver of which was proved by the fire 
 and the fcale. This burgh performed the fame fervices as Exeter ; and 
 fo did Barneftaple and Lideford, both belonging to the king in demefne. 
 
 The burgh of Hertforde was rated as ten hides. There were 146 
 burgeftes in the king's foe. 
 
 Bochingheham (Buckingham), together with Bortone, paid as one 
 hide, the whole of its dues, amounting to /^lo by tale. There were 
 26 liurgefles. 
 
 The burgh of Oxeneford (Oxford) paid >C30, ''ind fix ' fextaria' * of 
 honey, together with the military fervice of twenty of the burgeftes 
 when the king was on an expedition, or /^20 in lieu of it. 
 
 The city of Gloweceftre paid ^^36 by tale, and 12 ' fextaria' of honey 
 
 ,♦ 
 
 Sixlar'ium is generally traiiflated gallon. From widow Tliova paid annually to the abliay of St. 
 
 the commutation paid for the honey due by War- Albans one frxlarium of honey, containing thirty. 
 
 wick, it appears to have been a much larger mea- two ounces, in the reign of Edward the Confeffor. 
 
 lure. Bui there were alfo fmaller/pr/flz-w. The IMalh. Puiis,Vit. dkitum, p. j^^.'^
 
 A. D. 1066. 295 
 
 of the meafure of the burgh, 36 dicres of iron, and 100 iron rods for 
 nails (or bolts) to the king's fhips, together with fome other petty cuf- 
 toms *. 
 
 The burgh of Wincclcumbe (lVinchcot7ib) paid £G of firm, or farm. 
 
 The city of Wireceflre (Worcejler) paid to the king and the earl 
 ^18 ; and when the county paid geld, it was rated at fifteen hides. It 
 paid the king no other dues, except the rents of his houfes. The coin- 
 ers paid 20 fliillings each on receiving their dies at London. In Wor- 
 cefler-fhire the king had {hares in the fait works, or duties from them. 
 
 In the city of Hereford the king had 103 tenants, (fome of them 
 without the wall) who performed certain fervices inftead of rents, as 
 did alfo fix blackfmiths. Seven coiners gave 18 {hillings each for their 
 dies, and a duty of 20 {hillings. The provoft (' praepofitus') farmed the 
 cu{loms for £,\2 paid to the king, and £<S to the earl. 
 
 The burgh of Grentebrige (Carnbridge) was divided into ten wards, 
 and was rated as a hundred. 
 
 The burgh of Huntedun (Huntington) had 256 burgefl^es paying cuf- 
 toms and geld to the king; and it paid £10 of ground-rent (' land- 
 ' gable'). There were three coiners in it. 
 
 In Northantone (Northampton) there were 60 burge{res, and as many 
 houfes in the king's demefne. 
 
 The city of Ledeceftre (Leicejler) paid ^30 and 15 * fextaria' of 
 honey. Twelve of the burgefi^es attended the king's army; and, for a 
 maritime expedition they fent four horfes as far as London to carry 
 arms, 8cc. 
 
 The burgh of Warwic, with the {hire and the royal manors, paid 
 £6$, and ^6 ' fextaria' of honey, or £24. ; 8 : o in{lead of the honey. 
 Ten burgeffes of Warwic went to the king's army; and for maritime 
 fervice the burgh provided four * batfueins' or failors, or ^^4 inftead of 
 them. 
 
 The city of Scirope{berie (Shrewjbury) paid geld as for one hundred 
 hides. There were 252 houfes, and as many burgefl^es, paying annually 
 ;;^7 : 16 : 8 of rent (' gablum'). The fervices and cuftoms due to the 
 king were very numerous. He had a tax upon marriages, of 10 {liillings 
 from every maid, and 20 {hillings from every widow. There were 
 three coiners paying 20 {hillings each to the king. The whole duties, 
 &c. paid by this city, amounted to £2P annually. V 
 
 The city of Ceftre (Chejler) , with its dependencies, paid geld as fifty *^ 
 hides of land. The king had the geld of 431 houfes, and the bi{liop, 
 of 56, in the city. The city paid ten marks and a half, befides a farm, 
 or firm, of/^45, and three timbres of martin's {kins ; and it was liable 
 to a great many cuftoms and penalties. If a fliip arrived or failed with- 
 
 • The copious mines of iron near Glouceller arc noted in the following century by Giraldu* 
 Cambrenfis, Itin, Camhris, L. i, c. 5.
 
 296 A. D. 1066. 
 
 out the king's leave, fhe was fubjed to a fine of 40 fhillings for every 
 man in her : if a fhip came in againft the king's will, fhe, her cargo, and 
 her men, became forfeited to the king and the earl. Ships coming in 
 with the king's permiffion might difpofe of their cargoes, paying at 
 their departure four pennies for every laft. Thofe who brought mar- 
 tin's fkins * were bound, under a penalty of 40 fhillings, to fliow them 
 firfl to an officer, who might buy for the king what he wanted of them. 
 There were feven coiners in this city, who paid £;] to the king and the 
 earl ; and there were twelve judges chofen from the vaflals of the king, 
 the bifhop, and the earl. 
 
 In the burgh of Snotingeham (Nottingham) there were 173 burgefles, 
 and it paid £\ 8. Two coiners paid 40 fhillings. The navigation of 
 the Trent and the FofTe, and the road to Yoi-k, were carefully preferved. 
 The fifhing of the Trent belonged to the burgelfes. 
 
 The burgh of Derby f contained 143 burgefTes. There were 14 
 mills belonging to it. The burgh and the mills paid in all £2^. 
 
 In the city of Eboracum, or Eurvic (Tork), there were fix divifions 
 or wards (' fcyras'), five of which contained 1,418 inhabited houfes, and 
 the archbifhop's divifion contained 189. The burgefTes of this city 
 were exempted from paying reliefs %• 
 
 In the city of Lincol (Lincoln) there were 1,150 inhabited houfes, 
 and twelve law-men (or judges) having fac and foe. 
 
 The king's burgh of Stanford was charged as twelve hundreds and a 
 half in the rates for the army, the fleet, and Dane-geld, and paid a firm, 
 or farm, of ;^i 5. It had fix wards, five in Lincole-fhire, containing 
 141 houfes, and the fixth beyond the bridge in the fhire of Hantun 
 (Northampton), which paid all cuftoms along with the other five, except 
 the rent and toll due to the abbay of Burg (Peterburgh). There were 
 twelve law-men invefted with feveral privileges. 
 
 Torchefey (Torkjey) was rated at/^i8. There were in it 213 bur- 
 o-efTes, whofe cufloms were generally the fame with thofe of Lincol : 
 but they enjoyed fome immunities, in confideration of being bound to 
 convey the king's meffengers in their boats from their own town to 
 
 York. 
 
 Melduna (Maldon) paid altogether ^^13. 
 
 In Colecefira ( Colchejier ) the king's burgefTes paid two marks of fil- 
 ver, and alio, as a compofition for the rent of fix pennies on every houfe, 
 £15:5:4, of which £^ was paid by the coiners. 
 
 In Norwic (Norwich) there were 1,320 burgefles. It paid, on vari- 
 
 * Maitiii's fl<infi ave mcntioncJ iii tlic LiUl of f Derby is mentioned in Snotingeham-ftiire as 
 
 Yngljl police, pviblidied by Hakluy t, [ Voiages, V. i, a part of it. 
 
 i'. 199, td. 1598] among tlie commodities of Ire- J The other towns of York.fhire, now fo opu- 
 
 land, from which tlicy were no doubt imported to lent with their ,' jurifliliig manufactures, are only 
 
 Cheller. Perhaps fome were alfo brought from noted as farming villages. 
 Germany. See below, under the year 1156. j
 
 A. D. 1066. 297 
 
 ous accounts, £31 : 1 ■.4, and 6 ' fextaria' of honey ; it alfo provided a 
 bear, and fix dogs for the bear. 
 
 Gernemua (Tarmouth) had 70 burgefles, and paid £2"] by tale to the 
 king and the earl. 
 
 The burgh of Tetford (Tbetford) contained 943 burgefles, paying all 
 cufl:oms to the king. The king and the earl drew jTzo by tale. The 
 king alfo received 4 fextaria of honey, and 40 pennies, with ro hides of 
 goats, and four hides of oxen. 
 
 In the burgh of Gepefwiz {Ipfivicb) there were 808 burgeffes paying 
 cuftom to the king, 41 under Robert the fon of Wimarc, and 4 under 
 Roger de Ramis. The coiners paid ^4. 
 
 Dunewic (Dunwich) had 120 burgefles, and paid £\o*. 
 
 London and Winchefler are entirely omitted in Domefday book ; 
 but it feems probable that they, together with York and Exeter, enjoy- 
 ed exemptions from fome taxations payable by the other cities of the 
 kingdom, which, with refped to London, will further appear from the 
 charter of William I to that city. [See above in Exeter.] 
 
 From Domefday book, compared with the charter of Edward I in 
 the year 1278 to the Cinque ports, there is reafon to believe that the 
 fervice of fliips and men was required of thofe ports (certainly of Do- 
 ver, and apparently of Sandwich) in the time of Edward the ConfefTor, 
 and perhaps earlier, and that the privileges granted in return for thofe 
 fervices are of the fime antiquity. It is probable that the numbers of 
 fhips, &c. was changed from time to time according to the condition of 
 the towns, efpecially if Sandwich, which afterwards furniflied only five 
 fhips, furniflied twenty in Edward's time f . [See Charters of the Cinque 
 ports^ is'c. by Samuel yeakes.l 
 
 All the cities and burghs of England appear to have been the pro- 
 perty of the king, or other patrons or over-lords, to whom the inhabit- 
 ants looked up for protedion, and whofe fuperiorlty they acknowleged 
 by payment of a rent or burgh-mail. Every city and burgh had its 
 own particular conflitution, and was governed by one or more magif- 
 trates under the controul of the over-lord. In the firft or fecond year 
 of Edward the Confeffor the city of London appears to have had one 
 chief magiftrate, called "a. port-geref (i. e. ruler of the city), whofe name 
 was Wolfgar. Between the year 1051 and the end of his reign we find 
 the name of Swetman, alfo a fingle port-geref : and in his laft year 
 there were two port-gerefs, leemingly co-ordinate, called Leofftane and 
 Alffie. \Charters quoted in St civ's Survey, pp. 847, 913, ed. 161 8.] It 
 
 * In thefe extrails from Domerday book I have are evidently not the genuine, but tlie affefted 
 
 been careful to preferve the diftinftion of city, Latin, appellations ufcd by the writers of the age. 
 burgh, Sec. as they (land in the ovig'nal. The f The fervices due by Sandwich are not clearly 
 
 fpelling of the names is alfo exatlly follovced, cxprefled in Domefday book, 
 though fomc of them, as Cantuaria, Exonia, &c. 
 
 Vol. I. P P
 
 298 
 
 A. D. 1066. 
 
 appears from the charter of "WilHam the Conqueror, that London en- 
 joyed feme privileges fuperior to thofe of other cities : and it fecms' prob- 
 able that the fupremacy or confervancy of the river was veiled in the 
 city at this time, or earlier. (See below under the year 1070.) The in- 
 habitants, or burgeffes, alfo enjoyed the highly-prized privilege of hunt- 
 ing in the extenlive chaces of Chiltern, Middlefex, and Surry, as we 
 learn from the confirmation of it contained in the charter of Henry I to 
 the city. 
 
 There feems no reafon to believe that in thofe times there was any 
 town in Scotland, or in Wales, which would now be called a good vil- 
 lage, though, in the eftimation of the laft writer of the Pichtifli Chron- 
 icle (one of the mo ft antient extant monuments of Scottifh hiftory, 
 which was finifhed in or about the year 972), Brechin was a great city. 
 It is now but a village with the rank of a burgh ; and there is not, I 
 believe, any reafon to fuppofe that it ever was much larger, though it 
 has been a bifhop's fee. 
 
 To the gleanings of the commercial hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons it 
 may not be improper to add a ftiort account of their manners, from the 
 obfervations of a judicious hiftorian, who, living immediately after the 
 conquefl, had an opportunity of marking the features which diftinguifh- 
 ed the Anglo-Saxon from the Norman charader, before they were obli- 
 terated by long-continued intercourie. 
 
 Before the conqueft learning appears to have been almoft at as low 
 an ebb in England, as it was at the commencement of the reign of Al- 
 fred. Few of the clergy could repeat the offices of religion ; and a cler- 
 gyman who was mafler of grammar was efteemed a prodigy of learn- 
 ing. The nobles abandoned themfelves to the exceifes of gluttony, 
 drunkennefs, and promifcuous concubinage, not fcruphng to confign 
 the objeds of their lull, and even their own offspring, to the miieries 
 of flavery for a little money. They expended their whole revenues in 
 riotous entertainments, without any degree of elegance or tafte, their 
 houfes being fmall and mean. Their upper garments reached only half- 
 way down to the knee. They cut their hair, and fliaved their beards, 
 except upon the upper lip. Their arms were loaded with weighty gold- 
 en (or gilded) bracelets. And their fkins were marked with painted fi- 
 gures *. But the hiftorian candidly requefts his readers not to a})ply 
 this unfavourable character univerfally to the Enghfh. He himlelf knew 
 many exceptions to it, as well among the laity as among the clergy. 
 
 * TViis ciidom ot paiuting ttic fliin, tlic trutli of of tlie iflaiid tlio moll remote from ttic countrj' of 
 
 which caiitiot be qutlHoiied, nill fecni flranfrc to the Pichts, who, we arc generally, but crroneoul'- 
 
 many p.oplc. Tiie jirai^lice had been prohibited ly, told, were called PiSi (pa'nilid jitople) by the 
 
 in the 19th canon, or chapter, of n council held in Romans, bccanfe they alone letained tliC tudom of 
 
 the prcfct.ce of the king of Northumberland in the painting their ftin-!, after it was given up by the 
 
 year 787. [^Sj>e/r/yw, Cc/ncil. Brilann. />. Zfj^)."] But other nations of Britain. 
 
 ve ftc ilia', it ftill prevailed, and even in that part 3
 
 A. D» 1066. 299 
 
 [Will. Malmjh. f. 57.] We muft, indeed, fay, that a very different na- 
 tional charader might have been expeded ia the long-continued reign 
 of a king thought worthy of a place in the calendar of the faints. 
 
 About the fame time that the duke of Normandy got polTeflion of 
 the crown of England, Godred Crovan, an adventurer from Iceland, 
 ufurped the maritime kingdom of Mann and the Ifles. He afterwards 
 reduced Dublin and a great part of Leinfter under his dominion : and 
 he is faid to have kept the Scots of Ireland in fuch a ftate of depreffion, 
 that he did not permit any of them to poffefs a veifel or boat with more 
 than three nails in it. [Cbron. Mannia ap. Camdeni Britaun. p. 840.] 
 This, if at all credible, muft furely be underllood only of the wicker 
 boats covered with hides ; and indeed it does not appear that the native 
 Irifh, or Scots, who were now flmt up in the interior part of the illand, 
 could have any occafion for fea veflels, unlefs fome of them lived in the 
 maritime towns under fubjedion to the Ortmen. 
 
 1068— Spain, after being fully conquered (except the mountainous 
 diftridts on the north coaft) by the Saracens, and colonized by the na- 
 tives of Syria, Perfia, and Arabia, among whom were the defcendents 
 of the moft antient commercial nation of the Saba;ans, long continued 
 to flourilh in fcience, manufadures, and commerce, beyond any coun- 
 try in the weftem part of the world. The port of Barchinona (now- 
 called Barcelona) became the principal flation of the intercourfe with 
 the eaftern countries bordering on the Mediterranean fea : and the ma- 
 nufacturing and commercial importance which very foon diftinguifhed 
 that city, and have in fome degree continued to diftinguifh it down to 
 the prefent day, feem to infer that its inhabitants may boafl of the real 
 honour of deriving their blood from the moft enlightened of the weft- 
 em nations of Alia, with probably fome fmall mixture of that of their 
 Carthaginian founders *. 
 
 The defcendents of the fmall remainder of the Goths, who had taken 
 refuge among the mountains of Afturia, made frequent, and often fuc- 
 cefsful, attacks upon the Saracens, and gradually, though fcarcely in as 
 few centuries as thefe employed months in the conqueft, recovered the 
 
 • Barcelona is faid to liave been founded by prcdeccfTors : and probably his countrymen of Ca- 
 
 Haniilcar, the father of tlie great Hannibal, who talonia, as the moll commercial people in Spain, 
 
 Irom his tamily name, Barca, called it Barcino. may have retained more Arabian vocables than 
 
 Though few of the modern Spaniards, who thofe of the other provinces. Algodoii, <:o/;on, al- 
 
 reckon it an indelible difgrace to have any mixture miray, admiral^ alfondech, the original name of the 
 
 of Arabian (or iVIooritli) blood, will be willing to exchanp-e of Barcelona, (which tfience appears to 
 
 acknou'lege tliemfclves indebted to infidels for aay have been an Arabian foundation) figaifying gene- 
 
 acquifitions in fcience or civilization, Don Anto- rally a place ivhsre merchants tranfaS their bufincfs 
 
 nio de Capmany, led by his reftarches to fee the (called/«n(//V-aj by the Latin writers of the middle 
 
 truth, and to h<ive more liberal ideas, owns [f. i, ages), azucar, fugar, arc a few of the many words 
 
 Com. p. 26] that many of their commercial and that a Spaniard, defirous of the honour of deduc-^ 
 
 maritime terms are derived from the Arabian Ian- ing his gci-.ealogy from the molt enlightened iia- 
 
 guage, or, in other words, that they acquired com- tions of aiitiquity, might adduce as proofs, 
 mercial and maritime knowlcge from their Arabian
 
 300 A. D. 1068. 
 
 whole peninfula out of their hands. Charlemagne, the mighty fove- 
 reign of France, Germany, and Italy, alfo found an opportunity of in- 
 terfering in the affairs of Spain, and conquered a confiderable part of 
 the country adjacent to the Pyrensean mountains, the governor of which 
 he appointed to refide in Barcelona. About the year 900 the governor 
 of Barcelona made himfelf independent of Charles the Simple, king of 
 France. His fuccefTors, the counts of Barcelona, appear to have wifely 
 attended to the manufaduring and commercial intercfls of their fub- 
 jects ; and their country confequently became profperous and opulent. 
 
 In the year 1068 the ufages or cuftomary laws of Barcelona were col- 
 lected into a code (' el codigo de los ufages Barcelonefes'), under the au- 
 thority of the national alTembly, in. which Raymundo Berenguer I, 
 count of Barcelona, prefided. By the law, n°. Iviii, ufually known by 
 its firfl words, ' Omnes quippe naves^ all veflels arriving at, or failing 
 from, Barcelona are alfured of friendly treatment ; and they are de- 
 clared to be under the protedion of the prince as long as they are upon 
 the coaft of Catalonia *. This judicious and hofpitable law was confirm- 
 ed and amplified by his faccelTors, the kings of Aragon f , in the years 
 1283, 1289, and 1299 ; and the code is to this day the bafis of the con- 
 fhtution of the province of Catalonia, of which Barcelona is the capital. 
 By the wife and liberal policy of admitting the commerce of all nations 
 without regarding difference of religion, and the fagacity of the fove- 
 reigns in relaxing the rigour of the feudal government, Barcelona, after 
 it fell under the dominion of the Chriftians, continued to be the chief 
 trading port on the weft coaft of the Mediterranean fea, and diftributed 
 the rich merchandize of the Oriental regions to the other Chriftian pro- 
 vinces of Spain. \Capmany, Memorins hifloricas de Barcelona, V. i. Com. 
 
 pp. 21, 23, 25, 221 ; V. ii, Notas, p. 5 B^'U- Tudel. in Purcbas's Pil- 
 
 grimes, B. ix, p. 1438.] 
 
 1070 — William, now king of England, being fenfible of the great 
 importance of the city of London, endeavoured to conciliate the good 
 will of the inhabitants by a charter confirming their privileges ; and, in 
 order to render it the more agreeable to them, he made it be written in 
 their own language, though he is faid to have had an averfion to it, and 
 to have done all in his power to abolifh it. The charter, tranflated iiito 
 modern Englifli, is as follows. 
 
 ' William the king greets William the bifhop and Godfred the port- 
 ' geref, and all the burgefies in London, French and Englifli, in a friend- 
 ' ly manner. And I make known to you, that it is my will, that you be 
 
 * Is there any cailit-r notice than this of the count ot" Barctlona, nianicd the infant daughter 
 
 piotectlon which a vtfl'cl enjoys by biing within and heirefs of Ramiro i<ing of Aragon. and thtnce- 
 
 the jurifdiftipn, or under the gun», of a neutral forth I'-ueelona and the province of Catalonia have 
 
 power? l)cen ui>iled to that kingdom. 
 
 [ In the year 1137 Raymundo Berenguer IV,
 
 A. D. 1070. 301 
 
 * all law-worthy *, as you- were in the days of King Edward. And it is 
 ' my will, that every child be his father's heir after his death f. And 
 ' I will not fuffer any man to do you any injury. God keep you.' 
 
 Though I do not find the commencement of the jurifdidlion which 
 the corporation of London have over the River Thames as their har- 
 bour, they appear to have poflefled it about this time : and they alfo 
 feem to have but recently obtained it ; for the limits of it were not pre- 
 cifely aicertained, as appears by a difpute in vv'hich they were engaged 
 (A. D. 1090) with the abbay of St. Auguftine at Canterbury for the 
 fuperiority of Stonore, Stanore, or Eftanore, a village near Sandwich, 
 which they claimed as belonging to the port f)f London. But it was 
 awarded to the abbay by King William II: [Thorn, Chron. op. Twyfden, 
 col. 1793] and indeed it is far beyond Yendal or Yenhmd, which has 
 been the eaftern boundary of the city's jurifdidion for many ages by- 
 pafl. 
 
 About this time the city of Bergen was founded by Olaf the Peace- 
 able, king of Norway. The fafety and commodioufnefs of its harbour 
 have rendered it in all fucceeding ages the principal emporium of that 
 kingdom. \Torfcvi Hjjl. Norzucg. V. iv, p. 71.] 
 
 1077 — At a time when Europe was only beginning to emerge from 
 the darkefl night of ignorance, the light of fcience flione out in Afia, 
 even among the Turks, under the aulpices of the fultan Gjelaleddin 
 Melicfliah, who aiTembled the aftronomers of the Eaft in order to redi- 
 fy the diforder of the antient Perfian calendar. The refult of their la- 
 bours was a computation more corredl than the Julian calendar, and 
 nearly equal to the Gregorian. [Hyde, Hi/}. reVig. vet. Per/, pp. 196-21 1.] 
 
 1080 — King William fent an army againfl Scotland under the com* 
 mand of his fon Robert, who, after palling the border, immediately re- 
 treated to the banks of the Tine, and founded a nezv cajlle at the antient 
 village of Munekeceaflre, which has given origin and name to the po- 
 pulous, adive, and wealthy, trading town of Ncwcaftle, [Sim. Dunelm. 
 ap. TzvyfdeTi. col. 211.] 
 
 1082 — William, defirous of putting his kingdom in the mofl refped- 
 able ftate of defence, and confidering the caftle of Dover as the key of 
 England, gave the charge of the adjacent coaft, with the Ihipping be- 
 longing to it, to the conftable of Dover caftle, \Tith the title oi warden 
 of the cinque ports ; an office refembling that of count of the Saxon coad 
 
 * Men of fcrvile condition,, efpccially fiich as Confeflbr, the property of a perfon who died with- 
 
 were in demi.fne (' dominio'), were not law-wor- out a will is direfted to be divided equally among 
 
 thy, or entitled to the protection of the genei;.! his children, without a word of eitlier the church 
 
 l.iw, but were judged by their lords, as is obferved or the over-lord. \_I'eges Ed-jj. c. 24, in Svhkti's 
 
 by Dcftor Brady \_Trcjtife nf luivh^, p. 16] in his eltt'wn of Eadmer, p. 184.] But the inhabitants 
 
 remarks on this charter, or protettiou as he chufes of moft tov.i.s held thdr property at the will of 
 
 to call it. an over-lord ; and London was diftiuguilhed by 
 
 t In the laws afcribed to King Edward ttie being exempted from that fluvilli condilion.
 
 6 
 
 1/ 
 02 A. D. 1082. 
 
 (comes littoris Saxonici) in the decline of the Roman power in this ifland- 
 The five ports, according to Bradon, an eminent lawyer in the reign 
 of Henry III, were Haltings, Hyth, Romney, Dover, and Sandwich, to 
 which Winchellea and Rye have afterwards been added as principals, 
 together with fome fmaller .ports as dependent members. Thefe towns 
 were bound to furnifh and man {hips for the defence of the kingdom 
 npon forty days' notice, in proportion, as may be prefumed, to their 
 opulence and commerce ; but for the quotas we muft wait for the more 
 copious information of later times *. 
 
 1084 — The Venetians were now fo powerful in fhipping, that their 
 alliance (for there was no longer any pretenfion made to their allegi- 
 ance) was earneftly folicited by the Greek emperor to proted: his weft- 
 em coaft from the invafion of th-e formidable Norman chief, Robert 
 Guifcard ; and their fleet (in the year 1081) poftponed, though it could 
 not prevent, the furrender of Durazzo. In 1084 the Venetian fleet, 
 nine vefl^els of which were remarkable for their great fize and ftrength, 
 in conjundion with the emperor's own fleet, difputed the command of 
 the Adriatic fea with Guifcard : and in return the eniptror beftowed 
 on the Venetians a number of warehoufes in ConlVantinople, with many 
 commercial advantages over other nations in his ports, together with a 
 folemn renunciation of his claim to the fovereignty of Dalmatia and 
 Croatia. 
 
 1086 — King William, that he might know the exadl: value of his de- 
 mefne lands throughout all England, and alfo the value of every other 
 eftate, whether belonging to the church, to incorporated cities or burghs, 
 or to private perfons, ordered a general furvey of the whole kingdom 
 to be made. This great work, which was probably an imitation of the 
 furvey made in the reign of Alfred, took up feveral years in the execu- 
 tion, and was not completed till the laft year of his reign, if indeed it 
 was at all completed, for the fliires of Northumberland, Cumberland, 
 Weftmcrland, Durham, with the greateft part of Lancafter, are omit- 
 
 * Tlie date 1082 is here given upon the faitli lliips, and enjoyed privileges, in tlie time of the 
 
 of Jcakes, the editor of The Charters of the Cinque Confeffor (See above, p. 293), though it is pro- 
 
 ports, •with annotations. Sec. who lays, that, when bablc that the name of Cinque ports (evidently of 
 
 William the Cuncjucror deprived his maternal bio- Norman origin) was not then iiied. In the Saxon 
 
 thtr of the cuftody of Dover caftle, lie iiivelled times we find aflociations of five towns and feviii 
 
 John Fynes with the olFice of conllahle of Dover towns under the colleftive names of fif-bnrgaa and 
 
 callle and warden of the Cinque ports. But as fcofon-buigas. See Chron. Sax. ac/ an. 1015. 
 
 the oldelt ch;iiter ext;int is that of Edward I in Lord Coke \_lnJUlutes, B. iv, ch. 42] fays, that 
 
 127S, and hiltorians afford no fati.sfatlory informa- Dover, Sandwich, and Romney, were the ports of 
 
 tion, it does not appear that the origin of the pri- fpecial note before the conqucif, that William the 
 
 vilcges of the Cinque ports can be traced with any Conqueror added Hallings and Hyth, and that 
 
 degree of certainty. Edward's cliarter refers to the antient townii of Winchelfea and Rye were af- 
 
 iibcrties enjoyed by them in the reigns of Edward tervvards Annexed. But a charter of the (eventh 
 
 the Confeflor, William I, William II, Henry W, year of King John refers to freedoms enjoyed by 
 
 Richard I, John, and Henry III, all whofe ehar- Hyth in the times of luUvaid, William I, Wil- 
 
 ters are loll. Erom Domefday book we are fure liam II, and Hcnry I. [Sec JcaLiijpp. 47, 121.J 
 that Dover, and apparently Sandwich, furuifhed
 
 A. D. 1086. 303 
 
 ted. But of all the other parts of England there is an accurate and 
 minute regifter, excepting only the capital cities of London and Win- 
 chefler *. 
 
 From this authentic record, known by the name of Domefday book, 
 I have already given the condition of feveral cities and towns, as they 
 were in the reign of Edward the Confeflbr ; and I fhall now give a view 
 of the fume, as they were at the end of William's reign. 
 
 Dovere was burnt on the arrival of King William in England. It is 
 however rated at ^^54. The Ihips are greatly incommoded by the agi- 
 tation of the water, occafioned by a mill at the entry of the harbour, 
 which was not there in the time of King Edward. 
 
 The city of Cantuaria {Canterbury) contains 212 burgefies under the 
 king's fic and foe. The three mills pay 108 fhillings, and 68 fhilUngs 
 of toll. 
 
 The burgh of Roveceftre {Rochejler) is valued at £io ; but he who 
 has it pays £^0. 
 
 The burgh of Sanwic {Sandzvich) pays ^^50 of firm (or farm), and 
 forty thoufand herrings for the ufe of the monks. The houfes are in- 
 creafed to the number of 383 (or rather 393). 
 
 In the burgh of Pevenfel the earl of Moriton has fixty burgefies, and 
 feveral other fuperiors have eight, two, one, &c. 
 
 The city of Ciceflire is increafcd by 60 houfes, and it is now rated at 
 ^25, but pays £2S- 
 
 The burgh of Lewes pays 38 fliillings more than formerly. The 
 coiners pay 20 {hillings each, when the money is called in. One half- 
 penny is paid for every ox, and four pennies for every man (flave), fold 
 within the rape. 
 
 Gildeford is rated at £,^0, but pays ^^32. 
 
 In Sudwerche {Southwark) the king's income is rated at £16. 
 
 The burgh of Walingeford pays the fame cuftoms as formerly. The 
 coiner has his tenement free while he is employed. 
 
 In Dorecefire there are 88 houfes, befides 100 which are totally de- 
 fliroyed. 
 
 In Brideport there are 100 houfes, befides 20, fo much damaged that 
 the tenants pay no geld. 
 
 In Warham there are 135 houfes, and 150 totally defi:royed. 
 
 In the burgh of Sceptefberie {Shaft/bury) there are 66 houfes remain- 
 ing, and 38 deftroyed in ,';he king's demefne. The abbefs has 1 1 1 
 
 * This antient Ilatiftical accourrt of England, a prodigious fund of information, not only upon 
 
 wliicli well dtferves the charafter, given to it by the (late of the country and of the towns, but alfo 
 
 fome of our grtatf ft ant!(iuaiii^s, of the nnoft an- upon the condition of the people, the manners and 
 
 tient and venerable record thaf this or any other cuftoms, to fay nothing of authentic family liif- 
 
 country can boalt of, [Ste Sp.-'tman's Gloffurv, -vo. tory, and affords ample materials for the refleClion 
 
 JDomefJd. — Aylujf}'s Cahndar, p. xviiij though in- and invedigation of thole who wi(h to dig in the., 
 
 tended chiefly as a ftandard of ta.xation, contains copious mine of Englilli antiquities.
 
 .3P4 
 
 A. D. 1086. 
 
 houfes remaining, and 42 totally deftroyed, in her diftrift. She has alfo 
 151 burgefles ; and fhe has 20 unoccupied manlions.. 
 
 The burgh of Bade {Bath) belongs to the king. (Some other notices 
 concerning it are rather obfcure.) 
 
 Briflovv pays to the king 1 10 marks of filver, and to the bifliop 23 
 marks, with one mark of gold. 
 
 In the city of Exonia {Exeter) the king has 315 houfes paying cuf- 
 tom. There are 48 houfes laid wafte fince the arrival of King "William 
 in England. The city pays /^ 18. 
 
 The burgh of Totnais has 49 burgefles, 9 of whom live without the 
 burgh. It pays/^8 by tale. 
 
 The burgh of Barneftaple has alfo 49 burgefles, and 9 of them with- 
 out the burgh. They pay 40 fliillings by weight to the king, and 20 
 Ihillings by tale to the bifliop of Conftance. Since the king's arrival in 
 England 23 houfes have been laid wafte. 
 
 The burgh of Lideford has 69 burgefl^es, 41 of whom are without the 
 burgh. They pay 60 fliillings by weight. There are 40 houfes laid 
 wafl:e fince the king's arrival in England. 
 
 Thefe three laft burghs are bound to the fame military fervices by 
 land or by fea. 
 
 The burgh of Hertford, which paid geld as ten hides in the time of 
 King Edward, does not now. 
 
 Bochingheham now pays £16 of white filver. In other refpeds it re- 
 mains as before. 
 
 The burgh of Oxeneford {Oxford) pays £60. In this town there are 
 243 houfes paying geld, and 478 not in a condition to pay any. Many 
 other payments are exacted from Oxeneford, moft of which are paid 
 along with the county. 
 
 The city of Gloweceftre pays to the king £60 of twenty in the ora 
 (' Ix lib. de XX in ora') * ; and he has alfo ;i(^20 in coined money (' mo- 
 ' neta'), together with fome, other dues. 
 
 The burgh of Wincelcumbe, with three hundreds joined to it, pays 
 £28. 
 
 In the city of Wireceftre {Worcejler) the king has what formerly the 
 king and the earl had. It pays £2^ : 5 : o by weight, and many other 
 dues. The king has alfo taken the falt-works which the earl had. 
 
 The city of Hereford is poflefled by the king in demeine. The Eng- 
 lifli burgefles retain their former cuftoms. The French burgefl'es for 
 1 2 pennies are free from all claims, except forfeitures for the breach of 
 the peace, heinfare, and foreftell f . The city pays to the king £60 of 
 white money by tale. It and 18 manors, which pay their firms in it, 
 are computed at £2,33 : 18 : o. 
 
 • For the meaning of ora fee Spelman's G/offaiy, vo. Lll/rn y^nglo-Nonnannica. 
 
 t Heinfare, defertion f.om the m ifter' s fcrvicc. — Forc&eW, firtj/a/ling. I
 
 A. D. 1086. 305 
 
 In the burgh of Grentebrige {Cambridge) 28 houies were pulled down 
 to build a caftle. The cuftoms are £,>] annually, and the ground-rent 
 (' landgablum') is fomewhat above £'j. 
 
 In the burgh of Huntedun there are now no coiners. 
 
 In Northanton there are 14 houfes now laid wafte, and there are 46 
 remaining. There are now alfo 40 burgefles in the king's demefne in 
 the new burgh. 
 
 The city of Ledeceftre {Leicejiet-) pays along with the flure/^42 : 10 : c 
 by weight ; alfo ^^lo by tale for a hawk, and 20 fhillings for a fumpter 
 horfe. The king has ^20 from the coiners. 
 
 In the burgh of Warwic the king has 113 houfes in his demefne, 
 and the king's barons have 1 12, from all which the king draws geld. 
 
 In the city of Sciropefberie {Shrew/bury) the Englilh burgefles com- 
 plain that they are compelled to pay the whole geld paid in King Ed- 
 ward's time, though there are 51 houfes (' mafurae') deftroyed for the 
 earl's caftle, 50 others lying wafte, 43 occupied by French burgefles, 
 and 39 given by the earl to an abbay, being in all 183, which contri- 
 bute nothing to the geld. 
 
 In the city of Ceftre {Chejier) there were 205 houfes lying wafte when 
 it came into the poUeflion of Earl Hugh ; and it was worth only £s^. 
 It has now recovered, and is farmed from the earl for;(^7oand one mark 
 of gold. 
 
 The burgh of Snotingeham {Not ting hatti) now pays ^-^o. The bur- 
 gefles complain of being deprived of their right of filhing in the Trent. 
 
 The burgh of Derby has now only 10 mills. The burgh, the mills, 
 and the village of Ludecherche, pay £^0. The burgefl^es alfo pay at 
 Martinmas 12 thraves (' trabes') of corn. 
 
 In the city of Eboracum {Tork) one of the divifions, or wards, is laid 
 wafte for building the caftles. Of the houfes in other four wards, 400 
 are fo much decayed as to pay only one penny each, or even lefs ; 540 
 houfes, which are quite wafte, pay nothing ; and 145 are occupied by 
 Frenchmen. In the archbifliop's ward 100 houfes, befides his own 
 court and the houfes of the canons, are occupied. 
 
 In the city of Lincol {Lincoln) there are 900 burgefl^es. 1 66 houfes 
 are laid wafte for building the caftle, and other 74 are lying wafte, not 
 by the oppreflion of the fliirref, but by the misfortunes of poverty and 
 fire. 
 
 The king's burgh of Stanford payS;^5o of firm or farm. The whole 
 of the king's cuftoms amount to/^28. 
 
 Torchefey has now only 102 burgefl^es. It is rated at ;^30. 
 In Melduna {Maldon) the king has 1 80 houfes occupied by the bur- 
 gefles, and 18 lying wafte. It pays;^i6 by weight. ' 
 
 At Raganeia in the hundred of Rochfort there is a vineyard contain- 
 ing fix arpents, which, when it thrives, yields 20 jnodii of wine. 
 Vol. I. Q.q
 
 3o6 A. D. 1086. 
 
 In Norwic there are 665 Englifh burgeffes paying cuftoms, and 480 
 * hordarii *,' who are too poor to pay any thing. It pays £'^0 by weight 
 to the king, and 1 00 (hillings of gerfum to the queen, and a gofhawk f 
 (' nflurconem') and;(^2i to the earl. In the new burgh there were 36 
 French and 6 Englifh burgeffes, each paying one penny of cuflom year- 
 ly. There are now 41 French burgeffes in the king's and earl's de- 
 mefnes. Roger Bigot has 50 burgeffes, and fome other fuperiors have 
 fmaller numbers. The bifhop may have one coiner if he pleafes. 
 
 Gernemua {Yarmouth) pays/^17 : 16 : 4 of white money to the king» 
 befides payments to the earl, fhirref, &c. Twenty-four fifhermen living 
 in this town belong to Gorlefton, a manor on the fouth iide of the River 
 Yare. 
 
 In the burgh of Tetford there are 720 burgeffes, and 224 empty 
 houfes. It payS;i(^50 by weight to the king, and ;^20 of white money 
 with /^6 by tale to the earl. The king has alfo £\o from the coinage. 
 
 In the burgh of Gipefwiz {Ipjwkh) there are no burgeffes paying 
 cuftoms, and 100 poor burgeffes unable to pay any geld to the king, 
 except one penny each for their heads. There are 328 houfes now 
 wafte, which yielded geld in the time of King Edward. The coiners 
 are now rated at/^20; but in the four laft years they have only paid 
 ^27 in all. 
 
 Dunwic contains 236 burgeffes and 178 poor men. It is rated upon 
 the whole at ;^5o, and fixty thoufand herrings as a gift. 
 
 From thefe extrads, compared with thofe of the reign of Edward, it 
 appears, that, though the towns were generally reduced in their build- 
 ings and population, moft: of them were charged with rents, cuftoms, 
 and other payments, vaftly higher than in the preceding period ; and 
 that the king was glaringly partial to his French fubjeds. 
 
 The king poffeffed 1,422 manors enumerated in Domefday book, 
 and many detached farms, befides what he may have had in the north- 
 ern {hires, which are not inferted in Domefday book. From all thefe 
 he received his rents in the real produdions of the land. He had alfo 
 quit-rents from his vaffals, danegeld from the whole kingdom, rents, 
 dues, and perquifites of many denominations, from the towns, the cuf- 
 toms upon trade, the caiualties of wards, reliefs, forfeitures, efcheats, 
 fines, fees in courts of juftice, &c. which altogether made up a very 
 ample revenue. Hence, notwithftandlng his wars in France, and his 
 profufe gifts to the clergy, abroad as well as in England, William left in 
 his treafury a quantity of filver, which, when taken pofl'eHion of by his 
 fon, was found to weigh fixty thoufand pounds, befides gold, gems, and 
 very many other royal jewels. \li)gulpb^ p. 106, ed. Ga/e.] 
 
 The wiiole lands of England were divided into 60,215 knight's fees, 
 
 ■ The antiquaries arc uncertain of tlic meaning of lori/iirii. 
 
 f See Bkuni's anticht tcnurn, art. Peckliain. It 13 elfcwliere explained an Aftuiian liorfe.
 
 A. D, ro86. 307 
 
 whereof the clergy poliefled 28,115, ahnoft a half of the country; and 
 as 1,422 belonged to the king, the whole of the barons had 30,678. 
 There were 45,01 1 parifli churches, and 62,080 villages, at this time in 
 England *. 
 
 Of the ads of William for the benefit or the hurt of commerce we 
 know very little with certainty. The numerous fleet brought over by 
 him, when not engaged in ferrying himfelf and his armies to and from 
 the continent, was probably employed in trading between his old and 
 new territories and the adjacent coafls of France and Flanders, which 
 were all now conneded with the new mafters of England. Hence it 
 might be fuppofed, that, after the fhock occafioned by the conqueft was 
 got over, the trade of England muft have been greatly enlarged in this 
 reign : and we are told by William of Poidou, that he invited the refort 
 of foreign merchants by aflurances of fecurity and protedion. But un- 
 lefs the trade was all in the port of London, concerning the flate of 
 which in his time we have little or no information, we have juft feen 
 niofl unqueftionable proof that almofl all the other ports, and in gene- 
 ral all the towns, in England had declined very much from the condi- 
 tion they were in previous to his ufurpation. 
 
 We may judge of the turbulent flate of the country from the law 
 which direded that m.arkets ihould be held nowhere but within burghs, 
 walled towns, caftles, and fafe places, where the king's culloms and laws 
 could be fecured from violation, the caftles, burghs, and cities, being 
 founded for the defence of the kingdom and the protedion of the peo- 
 ple. And they were indeed a moll valuable protedion to one clafs of 
 the people ; for in England, as well as on the continent, a flave, if he 
 efcaped from his mailer, and lived unclaimed during a year and a day 
 in any of the king's cities, burghs, or caftles, thereby became a free 
 man for ever. [Le^es Ediv. et Will. cc. 61, d^^ in Selderis ed. of Eadmer, 
 pp. 191, 193.] And the name of free-men, by which the members of 
 thofe corporations are diftinguiftied, appears to be a permanent memo- 
 rial of the once-unfree condition, and fubfequent emancipation, of a 
 great proportion of their predeceflbrs. 
 
 I might be charged with negled if I were to fay nothing of the flrft 
 appearance of the word Jlerli?/^, as a diftinguifliing appellation of ftandard 
 money, which has been much contefted, as has alfo the etymology of ft. 
 Inftead of the money of England being firft fo called from an improve- 
 ment made in the reign of Richard I or John upon the coinage by arti- 
 ficers from the Eaft country, or Germany, called LfterUngs, as has been 
 
 * Tliefe numbers are taken from Thomas Sprot, of England in the rei'gn of William I. But tlie 
 
 a monk of St. AugulHne in Canterbury, as quoted opinions of our antiquaries upon both thofe points 
 
 by Spelman in his Glojfary, vo. Feodum. are fo very difcordant, that I dare not pretend to 
 
 If we knew the value of the rehef of a knight's adopt any one of them. They are collected and 
 
 fee, and the proportion between it and the annual compared by I,ord Lyttleton in his notes to the 
 
 value of the tftate, we might afcertain the rental feeond book of his Hi/lory of Henry II. 
 
 4 
 
 Q.q2
 
 3o8 A. D. 1086. 
 
 fuppofed, it is certain that it was c^Wtdi Jlerlwg in the reign of the Con • 
 queror, as appears from the unqueftionable teftimony of Ordericus Vi- 
 talis, an author contemporary with that king *. 
 
 In the year 1086 mofl of the principal ports of England were de- 
 flroyed by fire. The greatefl and mofl pleafant part of London was 
 confumed, together with the cathedral church of St. Paul's. In order 
 to guard againft fuch misfortunes in time coming, Maurice, the bifhop 
 of London, began to rebuild his cathedral upon arches with flones im- 
 ported from Caen in Normandy, but upon fo vafl and magnificent a 
 plan, that it was not completed when the Chronicle, which comes down 
 to the end of the year 1199, under the name of John Bromton, was fi- 
 nifhed. [Cbron. Sax. ad an — M^. Mahnjh. Gefl. pont. f. 134 b — B?-omton, 
 col. 979 Stow'' s Survey, p. 613, ed. 16 18.] 
 
 1090 — Sicily had now been above two centuries under the dominion 
 of the Saracens, when, after a war of thirty years, it was completely 
 fubdued by Roger, a Norman knight, who became the father of a race 
 of kings of Sicily. With a liberality, far above the general flandard 
 of the age, he permitted the Saracens to enjoy their property and their 
 religion, by which judicious conduct he retained as his willing fubjedls 
 a race of people, who were capable of inftrud:ing his own followers in 
 fcience, manufadlures, and commerce. [Malaterra ap. Muratori Script. 
 V. V, coll. 574, 595.] 
 
 1091 — The account of the polTeffions of the abbay of Croyland at 
 this time prefents a pleafing pidure of the dawning of fcience and li- 
 terature in England. They confifled of a library of above three hun- 
 dx'ed original volumes, and above four hundred lefTer volumes (perhaps 
 tranflations) : alfo a wonderful machine reprefenting the fun and the 
 planets, the zodiak, the colurcs, &c. all in appropriate metals. There 
 was not fuch another ' nader' in all England f as this one, which had 
 been prefented by a king of France to a former abbat. Unfortunately 
 all this flore of intelledual wealth was confumed by a fire occafioned 
 by the carelefTnefs of iome workmen : and without that difafter we 
 fhould, perhaps, never have known of its exiftence. \Iugiilph, p. 98, 
 id. Gale.'\ 
 
 1 093- — ^The commercial hillory of Scotland, whereof we fee the firft 
 dawn in the reign of Macbeth, may be faintly traced during that of 
 Malcolm Kenmore in the encouragement he gave to merchants to im- 
 port many articles of rich drefs of various colours, and other foreign 
 luxuries hitherto unknown, which were bought by his courtiers, who 
 
 * See the learned Somner's Glqffctry to Tivyf- whicli derives tlie name from the Eaft-country or 
 
 dtn's Siripljrc4 decern, vo. EJIerlingiis, v.liere fcveral Ellerh'ng coiners feenis tlic moll natural, though 
 
 inftancco of ihe ufe of the vion]Jhi/in^ hcfoie tlie gcncr<illy mifduted. 
 
 age of Richard are produced. As for the ctymo- f Are we to Aippofe from this cxpreflion, that 
 
 logics, fome of which are foolilh enough, that there were many naders in England ? 3
 
 A. D. 1093, 3°9 
 
 were refined and polifhed by the example of Margaret his queen, the 
 granddaughter of Edmund Ironfide king of England, who was born on 
 the continent of Europe, and bred up, partly there, and partly in Eng- 
 land. [Vita Margareta in Bollandi Adafanclorum, Junii, V. ii, p. 330.] 
 The trade may be prefumed to have been entirely paflive on the fide of 
 the Scots, who, however, mufi; have had native produce fufficient at 
 leafi: to pay for the goods imported ; as we cannot fuppofe, that the 
 foreign importers were entirely paid from the annual fum of ninety-fix 
 ounces of gold, received from the king of England agreeable to the 
 treaty of 1091, [5'///?. Dun. col. 216] which was probably never paid 
 above once or twice *. 
 
 1095 — The Chrifiians of the Wefl:, enflamed by the frantic zeal of 
 an enthufiafl: called Peter the Hermit, and the artifices of the popes, 
 now undertook to drive the Saracens, or rather the Turks, out of Jcru- 
 falem and Paleftine ; and as they fuppofed themfelves engaged in the 
 fervice of God againfi; his enemies, they dignified their enterprife with 
 the name of the holy ivar. The tranfadions of it no further concern 
 this work, than merely to obferve occafionally, how the population, 
 wealth, and commerce, of Europe wei^e aifeded by it. As no rank, fex, 
 nor age, was exempted from the perfuafion that paradife was the certain 
 reward of fighting againfi: the enemies of God, the armies, or mobs, that 
 emigrated from every part of Europe, were innumerable. The quan- 
 tity of treafure, which they exported from their own poor countries to 
 add to the wealth of the richer countries they pafl^ed through, and of 
 the Turks, was only limited by the utmoft ftretch of the abilities of 
 the individuals ; for all the princes and barons carried with them every 
 penny they could pofiibly raife by any means, however opprefllve to 
 their vafials, or ruinous to their own fortunes and families ; and their 
 example was followed by the inferior adventurers. Thofe who remain- 
 ed at home were no lefs eager to have the merit of contributing to the. 
 expenfe of the expedition. 
 
 From this wonderful perverfion of reafon, wealth, and military en- 
 terprile, the over-ruling providence of God brought out fuch advant- 
 ages to the great body of the people, and particularly to the opprefled 
 inhabitants of the cities and towns in mofl: parts of Europe, as in h 
 great meafure made amends for the depopulation occafioned by it. 
 
 The powers and prerogatives, ufurped, or claimed and exerciied, by 
 
 * Kobert de Bruniie, in his poetical paraphrafe author, the monftrous greatnefs of tlie fum would 
 
 of Langtofl's Chronicle, [/>. 88] reverfes the pay- fufficieiitly pro've it to be utterly incredible. The 
 
 ment, and makes Malcolm pay to William no lefs lum, found in the treafury of William the Con- 
 
 than_/i/r/y thotifand pounds, a ium equal in efficacy queror, which was thought wondcifuily great to 
 
 to at lealt live millions of modern money, which, he accumulated from the revenues of ^/jj /««</, dur- 
 
 il it were true, would give a very magnificent idea ing the whole of his oppreffive reign, was but /^.-s/v 
 
 indeed of the commerce of Scotland. But, inde- thou/and pounds. Great furas are cahly raifcd upon- 
 
 pendent of its being in coutradiftion to a better paper. ,
 
 316 A. D. 1095. 
 
 the nobles in every feudal kingdom of Europe, had reduced the autho- 
 rity of the fovereign to a mere fhadow, and the condition of the great 
 body of the people to the mofi: abject humiliation and mifery. Of the 
 condition of the fovereign, and thofe clafles of the people who lived in 
 the country, it is not neceflary at prefent to fay any thing. Every city 
 and town, or burgh, had a fuperior lord, to whom the inhabitants were 
 bound in fidelity or allegiance, and to whom they looked up for pro- 
 tection from the oppreflions of other lords. But for that protecSlion, 
 which the vveaknefs, or want, of government rendered neceflary, they 
 paid a flipulated rent, and performed many galling fervices (of which 
 every place mentioned in Domefday book furniflies an example) befides 
 fubmitting to the privation of rights, which ought upon no account 
 whatever to be alienable. They could not pretend to be mafters of 
 their otv^n property ; nor could they even call their children their own, 
 for without the confent of their lord they durfl not difpofe of them in 
 marriage, appoint guardians to them, or leave any thing to them at 
 their death *. Such a conflitution, by crufliing, or annihilating, the 
 native energy of the mind, effectually prevented any wifh or attempt to 
 make the fmalleft progrefs in fcience or commerce : for the citizen, (if 
 the name may be applied to fuch abjedt characters) no more than the 
 farmer, had any inducement to improve the property, which was en- 
 tirely at the mercy of his lord. Such was the ftate of almoft all the 
 cities and burghs of the Chriftian part of Europe, a few in Italy ex- 
 cepted, when the frenzy of the holy war broke out. Then many of 
 the princes and barons, in their eagernefs to raife money for their equip- 
 ment, fold their fuperiority over their vafTal towns, fome to other lords, 
 fome to the clergy, but mofl to the community of the inhabitants them- 
 felves. By fuch fales the exorbitant power of the great lords was much 
 lowered, while that of the fovereign was proportionally exalted ; and 
 the inhabitants, freed from the flavifh fubjedion to a ftibjeCt, generally 
 applied to the fovereign for charters, which he gladly granted, em- 
 
 * In many places the fiiperiors were not fatis- children, felling their wine and fait, and making 
 
 fied with having a negative voice iii the difpofal of tlitir wills : \_Failera ^ngl'ri, V. i, pp. 105, in, 
 
 their vafials' children in marriage, the moll im- 112] and Richard earl of Cornwall, when acling 
 
 portant event in tiie life of the individual, but ac- as emperor of Germany, gratioufly renounced in 
 
 tually bedowed them according to their own in- favour of the burgefies of Frankfort his preroga- 
 
 tcreft or caprice, without paying any more atten- tive of difpofing of their daughters without their 
 
 tion to the wiflics of the parents or the inclina- confent. [_Pf^i:l Ahrc^e de I'hijl et droit d'Alk- 
 
 tion of the parties to be married, tlian a farmer magne, p. 373, ed. 1758.J And to come home to 
 
 pays to thofe of his cattle, when he couples them England, King John, in his charter to Dunwich, 
 
 for propagation,' or when he fells, or {laughters, permits his burgeffcs of that town to difpofe of 
 
 their calves or foiils. Any relaxation of the rigour their children as they think proper, within his 
 
 of the lord's prerogative was granted as a Iponta- dominion-,, and to give or fell ihcir lands andhoufes 
 
 ncous favour (though generally well paid for) and In the town. He alfo allows t'.c ^vidovvs to marry 
 
 by no means as the retloration of an inherent right, by the advice of their friends. For this charter. 
 
 Thus Otto, AUenura, and her fon Jnhn king of and renovations of it, the burgefTes paid large fums 
 
 England, as princes of Aquitalne, granted to their to King JohH. [CbiirU in Brady on burghs, ap- 
 
 mcu of Olcrou the liberty of difpofing of their pend. pp. ic, II.^
 
 A, D, 1095. 311 
 
 powering them to eled their own magiflrates, and to make laws for 
 their internal government ; and alfo conferring on them feveral excluf- 
 ive privileges with refpeft to their trade or manufadures, which might, 
 perhaps, be proper at the time, but which the progrefs of knowlege 
 and liberality has in many inftances quietly fuftered to fink into oblivion, 
 or at leall difufe. The inhabitants of cities and towns, reflored to the 
 condition of men, ventured to acquire property ; their numbers were 
 augmented by the acceffion of many refpedable perfons from the coun- 
 try ; and in procefs of time towns, inftead of being defpifed, as the re- 
 ceptacle of the meaneft and rudefl clafles of the people, were diftin- 
 guifhed from the upland, or landward, villages, as the leats of fcience 
 and urbanity, as well as of commerce. 
 
 In the trading cities of Italy navigation, and all the arts and manu- 
 fadures conneded with it, were already confiderably improved. As it 
 was from them that the warriors of the weftern nations generally took 
 their pailage for the Holy land, they were greatly enriched by the fums 
 paid for the tranfportation of fo many myriads of men, women, and 
 children, horfes, and baggage, and for the fupplies of provifions and all 
 kinds of military ftores and neceflliries, which they alone furnifhed to 
 the crufaders. By thefe profitable employments, which continued for 
 about two centuries, a very confiderable part of the treafure of the cru^ 
 faders centered in thofe cities, and invigorated their induftry and com- 
 mercial exertions : and by their example, together with the circulation 
 of their wealth, the indultry of the reit of Italy was aroufed, and called 
 into profitable employment. Such were the beneficial effeds of the 
 holy wars to thofe cities, which continued to manage the greateft part 
 of the commerce of Europe, till the difcovery of America and a dired 
 route to India placed the weftern nations, till then at the extremity of 
 the world, in the moft favourable pofition for the commerce of both 
 hemifpheres, and Italy, from being the center of the adive commerce 
 of the weftern world, came to be almoft in the fituation of an inland 
 country, unconneded with, and out of the track of, the moft important 
 navigation. 
 
 Even the countries which furnifhed the moft numerous armies for the 
 holy wars, and confequently fuffered moft from depopulation and im.- 
 poverifhment, were, in time, roufed from the lethargy, into which they 
 had fallen almoft immediately after their governments were eftabliflied 
 upon the fubverfion of the Roman dominion. The powers of the hu- 
 man mind, though funk into the loweft abyfs of ignorance and bigotry, 
 could not fail to be ftimulated by the fight of countries, comparatively 
 enlightened, and enjoying many of the comforts derived from know- 
 lege and induftry. The weftern pilgrims faw with furprife the refine- 
 ments and opulence of the commercial cities of Italy, and were utterly 
 aftoniflied, when they beheld the magnificence and fplendour of Con-
 
 312 ' A. D. 1095. 
 
 ftantinople, where they moreover faw manufadures unknown m the 
 refl of Europe, and a confiderable commerce. Nor did the mutual 
 r.verfion entirely prevent them from perceiving how much their Moha- 
 medan enemies were fuperior to their own countrymen in fcience and 
 manufadures. The few, who returned home with expanded minds and 
 improved tafte, carried with them new arts and nianufadtures, and new 
 plants and animals, which were naturalized in their own countries, 
 where they wifhed ftill to enjoy the conveniencies and luxuries they had 
 been accuflomed to when abroad. By their example the tafte for fuch 
 enjoyments v/as communicated to their neighbours ; and as it became 
 necefiary to improve and increafe the native produce in order to anfwer 
 the increafed demand for foreign merchandize, the numbers of veflels 
 and feamen, and alfo of manufadurers and merchants, at leaft in the 
 free ftates of Italy, were greatly augmented. 
 
 For all thefe, and many other improvements in the condition of man- 
 kind, the weftern world is indebted to the mofl frantic enterprile that 
 ever was undertaken by a number of independent nations in conjunc- 
 tion, and which was intended only to promote the interell of prieftcraft 
 and the deluiion and deflruction of mankind *. 
 
 Before the pradice of infurance reduced the hazard of the fea to 
 arithmetical certainty, it was more neceffary than now for the owners 
 of veflels to divide their rifk by holding fhares of feverals, rather than 
 embarking too much of their capital in one bottom. Accordingly 
 about this time, when infurance was certainly unknown in England, 
 and perhaps even in the commercial ftates bordering on the Mediter- 
 ranean fea, we find a half fhare of one veflel, and a quarter of another, 
 belonging to Godric, a native of Walpole in Norfolk, who, after fol- 
 lowing the bufinefs of a merchant fixteen years, became a famous faint, 
 and was honoured with a vifit of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. 
 [M. Paris, pp. 64, 117.] 
 
 1098 — Magnus Berfoetta (the Barefooted), king of Norway, made fome 
 expeditions among the Britifli iflands, the moft important of which 
 feems to have been about this time. Landing in Orkney, he depofed 
 the two conjunft earls, and then proceeded to the Sudureyar (Weftern 
 iflands), Mann, and Anglefey, plundering every one of them, except 
 Hyona, the fandity of which he refpeded. Next direding his hoftili- 
 ties againft Scotland, a peace was concluded upon condition that the 
 king of Scotland fliould refign all pretenfions to every ifland, between 
 which and the main land a veflel could fteer with a rudder. Magnus 
 availed himfelf of the diftindion, which feems to have been intended 
 
 • It imil be ackiiowlcgcd, lliat Sllvcder II (or clnircli of Jcnifalcm, tlic fruit of which was a little 
 
 Gerbcrt) one of the moft enlightened of the popes, pieliminary cnifadc, undertaken in the year (J99 by 
 
 fowed the firft feeds of tliia frenzy by a letter ad- a fleet from the commercial city of Pifa. \_Plt. 
 
 drcffed to all Chriftiaiis in the name of the dillreflVd Ponlif. up. Miiralori Script. V. Hi, part i, p. 400O
 
 A. D. 1098. 313 
 
 to except the little pendicles of the fliore infulated only at high water, 
 and got a light veflel, wherein he fat with the helm in liis hand, drag- 
 ged acrofs the narrow neck (Tarbat), which feparates Kentire from the 
 main part of Argyle-fliire : and the Scottifli king, not finding it pru- 
 dent to difpute Magnus's logic, was thereby tricked out of that fine 
 peninfida, which, Snorro properly obferves, was more valuable than 
 any of the iflands, except Mann. Thus were almoft all the lefler Bi-it- 
 ifh iflands, with a part of the main land, completely detached from 
 the fovereignty of the country they naturally belong to, and made a 
 province of a diflant kingdom *. 
 
 In the laft of his weftern expeditions Magnus made himfelf mafter 
 of Dublin, and loft his life by a fudden attack of the Irifli. [Snorro, 
 Hijl. Magni Berfcettn, cc. 9-27.] 
 
 1099 — On the firft day of the new moon of November in the year 
 1099 the tide rofe fo high, that it drowned fome towns and villages, and 
 fwept away vaft numbers of cattle and fheep. \Chron. Sax. and Flor. 
 Wig. ad an.] The part of the coaft, where this inundation happened, 
 ij not told. But the fhort account of it has apparently given rife to the 
 tradition of the origin of the Godwin fands, which, we are told, com- 
 pofed a part of the eftate of Earl Godwin on the main land of Kent. 
 But it cannot be fuppofed, that the water continued at the extraordi- 
 nary height to which the fpring tide, with undoubtedly the concur- 
 rence of a high wind, raifed it : and it is more rational to believe, that 
 the Godwin fands owed their formation, or rather their appearance 
 above water, to the fubliding of the fea, which is certainly known to 
 have receded, or, in other words, become Jlmllower, on the adjacent 
 coafts of Kent. 
 
 II 01, Auguft 15'^ — On the death of William II, his brother Henry, 
 the youngeft fon of William the Conqueror, fenfible that he could have 
 no title to the crown, if his elder brother Robert, then abfent in the 
 Holy land, was alive, and being very eager to recommend himfelf to 
 the favour of both nations, made magnificent promifes of redreffing 
 the grievances of the preceding reign, if he fhould be king. But the 
 
 * The northern writers have not accurately diftin- till then fuLjeft to Scotland. But the Chronicles 
 
 giiidied the two, or perhaps rather three, expedi- of Haly-rud, of Melros, and of Mann (a Nor- 
 
 tions of Magnus. Snorro fays, that the king of wegian colony), Fordun and Wyntown, the ear- 
 
 .Scotland, with whom Magnus made the treaty, licit geneial hiftorians of Scotland, and even Boyfe, 
 
 was Malcolm, which, if the firft of his expeditions fond as he is of fable, have not a woid of any fuch 
 
 is rightly dated in IC96, is impofiible ; for no hif- agreement. 
 
 loric event is better afcertained, than that Malcolm The Chronicle of Mann, Florence of Worcefter, 
 fell in battle on the 13"' of November 1093. Lefly William of Malmdniry, Simeon of Duiham, and 
 and Buchanan, late Scottifh writers, improving up- Wyntown, agree in placing the conqueft of the 
 on a blundering interpolation of Bower's, have idands by Magnus in the reign of Edgar ; who 
 made a flory of Donald, the brother of Malcolm, feems to have been a weak prince, as he is corn- 
 bribing Magnus to affifthim in ufurping the crown pared by a writer of that age to the monkllli king 
 <if Scotland, for which fervice, they fay, he gave of England, Edward the ConfefTor. [^Ethtlred, 
 him all ihe iflands, which, they fuppofed, were ap. Tw\/J(n, cal. 367.3 
 
 Vol. I. ■ R r
 
 314 A. D. 1 10 1. 
 
 clergv and people, knowing that his father and brother had paid no at- 
 tention to their verbal promifes, defired him to expreis his good inten- 
 tions in writing. He accordingly executed a charter, wherein, in order 
 to pleafo his Englifh lubjeils, he engaged to reftore the Saxon laws of 
 Edward the Confeflbr, as they had been amended by his father ; and 
 to his Norman luhjeiis he proraiied an alleviation of fome ot the moft 
 galling of the feudal prerogatives of the crown. But, if this charter 
 had been obferved, as it was not, the only article of it, which could 
 have meliorated the condition of the great body of the people, is a 
 charge, or recommendation, to the barons to make a proportional alle- 
 viation in the feudal burthens of their vaffals. No fuch words as com- 
 merce or merchant are to be found in the charter *. 
 
 The city of London appears to have now rifen to fuch confequence, 
 that the new king thought it proper to give a particular charter ' to 
 ' his citizens f of London,' wherein he grants them the firm of the 
 county of Middlefex to be held for an annual payment of ^^300, with 
 power to appoint a fhirref and a jufliciary out of their own body. The 
 citizens are exempted from anfwering any fuits beyond the walls of the 
 city, and releafed from the payment of fchot, danegeld, and murder X, 
 and from the trial by duel §. They are delivered from the oppreffion 
 of the king's retinue and others taking lodgings in their houfes by force. 
 They and their property of every kind are exempted from paying toll, 
 paflage, laftage, and other cuftoms, throughout all England and in all 
 the fea-ports. The churches, the barons ||, and citizens, are fecured in 
 
 * This charter was the foundation and model London'were freed by the cliarter. See Brady on. 
 
 •f the more famous one extorted from King John burghs, append, p. 25. 
 
 by the barons. [Mat. Parts, p. 253. — Spdmanni § ' NuUus eorum faciat belhim.' In the Latin 
 Glo/f. vo. Magna cbarta,'] And it proves, that the of the middle ages biUum, befuies war, its claflical 
 priTileges, which John was compelled to grant, meaning, fignifies more ficquently a haltle, and 
 were not nciu encroachments upon the royal prero- even a combat between two indhnrlimb, or a duel. 
 ^ative, as fome have pretended, but reftorations of Tliat the later is the meaning here, appears from 
 the rights of the barons (not of the people) vvhijh the word ' duellum' being fublliliited in the re- 
 had been ufurped by the crown. neivcd charter granted by Henry II, for ' bellum' 
 
 ■j- The term nilizcn begins now to be ufcd in in this one. 
 
 England. In the charter of William I to London || Spelman \GlrilJ. "ao. Baro~\ underftands ' ba^ 
 
 thc'^inhabitants are called ' burhwaru', Imrghcrs, ' rones' in this charter as meaning the principal 
 
 or burgcfles. There is, I believe, no fucli word as men of the community, uho were empowered to 
 
 citizen in Domcfday book, the inhabitants of the hold courts, as diilinguiflicd from the reft of the 
 
 places called cities being ililed ' burgenfes,' bur- citizens (' cives') : and he adduces, as a fimilar ac^ 
 
 gefles, as well as of thole called^urj/i/. ceptation ot" the word, a brief of Henry I, direft- 
 
 t It may fcen furprifuig that a king fliould cd to Fulcher (apparently tliC chief magillratc), 
 
 grant a general pardon for fo atrocious a crime as linftace the fhirref, and all the barons of London, 
 
 murder. But the vvord ' murdrum' ilgnifics not defiring that the abbat of Ramfay may hold his 
 
 only murder, but alfo the fine payable for murder ; lands of the city of London. He obfcrves, that 
 
 for in thofe days every man's price, or the fine to the title of baron was alfo given to citizens of 
 
 be paid for murdering him, was ftttled by law ac- York and Cliclkr, and burgciles of Warwick and 
 
 tording to his rank. The community, in whofe Faverfliam, and in Fiance to the citizens of Bour- 
 
 diftricl the murder happened, were liable for the ges.— But Mathcw Paris \_pp. 749, 863, 974] ap- 
 
 jjcnalty, if the criminal could not be found : and pears to give the title to a much greater number, 
 
 it mull be from thii liability that the citizens of or lathcr to the whole, of the citizens ; and parti- 
 cularly
 
 A. D. I loi. 315 
 
 the peaceable enjoyment of their jurifdictions with all their cuftoms ; 
 and it is declared, that no citizen fhall ever be amerced in any fum 
 above a hundred fliillings, that being the amount of his -were *. They 
 are direded to hold the court called hujlitig f every Monday. And their 
 right of hunting (a diflinguifhed and highly-valued privilege in thofe 
 times) in the Chiltern, Middlefex, and Surry, was confirmed to them 
 as amply as their anceftors had enjoyed it. — The charter alio contains 
 feveral other privileges very favourable to the citizens with refped to 
 the recovery of their debts, and a power to recover tolls and cuftoms 
 unlawfully exadled from them in any burgh or town. \Wilkhis, Leg. 
 Atiglo-Sax. p. 235.] 
 
 1 1 02 — In the beginning of the twelfth century (and how long, be- 
 fore we know not X) paper made of cotton was commonly ufed for books 
 and other writings. A charter, dated in the year 1102, is exprefsly 
 faid to have been written upon cotton paper (' charta cuttunea' §) in a 
 renovation of it by Roger king of Sicily in the year 1 145. This paper, 
 which had now become common in the Eaftern empire, in a great mea- 
 fure fuperfeded, or rather made up for the want of, the Egyptian pa- 
 pyrus and parchment. It is perhaps to the invention of it that we owe 
 the prefervation of fuch of the authors of antiquity as have come down 
 to us, as the fcarcity and high price of parchment had been the de- 
 ftrudion of many of them ; for the monkilh librarians never fcrupled 
 to erafe the writing of the moft valuable claflic author, in order to cover 
 the fame parchment with the more pretious miracles of a favourite 
 faint. The cotton paper, however, was found not fufficiently flout 
 and durable for important writings ; and therefor the emperor Frederic 
 II, in his Sicilian conftitutions in the year 1221, ordered that public 
 writings and fecurities fhould be written on parchment only. Still, 
 however, the cotton paper maintained its ground for other purpofes, till 
 it was in its turn fuperfeded by the invention of a better kind, made 
 of linen rags. [^Montfaucon, EJ'aifur le papyrus in Mem. de litterature, V. 
 y\, p. 605 ||. — Schwandneri Specimen linecE charta antiqiiijfimce , p. 6.] 
 
 cularly in the year 1258 he calls all the citizens, China i6co years ago, according to Raynal. \_H\fi. 
 
 affembled in Gildliall, barons. The infcription ph'dof. et polil. F. m, p. ii^6, ed. i']82.'\ 
 
 • Sigillum baronium Londoniarum', on the city's § It was alfo called charla hombycina, the word 
 
 feal, appended to a leafe in the year 1373, {_Stotu's bombycina being in thofe ages extended to cotton, 
 
 fur-vey of London, p. 586, ed. 1618] does not clear which is ftill called bambaccta by the Italians, from 
 
 the doubt. ^ whom we probably got the word bombqft (now on- 
 
 * JVere, the price of a man, or fum payable ly known in its metaphorical fciife) for cotton, 
 
 for killing him. See above, p. 314, note |. and bombajline for a lUiif made of cotton, feeming- 
 
 f Hujl'mg (not huttings) is compounded of the ly the fame which was called afterwards i^/w and 
 
 Anglo-Saxon words hus, bnufe, and tlu'ng, legijla- fuJTian. 
 
 ti-ve, ov judicial, affembly. The two words have the || Montfaucon carries the ufe of cotton paper 
 
 fame meanmg in the Icelandic language, and with as high as the ninth century, and that of linen 
 
 little, or oftner no, variation of fpelling, in all the paper as high as the twelfth. For the later he 
 
 i)tlier Gothic languages. quotes Petrus Mauricius [Contra jfudaos) who 
 
 t The art of making paper has been known in wrote about the year 1140, and fays, that booki 
 
 R r 2 •re
 
 316 A. D. 1 102. 
 
 The earlieft certain notice of a gild, fraternity, company, or corpora- 
 tion, of tradefmen in England occurs in the record of a payment of fix- 
 teen pounds into the exchequer, made by Robert the fon of Leueftan 
 for the gild of weavers of London in the reign of Henry I, the year 
 uncertain. In the reign of Henry II they paid annually two marks (fix- 
 teen ounces) of gold, or twelve pounds of filver, the value of the later 
 being to the former as nine to one. \_Madox.f Finna burgi, p. iC)i,for 
 the authorities. '\ 
 
 1 108 King Henry I enaded fevere laws againft the frauds of coin- 
 ers. And becaufe the money, which was bent or broken, was general- 
 ly refufed, he ordered, that no perfon fhould refufe any penny, or half- 
 penny (which he alfo ordered to be made round, inftead of femicircu- 
 lar) or even a farthing, if it was entire. \^R. Hoveden,/. 270 a*.] He 
 alfo direded that the meafure of the eln or yard fhould be of uniform 
 length throughout his kingdom; and he made the length of his own 
 arm the llandard of itf. [Knig/jton, col. 2375.] 
 
 nil — A vafh number of Flemings, driven out of their own country 
 by an extraordinary encroachment of the fea, had come to England in 
 the reign of William the Conqueror, hoping for fettlements and pro- 
 tedion from the influence of the queen, who was of their countiy. 
 William, glad of fuch an acceffion of foreigners, ftationed great num- 
 bers of them upon the northern frontier, chiefly about Carlile, and 
 others throughout the refl; of the country. King Henry, now finding 
 that the Flemings did not well agree with his other fubjeds, tranfplant- 
 cd the whole of them to a diflrid taken from the Wclfli, called Ros 
 (now a part of Pembroke-fliire) where their pofl:erity can be diflinguilh- 
 ed from their Welfli neighbours to this day. They were a brave and 
 hardy people, equally qualified to handle the plough and the fword; 
 and they were alfo ikilful in the woollen manufadure, the great ftaple 
 
 are made of tlic flcins of various animals, of an centuries the largeft filvcr coin'in Britain, .tnd was 
 
 Oriental plant (the papyrus), and ofyivvi/)i«^'is/c/i/ equivalent in real value to at leaft ten IhiUings of 
 
 doli (' ex rafuris vcterum pannornm'), which, modern money. (See the prices of corn, &c. about 
 
 Montfaucon fays, muft ajfiii-edty mean paper made this time in the Appendix.) It had on one fide a 
 
 of linen rags ; a concluCon, which does not feem crofs fo deeply indented, that it could tliercby be 
 
 necefTarily to follow from the words of that author, eafily broken into halves and quarters; and fuch 
 
 Might not the rags of old cotton cloth be then broJccn pieces appear to have been the only money 
 
 employed in the manufacture of paper, as well as fmaller than pennies, till now that Henry coined 
 
 r.e w cotton ? The fame words of Mauricius are alfo halfpennies. The fii il coinage of round halfpennies 
 
 quoted by Muratori [A//c/. V. ili, cr,l. 871] and and farthings of lilvcr is aferihed to Edward I; but 
 
 others, and have led feveral writers to believe, that wc fee the coinage of round halfpennies by Henry I 
 
 paper made of linen rags is as old as the twelfth related by Florence, Simeon, and Hoveden, who 
 
 century, of which, I believe, no fatisfadlory proof all tlouriilicd before Edward was born. Copper 
 
 has yet appeared. See below at the year 1 243. coins were not introduced till feveral centuries after 
 
 • The older authors, Florence, Simeon, &c. as this time, 
 
 publiihed, arc unintelligible upon this fubjeft, from f 'i'''e ftandard mull have been very uncertain, 
 
 the want of two words, to be found only in Hove- even though there had been a mark on the king's 
 
 den. The penny, containing the two-hundred-and- flioulder to afcertain the point from which the mca- 
 
 fcitietb part of a pound of lilver, was for feveral fure Ihould commence.
 
 A. D. Ill I. 
 
 ^^7 
 
 oi" their country, and in general commerce : fo that in every refped 
 they were a moll vaUuible colony, whether confidered as a barrier 
 againll an enemy, or as tlic firfl founders ot the manufadure of fine 
 
 woollen goods in England*, [i^^/or. Wig. p. 655. — W. Mnlinjh.f. 89 b 
 
 Gir. Cambr. p. 848, ed. Camd.'] 
 
 May 22' — Henry V, emperor of Gennany, being at Verona, gave 
 the duke of Venice a charter, alcertaining the dominions of the republic 
 on the main land of Italy, and difcriminating them from his own Italian 
 territories, among which he reckons Luca, Pifa, and Genoa, though 
 ihefe cities had generally a(51ed as independent fovereign republics long- 
 before. He prohibits his fubjeds from diftrefling any Venetian veflel 
 branded or wrecked on any part of his coafts, or from harbouring fu- 
 gitive flaves belonging to the Venetians. He gives them liberty of tra- 
 veling by land or on the rivers in all his dominions, and in return re- 
 quires for his own fubjeds only the liberty of the lea and the mouths of 
 the rivers in the Venetian territories. The charter (which is very long 
 for that age) contains many other privileges granted to the Venetians, 
 fuch as the unmolefted property of eflates, liberty of pallurage, cutting 
 wood, &c. in his dominions. [^Re/pub. Vend. p. 440.] 
 
 1 1 1 5— If we may believe the exaggerated flander (for fuch he intend- 
 ed it) of Donizo, \Vita Matildis comitijjce, c. 20. ap. Muratori Script. V. iv} 
 Pifa was now polluted by the relort of Pagans, Turks, Libyans, Par- 
 ihians, and Chakkeans. It is one of the few pleafmg circumllances oc- 
 curring in the hiftory of mankind, that fo much focial and beneficial 
 intercourfe fubfifted at this time to offend this tefi;y monk. 
 
 The citizens of Pilli had their full Ikare of the advantages derived by 
 the trading communities of Italy from the Holy war. Tancred prince 
 of Antioch in the year 1108 engaged, in confideration of the afliftance 
 furniflied by the Pilans in fubduing the Greeks of Laodicea, to give 
 them a place in that city, and a ftreet in Antioch, and to grant immu- 
 nity from cuftom to their fliipping with liberty to come and go at their 
 pleafure. The fucceeding princes of Antioch, the kings of Jerufalera, 
 and other Chriftian princes who had acquired, or expected to acquire, 
 territories in Alia, gave many charters to the Pifans, between the years 
 1 108 and 1 216, containing iimilar grants of very ample privileges and 
 payments, made or promifed. [Original charters in MuratorPs Antiq. V. 
 ii, coll. 905-918.] 
 
 1 1 20 — But the Pifans were not without their fhare of the calamities 
 of the times. Their city was laid in afhes, and their illands of Sar- 
 dinia and Corfica taken from them, by the Saracens. The illands were 
 recovered by the affiftance of the Genoefe. But the divifion of the 
 conqueft, with probably the exafperation of commercial jealoufy, im- 
 
 * This was the laft colony of any coiifequence fettled in Great Britain, till the bigotry of Louis XIV 
 fent over the colony of French proteilant filk-weavers in the year 1685. 4.
 
 318 A. D. 1 1 20. 
 
 mediately kindled a war between the allies, in which the Genoefe, with 
 .a fleet of eighty gallies and four great fhips carrying warlike engines, 
 befieged the harbour of the Pifans, and obliged them to fubmit to their 
 pleafure refpeding Corfica (September 14'''). The peace was almoft 
 immediately broken, and a fanguinary war, fometimes interrupted by 
 infincere pacifications or truces, continued to diftrefs the two neigh- 
 bouring and rival republics for almoft two centuries. [^Stell^ Ann. Gen. 
 and Chron. Pifan. ap. Muratori Script. V. vi.] 
 
 1 1 13 — A cathedral church was founded near the north bank of the 
 River Clyde by David, earl or prince of Cumberland, and afterwards 
 king of Scotland *. The foundation of this church is entitled to no- 
 tice in commercial hiftory, becaufe it gave birth to the city of Glafgow, 
 which, after flumbering through feveral dull centuries of monkifli fioth 
 as a bilhop's burgh, has in later times ftione out as the center o!" the 
 moft vigorous commerce and the moft extenfive manufactures in Scot- 
 land. 
 
 1 120 — The pearls found in feveral of the rivers of Scotland were at 
 this time in great requeft. King Alexander 1'^ is faid to have exceeded 
 all men in that fpecies of riches ; and his peai"ls, on account of their 
 large fize and fuperior brightnefs, were celtbrated and coveted in diftant 
 countries. [Nicolai EpiJI. in Anglia facra^ V. ii, />• 236.] 
 
 1 1 21 — Scotland mull have had confiderable intercourfe with foreign- 
 ers, and alfo poffefled fome degree of opulence, when even the king of 
 fo remote a country could enjoy the foreign luxuries of an Arabian 
 horfe, velvet furniture, and Turkifli armour. All thefe articles, toge- 
 ther with other valuable trinkets, and a large eftate in land, were ))ie- 
 fented by King Alexander to the church of St. Andrews. {Regijhr of 
 
 St. Andrews, a venerable contemporary record. Wyntowns Chronicle, V. i, 
 
 p. 28r..] 
 
 Henry king of England made a navigable canal of feven miles in 
 length from the Trent at Torkfey to the Witham at Lincoln, into which 
 he introduced the water of the Trent f . \iiim. Dun. col. 243.] 
 
 1 1 26, September (f" The popes were very eager to fupprefs the 
 
 practice of lending money at an equitable rate of intereft, which, like 
 all other branches of trade, muft naturally find its proper price in a fair 
 and open competiiion, in order to engrofs to their own fecret agents 
 and creatures a moft opprcffive trade of lending money at exorbitant in- 
 tereft. In a council of the clergy of England, held at Weftminfter un- 
 
 * The church mud liave been founded in the cffltr, p. 25] fuppofcs, that the Trent on'oiiially 
 
 year 11 13, if not carh'cr; for Jtihn birtiop of Gl.if- ran call to the fea (as it aftually appears in Rich- 
 
 gow appears in the foundation charter of the abbay ard's very curious map of Roman Britain) and 
 
 of Selkirk, which in tliat year was (locked with that it was carried nortliward into the Huniber by 
 
 monks of Tyron. [^Dalrymple's Colled, p. 404. — Caraufnis for the benefit of inhiiid navigation. If 
 
 Sim. Dun. col. 236.] Stuktly is right, Henry's work was a rclloration 
 
 f Y)<j&.ov 5i\iki:\y [^ylccounf of Richard of C'ircn- of tlic river to a part of its antient channel.
 
 A. D. 1 126. 319 
 
 der the direction, of the pope's legate, all clergymen were ordered 
 to abflain from mtereft and bafe lucre *, on pain of degradation. 
 [^Sim. Dun. ap. Twyfden, col. 254.] Under the operation of fo injudicious 
 a rellridion, the clergy, who could not engage in trade themfelves f , 
 were obliged to keep their money dead befide them, as few would chufe 
 to run any rifk of lofs or inconvenience by lending it, when they could 
 derive no emolument from it. But fome laws are fo prepoflerous, that 
 they become void by a tacit general confent without being formally re- 
 pealed : and that fuch was the fate of this one, may be inferred from a 
 more rigid renovation of it in a fubfequent council of the clergy held 
 at V/eftniinfter (13'' December 1138) under the direction of another 
 papal legate. [Ric. Hagujlald. col. 327.] 
 
 1 1 30— The Venetians obtained a charter from Baldwin II, king of 
 Jerufalem, conveying to them the moft ample powers, privileges, and 
 immunities, in all cities fubjeft to himfelf and his barons ; together 
 with the property of the third part of the cities of Tyre and Afcalon, 
 when he fhould take them from the Saracens by their help. [Chart, in 
 Muratori Jnt'ia. V. it, col. 919.] We liave already feen fimilar grants 
 made to the Piians, {above, p. 317) and many fuch were obtained from 
 time to tiir.e by the commercial flates of Italy, who, leaving to the 
 weftern nations the glory of being the principals in the frenzy of ruin- 
 ing themfelves for the aggrandizement of the popes, wilely drew to 
 themielves the profits i negleded indeed by their weftern allies) of trad- 
 ing under the protection of the armies of the crofs. 
 
 The melanc'oly conlequence of wooden buildings being crowded to- 
 gether-was fatally experienced in the city of London in two dreadful 
 conflagrations. In ihe firil (a . 1132) almoffc the whole of the city was 
 burnt down. The fecond (a°. 1135) began at London bridge, and ex- 
 tending weftward as far as the church of the Danes (now St. Clement 
 Danes), conRimed every thing in its progrefs, and among the reft: the 
 cathedral church of St. Paul. \_Mat. Weft m. pp. 241, 242.] 
 
 King Henry about the later end of his reign was induced, by the 
 complaints of the tenants of his demefne lands, to convert the rents, 
 formerly paid entirely, or almofl; entirely, in the real produce of the 
 foil, to a fixed rate in money ; whereby the tenants were relieved from 
 the inconvenience, expenfe, and opprelfion, they often fuftered in con- 
 
 * « Ufuvam et turpe lucrum.' — As t't contriv- follo'w'mg the inJlUutes of the fathers, prohibited 
 
 ers of tliofe canons made no aifferencc b^^trt'een the monks and cicrcrj-men, under tlie pain of anathema, 
 
 moft m.odcrate and tlie moft ex irbitant inteicft, the from trading for profit. \_Spelman ConcU. V. u, 
 
 name of ufury (in modern lanjjuage rcftritted, p. IC3.3 There are in the councils many other 
 
 t'aough rather improperly, to the later) was indif- prohibitions againft the clergy engaging in trade, 
 
 criminatcly applied to any allowance or compspfa- one of the reafons afligned being, becaufe btitin^ 
 
 tion given for the ufe (ufura) of money ; and it is and felling cannot be tranfaded tvi hout fin. \_p. 288.1 
 
 here joined with bale or difgraceful lucre in order to They did not think it any fin for idle drones I* 
 
 jnake it appear equally criminal. confuDie tlie produce of other men's indultry. 
 
 f The council held at Weftminller in 11751
 
 320 A. D. 1 130. 
 
 veying the king's part of their crops, animals, &c. to diftant places ; and 
 the king obtained a revenue, more convenient, and more eafily applic- 
 able to every purpofe whatever. [Dialog, dc fcaccai-'io, L. i, c. '7.] 
 
 1 136, 1 158 — The commercial city of Amalfi, and four neighbouring 
 cities, fubjed: to, or allied with, it, were twice taken and deftroyed, or 
 pillaged, by the forces of the rival commercial city of Pifa, which for 
 fome years paft had repeatedly triumphed over the Saracens of Africa, 
 Spain, and the Balearic iflands. \Cbron. Pifan. and Breviariufn Hift. Pifan. 
 in Murnturi Script. V. vi.] But Amalfi recovered in fome meafure from 
 thefe difafters, and ftill poflelled fome degree of commercial and nauti- 
 cal eminence. 
 
 The maritime laws of Amalfi were adopted in the kingdom of Naples, 
 according to Freccia, a Neapolitan author of the fixteenth century, who 
 fays, that in his time maritime controverfies continued to be determin- 
 ed by the 'Table of Amalfi in preference to the Rhodian law. [See Brenc- 
 vian Dijf. de rep. Amalphitana, § 18.] I believe, the time when thefe 
 laws were enafted cannot be accurately afcertained. 
 
 An antient and authentic copy of Juftinian's Pandeds, difcovered at 
 Amalfi, w^hen it was taken by the Pifans, has been generally fuppofed 
 the original of all the copies now extant in Europe. Though the Pan- 
 dects were undoubtedly known in France before this time (as appeal's 
 by quotations taken from them by Ivo de Chartres, who died in the 
 year 1 1 17) the difcovery of the Araalfitan copy, and the numerous tran- 
 fcripts made from it, gave a new fpring to the ftudy of the Roman civil 
 law, which quickly fpread from Italy over the reft of Europe. [See 
 Breticman Hijl. Patidecl.] The Pandeds were known in England at leaft 
 as early as the year 1 140, [Selden ad Fletam, c. 7] and in the courfe of 
 the twelfth century, they were ftudied in every part of Europe ; and 
 henceforth property became more fecure, and the ftate of fociety was 
 improved. [See Robertforis HiJl. of Cba. V., V. i, p. 381, cd. 1792, S-z^o.] 
 
 1 139 — Though the commercial ftates of Italy regulated their govern- 
 ments, eleded their magiftrates, made war and peace, and aded in all 
 refpeds as independent fovereigns, yet all of them, except Venice, 
 acknowleged the fupremacy of the king, or emperor, of Germany in 
 his charader of emperor of the Romans. In that charader Conrad 
 gave the Genoefe a charter, empowering them to coin money of gold 
 or other metals, having on one fide the crofs, the ftandard of Genoa, 
 with the words ' Conradiis rex Romanorum^ and on the other lide the 
 word ' faniia^ for the name of the city. \Stelhe An. Gen. ap. Muratori 
 'Script. V. xvii, col. 974. J 
 
 About the year 11 30 the Genoefe, being profperous and opulent, be- 
 gan to think of enlarging their territories, and obliged the people of 
 feveral neighbouring towns, or little fi;ates (for almofl; every town had 
 a dependent diftrid) to fwear allegiance to them. Without enumerat-
 
 A. D. 1 139. 321 
 
 ing the petty dates incorporated with Genoa by conqueft or purchafe, 
 but moft frequently by the later, it may be fufficicnt to obferve, that 
 all the counts, marquifcs, lords of caflles, and alfo many cities, which 
 had acquired independence of the emperors or other fuperiors by pur- 
 chafe, or by taking advantage of the convulfions of the times, through- 
 out the whole extent of the Ligurian coaft, became, one after another, 
 fubjed to the powerful city of Genoa, upon fuch terms as they could 
 make for themfelves *. {Caffari Ann, Gen. L. i, ap. Muratori Script. V, 
 vi. — Muratori Antiq. V. iv, col. 16!.] 
 
 What is here faid of Genoa holds equally true, though on a fmallec 
 fcale, with refpedl to Pifa, and the other chief cities of Italy. 
 
 1 1 40 — Adolphus earl of Nordalbing, having acquired the province 
 of Wagreland, then almoft depopulated by the expulfion and flaughter 
 of the Slavi, and finding the ruins of a town on a peninfula formed by 
 the jundtion of the rivers Trave and Wochniz, which he thought an ex- 
 cellent fituation for a harbour, built a city there, and gave it the name 
 of Lubeck. The adjacent country was foon occupied and cultivated by 
 induflrious people, whom he invited, and encouraged by grants of lands, 
 to remove from Flanders, Holland, Frifeland, 8t.c. and Lubeck, fituated 
 in a country naturally fertile and interfeded by navigable rivers, foon 
 became a celebrated emporium, having many vefTels belonging to the 
 inhabitants. The trade of the neighbouring cities was fo much eclipfed 
 by it, that Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, who appears to have been 
 over-lord of the country, demanded of Adolphus one half of his new 
 city as a compenfation for the lofs he fuftained by the diminution of the 
 trade of his city of Lunenburg, and, on his refufal, prohibited the fale 
 of any kind of merchandize at Lubeck, except articles of food. He 
 alfo fhut up the fountains of fait at Thodeflo, in order to promote the 
 fale of the fait of Lunenburg, and ordered the feat of the trade to be 
 transferred to Bardwik. A conflagration, which happened in the year 
 1 158, would have ruined the city irrecoverably, if Adolphus had not 
 then refigned it to Henry, who, to induceahe citizens to rebuild their 
 houfes, immediately revoked the prohibition of trade, eflabliihed a mint 
 and a cuflom-houfe, and fent mefTengers to all the countries of the 
 North to invite the merchants to trade with Lubeck. Thus fupported, 
 the city immediately fprung up out of its afhes, and the number of in- 
 habitants dayly increafing, it foon became more profperous than before. 
 \yita Adolphi ex Helmoldi Ann. — Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 177.] 
 
 1 1 46 — Greece, or rather the Roman empire in Europe (at this time 
 nearly the fame in extent with the modern European Turkey), even in 
 its degenerate fl:ate continued to excell all the reft of Europe in the qua- 
 lity and variety of its manufadures, and in the ingenuity of its work- 
 
 * It has already been obferved, that the Genoefe and Pifans contefted the fovereignty of Sardinia 
 and Corfica. 
 
 Vol. I. S s
 
 322 A. D. 1 146. 
 
 men and artiHs. That country alone, at leafl of all the Chriflian coun- 
 tries of Europe, pofleffed the valuable flock of filk-worms, which had 
 been tranlplanted from the remotcfl; extremities of the Eaft about four 
 hundred years before ; and the Greeks were the only Chriftians of Eu- 
 rope, who manufadured the ftill pretious and coftly articles of luxury 
 fabricated from the fpoils of the filk-worm. But now the time was ar- 
 rived, when that manufadure was to be more widely difperfed. Roger, 
 the Norman king of Sicily, invaded Greece with a fleet of feventy gal- 
 lies, and carried off the wealth of Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. But, 
 what was infinitely the moft valuable part of the prize, and what pecu- 
 liarly diftinguifhed this Vv'ar from all others, which have no other con- 
 fequences than the exaltation of one individual, the depreffion of an- 
 other, and the mifery of millions, was the capture of a great number 
 of filk weavers, whom he carried off from thofe cities, and fettled in 
 Palermo, his capital city. By the king's order the Grecian prifoners 
 taught his Sicilian fubjeds to raife and feed filk-worms, and to weave all 
 the varieties of filk fluffs. And fo well did the Sicilian pupils profit by 
 their inflruclions, that the filk fobrics of Sicily, about twenty years af- 
 ter the tranfplantation of the manufadure, are defcribed as excelling in 
 variety of patterns and colours ; fome with gold intermixed, and adorn- 
 ed wuth figures or pidures, and others embelliflied with pearls. [Otto 
 Frifing. ds gejl. Friderici, L. i, c. 1,;^^ op. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 668. — 
 Falcandi H'ljl. Sicul. praf. op. Murotori Script. V. vii, col. 256.] 
 
 Though all the Chriflian part of Europe, except Greece, had been 
 ignorant till now of the art of managing the filk-worm and the produce 
 of its induflry, the Saracens had before this time obtamed the know- 
 lege of the various operations of the filk manufadure, and fpread it 
 over all their wide-extended dominions. Lifljon and Almeria, two Sa- 
 racen cities of Spain, were particularly famous for their manufadures 
 of filk : and the iflands of Majorca and Ivica paid their tributes to the 
 king of Aragon in filks of Almeria, or more probably in filks made in 
 imitation of thole of Almeria. \Otto Frifing. ap. Muratori Antiq. V. ii, 
 col. 408. — Hovcden, f. 382 a, b.] 
 
 By thefe means was the important manufidure of filk laid open to 
 the ingenuity of the weftern nations. 
 
 1 147 — Liflion was taken from the Saracens by Alfonfo, the fovereign 
 of the ncwly-eredcd kingdom of Portugal, chiefly by the afllftance of 
 a company of about fourteen thoufand adventurers, confifling moftly 
 of Englifli, with fome Normans, Flemings, and others, bound to the 
 Holy land *. \Chron. Norm, ad on. — Vit. Pont. Rom. op. Murotori Script. 
 V. ill, part, i, p. 438. — Iletir. Uunt.f. 226 a.] The Saracens of Almeria 
 
 • The Wi therlandcrs rla!m x\\e fuh merit of tliis opportune afTiftaricc, in confcqucnce of which tlity 
 enjoy certain piivilegca in Poruigiil, conferr'.d upon tl;cm by the gratitude of tlic fo.irt-ljjn. [_Lin- 
 fcholen's Fdyagci, p. 460, Eiigi. tratijl.']
 
 A. D. 1 147. 323 
 
 being exceedingly troublefome to the Chriflians, the Genoefe, at the 
 requeft of the pope, fitted out a fleet of 73 galUes and 163 other vef- 
 fels, wherewith they attacked that city, which, with the affiftance of 
 the count of Barcelona, and (according to our Englifh hiftorians) of the 
 above-mentioned adventurers, they reduced. The Genoefe, after pafT- 
 ing the winter in Barcelona, in the enfuing furamer aflifted the count 
 in taking Tortofa, for which they had one third of the plunder, [Stellcc 
 An. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, ro/. 982.] 
 
 Norwich, which William of Malmfliury \GeJla pontif. f. 136 a] calls 
 a populous village (' vicum') remarkable for its merchandize, was now 
 rebuilt, made a corporation (' communitas'), and given by King Stephen 
 as an appanage to his fon William. \_Membran. ant. ap. Camd. Brit. p. 
 422, ed. i6co.] 
 
 1 1 53 — The Scots lofl their good king David, under whofe equitable 
 and aufpicious government the commerce of the country had begun to 
 flourifh. He was the youngefl: of King Malcolm's fix fons by Queen 
 Margaret ; and he pafTed his early youth at the court of England under 
 the eye of the queen his fifler, who was a patronefs of learning and the 
 arts. Having thereby acquired feveral branches of fcience hitherto un- 
 known in his own lefs civilized country, he made great improvements 
 in the agriculture, horticulture, and architedure, of Scotland after his 
 acceffion to the crown. He alfo made foreign merchandize abound in 
 his harbours, exchanging the produce of Scotland for the wealth of 
 other kingdoms ; and he gratioufly attended to the applications of all 
 perfons, whether clergy or laymen, Grangers, merchants, or farmers. 
 \Ailred* ap. Tordun., pp. 465, 473 ed. Hearne ; or ed. Goodall, V. ii, pp. 
 302, 305.] We have alfo very good reafon to believe, that he intro- 
 duced new manufactures in his kingdom : for, as we know, that about 
 twenty years after his death the towns and burghs of Scotland were 
 chiefly occupied by Englvfli inhabitants, [JV. Nezvbrig. L. ii, c. 34] their 
 fettlement may with the greateft probability be afcribed to David, who 
 would doubtlefs wifli to eftablifli in his own country the arts and manu- 
 fadures he faw pradifed in England in a comparatively-improved ftate 
 during his long refidcnce in that kingdom. His laws, containing regu- 
 lations for the manufadurcrs, dyers, and drefl^ers, of woollen cloth, (re- 
 ferred to in the charter given by his grandfon William to Perth f) were 
 apparently intended for the regulation and encouragement of thofe va- 
 
 • It mufl be remembered, ihat Ai'.red, ElreJ, thniiGiUc, V.n,p.6. The negleft of my applica- 
 
 or Ethelred, the alithov of this information, though tion for a copy of the original (and it is not lone) 
 
 inofcflcdly writing the praifes of David in the work by a perfon who had it in his power to oblige mt 
 
 here quoted, was an eye witnefs of what he relates, with it, was one of three inllances of fuch conduct, 
 
 and a writer of refpttlable authority. I have met with in the courfe of colkilino- mate- 
 
 \ A tranflation (apparently a veiy bad one) of haIs for this work. 
 the charter of Perth may be feen in Canfs Mi.fu 
 
 4 S S 2
 
 324 A. D. 1 153. 
 
 luable new fubjeds, by whofe inftrudlion and example he hoped to ren- 
 der the natives of Scotland more induftrious and civilized than they had 
 hitherto been : and it is alfo probable that fome of the new towns, erecfl- 
 ed by him, [Ailred, op. Fordun, p. 473] were deflincd for the reception 
 of thofe new inhabitants. Several laws for the regulation of weights 
 and meafures were enaded by him. \^Ads, James I, c. 80, or 70 of Mur^ 
 ray''s ed?^ And, though the book, generally known by the name of Re- 
 giam majejlatem, and profefling to contain the antient laws of Scotland, 
 colieded, as was fuppofed, by order of King David, is now generally 
 abandoned as an ill-conduded forgery, there feems reafon to believe, 
 that the laws a?id cujloms of the burghs of Scotland were really collected 
 and committed to writing, and moft of them, probably enaded, in his 
 reign *. By thefe laws 
 
 c. 10) All goods brought by fea were to be landed prior to their fale, 
 except fait and herrings, which might be fold onboard the vefTels. 
 c. 17) The vallld of an earl or baron, who bought a burgage, and re- 
 mained a year and a day in a burgh without being molefted or claimed 
 by his lord, was declared a free man for ever f . 
 
 c. 18) Foreign merchants were not permitted to buy wool, hides, or 
 other goods from any but burgeffes. 
 
 c. 22) None but burgeffes wei'e permitted to buy wool for dying or 
 makinganto cloth, or to cut cloth for fale. But the owners of Iheep 
 were allowed the free ufe of their own wool. 
 
 From c. 48 it appears that fome of the merchants of Scotland traded 
 to foreign countries ; and their lands were declared exempt from feizure 
 for any claim whatever during their abfence, unlefs they appeared to 
 abfent themfelves on purpofe to evade juftice. 
 
 c. 52) The burgefl'es were required to have their meafures of length 
 and capacity, and their weights, marked with the feal of the burgh. 
 
 A filver mine (' argentaria'), which King David worked in his pro- 
 vince of Cumberland, \J. Haguflald. col. 280] is the earliefl in Britain, 
 
 * It mud be acknowlegcd that fcveral chapters greatcft part of them, are as old as the reign of 
 of tlie I.ega lurgrtrum, wherein provofts and bailies David I. A charter of his grandfon, King Wil- 
 appe.ir as the only magillratcs of the towns in b'am, requires a'l perfons reforting to the fair at 
 Scotland, wliich long after David's reign were ge- Glafgow to obferve the ajjije of h'u burghs : [G/i- 
 ncrally goveriicd by aldermen, were evidently in- /on''j H'Jl. "f Glafgow, p. 301] and the laws and 
 tcrpoldttd after the fuurteenth century. Neither f(//^omj o/"//'? iurj/6j undoubtedly conftituted a part 
 are the words ' (laiuta burgornm,' which induced of the eftablifhed law of the land before the death 
 a late learned and wurlhy judge, and alfo a learn- of Alexander III, as appears from an antient re- 
 ed keeper of the records of Scotland, to fay that cord prefervcd in Aylojfe's CaUndars, p. n^, and 
 tliofe laws arc mentioned by Baldrcd (lathcr Ailred in pleadings of the year 1291, publldied by Ryley. 
 or Ethtlred) a contemporary writer, any proof; \_Pla:. pari. p. 14". J And no one can fuppofe 
 for they are interpolated by Bowar in his continua- that they were enadtcd in the turbulent period of 
 • ion of Fordun, and are not in the works of Ailred the regency. 
 
 «r Fordun. But, tliongh fome parts of the laws of \ This regulation, and fome others in the Scot- 
 
 thc burghs, as publifhcd by Skene along with his tifh burgh laws, are copied from the Englifh laws 
 
 Jirgium maj'flatem, have been inferted in later ages, afcribed to King Edw.ird the Confeflbr. See 
 
 •■t is imdcfiiable that other pant, probably the above, p. 307. J
 
 A. D.I 153- 325 
 
 of which I have found any particular or certain notice fmce the time of 
 the Romans, or at leaft of Bede *. 
 
 It is of more importance to obferve, that in his reign the Firth of 
 Forth was frequently covered with boats manned by EngUfh, Scottifli, 
 and Belgic, fifhermen, who were attraded by the great abundance of fifhi 
 (mofl probably herrings) in the neighbourhood of the ifland of May. 
 [A contemporory zvriter, MS, Bib. Cott. Tit. a, xix, /. 78 b.] This, ifl 
 miltake not, is the very firfl: authentic and pofitive notice of a fifhery, 
 having any claim to confideration as a commercial objecl, upon the 
 North-Britifli coafl f . 
 
 1 1 35-1 1 54 — The miferies of civil war were felt in the greatell extrem- 
 ity in England during the unhappy reign of Stephen. The vafl trea- 
 fures left by his predeceflbr were exhaufled in Supporting the foreign 
 mercenaries, whom he was obliged to employ to refift the claim of the 
 lawful heirs of Henry I, and to crufli the difcontents of the people : 
 and he was driven to the wretched expedient of corrupting and dimin- 
 ifhing the coin, which, however, was afterwards reflored to its due pur- 
 ity and weight. In this difaftrous reign 1,115 new caflles were built 
 in England by the earls and barons ; and there were as many petty ty- 
 rants, as there were caflles, every one of whom exercifed the powers of 
 fovereignty, carried on war, opprefTed the people, and- iflued money of 
 his own coinage. In a word, the miferable people were utterly ruined. 
 \W. Malmjb.f. 105 a. — R. Diceto, col. 528. — W. Newbrig. L. i, c. 22.] 
 
 From the general calamities of England the country north of the 
 Teefe was exempted by being under the mild and prudent adminiftra- 
 tion of David king of Scotland. {Bromton, col, 1036.] 
 
 1 1 54 — Henry II, the new fovereign of England, by his marriage with 
 Eleanor duchefs of Aquitaine (the divorced queen of Louis the Young, 
 king of France) which took place about two years before his acceflion, 
 acquired the bell wine country in France. By that addition to his he- 
 reditary dominions he became nvifter of all the weft fide of that king- 
 dom from the Pyrenaean mountains to Picardy : and confequently, after 
 
 * There feems to have been at Itaft an expefla- have made appear in Geographical lUuJlratioiis of 
 
 tion of finding gold in Fife: for King David gave Scotlj/lj hi/iory, under the articles jingli, Loutlnan, 
 
 a erant to the abbay of Dunfermline of all the Norlhymbra-land, Scotland. — Perhaps this almoft- 
 
 tithes of gold which might accrue to him from unknown paflage may alfo give the people of the 
 
 Fife and Fothiif (or rather Foithrcv, the upper Netherlands the moft anticnt authentic informatioa 
 
 part of the peninfula). \_Chart. qu. in DalrympleU of a diftant fifhery rcforted to by their Bclgic an- 
 
 Annals, V. i, p. ^97.] But, that any gold wr.s ceftors, the fteady and prudent prcfecution of 
 
 ever obtained from a mine in that part of the which made them high and mighty among the na- 
 
 country, does not, I beheve, anywhere appear. tions of Europe. 
 
 f Quere, if it is not alfo the earlicft notice of An account of a Scottifli fifliery, apparently un- 
 
 Englifh filhermen going fo far from their own founded, has already been infeitcd (^. 253) from, 
 
 ports en a fifliing voyage, if they were, indeed, Mr. Anderfon, whofe author I have endeavoured 
 
 fubjefts of England ; for in the age of the writer to difcover. A fifliery in the reign of King Mac- 
 
 here quoted the Scottifli fubjeds on the fnuth fide beth has alfo been prcfumtd (/. 284) upon prob^ 
 
 of the Firth of Forth were called Englifh, as I able grounds.
 
 326 
 
 A. D. 1 154. 
 
 his accefllon to the crown of England, the merchants of all the Prench 
 ports on the Ocean, except Boulogne and Calais, were fellow-fubjeds 
 with thofe of England; a circumftance, which mufl: certainly have been 
 very favourable to the commercial interefts of both countries. 
 
 But Henrv, far from being fatisfied with the pofTeffion of England 
 and about a third part of France, very foon caft his eyes upon Ireland 
 as a convenient addition to his dominions. He had no pretext of a quar- 
 rel with the Irifli : but he propoled to reform their religion and their 
 morals ; and for fuch a pious undertaking it was thought proper to fo- 
 licit the approbation of the infallible head of the church. His ambaf- 
 fador was inftruded to reprefent to the pope his zeal for enlarging the 
 bounds of the church, inftrudting the ignorant, and extirpating vice, 
 by bringing Ireland under his own dominion : and, as all iflands belong 
 to the holy fee, he defired to be advifed and authorized by the pope ; 
 and he took care to promife an annual payment to St. Peter of one penny 
 out of every houfe in Ireland, and engaged to fupport the rights of the 
 church in that ifland. 
 
 The chair of St. Peter was at this time filled by Adrian IV, the only 
 Englifliman who ever attained that fummit of ecclefiaftical ambition. 
 But the partiality of the pope, if he had any, for the fovereign of his 
 native country, could be but one of his motives for promoting Henry's 
 ambitious views. The king had acknowleged his right to the fovereign- 
 ty of all the iflands of the fea, (is Great Britain not an ifland ?) and 
 he had promifed a large increafe of the papal revenues. Moreover, the 
 Irifh were very undutiful fons of the church : for, though it is well 
 known, that, when the Englifli (or Saxons) were funk in the groffeft: ig- 
 norance, the Irifti poiTefled fo great a fliare of what were efteemed re- 
 ligion and fcience in thofe days, that their coimtry was called the ifland 
 of faints, and many parts of Britain were indebted to them for the firfl: 
 rudiments of religion and literature, they were afterwards far behind 
 the refl: of Europe in conforming to the innovations, and fubmitting to 
 the encroachments of the fee of Rome. They were accufed of marry- 
 ing within the degrees of confanguinity, forbidden by the church of 
 Rome, without purchafing ecclefiafl:ical difpenfations ; their clergymen, 
 and even billiops, were married ; they fcarcely ever admitted palls from 
 Rome ; they neglected the payment of tithes and firft-fruits ; and in 
 fome parts of the country they ate flefli in lent. Thefe were crimes 
 futficient to draw upon them the difpleafure of the pope, who fent 
 the king a bull encouraging him to proceed in the conqueft: and con- 
 verfion of Ireland *, together with a gold ring, by which he appeared 
 to afTume the right of befl;owing the inveftiture of the ifland as a vaflal 
 
 * The pope's bull, or comminion, may be fccn raldi Camlrcns. Hlb. expiignala, which alfo con- 
 in Rjmer's Ftcdera Angl'id, V. I, p. 15, and in l.iins the origin and progvi-fs of the conqutfl of 
 molt of the Engiiih hillorians, particularly in Ci- Ireland.
 
 A. D. 1 154. 327 
 
 kingdom. The bull and the ring were both laid up in the archives at 
 Winchefter, to be produced whenever a favourable opportunity fhould 
 offer. And this was the firfl; Hep towards the union of Great Britain 
 and Ireland. 
 
 At this time Scherif [al Edrifli, a Saracen fubjed of Roger king of 
 Sicily, wrote his Geographical amufevients, which he prefentcd to that 
 prince. He follows Ptolemy in connecSting the fouth part of Africa with 
 the eafl part of Afia; and, if we may judge from the Latin tranflation 
 of his work, he knew little more of the north parts of Europe than that 
 antient geographer did. He relates, that fome of the Saracens of Spain 
 had ventured out upon the Ocean, in order to diicovcr the extremity 
 of the world, and, after eleven days faihng, had turned to the fouthward, 
 and landed in the Canaries, where they learned that a king of one of 
 thofe iflands had alfo been out on a voyage of difcovery, and, after be- 
 ing a month at fea, had lately returned home *. [See Mem. de Vacade- 
 mie, V. xxviii, ^. 524.} 
 
 1 155 — The arrival of the emperor Frederic in Italy ftruck fuch ter- 
 ror into the Gcnoefe, that they fortified their city with unremitting ex- 
 ertion, and even the women and children laboured in conftruding the 
 walls. The remains of thefe walls, far within thofe eredled in the years 
 1327 and 1347, fhow how fmall the city then was in comparifon of the 
 extent it afterwards attained. [Ste/iiz A?i. Gen. ap. Muratori, Script. V. 
 xvii, col. 974-] 
 
 While the Genoefe dreaded a contcfl with the military forces of the 
 emperor of the Weft, whofe dominions were invulnerable by their naval 
 power, the emperor of the Eafl, the fucceflbr of the Roman fovereigns 
 of the world, was courting their friendlhip by a treaty, binding him to 
 pay for ever an annual penfion of two hundred perpers f and two palls 
 (rich robes) to the community, and another of fixty perpers and one 
 pall to the archbifhop, of Genoa, and alfo to give them a factory or 
 comptoir (' fundicum' if), and a church, in his capital city of Conftantin- 
 
 * Can tills be true : Had the Saracens the ufe antient Greece is known with tolerable certainty, 
 of tlie compafs ? Could the Canary king, who that of the Grecian coins of thefe later dark ages 
 finely had no compafs, ever find his own iiTand is, I believe, totally unknown. From the pay- 
 after being a month at fea ? This curious inform- ment of the arrears of a IJmilar tribute to Pifa, in 
 atlon fhows, however, that the notion of the ex- the year 1 172 (which fee), there feems reafon to 
 illence of vveftern lands prevailed in thofe ages in believe, that perperi and byzantii were the fame, 
 feveral countries : and to the fame notion, probab- X ^'^ ^^^ principal commercial citits, fuch as 
 ly, the land called Cokaigne, far in the fea be-weft Conllantinople and Alexandria, the merchants of 
 Spain, owes its imaginary exiftence, as it is de- each trading nation had their own appropriate 
 fcribed in an Englifli poem of the twelfth century, fundicus (called by the Italians y<?n/if(7j;, and by the 
 prefcrved in Hickc's 'Thefaurus linguarum f,picn- Catalans alfuiJtch, the name being apparently 
 Iriona/iiim. Arabic), i;i which they lived and ftorcd their 
 
 ■j- Perf>;rl, or hypcrperi, were gold coins (Iruck goods, every individuiil paying a rent for his ac- 
 
 by the emperors of Conftanlinople in this age ; commodatlon. Such, in England, were the Teu- 
 
 [Dii Cange GluJf.Lat. vo. Hyperperus'\ 3.ni\ they tonic gild hall, and, in later times, the Steelyard, 
 
 had alfo other coins called hyxaiUii, Jlyj'mi, and in London, occupied by the merchants of Ger- 
 
 muhakli. But, though the value of the coins of jr.any ; and, in Scotland, the Red hall in Berwick, 
 
 occupied
 
 328 A. D. 1 155. 
 
 ople, and to reduce the cuftoms upon their merchandize, from a tenth 
 to a twenty-fifth, or from ten to four per cent. William, king of Sicily, 
 alfo endeavoured to gratify the commercial jealoufy of the Genoefe by 
 a treaty, engaging to expell the merchants of Provence and France from 
 his territories (a", ii 56). Thus were the political events of the neigh- 
 bouring nations made to promote the commercial interefts of the Ge- 
 noefe. Neither did they confine their friendly intercourfe and connec- 
 tions to Chriftian ftates, nor were they fuch bigots as to fuppofe that 
 difference of belief in matters of religion had any concern with com- 
 mercial connexions, but entered into treaties of friendfhip and com- 
 merce with the Saracen kings of Spain and Morocco in the year 1161 *. 
 [Ccffari Annales Gen. ap, Muratori, Script. F. vi, coll. 265-277.] 
 
 1 156, January 6''* — The maritime kingdom of Mann, founded by 
 Ketil about the year 890, as already obferved, comprehended Mann, 
 and all the iflands on the weft fide of Scotland, and fiourifhed in confi- 
 derable power, being frequently formidable to the adjacent coafls of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland. But King Godred, the fon of Olaf, 
 having lofl the affedions of Ibme of the chiefs by his tyranny, they fet 
 up Dugal, the fon of Somerled, lord of Argyle, by a daughter of Olaf, 
 as king againft him ; and after a bloody naval battle, the iflands were 
 now divided between the rivals by a treaty, which, the chronicler of 
 Mann fays, proved the ruin of the kingdom. 
 
 1 1 56 — From the confiderable number of Englifli hiftorians who 
 flourilhed in the twelfth century, with fome help from other writers, 
 and from charters, &c. we have a pretty good account of feveral 
 of the towns of England, and even of fome of thofe of Scotland, about 
 this time. 
 
 London being now eflabliflied as the capital of the kingdom, mod 
 of the nobles and bilhops had handfome houfes f in or near the city : 
 but the houfes of the citizens were generally built of wood, and thatch* 
 ed with ftraw ; and thence the city was liable to frequent fires. Fitz- 
 Stephen, a writer of this age, fays, that the citizens were remarkable 
 for their politenefs, the elegance of their drefs, and the magnificence of 
 their tables, and that their wives excelled in every virtue. The citizens 
 
 occupied by tliofc of Flanders. And they paid pope for trading with infidels, as the Portuguef* 
 
 rents to communities or to individuals. The mei- repeatedly did in later times. 
 
 chants of the Steelyard priid ^-jo : 3 : 4 fterling f The ftone houfe of a citizen of London is 
 
 to the city of London ISlcw'r Survey cf/.ontJon, fi. mentioned hy Bcncdid us Albas-, V. i, />. 197.-*- 
 
 433, ed. 1 61 8] ; and the widow of Robert Guif- Geffrey Martcl in ^the reign of Henry II fold a 
 
 card, duke of Apulia, gave the rents oi 3. funil'iait piece of land with a ftone houfc in I^ondon. [A/j- 
 
 in Ainalfi to the nionallery of Monte Cafino. dox's Formulare, p. 178,] — The houfes of feme 
 
 \Chran. Caftn. L. \\\, c. 56. — See alfo HaUuvt's Jews in London, appear to have been of ilone in 
 
 yoiagrt, y.\\, p. 199, where the /</n/fi/'/ at Alex- the year I 2 15. [Rcid. CogJha/1, qu. in Slow'j jin- 
 
 andria is explained to be ' an houfe of traliqtie aa niiLs,p. 258.'] Thence it may be prelnnied, that 
 
 the Stilyard.'] the houfes of the nobles and hidiops were not of 
 
 * I have not inquired, whether they thought it inferior iiiateiialf, though thofe of the middle and 
 
 worth their while to purehafe a licence from the inferior ranks were of wood.
 
 A. D. 1 156. 329 
 
 were diflinguilhcd from thofe of moft of the fmaller towns by the ap- 
 pellation of barons *. With a pardonable partiality, Fitz-Stephen fays, 
 that no city in the world exports its merchandize to fuch a diftance : 
 but he has unluckily neglected to inform us of the fpecies of goods ex- 
 ported, or the countries to which they were carried, none of which 
 were very diftant, according to our modern enlarged ideas of naviga- 
 tion. Among the imports he enumerates gold, fpices, frankincenfe 
 from Arabia ; pretious ftones from Egypt ; purple drapery from India ; 
 palm-oil from Bagdad ; all which he might, perhaps with more ftrid 
 propriety, have derived immediately from the trading cities of Italy. 
 Furs of various kinds, he fays, are brought from Norway and Ruffia ; 
 arms from Scythia ; and wine from France. The venders of the vari- 
 ous commodities, and labourers of every kind, are dayly to be found in 
 their appropriate and diflin6t places f ; and every Friday a market is 
 held in Smithfield for horfes, cows, hogs, &c. The city, with the fub- 
 urbs, contains 13 large conventual churches, and 126 parochial ones. 
 According to our author, no fewer than 60,000 foot and 20,000 horfe 
 iflued from the city in the reign of King Stephen t. The ciry is ftrong- 
 ly fortified with caftles and turrets, and furrounded by a wall with feven 
 gates, except on the fouth fide, where the river has undermined the an- 
 tient wall, which the protedion of the palatine tower at the eaft end of 
 the" city now renders unneceflliry. The king's palace at Wefiminfiier is 
 two miles from the city § ; and the intermediate fpace is almofi; filled 
 up with the houfes and gardens of the citizens ||. On the north tide 
 are open fields of corn and grafs, and a lake %, with feveral dreams turn- 
 ing mills ; and beyond thefe there is a forefl:, wherein the citizens take 
 the diverfion of hunting. [Stephanidis Vita Thomcs Cant.'] 
 
 William of Malmfbury, an author of the fame age, fays, London is a 
 noble city, renowned for the opulence of its citizens, who, on account 
 
 * Whether all the citizens of London, or only 40,000. But as it is now known from the fub- 
 thofe who poflefled fome civic pre-eminence, were fidy roUof the year 1377, difcovercd by Mr. Top- 
 called hai-ons, has been difputed, and, I fuppofe, ham, that the taxable perfons of both fexes above 
 cannot be clearly determined by any fufficient au- fourteen years of age in London, were then only 
 thority. See above, p. 314. 23,314, it is not probable that the number of thofc 
 
 f The authority of Fitz-Stephen has been under fourteen, the clergy, and thofe living on 
 
 ftrangely adduced to prove, that the Steelyard, charity, would altogether bring the number even 
 
 Vintry, &c. were the appropriated wharfs of the up to 40,000 : and it may be prefumcd, notwith- 
 
 various nations trading to London in his time, ftanding the ravages of the peftilence in the year 
 
 He fays no fuch thing. The eftabbdiment of the 1348, that London was not more populous in the 
 
 Vintry in particular will be accounted for in the twelfth than in the fourteenth century, 
 year 1300. § Ludgate was then the wellern boi^ndary of 
 
 \ The copy of our author, from which Leland the city, 
 made his excerpts, had only 40,000 foot. \_Col- |j 1'hefe were the country villas of the citizens, 
 
 Icdauea, V. iv,/>. 241.] Either of the numbers is to which they retired from the noife and crowd of 
 
 moft enormonfly exaggerated, if it is meant that the city. The fame ground is now covered with 
 
 London alone furniflied fo many fighting men of ftreets almoft as much crowded as any of thofe in 
 
 its own inhabitants. Peter of Blois, arch-deacon of the city. 
 
 London, an author of the fame age, \_EpiJi. ad In- «J Now Moorfields, part of which has been late- 
 
 noctnl. papam-l ftates the whole population of ly adorned with the elegant buildings of Finfbury 
 
 London, men, women, and children, to be only fquare. 
 
 Vol. I. T t
 
 2 JO A. D. II 5 6. 
 
 of the greatnefs of the city, are confidered as people of the firfl: quality 
 and noblemen (' optimates et proceres') of the kingdom. It is filled 
 with merchandize, brought by the merchants of all countries ; but 
 chiefly thofe of Germany : and, in cafe of fcarcity of corn in other 
 parts of England, it is a granary, where it may be bought cheaper than 
 anywhere elfe. [Novell./. 107 a ; Gejla pontif. f. 133 b.] 
 
 Another circuraflance, tending to Ihow that London was compartively 
 an opulent and commercial city at this time, is, that it was the head- 
 quarters of all the Jews in England ; a people who have never failed to 
 follow wealth and commerce, and who have generally contributed 
 largely to the advancement of both wherever they fettled. One of the 
 many hardfhips, impofed upon that race of people, was an obligation to 
 carry their dead from all parts of England, to be interred in one gener- 
 al cemetery appointed for them in Red-crofs flreet in London, till the 
 year 1177, when Henry II gave them permiflion to purchafe burying 
 grounds in other parts of the kingdom. \Bromton, col. 1 129. — Blow's 
 London, p. 553, cd. 161 8.] 
 
 Nothing particularly illuflrative of the ftate of the Cinque ports about 
 this time has occurred to me. 
 
 William of Malmfbury [GeJla regum,f. 28 a] fays, that Exefter, which 
 was fortified with towers and walls of hewn ftone by King Athelftan, 
 though it was deftroyed by the Danes in the year 1003, [Chroti. Sax. ad- 
 wi.} and though the country around it is fi:ill in fo poor a ftate of cul- 
 tivation, that it can fcarcely produce a crop of the moft indifferent 
 kind of oats, has now become a magnificent city, filled with opulent 
 citizens ; and being the principal port tor the mineral produdions of 
 the adjacent country, [H. Huntind. J. iji a] it is fo much reforted to 
 by foreign merchants, that every thing, that can be defired, may be 
 purchaied there in abundance. 
 
 Briftow, according to William of Malmfbury, \GeJiapont.f. 161 a] is 
 a celebrated town, and a port for veflels coming from Ireland, Norway, 
 and other foreign countries. Henry II, in the eleventh year of his 
 reign, gave the burgefl^cs a charter, exempting them from tolls and. 
 fome other impofitions in England, Wales, and Normandy. 
 
 Gloucefter, according to William, [/ 161 a] is a city fituated in a 
 ▼ajiey remarkably fertile, and particularly famous for abundance of 
 excellent apples *, which keep good through the whole year. It alfo 
 excells all England in the abundance and pleafant tafte of its grapes ; 
 and the wine made from them is entirely free from harflinefs and four- 
 nefs, and very little inferior to the wines of France. 
 
 • When jiralfiDg the apples of Gloiiccftcrfhlrc, t'nuhn.f. 210 a] ami in lii's own time the farmer of 
 
 lie hn3 not a word of cider, tliongli it is nicmion- Windfor was allowcil fix flillliiigs and eight pennies 
 
 cda-. being provided long Ik fore his time along with for wine, perry, and eider, for the ufe of King 
 
 wine, mead, ale, pigment, and morat, at Hertford Henry H. {Maihx's liifi. of the ixchcq. c. x, J i 2.] 
 
 (to this day the center of the cider country) for Probably cider and perry were rare, and only iifed 
 
 the ufe of King Edward the CunfefTor ; [//. Hun- by people of the highell ranks.
 
 .A. D.I 156. 331 
 
 Winchefter, however, appears to have been confidered by another au- 
 thor of this age, as the moll famous place in England for wine *. [//, 
 Huntind.f. 171 a.] 
 
 Chefter is, according to William, \f. 164 b] fituated in a poor 
 country, producing fcarcely any wheat : but there is abundance of cattle 
 and fifli : the poor live on milk and butter, the rich on flelh ; and bread 
 made of barley or rye f is thought a dainty. Some ti-ade with Ireland 
 fupplies the place with fuch neceflaries as Nature has denied to it. 
 
 A more flattering pidure of Chefler is drawn by a monk of the fame 
 age, caried Lucian, who fiys, that it is enriched and adorned by its river, 
 and that fhips come to it from Aquitaine, Spain, Ireland, and Germany, 
 whereby the citizens are furnifhed with all good things, and are enabled 
 to drink wine frequently, plentifully, and profufely. \^ap, Canid. Brit, 
 
 P' 459-] 
 
 Donewic {Dunwich) is called by William of Newburgh [L. ii, c. 30] 
 a fixmous fea-port town, llored with various kinds of riches ^. 
 
 Norwic is called by William of Malmfbury [f. 136 a] a populous 
 town, famous for its commerce. 
 
 Linn is defcribed by William of Newburgh [L. iv, c. 7] as a city 
 (' urbs') diftinguifhed for commerce and abundance, the refidence of 
 many wealthy Jews, and reforted to by foreign veflels. 
 
 Lincoln is celebrated by Alexander Necham, a poet of this century, 
 [rt/i. Camd. Brit. p. 404] as the fupport of the adjacent country, and 
 ftored with good things. The canal made by Henry I (fee above, p. 318) 
 iTfiade this city, though far from the fea, acceflible to foreign veflels, and 
 gave it the command of an extenfive inland navigation, whereby it be- 
 came one of the mofl populous feats of home and foreign trade in Eng- 
 land. [IV: Malmjb. Gcfta porit. f. 1 65 b.] 
 
 Grimfby is noted by the Norwegian (or Icelandic) writers as an em- 
 porium reforted to by merchants from Norway, Scotland, Orkney, and 
 the Weftern iflands. \Orkneyvigafaga, p. 152.] 
 
 York had been repeatedly deftroyed, by the furies of war, by the ven- 
 geance of William the Conqueror, and lailly by a cafual conflagration 
 
 * Many proofs mi^bt be adduced to fhow, that f In the original, _/7//^o ; a word not in the die- 
 vines were cultivated to a greater extent in feveral tioiiarics orgloffaries, and which Fleetwood {^Chron. 
 parts of this country formerly than now, and that preciof. prices for 13S7] fays, he knows not. But 
 confiderable quantities of wine were made from a former proprietor of niv copy of Flvtwocd ob- 
 thcm. See the extratl from Domefday book, fervcs, in a manufcrlpt note, that he finds /f/it-o 
 above,. p. 305, a:id more inllances from the fame generally ufed by the writers of thofe ages for 
 record, colic. ftcd by Spehnan. [^Gloff'. vo. Arpen- rye. 
 
 r.is. — Bctla H'lji. ecclej. L. \, c. I.] In the reign \ la the reign of Kingjolin, Dunwich paid 
 
 of Henry III the bilhops of Lincoln and Bath about twice as much rent to the king as any other 
 
 had vineyaidb ; and in that of Edward III the town upon the neighbouring coall. [Brady on 
 
 earl of Lancafter had vineyards in the neighbour- burghs, Ap/ieriJ. p. 11.] But it would be too 
 
 )u)od of Leiccfter. [3/,.-//;..-cV Hi/i. of the cxchcq. ra(h to infer from that circumllance, that it was 
 
 c. xi, § 2. — Kny^htcn, col. 2554.] twice as opulent. 
 
 Tt 2
 
 332 A, D. 1 156. 
 
 in the reign of Stephen. Yet it flill retained fome marks of Roman 
 elegance, and is defcribed by Wilham of Malmfbury, [/. 14-7 a] as a 
 large metropolitan city, lying on both iides of the Oufe, and receiving 
 in the middle of it vefTels from Germany and Ireland. 
 
 Whitby, Hartlepool, and fome other towns on the eafl coaft, podefr- 
 ed veffels and other property, of which they were robbed by Efleyn 
 king of Norway, about the year 11 53. [Stiorro Hijl. Magni Blinda, 
 c. 20.] 
 
 Berwik, a noble town at the mouth of the Tuid {T^zveed), belonging 
 to the king of Scotland, [1¥. Newb. L. v, c. 2;,] is at this time diftin- 
 guiflied as having more foreign commerce than any other port in Scot- 
 land, and many fhips. One of them belonging to a citizen called Knut 
 the Opulent, and having his wife onboard, being about this time taken 
 by Erlend earl of Orkney, Knut hired fourteen veflels, with a com- 
 petent number of men, for one hundred marks of filver, and went in 
 chafe of the pirates, who had anchored for the night at one of the ad- 
 jacent iflands. \Turfcei Orcades, L. '\,c. 32.] 
 
 Invyrlyth is merely noted as having a harbour befide it, mentioned 
 in a charter granted by King David to the abbay of Haly-rud. [^Hay^s 
 Vindication of EU%. More.^ In later times it has been called Leith, and 
 is the port of Edinburgh. 
 
 Strivelin {Stirling) had fome veffels and trade, part of the duty 
 (' canum') of the veffels, with a falt-work, and fome other branches of 
 the royal revenue, being given by the fame king to the abbays of Cam- 
 bufkenneth and Dunfermline. [^Chart. in Ninwid's Hi/l. of Stirling, p. 
 508 ; and in DalrympWs ColleEl. p. 386.] 
 
 Part of the duties levied in the port of Perth were afligned in the 
 fame manner. \Chart. in Dalrymple, p. 386.] Necham, the Englifh 
 poet already quoted, fays, ' that the kingdom is fupported by the opii- 
 ' lence of this city:' [«/>. Camd. Brit. p. 708] and it was at this time, 
 properly fpeaking, the capital of Scotland. 
 
 Abirdene was known in Norway as a trading town. Efleyn, one of 
 the joint kings of that coimtry, being on a pirating cruiie along 
 the Britifh coafl about the year 1153, landed and pillaged it. [^Snorro, 
 H'lft. Magni Blinda, c. 20.] But it loon recovered from that misfortune, 
 and was a royal refidence in a few years after. 
 
 Abirdon {Old Aberdeen) had a port, the tenth of the duties of the 
 fhips being granted by King David to its newly-ereded bifhoprick. [Chart. 
 in Bib. topog. Brit. N". \u, p. 3.] 
 
 Duffeyras (perhaps Banf) on the fhore of the Moray firth, is merely 
 mentioned as a commercial port and town. [Orkneyinga faga, p. 323.] * 
 
 • All the charters and books, quoted for this except the works of Bromton and Torfacus ; and 
 »icw of the trading towns of Britain, were written they were careful compilers from authentic records. 
 in the twelfth, or early in the tliirtecnth, century,
 
 A. D.I 156. ^^^ 
 
 I find no certain account of any trading ports on the weft fide of 
 Scotland in this age ; which is no wonder, as we know of but two on 
 the weft fide of England f. 
 
 From feveral notices difperfed through the authors quoted for this 
 view of the chief commercial ports of Britain at this time, it is evident 
 that the foreign trade was almoft entirely conducted by foreign mer- 
 chants. 
 
 Concerning the trade and ports of Ireland before the Englifti con- 
 queft, little can be added to what has been already faid [p. 254] of the 
 Oftraen in that ifland, and of its intercourfe with fome of the Englifli 
 harbours, juft mentioned J. The Irifti made fome cloth from the wool 
 of the black ftieep, that being the moft general colour of their flocks, 
 by which means they obtained a durable colour without the labour or 
 expenfe of dying. They had alfo cloth of other colours, with which 
 they made party-coloured ornaments for their hoods : and they ufed 
 woollen fluffs (' phalingis laneis') for their cloaks or plaids, and alfo for 
 their trowfers, and thefe were dyed. If to thefe we add lances, javelins, 
 and battle-axes, excellently tempered, we complete the catalogue, as far as 
 we have materials, of the manufadures of the Irifh, who were a paftoral 
 people, not yet generally advanced into the flate of agricultors, and far 
 lefs of manufacturers. Some foreign merchants brought gold to Ireland : 
 but we are not told, what the Iriih (w4io, Giraldus Cambrenfis fays, 
 thirfled for it like Spaniards) gave the foreigners in exchange for it ; 
 nor what the people of Wexford gave in return for the wheat and wine 
 imported from Bretagne. [Gir. Camir. Topogr. Hib. dift. \\\,c. 10 ; Hlh, 
 eixpug. L. i, c. 3.] 
 
 It appears, however, that there were greater flores of the pretious 
 metals in Ireland than could well be fuppofed. Large fums of gold and 
 filver v/ere frequently given for the ranfom of men of rank taken in 
 battle : and duties or rents, paid in gold or filver to ecclefiaftical efta- 
 blifhments, occur very often in the Irifli annals. At the confecratioa 
 of a church in the ye^sr 1 157 Murha 0-Loghlin king of Ireland gave a 
 town, 150 cows, and 60 ounces of gold, to God and the clergy ; a chief 
 called O-Carrol gave a Ub 60 ounces of gold; and Tiernan O-Ruark's 
 wife gave as much § ; donations which would have been efteemed very 
 great in that age in England or upon the continent. What fuperfti- 
 
 ■(■ Many other ports of England probably had he himfclf fays [/. 164 b] of the city of Cheftct 
 
 feme trade and (liipping at this time ; but, for want depending upon Ireland for a iiipply of the neccl- 
 
 of paiticularand contemporary authority, they can- faries of life. 
 not be particulaiized. § Several inftances of thefe ways of laying out 
 
 X Tliongh Giraldus Cambrenfis wrote a fopo- money occur in the Annals of Ulj}er, (never yet 
 
 graphy of Irdand and a Hijlory of the conquefi of printed) particularly at the years IC04, 1029, 
 
 IriLnid, he gives very little information of the 1 106, ii57) 1161 ; and fee Ware's ^ntlq. H.bun. 
 
 ilale of its trade, or of its potts. What William p. I2ii,e,'/. 1654, for fome inftances belonging to 
 
 of Maln.fljui-y fays [/". 91 aj of the diftrefs the years left blank in the manufcript belonging to the 
 
 Iriih would fufFer, if they were deprived of their Btitifli mufeum, from which I mads my extracts, 
 trade with England, fcems contradidcd by what
 
 334 ^' ^' ^^5^' 
 
 tlon fo liberally gave, fome fpecies of induflry mufl have acquired ; and 
 that was moft probably the pafturage of cattle, an employment to which 
 the foil and climate of Ireland have in all ages been extremely favour- 
 able, and which was moft fuitable to the unfettled ftate of fociety then 
 exifting in that country ; unlefs we will fuppofe that the mines of Ire- 
 land, which, though unnoticed by any writer, feem to have been at 
 fome time very produftive, were ftill capable of fupplying the fums col- 
 leded in the cofters of the chiefs and the clergy. 
 
 During the civil war between King Stephen and the emprefs, the 
 current money of England had been very much debafed, partly by the 
 frauds of the coiners taking advantage of the convulfed ftate of the king- 
 dom, but chiefly by almoft every baron ufurping the prerogative of 
 iflliing money coined by his own authority *. In order to put an effedt- 
 ual ftop to fo great an evil. King Henry made an entire new coinage 
 of the money of the kingdom ; and, as foon as it was completed (which 
 was in two years) he prohibited the currency of any other than his own 
 new money f. [R. Hoveden,f. a8i b. — M. Paris, p. 97. — Aim. Waver I. 
 ap. Gale, p. 159.] 
 
 Several of the bifliops and abbats of England had a right to coin 
 money. [See above, pp. 266, 271, 306. — Fasdera, V. iii, />. 81; V. v,p. 
 755, — and all the hooks upon Englijlj coins ^ T fuppofe, the king did not 
 prefume to deprive them of any of their rights or privileges. 
 
 In Scotland, at leaft the biftiop of St. Andrews had the right of coin- 
 ing money. \\'Vyntown^s Chronicle of Scotland, V. i, /». 396. J 
 
 About this time the proportion of filver to gold was nine for one. 
 {J^ladox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 9, § 2.] 
 
 1 157 — Now, and alfo at other times, Henry raifed money by requiring 
 gfts from the ftiires, burghs, biftiops, barons, and others. The opulence 
 of the city of London appears from the largeiiefs ot its gift on this occa- 
 fion, which was no lefs than ^1,043 (equivalent to above ^{^30,000 of 
 modern money) and exceeded the joint contributions of the fhires of 
 Lincoln, Somerfet, Eflcx, and Kent, together with thofe of the biOiop 
 of Bath and the abbat of St. Albans. [^Aiadox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 17, 
 
 Frederic emperor of Germany fent ambafladors to the king of Eng- 
 land with prefents, and a letter defiring to have a treaty of friendfliip 
 
 * The great lords on the continent affumed, or the beginning of his Ilidory, that the money of 
 
 were indulged in, tlie privilege of coining money. England was made of pure fdver : hut he mult be 
 
 In France they could not coin gold or filver with- underllood to mean filver of the legal (landard, as 
 
 out the king's exprefs permifTion, an inllance of oppofed to the adulterated filver ot the precding 
 
 wliich we have in a diploma granted by Lewis XI reign, and perhaps alfo to the coins of otlitr coun- 
 
 iii October 1465 to the qucns (earl) of Brctagnc, tries, fome of which were now made of filver much 
 
 permitting him to coin money of^ gold. [/Ju inferior to the Englilh (tandard. The money of 
 
 Conge^ Glofi. Lit. V. iv, cul. 87 1.] France, in particular, was fo much debafed about 
 
 f Henry ot Huntingdon, who probably wrote this time, that only a half of it was filver. [L» 
 
 foou after the reformation of the money, fays in lUnnc, Traitc ties munayes, p. xviii.J
 
 A. D.I 157- 335 
 
 with him. Henry made a fuitable return of prefents, and in his anfwer 
 thankfully accepted the emperor's alliance, which, he hoped, among 
 other benefits, would promote the fecurity and freedom of commerce 
 between their territories. [^Radevic. Frijing. Gejla F/iderici, L. i, c. 7.] 
 
 1 160 — The friendfhip of Henry was courted, not only by the Chrif- 
 tian princes of Europe *, but alfo by the Mohamedans. The king of 
 Valencia and Murcia in Spain foon after fent him an embaffy with mag- 
 nificent prefents, confiding of the rare and rich productions of the Eaft ; 
 and a proper return was made by Henry. [Chron. Norm. p. 998.] But 
 whether any commercial arrangements were produced by this firfl 
 friendly intercourfe of a king of England with a difciple of Mohrjmed, 
 we are not informed. If there were any, they mofl probably concerned 
 only Henry's fubjedts in the fouthern provinces of France. 
 
 The following hints are collected from the narrative of Benjamin, a 
 Jew of Tudela in Spain, whofe travels over a great part of the known 
 world, begun in the year 1 160 and continued to the year 1173, afford 
 more information concerning the llate of the commercial part of the 
 world, than can eafilybe collected from all the other writers of the age. 
 
 Barchinona {Barcelona in Spain) is an emporium frequented by the 
 Greeks, Pifans, Genoefe, Sicilians, Egyptians of Alexandria, and the 
 people of the land of Ifrael (Palefline). — Montpelier is a place of great 
 trade, whither, by means of the Genoefe and Pifans, people of all na- 
 tions, Saracens and Chriftians, and among the reft, the Englifli f, reibrt 
 
 for traffick Genoa, an independent city, governed by magiftrates chofen 
 
 by the citizens. — In Thebes there are 2,000 Jews, workers in fcarlet and 
 purple. — Conftantinople is a city abounding in wealth, and fuperior to 
 all others in the world, except Bagdad. The people are enervated by 
 luxury and dillipation, and too lazy to carry on an a6live commerce ; 
 and therefor merchants from every part of the world refort to it by 
 land and by fea \. About 2,000 Jewifli merchants, manufacturers of 
 filk, &c. and tradefmen, many of them very opulent, live in the fub- 
 urb called Pera, not being permitted to refide in the city. — In Antioch 
 the houles of the nobles are ferved with water conveyed in wooden 
 
 * The ambaflaJors of Manuel emperor of Con- f We fiiould certainly deceive ourfelves, i^ we 
 
 /lantinople, Frederic emperor of Germany, the were to fuppofe that Englifli traders got to Mont- 
 
 arclibifhop of Triers, the Juke of Saxony, and the peher by failing through tlie Straits of Gibi altar. 
 
 carl of Flanders, and alfo the advocates or ambaf- The nature of their traffic is perhaps fuffiei'ently 
 
 fadors of the kings of Callile and Navarre, who defcribed by faying, it was conducted by means of 
 
 came to fubniit a controverfy between their lo- the Genoefe and Pilans. 
 
 verei'ins to the arbitration of King Henry, were \ Not to interrupt Benjamin's narrative, I here 
 
 .nil at Weilmiufter in November 1177. \_M. Pa- obferve [from Guiuhtri Hj/L C n/l. c. 8 J that the 
 
 r'ls, p. 1-^2.] Asinthofe ages ambalTadors were fifliing veflels (they are called Ihips) belonging to 
 
 never fent but upon extraordinary occafions, the Coiitlantinople were no fewer than fixteen hun- 
 
 aflemblage of fo many in one court nuifl have had dred ; and the multitude of wailike and mercantile 
 
 a wonderful eft'ecl in impreffing the Englilli with veiTels, afTcnibled in its moil fecure harbour, was 
 
 liigh ideas of the wifdom and power of their own innumerable. There is reafon to believe that very 
 
 fovereign, and, by increahng his reputation, make few of the mercantile veffels belonged to citizens 
 
 a real increafe of his power. • of Conftantinople.
 
 ^^6 A. D. I i6o. 
 
 pipes from a mountain in the neighbourhood *. — Damafcus is alfo fup- 
 plied with water by pipes. — New Tyre, a place of confiderable traffick, 
 with a mofi: commodious and fecure harbour, ftills keeps up its mofl 
 antient pre-eminence in manufactures of glafs-ware, and is alio famous 
 for excellent fugar f . — The ifland of Nikrokis J in the Perfian gulf is a 
 flore-houfe for Indian goods and the produce of Perlia, Sinaar, Arabia, 
 &c. the inhabitants being faftors for the variety of flrangers concerned 
 in the exteniive commerce of which it is the center. 
 
 Some of the countries beyond Nikrokis, vifited by Benjamin, are not 
 Aery eafily to be afcertained. In the ifland of Cheverag he was informed 
 that Sin (fuppofed to be China) was at the diftance of forty days failing 
 in the Eafl ; and that beyond it there was a frozen fea, and fuch as 
 ventured upon it were killed by the cold. In Egypt he remarks the 
 abundant population, but has fcarcely a word of the trade of Alexan- 
 dria. Pafling over into Europe, he traveled as far as Ruilia, a country 
 covered with woods, and producing animals called weiwerges and zeb- 
 linatz, fuppofed to be grey foxes or grey fquirrels, and fables §. 
 
 The city of Keflin being deftroyed by Henry the Lion duke of Sax- 
 ony, the materials of its ruins wei^e employed by Pribiflaus, the laft 
 king of the Heruli, to inclofe a neighbouring village called Roftock, 
 the foundation of which is carried up by tradition to the year 329. 
 Being thereby rendered more fecure, it foon affumed the appearance of 
 a city, and became a place of confiderable commercial importance. 
 
 1 1 62, June 5''' — The Genoefe, having come to an agreement with 
 the emperor Frederic, received from him a dipl >ma, which, in a pomp- 
 ous preamble, fets forth his defire of cherifliing and protedling all his 
 faithful fubjeds, efpecially thofe from whom he expecfts the moft va- 
 luable fervices and devotion to the empire. And therefor, becaufe he 
 had heard that the Genoefe from the firfl foundation of their city had 
 raifed there heads above all other maritime ftates, and he fhould have 
 occafion to make ufe of their fervice, efpecially in naval war, he makes 
 known to all the fubjedls of the empire, that he grants to the confuls 
 and community of Genoa, as a fief, the power of levying military forces 
 between Monaco and Porto Venere, whenever they fhould have occafion 
 to raife any, laving, however, their fealty to the empire. He grants 
 
 * Ebn Hauka), an author at lead a century the trade on the dcchne of Siraf, which was the 
 
 tarh'er than Bcnjami:i, obfcrves that ' the water chief emporium in the ninth century : and it, in its 
 
 flows through the ftreets and amidft the chief build- turn, was echpled by Ormuz. [Sec Mc-m. de I'uter- 
 
 ings' of Antakiah, or Antioch. [5/r IViUiam alure V. xxxvii,/i/i. 476, 508.] 
 
 Oujclcy's travjlalion, p. 44..] He alfo notices the ^ The veracity of Benjamin has been much 
 
 fame accommodation in many otlicr towns of Afia. quellioned ; and in liiftory he certainly wanders 
 
 f Sufjar WES, however, one of the articles ^ro«j/i/ widely from the truth: but what, he fays, he faw, 
 
 to Pal'tflinc from Babylon by the caravan plunder- fcems to be worthy of credit. Perhaps his greateft 
 
 cd by King Richard. fault is being a jew. He is very careful in noting 
 
 \ This fcems the fame ifland, which is called the number ot Jews in every place vifitcd by him ; 
 
 Kif-ben-Omira by Abulfeda, and Chifi (or Kifi) and it is obfervable, that a great proportion of 
 
 by Marco Pulo. It fcems to have fuccecded to them were dyers of wool.
 
 A. D. 1 162. 337 
 
 them the power of chufing their confuls, difpenfing juftlce, and punifli- 
 ing crimes, within their diftridt. He confirms to them all their poffef- 
 fions at home and beyond fea, particularly Syracufe with a tradl of land 
 adjacent to it. He moreover grants them a ftreet convenient for their 
 merchants, together with a church, a bath, a fadory (' fundicus'), and a 
 bake-houfe, in every maritime city, which he may hereafter fubdue, 
 and alfo an exemption from duties and feveral charges in every country, 
 which they Ihall aflift him to conquer. He alfo grants them one half 
 of the gold, filver money, and filk, which they fhall take, the other half 
 being for himfelf ; and a quarter of all the gold and jewels, which fhall 
 be furrendered to him. He gives them the power of appointing one or 
 more of their citizens to refide in every country to which they trade, 
 in order to difpenfe juftice according to his laws and good cufloms. 
 And (what was perhaps the mofl agreeable of the whole, if indeed he 
 had the right, or the power, to make it eifedual) he authorizes them to 
 prevent the French from failing to Sicily and the coaffc of Calabria ; and 
 he fubjects the Venetians to the fame reftridions, unlefs they (hall con- 
 ciliate his flivour. [Diploma ap. Muratori Antiq. V. iv, col. 253.] 
 
 The delegation of the command of the fea by a prince, who, with a 
 founding title, poflefled no maritime power himfelf, probably encou- 
 raged the Genoefe in their pretenfions to a fovereign jurifdidlion upon 
 the fea, which they already exercifed by granting licences to the merch- 
 ants of other nations for trading by fea, whereof their encomiaftic 
 hiftorian, Baptifla Burgus, has adduced feveral examples which feem to 
 red upon very llender authority, and alfo fome which appear to be 
 more authentic, viz. In the year 
 
 1 1 54 — the citizens of Luca were permitted to trade upon the Genoefe 
 fea with merchandize allowed by the laws of Genoa ; 
 
 1156 — Azolino of Placentia was permitted to fend a veflel annually 
 to any port he thought proper with merchandize to the value of j^i5o ; 
 
 1 1 84 — Drogo de Confilio and his brothers were permitted to fend a 
 vefTel annually to any port with a cargo of the value of jr400, as citizens 
 of Genoa ; 
 
 1 1 89 — Cenlio Romano was permitted to go in, or to fend, a veflel 
 anywhere upon the fea of Genoa, free of any exaction, and carrying a 
 cargo amounting to ^^'200, whether belonging to himfelf or to others. 
 
 For thefe his authorities are the records of the city : and his being 
 able to find ib lew in the courfe of fo many years fhows, that they were 
 but feldom applied for. 
 
 II 65 — Axel (or Abfolon) bifhop of Lunden, having conflruded a 
 fort at an excellent harbour on the eafl fide of Zeland (or Seeland) in 
 order to proted the merchant Ihips from pirates, fome filhermen built a 
 few cottages befide it ; and an inn being alfo built for the accommoda- 
 tion of flrangers, the name of the place was changed from Axel-hus to 
 
 Vox. I. U u
 
 338 A. D. 1165: 
 
 Kiopmans haven (the merchants' harbour, which we, after the Germans, 
 call Copenhagen), and it grew up in time to be a confiderable commerc- 
 ial city and the capital of Denmark. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii. /). 139.] 
 
 We have feen the herring fifhery on the coaft of Norway an objeft 
 of confiderable importance in the tenth century : and it is probable, 
 though we have no certain information of it, that they then proceeded 
 up the Laltic, and were taken by the nations bordering upon that fea. 
 Ab <ut this time we have the firft exprefs notice of a fifliery for herrings 
 wjfhin the Baltic, which was at the ifland of Rugen, and fo confiderable, 
 when the flormy winds of November * drove them out of the Ocean to 
 take {belter in the narrow channels of the Baltic, that great numbers of 
 vefl^els from various foreign countries ufed to repair thither to load with 
 herrings. \_Hebnoldi Chron. Slav. L. ii, c. 12.] 
 
 About the fame time the Dutch date the commencement of the her- 
 ring fiihcry on their coaft. The people of Ziriczee caught herrings on 
 the coaft of Briel (or Voorn), an ifland at the mouth of the Maefe (or 
 IVlLufe"); and their example was followed by thofe of Zeland, Holland, 
 and Weft Frifeland, who fitted out fmall veflels called yhZ-rtr^j- f, with 
 •which they repaired to the fame fifliing ground in the proper feafon. 
 Thofe of Ziriczee are alfo faid to have been the firft (of the Low-coun- 
 try people) who packed herrings in barrels ; but they were very defi- 
 cient in the manner of curing them. \y. F. Petit, Chron. de Hollande, i^c. 
 V.'\, p. 184.] The Netherland writers have loft fight of their earlier 
 fiftiery in the Firth of Forth. (See above, p. 325.) 
 
 The City of Lubeck, though founded fo late as the year 1 140 [Bertii 
 Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 177], had already, by means of its happy fituation 
 near the entrance of the Baltic fea, attained fo much commercial con- 
 fequence, as to attradt the notice of the powerful commercial republic 
 of Genoa, who courted the citizens of Lubeck to confederate with them 
 againft the Pifans, by a promife of carrying them upon the fea on terms 
 of equality with their own citizens, together with a gift of two houfes 
 in Porto Venere and the tower of Motrone. In confequence of this 
 alliance we foon after find merchants of Lubeck trading in the Medi- 
 terranean onboard Genoefe veflels, one of which was taken on her re- 
 turn from Sicily by the Pifans in the year 1171. [Brev. Hijl. Pif. ap. 
 Muratori Script. V. vi, coll. 179, 182.] 
 
 At this time the fultan of Egypt granted the Chriftians of Jerufalem 
 a free trade in his dominions j but that fubftantial advantage was almoft 
 
 * The movements of the hcnings are very ca- guft. Since that time their arrival has gradually 
 
 pricions, both willi refpeft to time and place, been later and later; and in tlie year 1780 it was 
 
 About the year 1 ";oo they ufed to fct iu upon the in November, as in the age of Heimold. \_An- 
 
 <;<>a(ls of Gothland and Schonen in the beginning derfoii's Account of the Hebrides ( Wijlern ijlands ) 
 
 ofharveft, as we learn from Olaus Magnus, L. xx. />. 451-] 
 
 In the year 1752, after having long defcrted thofe f Martin Schook calls them Slalhacrts. {D'ljjert. 
 
 toads, they appeared upon them m July and An- de harcngis, $ 34-] 3
 
 A. D. n65. 339 
 
 immediately loft by the inordinate luft for dominion of Amalric king 
 of Jerufalem. [GuI. T'yr. LI. xix, xx.] 
 
 Dermit king of Leinfter in Ireland, being driven out of his dominions 
 for his wickednefs and tyranny, implored the aid of Henry king of Eng- 
 land to reftore him to his kingdom, which he offered to hold of him as 
 his volTal. Henry, feeing fo favourable an opportunity of availing him- 
 felf of the pope's commillion for the conqueft of Ireland, which he had 
 hitherto allowed to lie dormant, very willingly received Dermit's oath 
 of fealty. But declining to take upon himfelf the trouble and expenfe 
 of the war, he put into Dermit's hands his letters patent, authorifmg his 
 fubjeds to allift in reftoring him as his valTal king of Leinfter, by means 
 of which, and the promife of great rewards, Dermit prevailed on the 
 earl of Pembroke and fome others to engage in his caufe. About the 
 beginning of May 1169 the firft detachment of the Englifti adventurers 
 landed in Ireland, and foon re-eftabUftied Dermit in his kingdom, a 
 large portion of which was immediately allotted to them for their good 
 fervices. In the following year Dermit, according to agreement, gave 
 his daughter in marriage, together with the right of fucceflion to his 
 kingdom, to the earl of Pembroke. 
 
 The king of England, now finding that his fubjeds were making more 
 progrefs in the conqueft of Ireland than he expeded or wiftied, thought 
 it was time for him to interfere. He iftiied an edidl, prohibiting all 
 his fubjedls from failing, or carrying any thing whatever, to Ireland, 
 and ftridly enjoining all who were in that ifland to return before the 
 enfuing Eafter, under penalty of forfeiture. But being foothed by a 
 letter of the earl of Pembroke, fubmitting all his acquiiitions. as made 
 under the royal aufpices, to his pleafure, he allowed him and his aflb- 
 ciates to retain all the lands they had acquired in Ireland, except Dub- 
 lin and the other maritime towns, which he referved to be kept in his 
 own hands. 
 
 1 171 — In order more fully to fecure to himfelf the advantages of the 
 conqueft, he went over to Ireland with a fufficient force ; and foon after 
 his arrival he received the homage of raoft of the inferior kings, and 
 alfo of Roderic, the fupreme king of Ireland. \Gtr. Cambr. Hib. exp. 
 L. i Annales Hib. ap. Camd Isc.^ 
 
 Thus was that great and fertile ifland apparently fubjeded to the 
 crown of England. But it is eafier to effed a rapid conqueft of a coun- 
 try than to retain it. Henry's attention being immediately called to 
 his continental territories, and all the fucceeding kings of England be- 
 ing almoft conftantly engaged in foreign wars or civil commotions, the 
 ifland was fcarcely ever completely fubjeded to the Englifli power, till 
 the deliverance from continental dominions, and the union of the Britifti 
 crowns, enabled the government to ad with more vigour than before. 
 
 During the invafion of Ireland many of the principal citizens of Dub- 
 
 Uu 2
 
 340 A. D. II 71. 
 
 lin, who were Oftmen, left the place with their mofl valuable effects, 
 and, after inefFecftual attempts to recover it by the afliftance of fliips and 
 men obtained from their countrymen of Orkney and Mann, the great- 
 eft number of them retired to thofe illands. [^Hib. exp. L. i, c. 17, et 
 Jeqq.~\ The city being thus deprived of its moft valuable inhabitants, 
 King Henry, by a charter, now extant in the archives of Dublin, dated 
 in the year 1272, gave his city of Divelin {Duhlhi) to be inhabited by 
 his 7nen of Briftow {BriJIol), who had long carried on a commerce with 
 Ireland. Though no notice is taken by the authors of that age of any 
 colonies going over in confequence of the king's grant, it may be pre- 
 fumed that Dublin was foon repeopled, and in a flourifliing condition ; 
 for William of Newburgh, a contemporary writer, [L. ii, c. 26J calls 
 Divelin a noble maritime city, the metropolis of Ireland, and almoft 
 the rival of London for the commerce and abundance in its port. A 
 fubfequent charter of the fame king to his butjcjjcs of Dublin (not Di- 
 velin) grants them a free trade, with exemption trom tolls, pontage, &c. 
 in England, Normandy, Wales, and Ireland. [Chart, in Append, it. i , 2 
 of Lvtiktori's Henry II, B. v.] Camden fays, that from that time Dublin 
 continued in a flourifliing condition, and that the citizens gave fignal 
 proofs of their attachment to the kings of England on many trying oc- 
 cafions ; \^Brit. />. 571] whence it may be prefumed that they were moft- 
 ly Englilh *. 
 
 About this time the difcovery and population of America by the 
 Welfh is fuppofed by fome late writers to have taken place. Accord^ 
 ing to Doftor Powel, [Htji. of Wales, p. 227] a Wclfh prince called Ma- 
 doc ' left the land in contention between his brethren, and prepared 
 * certain fliips with men and munition, and fought adventures by lea, 
 ' failing weft, and leaving the coaft of Ireland fo far to the north, that 
 ' he came to a land unknown, where he law many ftrange things,' in 
 the year 11 70. He ' left moft of his people there, and returning back 
 ' for more of his own nation, acquaintance, and h-iends, to inhabit that 
 ' fair and large country, went thither again with ten fails :' and he adds, 
 ' as I find it noted by Giitryn Owen.'' 
 
 Much has been written upon this Wclfti colony, which was fuppofed 
 to confer upon Britain an unqucftionable right to the fovereignty of 
 America. But, independent of the phyfical impollibility of copper- 
 coloured Indians being defcended from wliite Britons, and of the moral 
 impollibility of Madoc returning from any country lying fouth-wcft 
 from Ireland, and finding his way to Britain by fteering a covn-fe, with- 
 out a compafs, acrofs the broadeft part of the Atlantic ocean, even fup- 
 pofnig his new country to have been to the northward of the trade 
 
 • It appears that confiderable numbers of Oil- it is piohable tbat llicre were many of tlicm alfo 
 men remained in the other principal ports of Ire- in Dubh'ii. [Stc li'aii-^s Aiitiq. llib. p. 126, cd. 
 land in fubjccllon to the Englifh government, and 1654.] 5
 
 A. D. 1171. 341 
 
 winds, it is pretty evident that the ftory muft have been invented after 
 voyages to and from America, and fettlcments of colonies in that con- 
 tinent, were common, and had become ufual fubjedls of converl'aiion, 
 even in the uncommercial country of Wales *. 
 
 The Grecian emperor Manuel, having quarreled with the republic 
 of Venice, feized the perfons and effeds of all the Venetian merchants 
 he could find in his dominions. But Venetian merchants were not to 
 be infulted with impunity. The outrage was immediately chaftiicd by 
 a Venetian fleet of a hundred gallies, which compelled Manuel to lub- 
 mit to terms of peace very humiliating to the pride of empire. This 
 event, the fecond within a few years which exhibits the Roman-Grecian 
 empire inferior in military force and political importance to the com- 
 naercial ftates of Italy, is introduced here, chiefly on account of its be- 
 ing conneded with the origin of the Bank of Venice. For the 'repub- 
 lic being opprefled by the charges of the war againfl: the emperor of 
 the Eafl:, and at the fame time involved in hofl:ilities with the emperor 
 of the Wefl:, the duke, Vitale Michel II, after having exhaufted every 
 other financial refource, was obliged to have recourfe to a forced loan 
 trom the moft opulent citizens, each being required to contribute ac- 
 cording to his ability. On this occafion, and by the determination of 
 the great council, the chamber of loans (' la camera degl' imprefliti') was 
 eftabliflied ; and the contributors to the loan were made creditors of the 
 chamber, from which they were to receive an annual intereft of four 
 per cent f . \_Saniito, Vite de duche di Venezia, ap. Muratori Script. V. xxii, 
 col. 502.} It may be prefumed that the rate of intereft, ftf very far be- 
 low the ufual ftandard of the age, was compulfive, as well as the loan 
 itfelf, and efteemed a hardlhip upon the creditors. 
 
 * Gutryn Owen, the alleged author of the ftory American tribes very remote from each-other. So 
 
 of Madoc's voyages and colony, is faid to have h'v- the childilh ftory of Whittin'jjton and his cat may 
 
 ed in the reign ot Edward IV ; and the anthority be -ocrlficd by a ilone, actually inCtribed with his 
 
 of a manufcript, really lurittcn hcj.jye the cUfcovery name, Handing at the lide of the road between 
 
 nf Awierica by Columbus, would be ftrong indeed. Idington and Highgate, and fet up, one would 
 
 But as G-utiyn's manufcript does not appear, nor thijik, with an intention to ftainp the appearance 
 
 even Lhiyd's trandatlon of it into Englifli, except of veracity upon fable. — Colonel Vallancey [Ct/- 
 
 .is edited nvith aJil}ttons, eorreiJ'wm, and improve- kLlariea, n'-. x, />. l6S2 has found a way of accouiit- 
 
 mtnti, by I'owel in the year 15S4, he nuill, for iiig for the identity of names and cnftoms in Ame- 
 
 ought we fee to the contrary, (land for the origin- rica (even as far fouth as Peru) with thofe of Ire- 
 
 al author. Giraldus Cambrenfis, a Welfh author, land, founded on a conjeAure of Varenius that the ' 
 
 v.'ho wrote an account of Wales about the end of north part of America once adhered to Ireland, 
 
 the twelfth century (edited by the fame Powcl), and the difcovery of a bank extending from Ire- 
 
 lias not a word of the ('cry, thoiigli fnfRciently land to Newfoundland. And fo the population of 
 
 fond of the marvelous. But the Britilli origin of America, that perplexing fubject of difquihtion, 
 
 the Americans has obtained fome imaginai-j- hip- appears to have been from Ireland. — I iiave feen 
 
 port from the cafuil, perhaps llrained, refcmblance an account of the population of IrelandyVom Ame- 
 
 of fome American words to the WeHh, icmaiked rica. 
 
 by Wafer in his voyage to Darien, and by fome + ' A raggione del quattro per cento di pro.'^ 
 
 others in other part:, of America : and, as fables, If it was fo expreffed in the original record from 
 
 like fnowballs, ir:creale by rolling along, the au- which Sanuto cxtratled his account, it is an ear- 
 
 thor of tlie Turkifli fpy [^V. viii, fi. 159] Jifcover- lier indance of the calculation per cent than 1 t 
 
 ed, that the tomb of Madoc is ilill to be feen in found in the Venetian laws, to be notice 
 
 the country of the Tufcoraras and Doegs, two the year 1242.
 
 34^ A. D. 1171. 
 
 It is prefumable (for no authentic documents, capable of afcertaining 
 the fa<fts with indifputable certainty, are, I beheve, anywhere to be 
 found) that the creditors, after continuing for fome time no other way 
 conneded than by the fimilarity of their fituation with refped to the 
 repubHc, were incorporated as a company, in order to manage their 
 joint concerns, and that fucceflive improvements upon their fyflem of 
 management, and new ideas fuggefted by the vaft increafe of the Ve- 
 netian commerce, gradually produced the bank of Venice, which is 
 generally acknowleged to be the moll antient eflablifhment of the kind 
 in the world *, and to have been, in a greater or lefs degree, the model 
 of all the banks, which were fet up, firfl in fome other commercial ci- 
 ties on the coafl of the Mediterranean fea, and in procefs of time in al- 
 molt every city and town in Europe. This bank was eftablifhed on 
 fuch judicious principles, and has been conduded through the revolu- 
 tion of many centuries with fuch prudence, that, though the govern- 
 ment have twice, fince its ellablifhment, made free with its funds, its 
 credit has remained inviolate and unimpeached. Payments are made 
 in it by transfers, or writing off the fum to be paid from the account 
 of the payer to that of the receiver, without having the trouble of 
 weighing gold or filver. If I miflake not, this bank is alfo the moft 
 antient eflablifhment of a permanent national debt, or the funding fyf- 
 tem, which is now carried to fuch a height in almofl every country of 
 Europe. 
 
 1 172 — ThePifans fent ambafladors to the emperor of Conilantinople, 
 who renewed the alliance made with the emperor's father, and obtained 
 from him the reftoration of the wharfs or landing places f they had for- 
 merly pofTefl'ed in Conilantinople, permiflion for the Pifans, whom he 
 liad banifhed, to return, and payment of the arrears for fifteen years of 
 the annual fum of 500 byzants and two palls (rich robes or cloaks) due 
 to the I'epublic, and 50 byzants and one pall to the archbifliop, the 
 whole being 8,040 byzanis and 45 palls. Three ambaffadors from the 
 emperor, with three imperial galUes, went to Pifa, where the treaty was 
 confirmed in full parliament (' in publico parlamento'). [Brev. Hijl. 
 Pif. ap. Muratori Script. V. vi, col. 186.] Thus was the humiliation of 
 the Greek empire difplayed in tranfadions with each of the three prin- 
 cipal commercial Hates of Italy. 
 
 King Henry revived a law of his grandfather's, abolifhing the right, 
 formerly afl'umed by fovcreigns and proprietors of the land, of feizing 
 the property of vellels wrecked upon their fhores, and declaring, that, 
 
 • Uiuier llic year 1401 we fliall fee that Bar- nations bordering on the Mediterranean, give the 
 
 -celona claims tlic honour of having tllabhihcd tlie name of efchfllc or fiala to any port in the Levant 
 
 firft bank of cxeliangc and dcpofil. where a coniul is ellabhihed. But fueh a meaning 
 
 •j- ' Scalas.' — •! am not certain of having right- cannot be applied here, tfpccially as the word i» 
 
 Vj irar.flatcd the word, 'i'he Trench, aud other in tire phrial.
 
 A. D. 1172. 343 
 
 whenever any veflel fliould be wrecked upon the coafl of England, Poic- 
 tou, Gafcoigne, or the illand of Oleron, if any one human creature, or 
 even a bcafl:, belonging to her, were found alive, the property fhould 
 be preferved for the owners, who fhould be allowed three months to 
 make their claim ; failifig which, the wreck fhould belong to the king. 
 [^F^edern Angl'ue, V. i, p. ^^J] 
 
 It is not unworthy of remark, that in this equitable proceeding, which 
 was a revival of the Rhodian law and the law of the good Roman em- 
 peror Antoninus, Henry fet an example, which was followed by the 
 Greek emperor Andronicus and the Roman pontiff Alexander III. 
 
 1 1 75 — About this time William king of Scotland made the village 
 adjacent to the cathedral church of Glafgow a burgh fubjedt to the 
 bifhop. In the charter there is no mention of a gild, or any mercantile 
 privileges, or of any trade whatever, except the liberty of having a mar- 
 ket on the Thurfdays. A fubfequent charter of the fame king grants 
 the biihop the privilege of holding an annual fair. [C/jart. in Gid/on's 
 Hijl. of Glafgow, pp. 299, 302.] Such was the infant flate of the great 
 and flourifhing commercial city of Glafgow. 
 
 1 176 — A new bridge of ftone was begun on the weft fide of the old 
 wooden bridge of London *. It appears to have had a wooden draw- 
 bridge f at each end for allowing vcflels to pafs up the river to Edrcd's 
 hithe, or Queen-hithe, which was then, and long after, a principal land- 
 ing-place, where the velTels of the Cinque ports and others dil'charged 
 their cargoes of corn, fifh, fait, fuel, &c. and to the other wharfs or 
 landing-places above the bridge. In thofe days the art of conflrud;ing 
 piers in the water was not known, and therefor the river was turned 
 into a new channel, fuppofed to have been drawn between Batterfea 
 and RedrifFe, during the building, which was not finiflied till the year 
 
 1209. \^An. Waverl. ap. Gale, p. 161 Stow's Survey, pp. 50, 52, 682, 
 
 ed. 1 61 8.] 
 
 1 1 77 — The vanity of Venice and the arrogance of the church of 
 Rome were gratiiied by the duke accepting a ring from Pope Alexan- 
 der III, whom the republic had aflifled in his war againft the emperor 
 and the rival popes, as an emblem of the marriage of the republic to 
 the Adriatic fea, which his holinefs, in imitation of his predeceffors 
 (who had lately made gifts of the iflands of Sardinia, Corfica, Sicily^ 
 
 * Fabyan \_Cronycle, f. xv b] fays, the wooden port of London, fays, that \.\\t prefenl bridge ftands 
 
 bridge was under the management of a fraternity on the original bottom, though it was very unfci- 
 
 or college of priefts, and the ftone building was entifically conftruded. {Third Report of the com- 
 
 undertaken by the great aid of the citizens and miltee, (sfc. />. 29.] 
 
 others paffing the bridge. He dates the com- f The draw-bridge was cut down in the year 
 
 mencement of the building in 1210. But the au- 1553 to prevent Wyat from entering the city., 
 
 thority of annals, apparently contemporary, is fure- But it was rebuilt ; and Stow defcribes it as exill- 
 
 ly preferable, unlefs contradicted by any record re- ing in his own time, {^nnaks, p. 1046 ; Survey,. 
 
 inaining in the archives of the city. Mr. Mylne, p. 53.] 
 in his Report to the committee for regulating the
 
 344 A. D. 1 177. 
 
 and Ireland), gave to the republic, as a wife to be under the dominion 
 and protedion of her hufband *. From that time the dukes of Venice 
 have annually renewed the ceremony of the marriage, by throwing a 
 gold ring into the bofom of their fpoufe from the deck of a fuperb vef- 
 lel called the Bucentaur. • 
 
 1180 — Notwithftanding the attention of Henry I! to the ftate of the 
 current money in the beginning of his reign, it was now again fo much 
 debafed, that he was under the neceflity of making another entire new 
 coinage of round money. Though the goldfmiths and filverfmiths of 
 England were famous throughout Europe, Henry on this occafion chofe 
 to bring an artift, called Philip Aymari, from Tours (a city in his pater- 
 nal territories on the continent, which gives its name to the current 
 money of France) to execute his coinage. But Aymari, being found 
 guilty of debafing the llandard of the coin, was difmifled with difgrace ; 
 and the Englifh coiners, whofe frauds had produced the neceffity of the 
 
 recoinage, were punifhed. \_R. de Diccto, col. 611 Gerv. Dorob. col. 1457. 
 
 — Hoveden, f. 341 a.] 
 
 1 181 — King Henry, in his Affife of arms, flrictly commanded that no 
 one fhould buy or fell any fhip to be carried out of England, or engage 
 any feaman (' maireman') to go into foreign fervice. \Hoveden,f. 350 b.] 
 As the order was merely a military precaution, it feems going too far 
 to infer from it that Englifti-buik veflels were efteemed fuperior to 
 thofe of other nations, or were coveted by foreigners. England needs 
 not claim any doubtful naval renown. But Henry's attention to that 
 befl; fafeguard of his kingdom muft alfo, though unintentionally, have 
 been beneficial to the commerce of England. 
 
 1 189 — There is good reafon to believe that England was in a prof- 
 perous condition, and that its manufadlures and commerce were in a 
 progredive ftate of improvement during the long reign of Henry II. 
 Heni-y of Huntingdon, who wrote in the early part of his reign, begins 
 his Hiftory with a florid defcription of Britain, or England, (for with 
 him thefe names are fynonymous) wherein he fays, that mines of cop- 
 ]ier, iron, tin, and lead, are abundant, and that there are fome, though 
 but few, mines of filver f . Silver, however, is brought from Germany 
 by way of the River Rhine fof our wonderful plenty of flefh and filh 
 (tlie abundance of herrings and oyfters is particularly noted), our moll 
 pretious wool, our milk (probably converted into butter and cheele), 
 
 * His holinefs maJe a tad Lliiiider with rcfpeft of filvcr in England. Biit it would be mucli moit 
 
 to the fexcs of the parties. An aiuiciit poet would important and iatisfaftory, were there not reafon 
 
 have married tiie god Hadria, the fon of Neptune, to apprehend that he writes, not from his own 
 
 to the nymph Venctia, the daughter of tlie river knowlege, but from Bede. At tliis lime tliere was 
 
 god Medoaeuo. In claflleal or poetical language a rich lilver mine in Wales between Lanelwy (J/. 
 
 Hadria, the name of that fea, is niafculinc, and all David's) and Balingwerk. [G'/V. Cunilr. Itin. 
 
 republics are of the feminine gender. CambrU, L. ii, f. lo. J I have already, unucr the 
 
 f This affertion of Henry may be alleged againft year 1 153, notiei.d a lilvcr mine in Cumberland, 
 
 thofe writers who affirm thai there were no mines belonging to David king of Scotland.
 
 A. D. 1 1 89. 345 
 
 and cattle innumerable ; fo that filver is even more plenty in England 
 than in Germany ; and all the money of England is made of pure filver. 
 
 In this brief enumeration of goods exported there is no mention of 
 corn ; and indeed there is no reafon to believe that the agriculture of 
 the country was fo far advanced as often to produce more than was ne- 
 ceflary for the home confumption. Some exportation of corn, however, 
 there was ; for in the year ii8r a fine was paid to the king for licence 
 to fhip corn from Norfolk and Suffolk for Norway : but without a li- 
 cence and payment for it, which feems equivalent to a cuftom duty, it 
 appears that it could not be exported. [Madox's H'tjl. of the exchequer, 
 r. 13, § 3, note k; c. 14, § 7, note r, § 15, notes 0, p.'\ 
 
 Lead was exported in great quantities to all parts of Europe, the roof^ 
 of the principal churches, palaces, and caftles, being generally covered 
 with it. [Madox, c. 14, § 15 H?^. lit. del a France, Kix, p. 221.] The ex- 
 portation of tin was alio very confiderable, the mines of Cornwall and 
 Devon-fhire, which for many ages fupplied all Europe, affording a large 
 proportion of the royal revenue. [M. Paris, p. 570. — Foedera, V. i, 
 p. 243.] 
 
 It has been prefumed, with a probability approaching very near to 
 certainty, that wool was a principal article of the exports of this countrv 
 before the Norman conqueft : (See above, p. 288) and the exportation 
 of it appears to have been flill very confiderable, though the home ma- 
 nufadure midoubtedly worked up large quantities of it ; for, according 
 to an hyperbolical account of the commerce of the country, introduced 
 by Mathew of Wefl:minfl:er in his Hifl:ory, [p. 396, ed. 1601] all the 
 nations of the world ufed to be kept warm by the wool of England, 
 which was made into cloth by the Flemifli manufadurers. 
 
 Though I have found no exprefs mention in any Englifh author of 
 the exportation of woollen cloth in this age, there can be little doubt 
 that the Flemings fettled in Wales, who are faid to have poffefled the 
 knowlege of commerce as well as manufactures, exported fome of the 
 cloths they made. The hifl:orian of the Orkneys informs us, that two 
 merchant fliips from England bound for Dublin, loaded with Englijh 
 cloths (probably the manufadure of the Flemings) and other goods of 
 great value, were taken near Dublin, before the conquefi: of Ireland by 
 the Englifli, by an Orkney pirate called Swein *, who on his return 
 home covered his fails with the fcarlet cloths, and therefor called that 
 his fcarlet cruife. {T^orfcei Orcades, L. i, c. 37.] 
 
 The exportation of flaves, notvvithfi:anding feveral laws or canons 
 
 * That man wanted only a more exteniive field nefs and ingratitude fcarctly Iirferior t.) Auguftus ; 
 
 of aAion, and to have his exploits recorded by an- and in letting up, and depofing, his liege lords, the 
 
 thors more generally known, to be as illuftrious a earls of Oikney, he may be compared to the ceb- 
 
 ruffian as ever figured in hiftory. In llratageni and brated king-maker, the earl of Wsrwick. 
 cunning he was fully equal to Ulyiits ; in wicked- 
 
 Vol. I. X X
 
 ^^6 A. D. 1 1 89. 
 
 made againfl it, particularly in the council of Weftminfler in the 
 year 11 02, lEadmer, p. 68] was not entirely given up in the reign of 
 Henry II. Merchants, but apparently more frequently robbers and pi- 
 rates, exported flaves, who were partly trepanned, and were partly child- 
 ren bought of wretched parents, who were in great want. In the year 
 1 172 the refolution of the Irifli, who had hitherto been great purchafers 
 of Englifh flaves, to buy no more, and to fet at liberty thofe they had, 
 [Giraldi Camhr. Hib. exp. L. i, f. 18] gave a great check to that inhuman 
 trade. After that time, though there occur frequent notices of flaves 
 transferred from one proprietor to another *, and of the prices paid for 
 them, we do not, I believe, find them any longer mentioned as articles 
 of foreign trade. 
 
 The other articles exported from England at this time, fuch as honey, 
 wax, cheefe, falmon, &c. were apparently trifling in quantity and value. 
 
 Of the imports of England at this time, wine, produced in the king's 
 French dominions, formed a very conliderable part. Some woad for 
 dying, together with fpiceries, jewels, filks, furs, and other luxuries f , 
 confl:ituted the remainder. In years of fcarcity corn was alfo imported ; 
 and the flores of it colleded in London made that city be called the 
 granary of the whole kingdom. [W. Malmjb. Gejla pont. J^ 133 b.] 
 
 All the goods imported into England, except wine, woad, and occa- 
 honally corn, were in demand only among the fuperior ranks ; and, 
 though they were fold at very high prices, they amounted to but an in- 
 confiderable fum upon the whole. On the other hand, the goods ex- 
 ported, being adapted to the wants of all the claflTes of mankind, were 
 in great and general demand : and thence there was a large balance in 
 fivour of England, which produced the abundance of filver remarked 
 by Henry of Huntingdon. But there is reafon to apprehend that much 
 of the money brought in by the commerce of the country was foon 
 taken out of the circulation of produdive induftry, and locked up in 
 die dead hoards of the great clergy and fome of the nobles. Roger 
 archbifliop of York died in 1181, poflefled of 11,000 pounds of filver 
 and 300 pieces of gold (' aurei'), befides a gold cup and a confiderable 
 quantity of filver plate. [A/. Paris, p. 140.] 
 
 The great wealth of the kingdom, though perhaps very ill divided, 
 together with the policy of converting the king's fliare of the produce 
 of the crown lands, formerly paid in kind, into money rents, and the 
 great length of his reign, enabled Henry II to amafs fo much treafure, 
 that he could bequeath above forty thoufand marks of filver, and five 
 
 * In the year 1195 tlic arclibidiop of Canter- f Of tliefe fomc fpccification may be found in 
 
 bury gave ten flaves, as part of the' price of tlie Fitz-Stephen's defcription of London in thij reign, 
 
 manor of Lambetli, to the prior of Rocheller. Sec above, p. 329. 
 IFadera, V. i, p. 89.]
 
 A. D. 1 189. 347 
 
 hundred marks of gold to, what he fuppofed, religious and charitable 
 purpofes *. 
 
 At this time the woollen manufadure was very widely extended over 
 the country : for, befides the colony of Flemifh weavers in Wales, who 
 were probably the inftrudors of all the reft, and the company, or gild, 
 of weavers eftablifhed in London, it appears, that there were fimilar 
 companies of the fame trade in Oxford, York, Nottingham, Hunting- 
 don, Lincoln, and Winchefler; and all of them, agreeable to the policy 
 of the age, paid fines to the king for the privilege of carrying on their 
 manufadure exclufive of all others in their towns. [Madox^s Hijl. of the 
 exchcq. c. lo, § 5.] But there were alfo dealers in Bedford, Beverley 
 and other towns of York-fhire, Norwich, Huntingdon, Northampton, 
 Gloucefler, Nottingham, Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Stanford, 
 Grimfby, Barton, LafFord, S'. Albans, Baldock, Berkhamftead, and 
 Chefterfield, who paid fines to the king, that they might freely buy and 
 fell dyed cloths ; fome of their licences alfo containing a permiflion to 
 fell cloths of any breadth whatever. As the Englilh had not yet attain- 
 ed any confiderable degree of proficiency in the art of dying, and as 
 foreigners were not bound by the Englifh regulations for the breadth 
 of cloths, it may be apprehended, that the cloths fold by thole woollen 
 drapers were the fine coloured goods of the manufacture of Flanders : 
 and the red, fcarlet, and green, cloths, enumerated among the articles in 
 the wardrobe of King Henry IT, were mofl probably of the fame foreign 
 manufacture. [See Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12 ; c. 13, § 3.] 
 
 Henry 11, in the 31" year of his reign, gave the weavers of London 
 a confirmation of their gild with all the freedoms they enjoyed in the 
 reign of Henry I ; and in the patent he direded, that, if any weaver 
 mixed Spanifh wool with Englifh in making cloth, the chief magiftrate 
 of London fhould burn it. [^Stow^s Survey of London, p. 515, ed. 1618.] 
 From fuch a regulation it feems probal^le, that Englifh wool was then 
 fuperior to that of Spain, which in later times has obtained the firfl 
 charader f . 
 
 The Englifh goldfmiths ftill preferved the reputation acquired by 
 
 * The 500 marks of gold were to make mar- fourteen or fifteen millions of modern money), I 
 
 riage portions for women of free (or genteel) con- fufpett that nongenta (nine hundred) has crept 
 
 dition, who were in need of affiilance ; a laudable into the text for nonaginta (ninety), the number 
 
 and noble bequeft. All the reft was for the flip- according to Benediclus Abbas ; and pcffibly 
 
 port of the holy war, and the maintenance of drones pounds have alfo been inadvertently fubftituted for 
 
 of both fexes in convents. (]See the will in Fadera, marks. 
 
 ^i, />. 37.] The whole amount of his treafuie f The ' lans pretiofiflimae' (moft pretious 
 
 is ftated by Hoveden \_f. 374 a] at above a hun- wool) of Henry of Huntingdon, [/. 170 a] an 
 
 dred ihoufand marks, which is increaled by Mathew author of this age, if we may give full credit to 
 
 Paris [/). 152, ed. 1640] to above nine hundred his fuperlative language, feems to countenance the 
 
 thouf and pounds, befides valuable utenfds, jewels, belief of the fuperiority of Englifh wool, which 
 
 and pretious ftones. But the later fum being in- will be further lUullrated by facts, to be narrated 
 
 credibly great (in faA not lefs in real value than in the fubftquent part of this work. 
 
 XX2
 
 348 A. D. 1 1 89. 
 
 their predeceflbrs. Anketil, a monk of S'. Albans, about the begin- 
 ning of the twelfth century, was lb famous for his works in gold, filver, 
 gilding, and jewelery, that he was invited by the king of Denmark to 
 fuperintend his works in gold, and to be his banker, or money-changer. 
 A pair of candlefticks made of filver and gold, and prefented by Ro- 
 bert, abbat of S'. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV, were fo much efleemed 
 for their exquifite workmanfhip, that they were confecrated to S'. Peter, 
 and were the principal means of obtaining high ecclefiaftical diftind;ions 
 for the abbay. Neither were the Englifh ladies of this age lefs famous 
 for their works in embroidery than thofe of the Anglo-Saxon race. 
 The fame abbat alio fent the pope a prefent of mitres and fandals mofl 
 wonderfully embroidered by the hands of Chriftina, priorefs of Margate. 
 {M. Paris, Vita, pp. 59, 71, 73.] More examples of the fuperiority of 
 the Englifh m.ale and female artifis in thofe branches might be produced, 
 if it were neceffary. 
 
 As flax and hemp are enumerated by the council of Weflminfler in 
 the year 1175, along with corn, wine, the increafe of animals, wool, 
 cheefe, and all other things annually reproduced, as iubjed to the pay- 
 ment of tithes, it appears that fome flax and hemp were cultivated, 
 which could only be for the purpofe of making cloth and cordage. 
 [Gervas. Dorob. col. 1431.] The cultivation of them was probably in- 
 troduced, or at leafl became fo general as to attrad the notice of the 
 clergy, after the conqueft ; for they are not included in the lift of tith- 
 able articles made out in the fourth year of William the Conqueror : 
 but, on the other hand, the profits made by mills and by merchandize 
 (' negotialionibus'), which are charged then, \_Knyghton, col. 2356] are 
 now omitted. 
 
 May 7"' — Frederic emperor of Germany, at the requeft of Adol- 
 phus earl of Schowenborch, gave a charter to his (Adolphus's} citizens 
 of Hamborch, granting them a free paffage for their fliips and men from 
 the fea to their city, without paying any toll or ungelt, or any impofition 
 whatever in coming or returning ; but with a condition, that the goods 
 of ftrangers, brought in their vefTels, fhould pay duty to the emperor at 
 his city of Stade*. He grants them an exemption from all exadions in 
 the whole diftricl belonging to the earl, and the right of preventing any 
 perfon from building a caftle within two miles of their city, with the 
 right of fifhing in the Elbe two miles above, and two miles below, the 
 city. Alio any perfon, delirous of exchanging money in the city, might 
 do it in any place moft convenient, except before the money-houfe : 
 and the community had authority to examine the weight and ftandard 
 of the money ifllied by the coiners f. The charter alfo exempts the 
 
 * StaHe is fuuated at the moutli of a fmall as liigh as this town. \_Helmoli!i Chr. Slavorum, 
 
 river running into the foulh-weft fide of the Elbe, L. i, c. 15.] 
 
 below Hamburgh. About the year I coo, the f That 1 n-iay not be accufed of negledling fo 
 
 Danidi pirates plundered the banks of the Elbe important an objeft in commercial hiitory as the 
 
 * f'Ji
 
 A. D. 1 189. 349 
 
 citizens from expeditions, and bellows feveral other privileges agree- 
 able to the manners of the age. [Chcirta in Lambecii Orig. Hamb. p. 83.] 
 After the Norman conquefl: London appears to have been governed 
 for fome time by a portgeref and a provoft conjundly *. The emprefs 
 Matilda, as queen of ILngland, appointed Godfrey Magnaville to be port- 
 geref and lliirref of London and Middlefex. In the reign of her fon. 
 King Henry II, we fee 110 more provofls, but find the names of feveral 
 portgerefs, or portgraves, who feem to have remained in office many 
 years, perhaps for life. In fome records the principal magiflrates of 
 London are alfo called fhirrefs (vicecomites), domefmen, and aldermen: 
 but it is not, I believe, known, whether thofe titles fucceeded each other 
 as belonging to the fime office of magiftracy, or belonged to co-exift- 
 ing offices. In thefirft year of King Richard, the oldeft furviving fon 
 of Henry II, the city began to have two fhirrefs, or bailifs, and a mayor, 
 who was the chief magiflrate. This year, at Michaelmas, Henry Fitz- 
 Alwin was appointed by the king to be the firft mayor, and he retain- 
 ed the office above twenty-four years. {Stow's Survey of London, pp. 914, 
 
 Immediately after the commencement of Fitz-Alwin's mayorality, an 
 excellent regulation for the fafety of the lives and properties of the in- 
 habitants of London took place. The houfes being built of timber, 
 with roofs of ft raw or reeds, fires were very frequent : and, in order to 
 prevent fuch calamities, it was ordered, that the houfes in the city fhould 
 thenceforth be built of ftone up to a certain height, and covered with 
 flate or tile. That fafe and lubftantial mode of building was generally 
 perfevered in for about two hundred years, after which timber build- 
 mgs again came in ufe. \_Maniifcripts quoted by Stow, Survey^ pp. 131, 
 
 533-] 
 
 In the reign of Henry II the Jews had met with fome relaxation of 
 
 the rigorous treatment to which they had formerly been iubje6led. De- 
 firous of conciliating the favour of the new king by valuable gifts, fome 
 of the chief men among them, aflembled from various parts of the king- 
 dom, went to prefent their offerings on the day of the coronation (Sep- 
 tember 3''), but were rudely repulfed by the guards, who alleged the 
 king's order for excluding them. The rabble fomehow got a notion 
 
 Jirjl notice of bills of exchange, I muft here give a ' have been a confidcrable place of commerce, fince 
 
 part of the charter in the original words. — ' Ar- ' biUsof exchange, or moneysremitted by exchange, 
 
 ' gentum quoqiie in ipfa civitate fi quis cambiare ' were very neiu at this time in Europe, and were 
 
 ' voluerit, in quocunque loco fuerit opportmnim, ' then in ufe only in the moil confiderable cities 
 
 ' cambiat, nlfi fuerit ante domum monetas. Po- ' of commerce.' — Domus monet<c, which I have 
 
 ' teftatem etiam liabeant examinandi denarios mo- clofely tranflated tie money-houfe, feems to be the 
 
 ' netariorum in pondere et puritate.' From thefe mint. 
 
 words Mr. Anderfon, by a ftrange inadvertency, * Some hints concerning the magiftracy, &c. 
 
 concludes, that the emperor gave the Hamburgh- of London before the conqneft, may be feen in p. 
 
 ers 'liberty to negociate money by exchange, &c. 297. 
 ' which lall privilege Ihews, that Hamburg muft
 
 35© A. D. 1189. 
 
 that the king had given orders to kill the Jews, and being eager to imi- 
 tate the zeal of their fovereign, and to ferve God by deflroying that de- 
 voted race, whom, as well as the Saracens, they called God's enemies, a 
 dreadful carnage enfued, which was continued through the whole day 
 in defiance of the king's command for the mob to difperfe, fent by fome 
 of his principal courtiers, and was followed by a conflagration of the 
 houfes, and pillage of the property, of all the Jews in London. 
 
 1 1 90— The king's wrath for the difgrace brought upon the folemni- 
 ty of his coronation feftival, and the contempt of his authority, together 
 with his protedtion publicly granted to the furviving Jews, reftrained 
 the malice of the people againfl them, while he remained in England. 
 But, as foon as he left the kingdom, the fury broke out anew after his 
 departure ; and the maflacres and enormities of London were repeated 
 upon the Jews of Lynne, Norwich, Stanford, Lincoln, S'. Edmundfbury, 
 and York. 
 
 At the later city the tragedy was begun by burning the houfe, which 
 contained the widow and children of one of the principal martyrs to the 
 fury of the London mob. Thereupon about five hundred Jews fhut them- 
 felves up in the caftle, by'the permiflionof the governor, with their families 
 and their moft valuable and portable effedls*, and there fuftained a fiege, 
 till their provifions were expended, and they were driven to the fhocking 
 extremity of murdering with their own hands their wives and children, 
 and then themfelves, after fetting fire to the buildings in order to de- 
 flroy their property as much as poflible, and to involve fome timid 
 apoftates in the general deftrudion f . After this dreadful cataflrophe, 
 the befiegers, in order to deprive the unhappy heirs of the vidims, if 
 any remained, of their property, went to the cathedral, where the bonds 
 for their debts were preferved, which they forced from the keepers, and 
 folemnly committed to the flames in the middle of the church : and 
 then many of them, who had engaged themfelves to go to the holy war, 
 deliberately fet out upon their expedition. Such was the event of the 
 perfecution which the Jews fuffered, not for their religion, but for their 
 wealth, to which the mob were fpurred on, as confefled by William of 
 Newburgh, a contemporary writer, by the debtors of the Jews, and alfo 
 by fome of the clergy, and a hot-headed hermit. [lA^. Neivbrig. L. iv, 
 cc. I, 7-1 1 M. Paris, p. 157.] But thefe horrid deeds afford a me- 
 
 * The governor thought it his duty to protcft determined, when they found they could hold out 
 
 the Jews, or at leall their [jroperty, ' taiujuani no longer, to put their wives, their children, and 
 
 ' gazas regias.' — ' Fifeo enini competit, quietiuid themfelves, to death, and to fet fire to the fort, 
 
 ' Judiei, quos focneratores conftat tffe regies, in which they actually executed : and only two wo- 
 
 ' bonis habere vidtntur.' \_IV. Ncwbii^. L. iv, men and a few children, who had Ihrunk from the 
 
 cf. 9, II.] general carnage and hid themfelves, were left to 
 
 f After the deflruftion of Jcrufaleni, Eleazar jjife the Romans an account of the lacrifice of the 
 
 and his aflotiatcs, who had defended the calllc of lelf devoted garrifon. \_'J'>ffpl'i' Bell, Juil. L, vii, 
 
 MalTada againlt the Romans, iu the like manner c, 28.]
 
 A. D. 1 190. ^^i 
 
 lancholy proof of the profperity of the towns wherein they were per- 
 petrated ; for Jews are never found but in opulent places. 
 
 Richard, almofl immediately after he was crowned king of England, 
 refolved to defert his kingdom in order to accompany the king of France 
 on an expedition for the recovery of the Holy land from the Mohamcd- 
 ans : and he was perhaps the mofi: ardently-zealous champion, that ever 
 religious frenzy tranfported to Afia. To that holy warfare the great 
 treafures left by his father, amounting by the mod moderate account to 
 about a hundred thouiand marks, were confecrated, and alfo all the mo- 
 ney he could fcrew out of his fubjeds, and all that he could fcrape to- 
 gether by the fale of every thing that he could poflibly fell* [IV. Nezvbrig. 
 L. iv, c. 5. — Hovede?i,f. 2,']6 a, 377 b, 378 b.] One happy efFe6l to both 
 the Britifli kingdoms of his eagernefs for amafling money was the re- 
 ftoration of the caflles of Rokefburgh and Berwick to William king of 
 Scotland, together with a refignation of the acknowlegement of fuperi- 
 ority extorted from him by Henry II, in confequence of his being fur- 
 prifed and made prifoner by the barons of York- (hire ; for which recov- 
 ery of his own rights William paid him ten thoufand marks, [Fa- 
 dera, V, i, p. 64] a fum greatly exceeding in real value a million of mo- 
 dern moneyf . This large fum X was raifed by William from his fub- 
 jefts, not without an exertion of royal authority ; and even the clergy 
 
 were not exempted from the contribution. \JV. Nezvbrig, L. iv, c. 5. 
 
 Chart. Scon, quoted in Dalrymple's Annals of Scotland, V. i,p. 132.] 
 
 As Richard's expedition to the Holy land is unconnedted with com- 
 mercial hiftory, it will be fufficient to notice his fleet and his naval oper- 
 ations. His {hips, colleded from all the ports of England and the weft 
 coaft of France, which was entirely fubjed to him and his mother, form- 
 ed the fineft fleet, that had ever been under the command of a king of 
 England. The number is varioufly fl:ated by the different authors, and 
 Geffrey de Vinifauf §, who was in the expedition, only fays, that the 
 people of Mellana in Sicily, at which port the Englifh and French fleets 
 had their rendezvous, never faw, nor ever will fee, on their coafl: fo great 
 and fo fine a fleet as that of England. According to other authors of 
 good credit, there were 1 3 veffels, larger than the reft, called bufles||, 
 
 * An author of that age remarks, that, if all the f The much larger fum of£ico,oco, faid to 
 
 obligations exaded by Richard within four months have been paid by William to Henry II for his 
 
 were difcharged in the following year, he furpaifed ranfom, appears to have been advanced by Heftor 
 
 all his predeccITors in wealth. \_R. dc Dueto, col. Boyfe out of the inexhaullibie treafury of his own 
 
 650.3 invention. 
 
 •f- The value of money has fluiiluated fo much, § From his very copious account of Richard's 
 
 or rather been lo much deprelTed, in the courfe of expedition '^ap. Gale, Script. An;^l. V. ii.J I have 
 
 compofing this work, that I may have ufed differ- extraCled all the naval information of this period, 
 
 ent ftandards in converting antient monc\j into mo- except that for which other authors are particular- 
 
 dcrn. The ilandavd, fixed by Lord Lyttlcton in ly quoted. 
 
 his Life of Henry H, of ten modern pounds for one || Vinifauf calls the largeft of Richard's vclfels 
 
 mark of the age of Henry (or fifteen for one) was dnmons (or dromunds), and fays, he appointed one 
 
 certainly much too low, even when he wrote. of them to carry his bride and his fiiler, the queen 
 
 I dowager
 
 35 
 
 A. D, 1 190, 
 
 failed with a triple fpread of fails *, about 50 armed gallies, and 100 
 tranfports or veffels of burthen. Befides thefe, there were 106 veflels, 
 which had afTembled at Lifbon, coafled round Spain as far as Marfeille, 
 and thence took a departure for Syria, without touching at any other 
 land. [HoveJen,/. 382 a.] 
 
 All thefe veflels rowed and alfo failed. The gallies were adorned with 
 innumerable pencils (or pennants) waving in the wind, and banners, or 
 ftandards, (' fignis') fixed in graceful order on the tops of the fpears. 
 The rojlra, or beaks, were diftinguiflied by the variety of their paintings 
 or figures ; and the prows of the veffels Ihone with the light refleded 
 from the fhields fixed upon them. Modern veffels, fays Vinifauf, have 
 greatly fallen off from the magnificence of antient times, when the gal- 
 lies carried three, four, five, and even fix, tires of oars, whereas now they 
 rarely exceed two tires. The gallies, antiently called Liburna, are long, 
 {lender, and low, with a beam of wood fortified with iron, commonly 
 called a fpur, projecfting from the head, for piercing the fides of the ene- 
 my. There are alfo fmall gallies, called galeons, which being fliorter 
 and lighter; fleer better, and are fitter for throwing fire. 
 
 Ships fometimes ventured, at leaft in the Mediterranean, to lofe fight 
 
 of land; but gallies never left the flioref. \Hoveden,f. 38a b, 404 a 
 
 Bromton^ col 1 2 1 7.] In order to keep the fleet from difperfing in the 
 night-time, a lantern was carried aloft by the king's veflel, which led 
 the way to the whole fleet. 
 
 dowager of Sicily. The fame vefTel he elfcvvheie 
 calls a ^;//} ('biiza'): io hrfs ^\\i dromon, or Jrc 
 mund, appear, at leaft fometimes, to have been 
 ufed promifcuoufly. [Compare Viiiifiiuf, pp. 316, 
 320 — R. ds D'lceto, col. 661. — M. Paris, p. 162.— 
 Bromton, col. 1201.] 
 
 The commentators, carried away by Greek 
 ctymologv, tell us that the droniund was a light 
 faft-failing vtfTel, fo called from S^eftoj, a race. It 
 is more than probable, that the word is Arabic : 
 and the examples quoted by Spclman, \_Archi!:oL 
 vo. Dromtinda'] who has therein condefcended to 
 copy Ifidore, are rather at variance with his defini- 
 tion and etymology. Vinifauf repeatedly charac- 
 terizes the dromons ;\$ heavy and dull-failing vcficls. 
 
 * ' Triplici vclorum expanfionc velificatas.' \_M. 
 Parts, p. 162.] They feem to have had three 
 marts, each carrying only one fail. We are not 
 told, I believe, how many mafts the gallies had. 
 In eighty years after we find fomc of the veffels 
 belonging to an afTociation of cnifading kings, 
 which are remarked as very large, carrying two 
 fails each. \_Hemlngford, L. iii, c. 34 ] 
 
 f Vinifauf exprtlsly fays [/). 274J that the kind 
 of veffel, which the antients called a Uburna, was 
 in his time (the iwelfth century) called a^a/lcy, in 
 L,3Un galea, which word is ufed on every occaiion 
 of mentioning fuch veifels by all the writers of the 
 
 middle ages. Yet Stella, a Genoefe clironlcler of 
 the fifteenth century, is very angry with his con- 
 temporaries for ufing the word galea, which he 
 takes every opportunity of iligmatizing as a cor- 
 ruption of language lately introduced by idiots. 
 See particularly his Chronicle at A. D. 1146, 
 141 6, ap. Muralori Script, V. xvii. 
 
 Flying firties, which the pilgrims had feen near 
 Sardinia, were now firft heard of in England : and 
 Hoveden [/. 383 a] feems apprehenfivc, that he 
 ftould fcarcely obtain credit for the exigence of 
 fuch wonderful animals. I find flying filhcs appro- 
 pi iated to the tropical feas of the welleni hemi- 
 fphere by lome writers of the prefcnt age, e. g. Mrs. 
 Piozzi; and, what is more furptifing, Mr. Ed- 
 wards, the hiftorian of the Weft- Indies, fuppofes 
 \_y. I, p. 12, wo/ir] that Columbus, a Mediterrane- 
 an navigator, had never ften a flying fifh, till he 
 was on the voyage wherein he difcovered the Weft- 
 ern world. The flying filh is defcribed, but very 
 briefly, by Pliny [L. ix, c. 36J under the name of 
 hirundo, or fwallow-fiflij and its flight, or leap, 
 has certainly fome refemblance to the (liimming 
 flight of the fwallow. Flying fiflics are common 
 in the A'.lantic ocean as far nortli as the coaft of 
 Portugal ; and we leai'ii from Mr. Pennant [^Bril. 
 Zoology, y. HI, /I. 292, 4'" edil.'\ tliat at leatt one 
 has been found on the cvall of South- Wales.
 
 A. D.I 190. ^^^ 
 
 In fea engagements they ftill preferved the antient femicircular line 
 of battle, ftationing the ftrongeil vefTels in the wings, or points, with a 
 view to inclofe the enemy as in a net. The foldiers, ftationed on the 
 upper deck, (or on the raifed platform or forecaftle, ' fuperioribus tabu- 
 latis') made a clofe bulwark, of their (hields ; and, to give them free 
 room to fight, the rowers fat together below. When the hoflile fleets 
 approached, the found of the trumpets and the fhouts of the men gave 
 the fignal for the engagement, which commenced with a difcharge of 
 miflile weapons on both fides : the fliarp beaks, or fpurs, were forcibly 
 dafhed againfl: the enemy's fides : the oars were entangled : and the hos- 
 tile veflels being grappled together, a clofe fight enfued, while the en- 
 gineers endeavoured to burn their enemy's fhips with the Greek fire, 
 which was now in common ufe with the Turks and Saracens, as well as 
 the Chriftians. 
 
 1 191 — During the fiege of Aeon a battle was fought between the 
 Chriftians and the Turks upon the fea. In one galley the Turks got 
 poflefllon of the upper tire of oars, and the Chriftians retaining the low- 
 er tire, they pulled the vefl^el different ways *. 
 
 While Richard was on his paflage from Cyprus to Paleftine, he fell in 
 with a, very large fhip loaded with warlike ftores and provifions, and hav- 
 ing onboard, according to the moft moderate and probable account, 
 eight hundred foldiers for the relief of the garrifon of Aeon. She car- 
 ried three very lofty mafts ; but her fails were of little avail to her, for 
 it was almoft calm, and flie was too heavy to make much way with her 
 oars. Richard's Hght gallies, by the ufe of their oars, moved round her 
 with the greateft agility, and attacked her furioufly in every diredion : 
 but the great ftrength and loftinefs of her fides gave her fuch a fuperi- 
 ority over them, that ftie baffled all their efforts, till Richard in a rage 
 threatened to crucify every man in the fleet, if fhe Ihould efcape. Then 
 
 * This curious circumftance, which affords a Donatus Jannotius ^Refp. Venet. p. 257] fays, 
 
 clear demonftration that the antient gallies carried there are biremes, triremes, and qulnqueremcs in the 
 
 their oars in tires above each-other in the manner arfenalat Venice : but unlefs he means gallies with 
 
 defcribed in the early part of this work, has not two, three, and five, men to an oar, I fiifpeft he 
 
 been fo much obferved by writers, as it ought to has facrificed accuracy of dcfcription, to, what he 
 
 be ; and it is the more worthy of attention, if it be, fuppofes, fine language ; and fome judicious tra- 
 
 as I believe it is, the latefl certain notice of veflels velers, who have vifited the arfcnal, tell me that my 
 
 carrying more than one tire of oars. Vinifauf's fufpicion is well founded. The fame mifapplica- 
 
 defcription of the gallies gives room to believe, that tion of the word appears on fome of the medaU 
 
 there were fome even with three tires ; but I find of Louis XIV. — 15aptifta Burgus, who publifhed 
 
 no particular mention of any one fuch ve(fel in his his panegyrical hiilory of Genoa in the year 1 641, 
 
 very circumflantial work, and indeed none, which evidently ufes biremes and triremes to denote the dif- 
 
 can be depended on, in any other ; though feveral ferent Czes of gallies ; and he denies that there can 
 
 writers of that and the fucceeding ages, in their af- polTibly be any more than one tire of oars. — \ ma- 
 
 feftation of clafTical latinity, have obfcured their nufcript of the Cotton library [_Titus, A, xxvi, 3] 
 
 narratives by applying the term triremes to gallies promifes, according to the catalogue, fome iiiform- 
 
 of every kind, and alfo to the great fhips of the alion, illuftrated with drawings, concerning tri- 
 
 Saracens, [e. g. IV. Newbrig. L. i, c. ZO R. de rcmes and other naval affairs. I5ut the drawings, 
 
 Diceto,eol.b6l. — M.Paris, p. 1 62. — Ottonis Frifing. which are very bad, have no galliea with more thaa 
 
 Gejl. Frid. ap. Muratori Script. F. vi, col. 668.] one tire of oars. 
 
 Vol. I. Y y
 
 354 A. D.I 191. 
 
 fome of the Englifh feamen, diving under the bottom of the great fhip, 
 hampered her rudders, (or whatever fhe ufed for fleering, ' gubernacu- 
 la') with ropes, fo that fhe could fcarcely move, while the reft attempted 
 to board her, which they effeded, but were repulfed by the Turks with 
 prodigious flaughter. At length they drove the iron beaks of the gal- 
 lies furioufly'againft her, and opened feveral breaches in her fides, fo 
 that fhe filled with water. The Turks, finding their fhip going down, 
 leaped onboard their enemies to fave their lives : but all the crew were 
 deliberately butchered or drowned by the orders of Richard, except fe- 
 ven officers of high rank, and twenty-eight engineers, whom he referv- 
 ed for the value of their ranfom, or their fkill in conftruding warlike 
 machines, and to be a trophy of his great achievement *. [Vimjauf, p. 
 328.] 
 
 A fimilar great fhip was taken by the French fleet near Tyre. \P. 
 JEmyl. p. 177.] t 
 
 The Germans and Danes, while they were lying before Aeon, pro- 
 bably feeing that they would need but few veflels to carry them home, 
 broke up their fhips for fire-wood. About the fame time five hundred 
 fhips and bufles, with fome gallies and other veffels, returned to Italy to 
 take in frefh cargoes of men and provifions to be confumed in Paleftine. 
 Thefe, I fuppofe, belonged to the people of the free ftates of Italy, who 
 knew better what to do with their fhips than the Germans and Danes, 
 and turned the enthufiafm of their wefiern neighbours to the advantage 
 of their commerce and navigation. [Hoveden,/. 376 b.] 
 
 The enumeration of the articles, belonging to one of the caravans 
 traveling from Babylon to Paleftine, which was plundered by King Rich- 
 ard, gives us fome idea of the nature of the Oriental trade, as conduc- 
 ed at that time by the way of the Perfian gulf. They confifted of a 
 great quantity of gold and filver (which muft have been bullion, as mo- 
 ney is alfo mentioned) robes of filk, pvirple, round gowns (' ciclades'), 
 purple dye, a variety of ornaments for drefs, arms and weapons of vari- 
 ous kinds, fewed coats of mail of the kind called gafingan%, embroidered 
 cufhions, fumptuous pavilions and tents, bifcuit, wheat, barley, and flour, 
 eleduaries and other medicines, bafins, bottles, bags or perhaps purfes 
 ('fcaccaria'), filver pots and candlefticks, pepper, cinnamon, and other 
 choice fpices of various kinds, fugar and wax, with a prodigious quan- 
 tity of money. The whole value of the plunder was faid to be much 
 
 * Tlie later wrilers fay, that a diver bored a with their axes, through whicli tlicy boarded licr, 
 
 hole ill lur bottom, which iuiik her; and that King and after a dreadful carnage got iioffcflion of her, 
 
 Richard faved 200 prlfoners, and diowned 1300. and found her a very rich prize. They tlien mur- 
 
 f Another great dromund was taken many years dercd all tiie people, except tlie commander, and 
 
 before by a company of pilgrims in nine Hiips un- burnt the fliip, by which they loft much of the 
 
 tier the command of Rognvald earl of Oikncy. trcafurc. Such were the laws and practices of that 
 
 Oncof the Orkney veflels creeping clofe ill toiler fnle holy warfare. \^Smrro, H'ljl. Si^urdi, l^c. c. 17.— 
 
 nr.dct the range of the engines, they opened a port Turfxi Oicudis, L. i, c. 31.]
 
 A. D. 1 191. 355 
 
 beyond what had ever been taken in any one battle : and we may form 
 fome judgement of it from the number of cattle employed to carry the 
 merchandize, when, befides very many that efcaped, the camels and dro- 
 medaries taken were eflimated at 4,700, and the mules and affes taken 
 were faid to be innumerable. [V'inifauf, p. 400.] We may here remark, 
 that fuch articles as filver pots and candlefticks and fome kinds of drape- 
 ry ufed to be carried from Egypt to the Eaft in the firft century, and 
 alfo money, the balance of trade being then very great in favour of the 
 Oriental merchants ; whereas now a large balance in money and bullion 
 appears to have been brought y>-o?« the Eaft. 
 
 We have already feen the citizens of London have a principal fhare 
 in the eleftion of King Edmund Ironfide and Harold the fon of Cnut ; 
 and other fimilar inftances might be adduced, if neceilary. We now 
 find them joined with John the brother of the abfent king, the bifhops, 
 earls, and barons, in depofing one viceroy, and appointing another, who, 
 together with his aflbciatesin the adminiftration, gave the citizens anew 
 charter of their incorporation or communty (' communa') *. [^Hoveden, 
 
 / 399 b.] 
 
 1 192 — King Richard, whofe prodigies of perfonal valour in Paleftine 
 have ranked him among the heroes of romance, had the misfortune to 
 be trepanned in his way home by the duke of Auftria, who fold him to 
 the emperor of Germany : and he was accordingly tranfported by his 
 new proprietor from Vienna to Mentz and other places, where he was 
 generally kept in a rigorous confinement, till a treaty was concluded, 
 whereby the emperor extorted from him, or rather from the people of 
 England, one hundred thoufand marks of filver of the weight of Co- 
 logne, to be paid in advance, together with an obligation, to be fecured 
 by the delivery of fixty-feven hoftages, for fifty thoufand marks, to be 
 paid, if fome fecret engagements concerning the duke of Saxony were 
 not performed : and the emperor, in return for fo much folid treafure, 
 made him a prefent of an imaginary kingdom of Provence. The king 
 thereupon wrote to his mother and the jufticiaries of England (April 
 19'"), defiring them to coUedl as much money as poflible by contribu- 
 tions and loans, and alfo to receive all the gold and filver belonging to 
 the churches, and to give their oaths to the clergy for the reftoration of 
 them. The king feems to have expected, that the money might be 
 raifed by voluntary contributions and loans ; but fo heavy a demand, 
 coming before the country had recovered fro'm the effeds of the drain 
 
 * The learned Somner {GloJ. ad Script, decern^ porated community, appears evidently from feveral 
 
 confiders communa on this occafion as lignifying a charters of King John, granting to his towns in 
 
 covenant of confederacy witli the bifliops, earls, Normandy their communa. Set Madox's Hijl. of the 
 
 and barons, for their joint fecurity. But, that the essheq. f. 13, J 13 ; and Firma burgl,p. 35. 
 
 word expreffed the rights or privileges of aa incor 
 
 I 
 
 Yy 2
 
 356 A. D. 1 192. 
 
 made by the preparations for his late expedition, was found fo diftrei!^ 
 ful, that the moft rigorous exertions throughout all England and his 
 continental territories were infufficient to raife the fum required, though 
 all exemptions claimed in confequence of privileges, dignities, or eccle- 
 liaftical orders, were difregarded, though even the plate and other trea- 
 fures of the churches were taken, and the Ciftercian monks, who had 
 never before been fubjefted to any royal exaction, were compelled to 
 give the wool of their fheep, which was almofl their only income ; and 
 a fecond, and even a third, colledion was made before the whole fum 
 could be completed. William, king of Scotland, contributed two thou- 
 fand marks, which, I prefume, was the fcutage due from his eftates 
 in England. At laft, the money being raifed and tranfported to Ger- 
 many at the expenfe and rifk of England, the fordid and rapacious em- 
 peror difmiffed his captive (4'" February, 11 94)*. [Foedera, V.i, pp. 
 80-84. — Chroii. Melros, ad an. 1193. — W. Newbrig. L. iv, cc. 38, 41. — 
 Hoveden., f- A-'^6 b. — Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 15, § 4.] 
 
 As only the noblemen (magnates) and the churches are particularly 
 mentioned in the king's letter, as expeded to contribute to his ranfom, 
 it has been concluded, that the great mafs of the people were too poor 
 to bear any part in the contribution. But we ought to remember, that 
 the ranfom of the fuperior from captivity was one of the chief duties 
 incumbent upon every perfon who held land by the terms of the feudal 
 fyftem : and therefor it was not the duty of fuch citizens and burgefles 
 as had no lands to pay any thing for the fovereign's ranfom. Thence, 
 though the citizens of London contributed on this occafion a gift and 
 aid (' dono' ' et auxiho') of 1,500 marks, [Madox's HiJi. of the excheq. c. 
 1 5 , § 4] we may account for the envied difplay of opulence made by 
 them in their zeal to do honour to their admired fovereign in his pro- 
 ceflion through the city, which fo dazzled the eyes of fome German no- 
 blemen, who were with him, and who fuppofed that there could be 
 nothing valuable remaining in England, that one of them faid to him, 
 ' Truely, if the emperor had known how rich England is, he would 
 ' have made you pay a much larger fum for your ranfom.' \W. New- 
 brig. L. iv, c. 42.] 
 
 1 1 95 — King William made a new coinage of the money of Scotland, 
 which was debafed, apparently in confequence of the great drain of the 
 payments he had made to King Richard. [Chron. Melros, ad an. 11 95. 
 — Wyniown^s Chronykil, V. i, p. 342.] 
 
 * In the prcfent day the national dtbt, and its fum with the price of provifions at the time, we 
 
 ntccfTary confequence, the dcprctiation of the real may judge of the grcatncfs of Richard's ranfom 
 
 value of money, have accuftomed us to talk, fo fa- in the opinion of foreigners from Otto dc St. Bias, 
 
 miliarly of millions, that wc are apt to think luni- who fays in his Clironiclc, {jip. Muratori Script. V. 
 
 dreds of thunfands mere trifles in a national ac- vi,^. 895] that he mull not venture to mention the 
 
 count. But, independent of a coniparifon of the fum, as he lliould not cxpeft to be believed.
 
 A, D. 1196. 357 
 
 1 196, July 14'" — It was tifual to make kidels, or wears, in the River 
 Thames for catching fifh, and the keeper of the Tower drew an annual 
 rent from them, apparently for account of the king. But the citizens 
 of London having reprefented to King Richard, that fuch obftrudions 
 in the river were great nuifances to the city and the whole kingdom, 
 he ordered that they fliould be all removed *. [Cbart. in Brady on burghs, 
 App. p. 29.] 
 
 1 197, November 20'" King Richard palTed a law for the uniformity 
 
 of weights and meafures throughout the kingdom, ordering the mea- 
 fures of length to be made of iron, and thofe of capacity to have rims 
 of the fame metal, and that ftandard weights and meafures of every 
 kind fliould be kept by the fliirrefs and magiftrates of towns. It was 
 alfo enaded, that, wherever woollen cloths were made, they fhould mea- 
 fure two ells in breadth within the lifts f , and ihould be equally good 
 in the middle and at the fides. All cloths made contrary to law were 
 to be immediately burnt, and all artifices to impofe upon the buyer in 
 the fale of cloths were ftridly prohibited. Dye-ftufFs, except black, 
 were to be fold only in the cities and capital burghs, to which alfo the 
 bufinefs of dying, except in black, was reftrided. To the great relief 
 of the people, who had been diftreifed by the variety of coins, he 
 ordered, that only one kind of money fhould be current. Chriftians 
 were not allowed to take any intereft for the ufe of money. He pro- 
 hibited fecret bargains between Chriftians and Jews, and ordered that 
 three copies ftiould be made of every agreement, one of which ftiould 
 be preferved in a public repofitory %. He ordered the jufticiaries to do 
 impartial juftice to all perfons. But thefe regulations were obferved on- 
 ly during the fliort remainder of his reign §. \_Hoveden, f. 440 b. M. 
 
 Paris, p. 191, ed. 1640 — 'triveti Annal. p. 127. — Bromton, col. 1258.] 
 
 Another law of King Richard (in the year 11 94) againft the exporta- 
 tion of corn, ' that England might not fuffer from the want of its own 
 ' abundance,' was probably only temporary during the time of fcarcity. 
 Richard, having found fome veflels in St. Valeray, a French port, which 
 were loaded with com for the king of France in defiance of this law, 
 he burnt the town and the veflels, hanged the feamen, deftroyed the 
 
 » 
 
 The prohibition of the kidels was h'ttle at- § The affife of King Richard is dated by Trivet 
 
 tended to, as appears from the frequent renewals and Bromton in the year 1 194. But Mathew 
 
 of it by fucceeding kings. Paris, an earlier, and a faithful and well-informed 
 
 f The licences granted by Henry II to fell hillorian, is fo particular in the date, St. Ed- 
 cloths of any breadth whatever, as an exception mund's day in 1197 at Weftminftcr, that there can 
 from a general rule, fhow that this was only a re- be no doubt of his fuperior accuracy. Thefe re- 
 newal of an older law. See above, p. 347. It was gulations, together with many other well-authen- 
 alfo renewed by John and Henry III. ticated faAs, already noticed, (Tiow how grofsly 
 
 X From the account of the infamous riot and they midake, who fuppofe the colony of weavers, 
 
 malTacre at York in the beginning of Richard's introduced fiom the Netherlands by Edward III, 
 
 reign, it appears, that the bonds belonging to the the original founders of the woollen maniifachncs 
 
 Jews were preferved in the cathedral of that city of England, 
 in the reign of Henry II.
 
 358 
 
 A. D. 1 197. 
 
 monks concerned in the bufinefs, and gave the corn to the poor. [M. 
 Paris, ^.191.] 
 
 The famous maritime laws of Oleron (which is an ifland adjacent to 
 the coaft of France) are ufually afcribed to Richard I, though none of 
 the many writers, who have had occafion to mention them, have been 
 able to find any contemporary authority, or even any antient fatisfac- 
 tory warrant for affixing his name to them *. They confifl of forty- 
 feven fhort regulations for average, falvage, wreck, &c. copied from 
 the antient Rhodian maritime laws, or perhaps more immediately from 
 thofe of Barcelona. 
 
 1 1 98 In the laft year of Richard there occurs an inftance of a land- 
 ed eftate being mortgaged to a Jew for the payment of one hundred 
 marks with intereft (or ufury as the payment for the ufe of money was 
 then called) at the rate of ten per cent annually. [Madox, Formulare 
 Anglic, p. 77.] It may be prefumed that the tranfadion was confidered 
 as legal, the canons againft taking intereft not extending to the Jews, 
 and that ten per cent was below the cuftomary rate of intereft. 
 
 From the earlieft mention I have found of Hull f , it feems to have 
 been a fhipping port for the wool of the neighbouring country, whereof 
 
 * The bed warrant, thai could he found by the 
 keen relVarch of Selden, when writing under royal 
 'authority, was a bundle of papers upon the fove- 
 reignty of the fea, preferved in the Tower, and 
 apparently written in the time of Edward III, 
 the firft king of England who claimed the crown 
 of France ; wherein it is fald, that ' The laws and 
 ' ftatutes were correfted, interpreted, and declar- 
 ' ed, by the lord Richard, formerly king of Eng- 
 ' land, on his return from the Holy land, and 
 • made public in the idand of Oleron.' \_Mare 
 claufum, L. ii, c. 24.] But Selden very foon after 
 obferves, thst fome printed copies of thofe laws 
 date them in 1266; and Camden, without faying 
 a word of Richard, dates them in that year. {Brit- 
 annia, p. 859, ed. 1607.3 As no point in hiftory 
 is better afccrtained, than that Richard never went 
 near Oleron on his return from the Holy lane/, it is 
 poffible, that his order for the regulation of his 
 fleet when at fea, or his renewal of the law of 
 fienry I and Henry H refpefting wrecks, when 
 he was at MclTana in Sicily on his nueiy to the Holy 
 land, \_Hoveden, f. ■3,-jC) b, 386 b] may have been 
 tlie foundation of the belitf that he was tlie author 
 'A the maritime laws of Oleron. 
 
 Cleirac, an advocate of Boutdcaux, in a work, 
 intitlcd Us el coufiumes deln mer, publifhed in 1621, 
 afcribes the laws of Oleron to Eleonora duchefs of 
 Guienne and queen of England, who, he fays, en- 
 arted them in tiic year 1266 on her return from the 
 Holy land, to which (lie had accompanied her huf- 
 hand. It feems, a return from the Holy land mull 
 be conncdlcd with thofe laws. But this author 
 feems to confound Eleonora duchefs of Aquitaine 
 
 (of which Guienne is a part) the queen of Henry II, 
 with Eleonora of Cailile, the wife of Edward 
 prince of England, who, indeed, accompanied her 
 hufband to the Holy land ; but they did not fet 
 out till the year 1269. The fame author, with 
 rather more probability, fuppofes the laws of Oleron 
 were copied from the maritime code of Barcelona. 
 
 There are charters of Otho duke of Aquitaine, 
 of Eleonora duchefs of Aquitaine and queen dow- 
 ager of England, and of John king of England 
 dated in 119S and 1199, and alfo of Henry III 
 king of England dated in 1230, confirming to the 
 men of Oleron their former privileges, and further 
 giving them liberty to fell their wine and fait, to 
 difpofe of their children in marriage, and to make 
 their wills : but not a word of any maritime laws- 
 \^Firdera, y. i, />/>. 105, III, 112, SH-] 
 
 It may be thought that I have beltowed more 
 attention upon thcfe laws than they defeivc. But 
 the commercial importance, which has been afcrib- 
 ed to them, and their fame, whether well or ill 
 founded, feemed to rcijuire fome difcui^lon of their 
 fuppofed connexion ulih England. 
 
 Godolphin has p\ib!ilhed them, ' rendered into 
 ' Engllih out of Garfias, alias Ferrand,' in the ap- 
 pendix to his fiezii of the admiral jurifJif'ion. The 
 conveyance of lavvt;, afcribed to an Englilli king, 
 to Englilh readers by means of a Spanilh writer, 
 i.; one of the llrange circumllance". attending the 
 bws of Oleron. They have alio been publillied 
 by Pofllethwayt and others. 
 
 t The gcncrally-recciv'_-(l belief, that the town 
 of Hull did not cxill till the year 129^), will be 
 noticed under the year 1298.
 
 A. D. 1 198. 359 
 
 forty-five facks were this year feized for being (hipped without licence, 
 and fold on account of the king for 225 marks, 01^/^3:6:8 each. 
 [Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 18, § 4.] " 
 
 The forty-five facks feized at Hull may be prefumed to have been 
 but a very fmall part of the wool fhipped at that port ; and fimilar feiz- 
 ures made at other ports (as appears by the fame record) fliow, that the 
 exportation of wool was very confiderable. And as an order of King 
 Henry II, mentioned above, [p. 347] gives reafon to believe, that the 
 wool of England was at this time fuperior to that of Spain, the avidity, 
 wherewith it was bought up for the Flemifh fine manufa6tures, need not . 
 furprife us. Indeed it was not only the principal article of Englifh ex- 
 ports in point of magnitude, but alfo the moft commanding one fiar a 
 fure and ready fale. Accordingly, when King Richard was at Sluys in 
 Flanders on his return from captivity, and wanted to raife money, he 
 found wool the moft acceptable thing he could offer, and he adually 
 received a fum of money from the naerchants on his promife of de- 
 livering to them the wool of the enfuing year's growth belonging to the 
 Ciftercian monks of England, with whofe property he made free on the 
 occafion. \Hemingford, L. ii, c. 72.] We have feen [above, p. 345] an 
 Englifh writer go fo far as to fay, that about this time all the nations in 
 the world were clothed with Englifh wool made into cloth in Flanders : 
 but, independent of rhetorical flourifh, we know from the fober and 
 undeniable authority of the records of the exchequer, that wool, wool- 
 fells (fheep-fkins with the wool on them), and woollen yarn (filetum), 
 were exported, on paying for licences, which mode of raifing money 
 upon the exportation of merchandize feems to have been equivalent to 
 the cuftom duties of modern times. [Madox's HiJl. of the excheq. c. 18, 
 
 In the feventh and eighth years of Richard's reign the fines and dif- 
 mes (or tenths) paid on tin and other merchandize in London, apparent- 
 ly exported, amounted to ;^379 : i ; 6 ; and in the fame years the duties 
 upon woad imported in London amounted to £^^ : 6 : 8. \Madox, c. 18, 
 § 4.] If London alone imported woad to an extent, that could bear 
 fuch a payment, (and it will afterwards appear that but a fmall part of 
 the whole woad imported arrived in London) the woollen manufadure, 
 in which it was apparently moftly confumed, muft have been fomewhat 
 confiderable. 
 
 But there is reafon to believe, that but few /?/?^ woollen goods were 
 made in England, and that the Flemings, who were famous at this time 
 for their fuperior fkili in the woollen manufadure, as is evident from the 
 teftimony of feveral of the Englifh hiftorians of this age *, continued 
 
 * See them adduced in a note in p. 270, and add to tliem Mathcw Paris, [^. 8863 a refpeclabls 
 hiRorian, who flouvifhed in the reign of Henry III,
 
 360 A. D. J 198. 
 
 for a feries of ages to fupply moft of the weftern parts of Europe, and 
 even fome of the Mediterranean countries, with fine cloths, which the 
 Italians called French cloths, either as reckoning Flanders a part of 
 France (as indeed, in feudal language, it was) or becaufe they received 
 them from the ports of the fouth coaft of that country. 
 
 1 1 99 — King John in the beginning of his reign addrefTed a letter to 
 the mayor and community of London, whereby he promifed, that for- 
 eign merchants of every country fhould have fafe condudt for them- 
 felves and their merchandize in coming into, and going out of, England, 
 agreeable to the due, right, and ufual, cuftoms, and fhould meet with 
 the fame treatment (' eandem habeant pacem') in England, that the 
 Englifh merchants met with in the countries they came from. 
 
 Similar letters were at the fame time fent to the fhirref of Suflex, the 
 mayor and community of Winchefler, the bailif of Southampton, the 
 bailif of Lynne, the bailif (or fhirref) of Kent, the fhirref of Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk, the fhirref of Dorfet and Somerfet, the barons of the 
 Cinque ports, the fhirref of Hampfhire, the fhirref of Hertford and 
 EfTex, and the fhirref of Cornwall and Devon * ; whence it appears that 
 the fouth coafl, and the eafl coaft only as far north as Norfolk, were 
 efteemed the whole, or at leaft the chief, of the commercial part of the 
 country, though we fhall foon fee that Bofton, beyond thefe limits, was 
 little inferior to London in commercial importance, and fome ports flill 
 farther north had their fhare of the trade of the country. 
 
 1 200 — The bufinefs of lending money at interefl, however moderate, 
 being prohibited to the Chriftians by law, the Jews, who in all ages, 
 fince the abolition of their government as a diflinft nation by the Ro- 
 mans, have eftablilhed themfelves as brokers and dealers in money in 
 every country, wherein there was any commerce or money, were there- 
 by put in polTeflion of a monopoly of the trade of lending money up- 
 on interefl. It is feldom that monopolifls are fatisfied with a reafonable 
 profit ; and the Jews in England appear to have fometimes carried their 
 extortions to a moft fcandalous height. Such condud was fufEcient, in- 
 dependent of the violent religious prejudices of the age, to render them 
 odious to the people, who were continually crying out to the kings for 
 the punifhment and expulfion, or rather extermination, of the Jews. 
 The kings, who did not think it for their intereft to expell them, took 
 a method, very convenient for themfelves, of punifhing them by heavy 
 fines. This proceeding proved to the Jews, that their extortions would 
 be not only tolerated, but even encouraged, if they were well paid for : 
 and it at the fame time compelled them to rife in their demands upon 
 
 • Tin's faft conduft is publiflicd from tlie re- firft year of lils reign : but the fgure fccms rrro- 
 
 cords in th'- Tower by Hakluyt ^^Voiagct, V. '\, p. neous, for fuch ;in art of favour would probably 
 
 ijy] and, I believe, by no other. It is dated tlie take place very foon afti r his acceflion. 
 j"' day of April, which was the lalt day of the 4
 
 A. D. 1200. 361 
 
 the unfortunate people, who were obliged to apply to them for the ufc 
 of money, that they might be enabled to fatisfy the king and his mi- 
 nifters. And thus a fyftem of ufurious oppreflion was at the fame time 
 prohibited by law, and fandioned by the pradice of the fovereign, who 
 ufed the Jews as his inftruments to fleece the people, in order to fill his 
 own coffers. The kings even went fo far as to claim the whole proper- 
 ty of the Jews, as belonging to themfelves, thus extending to that un- 
 fortunate race the principle of the laws of flavery, which declare, that 
 a flave can have no property, all his pofFeflions of every kind belonging 
 to his mafter *. And fo great was the revenue extorted by the kings 
 from thofe people, that there was a particular office eftabliftied for the 
 management of it, called the exchequer of the Jews, under the diredion 
 of officers called the keepers, ov Jii/lices, of the 'Jews, who in the more 
 antient times were Chriftians and Jews joined together, but afterwards 
 for the moft part Chriftians only. \^Madox''s Hi/i. of the excheq. c. 7.] 
 
 The Engliih writers are full of complaints againft William II for his 
 favours to the Jews. Henry I, and his grandfon Henry IT, conferred 
 feveral privileges on them, and permitted them to be owners of land ; 
 but the later extorted from them a fourth part of their property ; not- 
 withftanding which, the Jews appear to have thought themfelves favour- 
 ably treated in his reign. This year King John, for the fum of four 
 thoufand marks, gave the Jews of England and Normandy a charter 
 confirming to them the privileges granted by his predeceflLrs, and permit- 
 ting them to live freely and honourably in his dominions, and to hold 
 property in lands, &c. and authorizing them to purchafe every thing 
 brought to them, except what belonged to the church, and bloody 
 cloth f ; and to fell every thing pledged or pawned with them, if not 
 redeemed within a year and a day. [^Madox's Hfi. of the excheq. c. 7, 
 § 8, note {e).-] 
 
 The Magnet or Lodestone, the moft pretious of all ftones (except 
 the flint which kindles our dayly fire) and infinitely more valuable than 
 all the diamonds in the world, was known to the philofophers of antient 
 Greece for its quality of attrading iron ; and in later ages the few, who 
 underftood the fecret, were enabled to perform a number of ingenious 
 
 • In tlie laws afcrlbed to Edward the Con- f ' Panno fanguinolento,' which Tovey \_Aiiglia 
 
 fefTor, [c. 29] the Jews and all their goods are jfiijaica, p. 62] believes to be deep red or crimfoa 
 
 declared to be the property of the king. William cloth: and he quotes Kcnriei's Parochial antlquit'n:, 
 
 of Newburgh \_L. iv, c. 11] fays that King Rich- p. 576, for the abbat of Burcefter clothing his 
 
 ard was greatly enraged at the flanghter of the fervants ' blodeo panno,' which to-be-fure could 
 
 Jews, on account of the affront to his royal nna- nut be cloth flained with blood, but mull have 
 
 jefty by the contempt of his prottftion, and alfo been cloth of a blood-red colour. See alfo ' bio- 
 
 for the great lofs to his exchequer ; ' for what- ' dio velvet' and, blodio panno' in Foedera, V, ix, 
 
 ' ever property is found in polTcflion of the Jews, p. 276. But why the Jews fliould have been par- 
 
 ' -who are well inotvn to he the royal ufurers, be- ticularly debarred from buying either red cloth or 
 
 ' longs to the exchequer.' — Was not that the bloody cloth, I fuppofe, nobody can now tell, 
 true reafon that Chriftians were prohibited from 
 lending money uoon intereft ? 
 
 Vol. I, ' Z z
 
 362 
 
 A. D. 1200. 
 
 tricks with it, to the great amazement of the ignorant, who afcribed 
 the wonders they faw^ to the power of magic. But till about the end 
 of the twelfth century we find no good authority to fhow, that the more 
 valuable property of the magnet, its polarity, or that power, (I had 
 almoft faid inftind) by which one point of it, or even of a needle or 
 bar of iron or fleel touched with it, turns to the north pole, and the 
 oppofite point to the fouth, was known, at leafl in the weftern parts of 
 the world. 
 
 About the conclufion of the twelfth century the earlieft notice, I be- 
 lieve, to be found of the polarity of the magnet appears in the poetic- 
 al works of Hngues de Bercy, called alfo Guiot de Provins, who fays, 
 ' This (polar) ftar does not move. They (the feamen) have an art, 
 ' which cannot deceive, by virtue of the manete, an ill-looking brownifh 
 
 * flone, to which iron fpontaneoufly adheres. They fearch for the right 
 ' point, and when they have touched a needle on it, and fixed it on a 
 ' isit of ftraw, they lay it on the water, and the ftraw keeps it afloat. 
 
 * Then the point infallibly turns toward the ftar ; and when the night 
 ' is dark and gloomy, and neither fhar nor moon is vifible, they fet a 
 ' light befide the needle, and they can be affured, that the ftar is op- 
 ' pofite to the point ; and thereby the maiiner is direded in his courfe. 
 ' This is an art, which cannot deceive *.' \Guiot, op. Fauchet, Recueil 
 de la langue et poefie FranfaiJ'e, p. 555.] 
 
 Jacques de Vitry (or Jacobus de Vitriaco) who alfo flourifhed at this 
 time, and was bifliop of Aeon in Paleftine, wrote three books of the 
 hiftory of the Eaft and the Weft, wherein he employs ten chapters [L. 
 i, cc. 84-93] ^"^ gi'^i^g "^"^ account of the natural produdions of the Holy 
 land and other Oriental countries ; and his defcriptions, compared with 
 thofe of Pliny, exhibit a deplorable proof of the decay of fcience in 
 Europe during the courfe of eleven centuries. In his account of the 
 pretious ftones of the Eaft [L. i, f. 91] he confounds the adamant or 
 diamond with the magnet as follows. ' The adamant is of a light iron 
 ' colour, about as big as the kernel of a filbert nut ; and though it is 
 ' fo hard as to refift the force of any metal, it may be broken by the 
 
 * frefh blood of a ram-goat. Fire does not make it hot. It attrads 
 ' iron to it by fome hidden quality. An iron needle, after it has touch- 
 ' ed the adamant, conftantly turns to the north ftar, which, as the axis 
 
 * of the firmament, remains immoveable while all the others revolve 
 
 * around it ; and thence it is indifpenfihly necejfary to all thofe who fail on 
 ' the/ea. If placed near a magnet, which has attraded a piece of iron, 
 
 * The old French of the original is varioudy veiicc for my lale worthy friend Do£lor Lorimer, 
 
 corrupted in the manufcripts and the edition. Tlie and is inferted in his Cvitcij'e cffay on mtignttifm, ? 
 
 bed literal tranflation, which I have nearly follow- work publiflied after his death, 
 cd, is that, which was made by a native of Pre-
 
 A. D. 1200. 
 
 3^3 
 
 '' it fnatches the iron from it *. It is moreover faid to be an antidote 
 ■' againft poifon, and a charm againft magic arts. It drives away noc- 
 
 * turnal apparitions and vain dreams j and the touch of it is of great 
 ' fervice to the infane. The magnet is alfo an Indian flone of an iron 
 ' colour, which attrads iron fo as to form feveral rings into a chain. 
 
 * Tiie magicians ufe it in their tricks ; and it is good againft the dropfy 
 
 * and burnings.' 
 
 Thefe two defcriptions, which, I thought, deferved to be given in 
 the words of their authors, are exceedingly curious and valuable : for, 
 while they prove that the polarity of the magnet was known in the age 
 of thofe two French writers, they alfo prove that the knowlege of it 
 was only in its infancy, at leaft among the Chriftians of Europe : and 
 I have not been able to difcover that it was known to the Chinefe or 
 the Saracens fooner than to the Chriftians, as fome learned men have 
 fuppofed f . 
 
 In defiance of the above unqueftionable authorities, the Italian writ- 
 
 * The power of the adamant in attrafting iron 
 Was believed after this time. Mathew Paris fays, 
 [/). 723] that the papal legate, fent to Scotland in 
 the year 1247, drew the money of the Scots to 
 himfelf as ftrongly as tlie adamant does iron. 
 
 f Several authors ftrenuoufly aflert, that the 
 Chinefe have known the polarity of the magnet, 
 and had the ufe of the compafs a great many cen- 
 turies before it was known in Europe. 
 
 Duhalde, in his H'ljlory c,f China, mentions a 
 chariot of the emperor floangti, which fhowed 
 the four cardinal points. He alfo fays, that Tcheou 
 Kong gave fome foreign ambaffadors an inftru- 
 ment, which pointed to the north and the fouth, 
 that they might be direiled on their way home 
 better than they had been in coming to China. 
 This inftrument was called Tchi Nan, which is the 
 very fame name by which the Chinefe now call 
 the compafs : and thence it is inferred, that the 
 Chinefe had the ufe of the compafs in the reign 
 of Tcheou Kong, which is placed 1040 years be- 
 fore the commencement of the Chriftian aera. As 
 this is a point, which is likely to remain for ever 
 in the province of conjcftnre, it may be fufficient 
 to remark, that, if the Chinefe had the compafs, 
 they appear from th.e relation of Soliman, an Ara- 
 bian merchant (See above, p. 256) not to have 
 known its moll valuable ufe in condufting a fliip 
 acrofs the ocean; as in liis time (A. D. S51) 
 they crept along the coall as timoroufly as the 
 Roman or Grecian navigators of antiquity ufcd to 
 do. And even at this day, with the ufe of the 
 compafs, which, according to Sir George Staun- 
 ton, thty call lin-van-cIAn^, (not tchi-naii) they are 
 not willing to lofe fight of land, if by a longer 
 coafting circuit they can avoid it. IStJuntoti's Em- 
 hajfy to China, V. i, p. 445, 81)0 ed.'] 
 
 Ifaac VoffiU! \_Obfervalioncs gtmraks, e. ia] af- 
 
 ferts, that the Seres (or Ch'mefe) have known the 
 polarity of the magnet about 2,800 years ; and 
 that the Saracens had undoubtedly learned it from 
 them, -when they met them at Taprobane {Ceylor), 
 and had ufcd it 500 years, as is tdliried by Jacobus 
 de Vitriaco (or V^itry) ; and that the .Chriftians 
 had learned the ufe of it from them about 300 
 years ago, i. e. about the year 1385. 
 
 If it can be proved, that the Chinefe had the 
 compafs in antient times, the conveyance of it to 
 the Chriftians by the Saracens is extremely proba- 
 ble : but probabilities are often very different from 
 fafts. I have traveled not only through the two 
 books of Vitry's Hiftory pubhihed by tiiemfelves, 
 but alfo through his third book, and his epillles, 
 as publifhed by Martenne in his great TLefaurui 
 anectlotorum, and by Bongarfius in his coUedion 
 nititled Gejia Dei per Francos ; and I have not dif- 
 covered any other paflage concerning the magnet, 
 but the one I have tranflated in the text, whidi 
 has not a word concerning the Saracens, but clear- 
 ly proves that the Chrillians have known the ppl- 
 arity of the magnet about two centuries before 
 the date afligned by Voffius, who quotes no other 
 authority for the nautical ufe of the magnet among' 
 the Chinefe. 
 
 I fliould be accufed of omifTion, if in this place 
 I fliould take no notice of Marco Polo, the cele- 
 brated Venetian traveler, who, according to fome 
 authors, flrft brought the compafs from China in 
 the year 1295, or, according to others, carried 
 the knowlege of it from Europe to China. Of 
 thefe contradiftory opinions, or aflcrcions, the firft 
 is evidently erroneous, and the fecond has verr 
 little piobability. 
 
 I do not pretend to any knowlege of the autho- 
 rities, upon which the antediluvian* arc faid t» 
 have pofltfTed the compafs. 
 
 Z Z 2
 
 ^64 A. D. 1200. 
 
 ers claim the honour of the invention of the compafs for John Goia, 
 or Flavio Gioia, a citizen of the commercial city of Amalfi, who, they 
 fay, firfi; ufed it in the year 1302, or 1320 : and, as a proof, they ad- 
 duce a line of Antony of Palermo, a Sicilian poet, wherein he fays, 
 ' Prima dedit nautis ufum magnetis Amalfi.' 
 (Amalfi firfl: to feamen did impart 
 The fkill to fleer by the magnetic art.) 
 
 But this line, perhaps a poetical flourifli, gives us no date : and we 
 have already feen from better authority, that the inventor, or importer 
 of the invention from the Eaft, whether he lived in Amalfi or elfe- 
 where, muft have lived above a century before the age afiigned to Goia 
 or Gioia. 
 
 From the fimple contrivance of laying the magnetic needle on a float- 
 ing ftraw, as defcribed by Guiot, navigators, by gradual improvements 
 in the courle of time, came to add the ufe of a circular card aflfixed to 
 the needle, and traverfing with it, on which were drawn lines repre- 
 fenting the various winds. It is probable, (and in this cafe we can 
 have no better than probability) that Gioia of Amalfi was the firft, who 
 thought of ufing a card, and that only eight winds, or points, were 
 drawn upon it *. 
 
 The French, the Venetians, the Germans, and the Scandinavians (or 
 people of Norway and Denmark), have all difputed with the Amalfitans, 
 and with each-other, the honour of being the original difcoverers of 
 this moft noble inftrumcnt. It would be too tedious to adduce the ar- 
 guments of each ; and we may fatisfy ourfelves with fuppofing, that 
 fome praife is due to every one of them, and, as is generally allowed, 
 alfo to the Englifh, for improvements made upon the original inven- 
 tion. It may, however, be obferved, that the two French writers, from 
 whom we have the earliefl: knowlege of the appUcation of the magnet 
 to the fervice of navigation, have not a fingle word to fupport their 
 countrymen, or indeed any other nation, in pretending to the honour 
 of the difcovery. 
 
 In the year 1263 the compafs, fitted into a box (' pyxis nautica') as 
 now, though probably without a card, was in common ufe among the 
 
 * ' Ciica annum 1320 rem pulclierrimam uti- proof may be eftimated by thofe, who have had 
 
 ' IKTimamque navignntibus invcnit quidam Flavins occafion to examine the caufe and origin of the 
 
 « Gioia civis Ama!philanii3, nempe ufum pyxidis particular parts of armorial hearings. 
 ' nauticie c/ji2//<rque ad uavitrandum.' [_Bt\ncmuu, If it be ncceflary to give further proof, that 
 
 D'ljferlatto prima de rep. Amnlph. § 22, iid cahem the compafs was known in Europe before the he- 
 
 HiJI. pande8arurn.'\ S'"n'"g °f ^"^ fourteenth century, tlie writings of 
 
 A compafs with eight points and eight wings, Vincent of Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and Peter 
 
 fuppoicd to repti'fent the e'<?ht winds, and having Adfigcr (for whom fee Cavallu on magnetijm, fecond 
 
 a ftar befide it, is the armorial bearing of the editiou) may be confulted, who all flouriflied in the 
 
 Principato eitra, in which Amalfi is fituated. [See thirteenth century, and all knew the polarity of the 
 
 the defcription in Brcncman, or tlie delineation in magnet. 
 Blncu't Atlas, part iii, /. lol-] The value of this
 
 A, D. 1 200. ^6^ 
 
 Norwegians, who had fo juft an idea of its great importance, that they 
 made it the device of an order of knighthood, to be conferred on men 
 of the higheft rank. [T'orfai Hijl. Norweg. L. iv, p. 345.] 
 
 In 1306 Robert king of Scotland, when croffing from Arran to the 
 coaft of Carrick in the night-time, fleered by a fire upon the fhore, 
 
 ' For thay na nedil had nor flane,' 
 as is obferved by Barber, his poetical biographer. Hence it appears, 
 that the ufe of the compafs was well known in Scotland, at leaft in the 
 year 1375 *, when Barber wrote, and very probably alfo before 1306. 
 
 Though I have not found any earlier notice of the ufe of the com- 
 pafs among the Englifli f , they muff unqueftionably have known it 
 fooner than the Scots : and we may be alTured, that it was well known 
 to all the fouthern maritime nations, before fuch remote countries as 
 Norway and Scotland had the ufe of it. 
 
 In pi'ocefs of time navigators, or experimental philofophers, difcover- 
 ed, that the polarity of the magnetic needle was not perfedly true, and 
 that it diverged, or varied, fomewhat from the real north point. Suc- 
 ceeding experiments fhowed, that the Farianon was not everywhere the 
 fame ; that there was a Une on the furface of the globe, on which there 
 was no variation ; that on one fide of that line the north point of the 
 compafs varied to the eaflward, and on the other to the weflward, of 
 the true north ; and that the quantity of the variation increafed in an 
 unknown proportion to the diftance from the line of no variation. This 
 irregularity was known in, or before, the year 1269, when Peter Ad- 
 figer wrote upon the various properties of the magnet, the conftrudion 
 of the azimuth compafs, and the variation of the magnetic needle. 
 The difcovery of the variation has, however, been attributed by fome 
 to Chriflopher Columbus in the year 1492, and by others to Sebaflian 
 Cabot in 1500, who may have obtained the reputation of it, becaufe in 
 their voyages, wherein they made more difference of longitude than 
 former navigators, they had more ample opportunities of making ex- 
 periments upon the variation. 
 
 It was afterwards dif covered, that the variation not only differed as it 
 receded eaft or weft from the line of no variation, but that that line it- 
 felf, which was found to be an oblique waving curve, had alfo in the 
 northern hemifphere fhifted to the eaftward of its former ftation. The 
 nice obfervations of the eighteenth century have demonftrated, that 
 the variation is in a progreffive and perpetual ftate of alteration ; and 
 
 * I fay nothing of the Orkney fifliermen, who f Chaucer fays in his yljirolab'te, written in the 
 
 about that time made voyages on the coail of year 1391, that the fhipmen reckon thirty-two 
 
 America with the compafs, according to Ramufio's parts of the horizon, which plainly^ refers to the 
 
 narrative of Zeno's voyage, with Dgftor Forfter's compafs with its mod improved diviiion ; a divifion 
 
 explanation ; becaufe the geography of that voy- of which the people of Bruges in Flanders claim 
 
 age is ftill fomewhat doubtful. See below under the honour of being the authors. 
 the year 1360. *
 
 366 ' A. D. 1200. 
 
 alfo, that it is fo far affeded by heat and cold, as to differ confiderably 
 in fummer and winter, and even in the courfe of the fame day. 
 
 Another property of the magnet is the Dip, or inchnation of the 
 north end of the needle towards the horizon, as if heavier than the 
 fouth end, which is therefor in fa6l made a little heavier in order to 
 counterpoife the dip. As the knowlege of the variation has been found 
 afliftant to navigators in afcertaining their longitude in fome parts of 
 the world ; fo, it is probable, that the theory of the dip of the needle 
 may, when better underftood, be alfo applied to fome valuable purpofe; 
 for Nature does nothing in vain. 
 
 All the properties of the magnet are admirable and incomprehenf- 
 ible ; and philofophers, in attempting to account for them, have only 
 involved themfelves in a labyrinth of ingenious, but fruitlefs, conjec- 
 tures. But though the Almighty Author of nature has not conde- 
 fcended to let us into the knowlege of the fecret laws, which govern the 
 magnet, the knowlege, which he has permitted us to acquire of the 
 methods of applying its wonderful powers to our fervice, has enabled 
 us to become acquainted with the whole of the globe, which was given 
 us to inhabit, and thereby to make prodigious improvements in the im- 
 portant fciences of geography and natural hiftory. The compafs has 
 given birth to a new sera in the hiftory of commerce and navigation. 
 The former it has extended to every fhore of the globe, and increafed 
 and multiplied its operations and beneficial effects in a degree, which 
 was not conceivable by thofe, who lived in the earlier ages. The later 
 it has rendered expeditious and comparatively fafe by enabling the na- 
 vigator to launch out upon the Ocean, free from the dangers of rocks 
 and flioals. By the ufe of this noble inilrument the whole world has 
 become one vaft commercial commonwealth ; the moft diftant inhabit- 
 ants of the Earth are brought together for their mutual advantage; an- 
 tient prejudices are obliterated, and mankind are civilized and enlight- 
 ened. And, by the compafs Great Britain has acquired that naval pre- 
 eminence, which flie confefledly poffefles over all the maritime nations 
 of the v/orld. 
 
 1201 — It appears from a diploma of Henry duke of Lorain, that 
 Antwerp, deftined to make fo great a figure in the commerce of fuc- 
 ceeding ages, was now firft inclofed by a wall : and Guicciardini, the 
 hiftorian of the Netherlands, adds, that from this time money of gold 
 and filver was coined in that city. 
 
 The town adjacent to the New-caftle, built by Robert the fon of Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror on the north bank of the Tine, appears to have 
 very foon rifen into fome degree of importance, as we may judge from 
 a pretty long lift, made up in the reign of Henry I, of articles paying 
 toll or duty there ; among which the moft worthy of notice are her- 
 rings, as an indication of that valuable fiftx being then caught in the
 
 A. D. I20I. ' 367 
 
 adjacent fea, and feveral foreign furs, which infer fome trade with the 
 northern nations of Europe. [Brand's Hift. of Nezvcajlk, V. \\,p- 131-] 
 It mud have been a thriving place in the reign of Henry II to be able 
 to pay an annual rent of fifty pounds to the crown, as we find it did, 
 in terms of a charter of that king. The annual rent was now raifed 
 to fixty pounds; and the inhabitants, moreover, gave King John one 
 hundred marks and two palfreys for the renewal of their charter with 
 the confirmation of the liberties granted to them by Henry II. \Ma- 
 dox's Firma burgi, p. 54.] 
 
 The king charged the abbat of Muckelney three marks of gold, or 
 thirty marks of filver, for giving him feifinc of his abbay. \Madox's 
 H'lft. of the excheq. r. 13 $ 8.] We thereby learn, that filver was now 
 valued in proportion to gold as ten to one. 
 
 1202, January 6"" — King John, having occafion to fend two agents 
 to Rome, where no bufinefs could be forwarded without money, fur- 
 niflied them with a letter addrefled to all merchants, whereby he bound 
 himfelf to repay the fums advanced to his agents to the amount of five 
 hundred marks, at fuch time as fhould be agreed upon, to any perfoa 
 prefenting his letter together with the acknowlegement of his agents for 
 the fum received by them. And we find, that he repeatedly pracSifed 
 the fame method of borrowing money abroad in order to feed the infa- 
 tiable avarice of the nephews and other courtiers of the popes. \f'rynne''s 
 Hijl. of K. fohn, l^c. pp. 5, II.] In the preceding reign a company of 
 merchants of Placentia had advanced 2,125 iTfi^rks to the bifhops of 
 Anjou and Bangor, upon the faith of a fimilar letter of King Richard, 
 for the fervice of his nephew Otho king of the Romans (or of Ger- 
 many), which fum King John promifed (25"' Auguft, T199) to repay 
 them in four infl:allments in the courfe 6f two years. \Fcedera, V. i, p. 
 115.] As there is no mention of interefi: in any of thofe letters, it mufl 
 have been difcounted, when the money was advanced. This tranfac- 
 tion, the precife date of which is not expreifed, affords the earliefi: no- 
 tice I have found in any Englifh records of letters of credit, for fuch 
 they were to all intents and purpofes : and the tranfition from them to' 
 bills of exchange is fo natural and obvious, that we may believe they were 
 in ufe about the fame time, or very foon after, efpecially in Italy, where 
 there was more commerce than in any other part of Europe, and, 
 moreover, a prodigious fudion of money from every Chriftian country 
 in Europe, except the Greek empire, "into the ecclefiaftical coffers of 
 Rome. 
 
 The fourth crufade, wherein the nobles of France were the principal 
 leaders, furnifhes fome fads illufirative of the maritime power of the 
 Venetians. The warriors of France, who had no fhipping of their own, 
 applied to Venice, Genoa, and Pifa, for tranlports fufficient to convey 
 to the Holy land 4,500 knights, 9,000 fquires, 20,000 foot foldiers, and
 
 368 A. D. 1202. 
 
 4,500 horfes : but tbey fucceeded only with Venice. That repubUc got 
 ready 1 ro large veflels, 60 of a long conftru61ion, and 60 other tranf- 
 ports, which veflels, averaging the whole fleet, muft have been capable 
 of carrying at leaft 200 men each. To thefe they added 50 warlike 
 gallies intended for the proteclion of the tranfports on the paflage, and 
 moreover laid in provHions for all the feamen, paflengers, and horfes, 
 in the whole fleet of 280 veflels for nine months. One of the fliips 
 called the Mondo (World) is laid to have been the largefl veflel that 
 ever floated upon the bofom of the Adriatic fince the great triumphal 
 fliip, or rather houfe, as Pliny [L. iii, c. 16] calls it, of the Roman em- 
 peror Claudius * : but we have no information concerning the dimen- 
 fions of the Mondo, or how many men flie carried. [Dajiduli Chron. 
 col. 323 ap. Muratori Script. V. xii. — Formakoni, EJfaifur la marine des Ve- 
 nitiens, trad. Franpife^ p. 29.] 
 
 When the Venetians had got every thing ready for the expedition, 
 the crufaders found themfelves unable to pay the whole fum ftipulated 
 for the equipment of their fleet ; and they agreed, as an equivalent for 
 a deficiency of 34,000 marks, to employ their forces againfl: the ci- 
 tizens of Zara, who had revolted from the fovereignty of Venice. The 
 rebellious city was taken after a fiege of five days. But, in turning the 
 arms deftined for the extermination of Goo's enemies againfl their Chrift- 
 ian brethren, they committed a crime deferving the fevereft penalties 
 of ecclefiaftical indignation, in the judgement of the pope, who failed 
 not to launch the thunder of his excommunication againfl: them. The 
 weftern pilgrims devoutly purchafed his pardon and abfolution. But the 
 Venetians, whofe views were more enlarged and judgements lefs fetter- 
 ed, fpurned his pardon, and difclaimed his authority and interference 
 in their temporal affairs. Such were the different effeds upon the hu- 
 man mind, of having not a thought but what was inftilled by interefl- 
 ed prieftcraft, and of acquiring knowlege from obfervations made upon 
 mankind in an extenfive intercourfe with a variety of nations. That 
 noble diftindion was the gift of commerce to the Venetians. [Katona, 
 H'ljl. reg. Hung. V. iv, p. 536. — Gefia Innoc. Ill, cc. 86 et feqq. ap. Mu- 
 ratori Script. V. iii.] 
 
 1 203 — The forces colleded for the conqueft of the Holy land were 
 a fecond time drawn off from their original deftination by the earnefl: 
 entreaties and liberal promifes of Alexius, the ion of the depofed em- 
 peror of Conflantinople. The weftern warriors and their Venetian al- 
 lies were perfuaded, that the reftoration of that prince M'as a proper 
 preparatory ftep to their holy warfare. They embarked in the fleet 
 furniflied by Venice ; they undertook the fiege of Conflantinople ; and 
 after a fliow of refiftancc, wherein a handful of Englifli and Danifli 
 
 • It is almoft necdlcfs to obftivo, lliat tlic conipariTon of the Montlo to Cl.uulius's great (hip is ar- 
 bitrarily alTunied, and conTcys no cl#ar idea of ils magnitude.
 
 A. D. 1203. 369 
 
 guards alone performed the duty of foldiers (for the Roman-Greeks had 
 long ago given up all pretenfions to courage) the ufurper fled with his 
 treafure, and abandoned his wife and his empire to the mercy of the 
 conquerors. 
 
 July 19'" — The blind depofed emperor was immediately tranfported 
 from a prifon to a throne ; and he and his fon were proclaimed joint 
 emperors. Jealous of their own fubjeds, the emperors begged, and 
 bribed, the foreign warriors, who had created them, to continue their 
 prefence and formidable protedtion for a year. An outrage produced 
 by the intolerant bigotry of the Latins, or Franks *, and a delay in 
 the payment of the ftipulated fubfidy, were the fignals for hoftilities. 
 The young prince was murdered by a new ufurper, who in vain at- 
 tempted to expell the flrangers from the land. The city was ftormed. 
 the ufurper fled, and the rapacity of the crufaders was fatiated with the 
 accumulated wealth of the capital of the Roman world (April, 1204). 
 Thus fell, almofl: without refiftance, the Roman empire, once the fcourge 
 and the terror of mankind, a prey to a handful of military fanatics 
 (moflly French and Italians) and the naval forces of a commercial re- 
 public, nearly in the fame manner, as its antient Britifli provincials in 
 the fifth century fell under the dominion of their German auxili- 
 aries f . 
 
 The conquerors, who now forgot the Holy land, placed Baldwin earl 
 of Flanders upon the throne of the Eaftern Roman empire, and appro- 
 priated one fourth part of the countries yet fubjed to that empire for 
 the fupport of his dignity. Three eighths were divided among the 
 other chiefs; and three eighths were the portion of the republic of Ve- 
 nice. In the partition the Venetians took care to obtain for themfelves 
 a part of the maritime province of Peloponnefus, the feat of a rich ma- 
 nufadure of filks, together with a chain of iflands and maritime ports, 
 •which extended their territories from the head of the Adriatic fea to 
 Conflantinople ; and in that city itfelf they pofTefled three of the eight 
 regions or wards. They, moreover, purchafed the illand of Crete, or 
 Candia, for ten thoufand marks, from the marquis of Montferrat, to 
 whofe fhare it had fallen. But thefe extenfive and disjointed territories, 
 though apparently fo well adapted for commercial eftablifhrnents, being 
 
 * To foms readers it may not be fiiperfluous to Fianis in the eatlern borders of the Mediten-a- 
 
 be informed, that the nations, who acUnowleged nean. 
 
 the fnpreroacy of the pope, were callt J by the f It is curious to obferve the importance afTum- 
 
 gencral name of Latins, as thofe, who adhered to cd by fmall communities. An aiiiiahll of Pifa 
 
 the patriarch of Conltantinople, were ir. h'ke man- [^ap. Mvralori Script. F. vi, col. 191] has record- 
 
 iicr called Giech; and thence we find the RulTi- td, that in the year 1204 ConRantinople was taken 
 
 ans called Greeks by the writers of the eleventh by the Pif.uis and t!ie Venetians. The weftern 
 
 century. From the French, or Franks, being the warriors are totally annihilated by this hii^oiio- 
 
 moft numerous nation in the armies of the crofs, grapher of Pifa, the co-optration of which is 
 
 all the weftern Chriftians are to this day called fcarcely noticed en this occafion by general hif- 
 
 torians. 
 
 Vol. I. • ^ A
 
 370 A. D. 1203. 
 
 too widely fpread to be governed and defended, and. too expenfive to be 
 fupported, by the republic, foon brought on a greater proportion of feud- 
 al lubordination, and military government, than was confident with 
 the genuine fpirit of commerce. 
 
 The commercial confequence of this great and fudden revolution was, 
 that the whole trade of the Eaftern Roman empire was p.t once transfer- 
 red to the Venetians, who immediately, and without any competition 
 from their merely-warlike affociates, became mafters of the remains of 
 the commerce, which had largely contributed to the opulence of Con- 
 ilantinople. That city had long been the principal feat of the richefl 
 and mofl fumptuous manufidures of filk ; and, as the demand for 
 that luxury was dayly increafing in the weftern parts of Europe, the ac- 
 quilition of the very beft manufadures of it was an objedl: of vaft im- 
 portance to the Venetians. By the poffeflion of Conftantinople they 
 moreover had a monopoly of the trade of the Black fea ; and they alfo fell 
 into, what was to them, a new conveyance of Indian goods by a route 
 over land to that fea, whereby the moll pretious articles of Oriental luxury 
 had been ufually conveyed to the capital. Thefe folid advantages fo 
 greatly extended the fphere of the Venetian commerce, that, during the 
 fubliftence of the Latin empire in Conftantinople, they were almoft the 
 fole and general merchants of Europe. And thus the crufades, whether 
 direded againft the Mohamedans, or againft the Chriftian heretics who 
 denied the fupremacy of the pope, were produdive of profperity and 
 opulence to Venice, as they were alfo, though in a much fmaller de- 
 gree, to the other commercial flates of Italy. [Nicetas, pp. 349-375 — 
 Villehardonin, n". 75-135. — Gejla Innoc. Ill, cc. 91-94. — Danduli Chron. 
 Venet. coll. 322-330, ap. Mur atari Script. V. xii.] 
 
 1 203, April — An afllfe of bread was made by King John andthe barons. 
 The bakers were ordered to afBx their ftamps to their bread : and they 
 were allowed a profit of four pennies, or three pennies with the bran, out 
 of every quarter of wheat. The weight of the farthing loaf of the fineft 
 bread, was ordered to vary from four fifths of a pound, when wheat 
 was at fix fliillings a quarter, to three pounds and feventeen twentieths, 
 when it was at eighteen pennies, the bread of the whole corn being pro- 
 portionally heavier. \^Rot. pat. %Johan. m.i. — M. Paris, p. 208.] This 
 is, I believe, the carlieft notice extant of fuch a regulation in England : 
 but there muft furely have been earlier afllfes, as we find the profits of 
 the baker upon each chaldcr of wheat, and his payment for each batch, 
 were before now regulated in Scotland by the Laws of the burghs, cc. 66, 
 
 April 11"" — Cologne, originally the capital of a German tribe called 
 the Ubii, was made a Roman colony by Agrippina, the wife ot the em- 
 peror Claudius, and it retains to this day fome traces of the Roman po- 
 lity. Its fituation upon the great navigable River Rhine, gave the citi- 
 zens the command of an cxtenfivc inland trade ; and they appear to
 
 A, D. 1203. 
 
 Z7^ 
 
 have alfo had fome commercial intercourfe with England ; for we find 
 a letter addrefTed to them by King John, wherein, after requefting their 
 good offices in fupport of his nephew Otho's pretenfions to the imperial 
 crown, he offers them the freedom of reforting to his dominions with 
 their merchandize, on paying the cuftomary duties paid by their an- 
 ceftors. {Fcedera, V. \,p. 133-] In the enfuing reign we (hall fee, that 
 they availed themlelves of this offer. 
 
 1204, June 6"' — He alfo gave a licence, or invitation, to the merchants 
 of Flanders, and other foreign countries, to trade in England, provided 
 they duely paid him the fifteenth part (the quinzieme) of their merch- 
 andize, together with fuch other cuftoms as might be laid on according 
 to his pleafure (' ad placitum regis'). The merchants of France had 
 alfo a fimilar invitation addreffed to themfelves by King John at the 
 fame time. \Rot. pat. 6 Jo. m. 11.] It thence appears, that the Flem- 
 ings (whofe licences were often renewed) were the chief foreign traders 
 who came to England in thofe days, the Englifli wool, for the fupply of 
 their great clothing trade, being no doubt their principal objed ; and 
 that the French were next to them. 
 
 1205 — The quinzieme was a duty payable by every merchant (an 
 appellation then given to all perfons who made a bufineis of buying and 
 felling, however trifling their dealings might be) whether natives or 
 foreigners. The amount of it colleded in each town may therefor be 
 confidered as a good comparative ftandard of the diftribution of the 
 commerce of England, which was not then near fo much engroffed by 
 the metropolis as it is in the prefent age. Before the year 1205 the 
 quinzieme of all England appears to have been farmed for one thoufand. 
 marks. In this year we find the following towns paying that duty, viz.. 
 
 Newcaftle paid 
 
 Yarum, 
 
 Cotun, or Gotham^ 
 
 ;Cr58 
 
 5 
 
 II 
 
 Orford, 
 
 Ipfwich, 
 
 Colchefler, 
 
 Whitby, 
 Scarburgh, 
 
 
 
 
 Sandwich, 
 Dover, 
 
 Hedon, 
 Hull, 
 
 
 
 
 Rye, 
 
 Winchelfea, 
 
 York, 
 Selby, 
 Lincoln, 
 
 
 
 
 Pevenfey, 
 , Seaford, 
 Shoreham, 
 
 Barton, 
 
 
 
 
 Chichefier, 
 
 Ymminghara, 
 
 
 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 Grimfby, 
 
 
 
 
 Exmouth, 
 
 Bollon, 
 
 780 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 Dartmouth, 
 
 Lynne, 
 
 Yarmouth, 
 Norwich, 
 
 651 
 
 II 
 
 11 
 
 Effe (now Saltafh) 
 
 Fowey, 
 
 London, 
 
 Dunwich, 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 712 3 j: 
 
 836 12 10 
 
 A2
 
 372 A. D. 1205. 
 
 The total fum coUeded between the 20'" of July 1204, and the 30"' 
 of November 1205, was - - ^^4-958 7 3^ 
 
 IMng. rot. 6 Jo. rot. 16 h pojl. Kent Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. l{i, 
 
 \ 3.] From this fum, making fome allowance for fhort returns, the 
 trade of the principal towns of England at this time may be eftimated 
 at about 100,000 pounds of filver. 
 
 It is obfervable that no fewer than eight of the above towns were in 
 York-lhire, and three on the adjacent fouth fliore of the Humber : and 
 it may be prefumed that their trade confifted chiefly in coUeding and 
 fhipping the wool of that great (hire *, v/hereby the principal iburce of 
 the comfort and profperity of the prefent inhabitants was carried away 
 to enliven the induftry of Flanders. 
 
 In about three years after this time the citizens, or rather the mer- 
 chants, of London purchafed an exemption fi-om paying the quinzieme, 
 for the fmall fum of two hundred marks. The demefne merchant of 
 the earl of Leicefter was gratuitoufly exennpted by the king from pay- 
 ing the quinzieme. \Madox, c. 18, § 3.] Probably the demefne merch- 
 ants of the other great lords and bifhops were alio exempted ; an in- 
 dulgence equally impoUtic and unjufl. 
 
 Upon a marfliy piece of ground, belonging to Gilbert lord of Amftel 
 and Ifelftein, a village was built, wliich, from an adjacent dam upon the 
 fmall river Amflel, got the name of Amfteldam (corrupted to Amfter- 
 -dam), and has grown up in the courfe of ages to be one of the greatell 
 commercial cities in Europe. \Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, ^.41 — Junli 
 Batavia,p. 454.] 
 
 About this time the burgefTes of Ziriczee, a town in the ifland of 
 Schowen faid to have been founded in the year 849, built large Ihips, 
 with which they traded to the northward and to the fouthward, where- 
 by they became the mofl famous merchants and navigators of the coafts 
 of Zeland and Holland. Their port, which has fince been choked up 
 with fand, was then very good and convenient. \^Lnet, Belg. defcript. p. 
 138. — Cbron. de Hollande, Z^c. par Petit, V. i, p. 201.] 
 
 The Danes, who, being a maritime people, and conftantly in their 
 veflels, had formerly ufed only the manners and drefs of lailors, now 
 imitated the manners, drefs, and armour, of other nations, and were 
 clothed in fcarlet, purple, and fine linen : for they abounded in all kinds 
 of riches, by means of the f/Jjcryxhty had every year on the coafl of Schon- 
 en, which attraded merchants from all countries with gold, filver, and 
 pretious merchandize, to purchafe the herrings bellowed upon them by 
 the bounty of Providence. Nor were the Danes only enriched, they 
 were alfo polifhed and enlightened, in confequence of their profperous 
 iilTiery ; for learning became much more common among them than 
 
 * \Vc have already fccn tint wool wr.3 fhippcd from Hull in ihc ye.iir tiy8.
 
 A. D. 1205. 373 
 
 before, and the fons of the principal people were generally fent to finifli 
 their education at the univerfity of Paris, then the moll celebrated fc- 
 minary in Europe. [Arnoldi Cont. Chron. Slav. L. iii, c. 5.] We fliall 
 fee reafon to beUeve that the natives of the Baltic fhores were in a few 
 years deprived of this copious fountain of wealth, not by any fault or 
 negled of their own, nor by any exertion of a rival or hoftile nation, 
 but merely by the caprice of the herrings themfelvcs. 
 
 The hoflilities, in which the ItaUan dates were almoft perpetually en- 
 gaged, were apparently the caufe of their having many of their veflels 
 much larger, and the crews much more numerous, than their commerce, 
 and their (hort voyages, moftly in an inland fea, could poflibly require. 
 This year the Genoefe, in a large {hip called the Leompardo (which had 
 been taken from the Pifans) together with two gallies, attacked two 
 large Venetian {hips, called the Falcone and the Rofi, bound for Con- 
 {lantinople. The Venetians in the Rofa, thinking is impolUble to fave 
 their Ihip, fcuttled her, and went with their moft pretious goods onboard 
 the Falcone, the largeli and {Irongeft of the two {hips, before the enemy- 
 came up with them. The Genoefe, however, boarded the finking vel- 
 fel, and faved about 200 bales of tine cloth of fcarlet and other colours; 
 and they afterwards took the Falcone, onboard which they fay they 
 found above nine hundred men. [Caffari Ann. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. 
 V. vi, col. 392.] Though we {hould make a large allowance for exag- 
 geration in this number, ftill the trade which could afford to fupport 
 even the half of fuch a mukitude of men in two {hips, and equip every 
 ve{rel in a warlike manner, muft have had an enormous advance upon 
 the fir{l co{l. 
 
 1 206 — The Genofe took the i{land of Candia from the Venetians, 
 who, however, foon recovered it again. Henceforth a {ierce conte{f 
 was kept up between thofe rival republics for the dominion of the Me- 
 diterranean, which fcarcely any other power could ever pretend to dif- 
 pute with either of them : for Pifa, formerly the rival of Genoa, was 
 now almo{lfunk into a mere auxiliary of Venice. The Venetians were 
 afterwards haraiTed by repeated rebellions of their Candian fubjeds, 
 wherein they were encouraged and fupported by the Genoefe, who alio 
 fupplanted the Venetians in their commercial privileges in Sicily by 
 alTifting the German emperor to wre{l that ifland from Tancred, the 
 laft king of the Norman race. Notwithftanding thefe advantages, the 
 commerce of the Genoefe with the ea{lern coa{ls of the Medherranean 
 continued to decline, while that of the Venetians increafed : and the 
 war between thofe powerful republics, which was truely a commercial 
 one, was continued, with fome intervals of infincere peace, for almolt 
 two hundred years. 
 
 1 2C7_By orders iffued for the ofHcers of the mint to carry their die3
 
 374 ^* ■^' 1207. 
 
 to Weflminfter, and there to receive the king's commands, we find that 
 money was now coined at the following cities and towns, viz. 
 
 London, Ipiwich, Northampton, 
 
 Winchefler, Norwich, Oxford, 
 
 Exeter, L) nne, S\ Edmundfbury, 
 
 Chichefter, Lincoln, and 
 
 Canterbury, York, Durham *. 
 
 Rochefter, Carlile, 
 
 \_Madox^s Hift. of the cxcheq. ^- 9, § 3.] 
 The town of Liverpool now had burgelTes ; and this year they ob- 
 tained a grant of liberties from the kingf. \Rot. pat. 9 ^0. m. 5.] 
 
 1208 — King John, in the beginning of his reign, had confirmed the 
 charters of his great-grandfather and father to the city of London, 
 for which he received three thoufand pounds : and he alfo made the 
 other cities and towns take out confirmations of their privileges. \Brady 
 on burghs, Append. pp. 15, 16, 30 :{:.] He now, by his patent, granted the 
 citizens of London authority to elect their mayor annually §. But they, 
 notwithftanding, flillcontinued, orre-eleded, Henry Fitz-Alwin (their firfl 
 mayor, as already noticed) in that dignity till his death in the year 12 14. 
 After him we find Roger Fitz-Alwin mayor for two years ; and, for a long 
 courfe of time, the mayors appear to have continued feveral years, per- 
 haps for life, in ofiice. {Stew's Survey of London, pp. 916, 917-] 
 
 March 18'" — King John, in his charter to Yarmouth, befides the 
 cuftomary grants, with permiffion to chufe a provoft annually, and 
 the ftipulation of a yearly revenue to the crown of ^1^55 to be paid by 
 the burgh, gave liberty to all foreign merchants arriving in his king- 
 dom in his peace, or with his licence, to come to Yarmouth, remain in 
 it, and depart from it, infafety. \^Brady on burghs. Append, p. 9 ||.] We 
 are not told what was the ftaple article, which attratled foreign merch- 
 ants to Yarmouth, but we fhall prefently fee reafon to believe that it 
 was herrino;s. 
 
 o 
 
 * Mints were eftabllrtied at many other places fucli a glkl mud not of Itfelfbe admitted as a 
 
 befiJcs tliofe litre enumerated; fo many, indeed, proof, nor even as a prcfumption, that the burgefics 
 
 that it is perhaps impc Ifible to make up a com- were engaged in commerce, for (hop-keepers of 
 
 pkte hft of ihcm at any one time. See above, f>. every defcriptJon, and alfo all dealers, however 
 
 li^l, and Madox^s lii/l. of the exchiq. c. 22, § 4_ — trifling, who made a biifmtfs of buying and felling, 
 
 .Stow, after giving tlie above lift of coining places, were tlien called merchants, as they arc even now 
 
 adds, that the cuincrs deducted i^f\u the^ioo, in fome countries, 
 from the b>il!Ion ftjr coinage. \_Survey, [>. 'iii^.'\ § Fabyan [CroKj.7c, V. \\, J- xv b] mentions 
 
 f Enfield mentions charters to Liverpool in thirty-five heads or nilsrs, who governed the city 
 
 1129 and 1203. [H;/?. of Leverpool, f). 9.] before the right of annual elcftiors of mayors was 
 
 X It is not thought neceffary to encumber this granted. He fays, King John, in his ninth year, 
 
 work with mere renovations of charters, prcfervcd fent orders to the thirty-t'ive, to dcpofe and im- 
 
 by Madox, Brady, and others, nor with charters prifon ttie two bailifs (or Ihirrefs), becaufc they 
 
 of towns, which have never rlfen to commercial jircvented his purveyors from carrying wheat out 
 
 fminencr, r.or wiih thofc which contain only the of the city, 
 
 tiiftomary grants, among which a very common || N. B. In the charter, quinqiie is erroneoufly 
 
 •nc is a n.ctehaiit gild (• gilda mcrcatoriu'). Bui printed inflcad of qiii imru: ^
 
 A. D. 1209. 375 
 
 1 209 — The great number of Englifh inliabkraits in the burghs of 
 Scotland, has ah^eady been noticed, and alfo the probability that their 
 comparatively-greater proficiency in manufactures, was the caufe of their 
 being invited and encouraged to fettle in them. That the burghs had 
 now made fome confiderable progrefs in manufaclures and trade, and 
 confequently in opulence, is evident from their contribution of fix thou- 
 fand marks *, to the fum of fifteen thoudind, given by William king 
 of Scotland, together with a refignation of his claim upon the counties 
 of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Weflmereland, as a portion with 
 his two daughters, contracted to the two fons of John king of England f, 
 when the nobles (or landed men) paid ten thoufand, and the clergy no- 
 thing. \_Fa;dera, V. i, p. 155 — Scotichron. V. i, p. 52, ed. Goodnll.^ It 
 may be prefumed, that the Scottifh burghs bore their fliares in like 
 manner in the two payments made by William to Richard I. 
 
 1210 — Perth, which maybe confidered as the capital of Scotland, 
 was before this time called a king's burgh, and was now favoured with 
 a charter by King WiUiam, prohibiting (according to the contraded 
 policy of the age) all merchant-ftrangers from carrying goods to any 
 part of the fhire of Pertli but the burgh, where they were obliged to 
 fell them by wholefale, and to lay out the proceeds in the commodities 
 of the country ; only between Afcenfion day and Lammas ftrangers 
 were allowed to fell cloth by retail in the market, and alfo to buy cloth 
 or other goods. It alfo grants to all the burgeffes of Perth, except weav- 
 ers and fullers, the privilege of being gild-brethren ; and they alone 
 are authorized to manufadure dyed or {horn cloth in Perth, and no- 
 where elfe in the fhire. But thofe who formerly had a charter for manu- 
 faduring, are not bound by this reflridion X- 
 
 * As the only ufe of money is to enable us to Geo. Ill, c. 102, § 11 : but it has varied in the 
 
 obtain what we want, it is evident that the only courfe of ages. 
 
 rule for eftimating the real value of any fum, is to f The terms of the conttaft can never be com- 
 
 compare it with the quantity of neccifary articles pletely or accurately known, unlefs the copy of it, 
 
 which it can purchafe. Tried by this ftandard, fent to the pope by Alexander II, the fon of Wil- 
 
 the value of fums mentioned in hillory, which found \\?Lm, \_FisJtra, K i, /. 235] Ihall be brought to 
 
 very trifling in modern ears, will olten be found light. But they are partly to be found in a fub- 
 
 very gieat. The prices of corn in Scotland, dur- fequent agreement of Henry III kiiigol England, 
 
 ing the reign of William, are not known, but in and Alexander II king of Scotland, ^FaJera, V. 
 
 that of his grandfon Ale)fander ill, 6,000 marks i, />. 375, or RyUy Viae. pari. p. 1613 and by the 
 
 (or 4,coo pounds of fih ei) would purchafe charge made by Henry III againft Hubert earl 
 
 240,000 bolls of oats at 44/, the higheil price ; of Kent. [ jl/. Paris, Addit. p. 152.] In failure 
 
 or 60,000 bollsofwheatati6i/,theordinary price; of fulfillmeut of the contraft the money was to 
 
 or 48,coc bolls of wheat at zod, thehigheft price ; have been returned 5 but Henry III was continual- 
 
 [IFyntouiii's Oiygynale Cronyhil of Scodand, V, i, p. ly poor; and Alexander was put off with lands in 
 
 4C0.] Soon after the death of Alexander, corn Northumberland, Cumberland, and Wellnif reland, 
 
 was Itill cheaper in England, efpecially in the weft of the trilling value of /200 a-year. [Fadera, V, 
 
 and north parts, the price of wheat being from %d i, pp. 375, 400.] 
 
 to i6j/the quarter. \_Triveii Annates, p. 266. — j The charter here referred to was apparently 
 
 Sioius yinnales, p. 7^\2, ed. 1600.] The Scottifli given by King David to Englifh, and perhaps 
 
 llaiidard boll is at prefent equal to fix Englifh Flemifli, raanufaflurers : and thus we may account 
 
 llandard bufliels, as fixed by atl of parliament, 37 for the exception of weavers and fullers, who may 
 
 havr
 
 376 
 
 A. D. I2IO. 
 
 Some aitentlon was paid to the fifhery, and fome flax was raifed, and 
 confequently fome linen made, in Scotland in the reign of William, as 
 appears from the tithes of fifli and flax being mentioned along with 
 thofeofwool, corn, butter, cheefe, animals, &c. The fifheries feem 
 to have been chiefly in the Firths of Forth and Moray. [Chart, in- 
 Dugd. Mon. Angl.V. \, p. 422 — Chart. Morav. in Dalrymple's Canons, p. 
 20,] 
 
 Among the foreign countries, with which the Scots had commercial 
 connections, we may particularize Norway, as appears by charters of 
 John and Swer, kings of that country, concerning fome people who had 
 fuflfered fliipwreck, and letters of J. king of Norway, and H. his brother, 
 on a fimilar fubjeft *. [F/^dera, V. ii, p. 218.] 
 
 The foreign trade of Scotland was chiefly conduced by the merchants 
 of Berwick, who at this time were very much annoyed by the garrifon 
 of a fort erected by King John at Tweedmouth, on the oppofite bank 
 of the river, which on that account was twice demoliflied by King Wil- 
 liam. \\Vyntown^s Cronykil, V. i, />. 355. — Scotichron. V. i, p. 518.] 
 
 King John, regardlefs of the confirmation of privileges which the Jews 
 had purchafed from him in the beginning of his reign, ordered the 
 whole of them, women as well as men, to be tortured till they fliould 
 ■pvij Jixty-ftx thonfand marks ; a moft enormous fum. The ranfom fet up- 
 on a wealthy Jew of Briflol, was ten tboufand marks ; and, on his refufal 
 to pay that ruinous fine, the king ordered his tormentors to pull out 
 one of his teeth every day, to which the unhappy man fubmitted for 
 feven days ; and on the eight he confented to latisfy the king's rapaci- 
 ty. Ifaac, a Jew of Norwich, became bound to pay the king ten thou- 
 {and marks in dayly payments of one mark. Many of the Jews, find- 
 ing it impoffible to live under fuch oppreflion, fled out of the country. 
 \Madox' s Hiji . of the excheq. c. 7. — M. Paris, pp. 229, 230.] But, ac- 
 cording to Trivet, [A/males, p. 154] they were driven out, after being 
 flripped of all their property. It appears, however, that they foon re- 
 turned. 
 
 John went to Ireland, and moft of the Irifh kings waited on him at 
 Dublin, with profeflions of duty and allegiance. He ordered the Eng- 
 lifti laws and cuftoins to be introduced in Ireland, and appointed fliir- 
 refs, and other officers to difpenfe juftice in the country according to 
 the Englifli forms. He alfo appointed money to be coined for Ireland 
 
 liave enjoyed feparate, and probably more ample, neral by the 37"' of the Antilles afcribed to that 
 
 jirivilfges : otberways tbc exclulion of them from king by Skene in his edition of Re^iam majcjlatem : 
 
 «he liberty of the gild feems unrcafonablc and ab- but thirc is no knowing wliat degree of credit can 
 
 furd. This account is taken from a trandation be given to that eolleflion. 
 
 (and feemingly a very bad one) of the charter in * The charters and letters were in the king's 
 
 Cant's Miifcs T'hrenodie, V. it, f>. 6, rrl. 1774. treafiiry at Edinburgh in the year J2S2. — Swer 
 
 The privileges, granted by William's ciiarter to vas king of Norway in the later part of the 
 
 ■Perth, are given to the burghs of Scotland in gc- twelfth century.
 
 A. D. 12 10. 
 
 377 
 
 equal to that of England, and the halfpennies and farthings, as Well as 
 the pennies, to be round, ordering that it fliould be current, and receiv- 
 ed in his treafury equally with the money of England. Returning 
 triumphant from his expedition, he afTembled the chiefs of all the re- 
 ligious communities of both fexes in England, and extorted from them 
 one hundred and forty thoufand pounds ; a fum then equal to the va- 
 lue of above two millions of quarters of wheat in years of moderate 
 plenty, and a proof at once of the enormous riches of thofe eftablifh- 
 ments, and of the infatiable avarice of King John. [M. Paris, p. 230.] 
 It is very probable, that this particular act of oppreflion is the principal 
 caufe of the black character of him tranfmitted to pofterity *. 
 
 About this time Zingis-khan, with liis innumerable hoft of favage rob- 
 bers, burft into the fertile and civilized empire of China, the nothern 
 partof which, calledCathay, he fubdued anddefolated. He next turned his 
 deflrudive march weflward, overturned and ruined many powerful king- 
 doms and innumerable cities, adorned by the art and induflry of man, 
 throughout all the northern extent of Afia; and, in a few years, con- 
 quered a larger, and perhaps a more valuable, portion of the globe, 
 than the Romans acquired in a perpetual war of many centuries. But 
 the page of commercial hiflory ought not to be ftained with a recital of 
 the miferies brought upon mankind by fuch a ferocious butcher. 
 
 At this time the city of Campion in the kingdom of Tangut was the 
 feat of a very great inland trade in linens, fluffs of cotton, gold and filver, 
 filks, and porcelain, brought by the merchants of Cathay, and bought up 
 by thofe of Mufcovy, Perfia, Armenia, and all the Tatar countries, who 
 were not permitted to go beyond that city. [De la Croix, Hift. de Genghiz.- 
 can, L.'w, c. 13.] 
 
 1 21 2 — A fire broke out in Southwark, and the flames were driven by 
 the wind to the north end of London bridge, which was immediately 
 on fire ; whereupon the crowd of people upon the bridge, rufhing to 
 the fouth end of it, were there intercepted by the flames, which had 
 now aUb taken hold of it. By this calamity, notwithflanding the aflift- 
 ance from the fhipping and boats, a thoufand, or, according to Mathew 
 of Weftminfler, three thoufand, people loll: their lives, and a great part 
 of the city, as well fis of Southwark, was deftroyed, [M. Paris, p. 233. 
 See above, p. 319.] 
 
 1213 — Philip king of France gathered together all the Ihips of his 
 own dominions, and all that he could colled belides from other coun- 
 tries, and furnifhed them with a copious fupply of provifions and war- 
 like ftores, for an invafion of England, to be undertaken at the defire of 
 Pope Innocent. There was in thofe days no fuch thing as a national navy 
 
 * John could fcarcely be more wicked than Edgar, who was canoniztd and worfhipped as one 
 of the firll-rate faints. But Edgar founded forty-tight inonallen'es, and John onlv four or liivf . 
 
 Vol. I. 3 B '
 
 378 A. D. 12 13. 
 
 of {hips belonging to the ftate, and adapted for the purpofes of war only, 
 as at prefent. But King John iflued his orders for prefTing into his fer- 
 vice all the vefTels in England *, capable of carrying fix horfes, to attend 
 him at Portfmouth with fufficient tackling, men, and arms ; and his fleet 
 was found to be fuperior to that of his enemy. At the fame, time he 
 alfo fummoned his military vafTals, under the fevereft penalties, to af- 
 femble at Dover. However, having more confidence in his failors than 
 in his land forces, he determined on a naval engagement. But while 
 hoftile preparations were going forward on both fides, John ignoniini- 
 oufly made his peace with Innocent, who immediately ordered Philip 
 to defift from the invafion of England, now^ placed under his holy pro- 
 teftion. Thereupon he, not daring to difobey the pope, and at the 
 fame time unwilling to let his preparations be entirely thrown away, 
 dired;ed the florm of war againft the earl of Flanders, as an ally of the 
 Englifli king. John, as foon as he was informed of the diftrefs of his 
 friend, fent over five hundred fliips, with feven hundred knights, and a 
 great army, to his aflifl:ance. Thefe, arriving on the coafl of Flanders, 
 found the French fleet left entirely to the care of the feamen, the fol- 
 diers having gone afluore to plunder the country. The Englifh imme- 
 diately began the attack, took three hundred fliips, which they fent to 
 England, and burnt above a hundred more, which were aground f. 
 This decifive vidlory, by which the French navy was entirely defliroyed, 
 being the firfl: important battle fince the days of King Alfred, fought 
 by fliips and men entirely furniflied by England J, is deferving of par- 
 ticular notice, more efpeciafly as it alio fliows, that England poflefled 
 more fliips than the French king could find in all France, or hire in 
 other countries. [M. Paris, pp. 233, 234, 238.] 
 
 Though there was not any national eftablilhment of warlike fliips, 
 that bore the moft diftant refemblance to the royal navy of mo- 
 dern times, it appears that there wereyow/f gallics belonging to the king. 
 In the year 1208, a thoufand oars were bought for the king's gallies ; 
 and this year the expenfe of keeping them at Southampton, amounted 
 to ;^2 : 6 : 8. At the fame time, 12 fliillings were expended for keep- 
 ing another veflel (under the indeterminate name of a fliip ' navis') be- 
 longing to the king. [Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12 ; f, 18. 
 § 3.] This, if I miftake not, is the firfl certain notice we have, after 
 the time of Alfred, of any vefl^els belonging to the king, or to the na- 
 
 * According to M. Wellniinfter, thofc of Ire- \ A part of Kincr Richard's fleet was furniilicd 
 
 land were alfo fiinimoncd. It may be doubted, if by llie pons of the wefterii coad of France, then 
 
 there was time between the 3" and 24"' of March fubjeft to liim, but not now fubjeft to John. It 
 
 for them to be coUeded, and to arrive at Portf- is, however, fnrprifing, that England, tlie com- 
 
 niouth. mcrcc of whicii appears to liave been nioiUy paflivc, 
 
 f Trivet, [/>. 157] and Paului ./Emyh'us the (liould have been able to mufter fo numerous a 
 
 hidoiian of France, [/!>. 194] fay, that thefe fliips fleet. 
 v.'cre bi.irnt by the French to prevent them from 
 falling into the hands of the EngliHi. 
 
 /
 
 A. D. 1213. . 379 
 
 tion *, except thofe purchafed by Richard I for his crufade, the navies 
 fitted out for war being merely the whole mercantile fhipping of the 
 kingdom, prefTed into the fervice : fo that in thofe times the owners 
 could never call their vefTels their own f . 
 
 1 21 5, June 15"" — The oppreffions and mifcondudl of King John 
 brought on a civil war, which was now concluded by figning the fam- 
 ous Magna Charta, or Great Charter of the liberties of the people 
 of England, or, indeed, more truely fpeaking, of the clergy and barons; 
 for the great body of the people were as yet of too little importance to 
 have much attention paid to their concerns. Of the numerous articles 
 of this charter, the following are thofe by which the interefts of the 
 commercial part of the community were likely to be affeded. 
 
 By the fourth fecSion, the guardians of a minor are prohibited from 
 deflroying or wafting the men or goods belonging to the eftate, the pea- 
 fants attached to the lands being the property of their mafter as much 
 as the cattle, and held in no higher eftimation. 
 
 § 10, 11) The debts of a minor ihall bear no intereft during his 
 minority, whether they be owing to a Jew, to the king, or to any other 
 perfon J. 
 
 § 1 2) No tax fhall be impofed but by the general council of the king- 
 dom ; except for the king's ranfom if taken prifoner, for making his 
 oldeft fon a knight, and for once marrying, his oldeft daughter; and for 
 thefe the demands fhall be moderate. 
 
 § 13) 23) London, and other cities and towns, fliall enjoy their an- 
 tient privileges, and fhall not be compelled to build bridges, &c. unlefs 
 fuch as they are bound to build by antient rights. 
 
 § 20) No freeman fhall be amerced in a fum difproportionate to his 
 offence ; neither fliall a fine, upon any account, extend to the ruin of 
 his freehold, if a landed man ; of his merchandize, if a merchant; nor 
 of his farming utenfils, if a peafant. 
 
 § 27) The property of a freeman dying inteftate, after paying his 
 debts, fliall be divided among his nearefl relations. 
 
 § 28, 30, 31) The king's officers fhall not take any man's corn, or 
 
 * Madox [Hijl. ofexch. c. 10, § 12] mentions quietly put up witli the velTels belonging to his 
 
 king's (hips in the reign of Henry II : but the kijigdom, •which ought at all times to be ready for 
 
 .luthorities produced in ths notes t, u, -z, do not his fervice, being detained in foreign countries, 
 
 diftinguifti them as royal fhips ; and prcfently after l^Fa-iiera, V. iii,/. 400.] 
 
 {note ^] we find three veflels employed on fimilar + This feenis to authorize intereft, though re- 
 
 fervice in the fame reign,, exprefsly called ' fhips peatedly forbidden by ecclefiailical canons. The 
 
 < of Shoreham.' lender, however, by this regulation ran a very un- - 
 
 f A ftriking illuftration of the king's claim of fair rifle of being deprived of the income due from., 
 
 tight to the fervices of all merchant (hips appears his capital. A man, whofe heir was young, was 
 
 \n a letter, written by Edward II to the king of thereby debarred from the accommodation of raif- 
 
 Norway upon the detention of three Englilh vef- ing moivey by borrowing, 
 fcls, which he concludes by faying, that he cannot 
 
 3B 2.
 
 380 A. D. 1215. 
 
 other goods, without payment, nor feize his carts and horfes, nor cut 
 down his wood, without his confent, 
 
 § 3;^) AH kidels (engines for catching fifli) fliall be removed from the 
 Thames, the Medway, and other rivers*. 
 
 § 35) There fhall be one uniform ftandard for weights, meafures, and 
 manufactures. That for corn flrall be the London quarter. 
 
 § 39) N^ freeman fhall be feized, impriloned, or outlawed, except by 
 the legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land. 
 
 § 40) The king fhall not fell, deny, or delay, juflice to any perfon. 
 
 § 41) Ail merchants fhall have fafety and fecurity in coming to, or 
 going out of, England, and in remaining and traveling through it by 
 land or water for buying or felling, free from aijy grievous impofitions f, 
 and agreeable to the old and upright cuftoms ; except in time of war, 
 and except merchants belonging to a country at war with us, who, at 
 the commencement of a war, iliall be attached without any injury to 
 their perfons or property, till it be made known to us, or our chief 
 jufliciary, how the merchants of our dominions, who happen to be in 
 the country at war with us, are treated there : and if our merchants are 
 not injured there, they fhall not be injured here. 
 
 § 42) It fliall be lawful for all perfons, except prifoners, outlaws, and 
 foreign merchants as above excepted in time of war, to go out of the 
 kingdom freely and fecurely, and to return J. 
 
 § 60) All the liberties, hereby granted to the king's vaflals, fliall alfo 
 be granted by the clergy and barons to their vaflals §. 
 
 The other articles of the charter belong to general hiftory, law, and 
 politics. By the concejjiojis in it we may forni an idea of the previous 
 (late of a fociety, where fuch conceflions could be required, or would 
 be accepted. 
 
 Almofl immediately after he had figned the Great charter, John pro- 
 cured, from his liege lord, the pope, two bulls annulling it, and excom- 
 municating thofe who had by force extorted it. The confequence was 
 a new war between the king and the barons, who were driven to the 
 defperate refourfe of inviting the French king's fon to come to their 
 afliltance, and be their fovereign. Louis accepted the offer, and landed 
 without oppofition at Sandwich with fix hundred fliips. Very fortun- 
 
 * From § 38 of the Magna cl-arla of liis fon + The chief iiiU'iU of this article vva"-. to allow 
 
 Henry III, in the ytav 1216, it appear-:, that John tli^ clergy to atteiul their fovereign, the pope, 
 
 had feized into liis own Imiids many of the rivers ; without afkiug the king's pcrmiflion. 
 no doubt thofe which afforded the greated and § Tlii'i is almoil the 'only article in the Ma;jna 
 
 mod profitable fidierics. Richard's order againll charta, iti which the great body of the people had 
 
 kidels in the year 1 196 muft already have been i;ny general concern; and the benefit of it was 
 
 ncgleiicd. probably never claimed by theni. The king's ob- 
 
 f ' Sine omnibus nialis loltls.' Toliis feems je£l in infcrting it (for it wan added by him) was 
 
 erroneoufly written for toWis, and accordingly the apparently to iiave a pretext from the breach of 
 
 old Englilh tranllation has evill t)lls. Knyghton ir to annull the whole of ths charter. 
 [col. 25*3] writes mallf tolls.
 
 A. D. 1216. 381 
 
 ately Jo^^i"^ ^'^"^ f^on after (19"' Odober 121C), and lingland was ref- 
 cued from becoming a province of France. 
 
 The charader of John has been drawn in the blackefl: colours by 
 moft of the contemporary hiilorians. But, though few of his adions 
 appear to have fprung from laudable motives, we mufl; remember, that 
 throughout the whole of his reign he was on bad terras with the clergy, 
 the only clafs of people w-ho were capable of tranfmitting his adlons to 
 poflerity. It is, however, certain, that the over-ruling providence of 
 God, which often brings good out of evil, rendered his vices and mif- 
 conduft more beneficial to the community than the bell: adtions of his 
 predeceflors. His infulting treatment of the barons, and his violation 
 of their wives and daughters, with his general mifcondud, may be faid 
 to have produced the great charter, which, though it was not fiivour- 
 able to the great body of the people, and produced no advantages even 
 to the clergy and barons, as it was immediately broken, has in all fuc- 
 ceeding ages been looked up to as the foundation of Liberty in this 
 country. His quarrels with the nobles, who, by the feudal conftitution, 
 were the hereditary commanders of the national army, obliged him to 
 court the good will of the inhabitants of the towns (a clafs of people 
 hitherto held in contempt both by kings and nobles) and chiefly of 
 the maritime ones *. This policy, though didated only by his own in- 
 tereft, and very convenient for him, turned out much more extenfively 
 beneficial to the fubjeds. To the king it gave not only an addition of 
 power, by creating a new fpecies of militia, and by drawing off the vaf- 
 falsof the feudal lords f, but alfo an additional revenue, payable by the 
 corporations, and flipulated in their charters. To the people it gave a 
 degree of freedom formerly unknown ; r,nd it gradually raifed them to 
 opulence and importance by the commerce which came in time to 
 be carried on in the towns, in confequence of the liberty the inhabit- 
 ants poffefled of purfuing their own interefts free from any refl:raint, 
 and exempted from the jurifdidion of any fuperior except the fovereign 
 and the law. And thus the emerfion of the great body of the Englifh 
 nation from the fervitude, into which they were plunged by the jealous 
 tyranny of the two Williams, may be juftly afcribed t.o the vices and 
 fears of John. 
 
 Lubeck is faid to be the firft city in Europe, which adopted the valu- 
 able domeftic accommodation, hitherto known only in the Oriental re- 
 gions, of conveying water to the houfes by pipes, which, as it has fince 
 been improved, has become a mofl important and efficient preferver of 
 
 * King Jolin appeirs to liave conferred on the founder of the privileges claimed by the Cinqce 
 
 Cinque ports an amph'fication of their piivileges, ports.] 
 
 in confiJeration of their being bound to dnA rigi/y f S:e above [p. 30"] tlie temptation held out 
 
 fcncible Ihips at their own cxpenfe for forty days, to the feudal villeins to delert th? e'":ate3 of their 
 
 and after that time on the king's pay. \_Knyghton, lords and become burgelTes. 
 
 coi. 24-2^, who ciToneoufly calls John t'<e orisrinal 4
 
 382 A. D. 1216. 
 
 lives and properties from the dreadful calamities of fire. But the date 
 of this improvement at Lnbeck is unknown to me, nor am I well aflur- 
 ed of the fad. We find the conveyance of water in pipes mentioned 
 as a new difcovery made at this time by Simon, a monk of Waverley in 
 Surrey, who, upon a failure of the well which ufed to fupply the breth- 
 ren, brought water from other fountains by means of pipes laid under 
 ground, whereby he made an artificial well, abundantly fufficient for 
 the ufe of the abbay. [J/i. Waverl. ap. Gale, ad an. 1216.] It was ap- 
 parently Simon's invention, for fuch it undoubtedly was, that furnifhed 
 the magiftrates of London with a model for the pipes they made in the 
 year 1 236. 
 
 Notwithftanding the convulfions of the kingdom in the contefis be- 
 tween John and the barons, there is reafon to believe, that the breed ot 
 that eminently ufeful animal, the fheep, was increafed during his reign ; 
 and that, though there was a confiderable exportation of wool, there 
 was more of it made into cloth in England in his reign than at any 
 time before : for we find the following fums paid into the treafury in 
 one year (the fifteenth of his reign) for duties on the importation of 
 woad, mofi: of which was ufed in dying cloths, though a great part of 
 thofe made in England were exported, and alfo worn at home, without 
 being dyed. 
 
 In Kent and Sufl'ex, except Dover, - ;/C^°3 ^3 3 
 
 The ports of York-lhire, - - 98134 
 
 Lincoln- flrire, - - - 47 3 4 
 
 Norfolk and Suffolk, - - 53 6 o 
 
 Southampton, - - - 72 i 10 
 
 Eflex, - - - - 424 
 
 Places not named, perhaps including London, 214 12 o 
 
 \Madox''s Hijl. of the excheq. c. 18, § 3.] 
 
 Immediately after the accellion of Henry III, the infant fon of John, 
 the great charter was renewed *. 
 
 1 217 — A treaty of friendfliip was entered into between Henry III of 
 England and Hakon IV of Norway, both under age, whereby the 
 merchants and fubjeds of both kingdoms had full liberty of going, 
 coming, and returning. [Fofdera, V. i, p. 223.] 
 
 Some of the circumfiances of a naval battle fought in this year are 
 worthy of notice. An Englilh fleet, faid to confifl; of only forty gallies 
 and other veftels f, attacked a French fleet of eighty large fliips, befides 
 
 • It was renewed at fevcn difTcrent times by Matlicw Paris, is fiilTicient. Paulus ^myliiif, the 
 
 Henry, wlien lie found it ncceffary to court tlie liilloi ian of France, lias not a word of this battle, 
 favour, nr to drain the pockets, of his fubjefls. Hcmingford [/>. ii, c. 105] has a wonderful 
 
 {^i.z BlaLkfloneiUiJlory of the charters, La-J!traas, (lory of a great fleet belonging to a tyrant, who 
 
 V. ii, />. 43, ft fenq.'l was coining from Spain to take the kingdom from 
 
 f The aniialilt of Waverley, and Robert of the infant King Henry, being defeated by the 
 
 Gloucefter, give the Englidi only eighteen fliipt. mariners of the Cinijue ports. 
 But furely the inequality of force, as related by J
 
 A. D. 121 7. 383 
 
 many fmaller ones and gallies well armed, coming to the afliftance of 
 Louis. The Englifh, who are noted for their expertnefs in maritime 
 warfare, began the attack by a dreadful difcharge of arrows from the 
 crofs-bow-men and archers ; and having got the wind of their enemy, 
 they rufhed againft them with the iron beaks (or rojlrd) of their gallies, 
 whereby many of the French (hips were inflantly funk. They alfo 
 availed themfelves of their fituation to windward by throwing pulver- 
 ized quick lime into the French Ihips, whereby the men were blinded *. 
 After a clofe engagement, wherein the French fought bravely, but not 
 fo fkilfully as the Englifh, the greatefl part of them being llain or 
 drowned, almoft the whole fleet fubmitted to the Englifli, who triumph- 
 antly towed them into Dover. [M. Paris, p. 2^^ — Annul. Waver l. p. 
 183, ed. Gale — Rob. nfGlouc. p. 515.] 
 
 1220 — The merchants of Cologne in Germany (perhaps in confe- 
 quence of King John's invitation in the year 1203) efl:ablifhed a hall 
 or fadory in London called their Gildhall, for the faifme (or legal pof- 
 feflion) of which they now paid thirty marks to the king. [Madox's 
 Hijl. of the excheq. c. 1 1, § 2.] It feems probable that this Gildhall, by 
 the aflbciation of the merchants of other cities with thofe of Cologne, 
 became in time the general fadory and refidence of all the German 
 merchants in London, and was the fame that was afterwards known by 
 the name of the German Gildhall (' Gildhalla Teutonicorum') f. 
 
 It appears that the merchants of Cologne were bound to make a pay- 
 ment of two {hillings, probably a referved annual rent (for we are not 
 told' upon what occafions it was payable) out of their Gildhall, befides 
 other cuftoms and demands, from all which they were exempted in the 
 year 1235 by King Henry III, who moreover gave them permifllon to 
 attend fairs in any part of England, and alfo to buy and fell in London, 
 laving the liberties of the city. {^Charter hi Hakluyfs Voiages, V. i, p. 130, 
 ed. 1598.] 
 
 It may be prefumed, that there were very few people in England, 
 who pofiefTed the elegant and comfortable accommodation of glafs in 
 sheir windows about this time ; for, from the manner in which the 
 windows of a church furnilhed with glafs are mentioned by Mathew 
 Paris, \yit. p. 122] it appears that fuch windows were not in general 
 ufe, even in churches. 
 
 Though we find by Domefday book that fome of the inhabitants of 
 Yarmouth were fifliermen in the time of the Conqueror, it gives us not 
 the fmalleft hint of the /6frri«'^.fifliery, which has been the great iburce 
 
 * Above two centuries after this time, tlie ftra- f The inaccuracy of confounding the Teutonic 
 
 tngem of throwing quick lime was ptaCtiled by tlie gildhall with the Steelyard will be accounted for 
 Genoefe in a naval engagement, and was thought undfr the year 1475. 
 a notable invention. 'I'his fnows that the ptafticc 
 was at leatl uncommon.
 
 284 ^' ^' 1220. 
 
 of the opulence of that town. From the fame authentic record we learn, 
 that Dunwich (then a place of confiderable trade, if compared with the 
 neighbouring towns) paid annually 60,000 herrings to the king, and 
 Sandwich paid annually 40,000 to the monks, at that time, and perhaps 
 long before ; but whether thole herrings were frefh or faked, we are 
 not informed. We find herrings enumerated among the articles charg- 
 ed with tolls or duties at Newcaftle upon Tine in the reign of Henry 1 ; 
 [Brand's Hi/I. of Newcaftle, V. ii, p. 131] and in that of Henry II the 
 abundance of them on the Englifh coafl is noticed by Henry of Hunt- 
 indon : (fee above, p. 344) and herrings made a part of the revenue 
 of the biihoprick of Chichefter. [Madox's Hift. of the excheq. f. 10, § 3.] 
 The refort of foreign merchants to Yarmouth, inferred in King John's 
 charter to that town, (fee above, p. 374) together with the certainty of 
 its being a ftaple market for the exportation of herrings foon after *, 
 warrants a belief that it was now the principal feat of the herring fifhery 
 upon the coafl of England : and upon that account William of Trump- 
 ington, abbat of St. Albans, was induced to purchafe a large houfe f in 
 Yarmouth, ' in order to lay up fifli, efpecially herrings, which were bought 
 ' in by his agents at the proper feafon, to the ineftimable advantage, as 
 ' well as honour, of the abbay.' \M. Paris, Vit. p. 126.] As we thus 
 know from undoubted authority, that herrings were ftored up at Yar- 
 mouth, and as our prefumption, that they were alfo an article of com- 
 merce and exported, will prefently be turned into certainty, it is evi- 
 dent that they muft have been preferved with fait. But in what refped 
 the antient method of curing them differed from the improved method 
 invented by Van Beukelen, who, according to fome of the Netherland 
 hiftorians, was the firfl curer and exporter of herrings, it is apparently 
 impoffible to tell. 
 
 From the unqueftionable authority of the public records we know, 
 that there was alfo a fifhery of at leaft fome confequence on the fouth- 
 weft cOafl of England, and that an improved method of faking the fifli 
 had been praflifed before this time by Peter ChivaUer, who appears to 
 have had the king's licence for a monopoly of his method, and that 
 Peter dc Ferars gave the king twenty marks in the year 1221, and 
 twenty more in 1222, and probably alfo in other years, for a licence to 
 fait fifli, as Chivalier nfed to do. [Mag. rot. 6 Hen. Ill, rot. 9, b, Coniub. 
 in Madox's Hift. of the excheq. f. 13, § 4.] As Perars appears to have liv- 
 
 * This will be further ilkiftraleJ under the year coft fifty marks ; and the fame abbat bought a 
 
 1238. I may here alfo obfcrve, that in the year lioufe, or rather a court of houfes, in London 
 
 1256 the burgelfes of Yarmouth reprcfentcd to the (wliere they were probably dearer than in Yar- 
 
 kin" that their principal fupport was derived from mouth), as extenfive as a great pdacc, with cha- 
 
 the fifliery ; and a record in the year 1306 Ihows pel, ftables, garden, a well, &c. for a hundred 
 
 that it was the herring fiihcry. Sec Braily on burghs, marks of purcliafe-moncy, to which he added fifty 
 
 Append, pp. 2, 6. marks for improvements. \M. farts, Vit. pp. 125, 
 
 \ It muft have been a very large houfv, for it 126.]
 
 A. D. 1220. 
 
 3^5 
 
 ed in Cornwall, it is probable that pilchards, which annually vifit that 
 country in innumerable flioles, were the fpecies of fifh cured by the im- 
 proved procefs. 
 
 It is worthy of obfervation, that the German writers trace their trade 
 in falted herrings no forther back than the year i 241 , or at the farthefl: 
 1236. [Codex diplom. Brandenh. V. i, p. 45 ; V. ii, p. 430, and authorities 
 there quoted.'] But, to fiiy nothing of the herrings caught on the coafl 
 of Norway in the tenth century, thofeyZ;//'/*^^ at Rugen, and thofe pack- 
 ed in barrels at Ziriczee, in the twelfth century, mufl undoubtedly have 
 been falted. (See above, pp. 274, 338.) And there is good reafon to 
 believe, that, both in England and Scotland, herrings were cured with 
 fait for exportation at leaft Ibme ages before the time now under our 
 confideration. (See above, pp. 284, 303, 306, 325, 344, 376.) 
 
 1222 — Coining dies were delivered to the proper officers for making 
 pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, of filver ; and all the money of this 
 new coinage was round *. [Madox's Hiji. of the excheq. c. 22, § 4, note a.] 
 
 1224 — At this time the following, befides London, were efteemed the 
 principal ports of England, as appears from the king's orders to their 
 magiftrates, in confequence of the expiration of a truce with France, to 
 lay an embargo on all veflels lying in, or arriving in, the ports, and to 
 keep them in readinefs for the king's fervice. 
 
 Portefmue, now For tf moid h ; 
 Sorham, Shoreham ; 
 
 Suhamton, 
 
 Safford, 
 
 La Pole, 
 
 Exon, 
 
 Briftol, 
 
 Dertmue, 
 
 Noi'wic, 
 
 Gernemue, 
 
 Orefor[d], 
 
 Dunewic, 
 
 Southampton ; 
 Seaford ; 
 Pool; 
 Exeter ; 
 Briftol; 
 Dartmouth ; 
 Norzvich ; 
 Yarmouth ; 
 Orford; 
 Dunwich ; 
 
 Gipewic, Ipfwich ; 
 
 Lenne, Lyiin ; 
 
 Ere well, Orwell haven ; 
 
 Eremuth, unknown ; 
 
 Dovr, Dover ; 
 
 Rumenel, Rumney ; 
 
 Rya, Rye ; 
 
 Kingeflon, unknown ; f 
 
 Eya,_ Eye ; 
 
 Hailing, Haftings ; % 
 Pageham, Fagham near Chichefter ; 
 
 Pevenes, Pevenfey. 
 
 The ports in Cornwall and Devon-fhire are not named, the orders for 
 the whole fhires being addreffed to the Ihirrefs. 
 
 • Some lines of Robert de Brunne, defcribing 
 a coinage of round pennies, halfpennies, and far- 
 things, by Edward I, have been inferted by Stow- 
 in his Annales and by Camden in his Remains ; and 
 being thereby more generally known, they have 
 mifled thofe, wlio have taken only a fuperficial 
 glance of fnch matteis, to conclude tha^ tljere was 
 no round money fmaller than pennies till the year 
 X279. We have feen that round halfpennies were 
 coined by Henry I, and round halfpennies and alio 
 
 Vol. I. 
 
 fai-things by John, fome of which are ftill rcmaiu- 
 ing in cabinets. See above, pp. 316, ^"jG.— Pem- 
 broke's Nummi TT. 7, 23. — Folkes on coins, plate 2- 
 
 f Hull was not yet called Kingfton^ and King- 
 flon upon Thames could not with any pi-opriety 
 be called a port. 
 
 \ Though there was a general order addrefied 
 to the Cinque ports, we find there were alfo parti- 
 cular orders addrelTed to fome, perhaps to each, of 
 them on this and on other iirailar occalionS/. 
 
 3C
 
 ^86 A. D. 1224. 
 
 By means of orders in the year 1226 for permitting French vefTels, 
 loaded with corn, wine, or provifions, to come in and go out in fafety, 
 notwithflanding a previous general prohibition of French fliips, the fol- 
 lowing may be added to the lift. 
 
 Sandwic, Sandwich ; 
 
 Hoiem, 
 
 unknown 
 
 Heath, Hyth ; 
 
 Lincoln, 
 
 Lincoln ; 
 
 Wodering, unknown ; 
 
 Eborum, 
 
 York; 
 
 Winchelfe, Winchelfea ; 
 
 Hulm, 
 
 unknown 
 
 \_Foedera, V. i, pp. 272, 287.' 
 
 
 
 The king granted to the comminaltie of London to have a com- 
 ' mon feale.' {Stow's Survey of London, p. 918, ed. 1 61 8.] 
 
 1225 — King Henry obliged all veftels belonging to the Cinque ports, 
 arriving with corn in the River Thames, to deliver at Queen-hithe *. 
 In two years thereafter he alfo ordered the vefTels bringing fifh to un- 
 load at the fame place, and direiled that the only fifh-market in Lon- 
 don fhould be held there, the citizens of London being, however, at li- 
 berty to unload their own vefTels where they pleafed. In the year 1 246 
 the city purchafed Queen-hithe from Richard earl of Cornwall, and 
 agreed to pay an annual rent of ;^50 to him and his heirs. For fome 
 time it was very produ<fHve, the corn, fifh, fait, fuel, and other articles, 
 landed there being fufHcient to keep thirty-feven men employed as met- 
 ers and carriers, with horfes, &c. Afterwards the bakers of London got 
 into the way of buying their grain in the country from the farmers f ; 
 and that diminution of the corn bufinefs, together with fome impedi- 
 ments to the paflage of the vefTels by delay in taking up the draw-bridge, 
 reduced the profits of Queen-hithe fo low, that when Fabyan wrote 
 (about the year 1500) they fcarcely exceeded twenty marks a-year of 
 fuch money as was then current. \^Sto^v's Survey of London, p. 680.] 
 
 Albert earl of Orlamund, who in the year 1216 had bought the fu- 
 periority of Hamburgh for 700 marks from the king of Denmark, now 
 fold it to the community of the city for 1,500. Till now, fays Lambe- 
 cius, the hiftorian of Hamburgh, the city was only in its infancy ; but 
 thenceforth, having fhaken off the yoke, it became dayly more and 
 more powerful and ilourifliing. [Orig. Hamburg, p. 1 1 8.] 
 
 1227 — King Henry III received prefents from Coradin, foldan (or 
 fultan) of Damaicus, brought by Jufelin (moft probably a merchant) of 
 Genoa, and fent him a complimentary letter in return. \Fa'dera, V. i, 
 p. 296.] Tiiis is, I believe, the lecond inftance of a Mohamedan prince 
 courting the friendfliip of a king of England. 
 
 Odober 1 2"' — The Catalans appear to have been at this time very 
 
 * This landing place was generally ajipropriat- out of the profits of it to the thurch of Reading, 
 
 ed to the queens of England as ;i part of tlicir re- \_Coivel's Inlcrpnicr, MiiiJc-y'j it/, iio. IIetlii.'\ 
 
 venue, at kaft as early as the time of Ilenry 1; f So the bakers managed their bufinefs about 
 
 Srr Adelid, hie widow, gave ico (liilllngs a-year the year i6cc, when Stow wrote.
 
 A, D. 1227. 387 
 
 little inferior to the mofl flourifliing of the commercial flates of Italy 
 in commercial enterprife and maritime power *. They traded to every 
 coaft of the Mediterranean ; and the veffels of every nation had been 
 made welcome to Barcelona, their principal port, by a law contained in 
 the code of ufages eftabliflied in the year 1068. But James I, king of 
 Aragon and count of Barcelona, being defirous of giving a preference 
 to the fhipping of his own fubjedls, now made a law, prohibiting all 
 foreign veffels from loading at Barcelona for Alexandria, Ceuta in Bar- 
 bary, or other foreign ports, if there was any veffel belonging to Barce- 
 lona capable and ready to perform the voyage. He alfo ordered, by the 
 fame law, that no foreigner fhould take onboard wine at Barcelona with- 
 out the permifllon of the citizens. This law, which, I prefume, is the 
 earlieft tiavigaiion act known in hiftory or record, was more ftridly en- 
 forced in the year 1268. {Copmany, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col. 
 dipl. //>. ir, 34.] 
 
 1228 — Riga, a city on the eaft coafl of the Baltic fea, which was fet- 
 tled by fome merchaiits of Lubeck in the year 1150, was now fortified 
 with a wall, and became a place of confide rable commerce and power. 
 [Ber!ii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 239.] 
 
 1229 — Liverpool was at this time a village belonging to the parifh 
 of Walton, to which indeed it continued attached till the year 1699. 
 [^ikifi's Defer, of Mancbejler, p. 332.] The burgeffes now paid the king 
 ten marks for a charter, which declared their town a free burgh for 
 ever, and granted them a merchant gild, together with fome other li- 
 berties f. {^Madox's HiJl. of the excheq. <:. 11, § 2.] 
 
 1230 — The citizens of Brunfwick, though fituated in the heart of 
 Germany, now had, or were at leafl; invited to have, commercial deal- 
 ings with England, as appears from a protedion granted to them by 
 King Henry for the fake of his coufin, their duke. [Fasdera, V. i, p. 317.] 
 
 1 231 — Olaf, king of Mann and the Ifles, having been driven from 
 his dominions by Alan lord of Galloway, implored the affift:ance of his 
 luperior lord the king of Norway. He and his Norwegian and Orkney 
 friends, with eighty fliips coUec^ted in Norway, Orkney, and the Wefl:- 
 ern iflands, arrived in the Firth of Clyde, and attacked the ifland of 
 Bute. But hearing that Alan had a fleet of one hundred and fifty 
 veffels lying at the Ryns of Galloway, they fleered off to the coaft of 
 Kentire, and thence went to Mann, and re-eftablifhed Olaf in his king- 
 
 • Their power was formidable at limes to the In the eleventh year of the fiime king's reign the 
 
 Greek empire and aliiioft every ftate on the coafts village or town (' villata') of Liverpool paid a tall- 
 
 of the Mediterranean. Sec Gibbon, V. xi, p. 347, age of eleven marks fevcu (hillings and eight pcn- 
 
 til. 179I. — Stella, and the other amial'ijls of Genoa. nies. [_^Madox''s Hijl. of the exchequer, c. 17, J 3. J 
 
 f Enfield dates this charter in the year 1227. The flourifliing town of Liverpool may leave to 
 
 \_HiJ}. of Leverpool, p. 9.] Being dated in the decayed communities the poor confolation of ficli- 
 
 thirteenth year of the king's reign, it might be in tious aatiquity. 
 the later end of 1228, but could not be earlier. 3 
 
 3G2
 
 388 
 
 A. D. 1 23 1. 
 
 dom. \T!hordir, n contemporary Icelandic writer, tranjlated by 'Jobnjione. — 
 Chron. Manniee ap. Camd. Brit. p. 844 T'orfcsi Orcades^ L. ii.] The num- 
 ber of the Gallowegian fleet, equal to a fourth part of that with which 
 the French in the year 12 16 expected to eftubliflh a new king upon the 
 throne of England, is probably exaggerated by the northern writers, 
 who, however, all agree in celebrating the great naval power of Alan of 
 Galloway *. 
 
 1235, April 5"" — King Henry licenced Simon of Wiftlegray to carry 
 in his veflel, called the Gladyghyne, the pilgrims going from England 
 towards Jerufalem, S'. James of Compoftella in Spain, or other places 
 abroad, without hindrance or moleftation. {Pat. 19 Hen. Ill, piiblijljed 
 in Piirchas''s Pi/gri?nes, L. viii, />. 1271.] If he really proceeded as far as 
 Paleftine, he performed a voyage, which, I believe, was much more re- 
 mote than any that were ufually undertaken by any lingle Englifh vef- 
 fel in that age, wherein commerce was not fo powerful a ftimulus as 
 fuperftition in calling forth the energies of the mind or the exertions of 
 enterprife. 
 
 The tenth and eleventh fedions of King John's Magna charta, com- 
 prehending, perhaps, the mofl blameable part of that famous deed, 
 whereby the eftates of ininors were exempted during their minority 
 from paying interefl: for money borrowed by their predecelTors, were 
 now revived and fandioned by a public ad of the legiflative body af- 
 fembled at Merton. [Statutes of Merton, c. 5.] We thereby fee that it 
 was not now reckoned illegal to receive interefl: for money lent : but, 
 as long as this law remained in force, the vmfair rifk thrown upon the 
 lender by it muft; have kept the rate of interefl much above its natural 
 level. 
 
 The inhabitants of Amfterdam, who were ftill fubjed to the lord 
 of Amftel, were indulged by the earl of Holland with the liberty of 
 carrying their goods through the whole of his territory, as a compenfa- 
 tion for Ibme injury he had done them. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. \\\,p. 41.] 
 Such was the humble commencement of the commerce of the illuflrious- 
 city of Amfterdam. 
 
 1236 — Some Flemifli merchants having been plundered of fifty-two 
 tuns (' dolia' f) of wine, and other goods in England, the countefs of 
 
 * The naval pre-eminence of llie feamen of was then in rebellion againft the king of Scot- 
 Galloway continutJ after the age of their famous land. 
 
 lord, Alan. To tlicm Alexander III, king of -j- The meafure of the ^/o/;«nj having been doubt- 
 Scotland, committed the maritime charge of an ed or mifundcrllood (fee Fleetiuond^s Chron. prec. 
 expedition intended to challife a rebellion of the p. 1 15, &c.) it is proper to obfcrve, that it is prov- 
 people of Mann. \_Scallchron. V. ii, p. 109, ed. ed to be a tun by a letter from King Edward III 
 G'jorla/J.'} And the Scottirti warlike, c;r piratical, to the king of Spain, wherein a pipe of wine, 
 vcffcls (for the terms were fynonvmons) which which is half a tun, is valued at ^of, the dolium 
 made fomc depredations on the fuhjefls ff Eng- being j[^. [.Fadera, V. v, p. 320. Sec alfo 
 land about the year 1236, [A'o/. pat. 21 Men. Ill, V. vii, p. 378, and the Statute of ejlreats, l6 Edw. 
 m 6] were pcrliapr. of their country, and in the /// In Statutes at laii^e, V. x, append, p. 23 : and 
 fervice of Tliomun, the natural foji (jf Alan, who many more proofs tnight be adduced, if ncceiFary.j
 
 A. D. 1236. 389 
 
 Ji'landers demanded redrefs from King Henry, who thereupon promifed 
 to pay £^04. fterling for the wine, and jCioy : 10 : o money of Tours 
 for the other goods. He at the flime time promifed redrefs to others 
 who were wronged in his dominions, and expreffed his dcfire that the 
 merchants of Flanders and of England fliould mutually enjoy fecurity 
 in both countries. [Foedfra, V. i, pp. 316, 2)^S-] 
 
 With all this attention profefled to the interefl of merchants, Henry, 
 while he envied their opulence, did not fcruple openly to exprefs his 
 contempt of the riijlics of London, who prefumed to call themfelves 
 barons *. \M. Paris, p. 749.] And even the great legiflative body of 
 the nation held burgelTes of every defcription, and confequently merch- 
 ants, in fo low a degree of eftimation, that it was enaded in the parlia- 
 ment held at Merton, that a fuperior lord, who fliould difparage his 
 ward, being under fourteen years of age, by a marriage with a villein 
 (peafant) or a burgefs, fliould forfeit the wardfhip of the lands. [Sta- 
 tiites of Merton, f. 6.] 
 
 Hitherto London had been ferved with water from the feveral rivu- 
 lets flowing through it (which in the prefent day arc all hid under the 
 pavement), and from wells. But thefe fupplies being now found inade- 
 quate to the wants of the inhabitants, the magiftrates purchafed from 
 Gilbert Sanford, proprietor of Tyburn, the fountains of that burn (or 
 brook), with liberty to convey the water from the ciftern, into which 
 they had led it, through his lands in pipes, and occafionally to break up 
 the ground for neceflary repairs. \Ftxdera, V. xi, p. 30.] 
 
 The foreign merchants of Amiens, Nele, and Corbie, contributed 
 £,\oo to the expenfe of this 'improvement. About the fame time they 
 agreed with the mayor, the principal citizens alfo giving their confent, 
 to pay fifty marks annually to the mayor for the liberty of landing and 
 ftoring the woad imported by them, inftead of being obliged to fell it 
 onboard their veiTels, as they had hitherto done. The merchants of 
 Normandy alfo paid a fine to the city for the fame indulgence. {Stow's 
 
 Survey of London, p. 130 Fcedera, V. v, p. 105.] Thefe payments for 
 
 an accommodation in the fale of woad fhow that the quantity imported 
 was coniiderable, and confequently, that the manufadures, in which it 
 was ufed, mufl have alfo been confiderable. It is proper, however, to 
 obferve, that woad was more ufed by the dyers, before indigo became 
 common, than it is now, and alfo, that it is fuperior to indigo for dur- 
 ability of colour. 
 
 1238 — The Weftern world was threatened with total extermination 
 by the Tatars (or Tartars f ), a new, and to the Europeans an unheard- 
 
 * The reaJer will recoUcft, that the citizens of Abulgliazi, a defcendent of Zingis, and other Orx- 
 Loiidon, or at leaft the pit-emiucnl ones, had the ental authois, is ufed by Yvo Narbonenlli in his 
 appellation of barons. See above, p. 329. letter to the biiliop of Bourdeaijx in the year 1245, 
 
 f Tatar, the true name, as it is written by by PduJ Oderboin, a wnter cniUeTiporary witli 
 
 the
 
 390 A. D. 1238. 
 
 of, race of invaders, more irrefiflible and more fanguinary than the 
 Saracens of the eighth century, who had already conquered Ruflia 
 (which remained fubjed to them till the year i486), and fpread defo- 
 lation through Poland and Hungary. It is a curious circumftance, that 
 we are indebted to this inundation of barbarians from the Eall for fome 
 important information concerning the herring fifhery. It appears, that 
 the herrings, which are very capricious in their migrations, had defert- 
 ed the Baltic fea for fome time, which obliged the Frifelanders, who 
 formerly ufed to go to the Baltic for herrings, and even the people of 
 Gothland in Sweden, who ufed to have the herring fifhery at their own 
 doors, to come to Yarmouth for cargoes of thofe fifh. But fo great and 
 general was the conflernation wherewith even the remotefl: nations of 
 Europe were ftruck by the approach of the Tatars, that thofe people 
 did not come to Yarmouth this year : and, in confequence of the dif- 
 appointment of their lales, the Yarmouth fifliermen were obliged to 
 give their herrings at fuch low prices, that they were fold exceedingly 
 cheap even in the inland parts of the country *. [M. Paris, p. 471. — 
 Playfair^s Chro?2ology, p. 121.] Thus have we undoubted information 
 of the exportation of cargoes of herrings from Yarmouth previous to 
 this time ; and thofe who aflert, that the art of curing herrings with 
 fait was not yet difcovered, may, if they pleafe, fuppofe that herrings 
 were carried frefli from Yarmouth to Sweden. 
 
 The Saracens, who faw themfelves expofed to the firft fury of the 
 Tatars, endeavoured to conciliate the favour of the kings of France and 
 England, in order to engage them in a confederacy againft the com- 
 mon enemy : and Frederic, the German emperor, wrote to the Chrift- 
 ian princes to perfuade them to combine their forces in order to ward 
 off the impending deftrudion. But the pope, having a quarrel with the 
 emperor, found means to fruflrate the only rational union of the Eu- 
 ropean powers that ever was projeded ; and the tide of devaflation was 
 rolled back to the Eafl by the valour of Germany alone. [Af. Paris, 
 /'A 47^557. 560.] 
 
 In the emperor's letter to the king of England he thus charaderizes 
 tlie weflern kingdoms : Germany, raging and ardent for battle ; France, 
 the mother and nurfe of brave armies ; bold and warlike Spain ; the 
 
 the fubjed of his work, in Vita "Joannis BafiUdls, -were fold for one ptr.ny (' uiio nrgento'). I fup- 
 
 •■•nd a few other earlv European writers. Sec alfo pofe tour or live hundred was the number j'nteud- 
 
 Eion's Survey of the Turkifjj empire, f>f>. IDI, 304. cd by the author ; tor, even in the picftnt day. 
 
 But moll of the writers of tlic middle nges, de- the twentieth part of an ounce of lilvcr (tlie wciglic 
 
 lighted wilh the identity of I'artar and Tartar-us, of a penny) would not be thought a bad price tor 
 
 the hell of the antient fabulous mythology, have tifty herrings in fome parts of the country. By 
 
 cmcuntd to tlbblini this vitiated name. See in the liatute of herrings iu the year 1357 the high- 
 
 j<:irticular M. Puns, pp. 55S, 957. ell price they could be fold for was 40/ per lad, at 
 
 * Mathew Paris fays, herrings were to be had which highell rate there were 25 for one penny ; 
 
 lh''a year almyll for nothing, and even in the in- and in 1357 the penny did not contain near fo 
 
 land parts of the country/or/y or fifty good hsrr'mp much filver as it did at this time.
 
 A. D. 1238. 391 
 
 fertile England, ftrong in her foldiers, and guarded by her fleets ; naval 
 Denmark ; bloodthirfly Ireland ; lively Wales ; Scotland abounding with 
 lakes ; frozen Norway, &c. [M. Paris, p. 560.] 
 
 Such were the characters of the Europeaii nations, as drawn by the 
 emperor Frederic, to which it may be proper to add the ftile of living 
 and manners of the Italians of this age, probably the moft polifhed peo- 
 ple (except perhaps the Greeks) at this time in Chriflian Europe, as 
 drawn by an author who flourilhed about the end of the thirteenth cen- 
 tury. Their food was very moderate, or rather fcanty. The common 
 people had meat only three times in a week : their dinner was pot-herbs 
 boiled with meat, their fupper the cold meat left from dinner *. The 
 hufband and wife ate out of the fame difli ; and they had but one or 
 two cups in the houfe. They had no candles made of tallow or wax ; 
 but a torch, held by one of the children or a fervant, gave them light 
 at fupper. Many had no wine in the fumraer. Their wine cellars were 
 fmall, and their barns were not large. The men, whofe chief pride was 
 in their arms and horfes, wore caps made with iron fcales, and cloaks 
 made of leather without any covering, or of woollen cloth without lea- 
 ther. The women wore jackets of a fluff called pignolate with gowns 
 of linen, and their head-dreffes were very fmiple. Very few people 
 had any gold or filver on their clothes. Thofe who poffefled a fmall 
 fum of money were thought rich ; and the homely drefs of the women 
 required but fmall marriage portions. The nobles were proud of living 
 in towers, and thence the cities were filled with thole fortified dwell- 
 ings. [Riccobaldi Ferrarienfis Hijl. imper. op. Muratori Script. V. v, col. 
 128.] This portrait, taken from the accounts given by the generation 
 immediately preceding the author, fliows us that the manufadures and 
 commerce of Italy had not yet diffufed general wealth, or introduced 
 comfortable and convenient modes of living (according to the ideas ot 
 the immediately fucceeding age) throughout the country. Indeed the 
 fondnefs for living in towers is a proof that too much of the feudal 
 manners fl;ill prevailed to admit of a generally-flourifliing trade, or a 
 generally-profpei-ous condition of the people. But we alfo find, that iu 
 the courfe of fixty or feventy years the general fl;ile of living and the 
 circumflances of the people were much improved, and that our author 
 by no means regretted that he was not born in the good old times of his 
 anceftors. 
 
 I 239 — Four plates of filver, weighing fourteen marks (or 1 1 2 ounces), 
 got out of a mine in the bifhoprick of Durham, were delivered at VV efi:- 
 minfter by Robert de Crepping to the proper ofScer, to be made into 
 images for the king. \MS. Harl. 624, p. 175 b.] A copper mine, with 
 veins of gold and filver, at Newlands in the adjacent county of Cumber- 
 
 * By the immediately preceding clnufc they could have fuch boilings of herbs z.yl fuch fuppcrs on'y 
 '-Uiicc in a week.
 
 392 A. D. 1239. 
 
 land (perhaps the fame which was worked by David king of Scotland 
 when he was lord of that country) was worked in this reign. \_Camdeni 
 Brit. p. 631.] x\nd there were many mines in various parts of the 
 country, which contained, or were expeded to contain, fome gold or 
 filver, as appears by grants of the fovereign to feveral individuals. [Ca- 
 lend. rot. pat. in "turri., pajjim.'] But whether they turned out beneficial 
 to the undertakers, we are not informed. 
 
 1 240 — From tlie ruins of the great and antient city of Mecklenburgh, 
 formerly the capital of the kingdom of the Vandals, Gunceline, the 
 lord of the country, built a new city, called Wifmar, on an inlet of the 
 Baltic forming an excellent harbour for the largeft veflels, the conve- 
 nience of which foon attraded a great refort of foreign merchants, by 
 which, and the fertility of the adjacent foil, the place foon became opu- 
 lent and refpeiflable. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii, p. 304.] 
 
 1241 — Pope Innocent IV, who ufed to call England bis inexbmiftiblc 
 fountain of riches*, had fome time ago fent Otto as his legate into this 
 country, who truely acted as if he intended completely to drain the 
 well. At his departure from Dover he left not behind him, Mathew 
 Paris fays, as much money in the country as he had extorted from it, 
 for his inafter and himfelf, during a reiidence of feveral years, indefa- 
 tigably employed in fcraping together money from every quarter, and 
 upon every pretence. The whole amount of his colleftion was probably 
 unknown ; but two of his aflociates, who were difpatched into Scotland 
 in the year i 240, pillaged that kingdom of three thoufand pounds of 
 filver. Other blood-fuckers, who were immediately fent to glean what- 
 ever had efcaped the talons of Otto, fqueezed fifteen thoufand marks 
 cut of Ireland, and large fums alio out of England and Scotland. While 
 thofe harpies were making the beft of their way to Rome with their 
 booty, they v/ere intercepted by fome officers of the emperor of Ger- 
 many, v/ho, thinking he had as good a right to the plunder of the Brit- 
 ifh kingdoms as the pope, his moft bitter and unrelenting enemy, kept 
 the treafure for himfelf. [M. Paris, pp. 400, 540, 549, 573.] 
 
 The cera of the commencement of the Hanseatic association, one 
 of the moil important objeds in the commercial hifiory of the middle 
 ages, like the origin of many other great communities, cannot be pre- 
 cifely afcertained. It feems mofl probable that it derived its origin 
 from an agreement which was entered into in this year, 1241 f , by the 
 
 * The pope, wlio, Mathew Paris [/>. 938] ob- aius of commerce have fiipplied a dream fiiUy equal 
 
 ftrvcs, ought to be incapable of deceiving or being to all the wafte. 
 
 tli'ceived, was encoiirored in liis rapacity by Henry f This is the date aflumed by Lambecius, Stru- 
 
 himftlf, who abluhitely put tholV very words into vius, PfefFcI, &c. and furely the German writers, 
 
 liis inontli, havint; to!d him in his letters, that Kng- Irom local iituation as well as indudry in rcfcarchj 
 
 land was a fountain of riches, which could never be are well qualified for the examination of fuch a 
 
 drained. — Certainly it has flood a vail deal of drain- matter , .4 
 
 tag in that age, and ever fuice ; and Hill the fount-
 
 -A. D. 1 241. 393 
 
 merchants of Hamburgh and Lubeck, to eflablifh a guard for the pro- 
 tection of their merchandize againfi; pirates and robbers in the inland 
 carriage between their cities ; [Lambecii Orig. Hamburg. L. ii, p. 26] a 
 precaution very neceffary in thofe days of rapine, when men of the firft 
 rank, having no ufeful employment or elegant amufement to relieve 
 them from the languor of idlenefs in times of peace, openly profefled 
 the trade of robbery *. The acceffion of other cities, and the prudent 
 meafures, which afterwards rendered the commercial confederacy, fup- 
 pofed to have fprung out of this alliance of two cities, fo flourifhi \^, 
 powerful, and famous, will be noticed on proper occafions as fully as 
 authentic materials will warrant. 
 
 Some mines of tin were this year difcovered in Germany, the pro- 
 duce of which was fo abundant, that the metal was even imported into 
 England, whereby the price of it in this country was very much re- 
 duced f. [M. Paris, p. 570.] 
 
 1 242 — Jacomo Theopolo (or Jacopo Tiepolo) duke of Venice, with 
 the afliftance of four noble and learned counfelors, collefted the laws of 
 the republic into a code, [Novelli Statuta Venet.'\ which is almoft entirely 
 occupied in regulating the defcent of property, the recovery of debts, 
 and the punifhment of crimes. And, what is furprifing in the laws of 
 the firft commercial people of Europe, they contain no other regula- 
 tions relating to commerce than feme diredions refpedling freights, 
 averages, feamen's wages, and the like. There is, however, one of the 
 laws XL. iii, c 18] which deferves notice on account of its containing 
 perhaps the earlieft inftance extant of the language of calculation, now 
 tmiverfally ufed by merchants, and, indeed, by all other defcriptions of 
 people. It was cuftomary for purchafers to pay down a depofit, which 
 was now directed to be lodged in the hands of the procurator of S'. 
 Mark, and the amount of it was fixed at ten per cent (' diefe per cento'). 
 Other nations ufed, long after this time, to fay one tenth, one twentieth, 
 &c. or fo many pennies or fhillings on the pound. But the more judi- 
 cious and expreffive mode of calculating at fo much per cent, wliich we 
 have moft probably learned from the Venetians, has almoft univerfally 
 fuperfeded the calculation by tenths, twentieths, quarters,. &c. > 
 
 Thje king of France at the commencement of a war ordered the per- 
 
 * Thofe robbers were too powerful to be con- f M. Paris erroneouny adds, that hiliierto tin 
 
 trolled by the civil magiUrate, and they even dif- had never been found any where in the whole 
 
 regarded the excommunication of the clergy. [See world but in Cornwall. According to an author 
 
 Rolcrtfon's Hijioiy of Charles V, V. i, p. 398, ed. of that age, quoted by Camden, \_Bnlanma,p. 134] 
 
 1792, and ^f/oiy under the year 1255.] As their the German mines were difcovered by a Coniilh 
 
 gangs were numerous enough to be called armies, man, who was banilhed from his native country, 
 
 their depredations affumed the charasfter of war- The Cornilh tin, however, appears to be of a fu- 
 
 lare and victories, and, inllcad of being iligmatiz- perior quality to that of oihcr countries, as is ac- 
 
 ed as bafe and difgraceful, were often rewarded kr.owlcgcd by foreigners in counterfeiting the Eng- 
 
 with public appluute, as meritorious and honour- lilh ftamps upon their tin. \_CamphclVi Political '. 
 
 r.ble atlicns. Jurvey, K i, /. 41, note k.] 
 
 Vol. I; 3 D
 
 394 ^' ^' 1242: 
 
 fons and properties of the Englifli merchants found hi his dommions to 
 be feized, whereby, fays Mathew Paris, [p. 585] he brought a gi-eat dif- 
 grace upon the antient dignity of France. The confequence was a re- 
 taUation upon the French merchants in England. 
 
 Henry III wrote to the barons of the Cinque ports, and to the good 
 men of Dunwich, to get ready their fhips, fufficiently manned, for his 
 fervice. He alfo ordered, that the king's galley of Briftol, and another 
 galley of the fame town, and the king's gallies in Ireland, fhould be fit- 
 ted out. He at the fame time ordered the mayor and citizens of Dub- 
 lin, and the good men of Waterford, to fend all their gallies and fhips. 
 Similar orders were fent to Bourdeaux for the gallies belonging to that 
 city. \Yoedera, V. i, pp. 406, 407.] This, I believe, is the fecond occa- 
 iion, after the days of Alfred, on which even a fmall number of veflels 
 belonging to the king *, or to the public, are mentioned. (See above, 
 
 p. 378.) 
 
 The mariners of the Cinque ports, making a very bad ufe of the 
 commiflion given them by the king to annoy the fubjeds of France, 
 wherein he warned them againfl injuring his own fubjedls, became 
 mere pirates, and plundered all they met, of whatever nation, not fpar- 
 ing even their own acquaintances and relations. Nor were fuch atro- 
 cities confined to the failors of thofe ports. There was a very general 
 combination of the inhabitants of the city of Winchefter and the adja- 
 cent parts of Hampfhire to plunder all whom they could overpower, 
 whether ftrangers or Englifhmen, fo that even the king's wine pafling 
 along in his carts could not efcape their depredations. In confequence 
 of a complaint made by two merchants of Brabant, accompanied by 
 threats of reprifals upon Englifh merchants in that country, an inquifi- 
 tion was fet on foot in the year 1 249 : but it was not without having 
 recourfe to very rigorous meafures that a jury could be found to con- 
 demn the guilty, of whom about thirty were hanged. [M, Faris, pp. 
 589, 760.] 
 
 1243 — ^The mofi; antient fpecimen of paper, fuch as we now ufe, 
 made of linen rags, is a charter, feven inches long and three inches 
 broad, preferved in the emperor's library at Vienna, which was written 
 in the year i 243, as the date is calculated by Mr. Schwandner, an Auf- 
 trian nobleman and principal keeper of the imperial library, who hag 
 written an eflliy on this curious relique, which, he fays, is at leaft half 
 a century older than any other fpecimen hitherto difcovered f . 
 
 * King Henry III liad a large (hip calL-d the of hnen-rag paper, fixed the commencement of the 
 
 Qiiecn, vvliich lie cliartercd to John lilancbiiUy for manufaifture of the later between the years 1270 
 
 his ( BlancbuUy'i) life in the year 1232 for an an- and 1302 : and in the year 1762 he offered a pre- 
 
 ■nual jjayuient, or rent, of fifty marks. {MadoKS mium to any one v.'ho (hould produce the carliell 
 
 4hjl. of the exchrq. c. 13, ^ II.] public indnimcut, wiitten on paper made of linen 
 
 f Mr. Meerman, fyndic of Kotcrdam, who with rags. — Mr. North {Archxolog^'m^ F. x] mentions a 
 
 much lludy invcftigated the origin of printing and letter, wrillen by the king of Spain to lidward I, 
 
 5 king
 
 A. D. 1244. 395 
 
 1 244 King Henry, whofe profufion involved him in perpetual pe- 
 cuniary diftreffes, and compelled him to opprefs his fubjeds, did not 
 fail to fqueeze the Jews very frequently. He now extorted from them 
 the enormous fum of fixty thoufand marks. Individual Jews were often 
 fined in large fums, 2,000 marks, 3,000 marks, &c. For a fine of ten 
 marks (80 ounces) of gold he gave a promife to a Jew, that he fhould 
 not be tallaged at more than /"i 00 a-ycar for the four enfuing years. 
 Another Jew compounded with the king to pay 100 marks a-year to 
 be exempted from tallages. If we confider the real value of money in 
 thofe days, we mufl be aftonifhed at the wealth of thofe men, who 
 could pay fuch fums, and flill have fomething left : for we mufl; fup- 
 pofe that the king did not pull off the (kin along with the fleece, but 
 left it to produce another fleece, to be again fhorn when fufSciently 
 grown. The method ufed to fpur on the payments was to imprifon 
 their wives and children till the money was paid. {^Mndox's Il'ijl. of the 
 cxcheq. <". 7.] 
 
 1 245 — Among the articles of a rigorous inquifition into trefpafles 
 committed on the king's forefls, whereby many were ruined, the fol- 
 lowing is the fourteenth. ' Let inquiry alfo be made concerning fea 
 ' coal (' carbone maris') found in the foreft, and who have received 
 ' payment for ditches led from the coal, and for the ufe of the roads 
 ' (' cheminagium').' [M. Faris, Addit. p. 155.] This, being one of a 
 fet of inquiries previoufly drawn up for the ufe of the inquifitors, and 
 applicable to all the royal forefls, does not prove that coal was adually 
 found in any one of them. But the application of the termy^rt coal, 
 apparently as an eflabliflied name, to foilile coal, which might be found 
 in a foreff , affords a clear proof, and the earliefl authentic one known 
 to be extant, that coals had before now been brought to London by 
 fea, and probably from Newcaflle *. And accordingly we find, that a 
 lane in the fuburbs of London on the outlide of Newgate was known 
 by the name of Sea-coal lane f, at leafl as early as the year 1253. \^Ay- 
 lofft^s Calendar, p. 1 1 .] 
 
 Thus we are afliired, that the Englifh, though providentially difap- 
 pointed in their hopes of finding very produdfive mines of gold and fii- 
 ver, the nurfes of national lethargy and oftentatious poverty, had begun 
 now, and perhaps long before, to work the infinitely more valuable 
 mines of coal, the poffefTion of which, together with the knowlege of 
 
 king of England, in the year 1272, upon paper, * It has been afTerted, that the inhabitants of 
 
 ■which he faw in the Tower : but he does not tell Newcaftle had obtained a charter for working coal 
 
 us, whether the paper was made of cotton or of mines in the reigu of King John, but apparently 
 
 linen rags. without fufQcient authority. See below under the 
 
 For tlie communication of, perliaps, the only year 1350. 
 copy in this kingdom of Mr. Schwandner's eifay, f Scow fays, it was called Sea-coal lane, and ! 
 
 I am indebted to the polite attention of Mr. Ayf- alfo Lime-burners lane, becaufe lime ufed to be^- 
 
 cough, librarian for the printed booke in the Brit- burnt there with fea coal. 
 
 Ih Mufeum. 
 
 3D2
 
 39^ 
 
 A. D. 1 245. 
 
 the many important manufadures dependent upon them, have in later 
 times raifed the natives of Great Britain to the rank of the firfl mami- 
 facluring nation in the world, and given them a fufficient command of 
 the mines of gold and filver, wrought by the flaves of thofe who pridt 
 themfelves on being lords of the mod copious mines of the pretious 
 metals, by which induftry and enterprife have been banifhed from 
 among themfelves, while they have been animated by them among 
 thofe nations who are under the happy neceflity of giving valuable 
 commodities in exchange for them *. 
 
 In the council of Lyons the pope prohibited all Chriftians from fend- 
 ing their fhips for four years to any of the eaftern countries occupied 
 by the Saracens, that there might be abundance of {hipping to tranf- 
 port the warriors of the crofs to the Holy land. \A?iiiaIes Burton, p. 301, 
 ed. Gale.'] Thus did papal politics and fuperftitious frenzy trample un- 
 der foot the interefls of commerce, and the reafoning powers of the hu- 
 man mind. 
 
 King Henry proclaimed a fair to be held at Weftminfter, and he or- 
 dered that all the traders of London fhould fhut up their fhops, and car- 
 ry their goods to be fold at his fair, and that all other fairs throughout 
 England fhould be fufpended during the fifteen days appointed for the 
 duration of it. The weather happened to be remarkably bad. The 
 tents, made of cloth, affording no fhelter, the goods were fpoiled by the 
 rain ; and the citizens, inftead of fitting down to a comfortable meal 
 furrounded by their families, were obliged to eat their victuals in thofe 
 uncomfortable tabernacles with their feet in the mud. [M. Paris, 
 
 1248 — The fterling money ot England had for fome time been (o 
 fliamefully defaced by clipping, that fcarcely any of the letters of the 
 infcription were left : and the criminals were found to be moftly the 
 Jews, the Caurfini, and fome of the Flemifh wool-merchants. Some 
 of the king's council advifed, that the quality of the filver fliould be 
 fomewhat debafed in imitation of the money of France, that there 
 might be lefs temptation to clipping : but fortunately that very erro- 
 neous advice was not followed : and proclamation was now made that 
 all the defaced money fhould be brought in to the king's exchanges, 
 and there exchanged for new money, weight for weight. But the peo- 
 ple complained, that they fuffered more by bringing in their money to 
 the exchange offices, which were cllabliflied in but few cities, than it 
 they had been obliged to pay twenty fliillings a quarter for wheat ; for 
 what with their traveling expenfes and lofs of time, and a dedudion of 
 thirteen pennies from every pound for coiitage, whereupon the king 
 
 * See the opinion of Mr. Faujas S'. Fond, an intelligent foreigner, on ilie powerful fupeiiority in 
 manufaiihirts ariling from the poficfBon of coal mines. [Yravds in England and Scotland, F. 'ii,J>. 3,?9# 
 £11^1. trari/1.2
 
 A. D. 1248. 397 
 
 had a large profit, they found that they had fcarcely twenty fliillings of 
 the new money in return for thirty of the old. The new coins differ- 
 ed from the old only in having the crofs upon the reverfe carried out 
 through the letters of the legend almoft to the edge, inftead of reach- 
 ing only half way from the center, as in the former ones, and having a 
 border of fmall beads on the extremity of the furface of the reverfe. 
 [M. Paris, pp. 733, 747, 748. — Ann. Waver I. p. 207, cd. Gale. — Pembroke 
 coins, pi. 4.] 
 
 A new coinage of the money of Scotland was made about two years 
 afterwards by the miniftry of the infant king, Alexander III, in which 
 the improvement introduced in the money of England was adopted. 
 \Scotichron. V. ii, p. 83, ed. Goodall.^ 
 
 We are told that a fociety of Englilh merchants, called the Brother- 
 hood of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, at this time obtained privileges 
 from the duke of Brabant *. 
 
 1249 — Louis IX, king of France, made an attempt to expell the dif- 
 ciples of Mohamed from Egypt ; and he a6hially took Damieta, .; cjiy 
 fituated on the eaftcrn mouth of the Nile, which was then reckoned a 
 rival to Alexandria in the Oriental trade f. His fleet, which was con- 
 duded by the feamen of Pifa, Genoa, Flanders, Poidtou, and Provence, 
 confifled of one hundred and twenty of the great veflels called dromons 
 (or dromunds), befides gallies and other fmaller veflels, to the number, 
 in all, of at leafl fifteen hundred ; and it was reckoned the greateft and 
 noblell fleet that ever was feen, being indeed much more numerous 
 than that of Richard king of England in the preceding century. [M. 
 Paris, p. 793; Addit. pp. i66, 169.] 
 
 One of the great fliips of the French fleet (Mathew Paris calls her ' a 
 ' wonderful fliip') was built at Invernefs, near the northern extremity 
 of Scotland, for the earl of S'. Paul and Blois. [M. Paris, p. JJi-] 
 That a French nobleman fhould apply to the carpenters of Invernefs 
 for a fliip, is a curious circumfi:ance, which feems to infer, that they 
 had acquired fuch a degree of reputation in their profeflion as to be 
 celebrated even in foreign countries. We fliall foon fee reafon to be- 
 
 * So fays Whtielfr, who was fecretary to the account of the Oriental regions, fays, that veflels 
 
 com])dir\Y of merchan; adventurers in the year \ 60 1, from Damieta fupplied Syria, Armenia, Greece, 
 
 and he adds, that thty afterwards laid afide the and Cyprus, with Indian goods, and that the tran- 
 
 nanic of St. Thomas, and took that of merchant fit of thofe goods through Egypt yielded a great 
 
 adventurers. [Treatifi of commerce, p. lo, Land, revenue to the fultan. He defcribes Alexandr:.! 
 
 ed.'] But, as he produces no authority for his af- and the light-houfe at the port, hut fays nothing 
 
 fertions, and is an advocate rather than an hiftor- of the commerce or (hippinj^- of it. \_ap, Bongarfii 
 
 ian, it may be doubted, whether the flory has not Gejia Del, V. \, p. 1 1 28.] Soon after the libera- 
 
 been nv. r.ted in order to outdo the rival company tion of Louis, who was made prifoner in Egypt, 
 
 of the merchants of the ftaple in tlieir pretenfious Alexandria was deltroyed by the Cyprians, and 
 
 to antiquity. reftorcd by the fultan, but very much inferior to 
 
 t Jacques de Vitry, a French author wlio flour- its former magnificence. [X« /^Jrk. p. 675, ed, 
 
 ifhed a liitle before the reign of Louis IX, in his 1632.]
 
 39^ 
 
 A. D. 1249. 
 
 lieve that the commerce of Scotland was much more fiouriflilng at this 
 time than in the calamitous ages, which fucceeded the death of Alex- 
 ander III : and it is very certain, that Invernefs, fituated near the 
 mouths of feveral confiderable rivers, which ran through vaft forefts of 
 excellent oak and fir, mufl have been a very convenient port for build- 
 ing veffels *. 
 
 Frederic, emperor of Germany, a prince whofe native powers of mind 
 raifed him above the barbarifm of the age in which he lived, though he 
 was plunged by papal authority into the madnefs of a crufade, faw the 
 abfurdity of facrificing the blood and treafure of his fubjects to the in- 
 ordinate ambition of the fee of Rome; and, having recovered Jerufalem, 
 Tyre, Sidon, and a confiderable part of Palefi;ine, in the year 1229, he 
 wifely accepted the beneficial friendfhip of the princes of the Eaft. In 
 confequence of that rational and advantageous connexion, his merch- 
 ants and fadors traveled, by land and water, as far as India f : and in 
 the lafi: year of his life (a°. 1250) twelve camels came to him loaded 
 with gold and filver, the produce of his trade in the Oriental regions. 
 It was from his wealth, thus acquired, that he was enabled to make pre- 
 fents of large quantities of filk and other pretious articles to Henry III 
 and his brother Richard earl of Cornwall, and to bequeath by his will 
 100,000 ounces of gold to the fervice of the Holy land (for he ftill had, 
 or thought himfelf obliged to profefs, a good will to the caufe), and 
 20,000 ounces to his younger fon and grandfon, befides what he left in. 
 fmaller legacies. [M. Paris, pp. 356, 431, 812.] 
 
 The emperor Fi-ederic pofTelfed a celeftial globe, which reprefented 
 the motions of the planets ; and to him we are indebted for the firfl: 
 Latin tranflations of fome of the mod efteemed authors of antiquity, 
 and particularly of Ptolemy, which, in an age wherein very few could 
 read Greek, rendered the fludy of geography common, if compared tO' 
 the almoft-total extindlion of it for fome centuries bypafl:. {Motitucla 
 Hijl. dcs mathem. V. i, p. 418.] This enlightened emperor and merchant 
 was literally perfecuted to death (fome fay a6tually poifoned) by that 
 infernal monfter of rapacity and ufurpation, Innocent IV. 
 
 12^1 — Among the commercial fi:ates of Italy the Tulcans were now 
 diftinguiflied as the mofi: eminent. The merchants of Florence, the 
 metropolis, though it is an inland city, had efi;abliflied commercial 
 
 * Invernefs appears to have furniflicd vcflils to hind, V. ix, p. 615. — Fhtcher''s worhs, p. 103, ed. 
 
 foreigners in the feventecntli, as well as in the thir- 1749. J It may be obferved, that the harbour of 
 
 tccnth, century. A large (liip was buili tlierc for Invernefs does not admit what is now called z. great 
 
 the fervice of Venice, as appears by the Phihifrt- fliip ; but all things arc great or fmall by compari- 
 
 phicul Iranjiitiions, F. xxi, p. 230. The writer Ion. 
 
 tiocs not give the year : but the paper is dated in f I would not be pofitive, that the weftern 
 
 \f)ijcj; and it appears that Invernefs was in a writers may not have given the name of India, a 
 
 floiiridiing condition during the feventeenlh ccn- name vaguely applied to the remote regions of the 
 
 tiiry, and alfo that the Scots and Venetians were Ead, to fome country lefs dillailt than liilldoc- 
 
 tlicii on friendly teims. [Slali/liiaf accoiiiil 0/ Scot- llan.
 
 A. D. 1 25 1. 399 
 
 .-A 
 Tioufes In other parts of Italy, and even in foreign countries, and there- 
 by acquired great wealth. Many of them, having accumulated larger 
 capitals by their trade than could conveniently be employed in It, had 
 become dealers in money by exchange, and by borrowing and lending 
 upon Intereft * : and, by means of their partners, agents, or correfpond- 
 ents, in various parts of Europe, they appear to have got the bulinefs 
 of remittance by bills of exchange in a great meafure Into their own 
 hands. Their exteniive and profperous dealings enabled them to build 
 magnificent houfes or palaces, whereby Florence was fo much embel- 
 liflied, that it was reckoned the moft fplendid of the Italian cities : and 
 it alfo became fo powerful, that the neighbouring cities and dates came 
 in procefs of time to be fubjed: to it. 
 
 The merchants of the other cities of Italy foon followed the Floren- 
 tines in their pradice of dealing in money as well as merchandize. They 
 extended their concerns, and eftabliflied houfes in France and alfo in 
 England, though King Henry forbad his fubjeds to borrow from any" 
 foreign merchants. [Rot. pat. 29 Hen. Ill, m 6.] In the beginning of 
 the thirteenth century the citizens of AftI, an Inland city of Piedmont, 
 had acquired great wealth in France and other countries, chiefly by 
 their dealings In money, and they foon became the mofl opulent of the 
 Lombard merchants. The fame bufinefs being alfo followed by the 
 citizens of Milan, Placentia f , Sienna, Luca, and the other cities in the 
 north part of Italy, it became ufual In France and in Britain to give the 
 appellation of Lombard J and Hujcan merchants to all who were engaged 
 In money tranflidlons. Thofe Italian merchants, difperfed throughout 
 Europe, became very convenient agents for the popes, who employed 
 them to receive and remit the large revenues they drew from every 
 country which acknowleged their ecclefiaftlcal fupremacy. It feenis 
 probable that they alfo employed them to lend their money upon in- 
 tereft, whence they are called by Mathew Paris \_pp. 419, 823, &c.] the 
 pope's merchants : and fome of the nobles of England, following the 
 pope's example, availed themfelves of their agency ' in fowing their 
 * money to make It multiply,' as Mathew Paris expreffes it. 
 
 In England the foreigners, who made a trade of lending money, ap- 
 pear to have been known about this time by the name of Caurfini ; and 
 
 * Muratori \_Ai>hq. V. i, d'^lf. i6] fays, tliey tif)', />. 376] which, nobody doubts, is derived from 
 
 abandoned trade for the fake of the greater emolu- its being the refidence of Lombard merchants or 
 
 ments arlfing from lending money. But, with fab- bankers, as it is ftill the chief refidence of the 
 
 miffion to the erudition and judgement of that mgll bankers of London, there being yj'tvn/cra houfef, 
 
 refpeftable writer, it is abfohitely impoffible in the or partnerdiips, of them (about a qu,uter of the 
 
 nature of things, that interefl can ever be as high whole) in that one flreet, and a great proportion 
 
 as the profits of trade, out of lahich the intereft of of the reft in the adjacent ftreets. But there feems 
 
 borrowed money muft be paid. to be fcarccly any of the pofterity of the original 
 
 \ See above, p. 367, a fum of money advanced Lombard, or Italian, bankers now remaining, if 
 
 to King Richard 1 by merchants of Placentia. wc may judge by the names of the prefent part- 
 
 \ At Icaft as early as the year 131R I^onibard nerfliips. 
 -ftreet in London had its prefent name, -{Sto-vS's Sur-
 
 400 A. D. 1 25 1. 
 
 they are accufed of taking moil unmerciful advantages of the neceffitles 
 of thofe who were obliged to apply to them for the loan of money *. 
 In the year 1235, when the king and moft of the prelates of England 
 were indebted to them, the bifhop of London made an attempt to drive 
 them out of the city : but the pope fupported his own merchants (fo 
 they are called) againft the bifliop, who, thinking himfelf ill ufed by 
 the fucceflbr of S'. Peter, recommended his caufe to S'. Paul, his own 
 patron. But he, having faid that the labourer is worthy of his reward, 
 ought, in confiftency, alfo to decide againfl him, as money, the price of 
 labour, is equally worthy of a compenfation for the ufe of it. 
 
 At length in the year 1251 the Cauriini were accufed before the 
 judges, by an agent for the king, of fchifm, heref}% and treafon. Some 
 of them were imprifoned, and others concealed themfelves. One of 
 them told Mathew Paris the hiftorian, that, if they had not purchafed" 
 fumptuous houfes in London, fcarcely one of them would have remain- 
 ed in England f . The neceflary confequence of the clamour and per- 
 fecution raifed againfl thofe who took interefl for the ufe of money, 
 was that they were obliged to charge it much higher than the natural, 
 price, which, if it had been let alone, would have found its proper le- 
 vel, in order to compenfate for the opprobrium, and frequently the 
 plunder, which they fuffered : and thence the ufual rate of, intereft was- 
 what we fhould now call mofl exorbitant and fcandalous ufury %, , 
 
 The marriage of Alexander III, king of Scotland, to Margaret, the 
 daughter of Henry III king of England, both infants of ten years of 
 age, occafioned a difplay of magnificence, which feems to have exceed- 
 ed any thing ever feen in England before. Befides the kings of Eng- 
 land and Scotland with their retinues, the queen dowager of Scotland, 
 who refided in France, joined the company with a fplendid train of the 
 nobles of that country. Notwithllanding the rapine of the popes and the 
 folly of the crufades, the nobles of England could afford to make a mofl 
 
 * Do£\or Henrj', generally a careful and accur- with the money-lenders called Caurfini. He even 
 
 ate writer, feems to be miftaken In faying [K vlii, endeavours to clear his native country, Italy, ftjtl 
 
 /'• 335' "^- '7^^] ^''^^ ^'"T t-ook fixly per cent, further from the reproach, attending their opprefl'- 
 
 The condition in tlie obligation exemplified by ive ufury, by fixing them at the city ot Cahors in 
 
 Matiiew Paris, [/>. 418] which feems to have mif- France, the general rendezvous, as he fays, of 
 
 led him, was apparently the common form, (fee thofe traders, whether French or Italian*, whence 
 
 Fadera, V. f, p. 6.J3, for fuch another) and finii- they were called Caorfmi, Caturcini, &c. For this 
 
 iar to the modern praftice of making !)c;ids for he quotes Benevcnuto of Iniola who wrote in the 
 
 double the debt, in order to cover the damages year 1380, and Du Cange the learned French 
 
 and expcnfes. glofiarilt. Pcrliaps it may alfo bo confidcted as a 
 
 f Some of them foon after obtained a bull from mark of the fuperior fcicnce oi the people of that 
 
 the pope, dcfiring the king to treat them favour- place in money matters, that John of Cahors (* de 
 
 .ibly. \_Fadera, V. i, /. 467.] Caturco') was employed in the bufmcfs of coming 
 
 5, The fafts in this account of the tra<lc in mo- by Edward I. \_Mjdoxs Hijl. of the excheq. c. 22,^ 
 
 ney are taken from M. Paris \_pp. 417-419, 822] ^ 4.] It would throw confiderablc light on the 
 
 and Muratori. S^/]uliq. V. i, d'iff. l6.j Muratoii difpntc, if we euuld certainly know, which fide of 
 
 Krcuuoufly denies, that the Corlini, a noble family the Alps Mathew Paris \p. 822] calls lianfalp'me. 
 
 of Florence, who, like the other nobles of that On othei oscafions he clearly applies that terra to 
 
 itatt", were engaged in trade, had any coniicflion the Italians. I
 
 A. D. 1251. 401 
 
 extravagant difplay of magnificence. On the marriage day (December 
 26'*^) a thoufand Englifli knights appeared in cointifes of filk *, and next 
 day every one of them was dreffed in a new robe of another kind. The 
 Scottifli part of the company were not fo fumptuoufly adorned ; for we 
 are only told, that above fixty knights, and many others equal to knights, 
 were handfomely drefled. But the hiflorian declines fpecifying the great- 
 efl exceffes of profufion on that occafion, becaufe, he fays, they would 
 aflonifh and difguft the reader, if related, and fcarcely be credited. The 
 archbifhop of York had the very expenfive honour of being landlord to 
 all this jolly company alTembled from England, Scotland, and France, 
 at his metropolitan fee. In an entertainment he expended fixty Hailed 
 oxen for one article of the feafl: : and his total expeilfcs in entertain- 
 ments and prefents of gold, filver, and filks, to his guefts during their 
 flay, amounted to the prodigious fum of four thoufand marks. [M. Pa- 
 ris, pp. 829, 830.] 
 
 1252 — The port of Winchelfea, which was very ufeful to the merch- 
 ants of London, was much damaged by a dreadful florm, and an ex- 
 traordinary inundation of the fea. [M. Paris, p. 831.] 
 
 ' The citizens of London, who, by the tenor of their charters and by 
 
 * antient cufloms, ought to be of the very freeft condition, were com- 
 ' pelled by Kirig Henry's imperious requifitions to give him twenty 
 
 * marks of gold, as if they were the mofl abjcdl flaves, fo that their 
 
 * fituation feemed nearly as bad as that of the miferable Jews.' This 
 fum, which was but a drop in the ocean of treafure he extorted from 
 the city f (though 160 ounces of gold could not be called a trifle) is no- 
 ticed, as it was the immediate prelude to the repetition, at leafl: the 
 third time, of an arbitrary proclamation, ordering the citizens to fliut 
 up their fliops for fifteen days, and bring their goods to his fair at Wefl;- 
 minfter, where he compelled them to expofe their perfons and property, 
 though there were fcarcely any buyers, to the inclemency of the weather, 
 which happened to be exceedingly rain,y. But the king, fays the hif- 
 torian, did not mind the imprecations of the people. [M. Paris, p. 
 852.] 
 
 At this time died John of Bafingftokes, who in his youth had fludied 
 at Athens |, ftill the fchool of the languifhing fcience of Greece. He 
 
 * Such a difplay of filk (liows that there was no an equal difplay of filken pomp in the rtmoter and ' 
 
 fcarcity of it in England. We are told, [^/inn. lefs cojnmeicial country of England, and at Icaft ' 
 
 Waverl. p. 203] that in the year 124a the ilreets equally well attelled, has been little noticed, 
 
 of London were covered, or fliaded, with lilk, for -j- For other inftances of much larger fums 
 
 the reception of Richard, the king's brother, on fqueezed out of the cily, fee Mathew Paris, pp. 
 
 his return from the Holy 'and ; but that might be 336, 6qo, 693, 758, 863, 901, 902, 929. 
 
 faid, if only a few iilk awnings were put up. Long % He told Mathew Paris, that he learned what- 
 
 after this time, fo late as the year 1367, it was ever he knew, that was moil valuable in fcience, 
 
 thought worthy of being recorded, as an inftance from Conllantina, a learned virgin under twenty 
 
 of great magnificence, that a thoufand citizens of years of agf", tlie daughter of the archbifhop of 
 
 the opulent commercial city of Genoa were cloth- Athens, 
 ed in lilk : and it has been often repeated, while 
 
 Vol. I. 3 E
 
 402 A. D. 1252. 
 
 brought to England the ' numeral figures of the Greeks, and the know- 
 
 * lege and fignifications of them, which he communicated to his friends. 
 ' By thefe figures letters alfo are reprefented, and, what is mod wonder- 
 
 * ful in them, any number may be expreffed by a fingle figure, which 
 ' cannot be done with the Latin numerals or the Algorifm.' The figures, 
 as defcribed by Mathew Paris, confift of a perpendicular flroke with a 
 fliorter flroke branching off from its fide, which by the variation of its 
 pofition and angles reprefents the nine fimple numbers, thofe with the 
 branch extended to the left being units, and thofe having it on the right 
 being the fame numbers in the column of tens, to fpeak in the language 
 of our ufual numeration : for example 4 is five, |- fifty, and + fifty-five. 
 \_M. Paris, p. 835, citm var. le£l.'\ How the higher numbers were writ- 
 ten, we are not informed. Thefe numerals, if there is no error in call- 
 ing them Grecian, for fome of them are much more like the letters of 
 the Runic alphabet, are totally different from thofe of the antient 
 Greeks, who, as well as the Romans, exprefled all numbers by their 
 letters *. If they were an effort of Grecian pride to emulate, without 
 imitating, the Oriental numeral figures, they feem to have foon yielded 
 to their fuperior utility, and funk into oblivion. 
 
 At the fame time flourifhed John de Sacro bofco, another Britifh au- 
 thor, who wrote a book upon the fphere, which has been efleemed clafP 
 ical, and has had feveral commentators and many editions, and alfo 
 treatiles upon the ailrolabie and algorithm f , which are flill in raanu- 
 fcript in the Bodleian library at Oxford. He died at Paris in the year 
 1256. [Lelandi Script. Brit. p. ^^^. — Montucla, Hijl. dc mathem. V. i, p, 
 417. — Mackenzie's Lives, V.\, p. 168.] 
 
 About the fame time, or perhaps foraewhat earlier, lived Daniel 
 Morley, who, after ftudying at Oxford and Paris, went to Toledo for 
 the fake of learning mathematics from the Arabs or Moors, then the 
 poffeflbrs of that part of Spain. After his return to England he is faid 
 to have written two books on the lower and upper worlds ; but whether 
 he added to the ftock of fcience in England, we are not informed. \Lc~ 
 land de Script. Brit. p. 244.] 
 
 1253 — Some appearances of manufactures of linen in both the Britifh 
 kingdoms have already been noticed. But it is probable, that they were 
 
 * And tlicy have as little rcfemblance to the modern writers, who have inveftigated the origin 
 
 now-obfolcte Oriental figures ^, N, /\, now writ- of numeral figures. 
 
 ten 4, 5, 7, as they have to the modern figures. f Algorilhm, or algnrifm, called alfo aii^rim hy 
 
 The antient figures may be feen in many manu- Cliaucer in his Concluft<ins of the ojlrolah'ie, appears 
 
 fcripts, particularly in Clcop. li vl r.nd ix in the to have been a kind of aiithmclie, uhicii is vari- 
 
 Cotlon library. — It is furprilijig that Iceland, in onfly defcribed by modern authors. Mjrianns 
 
 his account of Bafingflokes, {^Script. Brit, p: 266] Scotus, who flouiilhed in the eleventh century, is 
 
 cxtradled from that of Mathew Paris, has entire- faid to have written a trcatife upon it ; and there 
 
 ly ntgleftcd tliis moil curious and important part arc many manufcript works upon it, befidcs that 
 
 of it, as unworthy of notice. And it is ftill more of John de Sacro bofco mentioned in the text, one 
 
 ■t'Jrprifing that it is alfo unnoticed by mod of the particularly in the volume of the Cotton library, 
 
 Chop. B, vi, mentioned in the preceding note.
 
 A. D. 1253. 403 
 
 moftly confine^' to the coarfe fabrics, and that the quantity was trifling, 
 the fupply of t e greateft quantity, and efpecially of tlie bcfl fabrics, 
 being procured from Flanders, where the Hnen nianufadure was carried 
 to perfection with native materials of the beft quality. It appears, how- 
 ever, that fome finer linens were made in England at, or before, this 
 time, efpecially in Wilt-fhire and Suflex, and we find orders fent by the 
 king to the fhirrefs of thofe two {hires, direding each of them to pur- 
 chafe 1,000 ells of fine hnen (' lineee telse pulchrse et delicatae') in his 
 fhire for the royal wardrobe. [Madox's Hift. of the excheq. c. 10, § 12.] 
 Many other infiances of linen bought for the king occur in the records ; 
 but we are ignorant whether it is foreign or home-made. 
 
 The manufacture of linen muft have alfo been pretty generally efla- 
 bliflied in "Wales at this time, as we find foon after (in 1314) that the 
 men. of that country were moftly clothed in linen. [^Barber's Life of 
 Robert Bruce, p. 276, ed. 1758.] 
 
 King Henry having ordered all the velTels in England, foreign as well 
 as Englifh, to be feized for his ufe in an expedition againft the mal- 
 content barons of Gafcoigne, the number of them was found to be 
 above a thoufand, whereof three hundred were diftinguiflied as large 
 Ihips. [M. Paris, p. 868.] 
 
 1254 — The people of Yarmouth fitted out a large and beautiful fhip, 
 manned with thirty ikilful feamen, to carry Edward prince of England 
 over to the continent. Thofe of Winchelfea had alfo fitted out fome 
 fhips to carry over the queen ; but none of their vefi"els being comparable 
 for beauty or magnitude to that of Yarmouth, they were fo enraged at 
 her fuperiority, that, according to the fierce and lawlefs manners of the 
 age, they attacked her, and killed fome of her men, for which grofs 
 outrage they had no provocation but mere envy *. [Af. Paris, p. 889.] 
 
 King Henry expended in his fruitlefs expedition to Gafcoigne above 
 two millions feven hundred thoufand pounds of filver, more money, 
 fays the hiftorian, than any prudent man would give for the two pro- 
 vinces of Gafcoigne and Poictou : and at the fame time he gave thirty 
 thoufand marks, befides. landed eftates, to his foreign uterine brothers, 
 Thefe fums, though reported by a very refpedable hiftorian, feem fcarce- 
 ly credible. [M. Paris, p. 890.] 
 
 About the beginning of this year fome large and elegant ftiips, well 
 found in naval ftores, arms, and provifions, and alfo carrying arms fuf- 
 ficient for an army, were driven by ftrefs of weather upon the Englifli 
 coaft near Berwick, and feized by the wardens of the coaft. The fight 
 of fome other ftrange fhips induced the wardens to let them go in peace, 
 left they fhould be found more cruel than tempefts, and left the quarrel 
 
 * Hoftilities between Yarmouth and tlie Cinque with repeated proofs of the barbarifm of the 
 ports, of which Winche'.ka was one, were frc- people and the inefSciency of -vernment in thof<: 
 (juent : but It is not iieceifary to ftain thefe pages ages. 
 
 3 E 2
 
 404 ^^* -D* ^254- 
 
 of the ftrangers ftiould be revenged by their fuppofed conforts. As none 
 of the people of that part of the country underftood the language of 
 the foreigners, we have no means of even guefling at the country to 
 which thofe fliips belonged. [M. Paris, p. 882.] 
 
 1254 The people of all ranks in Flanders, from the prince to the 
 
 meanefl peafant, were enriched by their manufadures. Their earl 
 Ferdinand was fo opulent, that when John king of England and his al- 
 lies were planning the conqueft and partition of France, it was agreed, 
 that the title of king of France fhould be given to the earl of Flanders, 
 becaufe he had contributed the greateft proportion of men, and fup- 
 ported the whole army with his Flemilh gold. [P. Mmyl. p. 196.] But 
 the profperity of Flanders now fufFered a fevere check from a war, 
 which was kindled up on the continent by the rival fons of the countefs 
 Margaret, who is faid by fome authors to have had two hufbands at once, 
 like another Helen, wherein prodigious numbers of French, Germans, 
 and Flemings, were flain, above 30,000 Flemings having fallen in one 
 battle at Walcheren. So great a flaughter of the makers and confumers 
 of woollen cloth produced a flagnation of the manufadure, the confe- 
 quence of which was feverely felt in England, efpecially by the Cifter- 
 cian monks, apparently the greateft breeders of ftieep in the kingdom, 
 being encouraged thereto by the exemption from duties, claimed by 
 their order, [See Hemmgford, L. ii, c. 72 — W. Nnvbrig. L. iv, c. 38] who 
 were this year difappointed of their ufual lales of wool to the Flemings. 
 \M. Paris, p. 886. — Meyeri Ami. Fland.f. 77 a, ed. 1561.] Some heavy 
 duties laid upon the commerce of Flanders were probably alfo a con- 
 fequence of the war : but thefe the countefs lightened upon the re- 
 monftrance of the citizens of Hamburgh. [Lambecii Orig. Hainb. L. ii, 
 
 ^- 37-] 
 
 - 1255 The feeble government of the emperor William brought the 
 
 imperial authority into contempt. The laws were negleded : public 
 tranquillity was deftroyed : the nobles of the imperial demefne and the 
 duchy of Swabia iiifefted the highways with robbery and murder, and 
 defolated the country. In vain did feveral of the moft powerful princes 
 attempt to fupprefs their atrocities, till the archbilhops of Mentz, Triers, 
 and Cologne, together with the princes of the Rhine, entered into a con- 
 federacy with above fixty cities, fituated on both fides of the Rhine from 
 Zurich to Cologne, on purpofe to carry on a perpetual war againft the 
 dlfturbers of the public tranquillity, and to abolifli the unjuft local tolls, 
 recently eftablifhed all-over the country. The confederacy under the 
 name of the League of the Rhine, was fmdioned by the approbation of 
 the emperor William, and confirmed in a general aflembly of the allies 
 held at Oppenheim : and they afterwards determined to hold an affembly 
 once in every three months in order to deliberate on the interefts of the 
 league. The country ioou experienced the good effecls of this allbcia-
 
 A. D. 1255. 405 
 
 tion : a count was hanged for violating the public peace, and the nobles 
 defifted from robbing on the highways. The cities of Lubeck and 
 Hamburgh, already confederated for the protedtion of their commerce, 
 do not feem to have had any connexion with this afTociatlon, which did 
 not extend beyond the neighbourhood of the Rhine. But a coalition 
 afterwards took place ; and the union of other fmall confederacies and 
 fingle towns feems to have afterwards produced the powerful alFociation 
 of the Hanfe, which does not appear from any good authority to have 
 exifted at this time *. \Ffefel, Abrege de Vhijl. d" Allemagne , pp. 364, 380, 
 ed. 1758. — Striivli Corpus h'l/l. Germ. V. i, p. 596.] 
 
 Though the excellent accommodation of remitting money by hills of 
 exchange was probably known long before this time in Italy and all other 
 countries in which there was any commerce, there is not, I believe, any 
 exprefs mention of them (fo little attention did hiftorians pay to mat- 
 ters of real utility and importance), till a very extraordinary and infam- 
 ous occafion conneded them with the political events of the age. The 
 pope, having a quarrel with Manfred king of Sicily, had, in the pleni- 
 tude of his power as fovereign of the world, offered the kingdom of 
 Sicily and Apulia, on condition of driving Manfred out of it, to the 
 brothers of the king of France, and, after their refufal, to Richard earl 
 of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, who faid, he might as well 
 offer to make him king of the moon. At laft he offered it to Henry 
 for his fecond fon Edmund, who without helitation accepted the fatal 
 gift, and empowered the pope to carry on his war againfl Manfred at 
 the expence of England ; whereupon he immediately took up large 
 fums from the merchants of Italy. When they afked him for payment, 
 he applied for the money to Henry, whofe conftant profufion made him 
 for ever poor. While Henry was in terror of lofing his fon's vifionary 
 kingdom for want of money to feed the pope's rapacity, Peter de Ege- 
 blanke, bifliop of Hereford, told him, that «he had hit upon an expe- 
 dient to raife the fums wanted, which was, that the Italian merchants, 
 
 * Some writers mention a charter of Henry III the year 1579, when the Hanfe merchants were 
 
 king of England to the merchants of the Hanfe dated moving heaven and earth in order to preferve their 
 
 in the year 1206, (which, by the bye is two years privileges in England, we find, in their addrefTes 
 
 before he was born) as a proof that that afTocia- to the emperor and princes of Germany and to 
 
 tion exiiled then, and long before, for it is faid to Queen Elizabeth, no pretenfions to any charters 
 
 refer to grants of his predcceflbrs. We have char- earlier than one faid to be given by King Ed- 
 
 tcrs of Henry HI to the merchants of Cologne ward I ; and that appears, from the account they 
 
 fettled in London in the 18* year of his reign,, give of it, to be the general charter given to all 
 
 to the merchants of Lubeck, Brunfwick, and Den- foreign merchants in the year 1 303 ; and they feem 
 
 mark In his 41'' year, and to the German mer- to have had no knowlege of Edward's charter of 
 
 chants in London in his 44"' year. But in none 1 280, which was a confirmation of his father's 
 
 of them is the word Hanfe, or any mention of a one of 1259 to the merchants of the Teutonic gild- 
 
 c-eneral mercantile airociation, to be found, which hall, the name oi Hanfe being apparently not ufed 
 
 would furely have been inferted in the charter to fo early. [_Pjpers concerning the Hanfe merchants, 
 
 the German merchants in general, with a reference MS. Bib. Colt, Vefp. F viii,y". 149 a, 157 a.] All 
 
 to the former charter to the merchants of the the charters, here mentioned, will be noted in their 
 
 Hanfe, if any fuch had exifted. Moreover, in proper places in this wort.
 
 4o6 A. D. 1255. 
 
 who had advanced the money, being authorized by the king and the 
 pope, neither of whom had any rehiflance to forward fo honourable a 
 bufinefs, Ihould draw bills upon the Englilh prelates for fums pretend- 
 ed to have been advanced to them by merchants of Sienna or Florence. 
 This righteous plan was accordingly executed, and an agent was fent 
 into England to receive payment of the bills *• In vain the prelates 
 protefted, that they had no dealings or connexion with the perfons pre- 
 tending to be their creditors. They were obliged, under the terrible 
 penalty of excommunication, to pay the bills. [M. Paris, pp.- 892, 910.] 
 The bilhop of Ely, however, found means to fave himfelf from the 
 extorfion. Being fued by fome merchants of Sienna for 300 marks of 
 principal and 1 00 marks of interefl (' interefle') before Alexander de 
 Ferentin, a judge appointed by the pope, and being at the fame time 
 commiflioned to go to Spain as the king's ambaflador, he refufed to fet 
 out upon the journey, unlefs he were relieved from the iniquitous pro- 
 fecution : and the king was obliged to comply with his defire, and to 
 find other funds to pay the debt, which was jurtly due to the merchants. 
 [Rot. clauf. 40 Hen. Ill, in. 8. dorjo, in Frynne's ExaSi chronological vindica- 
 tion, V. n,p. 859.] This is believed to be the earliefl notice, extant in 
 this country, of interefl being fairly and exprefsly mentioned by that 
 name f , unlefs when the lender was a Jew : for it appears to have been 
 hitherto fettled by collufion between the parties, when both were Chrif- 
 tians, in order to avoid the cenfures and penalties of the church. 
 
 1256 — At this time the interefl of the money borrowed by the king 
 amounted to above a hundred pounds a-day, which, the hiflorian fays, 
 threatened the whole people of England, the clergy as well as the laity, 
 with defolation and ruin. [M. Paris, p. 938.] It is a pity he has not 
 alfo told us the amount of the principal, or, which would have been the 
 fame thing, the rate of the interefl:. 
 
 Juflices were fent to every city and burgh throughout England, in 
 order to regulate and corredl the meafures, and to eftablilh an aflife for 
 the weight of bread according to the fiuduations in the price of wheat ; 
 for example, when the quarter of wheat was fold for one fhilling, the 
 farthing loaf of uoajlel bread fhould weigh fix pounds and fixteen twen- 
 tieths, Troye weight. They alfo fixed an allile for ale proportioned to 
 the prices of corn, and for wine \. [Annates Burton, p. 365, ed. Galc.~\ 
 
 The king by a charter to the burgefTes of S'. Omers in Flanders pro- 
 
 * The worthy contriver fubjeiSlcd himfelf to the the year 1249. I fliall afterwards have occafion to 
 
 payment of 4,000 marks, as a decoy to his breth- liint a fiifpicion that that law rather belonged to 
 
 ren. But lie had an order from the king to in- his fon Altxiinder III. 
 
 demiiify himfelf. \_Prynne's Exail chronological J The regulated prices of bread and ale will be 
 
 v'tndicalion, p. 860.3 found in the appendix of prices. Thofe of wine 
 
 f We fuid ' fanima principal!, cum damnis, ex- arc onu'ued by the annalift, nor do they appear 
 
 ' penfis, et interelfi',' in c. 24 of the laws afcribcd in the allife iu the ftatute of ji Henry III. 
 to Alexander 11 king of Scotland, who died in
 
 A. D. 1256. 407 
 
 mifed that they and their property fhould be exempted from arreft for 
 any debts, for which they, or fome of their countrymen, were not prin- 
 cipal debtors or fureties ; thuc their property in the hands of their fervants 
 fhould not be feized for any tranfgreffions of thofe fervants ; and that 
 any of them, who fhould die in his dominions, fliould have a right to 
 leave his property by will, and the heir fhould not be obflrudcd in tak- 
 ing pofTeflion of it*. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 555. — Rot. pat. 40 Hen. IIT^ 
 in. 4.] Whether the commerce of the burgefles of S'. Omers was an 
 objed of much confequence, or not, we are not informed : but the 
 charter merits attention, as the earlieft known relaxation of the law, or 
 cuftom, which made every foreigner anfwerable for the debts, and even 
 crimes, of all other foreigners, and made the whole property of every 
 ftranger at his death the prey of the king, or lord of the foil on which 
 he died ; a horrid prerogative, which continued to difgrace the laws of 
 France in particular from the age of Charlemagne down to our own 
 times f . 
 
 It will not be deemed impertinent to commercial hiflory to relate, 
 that an author called William de Sando amore (whom the biographer 
 of the popes calls a pernicious man) wrote a book, wherein he affirmed, 
 that thofe, who fpent their lives in idlenefs on pretence of devoting 
 themfelves to religious duties, and devoured the produce of other people's 
 induftry, were not in a flate of falvation. The book, containing fuch 
 dangerous and heretical dodtrine, was immediately condemned to the 
 flames, and all who kept copies of it in their pofleffion were excommun- 
 icated, by the infallible head of the church. [Triveti Ann. p. 207. — 
 Platince Vit. pontif. p. 427, ed. 1664.] 
 
 1 257 — Though the earl of Cornwall refufed the title of king of Sicily, 
 which, he forefaw, would coll more than the adual pofTefHon would be 
 worth, the fuperior fplendour of the imperial title got the better of his 
 prudence. A part of the German eledors, allured, as it is faid, by the 
 fame of his great riches (for he was as remarkable for accumulating as 
 his brother was for fquandering) elected him emperor of Germany, or 
 king of the Romans : and, in order to lliow his attention to the interefl 
 of his new fubjeds, before he left England he obtained from King 
 Henry a charter (May 1 1'^) whereby the king took under his protection 
 and fafe condud the burgefles of Lubeck with their merchandize, none 
 of which, he afllired them, fhould be taken for accoimt of himfelf or 
 any other perfon without their confent. And he ordered that they and 
 their agents fiiould have periled: liberty of buying and felling, as they 
 
 * The privileges of the bm-gefTes of S^ Omers f Some defcription of the cruel trer.tment of 
 
 were tlirice renewed by Edward II, and once by ftrangers in the middle ages may tc found in Rc- 
 
 Edward III. \^Rol. pat. 13 Edv.'. II, m. 15 ; and bcrtfon's Bijlorj of Charles Vy V. \, p. -^-^i,, ed. 
 
 16 Ediu. II, m. ^.—Failcra, V. m, p. 890; V. iv, 1792. 
 P- 5S5-li 3
 
 4o8 ' A. D. 1257. 
 
 thought proper, and of coming, remaining, and going away, without 
 any impediment. Thefe privileges were to be in force for feven years, 
 provided they (hould continue faithful to his brother the emperor elect. 
 Charters in the fame form were alfo granted to the burgelTes and mer- 
 chants of Denmark and thofe of the city of Brunfwick. [Cbart. in Hak- 
 luyt's Voiages, Fi i, />. 131.] 
 
 Richard, the new-eleded emperor, expended upon his coronation, 
 and other fruitlefs objeds in Germany, the gatherings of his life-time, 
 amounting to the prodigious fum oi feven hundred thoufand pounds ofjilver, 
 belides his vafl revenues in England, which were remitted to him, while 
 he continued in Germany. By the exportation of fo much treafure the 
 country was very much diflrefled. [M. Paris, pp, 939, 949.] 
 
 This year the king coined money of the purefl gold, weighing two 
 fterlings, or pennies, and ordered that it fhould pafs for twenty pennies 
 of filver, being in the proportion of one to ten — \^Rot. clauf. 41 Hen. Ill, 
 m. 3. — MS. Chron. in arch. Lend. — Snelling^s View of the gold coin, p. i.] 
 Thus it is proved, that gold money was coined by Henry III ; whereas 
 the common belief is, that Edward III, his great-grandfon, was the firll 
 king of England who coined gold. It is probable, however, that there 
 was no great quantity of it, and the exigence of it was foon forgotten. 
 According to Carte, {Hiji. of 'England, V. n, pp. 23, iii] the citizens 
 of London remonftrated againft the new gold money, on Sunday 4"' 
 November, and the king thereupon proclaimed, that every perfon 
 might carry it to his exchange, and receive the value at which it had 
 been made current (which, to-be-fure, was much above the price gold 
 had been hitherto rated at) * deduding one halfpenny) or two and a 
 half per cent) for the exchange f . 
 
 The Welfh being threatened by Prince Edward, to whom his father 
 had afligned his fuperiority over them, with an invafion of the Irifli, 
 who were alfo his immediate vaflals, they provided a fleet of gallies, 
 fupplied with arms and provifions, to guard their coafl. In this war the 
 marches of Wales were reduced to a defert, the caftles and houfes were 
 burnt, the people and cattle were flaughtered, and the woods defliroyed. 
 A flop was alfo put to the ufual importation of horfes, oxen, &c. from 
 Wales, which in peaceable times was very advantageous to both nations* 
 [M. Faris, pp. 890, 949, 957, 958.] 
 
 * The continiiator of Mathew Paris \_p, 1009] vf London, but has midakt-n the year of the king's 
 values a gold cup weighing 10 pounds at 100 reign. Notwithdaiiding the mention of ihls coin- 
 pounds of filvcr in the year 1239. Probably he age by Carte, Eachard, Maitland, and Spelling, 
 allows 10 pounds of filver for the workmanlhip. upon the furc autliority of anticnt records, fo tcn- 
 
 f The coinage of gold by Henry III is alfo acious are many people of their accullomed be- 
 
 noticed by Eachard in his Hi/lory of England, and lief, that it will ilill be difficult te perfuade them, 
 
 by Maitland i]i his h'ijlory of' Scotland (a pott- that any gold money was coined in England before 
 
 humous work). 'I'hc later found it in the archives the reign of Edward III. 
 of the city, when collefting materials for his Hijiory 4
 
 A. D. 1257. 409 
 
 The mifery of the year was aggravated by a very defedive crop, 
 which raifed wheat to the price of ten (hillings a quarter (' fumma') ; 
 and, the country being drained of money by the rapacity of tlie popes, 
 the profufion and mifmanagement of the king, and the tranfportation 
 of the earl of Cornwall's treafure to Germany, many thoufands perifli- 
 ed for abfolute want, and by the difeafes proceeding from the famine. 
 Some old men remembered former fcarcities, which raifed the wheat to 
 a mark, or even twenty fliillings, a quarter, and were not attended with 
 fuch mortal confequences, becaufe the people then had money circulat- 
 ing among them, and were enabled to buy corn, even at the extravag- 
 ant price. [M. Paris, p. 958.] Unlcfs the famine had been univerfal 
 throughout the world, which, we know, was not the cafe, the want of 
 corn in England could have been fupplied by commerce. But the com- 
 merce of England was, comparatively fpeaking, as yet but in its in- 
 fancy : and there were even many inftances in thofe ages of corn being 
 unreafonably cheap in fome parts of England, while it was enormoully 
 dear in others. So little were the principles, or the practice, of a be- 
 neficial commerce then under flood. 
 
 1258 — The famine in England was fomewhat alleviated by the arrival 
 of about fifty large fliips loaded with wheat, barley, and bread, which 
 the emperor Richard had engaged to come over ; and they were follow- 
 ed by others fent by the merchants of Germany and Holland. By the 
 king's proclamation the citizens of London were prohibited from buy- 
 ing any of the cargoes for floring up. But the want of money prevent- 
 ed many, who had formerly been in good circumftances, from being 
 benefited by the fupply. [M. Pa/is, pp. 963, 976.] 
 
 The king claimed as an antient prerogative, a right of taking at an 
 inferior price, by the name of prife, a certain part of the cargo import- 
 ed in every veflel ; and particularly two tuns (' dolia') from every cargo 
 of wine confiding of above nineteen tuns, viz. one before the mafl:, and 
 one behind it, at the price of twenty (hillings each "*. IMatiox's Hijl. 
 
 of the excheq. c. 18, § 2 Fa'dera, V. iii, p. 192.] His purveyors alfo 
 
 made a pradice of taking for his ufe, or at leafl; in his name, whatever 
 they thought proper, at a lower price than what the red of the cargo 
 
 * Some have fiippofed that the prife wines were li:ul an hereditaiy grant of the king's prife wines 
 
 tine to the king without any compenfation to the in the cities of Dublin, Drogheda, Waterford, 
 
 owners. But the following fafts ferve to prove Cork, and Limerick, and by the archbifhop of 
 
 that they were paid for at a fixed price. — Ed- York, who in the year 1327 claimed the prifage 
 
 ward II made over to his favourite, Piers de Ga- of the wines impcrted at Hull in virtue of a char- 
 
 vallon, his antient and due prifes of wine, being ter from King Athtlilan. {Fadcra, V. iii,/. 191 ; 
 
 two tuns out of every veffel, in two ports of De- F. ly, pp. 26S, 272.] 
 
 von-lhire, Gavafton paying to the merchants twenty The fixed price oi the pnfe wines at Brifto! ^va« 
 
 {hillings llerh'ng for each tun, ' as it ufed to be in only 15/, as appears by a record of the 12"' year 
 
 ' the times of his anceftors the kings of England.' uf Iving John, quoted in Madox's Hijlory of the ex- 
 
 The fame price was alfo paid to the importers by chequer, f. 18, § 2, '<ivAthe Libir gardtra!>/f £dzv. I, 
 
 the family of Botiler (or Butler) in Ireland, who ^. ^56. 
 
 Vol. I. ■ 3 F
 
 4id A. D. 1258. 
 
 fold for : and, as if that arbitrary proceeding had not been fufficiently 
 oppreffive, the importers were often obliged to go without any payment 
 at all *. The confequence was, that many Englifh merchants were ruin- 
 ed, and many of the foreign merchants about this time gave over trad- 
 ing to England, [ylnn. Burton, p. 400.] An exemption from the prif- 
 age of wines is one of the antient privileges of the city of London f. 
 
 Auguft 26"" — The principal citizens (' prohombres') of Barcelona 
 having compofed a body of maritime laws for the regulation of veflels 
 in the merchant iervice, it was now confirmed by James I, king of 
 Aragon and count of Barcelona. It confifts of twenty-one chapters, 
 containing rules to be obferved by the owners and commanders of veflels, 
 the fcribes or clerks who were fworn to keep fair accounts between the 
 owners and the freighters, the mariners, and the merchant paflengers ; 
 for lot\ding, flowing, and difcharging, the cargo ; for the arms to be 
 carried by every vefTel, and alfo by the feamen, who were to find theirs 
 at their own expenfe ; for the affiftance to be given by one vellel to an- 
 other when coming to an anchor ; and for a council to be eledled in 
 every vellel, whofe decrees fhould be binding upon the owner, com- 
 mander, and merchants, in all matters concerning the common intereil 
 of the vefTel and cargo. [Cbarta ap. Capmauy, Mef/i. hijl. de Barcelona, 
 V. ii, p. 23.] This code, apparently formed upon the model of that 
 of Rhodes, is faid by the Spanifh writers to be the moft antient body 
 of maritime laws in Europe: \Capma71y, V. i, com. p. 233] but it feems 
 •probable that thofe of Amalfi may claim the priority %• 
 
 1259 — Kii'ig Henry, at the requeft of his brother the emperor, grant- 
 ed a charter to the merchants of Germany, who had a hall or fadlory, 
 called the 'Teutonic gildball (' Gildhalla Teutonicorum') in London, where- 
 in he promifed to maintain them in the liberties and free cuftoms, which 
 they had enjoyed in his ovvn reign and thofe of his predecelTors, through- 
 out his whole kingdom. \Foedera Anglia, V. u,p. 161 — Hakli/yt's Voioges, 
 V. i, p. 132.] Unfortunately we are not informed, when thofe mer- 
 chants firfl occupied their fadory in London, which, by this (apparent- 
 ly the earliefl: extant §) authentic document of their privileges, they ap- 
 pear to have pofTefled for fome time. It feems moft probable, that the 
 afTociation, now called by the general appellation of merchants of Ger- 
 
 * The promlfe inferted in the charier to the lanced by the duties on the importation of wine 
 
 merchant! of Lubi'ck in the preceding year, that being heavier in London than in the ont-ports. 
 no part of their property (liould he taken from J The laws of Olcron, according to the ge- 
 
 thenr. wii l!o\it their conCent, was intended to guard iieral opinion, were alfo tarh'er. But the Spanilli 
 
 againll this abute. writers, and (as I have already obferved) at leall 
 
 f Thomas Chancer (who is believed to have one French writer, aflert that they are copied from 
 
 been the fon of the famoup poet) being chief thofe of Barcelona. 
 
 butler to King Heniy IV, made a complaint that J If they had got any earlier charter from 
 
 the citizens of London abufed their privilege by Henry, or any preceding king of England, it ccrt- 
 
 permiftinc^ wines helongir..'^ to others to be entered ainly could not be produced, when the German 
 
 in their names, in onier to evade t;ie prifnge. merchants obtained confirmations of their privi- 
 
 '[Collon's /IbridgcmenI of iht records, p. 47').] In leges from Edward II and Edward III. 
 the prefcnt day the exemption from prifage is ba-
 
 A. D. 1259. 411 
 
 ■many, has been formed by an accefllon of new members to the fociety 
 called in the year 1220 the merchants of Cologne^ the original pofleflbrs of 
 the Teutonic Gildhall. The articles imported by thofe merchants, ac- 
 cording to Stow, {Survey of London^ p. 431, ed. 161 8] were wheat, rye, 
 and other grain, cables and other cordage, mails, pitch, tar, hemp, linen, 
 wainfcot, wax, fteel, &c. 
 
 1261 — As long as the Latin emperors of Conftantinople polTefTed their 
 feeble and precarious fovereignty, the Venetians, the main inllruments 
 of their elevation to that lofty title, enjoyed fuch a commercial fuperi- 
 ority in the eaftern parts of the Mediterranean fea, that they, almofl ex- 
 clufively, fupplied the other nations of Europe with the productions of 
 Alia on their own terms. The Genoefe, who had long been their rivals 
 in commerce and naval power, could not behold without envy the ad- 
 vantages they enjoyed by their union with thofe emperors. They there- 
 for attached themfelves to Michael Palaeologus the Greek fovereign of 
 Nice, and affifted him with powerful fuccours, regardlefs of the indig- 
 nation of the pope, who favoured Baldwin the Latin emperor, and exe- 
 crated Michael, who refufed obedience to the Holy fee. The city was 
 taken by furprife (July 25"') ; and Baldwin, without making the fmall- 
 eft effort to repell the invaders, feemed very happy to make his efcape 
 witli a few friends onboard the gallies of his Venetian allies, who car- 
 ried him to Italy, where he was fupported during the remainder of his 
 life by the pope and the king of Sicily. 
 
 During the Latin government in Conftantinople the trade and opul- 
 ence of the city had declined, and the number of the people had de- 
 creafed. The new fovereign reftored the heirs of thofe who had been 
 deprived of their poflellions by the Latins, fixed the troops, who had 
 made him mafter of the city, as inhabitants, and invited fettlers from 
 the provinces. The merchants and traders of every defcription of Ita- 
 lian birth or parentage were willing, and were made welcome, to re- 
 main in the city, which, by their eftablifhed bufinefs and connections 
 was become their proper home. Among thefe the Venetians, the Ge- 
 noefe, and the Pifans, had been the moft eminent, ever fince the de- 
 cline of Amalfi, and each of thole nations poflefled their fadiories and 
 fettlements in their own particular quarter of the city, where they lived, 
 in fome degree independent of the imperial government, having chiefs 
 or governors and laws of their own. The Pifans, and even the Vene- 
 tians, were continued in the enjoyment of their fadories and privileges : 
 but the larger, and more favoured, colony of the Genoefe were put in 
 pofleflion of the neighbouring town of Heraclea, the antient Perinthus, 
 which was built in the flourifliing days of Greece by the Samians on a 
 peninfula projeding into the Propontis or Sea of Marmara; and thence 
 they were foon after tranfplanted to Galata (called afterwards Pera) a 
 fuburb fituated on the north fide of the Golden horn, the inlet of the 
 
 3F2
 
 412 A. D. 1261. 
 
 fea, which conftitutes the harbour of Conftantinople. That town was 
 wholely refigned to them ; and they were alfo favoured with exemption 
 from paying cuftoms and with fome other privileges : and to thefe ad- 
 vantages the lituation of their town and their naval power foon enabled 
 them to add, with or without the approbation of the emperor, the com- 
 mand of the narrow entrance of the Black fea, and confequently to 
 monopolize the commerce of all the countries which furround it, toge- 
 ther with that branch of the Indian trade, which was conduded by 
 river navigation and land carriage to the eafl end of it. 
 
 It was enadted by the barons, that the wool of England fhould be 
 manufailured at home inftead of being fold to foreigners, and that all 
 perfons fhould wear woollen cloth made within the kingdom, and avoid 
 every fuperfluous extravagance in drefs *. [^IV. Hermngford^ L. iii, c. 27,] 
 At this time the Englifh were exceedingly exafperated againft all foreign- 
 ers on account of the king's glaring and immoderate partiahty to his 
 foreign relations and favourites, whereby a great proportion of the lands 
 and wealth of England was thrown into their hands. But it was yet too 
 foon to exclude the fuperior manufactures of foreigners, or to prohibit 
 the wool from going to the befl market. 
 
 1262 — Some German writers fay, that the Hanfe aflbciation about 
 this time made choice of Bruges in Flanders to be a ftation for their 
 trade, and an entrepot between the coafts of the Baltic and the Medi- 
 terranean, a voyage from the one fea to the other, and back again, be- 
 ing too arduous an undertaking to be accomplifhed in one feafon. It is 
 moreover faid, that the advantages of llorage, commiffion, &c. conti- 
 nued from this time to enrich the inhabitants of Bruges, till the em- 
 peror Frederic III was provoked by an infult put upon his fon to block 
 up their port, whereby the Hanfe merchants were obliged to transfer 
 their commerce to Antwerp. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. iii,/. 28.] But it 
 may be doubted, whether the Hanfe aflbciation, tinder that name, was yet 
 in exiflence, or if there were any maritime cities yet added to the con- 
 federacy entered into by Lubeck and Hamburgh in the year 1241. 
 
 1264 — There ftill remained fo much of the fpirit of antient barbarifm 
 and ferocity in Europe, that the fpoils of rapine were often preferred 
 to the flow acquifitions of honeft induflry by tliofe, who felt themlelves 
 powerful enough to be robbers. Piracies were frequently committed 
 upon the fea, where the perpetrators thought themlelves fure of im<- 
 punity by the abfence of any fuperior controlling power, and more 
 efpecially when anarchy and public convullions in the country ihey be- 
 
 • This law is dated by Heminj^ford, the carlicd aiiotl.cr in the year 1271. Yet Edward III is rje- 
 
 aullior who mentions it, in 1261 ; and he afeiibcs ncrally fiippofed the lirll Englid) king who cnad- 
 
 it to l)ic parliament of Oxford, v.hicli, accordinjj ed fuch a l,;w. His law has the advantage of i)e- 
 
 to the other liiiloiians, was held in tlie year 1258. ing more generally known than the others. But 
 
 Jtisthc firft law piohibiting the exportation of all of them \\ ere equally intlledlve. 
 wool aud the in.porlation of cloth. We fliall fee 3
 
 A. D. 1264. 41J 
 
 longed to fet them free from all reftraint. The government of England 
 being at this time diffolved by the war between the king and the barons, 
 there were more piracies than ufual committed by Englifli fubjecls : and 
 the mariners of the Cinque ports in particular are noted as moft guilty 
 in that way ; for they not only carried on unauthorized, though pro- 
 fefled, war againft the inhabitants of foreign cities, with fome of whom 
 they had quarreled, but they alfo feized every veflel they were able to 
 fubdue, and murdered all the people, not even fparing thofe of their 
 own country. Foreign commerce was foon at a ftand ; and wines which 
 tifed to be fold for 40 fhillings, were now fold for ten marks ; wax rofe 
 from 40 fhillings to above eight marks ; and pepper from fix pennies to 
 three fhillings a pound. There was fuch a fcarcity of fait, iron, fteel, 
 cloth, and all other merchandize, that the people were grievoufly afflict- 
 ed, and the merchants reduced to beggary, by it, the fale of the ex- 
 portable produce of the country being alfo at a fland in confequence of 
 the interruption of the navigation. The earl of Leicefler, the leader 
 of the barons who w^ere confederated againfl the king, attempted to 
 perfuade the people that foreign commerce was unneceflary, tlie pro- 
 duce of the country being fully fufficient to fupply all the wants of the 
 inhabitants ; and many people, in complaifance to him, laid afide their 
 coloured clothes, and drefled themfelves in plain white cloth. It muft 
 be acknov/leged, that the mariners of the Cinque ports were encour- 
 aged, perhaps commiflioned, by King Henry, who wifhed the fup- 
 plies coming to his enemies to be intercepted. But they muil have gone 
 beyond their inflrudions, which drew upon them the vengeance of 
 Prince Edward, who punifhed fome, and pardoned others, after which 
 there was perfect tranquillity upon the fea. \Cbron. IVi.kes, pp. 61, 6v 
 — M. Wejlm.p. 396. — and fee Focdera, V. i, pp. 250, 273 ; V. ii, p. 82.] 
 From the notice concerning the white and coloured cloths, we lee, that 
 part of the cloths made in England were undyed, and probably of the 
 natural colour of the wool. But fome cloths muft have been dyed in 
 Englai:id, as very confiderable quantities of woad were imported in this 
 age. The dil^refs occafioned by the want of foreign fait, iron, fleel, and 
 cloth, alfo fhows us, that the manufadures of thole articles^ which, ex- 
 cept that of fteel, muft have exifted in the country, in fome degree of 
 perfection, many ages before, were carried on upon a very fmail fcale, 
 and were now perhaps totally interrupted by the public diflurbances. 
 
 December 14'" — According to the Magna charta the king, in order to 
 eonftitute a common council for aiTefling an aid, was to ilTue his letters 
 to each of the archbifliops, bifhops, earls, and greater barons, indi- 
 vidually, and was to order the fhirrefs and bailifs to fummon all who 
 held of him in chief. There u'ere no elcftive members ; and the in- 
 habitants of cities and towns, including the merchants and manufactur- 
 ers, had conlequently not the moft diftant connexion with making the
 
 414 A. D. T264. 
 
 laws, which difpofed of their lives and properties. The earl of Leiccfler, 
 having got the king into his hands, nov/ fummoned in his name the 
 prelates and nobles of his own party, and added to them a vaft number 
 of abbats, priors, and deans, a clafs of people among whom he had 
 great intereft. He alfo ordered the fhirrefs to caufe two knights out of 
 every county to attend, and fent letters to the cities of York and Lin- 
 coln, to the burghs, and to the Cinque ports, deliring them to fend two 
 members each. [F^dera, V. i, p. 802.] We are not told in what man- 
 ner the members were chofen. 
 
 1265, January — Thus were the commons introduced into parliament : 
 but there is no further mention of any members being fummoned from 
 cities or burghs till the year 1283 *> after which they appear to have 
 been frequently called, and at length formed a conftituent part of every 
 parliament, though even then a regular fucceflion of reprefentatives was 
 not kept up in every city and town ; for the fhirrefs often negledled de- 
 firing them to make their eledions : and the negled, whether occafioned 
 by accident or defign in the king or the fhirrefs, was thankfully ac- 
 knowleged as a gracious indulgence by thofe communities, who were 
 thereby exempted from paying the falaries of their members ; for then, 
 and during many ages after, the reprefentatives were paid by thofe whom 
 they reprefented. So very different were their ideas and pradice from 
 thofe of the prefent age. The commons long continited to have very 
 little influence on the legiflative body, and, indeed, were confidered as 
 mere petitioners. A6ls were pafled, and even money levied, without, 
 and againfh, their confent till the fecond year of Henry V, when it was 
 determined, that no law fliould be enaded contrary to the petition of 
 the commons, the king preferving his prerogative of aflent or difl^ent. 
 Though their rights, after being thus in fome degree defined, were often 
 infringed, they, notwithflanding, continued to grow up into flrength, 
 efpecially during the contefts between the houfes of York and Lancafler, 
 which, however fatal to individuals, tended to raife the great body of 
 the people to their due place in the conftitution. But it was not till ' 
 commerce and manufactures conferred importance upon towns, and 
 opulence upon individuals, that the house of commons attained the 
 weight and dignity, which ought to belong to the representatives of 
 
 A FKEE PEOPLE f . 
 
 It would be improper to neglecl: noticing a pompous defcription of 
 the profperity and commerce of England, which Mathew of Wcftminfter 
 (/>. 396) introduces in the charader of a perfon lamenting ' in an ele- 
 ' gant ftile' the %Tiileries of the country occafioned by the civil war. 
 * O England,' fays he, ' formerly glorious, illuftrious, and exalted among 
 
 * Brady appears to have never feen the funinionfes in 1283. He <lfites the firfl appearance of 
 citizens and burgcfTes in parliament in 1295. [Treatife of burghs, p. 25.] 
 
 t See Rujfhcad's Preface to the Statutes at large, and the authorities thdrc (I'lutedl
 
 A. D. 1265. 41^ 
 
 the kingdoms, like the grandeur of the Chaldfeans. The fhips of 
 TarQiifh were not comparable to thy (hips carrying aromatics and all 
 pretious merchandize throughout the four climates of the globe (' or- 
 bis'). T'be fea zvas thy wall; and caftles ftrongly fortified were the gates 
 of thy harbours. In thee chivalry, the church, and commerce, flourifh- 
 ed. For thee the Pifans, the Genoefe, and the Venetians, tranfport- 
 ed the fapphire, the carbuncle, and the fmaragdus, drawn from the 
 rivers of Paradife. Afia fupplied thee with the finell linen (' byflo') 
 and purple, Africa with cinnamon and balfam, Spain with gold, and 
 Germany with filver. For thee Flanders, thy weaver, made pretious 
 drapery of thy own materials. For thee thy own Gafcoigne produced 
 wine. To thee all the iflands between the Hyades and Ardlurus were 
 fubfervient. Thy inland parts abounded with the wild beafts of the 
 woods, and thy hills with cattle of every kind. Thou didfl poflefs 
 all the fowls of the air. Thy fields were beautiful. In the abundance 
 of fifh thou furpaflefl every region. And though thou haft but a nar- 
 row trad of land, confined within the fhores of the fea, yet the coafts 
 of all the nations of the world, warmed by the fleeces of thy ftieep, 
 have blefl^ed thy celebrated fertility. In thee the fwords were con- 
 verted into plough-fliares, and peace and religion were fo flourifliing, 
 that thou wert looked up to as a mirror and example by all the other 
 catholic kingdoms. Alas ! why art thou now fi:ripped of fuch great 
 glory, &c.' — Though the panegyric, which is probably an amplifica- 
 tion of thofe of Fitz-Stephen and Henry of Huntingdon, (fee above, 
 pp. 329, 344) is prodigioufly overftrained, yet the nations of the earth 
 being clothed with Englifli wool, and that wool being made into cloth 
 in Flanders, are valuable notices of the Hate of manufadlures and com- 
 merce in the thirteenth centurj ; and the importation of gold from 
 Spain in that age (which was probably in payment for wool) is a cir- 
 cumfi:ance exceedingly curious, and, I believe, not to be found in any 
 other Englilh author or record *. But, while he tells us that Oriental 
 luxuries were imported by the^ Pilans and other Italians, and at the 
 fame time reprefents the commerce of England as adive, and the fhip- 
 ping as very numerous and trading to all parts of the world, he evi- 
 dently wanders into the regions of romance England, at leafl; in the 
 
 prefent day, does not need to have recourfe.to fictitious naval or com- 
 mercial renown. 
 
 April 1 2'" — James I, king of Aragon, during the whole of his long 
 reign did every thing in his power to extend and improve the manu- 
 factures and commerce of his i'ubjeds, and efpecially thofe of the citizens 
 of Barcelona. Senfible of the pernicious eflfects of the taxes, which the 
 feudal lords afllimed a power of levying, he now relieved the merchants 
 
 * We {hall afterwards fee good authority, from Spanifh r.corJs, for thi importation of EngliHi 
 wool in that country. ^
 
 4i6 A. D. 1265. 
 
 of Barcelona from the payments exacled by the abbat of Samt Felix 
 npon the arrival and departure of veflels, and alio from fimilar pay- 
 ments hitherto made to himfelf. At the fame time, in his zeal for the 
 profperity of Barcelona, but in dire61: oppofuion to the prudent and li- 
 beral policy of his predeceflor, Count Raymundo Berenguer I, he ex- 
 pelled all the merchants of Lombardy, Florence, Sienna, and Luca, re- 
 fiding in that city. King James afterwards ordered, that no foreigner 
 fhould keep a table (or bank) of exchange in Barcelona, nor fhip any 
 goods, not being his own property, onboard any foreign vellel. [Cap- 
 many, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col. dipt pp. 31, 34, and 12-36.] 
 The woollen manufa6lures of Catalonia, which appear to have been in 
 an eftabliihed ftate before the year 1 243, continued thenceforth to flouriffi 
 in Barcelona and many other towns of the province, \^Capmany, V. i, 
 607//. p. 241] till the tmion of the crowns of Caftile and Aragon deprefP 
 ed the later kingdom, and the expulfion of the Jews and Moors, toge- 
 gether with the difcovery of the mines of America, almoft completed 
 the deftrudion of induftry in Spain. 
 
 1266 — Alexander II, king of Scotland, had formerly made a propofal 
 to Hacon, king of Norway, for purchafing his fupremacy over the ma- 
 ritime kingdom of Mann and the Weftern iflands, which appear evi- 
 dently intended by Nature to be an appendage of Scotland rather than 
 of the diftant kingdom of Norway. But Hacon anfwered, that he was 
 in no want of money, and he did not chufe to difmember his kingdom. 
 In confequence of the failure of the negotiation, two hoftile expeditions 
 were undertaken ; one by Alexander in the year 1249, and the other by 
 Hacon in 1263; and both princes died by ficknefs while on their expe- 
 ditions, without any thing efFedual being done on either fide. An 
 amicable treaty was this fummer concluded at Perth between their fons, 
 by which Magnus IV, king of Norway, ceded for ever to Alexander III, 
 king of Scotland, the feudal fovereignty of Mann and the Weilern 
 iflands for the fum of 4,000 marks, together with an annual payment of 
 100 marks, of good and lawful fterling money according to the manner 
 and ufage of Rome, France, England, and Scotland * : an exceeding 
 good bargain on both fides, inafmuch as a voluntary ceflion is more ho- 
 nourable than a compulfive deprivation, and a fair purchafe is more ho- 
 nourable than the rapine of conqueft. The treaty alfo provides for the 
 fecurity and protedion of the perfons, veflels, and cargoes, of the fub- 
 jecls of either king, who might be wrecked on the coafts of the other. 
 \See the or'iglnaL treaty, ap. For dun, p. 1355, cd. Ilearne T'orftei Orcades, 
 
 * If \\\e fn'.mcrs of llic tve?ty iiiulcrftooj, that Euglilli or Scottifli poiiiul ; for in that ytar 
 
 'he i.ioiicy of Roii;f, France, England, and Scot- Henry III engaged to j)ay £2.0.0 of good and 
 
 Irird was of tlic fame value, they were very ill in- lawful ilcrling money as an eijnivalent for £dcu 
 
 iormi'd. Kefore the year 1235 liie I'rcnch pr)\ind 'I'ouinois, or French money, to the malUr of the 
 
 l,ad fii:k to one .'"ourtli part of the value of the Temple. l^FrJcia, V, \, p. 342.]
 
 A. D. 1266. 417 
 
 L. ii.] The natural advantages for fiflieries and navigation pofleflcd by 
 thefe iflands render them capable of being made one of the mofl valu- 
 able appendages of the Britifli empire. 
 
 A regular cuftom duty was now charged on the exportation of wool, 
 as appears by the flatute of the exchequer, which direded that the col- 
 ledlors of the cuftoms of wool fliould fettle twice in the year, and ren- 
 der an account of the quantity of wool loaded onboard each veflel. 
 [Statutes at large, V. i, p. 26, ed. 1786.] 
 
 1267, January 5'" — The merchants of Lubeck, having no longer the 
 patronage of their emperor Richard, who had returned from Germany 
 to England, obtained a new charter from King Henry by the interefl of 
 Albert duke of Brunfwick, who had jufl married a niece of the queen 
 of England. The king therein grants to them and their property an 
 exemption from arreft on account of any debt, for which they are not 
 fecurity or principal debtors, unlefs the debtors are of their community, 
 or unlefs the burgefles of Lubeck lliall withhold juflice from Englifli 
 fubjeds aggrieved in that city ; that they fliall not forfeit their property 
 for the delinquency of their fervants ; that no prifes, beyond thofe eftab- 
 lilhed by antient cuftom, fliall be taken from them without being paid 
 for ; and they fhall have their hanfe for payment of five 'fhillings, in the 
 lame manner that the merchants of Cologne have had their hanfe *. 
 [Fadera, V. i, p. 839.] 
 
 1 268 — Glafgow was now fomewhat advanced in polity, having a court— 
 houfe and a common feal. It was governed by three provofts (appar- 
 ently co-ordinate, and alfo by bailies. [Chart, in Gibfoti's Hiji. of Glaf- 
 gow, p. 303.]_ 
 
 The following account given in to the exchequer by Walter Hervy 
 and William of Durham, cuftodes of the city of London, gives a view 
 of the names and amounts of the dues collefted in the city from the eve. 
 of Eafter to Michaelmas 1268, viz. 
 
 T>iyexs.tronages\, viixh {ovae. {msWJirandages - £gy 13 11^ 
 
 Ciifloms of all kinds of merchandize coming from foreign 
 
 * The Getmaii authors differ widely in their ' (mercatores) qui Hanfe, id eft Socii, vocan- 
 
 explanations of the meaning of the word Hanfe, ' tur.' 
 
 which the aflbciation of that name has rendered fo f Tronage, money paid for weighing at the 
 
 famous. Perhaps, without going any farther, or trom, or pubh'o beam. 
 
 diving at all into the abyfs of etymology, we may Strandage feems payment for the hberty of lay- 
 
 liave a pretty good idea of it by comparing this ing goods on the ftrand.fimilar to modern wharfage, 
 charter with thofe of fome of the towns of Eng- Scavage, paid for liberty to exhibit or ihow 
 
 land, wherein the king grants the burgefles a lianfi, (fchaw) the goods at market, 
 which feeais to fignify a right of afting as a cor- P'f'^g'i for weighing, 
 porate body, with, probably, a power of making Stallage, rent paid for the ufe of a ftall. 
 regulations, or bye laws, for their own internal Socage, (a word of difputed meaning) feems here 
 
 government. See Brady on hurghs, append, p. 10. to fignify payment for certain privileges enjoyed by. 
 
 ' — Meyer, the annalift of Flanders, [_/". 296 a] ex- the company of butchers. See the Glojfary tc 
 
 plains Hanfe as meawng aflbci^tes ; — * Teutonic! Tit/y/den't Script, decern, vo. Socet. 
 
 Vol. L 3 G
 
 4i8 A. D. 1268. 
 
 parts liable to pay the duty called fcava^e, together with 
 the /»^^^<fj- during the half-year - - ^^75 6 10 
 
 Meafiiring dues for corn arriving at the port of Billingfgate, 
 
 and the water-cujlom there - - - 5187-^ 
 
 Cujloms offijh brought to London-bridge ftreet, and fome 
 
 other cuftoms there - - - 702^ 
 
 Iflue of the field and bars of Sraithfield - - 4. 7 6 
 
 Toll taken at the gates of the city, and cujloms on the 
 
 Water of Thames towards the weft - - 8 13 2|- 
 
 Stallages, cujloms of butchers and others exercifing divers 
 trades (' mcrcandifas') in the market of Weft-Chep, [mail 
 tolls and ifTues of the fame market, the ifTues of the 
 inarkets of Garfchirche (Grafs church or Grace church) 
 and Wollechirchehawe, with a certain annual yofrt^^ of 
 the butchers of the city - - - 42 o 5 
 
 Iffues of Queen-hithe, being in the king's hands - 17 11 2 
 
 Fotjeits of fundry foreigners for buying and felling in the 
 
 city contrary to the ftatutes and cuftoms thereof 10 1 1 o 
 
 Fleas 2CcA per quijites'va. x}i\t cxvj - - 86 5 9^- 
 
 From the waidarii (dealers in woad) of Amiens, Corbye 
 
 and Neele (cities of France) fince Michaelmafs - 1 1 6 8 
 
 The whole amounting to - - £,2>^^ ^5 4t 
 
 {Madox's HJl. of the excheg. c. 1 8, § 4.] 
 
 Theodoric earl of Landfberg granted perfecT: freedom to the merchants 
 of all nations, even thofe whofe fovereigns might be at enmity with 
 him, to trade fecurely in the city of Leipfick. The fucceeding lords 
 of that city, with the fanction of the emperors, chartered the fairs, 
 which have continued to the prefent day to attradl the traders of every 
 nation in Europe. {^Peyferi Lipjta, p. 213 et feqq.'\ 
 
 1 269, Auguft 1 6"" — ^There feem to have been fome mutual complaints 
 of injuries done to the fubjeds of England and Norway, Magnus Lag- 
 better (Reformer of the law) king of Norway, being a good man and a 
 lover of peace, had fent two ambalTadors to England, in order to adjuft 
 differences and ftrengthen the friendfhip entered into by his father Ha- 
 con with King Henry : and it was now agreed, that there fliould be 
 mutual liberty of trading to each country, and alfo that every proper 
 afhftance fhould be given to thofe who fhould have the misfortune to 
 l)c wrecked on either coaft, provided they did not abandon their veflels. 
 {Fader a, F. i, />. 857.] 
 
 A letter, written by Peter Adfiger in the year 1269, contains a fcien- 
 tific account of the attraction, repulfion, and polarity, of the magnet, 
 the art of communicating thofe properties to iron, the variation of the
 
 A. D. 1269' 419 
 
 magnetic needle, and even the conftruitiou of the azimuth compafs *. 
 Thus we fee, that the fcience of magnetifm, and the appUcation of it 
 to the fervice of navigation, were brought to a degree of perfedion, 
 little inferior to that of the prefent age, at a time, when, it is general- 
 ly beUeved, that the polarity of the magnet was utterly unknown in 
 Europe. 
 
 1270 — At this time the k^al intered of money at Modena was four 
 pence per month for every pound lent (or twenty per cent for the year). 
 \Muratori Ant'iq. V. i, col. 893.] What defcription of people could bor- 
 row money at fuch interefl? If traders or manufadurers, what profits did 
 they get upon their goods, to enable them to pay fuch interefl ? As all 
 things are great or fmall, only by comparifon with others, is not this 
 rate of interefl a fufficient proof, that the trade of the Italian flates, 
 though a vafl deal greater than that of their ignorant and llothful neigh- 
 bours, and alfo than that of their own anceflcrs, was not, even now, 
 very extenlive, according to our modern ideas of the magnitude of com- 
 mierce, and that the profperous ftate of the merchants, and confequent- 
 ly of the commercial cities, was owing to the prodigious great profits 
 which the fmall number of competitors in trade enabled them to make ? 
 We have already feen, [/>. 391] that a great improvement in the cir- 
 cumflances of the people of Italy, took place before the conclufion of 
 the thirteenth century : but the high rate of interefl warrants a belief, 
 that it had fcarcely begun in the year 1270. 
 
 Louis IX king of France, who had already been made a prifoner in 
 an expedition againfl the Saracens in Egypt, after an interval of (ixteen 
 years, undertook a new crufade, which was the fevenih fmcc the com- 
 mencement of them, and the lafl one of any confequcnce. Now, as 
 well as on the former occafion, he applied to foreigners for the ufe of 
 their lliipping : and we learn from the original treaty, as quoted by 
 Formaleoni, \_E[[ai fur la marine des Vemtiens p. 31, trad, iv-.] that he ob- 
 tained three Ihips from the republic, and twelve from the private citi- 
 zens, of Venice. The Santa Maria, the largellof the republican veflels, 
 meafured ro8 Venetian feet (a little more than 125 Englifli feet) in 
 length, but whether by the keel, or on the deck, we arc not told, and flie 
 carried iiofeamen. We are thus, in fome degree, informed of the 
 lize of what was reckoned an extraordinary large Ihip in the Mediter- 
 ranean at that time ; and we are alfo authorized to withhold our belief 
 from the account of ten thoufand foldiers, and four thouland horfcs, 
 being carried by thole fifteen fhips, in addition to their own feamen. 
 The death of the king and the greatefl part of his army on the burn- 
 
 * This moft curious letter is preferved among but extracls from it are infertcd by Cavallo in th- 
 the manufcripts of the univeifity of Leydeo, and fecond edition of his Trcatife on magnetifm. 
 has not, I believe, ever been publiflied entire : 
 
 3G2
 
 4'2Q -^^ D, 1270. 
 
 ing and peftllential fhore of Africa is unconneded with the fubjecl of 
 this work. 
 
 The Venetians now aflumed fo much authority in the Adriatic fea, 
 that they demanded a toll, or tranfit duty, proportioned to the quantity 
 of the cargo, from all veffels navigating that fea, efpecially from thofc 
 going between Pola (a town near the fouth point of Iflria) and Venice. 
 The Bononians (or Bolognians), after three years of refufal and warfare, 
 agreed to open the navigation of fome of the mouths of the Po, which 
 they had the command of, to the Venetians, on condition of being al- 
 lowed a free exportation of certain kinds of merchandize. The people 
 of Ancona applied to the pope for his paternal interpolition to free 
 them from the impofition, and he ordered the Venetians to defifl from 
 taking it. But they anfwered his holinefs, that he was not properly in- 
 formed of the affair ; and, the pope being in hafte to go to the council 
 of Lyons, nothing further was done by him. {^Platina Vit. pont. p, 438, 
 ed. 1664.] 
 
 Mangou-Timour, a grandfon of Zingis-khan, and fovereign of the 
 weftern Tatars, gave feveral of his cities and provinces to his relations \ 
 and, particularly, he gave the cities of Crim and Caffa to Oran-Timour. 
 Crim (which in the prefent age is the refidence of a few miferable Turks 
 and Jews) was then one of the moll magnificent cities in that part of 
 the world. It was the center of a great inland commerce with the Eafl, 
 which was conduded by merchants who traveled in caravans, without 
 any. apprehenfions of being infulted, and were three months upon the 
 road, which was provided with a fufficient number of inns for their ac- 
 commodation, in places afterwards abandoned to deer and wild goats. 
 Caffa, lefs magnificent than Crim, became no lefs famous by means of 
 its advantageous fituation on a bay of the Black fea. The Genoefe, 
 who, ever fince the refloration of the Greek empire, had enjoyed 
 almofl exclufively the trade and navigation of that fea, foon difcovered 
 the importance of Caffa, fnatched it out of the hands of the Tatars, 
 and made it the principal flation of their commerce with all the coun- 
 tries bordering on the Black fea *. \liijh des Huns par De Gui^nes, V, 
 
 iii, A 34-3-] 
 
 At the fame time the merchants of many cities of the northern parts 
 
 of Germany, apparently now adfing as a confederated body (though I 
 
 have not found any authentic document for their being yet known by 
 
 * Stella, the annalid of Genoa, \^a/>. Muralcri lUc Imiifcs built by Aiiria may liavt been the corn- 
 Si-ript. F'. xvii, col. IC95] fays, he cnuld never Jif- menci-ineiit of a plan of enlargement and enibel- 
 i.ovcr at what time Carta had come into the hands lifliment s for it was a place of iome note befoic, 
 1 if the Genoefe ; but he uiidcrllooJ that it was and is even of vci y great aiitiiiuily, being mention- 
 not very lonp; fince lialdus de Auria built the firll ed by Skylax, Strabo, Pliny, and othtl- antient 
 houfcs in it, and fettled in it. — The ellablilhmcnt geographers, under the name of Tlicodofia, a name 
 of the Genoefe was, no doubt, near the lime at lately r'.ltorcd to it by the cmprefs Catherine, in 
 ivliich I Iiavc placed it, from Dc Guigncs : and her affectation of r^-gard for the Greeks.
 
 A, D. 1270. 421 
 
 the appellation of the merchants of the Hanje) obtahaed leave from the 
 king of Norway to fix the ftapie of their northern trade at the city of 
 Bergen. At firft; their commerce was reftrifted to the fummer months 
 (from the 3"* of May to the 14"' of September), and the citizens were 
 not allowed to hire their houfes to them for more than fix weeks, to 
 which, however, three were added for bringing in their goods, and three 
 more for carrying out their returns. In procefs of time the Vandalic 
 cities of Germany obtained permiflion to eftablifh a permanent feat of 
 their trade, called a cotitoir, in the city : and in confequence of that in- 
 dulgence the bridge was covered with twenty-one large houfes or fac- 
 tories, each of them capable of accommodating about a hundred merch- 
 ants or fadors, with their fervants * : and they were bound to keep their 
 houfes, and alfo the bridge, in repair, and to perform watch and ward 
 in that quarter of the city wherein they lived. The merchants, who 
 were chiefly from Lubeck, Hamburgh, Roflock, Bremen, andDaventer, 
 imported flax, cloth, corn, flour, bifcuit, malt, ale, wine, fpiritous 
 liquors, copper, filver, &c. and received in return butter, falmon, dried 
 cod, fifli-oil, fine furs, timber, &c. They were obliged to confine their 
 trade to Bergen, the trade of the refl: of the country being referved to 
 the native merchants, to whom they gave credit of their goods till the 
 enfuing feafon. By this commerce, while it continued in its mofl 
 flourifhing flate, Bergen was fo much enriched, that no other city in 
 the three northern kingdoms could be compared to it f. [I'offcei Hi/i. 
 
 Norweg. V.'\, p. 72 ; V. iv, />. 352 Bertii rer. Germ. L. 'n\, p. 70.] 
 
 1 27 1 — Some difputes between King Henry and the countefs of Flan- 
 ders, on account of money alleged to be owing to her, and the confe- 
 (juent capture of feveral Englifli veflels by her fubjecls, occafioned an 
 order for prohibiting the exportation of wool to her dominions, and an- 
 other for the feizure of all cloth imported from abroad, which feems to 
 have been intended to adl as a compenfation to the proprietors of the 
 wool, by enforcing the manufacture of it at home. However, the fl:orm 
 foon blew over, at leafl: fo far, that the Flemings were again permitted 
 to import their woollen cloths as before. \^Rot. pat. 55 Hen. Ill, mm. 6, 
 TO, 15 — Foedera, V. u, p. 32.] 
 
 * They were all unmanied, auj lived together Teutonic language, frequenting his kingdom aE 
 
 'in mc-ffes witliin their own faftorics. giiefts and ftrangers with merchandize. Unfor- 
 
 •j- I iiave here briefly thrown together what in- tunately the hiftory of Norway about tliis time is 
 
 formation, apparently autlientic, I have obtained very obfcure, and lome, even of thoie wlio have 
 
 concerning the trade of the merchants, called G-'r- profcfledly written it, have called this very king 
 
 mans, Teutons, Aimains, Garpar, Vandals, (and Olaviis, though his name is certainly known (even 
 
 in later times, Hanfards, or Hanfeatics) in the from Engliih and Scottiih records and hiftory) to 
 
 port of Bergen. Perhaps the commencement of be Magnus. And the hiilory of the CermnH 
 
 it ought to be dated in 1278, if we may depend commercial cities is far from being clear, though 
 
 on the date af&sed by Wcrdenhageu [Wi/7. de reb. Werdenhagen has written a book, called the Hi/Iorv 
 
 h'anf. p, 262] to an cxtraA of a charter by King of the Hanfeatic republics, which he has tilled moIUV 
 
 Magnus, wherein he fays, he has thought proper with matter nothing to the piii-jjofc. 
 *.o grant fome immunities to the merchanls oj the
 
 422 A. D. 1272. 
 
 1272. — Cloth of Ireland is mentioned along with cloth of Abendon, 
 and burrel of London (alfo a kind of cloth), as being ftolen at Win- 
 chefler fome time in the reign of Henry III *. [Madox's Hijl. of the 
 excheq. c. 14, § 9-] And this, I believe, is the earliefl notice we have 
 of any exportation of Irifh manufadures. 
 
 During this reign there were feveral treaties with Caftile and France, 
 wherein there is not a word of any commercial affairs. [Foedera, V. i, 
 pp. 503, 505, 675, 688, &c.] But I find a letter, or charter, in favour 
 of the merchants of Spain, or Caftile, wherein, probably, their fovereign 
 had no concern. [Rot. pat. 47 Hen. III.} Among the nations who car- 
 ried on fome trade at this time with England, of which we know no- 
 thing, but from the letters of fafe conduft granted to them, may be alfo 
 reckoned the Norwegians, Portuguefe, and Brabanters. [Rof. pat. 7, 10, 
 45, Jlen. III.} 
 
 Henry III, during the whole courfe of his long reign, opprefled the 
 citizens of London with grievous extortions, often upon the moft frivol- 
 ous pretences ; and many of his officers, whofe names, Mathew Paris 
 fays, it would be tedious and dangerous to particularize, following the 
 king's example, took every opportunity of plundering the merchants, 
 natives and foreigners, of their horfes, carts, wine, provifions, cloth, 
 wax, and other goods. He alfo fqueezed the Jews moft immercifully. 
 One inftance of a general tallage upon them has already been given. 
 From a fingle Jew, called Aaron of York, he extorted on various occa- 
 fions the enormous fum of fifty-fix thoufand marks, a quantity of money 
 equal in efficacy to about half a million of pounds in the prefent day. 
 Having borrowed money in the years 1255 and 1271 of his brother 
 Richard, he on both occafions inortgaged to him the whole Jews of Eng- 
 land, that is to fay, the revenue to be extracted from them, as a fecurity 
 for repayment. We need not be furprifed at the monftrous interell 
 extorted by the Jews from thofe who borrowed from them, which, we 
 are told, was, at leaft in fome inftances, above two pennies a-vveek (or 
 eight fliillings and eight pennies by the year) for the ufe of twenty Ihil- 
 hngs f. But they took fuch exorbitant intereft, with the dreadful 
 profpecl of plunder and murder before their eyes, and a certainty of be- 
 ing obliged to pay a large portion of it to the king, in whofe hands they 
 were in fadl inftruments for fucking the blood of the people. In ftiort, 
 
 * For this notice of Irifli inainifaflurcs we are pears, however, that the Jews af Oxford were 
 indebted to the record of a duel between two h'cenccd to take two pennies a-wcck for the loan 
 thieves. So honey is extraded fioin tlie vilcll of twenty (hilh'ngs, and in proportion for fmalhr 
 weeds. — For earh'er accounts of Irifli nianufaiflures, Aims. They had even taken more, and were re- 
 fee above, pp. 223, 333. ftrifled to tliat rate of intereft on the petition of 
 
 f That was apparently an uncommon inflance the/)uw ftudcnts. [Cltiuf. 32 IIcii. Ill, m Tovey't 
 
 of avarice ; and it drew upon the whole body of yliit^lia Juda'ua, p. 122.] But fuel) exorbitant in- 
 
 the Jews in London a pcrfccution, wherein 700 tercll was apparently only for petty fums and 
 
 of them pcriflicd. l_Stow's yinii. />. if)^.^ It ap- vciy (liort lime.
 
 A. D. 1272. 423 
 
 Henry's whole reign was a continued extortion of money from his fub- 
 jeds, and a continual profufion of it to foreigners of every defcription. 
 England was, fays Mathew Paris, a vineyard without a wall or a faith- 
 ful keeper, open to the depredations of every vagrant. [M. Paris, pp. 
 S3^, 484, 600, 693, 864, 901, 902, 929. — Stozv's Annales,p, 286, 293, 
 ed. 1600 — Fcedera, V. i, pp. 543, 872.] 
 
 It is very wonderful, that in this age of exportation of money for the 
 benefit of foreign extortioners, paralites, and blood-fuckers, and of fran- 
 tic and ruinous projedts of acquiring kingdoms* and empires, a fmgle 
 penny remained in the country. How were the fountains recruited, 
 which fupplied fuch vaft and unceaiing drains ? Surely by no other 
 means than a large balance conftantly pouring into the country in the 
 filent channels of trade, which brought back fums equal, or even fuper- 
 ior, to the demands of rapacity, and the compliance of folly. 
 
 Though the national revenue was not in antient times fo much con- 
 nected with the commerce of the country as it is in the prefent day, it 
 cannot be deemed impertinent to flate, that the annual revenue of Eng- 
 land was fomewhat under fixty thoufand marks, and the net royal reve- 
 nue was about twenty-three thoufand f . [M. Paris, pp. 658, 859.] 
 Thefe fums may found very trifling in modern ears: but they were 
 probably greater thaxi the revenue of England in the reign of Henry II, 
 who amailed a great treafure out of his favings •. and it may be remem- 
 bered, that the proprietors of the land, and their tenants, conftituted the 
 national army, and ferved for a certain number of days every year at their 
 own expenfe. Thence the duration and expenfe of wars, were trifling 
 in comparifon with thofe of modern times. That part of the revenue of 
 the church, which was in the hands of foreigners, who could not fpeak 
 
 * The clergy, 'n a ftrong remon!lrance againft flatements of even the nioft faithful hiftorians are 
 
 the king's demands for money to anfvver the pope's fcldom correft in the numbers, which may be 
 
 bills on accouut of Sicily, told him, that if the partly owing to their own negleft of critical or 
 
 foil of the whole kingdom were turned into gold, arithmetical examination, and partly to the tran- 
 
 it would be infufficient to accomplifh the conqueft fcribers, numbers expreflcd by letters being much 
 
 of Sicily, which was inacceffible to the military more hable to error than words. The whole of 
 
 force of England. \_Aiin. Burton, p. 375, ed. the grofs national revenue, as here ftated, was not 
 
 Gale.~\ In the year 1265 the Sicilian dream was very much more than fuflicient to pay the fnterell 
 
 abandoned, or rather, to fpeak more properly, the of the king's debts, wliich, according to Mathew 
 
 king was obliged to ftop payment ; whereupon the Paris, was above ^f 36,500 a-year about the year 
 
 pope got Charles, the brother of Louis IX king 1256. See above, p. 406. It is true, that, ac- 
 
 of France, to take up his quarrel againft Manfred, cordingtoHoveden, [y^436b] Hubert, archbilhop 
 
 and accept his kingdom. of Canterbury, ftated to King Richard I, that with- 
 
 -|- When Ifabella, the wife of Edv^ard II, after in two years he had collected for him the prodi- 
 depofing her hufband, made her fon fettle an in- gious fum of i,ico,ooo marks, or 550,000 marks 
 come of twenty thoufand marks (not pounds, as each year. Both Hoveden and Paris arc refpeft- 
 faid by fome authors) upon her, [Rot. pat. prim. 1 able authors : but it is impoffible to reconcile their 
 Ef/iu. Ill, m. 1] there was fcarcely one third of the accounts ; and it is evident that Hoveden's fum is 
 royal revenue left for the young king and queen, incredibly great, and therefor is undoubtedly Cor- 
 as is aflerted by Thomas de la Moor, [/>. 601] a ruplcd. The revenue of England, at the revolu- 
 contcmporary author. tion, was not equal in effeflive value to one third of 
 
 I am obliged to obferve, that the arithmetical tliat aferibed to the reign of Richard I.
 
 424 A. D. 1272. 
 
 the language of the people vvhofe fouls were committed to their paftoral 
 charge by the unerring father of Chriflendom, if they did Uve among 
 them, but who relided moflly in Italy, and drew their penfions to that 
 country, amounted in the year 1245 to fixty thoufand marks, and in 
 1252 rofe to feventy thoufand. [M. Paris, pp. 658, 859.] If the royal 
 revenue had been even judicioufly managed, fuch fums fent out of the 
 country without any vahie in return (nor v/ere they all that went out 
 for nothing) were fufficient to keep the kingdom in perpetual diftrefs. 
 It is no wonder then, that fuch a manager as Henry was continually 
 embarrafled, and indebted to all who would give him any credit, among 
 whom the merchants of Luca, Florence, and Sienna, the Caurfini fettled 
 in London, and his own brother Richard, are the moll confpicuous. 
 [Fa^dera, V. i, pp. 544, 6^c^.—^above, pp. 400, 422.] In the year 1255 
 he declared, as an apology for his exadions, that his debts, which may 
 alfo be called the national debts, amounted to three millions of marks, 
 which, if it was true, was a moft aftonifbing fum *. [M. Parts, p. 902.] 
 In the year 1222, upon a lumping fettlement of the arrears of the joint- 
 ure of Queen Berengaria, the widov/ of Richard I, payable in England, 
 ((he probably had other appointments in the French territories of the 
 kings of England f) it was fettled at one thoufand pounds a-year. 
 [Fcedera, V. i, p. 242.] Henry ftated the revenue appointed for the efta- 
 bliihment of his oldeft fon at fifteen thoufand marks. But he brought 
 it forward unfairly, when apologizing for his exadions, feeing it arofe 
 from the duchy of Gafcoigne, and lands in Ireland. [M. Paris, p. 902. 
 — Fcedera, V. i, p. 500.] A knight, whofe lands produced ^150 a-year, 
 was thought very rich ; and to-be-fure fo he was. But John Manfel, 
 a clergyman, ftatefman, and warrior, by monopolizing a great number 
 of churches, had an income of 4,000 marks. No clergyman, indeed, 
 had ever before poffeflcd fuch an income : and people wondered, that a. 
 man of his prudence could forget, that he mufl: render an account of the 
 prodigious num^ber of fouls he hadprefumed to take the care of. Warine 
 de Muntchemfil, one of the noblcfl; and wifefl men of England, died in 
 the year 1255, poITeired of above two hundred thoufand marks, a fum 
 which may be pronounced almoft incredible :|;. [M. Paris, pp. 859, 908, 
 
 The queen dowager of Scotland, being entitled to a third of the net 
 
 * The iiitered on tlic king's dchts, though con- f Queen Ah'tnoia, tlic widow of Henry III, 
 
 fic'.ered by Mathew Paris as utterly ruinous to '.he had an annual income of ^f 2,000 fterling from 
 
 kingdom, would not have been livo ptr cail per an- Gafcoigne. \_Rjt. f>at. 8 Ediu. I, m. 10. J 
 num on the debt here Rated by Henry. But .is % By the moil probable account, the treafure 
 
 wc cannot fnppofe that the intenll was lower than accumulated by Henry H, one of the mofl power- 
 
 ttn ptr cent, it may wlII be prefnined, tiiat the prin- ful and prudeiit of the kings of England, during 
 
 cipal could not be fo much as 600,000 marks, or a long leign, was not near fo much. See nbove, 
 
 ^^400,': CO; a fum fufficicntly dillrcl'sful to the p. 346. 
 kingdom, and alfo, moft probably, to the creditors, 
 when the art of funding was unknown.
 
 A. D. 1272. '425 
 
 royal revenue, had thence an income of above four thoufand marks, 
 which flie drew out of the kingdom, to be expended in France along 
 with other funds which flie had in that country from her father Ingel- 
 ram de Coucy. Thence it appears, that the net royal revenue of Scot- 
 land was above twelve thoufand marks*. [M. Pa? is, p. 829.] The 
 portion of Margaret, the daughter of Henry III of England, married to 
 Alexander IH, the young king of Scotland, in the year 1251, was only 
 five thoufand marks, payable in four years, of which, however incred- 
 ible it may appear in the prefent day, the greateft part remained unpaid 
 in 1262, and then Henry, becaufe he had not money in hand, requeft- 
 ed Alexander's further indulgence till Eafter 1263 for the final pay- 
 ment. [^Foedera, V. i, pp. 467, 743.] What jointure was fettled upon 
 Margaret is unknown : Ihe died before her hufband. 
 
 1273 — The amount of a new duty, called x\\e. gauge, at fome of the 
 chief ports for the importation of wine, as made up from the Wedenf- 
 day after Martinmafs 1272 to Michaelmafs 1273, gives us a pretty good 
 idea of the quantity of foreign wine ufed in' England. 
 
 In London, - £i^ l6 7, which, at one penny per tun, make 3,799 tuns : 
 
 Southampton and Portfmoiith, 13 2 3, - - - 3,147; 
 
 and Sandwicli, - 7 18 4, - - 1,900; 
 
 The total was ^36 17 2, the amount of gauge duty for 8,846 tuns ; 
 
 befides the wines taken by the king in name of prife, being two tuns- 
 out of every cargo, which were not liable for the duty. [Madox's Hifi. 
 of the excheq. c. 18, § 2.] 
 
 There was a duty of the fame kind in Scotland, which probably ori- 
 ginated about the fame time, as we find the office of the gaugery confi- 
 dered as an old efiablifhment in the year 1 304 f. 
 
 The unfettled fiate of the German empire, together with the confu- 
 fions infeparable from a fuccelfion of controverted eledlions (the period 
 of which, from the death of Frederic 11 to the eledion of Rodolph, earl 
 of Hablhurg and founder of the houfe of Auftria, in the year 1273, is 
 called by the German hiftorians the long interregnum) very much 
 weakened the imperial authority in Germany, and reduced it to nothing 
 in Italy. . During thofe convulfions, the cities of Germany, already re- 
 
 * In the preceding page Mathew Paris makes ing a part of the year 1304, direfted the earl of 
 
 the queen's jointurey^iii-w thoufand marks, by which Athol to make inquiry, whether, according to the 
 
 reckoning the net royal income of Scotland is eib.blifiied ulage, he had a riglit to difpofe of the 
 
 twenty one thoufand ; alnioH equal to that of Eng- office of the gaugery. \_Ryni;r's Cjl/:f!. manufa-. 
 
 land, and, if reckoned in proportion to the popu- Fl iii, ?!'. 116, 117.] It is worthy of obfervation, 
 
 lation, greatly fuperlor. Therefor we may vcr.- that the king's order to the earl was in French, 
 
 ture to pronounce the greater number erroneous, and the earl in his precepts to the magiurates of 
 
 By the third chapter of the afts of James III, the the towns, defiring them to iuRItute inquiries for 
 
 queen's jointure is declared to be one third of the the king's information, fent them copies of the 
 
 king's land and cuHoms : and the fame rule was o\AtT tranjlated into Latin, which thence appears 
 
 probably adhered to in earlier times. to have been more generally j\ c'erflood in Scov 
 
 t King Edward, being mafter of Scotland dur- land than French. 
 
 Vol. T. -2 H
 
 426 A. D. 1273. 
 
 fpedlable, became more and more flourifliing. The nobles, who hither- 
 to had engroITed the government and all the honourable public em- 
 ployments of the cities, were reduced to a participation of them with 
 the burgefles. The contefts, which had hitherto banifhed tranquillity 
 from the cities, were at an end, and they became powerful by their 
 imion. Mofb of thofe, which had the title of Imperial cities in the reign 
 of Frederic IT, refufed after his death to pay the taxes impofed upon 
 them by former emperors, and, in confequence of that immunity, af- 
 fumed the title of Free and imperial cities , which was confirmed to them 
 by fucceeding emperors. After the extinction of the powerful ducal 
 families of Swabia and Franconia in the year 1268, the number of Im- 
 perial cities was greatly augmented ; and the new ones were cordially 
 admitted into fraternity and alliance by the antient ones, who diflin- 
 guifhed themfelves by the title of Free cities. \FfeffeU Abrege de Vhifi. 
 d'AUeiiiagne,p. 379, ed. 1758.] 
 
 The regents who governed England in the abfence of King Edward, 
 who was at the Holy land when his father died, ordered a proclamation 
 to be made throughout Ireland, declaring that all merchants might free- 
 ly land in that tingdom with their merchandize, and trade in fafety and 
 fecurity, on paying the due and antient cuiloms, without any other ex- 
 action or grievance whatever. \Kot. pat. i Ediu. /, m. 5.] 
 
 1 274, April 1 o'" — We find the order againfb trading with Flanders 
 again enforced, and the fliirrefs ftridly enjoined to. allow no wool to be 
 carried out of the kingdom, and not even to Wales or Ireland, left, on 
 pretence of ftiipping it for thofe countries, it fhould be carried to Flan- 
 ders. \Foedera,V.\\,pp. 2i\., ^o^^ But, as the Englifh could not find 
 profitable confumption for all their wool, and the Flemings could not 
 carry on their manufadure without the wool of England, a treaty of 
 peace was concluded in July, wherein the countefs, and the earl her fon, 
 finding Edward a man of more courage and condud than his father, 
 agreed to make fatisfaction for the damages done to his fubjecls, he pro- 
 mifing to make fatisfadion for the damages done to the Flemings by 
 the Englifh. But the Flemifli balance of damages was not paid up to 
 England in the year 1278, nor then without having recourfe to rigor- 
 ous meafures. {Fccdcra^ V. 'n, pp. 32, 2^, 39, ill. — Rot. pat. 3 F.dw. I, 
 mm. 19, 22, 26. — Meyeri An. Flaud.f. 80 b.] 
 
 The rcfort of the Netherlanders to the Firth of Forth for the fake of 
 the fifliery, has already been noticed from a writer of the twelfth century. 
 (See above, p. 325.) After that time, though we know that foreigners 
 came to the Britifli ports to purchafe herrings, I have not found any 
 authentic account of their fifliing on our coafts till now, that we learn 
 from the mutual complaints of injuries on both fides, that the Flem- 
 ings were in the jiradife of fifliing upon the coafts ot England and Scot- 
 land. The Englifli commiflioners for negotiating the peace complain-
 
 A. D. 1274. 427 
 
 ed, that, during the truce of a month (24'" June to. 24'" July) granted 
 by King Edward for fettling the terms of the treaty, fome Flemifh arm- 
 ed vefTels had put to fea, as on a filhing voyage, had attacked the Eng- 
 lifh fifhermen, who fuppofed themfelves fecure on the faith of the truce, 
 and had killed twelve hundred of them ; a number which, if not exag- 
 gerated, gives a very refpedlable idea of the EngliHi fifhery. [Foedera, 
 V. u,p. ^2-^ ^^ ^^^ other hand, the countefs of Flanders, in a letter 
 to King Edward, reprefented, that fome of her fubjeds, wlio had failed 
 after the conclufion of the peace, had put in at Berwick, on their re- 
 turn from fifhing on the coafl of Scotland, for the fake of drying their 
 nets ; and two-and-twenty of them*, who had gone up the Tweed about 
 as far as Norham, a callle on the Englifli fide of the river, to dry their 
 nets, were feized and iraprifoned by the commander of that caftle (Au- 
 gufl 15'^'.) [Fcedera,V. n,p. 37.] As it was furely unneceflary to go- 
 a journey of fix miles up the country to dry their nets, it feems more 
 probable, that their objedl was to catch falmon out of the fight of the 
 people of Berwick and Tweedmouth, and, as the fifli belonged to the 
 proprietors of the land on each fide of the river, their imprifonraent was 
 in confequence of that trefpafs upon private property. 
 
 Augull 11'" — King Edward while he was in the Holy land, had bor- 
 rov/ed fome money from the brethren of the Temple, and given them 
 his obligation for the principal, with expenfes, damages, and intereft f 
 (' interefi^e'), all which he now paid on their account to the mafi:er of 
 the Temple in London, [Fcedera, V. \i,p. 34.] This is believed to be 
 the firft infi:ance of the kings of England exprefsly agreeing to pay in- 
 terefi; X for money borrowed, which in all their former money tranfac- 
 tions, appears to have been fettled by coUufion. 
 
 Auguft ig"" — At the coronation of King Edward, there was a pro- 
 digious difplay of filks and gold fi:uffs, which, being articles of foreign 
 manufadure, ftiow that the exports of England, which could pay for 
 fuch an importation of luxuries, mufl: have been pretty extenfive, even 
 if there fhould have been no importation of the pretious metals this 
 year. An hiftorian fays, that no tongue nor pen could defcribe the 
 magnificence of the drefl^es, and the ingenuity of the pageants exhibited 
 
 • Among their names we find Renoud Eiigliili to the merchants of Italy in the year i 2JJ, ' qua; 
 
 (' Anglicus') and Michael Scot. « quotidle propter ufuvas, pcenas, et inUreJfe, non 
 
 f Though intercd Is expreflcd in the acknow- ' minima fulcipiebant incrementa.' Here we have 
 
 legement given to Edward by John of Bretagne, ufury, penalties, and tntereji. As the word ufury 
 
 liis brother-in-law, for whole ufe the money was in thofe days equivalent to our modern word 
 
 (10,500 Saracen befants) was borrowed in the intercjl, what did Mathew Paris undcriland by in- 
 
 year 1271, [ffjOTivV Coll, manufcr. V. i, n° . 42I terejje ? — In the marriage contract between Scot- 
 
 as well as in the mailer's difcharge to the king, land and Norway (25"" July 1281) ' damna, ex- 
 
 the ftipulated rate of intereft does not appear in ' penfffi, et interefle,' frequently occur, the later 
 
 cither. evidently fignifying intereft. [^FaJera, V, ii, 
 
 J Mathew Paris [/>. 910] mentions debts due p. 1079. J
 
 428 A, D. 1274. 
 
 in the city on. this occafion, to fay nothing of the pomp of the corona- 
 tion feaft. [T. Wikes,p. ioi,ed. GaleJ] 
 
 1275, April 25"' — A parhament was held at Weftminfter, wherein 
 
 The laws of Henry I and Henry II, for preferving the property of 
 ■u'recked veflels and merchandize for the lawful owners, were renewed 
 \^Acis, 3 Edzv. I, c. 4.] 
 
 It was provided, that no foreign perfon *, being of this realm, fhould 
 be diftrained in any city, town, fair, or market, for any debt, for wliich 
 he was neither principal debtor nor fecurity. [c. 23,] 
 
 Thofe who took up provifions or other things for the ufe of the king, 
 or for the garrifon ofacaflle, and did not pay for them, were made 
 anfwerable in their lands, or other property, failing which, they were to 
 be puniflied by imprifonment. Thofe who received bribes for paying 
 the king's debts were obliged to refund doubly, and were further to be 
 punifhed at the king's pleafure. [c. 32.] 
 
 We find a new cuftom upon wool granted (' concefTa') to the king at 
 this time, which was probably enadled by the fame parliament, though 
 it does not appear among their ads. [Rot. pat. 3 Ediv. I, m. i.] 
 
 A mandate was iflued by the king, obliging all foreign merchants to 
 fell their goods within forty days after their arrival. [Hakluyt, V. i,p. 133.] 
 This order put the foreign fellers entirely in the mercy of the buyers, 
 unlefs when the demand happened to be fo great, as to prevent the later 
 from combining to abftain from purchafing, till the term allowed to the 
 importers was almoft expired. Indeed, the frequent inconfillent orders 
 for the encouragement and difcouragcment of foreign merchants trad- 
 ing to England mud have been exceffively perplexing, and have very 
 much cramped the trade, which was expofed to fuch caprices and un- 
 certainties. 
 
 A Spanifh fheep, imported from France into Northumberland, infed- 
 ed all the flocks in England with a difeafe hitherto unufual (if not un- 
 known) in England, which raged eight-and-twenty years, and totally 
 deftroycd the flocks in many parts of the country f . [JValJlngham, Hiji. 
 p. ^6.] 
 
 1276 — Florence earl of Holland, being defirous that his fubjeds fliould 
 have a fliare of the beneficial trade of England, which their neigh- 
 bours the Flemings had almoil engrofled, made an offer to King Edward 
 of fafe condudf and perfed liberty for the Engliflr in trading in Holland 
 for the fpace of two years, provided that equal liberty were granted in 
 England to his fubjeds. [Fadera, V. n,p. 62.] 
 
 * By the tcrm/iyr«frt per/on vvc mud cvidtntly the year 1277, and fays, tliat it is ciireJ by nn 
 
 undcrlland one not belonging to tlie corporation ointment made of qiiick-filvcr and bog's lard, 
 
 of the city or town. Stow [yfi:nii/fs, p. 305, «/. 1600] calls the difeafe 
 
 f The annalift of Wavciley dates the introduc- m'lncin and rot, 
 lion of this difeafe, which he calls the claufiL, in
 
 A. D. 1276. 429 
 
 The mayor and citizens of London had, during many years, prevent- 
 ed the citizens of Bremen from coming to England, for the very trifling 
 reafon, as alleged by thofe of Bremen, that a native of that city, who 
 was in the fervice of a citizen of London when a fine was levied from the 
 city by Henry III, had left the kingdom without paying his proportion 
 of it. The duke of Brunfwick, as fuperior of Bremen, requefled King 
 Edward to interpofe, and permit the merchants of Bremen to trade in 
 England, as they had done in the time of his progenitors. [^Foedera, V. 
 ii, pp. 1065, 1066.] 
 
 1277, May 15"" — In thofe ages the power of making war and peace 
 was often afTumed by the maritime cities and towns, as well as by the 
 great lords : and as their hoflilities were openly avowed, they were not 
 ftigmatized as piracy, according to the modern fenfe of that word *. The 
 whole of the Cinque ports, as a community, have frequently taken upon 
 them to engage in wars with foreign towns or communities, wherein 
 the fovereigns on either fide had no adive concern., Such a warfare 
 they carried on againft the citizens of Calais in the year 1220 ; againft 
 thofe of Bayonne in 1237 ' ^^^ againft the fame again in 1277. The 
 later quarrel was terminated by the interpofition of King Edward, who 
 now gave the people of Bayonne one hundred pounds for the preferva- 
 tion of peace. [F^dera, V. 'i,pp. 250, 373 ; V. ii,/. 82.] 
 
 Either the eftablifliment of the Englifh laws in Ireland by King John 
 was only partial, or they had flillen out of ufe ; for the people of Ire- 
 land made an etfer to the jufticiary (or viceroy) to pay to the king 
 eight thoufand marks, on condition that the laws of England Ihould be' 
 eftabliflied among them. The kingwas very well pleafed with the applica- 
 tion, for he thought the antient Irifli laws unworthy to be called laws, and 
 defired the jufticiary to inquire what was the general wifti of the people, 
 the prelates, and the nobles ; and, if he found the majority delirous of 
 the introdudion 'of the Englifli law among them, to bargain for the 
 largeft fum of money he could obtain for the king's confent. [Fcedera, 
 V. \i, pi 78.] . And, in two or three years after, the bufinefs appears to 
 have been accompUftied. [Rot. pat. 8 Ediv. /.] 
 
 May 24.'" — The revenue railed from the Jews in England feems to 
 have hitherto confifted chiefly of tallages, arbitrarily impofed at the will 
 of the king. It was apparently in order to introduce fome regularity in 
 that branch of the revenue, and to let the Jews know what they had to 
 depend upon, that a ftatute had been made, containing a multitude of 
 provifions for controlling and . regulating their tranladions, and fixing 
 their payments to the king, whofe flaves (' ferfs') they are repeatedly 
 
 * In thofe days, the men onboard all warlike vtfTcls wtre Called yS/r^to / and every veflel equipped 
 for war was called a piratic fliip, or mycparo in the Latin of the times.
 
 43© A. D. 1277. 
 
 declared to be *. The Injuftice and inexpediency of fome parts of 
 that natute having, perhaps filently, rendered the whole of it inefficient, 
 the king now iffued an order by his own authority, wherein, after re- 
 capitulating fome parts of the flatute, viz. that every Jew, male or fe- 
 male, above twelve years of age, was to pay annually three pennies to 
 the king ; that they were to live only in thofe cities and burghs, where- 
 in there was an arch-chirographer of the Jews, who feems to have been 
 an officer appointed to draw up, and regifter, their fecurities ; and that 
 all Jews of above feven years of age, fliould wear a yellow diftinguifhing 
 badge, confpicuoufly placed upon their upper garments, he defires that 
 the tax of three pennies of head money, and all the arrears of it, may be 
 flridly levied. [F^ikra, V. ii,p. 83.] 
 
 1278, June 17'" — King Edward having received very confiderable af- 
 fi fiance from the Cinque ports in his war againfl the Welfh, gratified 
 them with a charter, wherein he refers to liberties they enjoyed in the 
 times of Edward the ConfefTor, William I, William II, Henry II, Rich- 
 ard I, John, and Henry III. The fervice required of them by the king, 
 is fixed at fifty-feven lliips, properly manned, for fifteen days. And in 
 return, they are favoured with exemption from prifage upon the wines 
 imported in their own trade, and with fome other immunities, [yeakts 
 Charters of the Cinque ports. ~\ 
 
 According to Bradon, who flourifhed in the reign of Henry III, the 
 ports originally aflbciated in the duty of providing Ihips for the pubUc 
 fervice, and in the enjoyment of the privileges and exemptions granted 
 in return for their fervices, were Raftings, Hythe, Rumney, Dover, and 
 Sandwich ; and from their number, being ^w, was derived the colle<ftive 
 appellation o? Cinque ports, which continued in ufe after the acceflion of 
 other ports rendered it improper. Winchelfea and Rye were added 
 afterwards, probably in the reign of Edward I, and many more as mem- 
 bers. Their names have been varioufly fl;ated ; and probably they have 
 really varied, according to the fiuduating circumfiances of the places. 
 
 According to a cuftumal of the 
 town of Hythe, of a later age than 
 that of Edward If, 
 Hailings was to provide 21 fhips. 
 Its members wereSeaford, 
 
 According to a lift, dated in the 
 22** year of Edward I, 
 Ilaftings provided - 3 ftiips. 
 The Lowie of Pevenfey, i 
 Bulverhithe and Petit jahn, i 
 
 * The ftatiite, faij to be of uncertain date (See order. Tliere is a tranflation of the llatute in 
 
 S'.alutis at I'lrge, Index, -vo. jfe-ws, and j4ppendix, Toi>ry''s yJnglia JiiJiiica, />. 20O. 
 
 />. 28), is dated by Prynne \_Demurrer, part i, f In the reign of Richard II \vc find an order 
 
 f>- 37] '" tl'C third year of Edw. I, wherein he to fit out the Cinque-port i\cet of Jifly-fevai vcfTeis, 
 
 dificrs from Lord Coke. It permitted the Jews armed and properly anayed, willi a mafter and 
 
 to be mcrciianls, labourers, and farmers, but pro- tiut-iity men in each, to ferve fifteen days after their 
 
 liibittd then, from taking any intereft for money, arrival at Briftol, the port of rendezvous, at their 
 
 and rcHored to thofe Clirillians, who had niort- own cxpenfe, and allcrwards aa long as the king 
 
 gaged their lands to Jews in fecurity for money fliould rcipiirc at his expenfe, though only the pay 
 
 lent, the chief hoiife and half of the lands. Thcfc, of the men is fpccified ; for all which charters of 
 
 being the mod obvious unjuft, and inexpedient, former kings arc referred to. [^Fai/era, K vii, />. 
 
 parti of the (latulc, arc not mentioned in the king's 784 ; fee aUoj». Sj^.; and F. x,/>. 108.]
 
 A. D. 1278. 
 
 43 
 
 Beckfburn, - i fliip. 
 
 Grange and Gillingham, two 
 armed men. 
 
 Rye, 
 
 Winchelfea, 
 
 5 
 10 
 
 Romney, 
 Lydde, 
 Hythe, 
 Dover, 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 
 Folkfton, 
 
 7 
 
 Feverfliam, 
 
 7 
 
 Sandwich, withStonor, Ford- 
 wich, Dale, &c. - 5 
 
 The fhips to be ready upon forty 
 days notice every year, properly 
 srmed and arrayed, to carry 20 
 men each, befides the mafter of the 
 mariners, and to ferve five days at 
 the expenfe of the ports, and after- 
 wards at the king's expenfe. 
 
 Pevenfey, Hodney, Win- 
 chelfea, Rye, Ihame, 
 Beckfburn, Grange, Nor- 
 thie, Bulverhithe. 
 Romenal, or Rumney 5 fhips. 
 
 Its members, Promhill, 
 Lydde, Eaflwefton, Den- 
 geymarfli, Old Rumney, 
 Hethe, or Hythe, - 5 
 
 Its member. Weft Hythe. 
 Dover, - - 21 
 
 Its members, Folkfi:on,Fe- 
 verfham,andSMVIargarets. 
 Sandwich, - 5 
 
 Its members, Fordwich, 
 Reculver, Serre, and Dele, 
 or Deal. 
 
 Each fhip to carry 2 1 men and 
 I garcion or boy, the whole com- 
 plement being 1,197 ^^^^ ^^'^ 57 
 boys for the 57 fhips, which were to 
 ferve 15 days, countingfrom the firfl 
 fpread of the fails, at the expenfe of 
 the ports, and afterwards, as long as 
 the kingfhould defire, at his expenfe. 
 [Haklujt^s Voiages, V. i. p. 17.] 
 
 King Edward treated the Jews with great rigour. He prohibited 
 them fi'om felling or afligning their debts without his licence. He or- 
 dered their repofitories throughout the whole kingdom to be fearched. 
 He iffued various orders againfh their extortions by ufury. He fet on 
 foot an inquifition to take cognifance of thofe who negleded to wear 
 their diflinguifhing badges. The oppreflion and ignominy, which that 
 unfortunate race of people continually groaned under, feem to have 
 rendered them regardlefs of charader ; and the frequent extortions of 
 vafl fums from them made them think themfelves juftifiable in taking 
 every method whatever to indemnify themfelves. They were faid to 
 make a common pradice of diminifhing the currerit coin, circulating 
 counterfeit money, and making fraudulent exchanges, and to carry 
 thofe frauds to fuch an extent, that the nominal prices of all things 
 were raifed, and foreign merchants declined trading in England, where 
 the money was fo very much funk below its nominal value. In confe- 
 quence of their guilt, and the outcry raifed againfl them, all the Jews 
 throughout England were imprifoned in one day, and no fewer than 
 two hundred and eighty of both fexes were hanged in London only, be-
 
 43? A. D. 1278. 
 
 fides vaft numbers in other parts of the kingdom, vvhofe property was 
 all confifcated. Some Chriftians were alfo hanged for being concerned 
 with the Jew's, and others were heavily fined. [7?o/. pat. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 
 Edw. I. — M. Wsftm. p. 409 — T. Wikes, p. 107 — Walfingham, p. 48. J 
 
 1279 The awkward contrivance of making halfpennies and far- 
 things by breaking pennies into two or four pieces, which prefented a 
 very tempting opportunity of cutting fome of the filver from the pieces, 
 was flill in ufe, though round halfpennies and farthings had been many 
 years in circulation, but probably no't in fufficient quantity. In order 
 to prevent fo great a temptation to fraud, and to banifh all the counter- 
 feit or defaced money from the circulation, the king ordered a complete 
 new coinage of round pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, and alfo fome 
 pieces of four pennies each * ; and thenceforth no other than round 
 money was allowed to be current f . [ylmi. Waver/, p. 234. — T. Wikes, 
 p. 108. — M. Wejlm. p. 409 — Slaw's Ann. p. 307.] 
 
 It feems probable that King Edward alfo coined pieces of two pen- 
 nies, as Alexander king of Scotland coined pieces of that value, and, we 
 may prefume, others of four pennies :|:. 
 
 In order to difperfe the new money quickly through the kingdom, 
 it was given to the people in exchange for the old bad money, on pay- 
 ing the difference, at the minting offices, called changes or exchanges, 
 eftabliftied in moft of the principal towns. \ft. Wikesy p. 108.] At this 
 time the mint, or exchange (' cambium'), of London was under the 
 management of fome merchants from Luca in Italy, together with Gre- 
 gory de Rokefle mayor of London. {Madox's Hijl. of the excheq. c. 22, 
 § 4 ; f . 23, § I.] As we have good reafon to believe, that the Englifli 
 filver-fmiths were by no means deficient in their art, we muft fuppofe, 
 either that the king was under pecuniary obligations to the foreigners, 
 or that his own fubjeds were inferior to the Italians in the knowlege of 
 accounts, which is the moft probable. 
 
 In the dark ages the people were made to believe, that the furefl way 
 to obtain eternal happinefs was to beftow their property upon, what 
 
 ♦ The coinage of four-periny pieces by Ed- land, has already been noticed and accounted for. 
 
 ward I is mentioned, 1 believe, only by Stow; See above, p. 385, note. 
 
 and it was thought a mitlake. ^Fleetwoed't Chron. % A piece of two pennies, coined by King Alex- 
 
 prec. p. 38, td. 1745.] But his veracity is con- ander, is preferved in the Advocates' library at 
 
 llrmcd by Mr. Folkes, who weighed eleven fuch Edinburgh, and is afcribed to Alexander I [. 
 
 pieces of Edward I, and found them very unequal, [^Rudd. Pref. ad And. Dipt. p. 64.] But, as the 
 
 fome too light, and others much too heavy, kings were net numbered on their coins in thofc 
 
 ^Tahhs of coins, p.'^.'\ They were probably never ages, it feems more reafonable to afTign it to his 
 
 very numerous, nor generally current ; and it is fon, the only Alexander contemporary with Ed- 
 
 pretty evident, that they, as well as the gold coins ward I, than to fuppofe that the Scots preceded 
 
 of Henry III, were forgotten in the reign of the EngliHi in any innovation or improvement. 
 
 Edward III. 'J'here is in the fame colledion a two-pciuiy piece 
 
 f The milakcn notion, that this was the firft afcribed to Edward I. But, for the reafon now 
 
 coinage of round halfpennies and faithings in Eng- given, it may be doubted, which Edward it be- 
 
 3 longs to.
 
 A. D. 1278. 43 
 
 f^ 
 
 were called, religious foundations. Before they were carried to excefs 
 in number and opulence, fuch foundations were produdive of fomc ad- 
 vantages to fociety, independent of the religious purpofes of their infti- 
 tution : for, as the clergy were the only people who could read and 
 write, there were in all ages a few of the monks, whofe inclinations 
 prompted, and whofe talents (according to the Aandard of the age) 
 qualified, them to tranfmit to fucceeding ages fome knowlege of the 
 events of their own times, and others to whofe patient induftry in tranf- 
 cribing we are indebted for the prefervation of that portion of anrient 
 literature, which has come down to our times : in monafteries men were 
 prepared for thofe public employments which required fome degree of 
 education : and in them the dull flame of the lamp of fcience was pre- 
 ferved from utter extinftion. So far thofe inftitutions were beneficial 
 to mankind. But the quantity of land and other property, beflowed 
 upon focieties deftiiied to have a perpetual fuccelTion, wiio were conti- 
 nually acquiring, and never giving away, had become in the courfe of 
 ages fo enormoufly great, that the whole kingdom was in danger of be- 
 ing fwallowed up by the church, and being fubjed to, or at leafl: in the 
 difpofal of, the pope *. The poflfeflxDrs of thofe vaft domains became 
 lazy, ufelefs, and vicious ; and the prodigious wealth of their houfes 
 held out a large premium to idlenefs, and an equally-large difcourage- 
 ment to induftry and commerce. Even the military profeflion, though 
 cherifhed and applauded by the temper and opinions of the age, was af- 
 feded by it ; and many, who by their birth and tenures, according to 
 the feudal fyftem, belonged to the national militia, preferred the flum- 
 bers of the convent to the dangers of the field f. A part, at leaft, of 
 the evil was feen, and fome faint attempts were made to check the pro- 
 grefs of it, before this time. In the year 1225 the regents, during the 
 minority of Henry ill, inferted in a new edition of the Magna charta 
 an order againft giving lands to religious houfes. But it appears to 
 have been difregarded ; and fuch donations feem to have been even tol- 
 erated, provided they were made by the licence of the chief lord of the 
 land, who would have brought an odium, if not excommunication, upon 
 himfelf, if he had ventured to refufe his confent. So flender a reftraint 
 .was therefor by no means fufficient to prevent the continuance of the 
 abufe, or to counterad the ftrong belief thac admillion to the joys of 
 heaven was to be purchafed with lands or money. 
 
 November 15"' — King Edward, by the advice of his prelates, earls, 
 and others of his council, now enaded thejiatute of mortmain, ftridly or- 
 
 • We have alre^idy feen, tliat the inefficient and f It is true that the lands of bifhops, abbats, 
 
 non-refident foreign clergymen, impofed upon Eng- priors, &c. who were barons as well as eccleCaf- 
 
 land by the pope, drained it annually of more tics, weie fubjecled to military fervices by William 
 
 money than the whole reveni;e of the kingdom the Conqueror : but they were performed by fub- 
 
 amounted to. ftitiites, and of little arail. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 I
 
 434 A. D. 1^78. • 
 
 daining, that no lands fliould go into the poflefllon of any perpetual body, 
 either by donation or by fale ; and that any land, fo difpofed of by col- 
 lufion, fliould be entered upon by the fuperior lord, or, in cafe of his 
 negled or failure, by the king, \vho fhould put it into the pofleflion of 
 fuch as would contribute their fervices to the defence of the realm. 
 [7 Edzv. I.} As the king only adverted tO' the deficiency of military 
 ftrength occafioned by the ecclefiaftical monopoly of lands, it is pretty 
 evident, that the pernicious anti-commercial tendency of it never occur- 
 red to him or his council*. 
 
 The great, fertile, populous, induftrious, and wealthy, empire of China, 
 which was fir ft attacked, and in part fubjeded, by Zingis-khan, was 
 now completely fubdued by his grandfon Cublai. The conqueror next 
 afpired to the dominion of the fea and the iflands. But the fleet, which 
 he expected to make him mafler of Zipangu (fuppofed to be Japan), was 
 twice wrecked, and a hundred thoufand Moguls ar-d Chinefe perifhed 
 without achieving any conquefl. Notwithfianding this revolution, the 
 Gonflitution, the manufadures, and the commerce, of China remained 
 unimpaired. The army of the conquerors was foon lofl and blended 
 among the infinite numbers of the conquered : and the empire feemed 
 rather to have adopted a new dynafty of princes, than to have fuffered 
 a revolution. [See Gibboti, V. xi, pp. 414, 427, and authorities quoted by 
 bi?ii.'] 
 
 The emperor Cublai, obferving that many lives were loft every year 
 in tranfporting the produce of the fouthern provinces to the capital by 
 fea, conftru6ted a canal by turning the waters of fome lakes into arti- 
 ficial channels extending northward and fouthward 840 geographical 
 miles. {Hi/}. Sin. ap. 'Thevenot, V. ii, p. 67.] This canal, which is the 
 longeft artificial navigable water in the world, by its connedlion with 
 the great rivers effedls an inland navigation, with very little interrup- 
 tion from portages, between Pekin and Canton, cities fituated at the 
 oppofite extremities of the empire, and is continually covered by in- 
 numerable barges employed in conducting the greateft part of the trade 
 of the moft populous country on the face of the earth, and alfo in con- 
 veying paflxingers, the journies being moftly performed by water f . 
 
 1280, July 17"' In confequence of fome differences between the 
 
 merchants of London and thole of Zeland, the later in the year 1275 
 
 • It appears Ly tlie patent rolls 27 EJw. I, m. fo monadic focicties were tlien called. \_RyIfy, 
 
 I, and Fa-flera, V. ii, /. 1004, that Kdward did Plac. pari. p. 644.] A very iifiial expedient for 
 
 not fcruple to infringe this ftatiilc himftlf, and al- evading- tlic law was to make an exchange of one 
 
 low others to infringe it. And, not to multiply j)iece of land for another with the fuperior of a 
 
 inilances in the fame and fuccceding reigns, whieh iiionaflic ellahlilliment, as may he feen in alinoft 
 
 might be produced by hundreds, it may fuffice to every page of tlie Calendar of the patent rolls. 
 
 oblerYC, that in the year 1329 it was reprefented f Sec the defcription of the navigation of the 
 
 to Edward III and his privy council, that, if they Cliiiicle tiuiid in ^Uiuntor'i j4aouNt of an cmbit^y to 
 
 were not very attentive to prevent it, his whole China. 
 dominions would fuoii be in the hands of religion }
 
 A. D. 1280. 
 
 435 
 
 fitted out fourteen or more vefTels of the kind called cogs, in which they 
 cruifed againfl the Englifh trading vefTels. King Edward thereupon or- 
 dered, that the property of all merchants of Zeland, found in any of the 
 ports of England, or upon the fea, ihould be feized. And fo a petty 
 warfare was kept up for about five years, till the earl of Zeland offered 
 to make fatisfadion for the damages done by his fubjedls : whereupon 
 King Edward now ordered that the merchants of that country fhould 
 have their property reftored, and be allowed to trade in England as be- 
 fore. \_Fadera, V. ii, pp. 59, 156, 177 — Rot. pat. 8 Edw. I, m. 7.] 
 
 November 17^'' — The king confirmed to the merchants of Germany, 
 occupying the Teutonic gildhall in London, the privileges and liberties 
 granted to them by his father, and promifed that he would not himfelf 
 do any thing, nor permit others to do any thing, to infringe them. 
 l^Foedera, V. ii, p. 161. J There is fliil no mention of the appellation of 
 merchants of the Hanfe. The privileges, &c. were again confirmed to 
 them by the fame king in his twenty-ninth year. \^Rot, pat. 29 Edw. J, 
 a tergo.'\ 
 
 1 28 1, November 20'" — ^The commercial intercourfe of the Chrifl:Ians 
 with the Saracens having been interrupted for fome time in compliance 
 with an order iffued by the pope, Pedro III king of Aragon, finding 
 that his fubjedls were very great fufferers thereby, now gave them per- 
 miflion to export all kinds of merchandize, excepting wheat and barley, 
 and alfo horfes, unlefs for the relief of the Holy land, to all nations, 
 whether Chrifl:ians or Saracens. But he added that it was not in his 
 power to difpenfe with the pope's particular prohibition againft carry- 
 ing iron, arms, and fome other articles, to the Saracens. [Capmany, 
 MejTi. hijl. de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. dipl.p. 37.] 
 
 It was, no doubt, chiefly for the fake of the flieep and the wool pro- 
 duced by them, that King Edward commiflloned Peter Corbet to dellroy 
 the wolves in the fliires of Gloucefier, Worcefl:er, Hereford, Salop, and 
 Stafford, \Fa:dera, V. ii, p. 168] and ordered John Gifford to hunt them 
 in all the forefi:s of England : \Rot. pat. 9 Edw. I, m. 2] and fome time 
 after John Engayne got an eftate on condition of defl:roying wolves and 
 other vermin in Huntingdon-fliire *. {Blount's Tenures, p. 60.] 
 
 While Edward was coUeding his army for the invafion of Wales, he 
 
 * The foreft of Cliikern was infcfted by wolves Thomas Engaine for the feivice of deftroyin j 
 
 and wild bulls in the time of Edward the Con- wolves and other vermin in that and four otlier 
 
 fefTor. IM. Paris, Fit. p. 4.^.2 William the Con- (liire?. \_Blount, pp. 15,71.] Yet we are told, 
 
 queror granted the lordlhip uf Riddefdale in North- that all the wolves in Wales were extirpated by 
 
 umberland to Robert de Umfraville on condition order of Edgar king of England, as if there could 
 
 ot defending that part of the country againft: ene- be wolves in England without being in Wales ; 
 
 mics and wolves. [^Blount's Tenures, p. 15, ed. and the ftory, though evidently falfe, has met with 
 
 1679.] ■'^'"g John gave a premium of ten (liil- general belief. I wifli we had proofs, equally 
 
 lings tor catching two wolves. \_Rymer''s Coll. ftrong, to deniolifh the other wonders in the hif- 
 
 manufcr. V. i, n". 62.] John and Edward III tory of that king of the monks, 
 gave lands in Northampton-fhire to Joliu and 
 
 3I 2
 
 43*6 
 
 A. D. 1281. 
 
 fent agents, not only through all England, but alfo into the neighbour- 
 ing countries, 10 buy up provillons and other ftores. [Rot. Wa/lice, 10, 
 1 1 Edzv. I, uj Ayl'jffe^s Calendar ."l \l^e find, feveral agents were fent to 
 purcliufe corn and other provifions in Ireland, which thus appears to 
 have produced moVe than the confumption of the inhabitiuits required ; 
 and there were no potatoes then. \Kot. Wallice, mm. 10, 8, 2,] We 
 alfo find, the fhirrefs of Cumberland and Lancafter were ordered to fend 
 people to purchafc fifh on the weft coaft of Scotland, and to carry them 
 to Chefter : and Adam of Fuleham was appointed to provide roo bar- 
 rels of fturgeons of Aberdeen *, and 5,000 fait fifh, and alfo dry fifh. 
 [Rot- Wallia^ mm. 9, 8 dorfts.'] The fifh of Aberdeen were io well cured, 
 that they were even carried to the capital fifhing port of Yarmouth f . 
 Thus we are afllired that fifheries were carried on to fome confiderable 
 extent on both fides of Scotland ; and that Aberdeen, which had then 
 •got a charader for curing fifh, and probably fome port or ports in the 
 Firth of Clyde, were known to have a fupply of fifli, pickled and cured 
 for foreign markets, long before the time that the art of curing fifli is 
 generally fuppofed to have been difcovered in Flanders. 
 
 1282 — The colle6lion of the cuftoms was frequently entrufted to for- 
 eign merchants, either as an accountable truft, or for a ftipulated rent :|:. 
 Bonricini Guidicon and Company of Luca accounted to the exchequer 
 for the proceeds of the new cufloms on wool, wool-fells, and hides, from 
 
 * ' Ccnlum barr'tW efigionum lie giiitigtnt' ^ler- 
 den.'' — So it is in the roll, which I examined by 
 the favour of Mr. Aftle, the learned and liberal 
 keeper of the records in the Tower. The tranfla- 
 tion fcems to be — a hundred harreh, nfji-ve hundred 
 pounds each, of Aberdeen Jlurgeoni. — Qjiere if not 
 rather falmons {^ifyc'iorum orefochim, inftead of which 
 the copying clerk h?5 written ejtgwnum in the roll) 
 for the fuperior pickling and packing of which in 
 barrels of the old Hamburgh kind Aberdeen has 
 long been famous ? Sturgeons were fcarce, and too 
 cxpenfive for feeding; an army with. Six barrels 
 of them coft ^"19 for the houfehold of Thomas 
 > earl of L.auca(ler, nephew of King Edward I. 
 \_Slo'Uj's Suri'ty of Lcndon, p. 133, ed. 1618.] The 
 faked and dry fifh were probably cod or ling, not 
 put up in any packages. — In tlic year 1308 Ed- 
 ward II ordered his chamberlain for Scotland to 
 provide 3,cco falmons in Scotland out of the re- 
 venues of thft country, "and to have them properly 
 put up in cail<s (' doliis') for prcfeivation. \_Fa- 
 ■d.r.i. V. iii,/. 95.] 
 
 f Four hunched li(1i of Aberdeen, two hundred 
 Tlockfifh, onr (ftriall) barrel of fturgeons, five dozen 
 "f lampreys, fifiy pounds of whale (* halen'), and 
 h'llf a lall of herrings, conrtitnted the fifli part of 
 »he provifiors, put onboard a (hip, fitted out at 
 Varmoiith in the year i 29c, for bringing the in- 
 fant ipiecn 01 Seollaiid from the court of her fa- 
 :i (r the king of Norw.iy. The fifh of Aberdem 
 
 cofl fomcwhat under three pennies each, the ftock 
 filh fomevvhat under one penny each, and the halt 
 lafl of herrings thirty {hilliv.gs. [/fym^r'j CoU. 
 maniifcr. V. ii, p. 287. j Aberdeen tith aifo occur 
 in the account of King Edward's wardrobe in the 
 year 1 290. 
 
 \ Tiie cuftoms were alfo affigned to individuals 
 ts icturities, or funds, for the payment of debts 
 due" by the king. In the year 1307 Edward I 
 affigned to the merchants of Brabant the new cuf- 
 toms payable upon their own imports for payment 
 of a debt due to them, whereupon they prcmifcd 
 to bring rrcrchandize much more abundantly to 
 the port of London. \_Ry!ey, Plae. pari. p. 327.3 
 In 1312 the culloms of Bolton were affigned to a 
 merchant of Genoa for a debt due by the king. 
 [^Mtidox's Hiji. c. 10, } 12. "I In the fame year 
 the cuftoms of wool, wool-fells, and In'des, in the 
 port of Berwick were afligntd to Piers dc Gavaf- 
 ton for ^^'408 : 1 1 : 8 due by the king, to be paid 
 to him immediately after the full payment of a funi 
 fecured upon tiie fame cuftoms to David of Brech- 
 in, a Scottlfli baron, then In the intereft of Ed- 
 ward, probably as a compeniation for the forfeiture 
 of liis cftatf in Soot\ird. \Fadira, V. ili, p. 310.^ 
 And Alexander III king of Scotland took the 
 fame method of paying a foreign merchant by an 
 affignment of the cuftomn of Berwick. \Yadera, 
 y. )i, /, 60J.J
 
 A. D. 1282. 437 
 
 Kafter I2?r to Eafler 1282 : and from fome particulars of their account 
 we find that there were .fliipped from Newcaflle upon Tine 
 
 771 facks 7y ftones of wool, paying a cuftom duty of 6/B per fack ; 
 11,182 wool- fells (Iheep's flvins with the wool on them) 6/"8 for every 300 ; 
 and 80 lafts 1 2 dacres of hides 1 3/4 per laft. 
 
 The amount of the ufual cuflom in the port of Hull was this year 
 £1 ,o?i6 : 10 : 8, and their whoic receipts for the year amounted to 
 ;^"8,4ii : 19 : I li. [Madox's H'ljl. of the cxcheq. c. 23, § I.] 
 
 Many ovher i; ilances might be adduced, if neceifary, of the collec- 
 tion of the cuftoms being put into the hands of foreigners, who were 
 generally partners of fome of thofe flrong and numerous coinpanies, 
 who had their chief houies in Italy, and had branches of their trade, 
 managed by one or more of their partners, in London and other cities 
 of Europe, whereby they got into their own hands nearly the whole of 
 the trade between the Mediterranean coafls and the countries in which 
 they lettled. Such were in this age the FrifcobalJi, the Kembertini, the 
 Dardi, the Spini, of Florence; the Riczardi, the Ballardi, of Luca, &c. 
 Thole merchants were very ferviceable to the kings in lending them 
 money, and negotiating exchanges and other kinds of bufinefs for them, 
 and confequently enjoyed a good deal of their favour. They were alio 
 generally agents for the pope, and received the money extorted by him, 
 on a variety of pretences, irrom every country in his communion, which 
 they either remitted to him, or lent out at interefl on his account : for 
 the canons of the church, made to deterr the people from taking intereft 
 for the ufe of money, were not binding upon the head of the church, 
 who affumed a power of fufpending the laws of God and man for his 
 own purpofes. lx\ return for thcjfe lervices the popes, who knew how 
 to pay their own debts at the expenfe of others, ufed to defire the kings 
 to favour their merchants with privileges, exemptions, and lucrative jobs. 
 [Feedera, V. ii, pp. 311, 682, 705, 039, 1051, 8cc. &c. — M. Paris, pp. 
 362, 938 — Madox's n:ji. c. 22, § 2 ; r. 23, § 22 ; f. 24, § 7.J ^ 
 
 The German merchants in London (called merchantb t)f the Hanic 
 by Stow, who, however, quotes no authority*) were bound, in conii der- 
 ation of lundry privileges, to maintain the gate of the-city called Bilhopi- 
 gate. Upon their refufal to fulfill their pint of the covenant the mat- 
 ter was carried before the barons of Uie exchequer, who gave judgemenc 
 againft them, and directed the mayor and fnirrefs of London to diftrain 
 Gerard Marbod alderman of the Hanfe, together with iix other merch- 
 ants, citizens of Cologne, Triers, Trivon, Hamburgh, and Munlter, for 
 the expenie of the reparations ; whereupon they paid 210 marks to the 
 
 * As I have no opportunity of tracing Stow's fad related. If ti;e word Ihnfe be getmine, quere, 
 
 authority, it is iinpoflible to tell, whether in tranf- if it is not the eatlieft known application of that 
 
 lating he had fupphed a name well known in liis name.'to the great affociatiOiT of mcccanlile cities? 
 own age, or found it in a record co-xval with tlie
 
 438 A. D. 1282. 
 
 city, and engaged to uphold the gate in future, and alfo to bear a third 
 part of the charges in money and men to defend it. On that occafion 
 the community of the city granted, or confirmed, to the German merch- 
 ants the liberty of ftoring the corn imported by them for the fpace of 
 forty days, unlefs particularly prohibited by the mayor on account of 
 fcarcity, or other reafonable caufe, and of chufing their alderman, who 
 fhould be of the city, fhould be prefented to the mayor and aldermen 
 of the city after his eledlion, and fhould take an oath before them to 
 maintain jufbice according to law and the cufloms of the city *. \_Stow's 
 Survey of London, p. 431, ed. 16 18.] 
 
 1283 — ' Pedro III king of Aragon, by his provifion of the year 12^3, 
 ' which is the feventh chapter of the cortes of Barcelona of that year, 
 ' abolifhed the gabel (or duty) upon fait throughout all Catalonia, and 
 * decreed by law that neither he nor any of his fucceflbrs fhould ever 
 ' be empowered to re-cflablifla it. This falutary meafure was a diredl 
 ' encouragement to the fifhery and the trade of curing provifions, and 
 ' particularly tunnies, the fifhery for which had been in all ages an ob- 
 ' jecl of attention with the Catalans.' At the fame time (by c. 25'") 
 •the hofpitable law of Count Raymundo Berenguer I in the year 1068 
 was confirmed and amplified. [Capmany, Mevi. hijl. de Barcelona.^ ^'i. 
 Com. pp. 22 r, 224.] From thefe and other wife laws of the Catalans, 
 already mentioned, and to be mentioned, in this work, it is evident that 
 the true principles of commercial and manufailuring policy were well 
 underflood and aded upon by that nation many ages before they began 
 to be known in this country. And, indeed, at whatever time the fifh- 
 ■eries and manufactures of Great Britain fhall be delivered from the 
 hardfhips of the fait laws, it mull be acknowleged that the legiflators of 
 Barcelona will have had the merit of preceding up by above five centuries. 
 
 The firfl: Englifh parliament, wherein eledive reprefentatives of the 
 people fat, was fummoned by the ufurped and tranfient authority of the 
 earl of Lelcefler in the year i 265 : and after that we know of no fimilar 
 reprefentative, or eledive, members of any parliament, till King Edward 
 fummoned a parliament (June 28''') to meet at Shrev/fbury on the 30"' 
 of September 1283, to which, befides the great barons called by a par- 
 ticular writ addreffed to each of them, and two reprefentatives eleded 
 for each of the fliires, there were called two members for each of the 
 following cities and towns, which, if the lift is complete, were thofe 
 which were then efteemed the moft opulent and confiderable in the 
 kingdom. The writs were direded to the 
 
 Mayor, citizens, and fhirrefs, of 
 
 London, 
 Mayor and citizens of Winche/ier, 
 
 Mayor and bailifs of Newcajlle upon 
 
 Tine, 
 Mayor and citizens of Tork, 
 
 • We (1 all afterwards find the office of alderman of the Hanfe ufually filled by one of the aldermen 
 of London. 5
 
 A. D. 1283. 439 
 
 Mayor and bailifs oi Brijlol, 
 Mayor and citizens of Exeter, 
 Mayor and citizens of Lincoln^ 
 Mayor and citizens of Canterbury, 
 Mayor and citizens of Carlile, 
 Bailifs of Norwich, 
 Mayor and good men of Nort/jamton, 
 Bailifs of Nottingha??i, 
 Bailifs of Scarburgh, 
 
 Mayor and bailifs of Grimjby, 
 Mayor and bailifs of Lynne, 
 Bailifs of Colcbejier, 
 Bailifs and good men of Tarmouth, 
 JMayor and good men of Hereford, 
 Mayor and good men of Chejler, 
 Bailifs and good men ofShrewJbury, 
 Mayor and good men of Worce/ier, 
 [Foedera, V. u, pp. 247-249.] 
 
 Thus were the reprefentatives of the trading part of the people, refiding 
 in cities and burghs, eftablilhed as a conftituent part of the legiflative 
 aflembly of the nation. But the conftitution of the parliament was fo 
 unfettled, that frequently the cities and burghs were not called upon to 
 eled their reprefentatives. I have already obferved, that the reprefent- 
 atives of the commons had little or no influence in parliament till long 
 after the time now under our confideration. 
 
 Odober 10'" — ^The parliament, met at Adon-Burnell, confidering, that 
 there was no law whereby merchants might recover their debts from 
 thofe to whom they entrufled their property, and that, for want of fuch 
 a law, niany merchants were impoveriflied, and many foreign merchants 
 defilled from trading to England, paffed an ad called the Statute of merch- 
 ants, which direded that the buyer fhould appear before the mayor of 
 London, York, or Briftol, to acknowlege the debt and day of payment, 
 which Ihould be regillered ; and that the debtor fliould put his feal to 
 a bill drawn by the mayor's clerk, who Ihould alfo affix the king's feal, 
 lod.'j;ed with him for that purpofe *. If the debtor negleded to make 
 payment when due, the mayor, upon the creditor producing his bill, 
 was direded to order a fale of the debtor's chattels, or burgages devife- 
 able, to the extent of the debt, if they were within his jurildidion, and 
 to deliver the money without delay to the creditor. If the property of 
 the debtor was not within the mayor's jurifdidion, he was to fend the 
 recognifance to the chancellor, who was to iillie a writ, dciiring the fliir- 
 ref, in whofe jurifdidion the property was, to do what the mayor fliould 
 otherways have done. If the debtor poflclled no property, he was to be 
 imprifoned, and fed with bread and water, till he or his friends fhould 
 fatisfy the creditor f. {A6i 1 1 Edw. /.] 
 
 In the years 1283 and 1284 Robert Durham the mayor, together 
 with Simon Martel and other good men, of Berwick upon Tweed, en- 
 aded the Statutes of the gild. 
 
 By c. 20 None but gild-brethren were permitted to buy hides, wool, or 
 wool-fells, in order to fell them again, or to cut cloth, except foreign 
 merchants. 
 
 * Thefe regulations fuppofe tlie debtor incapable of writing. 
 
 f I remember reading a plan, fomewhat fimilar to this law, projefted by fome modern author.
 
 '..VO A. jD, i 2t>-2. 
 
 cc. 22, 37, 44, Herrings and other fifli, corn, beans, peas, fait, and 
 coals *, were ordered to be fold ' at the bray' alongfide of the veflei 
 bringing them, and nowhere elfe : and they were nor to be carried on- 
 fhore when the fun was down. Any burgefs, who was prefent at a pur- 
 chafe of herrings, might claim a portion of them for his own confump- 
 tion at the original coft. 
 
 c. 27, Brokers were eleded by the communi; y of the to\vn, and their 
 names regiftered. They paid annually a tun (' dolium') of wine for 
 their licence. 
 
 c. 28, No regrator was allowed to buy fifli, hay, oais, cheefe, butter, or 
 other articles, brought into the town for fale, till the bell rang. 
 cc. 29, 41 , No merchandize was allowed to be fold anywhere but in the 
 common mai-ket, where they were to pay toll, 
 
 c. ^7,, The government of the town was declared to be by a mayor, 
 four provofts (' prsepofitis'), and twenty-four counfelors. 
 
 The court of the Four burghs in Scotland confifted of reprefentatives 
 from Berwick, Edinburgh, Rokfburgh, and Striveline (or Stirling), 
 whofe province it was to judge of all matters concerning commerce, 
 and the conftitutions and cuftoms of the burghs ; fo that it was a board 
 of trade and police f. 
 
 The Chaviherlaiy! s court in Scotland appears to have alfo had a jurif- 
 diction over the burghs, and the infpeftion and regulation of many mat- 
 ters coniiected with the trade and general police of the kingdom. The 
 chamberlain made periodical progrefles through the whole country, and 
 carried with him ftandard weights and meafures, in order to prove thofe 
 kept by the magiftrates of the towns ; and it was his duty to prevent 
 thofe, who took up goods for the king's ufe at the king's price (which 
 thus appears to have been under the fair market price) from taking 
 more than was wanted for the king in order to get a profit to them- 
 felves, and alio from defrauding the merchants of their due payment. 
 From ihe regulations of this court we learn, that infpedtors were ap- 
 pointed to examine, and certify by their feal of office, the quality and 
 quantity of cloth, bread, and calks containing liquors ; that other offi- 
 cers, called troners, had the infpedion of wool ; that the falmon filhery 
 was carefully regulated, and filhing during the night, or while the fal- 
 mon were not in feafon, was prohibited, &c. :f: 
 
 • This 13 the carlieft mention of the uTe of coals of the Slaiuta gthU and Iter camcraiii, as piiblidicd 
 
 ill Scotland ; but, as they were carried to Berwick by vSkeiic along with the Rrgiam majcfiulcm. The 
 
 by water, it is uncertain, whether they were dug origin of the court of the four buiglis and of the 
 
 in England or Scotland. chambeilain's court cannot be difcoveied. We 
 
 \ In the year 136.S Lanerk and Linlithgow find them cllabliflied before the year 1291: \_Ry- 
 were fubllituted for Berwick and Rokfburgh, then lefs Placifn pur!, pp. 147-15 1 ] and, as we may be 
 in the hands of the Engli(h ; and Hadington, pretty well alFurcd, that they could not originate 
 though not one of the four burghs, was appointed during the eonvulfions, which diflrafted the king- 
 to be their place of meeting. [Shni; /. 15+ a.] dom after tiie death of Alexander III, we may 
 Sec below under tlie year 1466. prcfume, tli;it they are at kail as old as tlie reign 
 
 J The particulars of the commercial and muni- of that king. 
 
 cipal police of Seotl.iiid are given upon the faith ,
 
 A. D. 1284. 441 
 
 1284 — King Edward, having made a conquefl of Wales and united 
 it to England, appointed fhirrefs, and partly eftablifhed the Englifh laws 
 and policy, in that country. Having extirpated the antient Britifli fove- 
 reigns, he conferred on his ion, jufl: then born at Carnarvon in Wales, 
 the title of prince of Wales, which has ever fince belonged to the oldefl 
 fons of the kings of England. In order to reconcile the Welfli to his 
 government, he made their principal towns free burghs, and favoured 
 many of them with exemption from tolls throughout all England. He 
 alfo gave them encouragement to work their mines of lead, which de- 
 ferves notice as the commencement of induftry in a branch, which has 
 fince become confiderable in that country. \Statutum Wallue in Statutes 
 at large, V. x, append. — Fcedera, V. ii, p. 293 — Ayhffe's Calendar, pp. 9 1-97.] 
 
 Eric king of Norway, in a friendly letter to King Edward, complain- 
 ed of injuries done to the merchants of his kingdom by fome magif- 
 trates in England, and efpecially thofe of Lynne, and requefted him to 
 put a flop to them, and to order redrefs. [Foedera, Fi ii, p. 272.] 
 
 That filver muft have been plentiful in England, appears from Flor- 
 ence earl of Holland, when he was preparing for a new coinage, fend- 
 ing agents to buy it in this country, who colledled filver bullion to the 
 value of ;^96o fiierling in and near Bedford. {Foedera, V. ii, p. 284.] 
 
 The rancour of neighbourhood and the jealoufy of commerce and 
 naval power, had kept up a long and almofl:-uninterrupted bloody 
 flruggle between the Genoefe and the Pifans : but now the Genoefe, 
 by the afcendant they had obtained in the commerce of the Eafl, in 
 confequence of their affifi:ance in the reiloration of the Greek empire, 
 were become too powerful for the Pifans. They fitted out eighty-eight 
 gallies, and eight veiTels called />rt/{/?'rtJ, larger than gallies, and went to 
 the port of Pifa, where there enfued a furious and obfi:inate battle. 
 Twenty-nine Pifan gallies, together with the great ftandard of Pifa, were 
 taken ; feven were laid to be funk. The reft fled within the chain of 
 the harbour ; and night coming on put an end to the adion, which, 
 however, was abundantly decifive. The podefta and raoft of the nobles 
 of Pifa were taken prifoners ; and thenceforth the commerce and em- 
 pire of the Mediterranean were contefted chiefly by Genoa and Venice. 
 [See Stella An. Genuenf. ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 983.] 
 
 1285, June — An ad was pafled to pi-ohibit all perfons from catching 
 falmon in the waters (or rivers) of Humber, Ouie, Trent, Don, Ayre, 
 Derwent, Werf, Yare, Swale, Teefe *, and all others in the kingdom, 
 between the S'*" of September and the ii''^ of November, and from 
 catching young falmon at mill pools between the middle of April and 
 the 24"^ of June. {Stat. 1,13 Edzv. I, c. 47.] 
 
 The law ot merchants being found nearly inefficient in all places at 
 a diftance from London, York, and Briftol, and being alio fometiraes 
 
 * It is obftrvable, that all the rivers here named arc in York-.liire, or contiguous with it. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 K '^
 
 442 A. D. 1285. 
 
 fruftrated by the miftakes or wilful perverfions of the fherrifs, it was 
 now enaded, that debtors fhould acknowlege their debts before the 
 chief magiftrate or other fufficient perfon appointed by the king, and a 
 clerk alfo appointed by the king, in London and the other good towns ; 
 that the bill, written by the clerk, fhould be fealed and regiftered agree- 
 able to the former ad, e>:cept that the king's feal fhould be of two pieces, 
 whereof the largeft fliould remain with the magiftrate or perfon ading 
 for him, and the other with the clerk ; and each of them was directed 
 alfo to keep a duplicate of the enrollment. On failure of payment at 
 the day appointed, the magiftrate, if the debtor was a layman and with- 
 in his jurifdiftion, was to commit him to prifon, where he was to re- 
 main at his own expenfe till he made fatisfadion. If the debtor was 
 not within the jurifdidion of the magiftrate, the chancellor was to ad 
 agreeable to the former law. The debtor was allowed fix months after 
 his imprifonraent to raife money out of his property, failing which it 
 was to be delivered to the merchant at a reafonable extent (or valua- 
 tion) for payment of the debt, damages, cofts, labour, &c. The lands 
 and goods, but not the body, of a clergyman were liable for his debt *. 
 The regulations were alio extended to tranfadions in fairs, and the 
 king's feals were fent to a proper perfon in every fair. With refped to 
 the commonalty of the merchants of London, it was enaded, that two merch- 
 ants fhould be chofen and fworn, before whom the recognifances fhould 
 be taken, and the ieals lliould be opened, whereof one piece fliould re- 
 main with them, and the other with the clerk. This ordinance was in 
 force in England and Wales for the fervice of all perfons who chofe to 
 avail themfelves of it, except Jews. \_Stat. 3, 13 Edw. /.] 
 
 The king, underftanding that Gregory de Rokefley and Henry Wa- 
 leys citizens of London f , and other merchants of England, Ireland, 
 Gafcoigne, and Wales, had made a pradice of obliging the barons of 
 the Cinque ports and the other feamen of the kingdom to pay average, 
 in cafes of goods thrown overboard in ftorms, upon articles which ought 
 to be exempted, ordained by his letters patent :j:, that the veflel with her 
 apparel, the provifions and cooking utenfils, the mafter's ring, necklace, 
 fafti, and filver cup, and alio the freight payable for the goods brought 
 into port, fliould be exempted from paying any average ; but that all 
 other things in the veflel, not excepting even the feamen's bedding, ftiould 
 be appraifed, and bear a proportion of the lofs incurred by throwing 
 any of the goods overboard for the prcfervation of the reft; and that 
 the mafter fliould not have any freight for the goods thrown overboard. 
 
 • There it fome obfcurity, or relu£lance to f Both of them had frequently been mayors of 
 
 touch upon the fubjcft, in the provilion for com- the city. 
 
 pclhng clergymen to pay their debts. Perhaps % Tlic king took the advice of his council ; but 
 
 theic was uo inllaocc of a clergyman afting dif- the parliament had no concern in enafting this 
 
 Konettly. law.
 
 A. D. 1285. 443 
 
 Each of the [even Cinque ports received a copy of this letter or law. 
 {Fcedera, V. ii, p. 298.] 
 
 The few inanufadures tlien carried on not being fufficient to find 
 employment for the men, who were not engaged in war, agricuhure, 
 or pafturage, and the great body of the people having neither capacity 
 nor opportunity to polilh and humanize themfelves by reading or other 
 rational amufements, robbery was the ufual refource of vaft multitudes 
 of people in every part of Europe for fubfiftence and employment: and 
 the plunderers were often affifted, and proteded againfl the purfuits of 
 juflice, by fome lawlefs baron, whofe caflle was their refuge and the re- 
 ceptacle of their plunder. In Germany their powerful combinations 
 obliged the friends of order and juftice to enter into confederacies 
 againft them, which proved more effeftual than the reliques of the 
 faints and the anathemas of the clergy * : and in England their bands 
 were frequently ftrong enough to fet law and government at defiance. 
 In order to- reprefs fuch enormities, laws were enacted, whereby the 
 magiftrates of walled towns were ordered to keep their gates fhut from 
 the fetting till the rifing of the fun, and to keep a fufficient watch, as 
 in former times, at the gates from Afcenfion day to Michaelmas f . 
 Thofe, who received lodgers in their houfes, were made anfwerable for 
 their conduct ; and the magiftrates of towns were dire6ted to make fre- 
 quent inquiry in the fuburbs for fufpicious perfons lodged in them. A 
 particular Ilatute was enaded for London, which, becaufe many mur- 
 ders, homicides, afHiults, and robberies, had been committed in the city, 
 both in the day and in the night, ordered, that all perfons found in the 
 flreets with fword and buckler or other arms after the curfeu was rung 
 at S'. Martin's le Grand, except great lords and men of good reputation, 
 fhould be committed to the Tun J, and next day carried before the ma- 
 giflrates. And becaufe fuch malefadors generally concerted their plans 
 in taverns, and continued in them till the appointed time of putting 
 their plots in execution, the mafters of all taverns for the fale of wine 
 or ale were ordered to (hut them up as foon as the curfeu bell rang. 
 The aldermen were moreover required to make diligent inquiry in their 
 wards for all malefadors, and for people who had no property or vifible 
 means of fupport. No buflies nor trees (except detached trees clear of 
 underwood) nor ditches, wherein robbers could be concealed, were al- 
 lowed to be within 200 feet of either fide of the roads : the whole peo- 
 ple of the hundred, wherein a robbery was committed, were bound to 
 
 * Some account of the laws and anathemas cenfion day, as the long dark nights required the 
 againft robbers may be feen in Roberlfan's Hi/l. of greatcft vigilance ? 
 
 Charles V, Vol. \, p. 397, ed. 1792. See alfo above, J The Tun was a prifon built in Cornhill in the 
 
 pp. 393, 404. year 1282 by Henry Waleys, then mayor, for con- 
 
 ■f- Quere, if not rather from Michaelmas to Af- lining night-walkers. [.y/owV Survey of London, 
 
 />• 357-] 
 
 3K2
 
 444 ^' ^* ^^285. 
 
 make good the damage, if they did not apprehend the robber. And 
 every man was required to have in his houfe arms and armour, fuitable 
 to his circumflances, to enable him to affifl in keeping the peace. [Stat. 
 Wi?it. and Stat. Lond. 1 3 Edw. /.] 
 
 About this time a great conduit was made in the ilreet called Weft 
 Cheaping (now Cheapiide) which was fupplied with water brought from 
 Paddington in leaden pipes laid under ground *• [Stoiv's Survey of Lon- 
 don, p. 482.] 
 
 Two Norwegian brothers, called Adalbrand and Thorvald, are faid to 
 have difcovered land lying weft from Iceland. [Torfai Hijl. Borweg. V. 
 iv, p. 374.] But Greenland, the country due weft from Iceland, had 
 been difcovered, and alfo colonized, feveral ages before. 
 
 At this time the coafts of Denmark, Frifeland, and Germany, were 
 infefted by a moft famous pirate called Alf, a Norwegian nobleman, 
 who carried home his plunder to Norway, and was kindly received there. 
 The merchants of the Vandalic part of Germany fitted out a fleet of 
 about thirty large cogs, which cruifed for Alf in the Ore found feveral 
 weeks, during which he carried on his depredations in the Baltic fea. 
 So much of the old piratical fpirit ftill prevailed in Norway, that Eric, 
 the young king of that country, inftead of punifliing his fubjed: Alf as 
 the general enemy of mankind, promoted him to the rank of an earl, 
 and treated the German merchants as his own enemies ; and they ap- 
 pear to have really taken fome veflels belonging to his fubjeds. \Tor- 
 fcEi Hi/}. Norweg. V. iv, p. 374. — Fcedera, V. ii. p. 1088.] 
 
 Perhaps this pirate was the caufe of the war between the king of 
 Norway and the German merchants about the year 1280, as related by 
 Krantzius, \HiJl. Norweg. L. vi, c. 2] who fays, that the merchants, of- 
 fended with the king for fome encroachments upon their atitient privi- 
 leges, blocked up his ports, and prevented the importation of any pro- 
 vifions ; that the Norwegians, ftrongly habituated to the corn brought 
 from the fouthern countries, obliged their king to make peace, who re- 
 quefted the king of Sweden to ad as umpire, and, in confequence of 
 his award, reftored the privileges of the merchants, and paid them a 
 large fum of money for damages ; whereupon the merchants immedi- 
 ately imported corn into Norway. During the war the dukes of Sax- 
 ony and Brunfwick and the emperor of Germany wrote to King Ed- 
 ward, reprefenting the unjuft and tyrannic condud of the king of Nor- 
 way in feizing the property of the merchants of Lubeck ' to an infinite 
 amount,' and requefting him not to permit the Norwegians, whole own 
 country could not fupply them with provifions, to carry any from his 
 dominions, {Rymer's Coll. mamifcr. V. ii, «'. 71-73] whence it may be 
 
 * We arc not informed what materials tlie firft pipes for bringing water into London were made 
 of, (fee abevc, p. 389) and Slow hai quoted no author for his narrative of the conduit.
 
 A. D. 1285. * 44^ 
 
 inferred that foreign countries then received fome fupplies of provifions 
 from England *. 
 
 1286 — The hiflorians and poets of Scotland dwell with a melancholy 
 pleafure on the virtues of the good King Alexander III, and the profperity 
 of the country duringhis peaceable and happy reign. His lawsfor enforcing 
 agricultural induftry, related by Wyntown, [Oryginal Cro?iyHl of Scotland, 
 V. i, p. 400] produced more plentiful crops of corn in the kingdom f than 
 had been known in former times. He difcouraged idlenefs, and abridg- 
 ed the number of horfes kept for ufelefs parade by the prelates and ba- 
 rons. [Scoticbron. V. ii, p. i 29 ed. Gooda//.] In confequence of the abund- 
 ance produced by a more vigorous agriculture and diligent fifhery J, and 
 of the laws for rendering the lands and moveable property of debtors 
 liable to be fold by the fliirref for the fatisfliftion of their creditors, and 
 for preferving the property in veffels wrecked on the coaft for the own- 
 ers!, ^^ in the laws of England, and the general ftrict and impartial 
 adminiflration of juflice, the trade of Scotland, which had been an ob- 
 je6l of fome attention to foreign merchants, at leaft fince the reign of 
 Macbeth, was now of fuch importance, that the Lombards §, the great- 
 eft general merchants in Europe, made propofals to the king for eftab- 
 lifhing towns in various parts of the kingdom for trading pofts or con- 
 toirs, and particularly one on the peninfular rock at the Queens-ferry in 
 Fife, or on the fmall ifland near Cramund. [Scotic/jron. V. \\,p. 130.] 
 
 Such a contoir, or factory, adually was eftablifhed at Berwick by 
 fome Flemiili merchants, who occupied a ftrong building, called the 
 Red hall, and were bound by the terms of their tenure to defend it 
 
 * Krantzius is fo inaccurate as to call the king f Whoever compares the agricultural regulation* 
 
 of Norway Olavus, and the king of Sweden Eric, in the firft chapter of the laws afcribed to Alexan- 
 
 There was no Olaf king of Norway for feveral der II in Skene's edition oi Reg'mm majejlalem,isfc. 
 
 ages before and after this time : and Magnus was with Wyntown's account of thofe of Alexander 
 
 king from December 1 263 to May 1 280. \_'Torfai III, and confiders the general inaccuracy of Skene's 
 
 Orcades, L. ii. — Fcukra, V. ii, p. 1075.] And, compilation, will fee reafon, notwithftanding the 
 
 according to PuffendorfF, a Swedifh hiftorian, an- profefTed exaftnefs of the date, to think it at leaft 
 
 other Magnus was king of Sweden from 1279 '° ^s probable, that they were enabled by Alexander 
 
 1288. Krantzius fays that the conteft with the III, whom Skene does not admit into the number 
 
 German merchants was the only memorable event of his legillating kings. The prices of corn in 
 
 in the reign of Olavus, as he calls him. His (I Alexander's reign will be found in the appendix of 
 
 mean Magnus's) prudent negotiation with Alex- prices. 
 
 ander III for the ceiiion of the Weftern iflands to j For the filhery of tin's reign fee above, p. 436. 
 
 the crown of Scotland, and his reformation of the || Thefe laws are the 24'" and 25"' chapters of 
 
 lavvs, which obtained for him the honourable appcl- thofe afcribed to Alexander II. If he was the 
 
 lation of Lagbelter, were unknown to, or thought author of the firft, the law of merchants, enaded 
 
 unworthy of notice by, Krantzius. Werdenhag- in England in the year 1285, was later than a 
 
 en in his fuperficial H'l/lory of the Hanfeat'ic repuh- fomewhat-fimilar law in Scotland, which will be 
 
 lies, has followed Krantzius without any examina- thought rather improbable. 
 
 tion. And both thcfc writers have the good for- J It is perhaps alnioft unneceftary to remind the 
 
 tune to be quoted as refpeftable authorities reader, that the numerous ftates in the north part 
 
 From the letters of the German princes to King of Italy were comprehended under the general 
 
 Edwaid, Krantzius appears alfo to have a.'^itedated name of Lombards, 
 the war.
 
 446 
 
 A. D. 1286. 
 
 againfl the enemies of Scotland * : and it appears to have been of the 
 fame nature with a fi/ndicia in the Mediterranean, the 'Teutonic gildhall m 
 London, and the contoir of the German merchants at Bergen. (See above 
 pp. 327, 410, 421). By the agency of the merchants of Berwick the 
 wool, hides, wool-fells, and other wares, the produce of Rokfburgh, 
 Jedburgh, and all the adjacent country, were fhipped for foreign coun- 
 tries, or fold upon the fpot to the Flemifh company. The exportation 
 of falmon appears to have been alfo a confiderable branch of their trade, 
 as we find it fome time after an obje6l of attention to the legiflature of 
 England, and the regulation of it intrufted to the great officers of the 
 government f . [Hemingford, p. 91, ed. Hearne. — Fcedera^ V. vi, p. 620. — 
 Stat. 2, 31 Edw. ni.'\ No other port of Scotland, in point of com- 
 mercial importance, came near to a comparifon with Berwick, which, 
 according to the teftimony of the contemporary writer of the Chronicle 
 of Lanercoft, [MS. Bib. Cott. Claud. D Vn,f. 207 b] was fo populous and 
 fo full of commerce, that it might be called afecond Alexandria. The 
 fea was its wealth ; the waters were its walls ; and the opulent citizens 
 were very liberal in their donations to religious houfes \. But we have 
 better authority than the voice of panegyric for the profperity of Ber- 
 wick ; as we find the cuftoms of it affigned by King Alexander to a mer- 
 chant of Gafcoigne for ;^2,i97 : 8 : o fi:erling, a fum equivalent to 
 32,961 bolls of wheat at the ufual price of fixteen pennies; and, of 
 1 ,500 marks a-year, fettled on the widow of Alexander prince of Scot- 
 land by her marriage contract, there were i ,300 payable out of Berwick. 
 \Fiederay V. u, pp. 605, 613.] 
 
 Berwick was governed, as already obferved, by a mayor with four 
 provofts fubordinate to him. Perth, Striveline (or Stirling), Rokfburgh, 
 and Jedburgh, had each at leafi; one alderman, apparently the chief ma- 
 giftrate. Hadington was governed by a provoft. Peebles, and Munros 
 (now called Montrofe), had each a bailie. Linlithgow, and Inverkeith- 
 ing, had each two bailies. Elgin alfo was governed by bailies. And 
 before this time Glafgow had three co-ordinate provofls and alfo bailieslj. 
 [Prynne's Hijl. of John, Isc pp. 653, 654 Rymer's Coll. MS. V. iii, tf. 
 
 * III tlie year 1296 tliirty Flemings defended Cumberland, had profited largely by the miftaken 
 
 the Red hall againit the Englifh forces, till it was piety of the wealthy citizens of Berwick ; and the 
 
 fct on fire : and the whole of the faithful and gal- writer of the Chronicle thcis repaid them in the 
 
 lant merchant garrifon pcridied in the (lames ; ufual coin. 
 
 \^H:m':ngf. /• 91] ^ cataRiophe, which apparently || Though mod of thcfc magifliates appear under 
 
 . j)iit an end tc the Flemifli company at Berwick. the year 1296, the cflablilhrnent of their offices was 
 
 f When Edward III wanted 2,oco falmon for moftprobably not latertlinn the relgnof Davidl,and 
 his own ufe in the year 1361, he fent o;dors to at any rate earlier than the time in which I men- 
 procure theni for him at Berwick (then bchmging tion them : for certainly no new icgulalions of fuch 
 to England) and Newcallle, no-donbt, the places matters could be introduced during the convulfions 
 moll famous for them in his dominions. \_Rat.pat, which cnfued on the death of King Alexander III 
 ji\-. 35 EdiA.. HI, m. 9.] and his infant grand-daughter. Queen Margaret. 
 
 X Jt'iobablv Lancrcolt, which was an abbay in 3
 
 A. D. 1286. 
 
 447 
 
 1 1 6, — above p. 41 7.] We fhall afterwards fee thirty-feven aldermen, the 
 magiftratcs, and reprefentatives in parliament, of feventeen towns, among 
 which are Hadington, Peebles, Munros, Linlithgow, and Inverkeithing, 
 the firfl of which we find at this time under the government of a pro- 
 voft, and the reft under that of bailies ; whence it feems not improb- 
 able, that the title of bailie, and alio ofprovoft, may have been, at lead 
 fometimes, and in fome places, ufed promifcuoufly with that of alder- 
 man *. As the titles of magiftracy, fo, it may be prefumed, the con- 
 ftitutions of the towns, were more fimilar in England and Scotland in 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (and apparently alfo in earher 
 times) than they have been in later ages. But, during fome centuries 
 bypaft, no fuch titles as mayor and alderman have been ufed in Scot- 
 land : and it is now fcarcely known that they ever were ufed. 
 
 The lofs of feveral merchant veflels by pirates, ftiipwrecks, and ar- 
 reSftments in foreign ports, induced King Alexander to ena6t a well-in- 
 tended, but miftaken, law, whereby the merchants of Scotland were 
 prohibited for a time from exporting any goods in their own veflels. 
 And, before a year was expired, vefTels from feveral countries arrived 
 with merchandize of various kind to be exchanged for the commodities 
 of Scotland, the foreign merchants, according to the erroneous policy 
 of the age, being reftrided to deal with the burgefl^es only. Thele fet- 
 ters upon commerce were thought fo judicious by the hiftorian, that, 
 he fays, in confequence of them the kingdom in a few years abounded 
 in corn, money, cattle, fheep, and all kinds of merchandize f, and the 
 arts flourifhed. \Scotichron. V. \\,p. 130.] One certain confequence of 
 the reftridion muft have been a confiiderable decreafe of the mercantile 
 iliipping of Scotland. 
 
 Of the Scottifh navy the fcanty remains of authentic records anteri- 
 or to the death of Alexander give us the knowlege of only one fhip be- 
 longing to the king, or to the public ; \_Ayloffe's Calendar, p. 335] and 
 probably there were no more :j:. But the king of Mann was bound to 
 furnifh five warlike galUes (' galeas piraticas') of twenty-four oars, and 
 five of twelve oars, to the king of Scotland, vyhen required, \Scotichron, 
 V. \\, p. 1 01] and his other maritime vaflals contributed vefTels in pro- 
 portion to their lands ||. 
 
 * 111 pleadings of the year 1291 we find the iignify filh, corn, and other provifions, or was Scot- 
 mayor and bailies (' ballivi') of Berwick repeatedly land (0 well ftocked with general merchandize as 
 mentioned, the later being apparently the fame to have iome for exportation ? 
 who are called provofts in the Uatutcs of the gild. % The kings of England in thofe ages had very 
 {_Ryley, Plac. pari. pp. 149-152.] few (hips, and the kings of France had feldom any. 
 
 + In the year 1283, when King Edward was || Colin Campbell held the lands of Loch Ow, 
 
 collefting ftores of all kinds for the invafion of &c. of the king by the fervice of finding one veffei 
 
 Wales, he commilTioned John Bifhop, a burgefs of of forty oars, properly equipped and fufficiently 
 
 I.ynne, to purchafe merchandize (' mercimonia') manned, during forty days, as often as required, 
 
 for him in Scotland. [_^yloJ't:'s Calendar, p. 88.] \_Chart. Rob. I, in Anderjon's Diplom. tab. 47, — or 
 
 — Querc, Was this term, merchandize,, intended to Craivfurd's Oncers of State, p. 41.] Tormod Mac- 
 
 leod
 
 44§ A. D. 1286. 
 
 The general opulence of Scotland appears from the refpedable public 
 revenue, the prodigious fums fqueezed out of it by the papal extortion- 
 ers, which the temper of the age did not permit the wifdom of the king 
 entirely to prohibit, and the great opulence of the king himfelf, as he 
 has never been branded with oppreflion or avarice, who fairly purchaf- 
 ed with his money the vaflal kingdom of Mann and the Iflands, bought 
 many eftates and wardfliips in England*, and gave Eric king of Nor- 
 way a marriage portion of 14,000 marks with his daughter, referving 
 to himfelf an option of giving a life-rent of lands of the annual value 
 of 700 marks as an equivalent for half the fum f . In fhort, it is evi- 
 dent, that Scotland during the reigns of the three lafl fovereigns of the 
 antient race, and particularly during the peaceable and aufpicious reign 
 of Alexander III, was in a progreffive ftate of improvement, and pof- 
 fefled a much larger proportion of the wealth of great Britain than^it 
 has ever had in any fubfequent time. But the premature and fudden 
 death of the king (16'" March 1286), followed by that of Queen Mar- 
 garet his infant grand-daughter (September 1290J, and the fanguinary 
 convuliions which enfued, changed all this fun-fhine of national prof- 
 perity into a long night of w^arfare and devaftation, the calamitous con- 
 fequences of which have been felt almofl to the pretent day. 
 
 1288 — Though the power of Edward was much greater and his go- 
 vernment much more vigorous than what the Englifh had been accul- 
 tomed to for almoft a century, they were not fufficient to give full effect 
 to his laws, efpecially the late one for enforcing precautions againft rob- 
 bery. A powerful gang of banditti in the habits of monks and canons 
 fet fire to the populous commercial town of Bofton on the day appoint- 
 ed for a fair and a tourneament, murdered many of the merchants, who 
 were endeavouring to fave their property, and during the confufion flole 
 prodigious quantities of rich merchandize, which their accomplices re- 
 ceived from them, and immediately carried off. The fire made fuch 
 deftrudion of the pretious articles brought to the fair, that flreams of 
 melted gold, filver, and copper, were faid, in the exaggeration of popu- 
 lar report, to run down even into the fea, and all the money in England 
 was fuppofed infa/Ecitnt to make good the damage. The captain of 
 the gang, a warrior of great reputation, and owner of many houfes in 
 Bofton and of much ill-gotten wealth, was taken and hanged ; but, ad- 
 
 kod held lands in Gleiielg by the fcrvice of finding * Sec above, ^/. 416, 425. — M. Puns, pp. 54c, 
 
 one of iwenty-fix oars ; and Torkil Macleod, for 573, 723, &c. — Dugilale's Baromi^c, F. i, pp. (•$, 
 
 lands in AfTynt, was to find one of twenty oars, 769 Ryli'y, Plac. purl. />. 345. 
 
 when rtquirtd, as appears by charters of David II. \ Tlic annuity on tlie life of Margaret, then in 
 
 {R'lbn-'fun's Index, p. 100.] All thefe were pro- her twenty-firil year, was thus valued at ten years 
 
 bably renovations of charters, granted by Alexan- purchafe. Seethe contraft of marriai;c in FaJcru, 
 
 derlll upon afTuming the fovereigiity of the idands y. ii, p. 1079. E""'^" ^^''^ P"' '" poileflion of the 
 
 for the fake of fecuring the loyalty of the chiefs of lands, apparently the fame which were afterwards 
 
 the vvcflern coall, who had mncli llrongcr coniiec- given with King Robert's daughter. 
 
 tions with the Noi wegians than with the Scots. 4
 
 A. D. 1288. 449 
 
 hering to the point of honour among thieves, he obflinately refufed to 
 betray his accompUces, who quietly enjoyed their plunder and the tri- 
 umph of having trampled upon the laws. [T. Wikes, p. 117 Trivet, p. 
 
 266 — Knyghton, col. 2466 *.] 
 
 This year the harvefl: was fo abundant in England, that the quarter 
 of wheat was fold in fome places for twenty pennies, in fome for fixteen, 
 and in others for twelve. [fTrivet, p. 266.] Stow fays, that in the weft 
 and north parts of the country it was fold for eight pennies (being a 
 flirthing the peck) but in London, when at the deareft price of the year, 
 fo high as three {hillings and four pence. Such a monftrous inequality 
 in the price of an article of the firft neceflity in various parts of the 
 fame kingdom fhows, that the home carrying trade, the greateft, and by 
 far the moft important, in any well-regulated country, was ftill almoft 
 unknown in England. 
 
 In the ordinance made this year for regulating the trade of Ireland 
 there was one chapter (the third) which very much abridged the free- 
 dom of trade granted to that country in the firft year of Edward's reign. 
 Merchants were permitted to carry corn and other victuals and mer- 
 chandize from Ireland, if not embargoed by the viceroy, only to Eng- 
 land and Wales, on paying the cuftoms and giving fecurity that they 
 fhould not be carried to the king's enemies of Scotland f or any other 
 of his enemies. 
 
 1290 — In the year 1275 the parliament pafled an ad (not publiflied 
 in the Statutes at large^ prohibiting the Jews from taking intereft for 
 money or receiving ftolen goods, on pain of death. In 1287 a Jew was 
 compelled by a tolerated perfccution to give up a mortgage ; and in the 
 fame year all the Jews of both fexes were feized on the fecond day of 
 May, and kept in prifon till they paid twelve thoufand pounds to the 
 king. In the year 1 290 all the Jewj were ordered to leave England be- 
 fore the firft of November, and never to return, on pain of death. They 
 were allowed to carry their moveable property with them, except their 
 bonds for money owing to them by Chriftians, which were in the cuf- 
 tody of the king:}:, who alfo feized all their houfes and tenements, Tri- 
 
 • The robbery is dated in 1285 by Kuyghton : yourlger infant fon, Edward, the enernies of Scot- 
 
 but the other two authors are confiderably earlier land, herein excepted, could not be the nation at 
 
 than him. If he were right, the laws for guarding large, nor the regents. They muil have been Rc- 
 
 againft robbery might be fuppofcd to have been bert Brus, the Stewart, and others connefted with 
 
 enafted in confequence of that outrageous infult them, who, together with the earls of Gloucefter 
 
 upon the juilice and autiiority of the government. and Ulfter, had entered into a confederacy in Sep- 
 
 f As a harmony, vi'hich for duration isperhapsun- tcmber 1286, and had even taken up arms, appar- 
 
 paralleled in the hiftory of neighbouring kingdoms, cntly with a defign to fet afide the young queen 
 
 had fubfifted between England and Scotland, and Ed- and difappoint Edward in the favourite objeft of 
 
 ward was now particularly alliduous in cultivating his ambition. [^Dii^dak's Baronage, J'. \, p. 2l6. 
 
 the friendfliip of the regents of Scotland, in order — Symfon's Hift. of ihe houfe of Sluart, p. 79.] 
 to fecute their infant queen, Margaret, with the \ The king exaftcd payment of the debts due 
 
 kingdom for her marriage portion, for his ftill to the Jews as his own property. But fome others. 
 
 Vol. I. 2 L 
 
 a«
 
 45© A. D. 1290. 
 
 vet and Walfingham lay, that the king feized all their property, leaving 
 them only as much as would bear their charges to France : but, accord- 
 ing to Wikes, they carried enough with them to tempt the feamen to 
 murder them on the palTage for the fake of their money. The number 
 of Jews driven out of England at this time was reckoned to be 16,51 1 : 
 and the king had previoufly expelled them from his territories in France. 
 Such was the general eagernefs to get rid of the Jews, that the parlia- 
 nient granted the king a fifteenth of the property of the people for that 
 purpofe, though, as the expulfion was managed, it was able very amply 
 to bear its own charges *. 
 
 129T, April — Now (and how long before is unknown) coal mines 
 were worked in Scotland, as appears by a charter of William of Ober- 
 vill, granting liberty to the monks of Dunfermline to dig coals for their 
 own ufe in his lands of Pittencrief, but upon no account to fell any. 
 \_C/jart. in Statijl. account of Scotland, V. xiii,^. 469.] From the donor re- 
 llriding the monks from felling, it may be prefumed, that the fale of 
 coal was then a valuable obje6t, which he referved for himfelf. 
 
 June 15*'' — The property of fome Flemifli merchants had been arreft- 
 ed by the jufliciary, or viceroy, of Ireland in the ports of Waterford, 
 Youghall, and Cork, on account of difputes between England and Flan- 
 ders. But the king, unwilling that any interruption fhould be given to 
 the trade, now defired that it fhould be reflored. [Foedera, V, ii, p. 528.] 
 Either thofe merchants were in the carrying trade between Ireland and 
 England; or the rigour of the law of the year 1288 was now relaxed.' 
 
 Baptifta Burgus, the panegyrical hiflorian of Genoa, relates, that two 
 gallies, commanded by D'Oria and Vivaldo, were fitted out from that 
 city for the difcovery of weftern lands in the Atlantic ocean, but that 
 they were never more heard of. 
 
 Soon after the expulfion of the weflern pilgrims from Jerufalem in 
 the year 1 187 they were confined to a narrow flip of the coafl ; and the 
 maritime city of S'. John de Acre (or Ptolemais) was the capital of the 
 Chriftian territory in the Eafi. Being thus occupied by people from 
 every European nation, it became a general emporium for the mer- 
 chandize of the Eafi: and theWefl ; and commerce, conduded chiefly by 
 the Venetians, Genoefe, and Pifans, flouriflied as much as a ftate of fre- 
 quent warfare with the neighbouring Mohamcdans, and the diflraded 
 condition of a city wherein there were feventeen fovereigns, or repre- 
 fentatives of fovereigns and republics, no one of whom acknowledged 
 himfelf fubordinate to any other, could permit. Without entering in- 
 to any detail of the bloody war between the Venetians and Genoefe for 
 
 as might be expciftcd, thought they had as good a r,s.— Trivet, pp. 264, 266, 267. — IVUi-s,pp. 103, 
 
 right to a (hare of the plunder. \_Ryley,Plac. pari. 114,122 — ^l. ll'^ejlm. p. 414. — Walfingbam, p. 
 
 p. 131.] 476. — Rot. pat. 18,19 Edw. I. — Ryley> •?"»'■• /"ur/. 
 
 ♦ See Mailox't lii/l.o/tljc exchequer, c. J, § S,nolet p. 129.
 
 A. D. 1 291*. 451 
 
 the pofleflion of a monaftery *, I fhall only obferve, that one confequence 
 of the anarchy was, that nineteen Syrian merchants, trading in time of 
 peace under the fecurity of the pubhc faith, were plundered and ignomini- 
 oufly put to death by the people of Acre. The refufal of fatisfadion for 
 the outrage brought upon them the vengeance of the fultan Khalil, who 
 took the city by ftorm, carried all the remaining inhabitants into cap- 
 tivity, and made an end of the Latin dominion in Syria, and of the holy 
 wars, which during two centuries wafted the blood and treafure of Eu- 
 rope. {^Gibbon, V. xi, p. 166, and authorities quoted.'^ 
 
 After the final lofs of Syria a folemn edid was ifTued (I prefume, by 
 the pope) whereby the Chriftians were prohibited from having any 
 commerce with the fubjects of the fultan. Cruifmg veflelswere ftation- 
 ed to intercept thofe, 'Viho, Jetting aftde the fear of God, prefumed to trade 
 with them : the tranfgreffors were declared infamous, and rendered in- 
 capable of performing any legal ad : their property was confifcated, and 
 themfelves condemned to be made flaves to any perfon who {hould ap- 
 prehend them. [Sanuto, ap. Gejla Dei per Francos, V. ii, p. 28.] 
 
 1 292 — An order had been iffued ten years ago for the officers em- 
 ployed on the fea coaft to guard againft the importation of counterfeit 
 and defaced money, [i2o/. pat, 1 1 Edw. I, m. 4] which appears to have 
 had but little effed ; for now the trade and intercourfe of the country 
 were fo much injured by an inundation of bad money from foreign 
 countries, that the currency of all money but that of England, Ireland, 
 or Scotland, was totally prohibited : and all perfons arriving from abroad 
 were required to fubmit their money to the examination of officers ap- 
 pointed for that purpofe in Dover, Sandwich, London, Bofton, South- 
 ampton, and the Cinque ports. Immediately after this another ftatute 
 was cnaded for punifhing thofe merchants, chiefly foreigners, who 
 brought defaced and counterfeit money into the kingdom, by forfeit- 
 ures and other penalties : and all other people, pofTefling bad mioney, 
 were direded to bring it to the mint to be recoined, on pain of forfeit- 
 ure. The bad money, now fmuggled into England, and generally put 
 up in bales of cloth and other packages to elude the fearch of the offi- 
 cers, confifted partly of light pieces ftamped with mitres and lions, 2of 
 of which weighed only 16/4 of Englifh money, and partly of counter- 
 feits of Englifh money, made of bafer metals and covered over with 
 filver, which were coined at Avignon and elfewhere. \Stat. /^, $, 6, of 
 20 Edw. /.] 
 
 The brighteft ornament of England and of the thirteenth century 
 was Roger Bacon, a Francifcan friar of Oxford. This heaven-taught 
 
 * Platina, the biographer of the popes, fays [j>. profecutiug the pious and necejfary Afiatic war. It 
 4.25, ed. 1664] that the quarrel of the Venetians certainly was a sexy profitable war in many refpefts 
 and Genoefc prevented Pope Alexander IV from to the popes. 
 
 5 L a
 
 452 A. D. 1292. 
 
 genius, foaring above the incomprehenfible jargon which was then call- 
 ed philofophy, by the native force of his own mind made fuch difco- 
 veries in real fcience and experimental philofophy, that the bare recital 
 of them mufl aftonifh us. His works plainly fhow, that many mathe- 
 matical inflruments, fuppofed the inventions of later ages, were known 
 to, or invented by, him, though loft at his death, till they were re-in- 
 vented by feveral ingenious men of later times. His defcription of 
 fpecula compounded of feveral glafles placed at proper diftances, which 
 enabled him to bring the fun, moon, and ftars, apparently near to him, 
 and to read letters at a great diftance, applies exadly to our modern te- 
 lefcopes. Our modern fpedlacles are furely no other than his reading 
 glaffes, which magnified the letters for the ufe of old men and thofe 
 whofe eyes were weak. He underflood the conftrudlion of burning 
 glaffes, microfcopes, and the camera obfcura. In his writings he main- 
 tains, that greater wonders may be accomplifhed by the powers of na- 
 ture, if properly known, than by the pretended arts of magic. He af- 
 firms, that chariots may be made to go without horfes ; that machines 
 may be made, by which a man may mount up in the air ; others, by 
 which he may walk at the bottom of the fea ; and others, by which one 
 man may counteradt the force of a thoufand. He compounded falt- 
 petre, fulphur, and charcoal, into a powder, by which he produced arti- 
 ficial thunder and flame, and by which a city or an army could be de- 
 flroyed : and he knew many of the fuppofed-modern improvements in 
 chymiftry *. All the rules of arithmetic (not then, as now, a common 
 fcience) were familiar to him ; and he difcovered the exad; period of 
 the year, and methods for correding the calendar. In fliort, he was in- 
 defatigable in the profecution of fcience ; and he expended upon ex- 
 periments, by the afliftance of his friends, no lefs than two thoufand 
 pounds, a fum fully equivalent to at leaft fifty thoufand in the prefent 
 time. This illuftrious man would alone have been fufficient to illumin- 
 ;ite a dark age, if his ardour for difcovery had not been repreffed by the 
 jealous defpotifm of ignorant priefts, from whom he fuffered much per- 
 lecution and feveral imprifonments, whereby the world was deprived of 
 the fruits of many of the bell years of his aftonifliing ingenuity and 
 incomparable induftry. After having made more difcoveries in fcience 
 than any other man ever did in any age or country, he died in a good 
 old age on the 1 1''' of June, 1292 ; and after his death fcience relapfed 
 into a flumber of about two centuries. [See his own Opus majus. — IVoocfs 
 injl. Oxon. L. i.] 
 
 The commerce witli France was interrupted by a fquabble between 
 
 * Petni! Peregriniis, wlio wrote upon almoft all fame writer is quoted under the name of Petnis 
 tlie qualities of the magnet, is faid by fome to he PcUcgriiuis hy Baptifta Jella Porta in liis Magia 
 no other than Bacon uiidcr an affumcd name. The nalurolis, L. vii, c. 27.
 
 A. D. 1292, 4^;^ 
 
 fome Englifli and French fiiilors for a well of frefh water, which was 
 followed by fanguinary and ruinous private hoflilities, if, being fo ex- 
 tenfive, they may be called private. The barons of the Cinque ports, 
 in order to revenge the lofles and flaughters of their countrymen, fitted 
 out fixty veflels, wherewith they attacked a French fleet of two hundred, 
 loaded with wine, and took them all, the whole of the people, to the 
 number of about 15,000, being killed or drowned, except a few who 
 got to the land in their boats. King Edward, as difapproving the adion, 
 refufed to accept any fliare of the plunder. The king of France, rouf- 
 ed by the cries of his people, fent a very urgent letter for compenfation ; 
 and Edward, very defirous of avoiding a war with France, fent the bifliop 
 of London wijth inftrudions to offer feveral propofals for fettling mat- 
 ters amicably. 
 
 1 294 — But the kings on both fides having other caufes of difcontent, 
 the negotiation proved fruitlcfs, and both kings prepared for war. The 
 king of France prohibited all commercial intercourfe between his king- 
 dom and England: and King Edward feized the property of the French 
 merchants in his dominions, which was exprefsly contrary to the pro- 
 vifions of Magna charta, unlefs the king of France aded previouily in 
 
 the fame manner. [Trivet, p. 274 — M.WeJl. p. 419. — Wikes, p. 126 
 
 Fadera, V. \i, p. 659.] 
 
 The favage and predatory fpirit of the age was continually breaking 
 out in enormities ; and the feamen of Bayonne, the Cinque ports, Blak- 
 ney, &c. as well as thofe of other countries, were frequently accufed of 
 ads of piracy and wanton cruelty. [Fo'dera, V. ii, pp. 607, 616, 617, 
 632, 667, &c.] It was faid, that fome merchants of Bayonne were pub- 
 licly plundered in the port of Lifbon ; and many hofiilities had pafled 
 between them, aided by their allies the feamen of England, and their 
 neighbours of Spain ; and in particular fifteen Spanifli veilels were taken 
 and carried into an Englilh port. But, by the intervention of the kings 
 of England and Spain (who do not appear to exprefs any difpleafure at 
 their fubjeds going to war without their authority *) it was agreed (in 
 fummer 1293) that all captures fhould be refi;ored on both fides. The 
 merchants of Spain and Portugal appear, however, to have been fi:ill un- 
 willing to venture themfelves or their property in Edward's dominions, 
 till, by the interceffion of his friend the earl of Flanders, he granted 
 them fafe-conduds (17'" February 1294), to lad only till the middle of 
 Odober, on condition that the kings of Spain and Portugal fhould ac"t 
 in the fame manner to his fubjeds. \F(xdera, V. n,pp' 609, 610, 627. 
 — M. Wejim.p. 424.] 
 
 King Edward, preparing for his intended war againfl; France, divided 
 
 * Mathew of Wetlminfter fays, [/>. 423] that in thofe days theie was neither king nor law for 
 failors, but every one called, whatever he could plunder or carry off, his own.
 
 454 ^' ^* 1294. 
 
 his navy into three fleets, and appointed three admirals, viz. John of Bote- 
 tourt admiral of the fleet of Yarmouth and the eaft coaft ; WiUiam of 
 Leyburn, -of the Portfmouth divifion ; and an ofhcer (not named) of 
 Irifli birth commanded the fhips of the weft coaft and Ireland. [Trivet, 
 p. 279.] This is beUeved to be the earHeft appearance in England of 
 the title of admiral^ which had been fome time before adopted, in imi- 
 tation of the Saracens, by the maritime ftates of Italy, for the command- 
 er of a fleet. ■ And the title appears to be quite new and unfettled ; for 
 on the 3'* of September William of Leyburn is ftiled captain of the fea- 
 men and mariners of the king's dominions *, and in the following year the 
 king calls John of Botetourt his warden of the coajl of Yarmouth. [Fcedera, 
 Kii,//*. 654, 688.] 
 
 The great inconveniences produced by the circulation of bad money 
 in England, in fpite of all the laws and precautions againft the importa- 
 tion of it, induced King Edward to appoint Mafter John of Gloucefter, 
 and John of Lincoln merchant in Hull, to fuperintend the payments of 
 the merchants throughout the whole kingdom, and to compell all merchants 
 to bring their money to be examined by them. [Madox's Hifl. of the 
 excheq. c. 9, § 3.] Whether all the payments in England were made in 
 their office, or they had deputies in every trading town, we are not in- 
 formed : nor do we know how long their extraordinary commiflion con- 
 tinued in force. 
 
 September 20''' — King Edward, being engaged in a war with France, 
 and at the fame time very eager to make a conqueft of Scotland and to 
 • fupprefs fome tumults in Wales, demanded of the clergy one half of their 
 incomes for the year, from the merchants living in walled cities and 
 market towns one iixth part, and from the reft of the people one tenth, 
 of all their pofi~e(Tions ; but, I fuppofe, rather of their incomes. Thefe 
 heavy taxes were rendered ftill more diftrefsfulby a very fcanty harveft, 
 occafioned probably by the men being drawn off from agriculture to 
 the army, whereby many of the poor adually perilhed for want. [Tri- 
 vet, p. 279 M. Weflm. p. 422.] 
 
 1295 — King Edward, being at war with France, compelled the maf^ 
 ters of neutral velfels in the ports of England to give fecarity that they 
 ihould not fail to that kingdom, without drawing any line of diftindion 
 between contraband and lawful goods. Some citizens of Lubeck, not 
 being able to find fccurity in England, were obliged to have their cafe 
 reprefented to the emperor, who wrote to Ed^vard in their behalf, and 
 
 • 
 
 Tlie learned Spelmaii '\_GloJf. vo. Admlra!h:s'\ cailiell appearance of tlie tide in Enj;land. For 
 
 li)- traiiflating the old French word ' isy/.t'Jix in- the derivation of the name, and nature of the office 
 
 ilcad a'ijtxtcen, has dated the ordinance at Bruges of admiral, fee his Glo/Jliry, wherein he has given a 
 
 (fee Fierlrra, V. ii, p. 75y) >n 1286 indead of feries of the admirals of England, which may now 
 
 1296, and fuppofed the mention of William of be greatly anijmented from the /VrAra and other 
 
 Leyburn in it as the king's admiral of the fea the records publifhed fiiice his time.
 
 A. D. 1295. 455 
 
 in return was defired to have the required fccurity taken in Germany, 
 before the vedels fhould be permitted to move. {Foedern, V. ii, p. 679.] 
 . A merchant of Bayonne, having taken in 174 bafl<ets of almonds ou 
 the coafl: of Africa, and alfo 150 boxes* of Malaga raifins, and 490 
 frailes (' flayons') of Malaga figs, when proceeding with thofe and other 
 goods to England, anchored on the coafl; of Portugal, where, notwith- 
 ftanding the truce fo lately made with the merchants of Spahi and Por- 
 tugal, he was taken by armed men, who carried him into Lifbon. There.. 
 his property was fold, and the king of Portugal received a tenth part 
 of it from the pirates, whereby the merchant was injured to the amount 
 of £']Oo fterling. King Edward's lieutenant in Gafcoigne thereupon 
 granted to him and his heirs licence to feize the property of the Portu- 
 guefe, and efpecially of the inhabitants of Lifbon, wherever he could 
 find it, during five years to come, or till he fhould be reimburfed for 
 his lofs and all expenfes. \Fosdera, F^. ii, p. 6gi.} This is, I believe, 
 the earliefl notice, to be found in Englilh records, of letters of marque 
 or reprifal. . 
 
 September 28'" — The king direded John of Botetourt, his warden 
 of the coafl of Yarmouth, to permit the people of Holland, Zeland, 
 and Frifeland (whofe fovereign had engaged to alfifl: him in his war 
 againft France) to fifh freely on the coafl: near Yarmouth ; and he de- 
 fired him to make frequent proclamation, that no peribn fliould pre- 
 fume to injure or hinder them in their fifiiing, and that they fhould 
 give them every requifite afliflance, till the 1 1'" of November f . [F^dera, 
 V. ii, p. 688.] 
 
 Dantzick was now for the firfl time inclofed with a wall, which was 
 made of planks, by Primillaus duke of Poland. In the year 1343 a 
 ftone wall was begun. But the houfes were built with reeds and mud 
 as late as the end of the fourteenth century, there being then only one 
 brick houfe, wherein the magiflrates aflembled. [Bertii Rer. Germ. L. 
 iii, p. 102.] 
 
 Nicolo and Matheo Polo, two brothers of a noble family in Venice, 
 having gone upon a trading adventure to Conflantinople and various 
 parts of Afia, after a variety of fortune arrived at Cambalu in Cathay ij:, 
 the refidence of Cublai khan, the conqueror of China, who treated 
 them very favourably, and retained them in his fervice. Being fent as 
 his ambalTadors to the pope, they arrived in Italy in the year 1269, and 
 returned to the Eafi in 1271 with letters from the pope, accompanied 
 by Marco the fon of Nicolo. Y''oung Marco foon acquired the languages 
 
 * ' Confines,' which apparently ought to be from him by Schook. in his D'tjfert, Je harengis, 
 
 rojines, boxes or ballcets. The word coffin was not § 38. 
 
 antiently rcftricled to a box for containing a dead j There can be little doubt that Cambalu, 
 
 body. which, Marco informs us, lignifies the city of the 
 
 + This is doubtlefs the permiflion, dated by ting, is Pekin. Cathay is a name ftill ufed in Afia 
 
 Selden in his Marc claufum in 1265, and copied for the northern part of China.
 
 456 A. D. 1295. 
 
 of the Moguls and fome other neighbourhig nations, and became a 
 great favourite with the khan, who employed him, and alfo his father 
 and uncle, on many important emballies. On their return from one of 
 them they found ambaffadors at the court of Cublai from Argon, an 
 Indian king, who had fent them to procure a wife for him. Their re- 
 turn home being rendered dangerous by a war in the intervening coun- 
 tries, they requefted the khan to allow them to convey the princefs, his 
 relation, by fea, and to permit the three Venetians to accompany them 
 on account of their fkill in maritime affairs. The khan reludlantly con- 
 fented to part with his Venetian friends, and ordered fourteen vefTels 
 to be provided for them, each of which carried four mafts and nine 
 fails *. In twenty-one months they arrived in Argon's dominions : and 
 thence the three Venetians proceeded by the way of Trebifond, Con- 
 ftantinople, and Negropont, to Venice, where they arrived in the year 
 T295, with more knowlege of the Oriental countries than any Europe- 
 ans ever had acquired f . 
 
 From Marco Polo's faithful account of the many countries he had 
 traveled through, and of thofe defcribed by him from the befl informa- 
 tion he could obtain, the following particulars, illuftrative of their com- 
 merce and manufactures, are extradled. 
 
 Giazza, a city with an excellent harbour at the north-eafl: corner of 
 the Levant fea, and a fettled mart for all the Eaft, is much frequented 
 by veflels from Venice and Genoa for the fake of the fpices and other 
 rich merchandize brought to it. 
 
 Zorziana (Gurgiflan or Georgia) has abundance of filk ; and all the 
 fluffs of gold and filk, called mufleims, are made in the province of 
 Moxul. 
 
 Baldach, or Bagdat, is fituated upon the River Tigris, at the diflance 
 of feventeen days failing from the fea. It has many manufadures of 
 gold and filk, damafks, and velvets with figures of animals. All the 
 pearls in Chriflendom are brought from that city. 
 
 In Tauris, a great and populous city of Hyrcania, there are manu- 
 fadures of gold and filk ; and many foreign merchants refiding there 
 acquire great riches. 
 
 Perfia abounds with filk, and has excellent artificers, who make won- 
 derful things in gold, filk, and embroidery. Jafdi, a city on the frontier 
 of Perfia, has a great trade and many manufadures of filk. 
 
 Ormus, the capital of the kingdom of Kerman, fituated on an ifland, 
 
 • The form of the fails is defcribed by Ramufio fome particulars of Cathay agreeing with and con- 
 
 jo his account of Marco's travels. firmed by Marco, were of no great importance in 
 
 \ The travels of Piano Carpini and his affo- thcmfelves, except as having fome degree of in- 
 
 ciatcs and followers, begun in the year 1246, thofc fluencc in flowly aroufing the fpirit of inquiry, 
 
 of Rubruquis, or Ruylbroeck, in 1253, and the without which no great objeA can crcr be accom- 
 
 work of Haitho, written about the time that the plilhed. 
 Polos wcic on their trarcls, though coutaining S
 
 A. D. 1295. 457 
 
 is a great mart, to which the merchants from India and other countries 
 bring fpices, pearls, pretious ftones, and other rich articles, from India, 
 The veflels of Ormus are ftoutly built, with one deck, one mafl, and 
 one fail. 
 
 Cambalu in the province of Cathay, two days journey from the Ocean, 
 has been long' the royal relidence. The great khan removed the city to 
 the oppofite fide of the river, where the palaces are. The new-built 
 city, called Taidu, is a fquare of fix miles each fide ; and the fircets, 
 interfeding each other, extend in ftraight lines from gate to gate. In 
 a great building in the center there is a very large bell, which tolls 
 every night at a certain hour, after which no man mufi; be in the fiireets 
 till next morning, unlefs in cafes of very urgent neceflity, and then he 
 mufi: carry a light with him. Adjoining to each of the twelve gates 
 there are fuburbs three or four miles long, wherein the merchants and 
 fi:rangers live, each nation having their own diftindl fiiore-houfes, in 
 which they refide. The quantity and variety of merchandize of all 
 kinds is aflonifliing, and the number of merchants, of whom a great 
 proportion are Saracens, is wonderfully great. The money is not made 
 of metal, but of the middle bark of the mulberry tree, cut in round 
 pieces, and fl:amped with the khan's mark. It is death to counterfeit 
 it, or to refufe it in any part of the empire. Throughout the whole 
 empire there are inns eflablifhed at proper diftances, where the khan's 
 ambafladors or meflengers are fure to find frefh horfes, provifions, and 
 lodgings ; and ferry-boats are alfo fi:ationed at the rivers and lakes. By 
 thefe means letters are conveyed at the rate of 200 or 250 miles in a 
 day. In years of abundance the khan lays up corn in his granaries, 
 and in times of fcarcity fells it out for a fourth part of the current price. 
 Ill Cathay they make a liquor of rice much fl:ronger than wine. They 
 dig up black fl:ones (coals) which burn like wood, and keep on fire 
 through the whole night. The khan has the tenth of all wool, filk, and 
 hemp, and of all produce of the earth except fugar and fpices, which 
 pay only 3^ per cent, as does alfo the wine of rice (or arrack) ; and all 
 mechanics are obliged to work for him one day ii> the week; and thence 
 he clothes his army and the poor *. The whole country is full of great, 
 rich, and crowded, cities (many of which are named and defcribed) 
 thronged with manufadurers of filk, gold fluffs, and other rich or ufe- 
 ful merchandize. The rivers and canals, efpecially the great and mag- 
 nificent one made by turning the river at the city of Singuimatu into 
 two channels, one going towards Cambalu, and the other towards Mangi 
 
 * If our modern travelers have been well in- erroneous in his reeolleaion ; for it muft have beea 
 
 formed on the fubjeft of taxation in China, and a moll prepofterous policy to tax wool, filk, and 
 
 Marco has been corretl; in this part of his narra- hemp, the materials of indullry, thrice as heavy 
 
 tive, thofe opprefTive taxes are now lightened al- as fpiceries, a mere luxury, and arrack, the inftru- 
 
 moft to annihilation. Perhaps Marco was here went of intoxication, idlenefs, and riot. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 M
 
 458 A. D. 1295. 
 
 (the fouth part of China) are continually covered with veflels, which 
 carry on a vaft inland trade throughout the whole empire. At Trigui 
 there is a great manufadlure of porcelain dilhes, eight of which may 
 be bought for the value of a Venetian groat. Many of the ports are 
 frequented by vefTels from India, which pay a duty of ten per cent to 
 the khan. At Zaitum, a famous port of Mangi, fhips arrive from all 
 quarters with merchandize, which is there refhipped for every part of 
 India. The quantity of pepper to be found thei-e is an hundred times 
 as much as all that comes to the Weft by the way of Alexandria. Ships 
 from Zaitum trade to an ifland (never feen by Marco) producing fpices, 
 lignum aloes, and pepper. They are a year upon the voyage out and 
 in, having winds of two forts (monfoons) which keep their regular 
 feafons. 
 
 Zipangu (fuppofed to be Japan) is a large ifland, which the khan's 
 forces were not able to fubdue. 
 
 Java is fuppofed the largeft ifland in the world. The merchants of 
 Zaitum and other parts of Mangi import a great quantity of gold and 
 fpices from it. 
 
 Another ifland, called the Leffer Java, contains eight kingdoms, fix 
 of which Marco traveled through. In one of them called Felh the 
 people are converted to the religion of Mohamed by the vaft number 
 of Saracens trading to that country. In another of them there are nuts, 
 as large as a man's head, containing within them a liquor preferable to 
 wine *. Lambrai, another of thofe kingdoms, produces trees from 
 which meal is made f . 
 
 One thoufand miles weft from Java is Zelan (Ceylon), 2,400 miles in 
 circuit, but formerly 3,600, as appears in antient maps : but the north 
 winds have made great changes, and funk much of it under the fea J. 
 Between Zelan and the main land of India there is a great fifhery for 
 pearls. 
 
 Sixty miles weft from Zelan is Malabar in the Greater India. The 
 kings of that country are fupplied with horfes from Ormus and other 
 places. 
 
 In Murftili, or Monful, lying north from Malabar, there are moun- 
 tains containing diamonds. 
 
 On the weft coaft of Malabar and in Guzerat there are many pirates, 
 who fometimes attack the merchants with fleets of a hundred veffels. 
 (We may thence infer, that the merchant veffels were very numerous, 
 and failed in ftrong fleets, as the pirates thought fo large a force necef- 
 fary to attack them.) In Guzerat there is abundance of cotton ; in 
 
 • Could coco-nuts be unknown to him till he J Marco, in his veneration for Ptolemy, rather 
 
 was in that counti y ? iuppofcs a very improbable event, than that his 
 
 I He proceeds to dcfcribc the procefs of mak- geography might be erroneous, 
 iiig tliis meal, which is f.igo.
 
 A. D.I 295- 459 
 
 Ganhau, ftore of frankincenfe ; in Cambaia, indigo, buckram, and 
 cotton. 
 
 In Bengal the people live on flefh, rice, and milk. They have great 
 plenty of cotton, and carry on a vafl trade in the manufadures of it. 
 They have alfo abundance of fpikenard, galingal, ginger, and other fpices. 
 
 In Bafcia and Thebet, countries lying north from India, corals are 
 reckoned more pretious than any other article *, 
 
 In Carandana, and many other provinces lying round it, an ounce of 
 gold is exchanged for five ounces of filver f . 
 
 In the province of Chinchintalas there is a mountain containing mines 
 of fteel and andanicum if, and alfo falamander's wool (afbellos), whereof 
 a cloth is made, which fire cannot confume. 
 
 Magafter (Madagafcar) is 1 ,000 miles fouth from Socotora, and is one 
 of the richeft and largefl: illands in the world, being 3,000 miles in cir- 
 cuit. It is inhabited by Saracens ; and vafl: quantities of elephant's teeth 
 are brought from it. 
 
 Zenfibar (apparently the Zanguebar of modern maps) is alfo faid to 
 be a very extenfive country. 
 
 The vefl^els of India have many cabins on their decks, and each mer-* 
 chant has his own cabin. They carry from two to four mafl:s, which 
 are fet up and lowered at pleafure. The hold is divided by water-tight 
 partitions ; fo that, if a leak fprings in one room, the goods in the 
 others are not wetted by it. They are double-planked, and calked with 
 oakum, nailed with iron, and covered with a compofition of oil, lime, 
 and hemp. They carry from five to fix thoufand bags of pepper, and 
 from 150 to 300 men. They row with oars, which require four men 
 to each of them. They have fmaller vefi^els for tenders befides the 
 boats carried on their decks. Every year they put on a new flieathing 
 above the old ; and after fix fuch courfes the fhips are broken up §. 
 
 Thefe accounts of the vafl and rich countries of the Eafl; laid open 
 a new world to the curiofity and fpeculation of the Europeans, and in- 
 flamed them with the defire of dilcovering a way to reach them by fea, 
 which, after an interval of two centuries, was at lafl; accomplifhed ||. 
 
 * The great demand for corals in India, pro- of timber very different from that of Tylos in the 
 
 bably for the fupply of thofe countries, was noted days of Theophraftiis, (fee above, p. 59) or 
 
 by Pliny. Sec above, p. 167, note f . the very durable teek of the modern fliip-builders 
 
 f The well-informed auihor of the Periplus of of Hindooftan. 
 the Erythrjean fea obferved that there was a con- {{ The narrative of Marco Polo proved a power- 
 
 fiderable profit made in India by exchanging one ful ftimulua to Chriftopher Colon in his project of 
 
 kind of money for another : (fee above, p. 170) reaching India by a weftern courfe, in which, ac- 
 
 and there is ftiU a great difference in the propor- cording to the received geography, he (hould fail 
 
 tions between the pretious metals in India and in only 135 degrees weft from the meridian of Ferro, 
 
 Europe. inftead of 225 degrees, befides the great circuit 
 
 J This is believed to be that mofl excellent kind round Africa, in failing to it by an eaftem courfe: 
 
 of fteel, which in antient times was carried from for India was his objedl ; he had no conception of 
 
 India to Europe. See above, p. 160, note*. another great continent. \_H'tJl. del Almirantc Don 
 
 ^ Thefe (hort-lived fliips muft have been built Chr. Colon, a. 7, 8 ; written by his fon.] 
 
 3 M a
 
 460 A. D. 1295. 
 
 Whoever compares the Periplus of the Erythraean fea, the relations 
 of Cofmas Indicopleuftes, the Arabian travelers, MafToudi, Ebn Haukal, 
 and Benjamin of Tudela, with the narrative of Marco Polo, will find 
 them in many points Itrongly confirmed and illuftrated by him, as he 
 is by the accounts of all fucceeding travelers of veracity *. The clofe 
 refemblance between the earlieft accounts of the Indians (even thofe 
 obtained by Alexander's officers) and of the Chinefe, is particularly 
 flriking. Both thole great nations had made confiderable progrefs in 
 fcience long before it began to dawn upon the weftern world : and both 
 have continued, ever fince the times in which we have the earlieft know- 
 lege of them, nearly ftationary in fcience, or rather in fome refpeds 
 retrograde. In the age of Marco Polo we find the Indians, and the 
 people of Mangi, or the fouthern Chinefe, navigating every part of the 
 Indian ocean, as, we know, that in earlier ages, though colonies and 
 commercial fettlements of the Arabians, or Saracens, a people of fu- 
 perior commercial enterprife and knowlege, were eftablifhed in every 
 port of that extenfive ocean, and even in their own inland cities, -they 
 vifited every coaft of it in their own veflels, and took into their own 
 hands the moft of the maritime trade between the eaftern and weftern 
 parts of the world. But afterwards both the Indians and the Chinefe, 
 though better qualified in point of fituation and valuable commodities 
 and manufadures than any other people of Afia to command an ex- 
 tenfive and lucrative trade to all parts of the world, have allowed the 
 whole of their foreign trade to go into the hands ot foreigners. The 
 decline of navigation in China may perhaps be owing partly to the po- 
 licy of the government, and partly to their ieamen having loft the 
 knowlege of managing vefi^ls at fea in confequence of the great bulk 
 of their trade being conveyed, without any danger from ftorms or pi- 
 rates, by inland navigation, ever fince the great canal was made by 
 Coublai. 
 
 1296 — Hitherto the gallies in the Mediterranean had never had more 
 than two men to row one oar ; but now three men were put upon each 
 
 * Many other paiticulari, cliarafteriftic of tlie funereal fire along with the bodies of their dc-' 
 
 eaftern nations, and ftrongly proving the veracity ceafed hufbanda ; their cuftom of chewing a leaf 
 
 of Marco's narrative, might be ftleited ; fuch as (betel) which lie calls tembul, with fpiccs and 
 
 the Chinefe cultom of cxpofing infants, 20,coo lime ; a fmall city at the tomb of S'. Thomas, 
 
 ef whom were every year favcd and bred up by frequented by Saracens as well as Cliriftians on ac- 
 
 Fanfur, tlie lall king of Mangi ; the policy, per- count of devotion ; the Clirillians of Socotora and 
 
 haps peculiar to China, of one city having authority other places aeknowleging the pati iarch of Baldach 
 
 over many others, no fewer than 14c being fnU- tor tiieir chief or pope, nearly as it was in tiie 
 
 jt6t to the government of Qiiinfai (the city of time of Cofmas Indicopleulles, &c. 
 Iieaven), the grcatell and richcll city, and, before IJavIng already given the eoniprclTed commercial 
 
 the conquell of it by Conblai, the capital, of fnbllancc of all the early writeis upon Oriental 
 
 M. 1 gi; the plantations of mulberry trees in China afl'airs, it will not be neccdary to pay much atten- 
 
 foi let ding the filk-worms ; the refpec.t paid to tiou to any other travelers into the callern regions, 
 
 cows by the Indians ; their principle of not put- imlefs they add fomcthing confiderable to our lloclj 
 
 tifig any animal to diaih, and abftaining from ani- of matenals for commercial hillory. 
 »ial t(jod} '''*''■ widows devoting liicmlclveb to the
 
 A. D. 1296. j^6t 
 
 •ar in the larger gallies, which were thence called terzaroli *. [Snnuto, 
 apiid Bongnrs. V. ii, p. 57.] Probably the Polos, who had juft returned 
 from the Oriental feas where they had feen even four men on an oar, 
 may have fuggefled this augmentation of force upon the oars of the 
 gallies. 
 
 1297 — ^In confideration of an alliance againft France, and of two 
 political marriages between the families of Edward king of England and 
 Guy earl (or cuens) of Flanders, the later obtained a very favourable 
 commercial treaty, whereby his fubjeds were permitted to carry wool 
 and other merchandize from Edward's dominions of England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, and Wales, as freely as the Lombard, or even Englifli, mer- 
 chants. Guy even had intereft to procure commercial favours in Ed- 
 ward's dominions for the merchants of Spain and Portugal, fome of 
 whom were immediately accufed of piratically feizing two veflels be- 
 longing to King Edward's city of Bayonne f . In one of the many 
 treaties between England and Flanders it was agreed, that all the veflels 
 belonging to King Edward's Britifli or French dominions fhould carry 
 his arms in their colours, and thofe of the earl's territories fhould in 
 like manner carry his : and all veflels fliould have letters patent, fealed 
 with the common feals of the towns to which they belonged, teftifying 
 that they really belonged to fuch towns. This is probably the earlieft 
 notice of national colours and Ihip's papers (as they are now called) to 
 be found in Englifli records :{:. [Foedera, V. n, pp. 737-765.] 
 
 September 15'" King Edward levied an eight part of the property 
 
 of all the laymen throughout the kingdom for the fupport of his war 
 with France : and in return, he renewed, or confirmed, the Great charter 
 of the liberties of England and the Charter of the liberties of the forefl: §. 
 {Fcedera, V. ii, p. 793 — Statut. 25 Edw. /.] 
 
 Odober i o"" — The parliament had granted the king an additional' 
 duty of forty {hillings upon every fack of wool, and five marks upon 
 every laft of hides, to be exported, during two years, or three years if 
 the war fhould lafh fo long. But the impofition was apparently found 
 
 * This word has apparently led fome of the eiifigns and arms of the fovereigns, mentioned as 
 
 later Italian writers to aflert, that trlreniis in an- things in common ufe. Some time before March- 
 
 ticnt times fignified a veffcl with three men to I'^IJ the people remaining onboard a vcffel of 
 
 every oar (whereas the antient veflels never had Bayonne, which iiad been taken by fome Flemifh 
 
 more than one to an oai) and to apply that an- and Scottifh cruifers, and abandoned by them on- 
 
 tient term to modern gallies ; a licence utterly fub- the appearance of an Englilli fleet, hoilled the- 
 
 verfive of the meaning of language. royal llandard of England at their .vuijl head as 
 
 \ Perhaps the letter of marque, granted in the feeking tlieir protection, and they were according-- 
 
 year 1295 to a merchant of Bayonne, was now re- !y carried i.ito Yarmuulh. [_Ftedera, V. :ii,/i. 509.] 
 called or forgotten, the merchant being rcimburfed, 5 The Magna charta was repeatedly coiitirmed. 
 
 or his Inttieft not attended to. in the remaining part of Edward's reign. See- 
 
 \ Tl'.e diftingnilhing banners, &c. iifed in the Blackjione's H'ljhry of the charters. But neither 
 
 fleet of Riciiard I, fecm co have been tiiofe of the thofe confirmations, nor the frequent in.pofitions- 
 
 military cummandcrs, and they -were Jet up vpon of the taxes called aids, need, to be mentioned !a-> 
 
 fpau-s. But ill th; year 1308 we fha.ll tinJ C.'i'l- this work, 
 ian colours and Portuguefe colouis, bearing liis
 
 462 A, D. 1297. 
 
 intolerable, and the colledion of it impradicable ; for the king, by ad- 
 -vice of his council, direded the colledors of the cufloms to remit the 
 new duties, and take only thofe formerly eftablifhed, already fpecified 
 under the year 1282. {Staiut. 25 Ediv. I. — Madox's Hlft. of the excheq. 
 f. 18, § 5, note{t).'\ 
 
 1298 — The people of Hull ufed to pay certain duties to the city of 
 York, and were alfo in fome degree of fubjedion to the archbifhop, till 
 the twenty-fixth year of King Edward I, when, under the appellation of 
 the king's men of his town of Kingjlon upon Hull^ they petitioned the king, 
 that their town might be made a free burgh, independent of the fliirref, 
 and have a fair and markets, with exemptions from feveral tolls and 
 impofts (now obfolete) throughout all England. They paid 1 00 marks 
 to the king, and their petition was granted. About the fame time the 
 men of Ravenfrod, or Ravenfer, obtained a fimilar grant of privileges, 
 exemption from the jurifdidion of York, from tolls, &c. And, if we 
 are to judge by the fum they paid, which was ^^300 (or 45° marks) it 
 mufl have been then a much more confiderable place than Hull *, \Rot. 
 
 pat. 51 Hen. Ill, m. 23. — Ryley's Plac.parl. p. 646 Madox's Hiji. c.ii, 
 
 § 2.] 
 
 We find an officer appointed to meafure and infped cloths in the 
 fairs throughout all England, to levy fines upon thofe whofe cloths were 
 not according to the aflife, and to account for the fines to the exchequer. 
 This officer mufl have had deputies all-over the kingdom. The origin 
 of the office is not known f, the notice of it being occafioned by the 
 
 * Camden was miftaken, though deriving his ciates when he went to claim the kingdom of Scot- 
 information ' from the facred archives of the king- land in the year 1332, for the landing of Henry 
 ' dom,' in faying that Edward built a town, which duke of Lancafter when he came to take poflef- 
 lie called Kingflon, upon a piece of ground called fion of the kingdom of England in 1399, and the 
 Wik, purchafed by him from the abbat of Meaux ; landing of King Edward IV when he came to rc- 
 though he is pretty correft in the privileges grant- claim the kingdom in 1471, but without having 
 cd. [£nVannw, /. 578.] The new name, and ever attained any great commercial importance, it 
 probably fome new buildings ercfted in confe- was entirely deftroyed by the encroachments of the 
 quence of the new privileges, have led him to fup- fea about the beginning of the fifteenth century 
 pofe a new foundation : and his authority, which (if not indeed before the landing of Henry) ; and 
 is defervedly great, has been implicitly followed. even the place where it ftood, which was on the 
 
 Hull, if we may truft the reprefentation of the Humber, and near the point called the Spurn, is 
 
 archbifliop of York, was a port of commerce in not cuaftly known. [_lVa//!njhijm, p. ^^^. — Fad- 
 
 the reign of King Athclftan. \_Fsdera, V. iv, era, V. viii, p. Sg.—Sto'W, Ann. p. 703.] But 
 
 /. 272.] But, to come upon furer ground, Hull Hull (for the additional name of Kingllon is now 
 
 was evidently a port of fome note at leall a cen- generally omitted) has become one of the moft 
 
 tury before tiiis time ; we have fcen that its cuf- confiderable ports on the eaft fide of England, 
 toms amounted to j^i,o86 in the year 1282 ; and f The oflice is probably co-oeval with the law 
 
 in the year 1294 we find a merchant of that town for regulating the breadth and goodnefs of cloth, 
 
 one of the two fuperintcndants of all the mer- which is at lead as old as the reign of Richard 1. 
 
 cantile payments in England. [See above, pp. 358, There arc fome inflances (in Madox's H'ljl. c. 14, 
 
 371, 437, 454.) I find no record of the trade of J 15) of people being fined in the reigns of John 
 
 Kavenliod, nor indeed any mention of it whatever and Henry HI for their cloths being over-ftretch- 
 
 before this time. After being noted in hillory for cd and under breadth. 
 4he embarkatiuu of Edward Balliol and his alFo-
 
 A. D. 1298. 463 
 
 appointment (March 21") of a new keeper of the itlnary and ojfije of cloths 
 foreign as well as home-made. \Madox''s Hijl. c. 18, § 5, note (rt).] 
 
 May 5"" The king, by letters fent to the fhirrefs of Cambridge, 
 
 Huntendon, Nottingham, Derby, Bedford, Buckingham, Warwick, Lei- 
 cefler, Rutland, and Norfolk, ordered that all the wool, wool-fells, and 
 hides, exported from all thofe fhires, fhould be fhipped only at Lynne, 
 and there pay the duties. A trone (or beam) for weighing the wool, 
 and alfo feals for the cocket, were fent from the exchequer to the col- 
 ledors of the cuftoms at that port. For the fame purpofe coUedtors were 
 alfo eftabliflied at the ports of Newcaflle, Kingfton upon Hull, Boflon, 
 Yarmouth, Ipfwich, Southampton, Briftoj, and London *. \Madox's 
 Ht/i. c. 18, § 5, note (r).] 
 
 1299, May 15'" — Notwithftanding the late law of the parliament of 
 England againft the importation of bad money, and other fubfequent 
 precautions, the kingdom was ftill very much diftrefled by the circula- 
 tion of foreign coins of inferior value, known by the names of pollards, 
 crokards, &c. Therefor the king, by the advice of the prelates, earls, 
 and barons f , ordered that all importers of fuch money fhould be punifh- 
 ed with death and confifcation of all their property ; and all perfons ar- 
 riving from abroad fhould be very flridly examined by wardens chofen 
 in every port, and thofe found guilty of importing bad money be im- 
 prifoned ; that the foreign good money fhould be carried to the king's 
 exchange ; and that all Englifh money imported fhould be tryed by the 
 nearefl eflayers, and, if found counterfeit, fhould be feized. No per- 
 fon was to fell wool, hides, fkins, lead, or tin, but for good flerling 
 money, filver bullion tryed and ftamped at the king's exchange, or 
 good and fufEcient merchandize ; and no money nor bullion was to be 
 carried out of the king's dominions without his licence, on pain of for- 
 feiture X- The king ordered that tables of the various coins, and of 
 their value in flerling money, fhould be kept at Dover and the other 
 ports which he fhould ordain for pafTage, and that all perfons arriving 
 in, or departing from, the kingdom fhould there receive, in exchange 
 for their own money, an equivalent quantity of the money of the 
 country they were going to, fufficient for their expenfes while in it. 
 
 \Statut. 27 Edw.I. Rot. pat. 27. Edw. I. mm. 13, 14, 24 — Madox's Hi/i. 
 
 c. 9, § 9.] 
 
 * There is fomething, either erroneous, or Henry Walleis, then mayor of Lordon. \_Sloiu'j 
 
 flrangely capricious, in the order obh'ging the Annates, p. 318.] 
 
 wool of the caftern part of Norfolk to travel away % It was the general notion of the Europeaa 
 
 from the neighbourhood of Yarmouth to be fhip- legiflatois of thofe times, that they could controll 
 
 ped at Lynne ; and yet Yarmouth is one of the trade, and command the balance of it to be in 
 
 ports for fhipping wool. their favour, by fuch laws : and, though reafon, 
 
 f Thefe were the members of a parliament, as well as experience, ought to have convinced 
 
 which fat at Stebenheth (Stepney) in the houfc of them of their inefficiency, the delufion lafted a 
 
 prodigious time.
 
 464 
 
 A, D. 
 
 1300. 
 
 1300, April 1 1* — King Edward afterwards by the advice of his nobles 
 (' procerum') entirely prohibited the currency of pollards and crokards, 
 and all other money not of his own coinage *. He alfo ilTued orders to 
 the magiftrates of all the ports to allow no money, either Englifh or 
 foreign, nor any bullion, to be exported without his own fpecial licence ; 
 and from the orders iifued on this occafion we obtain the following lift 
 of the ports of England, Wales, and that part of Scotland which was 
 then under fubjedion to him, viz. 
 
 Dover, 
 Sandwich, 
 Romney, 
 VVinchelfea, 
 
 Rye, 
 
 Hythe, 
 Faverftiam, 
 Haftings, 
 Shoreham, 
 Seaford, 
 Portfmouth, 
 Southampton, 
 Dartmouth, 
 Lymington, 
 Weymouth, 
 Poole, 
 Hamble, 
 Lyme, 
 Sidmouth, 
 Chichefter, 
 Teignmouth, 
 [Rylefs Plac. pari. p. 481 
 
 •] 
 
 Frome, 
 
 Fowy, 
 
 Looe, 
 
 Bodmyn, 
 
 Wareham, 
 
 Falmouth, 
 
 Briftol, 
 
 Haverford, 
 
 Carnarvon, 
 
 Carmarthen, 
 
 Lanpadermaur, 
 
 Conway, 
 
 Chefter, 
 
 Bridsewater, 
 
 Cardiff, 
 
 Oyftermouth, 
 
 Rochefter, 
 
 Grave fend, 
 
 Northfleet, 
 
 London, 
 
 Harwich, 
 
 Ipfwich, 
 
 Dunwich, 
 
 Orford, 
 
 Yarmouth, 
 
 Blackney, 
 
 Lynne, 
 
 Bofton, 
 
 Wainfleet, 
 
 Saltfleet, 
 
 Grimfby, 
 
 Hull t, 
 
 Raven fere, 
 
 Scarburgh, 
 
 Tinemouth, 
 
 Newcaftle upon 
 
 Tine, and 
 Bamburgh ; 
 
 alfo 
 Berwick upon 
 
 Tweed, and 
 Dunbar \. 
 
 The merchants of Bourdeaux complained to King Edward, that they 
 could neither fell their wines, paying povindage, nor hire houfes or cel- 
 lars to ftore them in. The king thereupon direded a writ to the mayor 
 andftiirrefs of London, in confequence of which many large houfes, with 
 cellars for the ftowage of wine, were ereded on a part of the river's bank, 
 formerly occupied by cooks. The place being called the Vintry, has 
 
 • Wikcs [/>. 127] fays, that the king allowed 
 pollards, crokards, and rofarics, to go for a Iialf- 
 jjcnnic each, before he totally prohibited them. 
 But that rediiftion is not mentioned by Trivet nor 
 Mathcw of Weliminflcr : nor does any fiich rc- 
 duilion appear in the public records till the fccond 
 )-«ar of Edward II. '^MadoK'i H'ljl' c, 9, $ 3.] 
 
 f Hull is not called Ki:ig(lon. The new nan-.e 
 had not yet made its way into all the public of- 
 fices. 
 
 X It is rcafonablc to believe, that "there mufl 
 have been more ports than thofe here mentioned, 
 though the letters fent to them do not appear. — 
 I have given all the names in modern fpelling.
 
 A. D. 1300. 465 
 
 communicated its name to the adjacent wharf, and alfo to the ward 
 wherein it is fituated *. [Stow^s Survey, p. 438.] 
 
 Edmund carl of Cornwall (who died this year) gave the people con- 
 cerned in working the tin mines of Cornwall a diploma, containing a 
 fpecification of their liberties, and the ftipulated duty to be paid for the 
 tin to him as fuperior lord of the country, together with a code of laws 
 for their regulation, which are known by the name Qi\h& Stannary laws. 
 {Camdeni Britan. p. 1 34. ] 
 
 A ftatute was enadted, which ordained, that all wares made of gold 
 and filver, Ihould be of good and true allay ; gold of the ftandard of 
 Paris, and filver of the fterling allay f , or of better, if defired by the 
 employer. It alfo directed, that filver work fhould be marked with a 
 leopard's head hy the wardens of the craft if. [Statui. 28 Ediv. I, c. 20.] 
 
 While King Edward was carrying on his warlike operations in the 
 fouth part of Scotland, he received from Ireland a confiderable number 
 of cargoes of wheat, oats, malt, and ale, which were mollly brought by 
 the merchants of Ireland, and in Irifh veffels. This year the mayor and 
 community of Drogheda made the king a prefent of eighty tuns of wine, 
 and chartered a vefTel, belonging to their own port, to deliver it to him 
 at Kirkcudbright. \Liber garderobce Edw. 1, pp. 120, et fecjq.'] I do not 
 find that Ireland fupplied the Englifh army with any animal food, which 
 in the prefent age is a principal branch of the trade of that country. 
 
 At the fame time Galloway, being then moftly under the dominion 
 of Edward, fupplied him with horfes, apparently of the breed known 
 by the name of the country, for which it has long been famous. [Liber 
 garderobce, paffim.'\ 
 
 The number of vefTels arriving in the year ending on the 20''> of No- 
 vember 1299, in London, and the other ports of England, except the 
 Cinque ports which were exempted from the prife, and bringing car- 
 goes of wine confifling of above nineteen tuns, from which, by an an- 
 tient law or cuftom, the king had a right to take two tuns at the fixed 
 price of twenty fhillings, was 73 ; and the number in the year ending 
 on the 20'i, of November 1300 was yi ; the prife wines (which appear 
 by the accounts to have been but a fmall part of thofe confumed in the 
 king's houfehold) being 146 tuns in the former, and 142 in the later, 
 of thefe years §. [Liber garderobce, p, ■^S^. 'I It is, however, very pro- 
 
 * The ward was fo called at Icaft as early as J By an act of the year 1299, ingots cf filver 
 
 the year 1304. \_Madox, c. 17, § 5, note />.] were to be marked by the king's eflayers, before 
 
 f The appointment of the filver money of the they could be paid away in place of money. In 
 
 kingdom to be the ilandard for filver vi'ork, and thofe days leopards, not lions, were the armorial 
 
 the ftandard of a foreign country to be followed enfigns of England. 
 
 in gold work, together witli the filence concern- § In the 47"" and 48'" yesrs of Henry III the 
 
 ing gold money, ftrengthen the conjefture in p. prife wines fcem to have been only 235 tims dur- 
 
 408, that a continued coinage of gold had not ing both years. \_MaJox's Hijl. if the excheq. c. 
 
 been kept up after the y«ar 1257. 18, § 2.] 
 
 Vol. T 3 N
 
 466 A. D. 1300. 
 
 bable, that the Cinque ports, being exempted from prifage, and alfo 
 better provided with fliipping than moft of the other ports, imported 
 more wines than all the reft of the kingdom. 
 
 The money of France, from the time of Charlemagne, who corrected 
 anabufe of Pepin in coining 26j\. pennies out of a pound of filver, and re- 
 Jlored the old rate of 240 pennies, remained with little or no variation 
 of weight or finenefs till the reign of Philip I, who, about the year 
 1 103, mixed one third of copper with two thirds of filver in his deniers 
 or pennies. [Lf Blanc, 'Traite des monnoyes de France^ p. xvii.] It is not 
 my intention to purfue the money of France through all its fubfequenu 
 depretiations of weight and quality, which have been many and great. 
 
 1 30 1 — The firft diminution of the weight of the Englilh money of 
 account (if we except the money coined by Stephen, which, together 
 with that coined by the barons in his reign, was all deftroyed by Henry 
 II) was now made by King Edward, who coined two hundred and jvrty- 
 //?)r^^ pennies out of the pound of ftandard filver*. A defalcation of 
 three pennies from the value of the pound of account was probably 
 thought a very trifling matter; and the people knew nothing of their 
 money being one and a quarter per cent deficient of the juft value. 
 But it was a departure from the antient, ftri6l, and honourable, adherence 
 to the integrity of the national money ; and a breach, once begun, was 
 with lefs fcruple enlarged by the fucceeding kings. 
 
 Robert king of Scotland followed the example fet by Edward in Eng- 
 land ; and he went fomewhat beyond him : for, expecting that the pen- 
 nies of both kingdoms would continue, as formerly, to pafs indifcrimin- 
 ately f, he coined two hundred nnd fifty-two pennies from the pound 
 weight, the ftandard quality of the filver being the fame in both king- 
 doms. \Statut. Rob. Ill, c. 22, § 5, 6.] 
 
 In all the diminutions which have taken place in England and Scot- 
 land, as well as in France and other countries, the denominations of the 
 money of account have ftill remained the fame, viz. twelve pennies in 
 the nominal ftiilling, and twenty fliillings in the nominal pound, as 
 well as when the pound of account contained a real pound of twelve 
 ounces Troye weight of ftandard filver %. 
 
 * This is taken from Folkcs, \on Engl'ipi cnttn, f Tliey did pafs indifcriminately till the year 
 
 pp.9, H2, cd. 1763] who copied the agreement J355> as appears by the proelamatiou of ILJ- 
 
 inade with the coiner, and may therefor be deemed ward III. \_Fa:dfrn , F. v, />. 813-] The cxaA 
 
 more autlitntic than even the table of wciglits and year in wliich Robirt began the diminution of the 
 
 nu-afures, printed among tlie pnblic flatutes of tlie money of Scotland is not known. Ills leigH 
 
 year 1303, which Itatts twenty pennies to be in commenced in 1 306. 
 
 the ounce as formerly. Thecontinuator of Trivet's J There was no fuch coin as a fliiliing till the 
 Annals fays, [p. 2] that the money of Edward [ year 1504, and there never was a piece of filver 
 was held in very low ellimation (' admodiim te- money of the weight of a pound in Great Britain. 
 ' nebatur in regno vili»') imnudiately after liis Having noticed the firll breaches upon the in- 
 deatli, though I do not fey for what reafon, nnlefs tegrity of the money of account, I refer the read- 
 there has liecn fomc debafement of the quahty of er for the fucceeding changes of the value of the 
 ihc fdver, which has cfcapcd the rcfearchcs of the Englifli and Scottilli money, which were many, 
 iiiimmarian antiquaries. both in weight and purity, to the table of money 
 } iu
 
 A, D. 1301. 467 
 
 The redudions of the current money, from which the princes blindly 
 expeded great advantages, were ruinous to themfelves and the land- 
 holders, and produdive of unfpeakable confufion and embarraflrncnt in 
 commerce and dealings of every kind. Le Blanc, the hiflorian of the 
 French money, goes fo far as to afcribe the vidlories of the Englifli in 
 France to the impoverifhed ftate of the French gentlemen, occafioned 
 by the diminution of the money ; for, fays he, ' a knight reduced to 
 * poverty, and ill equipped, is already vanquiQied.' 
 
 The manufadures of Flanders in time recovered from the fanguinary 
 check they received in the war between the rival fons of the countefs Mar- 
 garet in the middle of the thirteenth century ; and, in confequence of 
 their profperity, the wool of England again found its ufual ready market. 
 , Flanders being the feat of the befl manufadures to the northward of 
 the Alps and Pynensean mountains, and confequently crowded with 
 people, the greateft agricultural exertions were neceflary to make the 
 fields as produdive as poffible ; and the encouragement afforded by fo 
 numerous a population was a mod powerful ftimulus to the induftry 
 and ingenuity of the farmers. It is generally allowed, that the other 
 countries of the weft part of Europe have been inftruded in agriculture 
 and horticulture by the Flemings, and have been earlier or later in 
 their improvements in thofe arts, in proportion to their intercourfe with 
 thofe fuperior cultivators. Literature and the polite arts were alfo 
 more flourifhing in Flanders than in the neighbouring countries, dur- 
 ing the profperous ages of their manufadures and commerce. So true 
 is it, that plenty and politenefs are produced and nourifhed by the gen- 
 ial influence of well-direded induftry *. 
 
 The firft interruption to the profperity of the Flemifli manufadures 
 proceeded from the rigour of fome regulations of the halls, which were 
 intended for preferving the charader of the manufadures and guarding 
 againft frauds, but chiefly operated as compulfive laws, to confine the 
 manufadures to the cities, arid fubjed them to the trammels of mono, 
 polizing corporations. The confequence, however, as generally hap- 
 pens with compulfive laws in matters of trade, was the reverfe of what 
 was intended by the legiflators ; for many of the manufadurers, in order 
 to avoid the reftraints, fettled in the villages, from which they were 
 driven out by the wars between France and Flanders, and forced to take 
 flicker in Tienen and Louvain in Brabant, where they were alfo ham- 
 in the Appendix, which exhibits them in one clear more poHflied and improved than the other natives 
 chronological view. of Britain, and our own dayly obfcrvation of the 
 
 * In our own illand we have the teftimony of vail difference between the diftrjds which are the 
 Diodorus Siculus \_L. v, § 22] and Cxfar, [&//. feats of commerce and manufadures, and thofe 
 Call. L. v,cc. 13, 14] that the people of Corn- which are 1 emote from their invigorating iufluence, 
 wall and Kent, as having the chief commeicial in- in the cultivation of the earth, and the politenels 
 tercourfe with the contiaent in antient times, weic and comfortable fubfiftence of the people.
 
 468 A. D. 1301. 
 
 pered by reftridions and impofts. In the year 1301 thefe harfh raea- 
 fures provoked a tumult in Ghent, wherein two of the magiftrates and 
 eleven other inhabitants loft their lives. In the following year above 
 1 ,500 people periflied in the fame way at Bruges : and at Ypres tho 
 whole of the magiftrates were killed. Similar tumults were raifed 
 afterwards at Louvain and other places in Brabant by the cloth- 
 weavers and others, who thought themfelves opprefled by the reftridlive 
 laws ; and many of them emigrated to England and other countries, as 
 we fhall afterwards fee. [Di? Witl's Inter ejl of Holland, p. 47, Etigl. 
 trapJI.'l 
 
 The cataftrophe at Bruges feems to have been, at leaft partly, occa- 
 fioned by the intemperance of fpeech of a foolifli woman. In May 
 1 301 Philip the Fair, king of France, with his queen, made a progrels 
 through Flanders, which, he alleged, had devolved to him as fuperior 
 lord. They were everywhere received with the greateft demonftrations 
 of refpeft, and the people of every city made the moft pompous difplay 
 of opulence and magnificence. At Bruges the fplendour of the ladies 
 gave great offence to the queen, who peevifhly exclaimed, ' I thought 
 * I was the only queen here, but I fee there are many hundreds more.' 
 After their departure a diftuvbance arofe among the citizens concern- 
 ing the payment of the public expenfes, incurred by their reception of 
 their royal vifitors, which they muft have thought very ill beftowed. 
 The deacon of the weavers, who was called King Peter, with twenty-five 
 other confiderable men, were put in prifon by the praetor, but inftantly 
 releafed by the populace. Many other difturbances enfued ; and finally 
 the French were driven out of Bruges. \_Meyeri j4ntiales Flattdria,/. 88 
 b.] If the queen had had the good fenfe to rejoice, that the people, 
 who were to be her hufband's fubjeds, were enjoying the due rewards 
 of their honeft induftry, or could have only commanded her temper 
 fo far, as to affume an appearance of gratioufly accepting the refpe<fl: 
 paid to her, which would have coft her nothing, inftead of difplaying 
 her childifh envy and littlenefs, there would perhaps have been no op- 
 pofition to her hufband's claim *. 
 
 1302, November 7"' — King Edward, by fummonfes to the warden of 
 the Cinque ports, and to the magiftrates of Dover, Sandwich, Rye, Win- 
 chelfea, Romney, Hythe, Pevenfey, and Faverfham, ordered their quota 
 of fifty-fcven vefTels to be ready at Are (or Ayr on the weft coaft of Scot- 
 land) on next AlFumption day, in order to aft againft the Scots. But, as he 
 wanted men more than veflels, he defired they would fend only twenty- 
 
 * She died with a vtry bad cliara£lcr — ' altera pic of Cologne with a fight of licr face, won the 
 
 ' Jcfahd, ma<;nnque pars caufse Imjus traga;dia; tt hearts of the ladles of that great city. \_M. Paris, 
 
 ' crueniiiTimi belli.' \_Meyer, f. loS a.] — Ifabil, /. 415.] How cheaply may thofe of high rank 
 
 the filUr of Henry HJ, when (lie went over to attach the people to their iiitcreft ! 
 he married to the emperor, by indulging the pco-
 
 A. D. 1302. 469 
 
 five veflels, with the full number of men belonging to the fifty-feven. 
 [Fiedera, V. ii, p. gii.] 
 
 Auguft 13"" — The king gave the vvine-mcrchants of his duchy of 
 Aquitaine a charter, licencing them to import wines, and other merch- 
 andize, into all his dominions, and to fell them in wholefale in the 
 cities, burghs, and market towns, either to natives or foreigners. He 
 exempted them from the antient prife of two tuns of wine out of every 
 Ihip, and promifed, that no part of their wine, or other goods, fliould 
 be taken for his ufe, without being paid for at the fair price paid by 
 others. He alfo ordained, that, as the feller was obliged to make up 
 any deficiency of the fiandard gauge of the wine, fo the buyer fhould 
 pay for the furplus quantity when it exceeded the meafure, and that 
 the buyer and feller fliould each pay a halfpenny for the gauge. The 
 wine-merchants, in confideration of thefe privileges, which, the king 
 declared, fhould be perpetual *, confented to pay an additional duty of 
 two fliilhngs upon every tun of wine : and this duty, together with 
 feme new regulations in their charter, refpeding their trade, the re- 
 covery of their debts, &c. were very foon after extended to all foreign 
 merchants, and will therefor be found in the charter of merchants, to 
 be prefently recited. [F^dera, V. ix, p. 868.] 
 
 1303, February i" — It was vmdoubtedly from a defire of participat- 
 ing in the privileges granted to the inerchants of Aquitaine, that all the 
 foreign merchants trading with England, offered to pay additional duties, 
 in confideraticni of obtaining a charter, wherein their privileges fhould 
 be duely defined. The king accordingly now gave a general charter to 
 all foreign merchants, whereof the following is the fubflance. 
 
 The king being defirous, that the merchants of Germany, France, 
 Spain, Portugal, Navarre, Lombardy, Tufcany, Provence, Catalonia, 
 Aquitaine, Tholoufe, Quercy, Flanders, Brabant, and all other foreign 
 countries, reforting to his dominions, may enjoy tranquillity and ample 
 fecurity, eftablifhes the follov/ing regulations, to be obferved by himfelf 
 and his heirs for ever. 
 
 All foreign merchants may come fafely into England and our other 
 dominions with all kinds of merchandize, free from any demands for 
 murage, pontage, or pavage f. — They may fell, by wholefale only, to 
 our fubjeds, and alfo to foreigners, in all the cities, burghs, and market 
 towns, of our dominions ; and they may alfo retail fpices and the wares 
 called mercery, as formerly. — After paying the due cuftoms, they may 
 export to any country not at war with us, whatever they bring into our 
 dominions, or purchafe in them, except wine, which muft not be carried 
 out of our dominions without our fpecial licence — They may refide, 
 and keep their goods, in any of our cities, burghs, and towns, as they 
 
 * The charter was confirmed by Henry IV and Henry V. [Fadcra, V ix,/>. 868.] 
 
 •f Explanations of thefe terms will be found under the year 13 1 7. 4
 
 470 A. D. 1303. 
 
 fhall agree with the owners of the houfes — Every contradl for merch- 
 andize {hall be firm and liable, after the earneft-penny is given and ac- 
 cepted by the contrading parties : but, if any difpute (hail arife, it fhall 
 be determined by the cuftoms of the fair or town where the contrad: 
 was made. — We promife, that we will make no prife, nor arrefl or de- 
 tention on account of prife, upon their merchandize or goods, upon 
 any occafion, againft their will, without firfl paying the price which they 
 might get from others, and that no price or valuation (hall be fet upon 
 their goods by us. — We order that all bailiffs and ofHcers of fairs, cities, 
 burghs, and market towns, on hearing the complaint of the merchants 
 fhall do juflice without delay, according to the merchant law; and in 
 cafe of delay, even though the merchant recover his damage, we will 
 punifli the bailif, or ofhcer ; and this we grant, that fpeedy juflice may 
 be done to flrangers *, — In all pleas between a merchant and any other 
 perfon whatever, except in cafes of capital crimes, one half of the jury 
 Ihall confifl of the men of the place, and the other half of foreign 
 merchants, if as many can be found in the place — Wc ordain, that our 
 weight fhall be kept in every fair and town, that the weigher fhall fhow 
 the buyer and feller that the beam and fcales are fair, and that there 
 fhall be only one weight and meafure in our dominions, and that they 
 be flamped with our flandard mark. — A faithful and prudent man, re- 
 liding in London, fliall be appointed jufticiary for the foreign merchants, 
 before whom they fhall plead fpecially, and recover their debts fpeedily, 
 according to the merchant law, if the mayor and fhirrefs negled or de- 
 lay their caufes. 
 
 In confideration of thefe liberties, and the remiffion of our prifage, 
 the merchants, conjun£tly and feverally for themfelves and all others of 
 their countries, have unanimoufly agreed to pay to us and our heirs, 
 within forty days after landing their goods, for 
 
 €very tun (' dolium') of wine imported-^ r£o 2 o 
 
 -every fack of wool exported, '. befides the old I 034 
 
 every laft of hides exported, ! cuftom \ o 13 4 
 
 every 300 wool-fells exported, J L o 3 4 
 
 every fcarlet cloth, or cloth dyed in grain, - 020 
 
 every cloth dyed partly in grain, - - 016 
 
 every cloth without grain, - - - 010 
 
 every hundred weight of wax, - - 010 
 
 and for fine goods, fuch as fluffs of Tarfus, filk, cindal, ' feta' (probably 
 fatin), and alfo horfes and other animals, corn, and other articles not 
 enumerated, a duty on importation of three pennies in the pound of 
 the value, according to their invoice, or their oaths if they have no in- 
 voice ; alio for every article, not enumerated, upon exportation, three 
 pennies in the pound of the value, befides the former duties. 
 
 » Hakluy t, in the margin of bis tranflation of thi« cliaitcr, afits, whav Is become of this law now ?
 
 A. D. 
 
 ^^^3' 
 
 471 
 
 Foreign merchants may fell wool to other foreign merchants within 
 our dominions without paying any duty : and, after they have paid 
 cuftom in one part of our dominions for their goods, they fhall not be 
 liable to pay it in any other part. 
 
 Henceforth no exadion, prife, loan, or burthen of any kind, fhall 
 ever be impofed upon the merchants or their goods. [Fivdera, V. iv, p, 
 361, and V. ix, p. 72.] 
 
 About this time a table of weights, meafures, &c. was made up by 
 authority, as follows. 
 
 Weights. 
 
 20 pennies (of money) i ounce, 
 1 2 ounces i pound of London, 
 124- pounds I ftone of London, 
 14 ftones 
 2 weyes (of wool) 
 12 facks 
 
 I weye, 
 
 I fack, 
 
 I 
 
 laft. 
 
 15 ounces of /(ffli - i pound, 
 12 pounds - I ftone, 
 
 5 ftones 10 pounds 1 fotmal, 
 
 50 fotmals - - I car. 
 
 But fome reckon only 12 weyes 
 to a car ; and in the Peek country 
 (owing, no doubt, to the fteepnefs 
 of the roads) the car is much lefs. 
 
 Flax, tallow, and cheefe, are fold 
 by the weye of 14 ftones, as well 
 as lead and wool. 
 
 Of wax, fugar, pepper^ cumin, al- 
 monds, and alum^ 
 15 ounces ~ - 
 
 8 pounds 
 13I ftones 1 
 
 I pound, 
 
 I ftone, 
 
 hundred-weight. 
 
 Meafures. 
 8 pounds oi corn i gallon, 
 
 8 gallons 1 bufliel of London. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 
 25 herrings 
 
 I glen, 
 
 IS glens 
 
 I rees : 
 
 120 herrings - 1 
 
 hundred, 
 
 10 hundreds - i 
 
 thoufand. 
 
 10 thoufands 
 
 I laft. 
 
 25 eels 
 
 1 ftick. 
 
 10 fticks 
 
 I bind» 
 
 160 mulvcls and dry fifj i 
 
 hundred. 
 
 10 hides 
 
 I dacre. 
 
 20 dacres 
 
 I laft. 
 
 ^ojkiiis of conies ox g rife 
 
 I timber. 
 
 32 timbers 
 
 I bind. 
 
 10 pairs of gloves 
 
 I dacre. 
 
 20 horfe-Jhoes 
 
 ■ 1 dacre. 
 
 56 pieces offleel 
 
 I flieaf. 
 
 13 ells oifi/lian 
 
 1 cheef 
 
 I o ellsoffrnelinenC ftndon') i head. 
 Of flax\ hemp, and linen, 
 
 120 go to - I hundred. 
 
 5 pounds of glafsf i ftone, 
 
 24 ftones - 1 feem. 
 
 The pound of twelve ounces is ufed only for money, fpices, and elect- 
 uaries, and the pound of fifteen ounces for all other things*. 
 
 * I have extrafted the fenfe of this ordinance, Tlie pound o^ fifteen ounces appears alfo in the laws 
 
 which is deficient, redundant, intricate, and fome- of Scotland. It lias probably been increafed to. 
 
 times contradictory, as well as I could. It is pub- Jixteen, for the fake of a more corn client fubdivi.- 
 
 lidied with the Statutes, and entitled ' Traftatus fian. 
 • de ponderibus et menfuris, anno 31 Edw. I.'—
 
 472 A. D. 1303. 
 
 May 20'' — In a treaty of peace with France, liberty was granted to 
 the merchants on both lides to trade freely in all kinds of merchandize, 
 on paying the duties ; and each of the contracting powers agreed to give 
 no relief, not even viduals, to the enemies of the other. [Fcedera, V. ii, 
 
 PP' 927. 935-] 
 
 The abbat of Weftminfler, 48 of his brethren, and 32 other perfons, 
 
 were imprifoned in the Tower, on a charge of robbing the king's treaf- 
 
 ury in Weftminfler abbay of a hundred thoufand pounds. [Foedera, V. ii, 
 
 pp. 930, 938, 940.] The fum is almoft incredibly great How could 
 
 they carry off fuch a load of filver *, or what could they do with fuch a 
 
 mafs of money. 
 
 The Venetian writers fix the year 1303 for the termination of the 
 youthful age of their republic, which, they fay, has ever fince proceed- 
 ed with the gravity and prudence of mature age ; and, being a happy 
 mixture of monarchy, ariftocracy, and democracy, it is likely, with the 
 afiiflance of the gods, to endure to eternity. \CraJfi Notce in Donat. 'Jan- 
 not. p. 466, ed. Eh.] Eternity belongs not to human affairs. 
 
 1304, April — King Edward, having made peace with the king of 
 France, entered fo warmly into his interefts, that he took part with him 
 againft his old friend the earl of Flanders, and at his own expenfe lent 
 him twenty of the befl and largefl fliips to be found in all the ports be- 
 tween London and the Ifle of Wight, Dover excepted, each of them car- 
 rying at leaft forty fencible men, and properly equipped for war. And, 
 further to gratify his new friend, he banifhed all the Flemifh merchants 
 out of England, Wales, and Ireland, and ordered home all his own fub- 
 jeds who were in Flanders, thereby abolifhing the very befl trade, or 
 rather almofl the whole trade, of his fubjeds f — on condition that the 
 king of France would banifh his enemies, the Scots, out of his kingdom. 
 [Fa^dera, V. ii, pp. 943-946.] 
 
 King Edward having written to Eric king of Denmark, requiring 
 fatisfadtion for a fhip loaded with wine and other goods, belonging to 
 Yarmouth, Eric anfwered, that the owner, or his agent, fhould have 
 juflice whenever he would apply, and that any Englifli fubjeds vifiting 
 his dominions, fnould be favourably treated. [Foedera, V. n,p. 949. J 
 
 The town of Pera (formerly called Galata) on the north fide of the 
 harbour of Conftantinoplc, with ibme adjacent grounds, which the Ge- 
 noefe had occupied fince the refloration of the Greek emperors in the 
 year 1259, was now fully ceded to theni by the emperor Andronicus; 
 and it was rendered equal to many cities in the ftrength of its fortifica- 
 
 * The robbery was cummiltcj in die end of I.irid (wlu'cli was moftly caniid to Flanders) was 
 
 May, when the nights are very (hort. nearly equal to the half of the land in value. £Tfi- 
 
 f In ihc year 1297, the nobles, in their ptti- vtlyfi. 304-] 
 tion to the king, ancrtcd that the woyl of Eng-
 
 A. D. 1304. 473 
 
 tiohs and tlie beauty of its buildings. [Siel/ce ^n. Gen. ap. Muratori 
 Script. V. xvii, fo/. 1021.] 
 
 1305 — Either the trade of England was confiderably increafed fince 
 the year 1205, or the duty called the quinzieme was now more flridly 
 coUeded. In that year it amounted only to ^^4.95 8 : 7 : 3t for the 
 whole kingdom : and now the barons of the Cinque ports agreed to pay 
 2,000 marks (/^i,333 ; 6 : 8) for the farm of the quinzieme of the 
 towns under their jurifdidion, Haftings undertaking to pay 700, and 
 Dover, Sandwich, Romney, and Hythe, the remaining 1,300. \pladox'^ 
 Hiji. of the excheq. c. 15, § 11.] 
 
 King Edward, in his great eagernefs to crufli the independent Scots, 
 whom he called 7-ebels, clogged the letters of fafe condudt, which he gave 
 to the merchants of Flanders, with a condition that they Ihould not 
 permit the Scots to procure arms or provifions in their country. But 
 Robert earl of Flanders declined accepting the favour on thofe terms, 
 and wrote to Edward, that he and his fubjeds had no intention to en- 
 courage the Scots in their war or rebellion, and he had even proclaimed, 
 that no one in his dominions fhould give them any alliftance in their 
 rebellion or hoftilities againft him. But he added, that as his country 
 had from remote ages been fupported by merchandize, and been open 
 to merchants reforting to it from all quarters, he could not with pro- 
 priety, and ought not, to exclude the Scots, or any other people, from 
 exercifmg their lawful and juft merchandize in his country, but was ra- 
 ther bound to defend them from all unjuft oppreffion, while they car- 
 ried on their trade without any fraud. [Fordera, V. iii, p. 963.] By 
 perfevering in fuch an impartial line of condu6t, and avoiding wars as 
 much as poffible, Flanders long enjoyed the gixatefl part of the com- 
 merce of the weftern countries of Europe. 
 
 1306 — It was the law, or cuftom, in England to make every individ- 
 ual of the merchant flrangers in the kingdom liable to arrefl for the 
 debts, and even for the crimes, of any other foreigners, and to treat 
 them in many other refpeds with much rigour, unlefs when they ob- 
 tained the protection of the kings, either for particular fervices done to 
 themfelves or their favourites, or in confequence of recommendations 
 from the popes for fervices done to them. In the year 1301 a perfon 
 belonging to the houfe of the Spini of Florence was killed in a fquab- 
 ble w^ith fome other people belonging to the fame houfe ; and the guilty 
 perfon having abfconded, the officers of juftice feized the bodies and 
 goods of other perfons belonging to the company, and alfo, luckily for 
 the merchants, a fum of money coUedted by them in Ireland for the 
 pope, and fome merchandize purchafed for his account, who immedi- 
 ately fent a bull to the king, requiring the liberation of the people and 
 property arrefted. {Fa^dera, F. ii, j6. 891.] In the year 1306 leveral 
 
 Vol. I. 3 O
 
 547*4 A. D. 1306. 
 
 foreign merchants were called before the king's council, who inquired 
 how many merchants of each foreign company were in England, and 
 ordered them to give in an account of all the money and goods they 
 poflefled, and to give fecurity that none of them fhould leave the king- 
 dom, or export any thing, without the king's fpecial licence. Next day, 
 not being able to find iecurity, they were all committed to the Tower, 
 from which they were afterwards liberated on becoming fureties for 
 each other *. [Madox's Hjjl. c. 22, § 7.] 
 
 1307, February 4''' — A fum of money having been colleded in Eng- 
 land for the pope, the king ordered that it fhould be given to merch- 
 ants within the kingdom for bills of exchange to be remitted to the 
 pope (' per viam cambii dido domino fummo pontifici dellinare'), be- 
 caufe he v/ould allow no coined money nor bullion to be carried out of 
 the kingdom on any account. \Fadera, V. ii, p. 1042.] Did he not 
 know, that fuch a tranfadion mufl either carry out n),oney, or prevent 
 it from coming in, which is nearly the fame thing? 
 
 The ufe of coal (called fea-coal, as being brought by fea) for fuel was 
 prohibited in London and Southwark f . {Slaw's Survey of London, p. 
 
 925O 
 
 The fociety of the New temple in London had ereded fome mills 
 
 upon the Thames, near Caftle Baynard, with a quay befide them, in 
 
 virtue of a grant from King John, and they feem alfo to have drawn off 
 
 the Water of Fleet from its channel. It appeared by an inqueft, that 
 
 - thofe eredions had deftroyed the navigation of the Fleet, upon which 
 
 fmall boats (' batelli'), loaded with merchandize, ufed to go up as far as 
 
 Holburn bridge :|: ; and the Templars were oi-dered to reftore the brook 
 
 to its natural channel. Stow fays, that the mills were removed, and the 
 
 channel cleaned out ; but the antient breadth and depth never wei'c 
 
 recovered, and there were mills upon it again in his time. \Rot. pat. 
 
 35 'E.dw. I i I Edzu. I J, amb. a tergo. — Ryley, Plac. pari. p. 340. — Sto-w's 
 
 Ann. p. 326 ; Survey, pp. 687, 688.] 
 
 1308, March 15''' — Edward II, having married a daughter of the king 
 of France, granted permiilion to the merchants of that kingdom to 
 
 • This lUibenil and impolitic treatment of fo- fmoke of wliicb was long fuppofed pernicious: 
 
 reigncrs was uot put ail f nd to by law till the yi-ar {i^^e Lvilyn's Fiimifiigium, piilililhcd in the year 
 
 I35;i, and not by praflite till long Kfterwaids. 1661] for the king fiirely did not propofe to hln- 
 
 -(• In June 1307 the king fent an order to the der tlie citizens from drcfTing their vidnals ; and 
 
 iiiavor and fiiirrefs of London to proclaim that no tliat this prohibiiion i.s the fame that is noticed by 
 
 pcrfon flionld prefumc to light fires (' rogus illos Stow. — But qiicre, if ro^os be written inftead of 
 
 • prsfumat aecendere') in London, or near the focos, and one of the innumerable blunders of Ry- 
 
 Tower, beeaufe the queen was going to refide in mer's amanncnfcs, which diigrace that great and 
 
 it, and fuch fires were apt to corrupt and infect valuable thefaurus of national records ? 
 
 the air. [Fttilcra, V. ii, />. 1057.] The word X The name of Batel-bridge feems to infer, that 
 
 fo^us, which figiiifies a fimeralfire, is evidently boats have at fome time proceeded vcven as high as 
 
 niifapplied, and the meaning of tiie order is ren- that place, which is more than a rtiik above Hol- 
 
 dcrcd obfcure by it. It is jirobablc that the pro- burn biidge. 
 hibition was dircdtd only agalnft fires of coal, tlu'
 
 A. D. 1308. 475 
 
 come td England with money and merchandize ; and, after tranfudling 
 their bufinefs, to return with their goods, horfes, and even money, 
 notwithftanding his father's law againfl: carrying money or bullion out of 
 the kingdom. {Fadera, V. iii,/. 70.] 
 
 March 22'' — The ftatute of merchants, and the charter granted to the 
 foreign merchants, feem both to have been infufficient to procure jullice 
 for them : for we find that, on a complaint of the merchants of Brabant, 
 the king iffued general orders to do them juftice in all their jull claims. 
 {Fasdcra^ V. iii, /•. 71.] 
 
 Some Caftilian pirates, under Portuguefe colours, had taken fevcral 
 Englifh veflels, whereupon the commercial harmony, which had fub- 
 fifted for fome time between the merchants of England and Portugal, 
 "was interrupted, till the affair was explained by a letter from the king 
 of Portugal, who alfo requciled letters of fafe conduft for the merch- 
 ants of his kingdom to trade in the dominions of King Edward, which 
 were granted (Odober 3''), on condition that they fhould trade fairly, 
 pay the ufual cuftoms, and give obedience to the laws of the land while 
 refiding in it. \Fcedera, V. iii, p. 107.] 
 
 1309 — The merchants, or rather the feamen, often took it upon them 
 to carry on hoftilities againfl thofe of other countries or cities, and to 
 enter into treaties of peace or truce with them (as has already been 
 partly obferved) without the fovereigus on either fide being concerned 
 in the quarrel, unlefs fometimes as mediators, or umpires, between the 
 belligerent feamen. Many complaints having been made of piracies and 
 {laughters, committed during a truce of two years between King Edward's 
 fubjeds of Bayonne and the fubjeds of Caftile, the kings on both fides, 
 after a negotiation of confiderable length, commillioned two judges out 
 of each country to fettle the damages, do juftice, and punifh fome of 
 the firft movers. {FGedera, V. ni, pp. 112, 122, 131, 132, 153, 169, 170, 
 178, 181.] 
 
 . Other feamen, called Efterfings (people of the Baltic fea), taking ad- 
 vantage of the troubled fi:ate of Scotland, committed fome depredations 
 there; whereupon Edward, who confidered himfelf the fovereign of that 
 kingdom, having heard that the pirates had failed for the Swyn, wrote 
 to the earls of Namur and Flanders, and the magiftrates of Bruges, re- 
 quefling them to do juftice upon them. There were alfo com- 
 plaints about this time of Englifta fubjeds being maltreated in Norway. 
 [Fcedera,V. ni, pp. 131, 154, 215.] But the reader, I dare fay, will 
 gladly excufe me from entering into a tedious and difgufting recital of 
 the atrocities perpetrated upon the fea and the fliores in thofe ages of 
 ferocity and rapine, and alio from narrating many of the fhort-lived 
 and unimportant treaties, which were made, almoft every year, profeffed- 
 ly for the purpofe of guarding the interefts of commerce. 
 
 -, O 2
 
 476 
 
 A. D. 1310. 
 
 1310, June 16'" — King Edward ordered the following ports to lend 
 fhips of war, fufficiently equipped and manned, to Dublin, in order to 
 tranfport the earl of Ulfter and his forces to Scotland. 
 
 Shoreham, to fend 
 Portfmouth 
 Lymington and 7 
 
 Eremouth j 
 Poole 
 Wareham 
 Weymouth 
 Melcomb 
 Lyme 
 Exmouth and 7 
 
 Exeter j 
 
 Teignmouth 
 Dartmouth 
 
 Plymouth 
 Colchefler 
 Harwich 
 Ipfwich 
 Dunwich 
 Orford 
 Yarmouth 
 Little Yarmouth 
 Snyterley 
 Burnham and 7 
 Holkham j 
 Boflon 
 
 I Grimfby - i 
 
 I Ravenfere - 1 
 
 1 Hull - _ 2 
 
 2 Scarburgh - r 
 I Hertlepool - i 
 I Newcaftle upon 
 6 Tine 
 
 I Newby - - i 
 
 I Gloucefter and 7 
 
 Briftol j ^ 
 
 Bridgewater - i 
 I 
 
 4 [Fa;dera, V. iii, p. 2 1 2.] 
 
 } 
 
 I Lynne 
 
 There are no orders to London or the Cinque ports *. The great 
 number taxed upon Yarmouth affords a ftrong prelumption, that the 
 fifhery, the chief, or rather the only, bufinefs of that port, was then in 
 a very flourifliing condition. But of the ports, taxed at one vefTel each, 
 fome muft have differed greatly from others in commercial importance. 
 
 1 31 1 — The king of France wrote to King Edward his fon-in-law, re- 
 queuing that he would remit to the French merchants, and efpecially 
 to thofe of Amiens, the new duty of three pennies in the pound of the 
 value of their goods. But Edward anfwered, that the duty had been 
 granted in his father's time in a full parliament, and at the delire of the 
 foreign merchants themfelves, in confideration of liberties and immuni- 
 ties, from which they had reaped great advantages ; and that he could 
 not remit it without the advice of parliament f . \Fadera, V. iii, p. 269.] 
 
 There can be little reafon to doubt that the conftrudion and ufe of 
 the glalTes for aflifling weak or dim eyes, now fo generally known un- 
 der the name of fpedacles, were known to the great Roger Bacon. But 
 in thofe days the knowlege of improvements was llowly propagated, and 
 for want of printing, the great preferver as well as difl'eminator of know- 
 lege, was often entirely loft. We may therefor very well believe, that 
 the invention of fpedacles at Pifa, or Florence, or both, might be real 
 original difcoveries. Dominicus Maria Mannus of Florence, in an eflay 
 on fpe^acles, feems to prove, that they were invented by Salvino of that 
 
 • It appears fiom a fecond mandate ifiiicd in a 
 f"3w weeks after, w'uerrin the kinj;; ordered all tlic 
 vtlfels to proceed immcdiatdy fc^r tlie coall of Ar- 
 gyle without cslling at Ireland, that llie Cinque 
 ports were alfo railed upon for their (hipping at 
 this time. The ftcond orders coiitaiii, bclidcs the 
 t'itvquc ports ami all thofe in the full ones, the 
 
 port of Southampton. \Fadera, V. iii, pp. 22 j, 
 
 265-1 
 
 f The fame rcqueft was again made at the iii- 
 
 ftance of the merchants of Amiens by Charles the 
 
 Fair in the year 1323; and a finiilar anlvvcr was 
 
 retnrr.cd. {Faikra., V. iii, />. 1014.]
 
 A. D. 131 1. 477 
 
 city, who died in the year 1317. And Peccioli, in bis Chronicle of Pifa, 
 fays, that Alexander de Spina, a monk of Pifa, (who died in the year 
 1 31 3) feeing that fome perfon (probably Salvino) who had invented 
 fpedacles of glafs, refufed to communicate the art of making them to 
 others, difcovered the fecret by his own ingenuity and apphcation, and 
 liberally imparted the knowlege to others. \_Muratori Antiq. V. ii, col. 
 396.] Spedacles being certainly known about this time in two princi- 
 pal commercial cities of Italy, it may be prefumed that the ufe of them 
 became general throughout Europe in the early part of the fourteenth 
 century. The fubfequent improvements upon the formation of the 
 glafles, whereby they are adapted to the long-fighted and the Ihort- 
 fighted, as well as thofe whofe fight is weakened by age, render fpec- 
 tacles one of the moil beneficial and important difcoverles that have 
 ever been made to a very great proportion of mankind, among whom 
 are comprehended many of the moft valuable individuals. 
 
 1313, February 15''' King Edward wrote to the earl of Flanders, 
 
 complaining that his fubjeds fi;ill traded with the Scots, and lupplied 
 them with provifions, armour, and other neceflaries. On the 1'' of May 
 he again wrote him, that he underftood, thirteen Flemifli fhips had re- 
 cently failed from the Swyn for Scotland with arms and provifions. 
 Whether it was on account of his demands for the abolition of the trade 
 with Scotland not being complied with by the earl, whofe anfwers I do 
 not find, or for any other caufe of difpleafure, the king ifllied orders 
 (June ip"") to arreft all the Flemiflri veflels in England. \Tcsdera, V. iii, 
 //». 386, 403,419.] 
 
 That the people of England, or at leafi; thofe of Lynne, reforted to 
 the fouth coafl: of Norway about this time for the purpofe of catching 
 herrings, we learn from the too-common complaints of piratical depred- 
 ations and other enormities, which difgrace the naval hift:ory of every 
 nation of Europe in the middle ages. About the fame time eleven, 
 Norwegians of diftinftion, who had been invited to dine onboard an 
 EngHfli vefTel from Berwick, were murdered by the crew, in confe- 
 quence of which, according to the general law then eftablifhed, fome 
 other Englifli vefiTels were ieized, whereupon King Edward wrote a let- 
 ter to Hacon king of Norway, reprefenting that it was contrary to rea- 
 fon, equity, juftice, and law, that thofe, who were not guilty, nor of the 
 fociety of the guilty, faould fuffer for the crimes of others * : and he 
 requefi:ed the refioration of the veffels, which, as they ought to be at ail 
 times ready for his fervice, he could not quietly fuflfer to be out of the 
 kingdom — In the fame year the treafurer of the king of Norway took 
 for his matter's ufe cloth, fifh, and other merchandize, to the value cf ' 
 
 * However contrary it nvght be to reafon, dom. We fliall pvefently fee a flight relaxation of. 
 equity, or juftice, it certainly was agreeable to the the cruelty of this barbarous law granted as a very 
 Jaw or cuftom then eftablifhed in his own king- particular favour.
 
 47§ 
 
 A. D. 1313. 
 
 i'r,494 : 5 ; o flerling, from feven merchants of Lynnc, while they were 
 Lit North Bergen, for which they received no payment *. This merits 
 notice only as it fhows, that England had then forae cloth to fpare for 
 
 exportation. The fifh were probably caught on the Norwegian coafi: 
 
 But it would be tedious and difgufting to detail all the outrages and 
 enormities, which conftituted the chief mutter of the negotiations be- 
 tween the princes of Europe in thofe ages. [See Fadera, V. iii, pp. 3,95, 
 397, 400, 401. 449. 556, 566, 571, 577, 783.] 
 
 The advocates for the antiquity ot the fociety, or company, of the 
 merchants of the Staple aflert, that they exiiled as a corporate body in 
 the 51"^ year of King Henry III. What is, perhaps, more eafily afcer- 
 tained, is, that in two letters from Edward II to Robert earl of Flanders, 
 both dated 15* February 1313^ it appears, that Richard Stury, mayor of 
 the merchants of England, had jufl returned from the earl's court, to which 
 he and Sir William of Deen had been fent as ambafladors, in order to 
 accommodate all differences between the fubjeds of both princes (not 
 between the princes), and to concert meafures for maintaining fi'iend- 
 fhip and amicable intercourfe. {Feeder a, V. Lii, p. 386.] In this year 
 we find a patent of King Edward for ordaining a certain place xipon the 
 continent as a ftaple for the merchants of England, and for defining the 
 liberties (or powers) veiled in their mayor : and there was alfo a fecond 
 patent foon after ' in favour of the mayor and merchants of the Stapled 
 [Rot. pat. fee. 6 Edzv. II, m. 5 ; ^nd prim. 7 Ediv. II, m. 18.] There was 
 moreover a charter, dated the 20'' of May in this year, wherein the 
 king fets forth, that, as the merchants, natives as well as foreigners, 
 made a practice of carrying the wool and wool-fells bought in his do- 
 minions to feveral places in Brabant, Flanders, and Artois, for fale, he, 
 in order to prevent fuch damages, had ordained, that all merchants, 
 whether natives or foreigners, buying wool and wool-fells in his do- 
 minions for exportation, fhould carry them only to one certain ftaple in 
 one of thofe countries, to be appointed by the mayor and community 
 of the fame merchants of his kingdom f, who might change the ftaple, 
 if they thought it expedient. He alfo granted to the mayor and council 
 of thofe merchants authority to punifh all merchants, natives or foreign- 
 ers, carrying wool or wool-fells to any other place, by fines, which ftiould 
 be levied by his officers for his ufe upon the property of the delinquents. 
 And he ordered this charter to be publiflied in all the maritime fliires 
 of England. [Hakluyt's Voiages, V. i, p. 142.] There can be no doubt, 
 that the perfon, called in the king's letters, the firft patent, and the 
 
 * They had received no payment in June 1319, ported wool and wool-fells, only Englifli merch- 
 
 wh<ii King Edward dunned the king of Norway ants (liould be members of the fociety. It appears 
 
 for them. from a nmhitude of fadls and documents, thai ihc 
 
 f * Per m.ijorcm tt communltatem eorinuleni mayor and community continued the llaple at Anl- 
 
 « mcrcatorum de regno nollro ordinandam.' Thefe v,erp. 
 words inftr, that, though foreign merchants ex-
 
 A. D. 1313. 479 
 
 charter, the mayor of the merchants, was the fame who is called the mayor 
 ofthejlaple in the fecond charter * ; and that the origin of the company 
 of the merchants of the Staple may mofl truely be dated in this year f . 
 The inflitution of the company, or perhaps, more properly fpeaking, 
 community, who conftituted fuch a fociety at Antwerp as the merch- 
 ants of the German gildhall did in London, infers that the merchants 
 of England now began to fee the propriety of taking into their own 
 hands at leafi a Ihare of the adive commerce of their own raw materi- 
 als. This was a fiift ftep towards obtaining the full benefit to be deriv- 
 ed from poflelling valuable materials by firll working them up, and 
 then exporting them in a manufactured ftate. 
 
 December 3'' — King Edward, at the requeft of his filler the countefs 
 dowager of Holland, granted, with great formality, to the burgeiTes and 
 merchants of Dordrecht (or Dort), the capital of Holland, an exemp- 
 tion, during the life of the countefs, for themfelves and their property, 
 from being arrefled on account of any debt or crime, unlefs they them- 
 felves, ox fome per/on of their community, were principal debtors, or fure- 
 ties, or charged as guilty, on condition that they fhould carry on fair 
 trade and pay the due cuftoms. And that fo great an indulgence might 
 not be abufed, they were required to bring an indenture (or manifefl) 
 of their cargoes, with the value appraifed by merchants of character and 
 the magi/lrates of the city, and alfo by the procurator of the countefs 
 and her prelent hufband the earl of Hereford and Eflex, and fealed with 
 the fea) of the city and that of the earl and countefs %. [^Fcedera, V. iii, 
 p. 458.] 
 
 13 1 4 — The king of France wrote to King Edward, that formerly he 
 had granted permillion to the Englifh importers of wool, who had their 
 flaple at Antwerp, to bring their goods to his town of S'. Omer's, and 
 hold their ftaple there, for which purpofe he had given them ample li- 
 berties and privileges, hoping that confiderable benefit would redound 
 to hirafelf and his fubjeds : but that now they gave up carrying their 
 wool to the annual fairs at his town of Lifle, as they ufed to do when 
 their flaple was at Antwerp, and alfo enticed other merchants to do the 
 fame, whereby his fubjed:s fuffered great lofs. Therefor he now re- 
 quefted his fon-in-law to induce his fubjedts, and, if neceflary, to com- 
 
 * I have already had occafion to obfcrve, that zcaloufly celebrates, I do not pretend to judge, 
 
 ftrift unitorniity of titles or appellations was not Plis work, being written in the bitter fpirit of 
 
 attended to in tho'^e day?. controverfy, mull be read (if any body will now- 
 
 ■ ■\ Ge.ard Malynes, in his Caiier of the c'lrck of a-days take the trouble of reading it) with great . 
 
 eommerce, fays, that the merchants of the Staple in allowance for his partlalit)-. 
 
 the reign of Queen Eli'^ibeth produced proof, that J A finiilar iiidnlgcnee was granted to the fac- 
 
 there was a wool-iaple and officers belonging to it tors and fcrvants of the bifhop of Nidaros (Dron- 
 
 iii the reign of Henry III. But whether that tlieim) in Norway, wlicn he hecaine a merchant, 
 
 vcuid prove tlie anticpiitv of that company of and enga^eil in the trade to England in the vear. : 
 
 Englilli merchants of the Staple, wliofe high an- 1316. \Vxticra, K i'i, />. 551.] 
 tiquity, dignity, and ii.''efulnefs to the flate, he fo
 
 480 A. D. 1314. 
 
 pell them, to frequent the fairs as formerly. So important an objedt 
 was the acquifition of Englifh wool. King Edward in return wrote him 
 (from Berwick, July 16''') that, as the matter concerned all the merch- 
 ants of his kingdom and many others of his fubjecSs, he could give no 
 final anfwer, till he fliould take advice upon it. [F^dera, V. \\\,pp. 482, 
 488.] 
 
 July 26'!' — Peace being concluded between the king of France and 
 the earl of Flanders, the later informed King Edward, that he had pro- 
 claimed throughout his dominions, that all merchants of France, Eng- 
 land, and other countries, with their merchandize, fhould be protedled 
 in his territories, and have abfolute liberty of returning to their own 
 coimtries, without their perfons or properties being fubjedl to arreft or 
 hinderance, and that the merchants of England might have their ftaple 
 for wool and other goods at his city of Bruges. In return he requefled 
 King Edward to give orders that the Flemifh merchants rnight enjoy 
 fimilar privileges in England agreeable to the grants made by his an- 
 ceflors and himfelf. {Yoedera, V. iii, p. 490.] 
 
 1 31 5, March 14''' — In a lift of orders addrefled to the prelates, nobles, 
 and communities, of Ireland, the only towns mentioned are Dublin, 
 Waterford, Cork, Rofs, Drogheda, Trim, and Kilkenny, \Fcedera, V. iii, 
 p. 511] which may thence be prefumed to have been at this time the 
 chief towns of the ifland. 
 
 September i" — The king of France, being again at war with Flan- 
 ders, required King Edward, according to treaty, to banifh the Flem- 
 ings out of his territories, and to affift him with a fleet againft them. 
 Edward thereupon ilTued orders to the fhirrcfs of London, and of every 
 ihire in the kingdom, for obliging all the Flemings, except thofe who 
 were married and fettled in the country, to depart from the kingdom ; 
 and he commanded that none of his fubjedts fliould give them any af- 
 fiftance *. He alfo ordered two of the admirals of the fleet fent againft 
 the Scots to draw off their divifions in order to adl: againft the Flemings, 
 and apologized to his brother of France, that he could not fend the 
 whole fleet to his affiftance, becaufe he was very hard prefled by his 
 enemies of Scotland, who, not content with driving his people out of 
 their own country and invading the northern parts of England, had 
 lately made a formidable attack upon Ireland. \F(xdera, V. iii, pp. 525, 
 53 ^> S^iZ'' S'^Si S?fi-\ Thus it was fo ordered, that the exertions of the 
 Scots, in defence of their own independence, were alfo inftrumental in 
 fupporting the Hberty and independence of other nations, and particu- 
 
 * The orders were probably not very rigoroiif- tlicm to leave t)ic country. \Fa:P.cra,V.'\\\,p.l^\.'\ 
 
 Iv enforced ; for we find new orders in November Both tlie Englidi and the I'lemings knew how in- 
 
 for Uriel ftarch to be made for thofe Flemings, difpenfibly necclTary their commerce was to each 
 
 who had remained beyond ihe time appointed for other.
 
 A. D. 1315. 481 
 
 larly, at this time, of the moft commercial nation in the weflern parts 
 of Europe. 
 
 Notwithflanding the friendfliip between England and France, four 
 vefl'els, loaded with wool and other merchandize from London for Ant- 
 werp, were attacked on the coaft of France by two-and-twenty armed 
 veflels from Calais, and one of them, valued at 2,000 marks fterling, 
 was taken and carried into that port. On the complaint of the merch- 
 ants King Edward wrote to the king of France (November 2'^), exprefT- 
 ing his wonder, that redrefs had not been given for that enormity, ef- 
 pecially as the French merchants were treated in his dominions as well 
 as his own fubjeds. ^Ftzdera, V. iii, p. 539.] 
 
 The fame Calais pirates fent their boats to attack a vefTel lying upon 
 the ground at low water near Margate, alfo loaded with wool from Lon- 
 don for Antwerp, and carried her over to Calais, together with John 
 Brand citizen and merchant of London, the owner and commander of 
 her, and three merchants of the Hanse of Germany, the owners of the 
 cargo, who lived in England in the enjoyment of the antient privileges 
 granted by the preceding kings. [Faedera, V. iii, p. 540.] What ren- 
 ders this event particularly worthy of notice, is, that it contains the ear- 
 lieft mention, that I have been able to find in Englifli records, of the 
 name of Hanfe being applied to the community of German merchants, 
 who made fo confpicuous a figure under that appellation for at leafl two 
 centuries after this time. And that the application of that name to 
 them was new at this time, appears from a grant in the patent rolls 
 [fee. 7 Edw. II, m. 1 2] to the merchants of Germany (' mercatores Ale- 
 mannise') of the liberty of coming fecurely into the kingdom and fell- 
 ing their merchandize, which is dated 23"^ April 1314 ; and even fome 
 years afterwards (viz. 7'" December 13 17) we find privileges granted to 
 the merchants of the T'eutonic gild, wherein the apparently-new name of 
 Hanfe is omitted *. [F(xdera, V. ix, p. 76.] 
 
 It is evident, that there mufl have been confiderable woollen manu- 
 fadlures in the northern parts of the French dominions, as the late King 
 Philip was fo delirous of having the Englifh wool carried to S'. Omers 
 and Lifle : and now his fon Louis very earneflly requefled King Ed- 
 ward to appoint a ftaple for the fale of Englifh wool in fome part of 
 France between Calais and the River Seine. Edward, before he would 
 come to any determination, fummoned a number of the moft prudent 
 and experienced Englifh merchants to deliberate with the parliament, 
 to be held at Lincoln in the enfuing January, upon what would be moft 
 proper to do in the matter (December 1 6'*") : and this aflembly of 
 merchants may be called at leaft the firft rudiments of a council of 
 trade. \Fosdera, V. iii, p. 543.] It may here be obferved, that there 
 
 * After this time the name of Hanfe, or Haiinze, occurs prett)' frequently, for example, Ka. pat. 
 prim. 20 Ediu. Ill, m. 17 ; fee. 20 Edw. Ill, m. u ; prim. 26 EJ^ju. Ill, m. 15. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 P
 
 482 A. D. 1315. 
 
 mufl have been more than one ftaple, fome of them, fuch as S'. Omers 
 and Lifle being apparently fubfidiary to the chief one, which was fixed 
 at Antwerp, though the earl of Flanders had endeavoured to get it fet- 
 tled at Bruges. 
 
 England was this year afflided by a famine, grievous beyond all that 
 ever were known before, which raifed the price of provifions far above 
 the reach of the people of middling circumftances. The parliament, in 
 companion to the general diftrefs, ordered that all articles of food fhould 
 be fold at moderate prices, which they took upon themfelves to pre- 
 fcribe. The confequence (which, it is very wonderful, they did not 
 forefee) was, that all things, inflead of being fold at, or under, the maxi- 
 mum price fixed by them, became dearer than before, or were entirely 
 withheld from the markets. Poultry were rarely to be feen ; butcher 
 meat was not to be found at all ; the fheep were dying of a peftilence ; 
 and all kinds of grain were fold at moil enormous prices. Early in the 
 i^ext year (131 6) the parliament, perceiving their miflake, repealed 
 their ill-judged ad:, and left provifions to find their own price. \Wal- 
 finghnm, pp. 106, 107.] 
 
 In the time of the famine fome corn was imported from France, Si- 
 cily, and Spain ; and feveral Spanifh fliips, carrying provifions and arms 
 to the Flemings, were feized by the conftable of Dover cafl;le, upon 
 which the king of France requeflied his ally of England to confifcate the 
 velFels and cargoes to himfelf, and to make the men his flaves. \Fcedera, 
 r. iii, />/». 542, 544, 564.] 
 
 1316 — A great dromund of Genoa, loaded with corn, oil, honey, and 
 other provifions, for England, to the value of /^5,7i6 : 12 : o llerling, 
 and having the king's protedion and fafe condud, was attacked, when 
 lying at anchor in the Downs near Sandwich, by a fleet under the com- 
 mand of a French admiral, who carried her into Calais. The depriva- 
 tion of fo large a cargo of provifions in a time of famine was a national 
 calamity ; and King Edward applied both to the king of France, and to 
 the admiral who had taken the fiiip, requiring her to be brought back 
 to the Downs. The king of France being dead, he repeatedly wrote to 
 the regents, and to feveral French noblemen individually, upon the fame 
 bufinefs, but without effed *. \Fcedera, V. iii, p. 564, 894, 985.] 
 
 Immediately after his application for the recovery of a Genoefe vef- 
 fel, Edward, having learned by intercepted letters, that two citizens of 
 Genoa were in treaty with Robert king of Scotland to furnilh gallies 
 and arms for his fervice in the war againfl; himfelf, wrote to the com- 
 munity of the city (July 18'''), exprelfing his furprilc that they {hould 
 ehter into friendfiiip with his capital enemy, feeing that he had fliown 
 every kmd of favour to the Genoefe, and friendfiiip between his ancef- 
 
 * The papers iit the Focdern, here quoted, fliow that no compenfation was made in January 1323.
 
 A, D. 13 1 6. 483 
 
 tors and theirs had been inviolably preferved from antient times * ; and 
 concluding with a requeft that thofe two citizens might be punifhed for 
 an example to others. [Feeder a, V. iii, p. 565.] 
 
 1317, January 30''' — King Edward, defirous of procuring fome Ge- 
 noefe veflels for himfelf, employed Leonardo PefTaigne of Genoa to hire 
 from his fellow citizens five gallies fitted for war, and fuflaciently armed, 
 manned, and vidualled, to be employed in his war againfl Scotland. 
 [Fisdera, V. iii, p. 604.] Many other inflances might be adduced, if 
 neceflary, of the princes of Europe applying to the Genoefe for naval 
 affiflance, which they, more frequently than any other of the Italian 
 Hates, granted, without being, however, any other way concerned in the 
 quarrel than as mercenary auxiliaries. 
 
 June 20''' — The king granted the merchants of Brabant permiilion 
 to tr^ttie in his kingdom with the ufual conditions ; and he alfo added 
 the fame exemptions from being liable for the debts and crimes of 
 ftrangers, which he had granted to the citizens of Dordrecht in the 
 year 13 13. And a fimilar grant was made (November 20''') to the 
 merchants of Bermeo, Bilboa, and the other towns of Bifcay, with the 
 fame exemption ; and, at the requeft of their fovereign the king of Caf- 
 tile, it was declared that ihey ihould not even be liable for the debts or 
 crimes of the people of any other kingdom or province of Spain. [Feed- 
 era, V. iii, //. 647, 678.] 
 
 July 6'*' — Edward, having occafion to thank the duke of Bretagne for 
 doing juftice to fome Englilli fubjeds in his territories, affured him, that 
 any of his fubjeds aggrieved by the Engliih fhould have fpeedy juftice, 
 and even favour ; and if they chofe to trade in his dominions, they 
 fhould be treated as he would wifti his own merchants to be treated in 
 a foreign country. [Fcedera, V. iii, p. 656.] 
 
 Some Engliih merchants having been plundered many years before 
 by fome Hollanders, it was determined, in the courfe of a dilatory and 
 interrupted negotiation, that there was due to Walter Ken and Com- 
 pany of Lincoln the fum of /J954, and to Richard Wake and John 
 Wype £2S9, as compenfations for damages fufFered by them. As a 
 fund for their payment the earl of Holland propofed, and King Edward 
 ratified it (July 3"), that the money fhould be levied from all the merch- 
 ants, fifliermen, and mariners of Holland arriving in the ports of Eng- 
 land, at the rate of twenty fliillings annually from every vefi^el bringing 
 herrings or other fifli, (fo antient at leaft is the very profitable Dutch 
 trade of fupplying the London market with fifh f ) and ten fliillings 
 
 • This has been adduced as a proof of a very f The Englilli had been accufed by the Dutch 
 
 antient commerce between England and Genoa, fifhermen of taking their lilli, whicli they brought 
 
 But fuch allegations £ifa»//V«/ friendlhips have ge- to fell on the coail of England, and paying them 
 
 ntrally as little meaning with refpect to time pall, as much or as little as they pleafed, and when they 
 
 ii% perpetual and tvirlajl'mg treaties of friendlhip and pleafed, or not at all. In Auguft 1309 the king 
 
 alhance have with regard to time coming. ordered the warden of the Cinque ports and the 
 
 (hirrefs { 
 
 3P2 ]
 
 1 
 
 84 A. D. 1317^ 
 
 each voyage from veflels bringing any other kinds of merchandize, and 
 alfo a duty upon the goods imported. [Fadera, V. iii, pp. 19, 67, 83, 
 143, 144, 150, 151, 152, 163, 469, 650.] Thus did the crafty Dutch- 
 man dexteroufly difcharge a debt due by individuals in his own domi- 
 nions, or by himfelf, by a tax, which was in reahty paid by the con- 
 fumers in England. 
 
 It is vexatious to obferve, that almoft the only materials to be found 
 in the public records of the middle ages, which in any way concern 
 commerce and navigation, confift of a fhameful and difgufling fuccef- 
 •fion of piracies and murders committed by the feafaring people of al- 
 mofi: every maritime country of Europe. From the detail of fuch un- 
 pleafant matters I gladly excufe myfelf, except thofe which happen to 
 contain any thing illuflrative of the progrefs or fiate of commerce ; and 
 therefor I have pafled over moft of the perpetual contefts of the GJ&fcons 
 with their French and Spanifh neighbours, many of the fquabbles with 
 Holland, and many of the innumerable accufations of rapine between 
 the Englifli and the Flemings, who, though they had many quarrels, 
 well knew that neither could fubfifi: without the other. I have alfo 
 omitted feveral of the commiflions for adjufting compenfations with 
 thofe, and fome other, nations, as moft of them contain nothing inter- 
 efting. Neither is it worth while to record all the hoftilities of the fea- 
 men of the Cinque ports, who were this year at war with the Flemings, 
 and feem to have aded generally as a confederacy of independent ftates. 
 
 December 17"' — The merchants of the Teutonic gildhall in London 
 obtained a new charter from the king, whereby he confirmed to them 
 their former liberties, and alfo, in confideration of a fum paid to him, 
 granted that they and their property fliould have the now-ufual exemp- 
 tion from arreft tor the debts and crimes of other foreigners beyond 
 the circle of their own community; and he engaged, that neither he 
 nor his heirs fhould impofe any new undue cuftoms upon their goods, 
 and that their goods fliould be exempted for ever from paying pontage, 
 pavage, and murage *, throughout the whole kingdom, provided they- 
 did not pafs the goods of others, not belonging to their gild, as their 
 own f . \Fcedera., V. ix, p. 75.] 
 
 The king licenced the prior of Birkhead to build houfes or inns 
 (' hofpitiis') near a branch of the fea at Liverpool. \_Rot. pat. prim. 
 1 1 Ldw. II, m. 14.] This was apparently an acceHion of growth to a 
 
 flwrrefs of the eaftern maritime (liircs to prevent paftiire of hogs, wlilcli it is not prob;ible that foi>- 
 
 ihat abufc. [tairlera, V. iii, />. 1 63.] It fccnis cign merchants (liould have any concern with.) 
 
 v.-ry probublc, that thole filh were caught by tlic Murage, a duty for upholding the walls of towns. 
 Diitcli fillitrmcn upon the cuall of England. f I'hcy had alrcu^ly (7"' Jnne 1311) obtained 
 
 * Ponlage, a dnty for ni.iking or repairing fmni Edward II, for a fine of ^ico, a renovation 
 
 bridges. Pavage, a duty for paving the llreet*). of his fathci's charier, without the additional im- 
 
 (The printer has made it panagium, a rent for the munities now granted. [^FaJera, /'. iii, p. 268."]
 
 A. D. 1317. 485 
 
 village, deftined to become the chief feat of commerce on the weflern 
 fide of England. 
 
 131 8, January 28'*^ — The citizens of Montpelier, a city in the fouth 
 part of France, appear to have carried on a very extenfive trade, as we 
 may judge fi-om their having dealings in London, the voyage to which, 
 coafting round the whole of the great peninfula of Spain, muft then 
 have been reckoned a very long one. In the year 1282 Ferrand, fon of 
 the king of Aragon, recommended Bertrand de Crefuels, a merchant 
 of that city who ufed to trade to England, to the favour of Edward T. 
 And now we find that a company of merchants of Montpelier confign- 
 ed various articles of merchandize to three merchants in London ; and 
 I am forry to add, that it is to a breach of faith in the confignees that 
 we owe the knowlege of the trade. [Ftxdera, V. ii, p. 2or ; V. iii,/». 
 693.] The ftrid mercantile probity and honour, which are now fo 
 eminently the charadleriftics of the merchants of London, were then 
 but little known in the world. 
 
 June 29''' — The community of the city, or burgh, of Perth obtained 
 from King Robert a confirmation of a prerogative claimed by them, 
 whereby no veflel entering the River Tay was allowed to break bulk 
 without going up to the bridge of Perth, except vefl"els loaded with 
 goods belonging to Dundee, and that only in the time of the fairs of 
 Dundee. This monopoly of the river, which probably was the caufc 
 of the many fquabbles between Perth and Dundee, was often confirm- 
 ed by fucceeding kings, and even fo late as the year 1600. \Chart. in 
 Append, to Canfs Mufes T'hrenodie, p. 9.] 
 
 July 1 5'" — The quarrels between the Englifh and Flemings (not the 
 king of England and the earl of Flanders) had got to fuch a height, 
 that the commercial intercourfe between them was entirely fufpended 
 for fome time. But fuch an interruption being exceedingly diftrefsful 
 on both fides, the two fovereigns intcrpofed, and brought about a peace : 
 and thereupon King Edward now wrote to the fhirrefs of London and 
 all the maritime counties from York-ihire to Cormvall inciufive, and to 
 all bailifs and others, defiring them to allow the Flemings to enjoy free- 
 dom of trade without any moleftation, till next Chriftmas. In the en- 
 fuing November, however, there was another order, addrefled to all the 
 maritime counties of England : but whether it was in confequence of a 
 fubfequent rupture and accommodation, we are not informed. [Fcedera, 
 /^. iii, /)/). 718, 720, 741.] So very uncertain were the merchants in 
 thofe days, whether they fliould be received as friends, or feized as ene- 
 mies, in the country they v/ere failing to. 
 
 A vefltjl called the Little Edward, valued at only ^^40 fierling, loaded 
 with, 1.20 farplars * of wool, valued at ;^io each, the property of fix- 
 
 * Sarplera lanse, half a fack, or forty tods, of if Ainfworth is coircvS, was much larger than the 
 wool. {Ainf worth's Dlcl. Focah. injure An^l."] In farpltr of England. See Skene d^ -verb-fign. in -vc. 
 Scotland wool was reckoned by the ferplath, wliich, or below uoder the year 1425.
 
 486 A. D. 1318. 
 
 teen fliippers, which was bound from London to Antwerp, had been 
 taken near Margate by the commander of a French fleet, who alfo land- 
 ed at Margate and carried off the fail and rudder *, which the feamen 
 had brought on-fhore. Compenfation not being obtained, though fen- 
 tence had been given in favour of the Englifh owners by the conftable 
 of France, then the regent of the kingdom, and the king of France 
 had been repeatedly applied to on the bufinefs, King Edward at length 
 ordered the French property in England to be arrefled, which produced 
 a promife from the king of France that the merchants fhould be fatisfied 
 before the firft of November. But they had received no compenfation 
 even in A.\)ril 1323, the reafon afligned for which was, that the veffe-i 
 and caig, ■ were the property of the Flemings, who were at war with 
 France at the time of the capture ; and, indeed, it is reafonable to fup- 
 pole, that a capture, made by a commiflioned officer of high rank, 
 could not be a mere a6l of piracy. [Fcedera, V. iii, pp. 730, 10 14.] 
 
 October 20"' — ^By the ftatute of York [c. 6] the officers of cities and 
 burghs, whofe duty it was to keep affifes of wines and vi6tuals, were 
 prohibited from dealing in thofe articles. 
 
 The king being defirous of confulting with judicious and prudent 
 merchants concerning the eftablilhment of the ftaple of wool in Flanders, 
 and other commercial matters, John of Cherieton, citizen of London 
 and mayor of the merchants of England f , who was furniihed by the 
 king's council with a particular flatement of the matters to be coniider- 
 ed, together with two merchants chofen out of every city and burgh 
 throughout the kingdom, were fummoned to meet at London in the 
 odaves of S'. Hilary, in order to deliberate upon thofe matters. [Foed- 
 era, V. iii, p. 740.] This is, properly fpeaking, the earlieft council of 
 trade known in Englifli hiftory or record, as the merchants appear to 
 have formed a board of themfelves, whereas thofe fummoned to Lin- 
 coln in the year 13 15 feem to have been called only to give informa- 
 tion, and perhaps advice, to the king's council, or parliament. 
 
 December 7"' — As the merchants of England fuffered great hardftiips 
 in confequence of the wars between the earls of Flanders and Holland, 
 King Edward fent ambafladors to endeavour to bring about an accom- 
 modation, and alfo wrote to both of them, and even to their friends, 
 £arneilly exhorting them to make peace. {Fadcra, V. ni, pp. 744, 745-] 
 
 J 31 9, March 25'' — King Edward wrote a long letter to Robert earl 
 
 ■♦ * Velum et guberiiaculum.' Vtlum, in the fin- appointment to tlie ofScc of mayor of the Staple, 
 
 gular number, muft mean only one fail. [Rol. pal. fee. 15 Ei'.<w. II, m. 3 ; and 20 EdiL\ 11, 
 
 f The ftvtral notices concerning this gentleman m. 27. J He nuill not he confounded with another 
 
 put it out of doubt, that mayor of the nierchonis of John of Cherieton, his contemporary, who was a 
 
 England, the official title here given to him, and courtier and fomctimes a rtbcl. But he is probably 
 
 mayor of the Staple were I'yiwnimQus Urms. In the the perfon from whom tlie king demanded a loan 
 
 year 1321 he is called mayor of the Staj>le; and on of £l,oco in the year 1 5^6. IFailrra, V. v,/. 
 
 thf 30" of July 1326 the king gave htm a new 492,]
 
 A. D. 1319. 487 
 
 of Flanders, complaining that many of his enemies of Scotland were 
 favourably received in the earl's dominions, where they obtained fup- 
 plies of men, armour, and provifions, and that many of the Flemings 
 alfo carried provifions, arms, and merchandize, to Scotland : and he 
 earneflly entreated him to prohibit all intercourle with the Scots, who 
 were laid under the fentence of the greater excommunication and an 
 interdid, fo that no good cathoUc could have any intercourfe with fuch 
 excommunicated rebels without involving himfelf in the penalties of- 
 the fame fentence. He alfo informed him, that, though he had hither- 
 to, from friendlhip to him, difmifTed the Flemings, who were taken 
 on their paflage to Scotland, without any punifliment, he fhould in fu- 
 ture ftation a fufficient number of fhips of war to intercept all who 
 fliould prefume to trade with thofe excommunicated rebels, and fhould 
 treat the Flemings as rigoroufly as the Scots. He concluded by admon- 
 ifhing the earl to reftrain his fubjeds from keeping up a damnable and 
 perilous intercourfe, left their folly fhould difturb the harmony and mu- 
 tually-advantageous commerce between England and Flanders, — He alfo 
 wrote letters of the fame import to the duke of Brabant, and to the 
 magiftrates of Bruges, Daan*, Newport, Dunkirk, Ypres, and Mechlin. 
 [Fcedera, V. iii,/". 759-} 
 
 There could be no doubt, tjiat, if the Flemings could have been com- 
 pelled to relinquifh the commerce, and abide the hoftility, of either na- 
 tion, that the trade of the Scots would not have been fo valuable, nor 
 their enmity fo formidable, as thofe of the Englifh. But, as the Ve- 
 netians in the beginning of the twelfth century had their ideas raifed, 
 by commercial intercourfe with various nations, above the apprehenfion 
 of the papal thunder, fo neither were the Flemings, who were now the 
 moft enlightened traders in the weftern parts of Europe, as the Vene- 
 tians had been in the Mediterranean, to be terrified by excommunica- 
 tions, which, they knew, could have little effeft, but what they fome- 
 times derived from the fimplicity of thofe againft whom they were ful- 
 minated f , nor to be prevented by papal bulls, or even the menaces of 
 the Englifh king, from profecuting their commerce with all nations : 
 and they well knew, that the wool, leather, and lead, the defirable ob- 
 jects of their trade with England, muft infallibly find their way to their 
 market, as being the beft one, in fpite of prohibitions and cruifers. 
 Therefor the earl in his anfwer to the king informed him (as he had al- 
 ready told Edward I) that Flanders being a country common to all 
 mankind, he could not deny free accefs to merchants, agreeable to an- 
 
 * I believe, this name ought rather to be Damm, cafion neither the Scots, though they thought it 
 
 a town between Bruges and the fea. decent and expedient to court the pope for a re- 
 
 \ I i^y fomctimes, becaufe the Venetians, in the verfal of his fentence, nor feveral foreign princes 
 
 niftance now alluded to, diTclaimed the pope's au- in nlliar.ce with therB,..paid any attention to it. 
 thority in their temporal afiairs ; ^■^A on this oc--
 
 488 A. D. 13 19. 
 
 tient'cuftom, without bringing defolation and ruin upon his country: 
 but that, though the Scots frequented his ports, and his fubjeds traded 
 to the ports of Scotland, he had no intention to take part with them 
 in their war, nor to encourage them in their errors or crimes *. [Feed- 
 era, V. in,p. 770.] 
 
 The duke of Bretagne more obfequioufly informed his uncle, King 
 Edward, that he knew of no intercourfe between his fubjeds and the 
 Scots, and that he had prohibited all trade and intercourfe with them 
 in his territories. [Foedera, V. iii, p. 766.] 
 
 The magiflrates of Mechlin wrote a moft complaifant and flattering 
 letter, afliiring the king, that they were very much difpleafed with the 
 Scots for their offences againfl him, and that they had never admitted 
 them into their town, but had fuffered much upon the fea from the 
 Scots and their accomplices. Therefor they requefted that he would be 
 favourable to their burgefles, who would never carry any thing to the 
 coaft of Scotland, unlefs they (hould be driven upon it by ftrefs of 
 weather. The anfwers received from the magiflrates of Bruges and Ypres 
 were nearly of the fame nature with that of the earl, thofe of Ypres 
 adding, in order to footh their royal correfpondent, that, though they 
 had no authority to controU their fellow citizens, who were general 
 merchants, they would advife them not to go Scotland, nor have any in- 
 tercourfe with the Scots. [Foedera, V. in, pp. 765, 771.] 
 
 1320, June 18"" — The king underftanding that his ordinance for car- 
 rying wool and wool-fells only to one ftaple on the continent had been 
 very generally negledtedf, and the payment of the fines eluded, though 
 he had appointed inquifitors in various parts of the kingdom to difcover 
 who were liable to fines for tranfgreflions, fent orders from Dover, where 
 he now was on his way to France, to the collectors of the cufloms on 
 wool and wool-fells in the ports of London, Southampton, Weymouth, 
 Boflon, Kingflon upon Hull, Newcaftle, Yarmouth, Lynne, and Ipf- 
 wich, to be very flrid in fwearing the exporters, that the wool and wool- 
 fells entered for exportation were not entered under a falfe name, alfo 
 in taking fecurity for being anfwerable to the king for the fines which 
 might be incurred, and in receiving the cuftom duties before they fhould 
 permit the goods to be ftiipped. [Hak/ujt's Voiagcs, V. i, p. 142. — Kot. 
 pat. 13 Fdw. II, m. 8.] 
 
 Auguft 7''' — King Edward, at the requeft of the king of France, 
 
 * 111 ihc letter lie repeatedly mentioned the king f Malynes quotes a record in the office of the 
 
 'if the Scots, wliich mull have been peculiarly of- clerk of the pipe to prove that there were a mayor 
 
 fenfive to ILdward, who calhd the Scots his own and company of J/ii/>lirs at Antwerp in the twelfth 
 
 fuhjecls. — Notwithnanding the firmncfs of this year of Edward II. [_Cailcr of the circle of com- 
 
 denial, Edward again (April 1322) attempted to mcrce, p. 95."] We have already ften ample proof 
 
 perfuade the earl, that it woold be for his honour of their exiilence lix years earlier, 
 and advantage to prohiljit the Scottifh trade. 
 ^Fadera, f. iii, />. 947.] • ^
 
 A. D. 1320. 489 
 
 granted to the merchants of Amiens the privilege of being exempted, 
 together with their merchandize, from arrefl for any debts due to 
 merchants of England by the king of France, their fovereign. [Fcedera, 
 r.iii,/*. 844.] 
 
 There were perpetual caufes of complaint between the feamen of 
 England and thofe of Flanders. At a convention of deputies from both 
 countries the Flemings reprefented, that fome of their merchants, com- 
 ing home from various countries with wines and other merchandize, 
 had been robbed upon the fea of England near Crauden by fome Englifh 
 malefadtors, who carried their merchandize on fliore in England ; and 
 they prayed the king, as ' lord of the fea,' in virtue of his feigneury and 
 royal power, to puniih the crime committed within the bounds of his 
 dominion. The king and parhament granted, that jaftices fhould be 
 appointed by the king to try the caule, and to determine according to 
 law and reafon : and at the fame time meafures were concerted for re- 
 drefllng all grievances and damages on both fides. [Fcedera, T^. ui, p. 
 852.] Here it may be noted, that the dominion of the fea is afcribed 
 to the king of England by the minifters of a foreign prince, though 
 not, indeed, a prince of the firft, or royal, dignity : and it may be 
 added, that the fame was alfo done before by the deputies of feveral 
 other nations, when they wanted to induce King Edward I to make a 
 common caufe with them in recovering the veflels and cargoes feized 
 by Grimaldi, the Genoefe admiral in the fervice of France *. [See Sel- 
 derHs Mare claufimi, L. ii, c. 27.] But thefe matters lead to a controverfy 
 improper to be touched upon in this work. 
 
 The fifhmongers, who kept fhops upon Fifh wharf, ufed to fell her- 
 rings and other fifh, brought by land and by water, to the inhabitants, 
 and to hawkers who carried them through the ftreets. But the other 
 fifhmongers having entered into a combination to prevent the fale of 
 fifh by retail at that wharf, thofe of the wharf obtained the king's order 
 to the mayor and fhirrefs of London to permit them to continue to fell 
 herrings and other fifh, either in wholefale or retail, to all who chofe to 
 buy. [Rylej, Plac. pari. p. 399.] 
 
 1 32 1, May 3'' — By the articles of a truce, lately concluded between 
 England and Scotland, it was flipulated that the fubjecls of the two 
 kingdoms fhould have no intercoui'fe during the truce ; and that, if any 
 Scottifh vefi^els fhould be driven by ftrefs of weather upon the coafl of 
 England, or wrecked, they fhould be reflored, unlefs the king or any 
 other perfon might have a right to them as wreck. Agreeable to that 
 article. King Edward now ordered the magiftrates of Ravenfrode (or 
 Ravenfere) to inquire, whether the men and merchandize in a veflel, 
 
 * Whether Edward I or Edward II ever af- but we fliall fee Edward III, when preparing for 
 fumed the charafter of fovereign of the fea, dots war witli Fiance in the year 1336, claiming au an- 
 not, 1 believe, appear, from any avithentic voucher : tient hereditary' right to that dominion. 
 
 Vol. I. ' 3 Q.
 
 490 A. D. 132 1. 
 
 lately arreted by them, were really Scottifli, and driven upon their coaft 
 by flrefs of weather, and if fo, to releafe them inftantly. A vefTel be- 
 longing to Dieppe in France, returning from Scotland, was alfo obliged 
 to take flicker in the fome port, where fhe was arrefted by the zealous 
 magiflrates, becaufe fhe had been trading to Scotland. At the requefl 
 of the king of France, Edward reflored the veflel and cargo, for this 
 time, to the owners, though he had a right to punifh them as adherents 
 to his enemies. But at the fame time he begged the king of France to 
 prohibit his fubjeds from having any intercourfe v/ith Scotland. [Fcedera, 
 V. in, pp. 879, 880.] 
 
 After the total expulfion of the Chriflians from Syria, Egypt again 
 became the entrepot of the greatefl part of the trade between the eaftern 
 and weflern regions of the world : and the fovereign of that country 
 took the advantage of what was almofl a monopoly in favour of his 
 fubje6ts to charge very heavy duties upon the tranfit of merchandize 
 through his dominions. Marino Sanuto, a noble Venetian, moved by 
 the hardfhips thereby brought upon the European traders, and burning 
 with catholic zeal, addrefled to the pope a work, entitled The fecrets of 
 the faithful^, v/herein lie propofed to fupprefs the Egyptian trade by an 
 armed force ; and to that work we are indebted for an ample accomit 
 of the Indian trade, as it was then conducted. 
 
 He fays, that formerly Indian goods were brought by the Perfian gulf 
 to Baldac (or Bagdad), and thence, by inland navigation and land car- 
 riage, to Antioch and Licia on the Mediterranean fea. In his own 
 time the fpiceries and other merchandize of India were moftly colleded 
 in two ports, which he calls Mahabar and Cambeth f, and thence tranf- 
 ported to Hormus (or Ormuz), to a fmall ifland called Kis, and to a port 
 (Baflbra) on the Euphrates, all which were fubjedt to the Tatar fove- 
 xeigns of Perfia. But the great bulk of the trade was conduded by the 
 agency of the merchants of the fouth part of Arabia (who had now re- 
 covered the trade of their remote anceflors) at the port of Ahaden, or 
 Aden, believed to be the antient city of Arabia Felix. From Aden the 
 goods were conveyed to Chus on the Nile, near the antient Coptos, and 
 thence forwarded by river crafc to Babylon ; and from it they were 
 floated down the river, and along an artificial canal to Alexandria. By 
 this route all bulky goods of inferior value, among which, however, are 
 reckoned not only pepper and ginger, but alio frankincenfe, and cinna- 
 mon, were conveyed. The duty charged by the fultan on fpiceries was 
 equal to one third of their value: and, as he permitted no Chriflians to 
 
 * The work of Sanuto forms the fecond vo- f He probably means by Mahabar the ccqjl oi 
 lumc of the colleftioii, edited by Bongarlius un- Malabar, the civoif port of wliich was CalicJC ; and 
 •der the title of GrJJa Del per Francos; and \vc are by Cambeth, the country of Cambay. 
 informed in the preface, tliat it was begun in the 
 vear 1306, and prefented to the pope in 132 1.
 
 A. D. 132 1. 491 
 
 pafs through his territories, and his fubjcds had thereby a monopoly of 
 all the trade in that channel, the prices of India goods were now much 
 higher in Europe, than when they were chiefly conveyed by the inland 
 route of Bagdad and Antioch. The moft valuable goods, fuch as cu- 
 bebe, fpikenard, cloves, nutmegs, and mace, flill continued to be brouglit 
 from Bagdad and Thorifium * to various ports on the coaft of the Me- 
 diterranean : and by that route many Chriflian merchants had already 
 penetrated to India. Though this conveyance was more expenfive, fome 
 of the articles, fuch as ginger and cinnamon, were from 10 to 20 per 
 cent f better than thofe brought by the longer water carriage, efpecially 
 the ginger, which was apt to heat and be wafted, if kept long onboard 
 the veflel. 
 
 Sanuto, envying the fultan and the Saracens the great revenues and 
 profits they derived from filk and fugar, obferves, that the later grows in 
 Cyprus, Rhodes, Amorea, and Marta %. He adds, that it would grow in 
 Sicily and other Chriftian countries, if there were demand for it §. Silk, 
 he fays, is produced in confiderable quantities in Apulia, Romania, 
 Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus, and the quantity might be increafed. Though 
 flax abounds in the Ghriftian countries, the Egyptian fpecies, on ac- 
 count of its fuperior quality, is carried to the fartheft extremities of 
 the Weft ; and the Egyptian manufadures of linen, and of filk, and 
 others of linen mixed with iilk, as alfo dates and caftia-fi^ftula, are carried 
 in Chriftian and Saracen vefl'els to Turkey ||, Africa, the Black fea, and 
 the weftern parts of Europe. 
 
 He obferves, that the fultan's dominions produce no gold, filver, 
 brafs, tin, lead, quickfilver, coral, or amber, which are carried to them 
 by the Mediterranean fea, and bring in a vaft revenue in duties paid 
 upon them at Alexandria, which are, on gold 6f per cent ; on filver at 
 Cairo 10 per cent, but to fome, by favour, only 34- ; on brafs about 25 : 
 tin 20, &c. and thofe are the articles, which are moft valuable to his 
 fubjedts in their trade with Ethiopia and India. Great quantities of oil, 
 honey, nuts, almonds, faffron, and maftic, all of them paying heavy 
 duties at Alexandria ; alfo filk, cloth, wool, and other goods, are car- 
 ried to the fultan's dominions, and contribute to enrich him and his 
 
 * Thorifiuni, according to De Guignes, [Mem. when the name of Morea fuperfeded that of Pe- 
 
 cU Un. V. xxxvii, p. 507] was Tauris in Adher- loponnefus. 
 bigian, the antieiit Media. § He did not know that fugar had been culti- 
 
 f ' A decern ad viginti pro centenario.' Here vated in Sicily long before, 
 and clfewhere in his work we have the modern way || Turkey innft here mean Afia Minor, at this 
 
 of rating at fo much per cent. Earher authors time occupied by tlie Turks. Sanuto elfewhtre 
 
 generally reckon by one twentieth, one tenth, one fays, that Turkey was antiently called Greece : 
 
 fiftlh, one third, &c. and Sanuto lometimes does but the application of that name to the coaft of 
 
 the fame. For the firft undoubted appearance of Afia, if, 1 believe, fcarcely warranted by any aa- 
 
 the calculation /■£7- cin/, fee above, p. 393. tient authority. — Querc, if the blundering correc- 
 
 + Thefe are apparently the Morca and Malta, tion of a tranfcriber ? 
 But I cannot at prcfent detetniine the cxaft liiUL-, 
 
 3 0.2
 
 492 A. D. 1321. 
 
 fubiedts. Sometimes the failure of the overflow of the Nile occafions a 
 famine in Egypt, as happened after the lofs of Aeon and Syria. In 
 fuch a calamity, the Egyptians, if not fupplied with corn Carried to 
 them by the Mediterranean, mufl emigrate or perifli *. As Egypt pro- 
 duces no timber, iron, or pitch, and procures all thofe materials for 
 building vefTels by the Mediterranean lea, if the importation of them 
 were withheld, the fultan would lofe his duties of one fourth of the 
 value paid on thofe articles, and three byfants annually from every 
 velTel, whether large or fmall ; and the merchants and artificers in Ba- 
 bylon, and alfo the fultan with his admirals and army in Cairo, would 
 ftarve for want of the corn, which is brought by water from all parts 
 of the country. 
 
 Sanuto, having endeavoured to prove, that the Egyptians were de- 
 pendent upon the Chriflians for the fupply of their wants, as well as for 
 the fale of their redundant native commodities and manufadures and 
 their imported merchandize, propofes that, in order to transfer the 
 commercial advantages, now engroffed by them, to the Chriflians, and 
 to accomplifh the pious work of recovering the Holy land, the prohi- 
 bition of trading with the fubjedts of the fultan (fee above, p. 451) 
 fliould be moft rigoroufly, and univerfally, enforced by flationing a fuf- 
 licient number of armed gallies upon the fea ; and he alfo recommends 
 a military force in proper places upon the land, becaufe gallies cannot 
 keep the fea in ftormy weather, nor do they willingly keep out in win- 
 ter nights, and even in fummer they cannot be many days at fea with- 
 out landing for frefli water, and alfo, becaufe tranfgreflx)rs, laying afide 
 the fear of God, go to the fultan's territories, where they are kindly 
 received, and find no difficulty in landing their cargoes on their re- 
 turn. 
 
 The prohibition of trade ought alfo to extend to all Africa and the 
 Saracen dominions in Spain, the confequence of which would be a con- 
 fiderable diminution of the trade of the fultan's dominions, which is 
 very much fupported by the trade with thofe countries. Neither ought 
 any trade to be carried on with the coaft of Turkey, which was an- 
 tiently called Greece ; for there many veflfels are loaded with timber, 
 pitch, Chriftian and pagan boys and girls, and other merchandize, for 
 the fultan's dominions, and in return import fugar, fpiceries, and linen, 
 fufficient for the fupply of other countries as well as their own. — And, 
 as the only means to prevent fmuggling, let no Chriftian purchafe or 
 receive any fpicery or Indian merchandize, filk, fugar, or linen, which 
 may be fufpeded to come from the fultan's dominions. Let the captain 
 of the holy church carry on a perpetual and univerfal perfecution againft 
 
 * Sanuto did not fiippofe that there exiftcd any pcrfon in Egypt, endowed with the forefight o£ 
 Jofcph, to make the redundance of one year provide for the deficiency of another.
 
 A. D, 1321, 493 
 
 the Saracens and thofe perfidious Chriflians who mfringe this mojl hlejjhd 
 command: and let him take efpecial care that no iron be carried to Ar- 
 menia, which is adjacent to the fultan's country. Let ten gallies be 
 commi/Iioned, till your Holinefs can provide more. They will cofl 
 15,000 florins, and, allowing 250 men for each galley, the whole ex- 
 penfe, including pay, provifions, and other neceflaries, for nine months, 
 will amount to 70.000 florins : and, in order to quicken their diligence, 
 let all prizes be fliared entirely among themfelves. 
 
 He proceeds to fl;atc the complement of men of every defcription for 
 a galley, and gives many efl:imates and nautical inftrudlions, together 
 with a vaft deal of information refpeding the vefl^els of the age, which 
 the brevity neceflarily ftudied in this work will not permit me to enter 
 upon any further than jufl; to note the places, from which he propofes 
 to draw the befl: feamen for manning his fleet. Befidcs thofe of Italy, 
 he fays, good feamen may be found in Germany, and efpecially in the 
 farthefl: parts of the archbiflioprick of Bremen, in Frifeland, Holland, 
 and Zeland, Holfl;ein, and Slavia (where he himfelf had been, probably 
 Slefwick) Hamburgh, Lubeck, Wifmar, Rofl:ock, Xundis, Gufpinal, and 
 Sedin *, and alfo in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway f . He has alfo 
 an eftimate of the expenfe of a land army, which, however, mufl: be 
 carried by water; and he gives ample direftions for providing arms, and 
 warlike engines ; fo that he may jufl:ly be called the Vegetius of the 
 middle ages. 
 
 But his projedt of depriving the Mohamedans of their trade by the 
 operation of ten gallies, which were to keep the fea only nine months, 
 and only during the day-light, w^hile he acknowleges the fultan's marine 
 to be very llrong, is much like Captain Bobadil's fcheme, in the play, 
 of killing a whole army by the prowefs of twenty gentlemen like him- 
 felf. Both forget, that their adverfaries will not confetti to be driven out 
 of their trade or to be killed. — But fuppofing it had been pofllble for 
 the pope, by the fl:rength of his own treafury, or by drawing the princes 
 of Europe into a new crufade, to have muftered a fufficient force, what 
 was the objeft to be accomplifhed ? To pervert the free courfe of trade, 
 which as naturally flows in the channel which prefents the lighteft 
 charge or cheapefl; purchafe (and that by his own account was Alex- 
 andria) as water glides into the vallies \. It is furprifing that a Vene- 
 tian fliould have conceived fuch contraded anticommercial ideas, fo un- 
 
 * Xuiidis and Gufpinal are places unknown to and made tlie emperors of Conftantinople tremble 
 
 me. Sedlin is probably Stettin. for the exiftence of their empire, are entirel)' omit- 
 
 f The natives of our Britifli iflands, and even ted in his enumeration of maritime nations, 
 the Catalans, who, as Mediterranean navigators, + A iimile ufed (I mean abufedj by himfelf, 
 
 ought to be well known to him, and who had on p.,2 5- 4 
 
 feme occafions rode mafters of the Mediterranean^
 
 494 -^« ^' 132 1« 
 
 like the general liberality of mind and commercial wifdom of his coun- 
 trymen *. 
 
 1322 — Among the various orders for colledling provifions for the 
 army fent againfl Scotland, we find one for nine thoufand quarters of 
 wheat and other provifions f , to be fent from Ireland. [Rot. pat. prim. 
 16 Edzv. II, m. 20.] This of itfelf, if it was really accomplifhed, was 
 no trifling exportation of grain from Ireland, confidering the flate the 
 country mufl have been in, after being the theatre of war between the 
 Englilh and the Scots. 
 
 May 7'" — King Edward, after having again attempted to perfuade the 
 earl of Flanders, that it would be for his honour and advantage to pre- 
 vent his fubje6ls from trading with the Scots, and finding that the Flem- 
 ings were fo far from being perfuaded by his arguments, that they rather 
 aded as the allies of the Scots by taking the veflels, which were carry- 
 ing provifions to his army, now ordered the magifi:rates of Yarmouth 
 and the barons of the Cinque ports to have the fhipping of their diftrids 
 ready to ad againfl the Flemings upon the fliorteft notice. \Foedera, V. 
 iii,//). 947, 949, 951.] 
 
 1323, April — Robert, the lleady earl of Flanders being dead, his 
 grandfon Louis was more pliant to the requifitions of King Edward, and 
 promifed to debar the Scots from trading in his territories, and to pro- 
 hibit his fubjecls from furnifliing any fupplies to them. The king, in 
 return, granted the Flemings all the freedom of trade they had former- 
 ly enjoyed in England, and moreover exempted them from being liable 
 for the debts of others, or for bypaft tranfgreflions againfl the charter 
 of the ftaple. {Ycxdera., V. iu, pp. 1006, 1007.] 
 
 This year the fame earl eftablifhed the magiftracy and court-houfe of 
 ihe Francoxates at Bruges, which he declared to be the fixed emporium 
 of his territories. He alfo decreed, that no cloth fhould be manufad- 
 ured nor fold at Sluys ; and he prefcribed what kinds of merchandize 
 fliould be fold at Sluys, and what kinds at Damm, Honks, and Mona- 
 chorede. [Mcyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 125 b.] 
 
 April 16"' — The people belonging to five Venetian gallies lying at 
 Southampton had lately got into a fquabble with the inhabitants of that 
 
 * Some of his countrymen went to the oppofite Mem. hlfl. de Barcelona, V. i, Com. p. 47-] Sanuto 
 extreme, and fupphed tlic Saracens witli arms, and liimfelf informs us, that a more vigorous prohibi- 
 provifions, for which they were pimidrtd hy Ed- tion had been ordered immediately after the tx- 
 ward prince of England, when tlicy fell into his puliion of the Chriftians from ralelline. So it 
 hands in the year 1270, probably In confequcnce appears, tiial tlicre was nothing new in his pro- 
 of the bull itfued by Pope Gregory X, prohibit- pofal. 
 
 iiig all communication with the infidels, and par- f ' Frunlcnli ac al' victual.' In the Latin of 
 
 liculaily with the fultan of Egypt. In the year thofc agesyi-umc/i/wm generally fignifics wheat, and 
 
 1274 James i, king of Aragon, at tlie dciirc of I'ifluaV may be other corns. In many parts of the 
 
 the fame pope, prohibited the exportation of iron, country vi'iiial h Hill a genctrtl teiiu for uil kinds 
 
 <rrms, fhip limber, corn and other provifiom, to of corn, 
 the Saracens. {^IValfingham, p. ^"Ji.—C'ipmniiyi
 
 A. D. 1323. 495 
 
 town and the Ille of Wight, and much mifchief had been done to the 
 country, and feveral lives had been loft on both fides. The merchants 
 of Venice, dreading the revenge of the country, or the rigour of the 
 law, which, they knew, would take hold of any of them; as well as of 
 the individuals really guilty, abflained from trading to England till the 
 affair could be accommodated. For a fum of money they had already 
 obtained from John of the Ifle of Wight an engagement that neither 
 he nor any of his dependents fhould ever take vengeance, or demand 
 any further fatisfadlion, for the murders and robberies committed on 
 that occafion. The king alfo, unwilling to lofe the advantage of their 
 commerce, granted them an ample pardon, with afliirance of fecurity 
 in trading in his dominions, as long as they carried on fair trade, and 
 paid the due cufloms *. [Foedera, V. in, pp. 1008, loii.] 
 
 May 30^'' A truce was concluded between England and Scotland for 
 
 thirteen years, wherein the articles of the former one, prohibiting in- 
 tercourfe between the two nations, and refpeding the fhips of the Scots, 
 and their property in other fliips, forced upon the coafl of England by 
 ftrefs of weather f , were the fame as in the preceding truce, with the 
 additional condition, that no merchants belonging to any other country, 
 except countries at war with England or Scotland, fhould meet with any 
 obftrudion in trading to either kingdom. [Fcedera, V. iii,^. 1022.] 
 
 June 4'*' — It is probable, that the vefTels of Majorca traded to Flan- 
 ders, as we find, that, in confequence of a complaint, made by the 
 king of that ifland, of his fubjeds being plundered upon the fea by the 
 Englifh \, King Edward promifed to give every kind of juftice and 
 favour to any merchants of Majorca, who ihould trade to England. 
 [Foedera, V. iix, p. 1028.] 
 
 November 24'' — In an ordinance for the ftate of Ireland, all merch- 
 ants, natives or foreigners, are authorized to carry corn and other pro- 
 vifions and merchandize to England and Wales, unlefs they fliould be 
 taken by the juflice (or viceroy) by advice of the council in a cafe of 
 "neceffity, on paying the due and ufual cuftoms, and giving fecurity that 
 they fhould not go to Scotland or any other country at war with England. 
 [^Foedera, V. iv, p. 24.] 
 
 1324, March 10'" — The king fummoned the maritime towns on the 
 fouth coafl to aflemble their largefl velfels at Portfmouth, fufficiently 
 manned and provided wich landing bridges and clays §, for carrying fol- 
 
 * The pardon was ratified in parliament on tht; | This is the fame violence which the king of 
 
 lo"" of March 1324 by the king, prelates, and Aragon alfo complained of, the two gallies taken 
 
 nobles. [^Fadera, F. iv, fi. 39.] being the property of fubjefts of Majorca, and the 
 
 f There is no reciprocal ftipulation for the pro- cargoes belonging to a fubjcft of Aragon, who 
 
 tettion of Englifh veiTels thrown upon the coa'i of itated that he had put goods onboard them in 
 
 ■Scotland. It was apparently fo far ont of the Flanders. \_Fmdera, V. \\',pp. 15, 82, 83, 1 30.] 
 traA of Englilh trading vcffels, that no fuch acci- J ' Clayas,' a word not well underftood : pcr- 
 
 dent was expeded ever to happen. haps hurdles {clayes in French) for majcing tem- 
 porary
 
 496 A. D. 1324. 
 
 diers and horfes at his expenfe over to his duchy of Aquitaine. The 
 following are the quotas ordered from each port. 
 
 Southampton 6 veflels Seaford i Boldre - i 
 
 Sandwich 4 Shoreham 2 Yarmouth in Wight 2 
 
 Winchelfea 6 Weymouth 10 Pooleanditsmem- 1 
 
 Rye 2 Portfmouth i bers j ^ 
 
 Faverfham i Hamelhok i [Fadera, V. iv, p. 40.] 
 
 July 22'^ — Afterwards, underftanding that warlike fhips were getting 
 ready in all the ports of Normandy, he ifTued orders to all the ports of 
 England to equip all their veflels to act as fhips of war again ft the 
 French. He at the fame time defired that they would lay afide all ani- 
 mofities againft their fellow fubjeds of England or of his city of 
 Bayonne, and that they would moleft no vefl^l belonging to Flanders 
 or any other country not fubje<S to the king of France *. [Fa'dera, V. 
 iv, p. 73.] 
 
 This year the king refumed the prerogative of feizing wrecks for his 
 ov^oi ufe f , which had been relinquilhed by Henry I and feveral other 
 kings, and alfo claimed all the whales and great fturgeons taken in the 
 fea, except in certain privileged places. \^Ad 17 Edw. II, c. 11.] 
 
 1325, January 5* — King Edward, being very defirous to obtain the 
 friendftiip of the king of Caftile (or Spain) to fupport him in the war 
 with which he was threatened by France, granted to all the nobles, 
 merchants, mafters of Ihips, mariners, and other fubjeds of that king, 
 permiflion to trade freely in his Britifh and French dominions, they 
 paying cuftoms and other ufual charges, and being anfvverable for all 
 contrads and tranfgreflions. And in order further to gratify the Spanifh 
 king, he promifed that his fubjeds fhould not be liable to arreft for any 
 matters formerly in difpute. {Fadera, V. iv, p. 118.] 
 
 February 26'" — The king renewed the grant of freedom of trade to 
 the Venetians, and added the now-ufual exemption from arreft for the 
 debts and crimes of others. But he alfo added a condition, that they 
 fhould have no communication whatever with his enemies or opponents. 
 [Fadera, V. iv, p. 138.] 
 
 May 7'*' — A vefTel having failed to Portugal with goods in order to 
 take in return a cargo of corn and other provifions to carry to Aqui- 
 taine, King Edward took fo much concern in the fuccefs of the voyage, 
 
 porary ftalls for the horfcs ; perhaps cleats (crofs * Walfingham \_p. 507] fays, that the navy of 
 
 liars) nailed upon the bridges to prevent tiie horfcs England this year took a tiimdrcd vcffcls belong- 
 
 from flipping.— -In Fatlera, V. v,p. 6, wc find the ing to the one province of Normandy. But he 
 
 king orders the fhirrcfs to provide timber and brufli often exaggerates. 
 
 (' bufcam') for conltruftinjj clays, bridges, boards, f An article in the truce with Scotland in the 
 
 racks, &c. for tranfporting horfcs; and in/>. 814, year 1319 gives room to believe, that the cruel 
 
 he orders 2,500 clays (' claias') along with eight prerogative of wreck had been lofumed before thai, 
 
 bridges of 20 feet long, and fcvcn of 14 feet, for tin e. See above, p. 489. 
 (hipping horfes.
 
 A. D. 1325. 497 
 
 that he wrote to the king of Portugal, and alfo to his mother, to folicit 
 their favour to the owner. [Fcedera, V. iv,p. 146.] This deferves no- 
 tice chiefly as a proof of the Portuguefe then having corn for exporta- 
 tion, which has feldora, if ever, been the cafe, fince their wine came 
 into general demand in this country. 
 
 May — The great manufacturing and trading cities of Flanders aded 
 in feveral refpeds as communities, or republics, independent of their 
 earl, whofe power was very fir from being abfolute. At this time the 
 magiflrates and community of Bruges appear as principals in a nego- 
 tiation for a folid peace and accommodation of all damages, homicides, 
 and quarrels, between the fubjeds of the king of England and thofe of 
 their dearly beloved lord the earl of Flanders, for the benefit of com- 
 merce ; and they engaged, for themfelves and the good towns of Ghent 
 and Ypres, to ratify whatfoever fhould be agreed by their burgomafter, 
 whom they deputed as their procurator. King Edward, by his com- 
 miilioners, agreed with him and the procurators of Ghent and Ypres 
 to continue the truce with thofe cities and all the people of Flanders 
 till Eafter 1326 (and it was afterwards prolonged) and gave them per- 
 milhon to trade during the truce, as ufual, in England ; and he more- 
 over granted them exemption from arreft for debts or crimes not their 
 own, and for any tranfgrefllons againft his charter of the wool flaple, on 
 condition that equal indulgences Ihould be granted to his fubjeds in 
 Flanders. [Fa-^em, V. vj^pp. 147, 151, 188, 199, 207.] As this flipu- 
 lation for reciprocal advantages does not appear in the grants made to 
 the merchants of the more diftant countries of Venice, Majorca, or even 
 Spain, the abfence of it affords at leafl a prefumption, that no Englifh 
 veffels failed, or were expeded to fail, fo far from home. But it is alfo 
 omitted in grants to the iperchants of nearer countries, to which Englifli 
 veflels did fail : and it muft be obferved, that thofe writings are not 
 treaties between contrading powers, but g?-ants conceived in the lan- 
 guage of favour, and confequently the only reciprocity, that there could 
 be in fuch cafes, muft have been expreffed alfo vsx grants from the other 
 parties, which may have exifted, though now loft. 
 
 The coals of Newcaftle were now known and defired in foreign coun- 
 tries, as appears by a voyage made this year by a merchant of France 
 to that town with a cargo of com, in return for which he carried home 
 a cargo of coals. [Brand's Hrji. of Newca/ile, V. ii, p. 254.] 
 
 1326, July 20"' — King Edward, being driven, by misfortunes crowd- 
 ing upon him, to fluduation in his counfels, had revoked the charter 
 for holding the ftaple upon the continent, and appointed fome places in 
 his own kingdom * for the fale of wool, wool-fells, hides, and tin ; and 
 
 * I do not find the names of any of them ex- Itifm, probably came to nought upon the fall of 
 
 cept Cardiff in Wales, a town belonging to Hugh the favourite, which enfucd almoft. immediately 
 
 Defpenfer. [/fo;. fat. fee, 19 Ed-w. II, m. 5.J after. 
 But that eftablidiment, being a meafure of favour- 
 
 Vol. I. 3 R
 
 498 A. D. 1326. 
 
 he now gave orders, that all foreign merchants, except the fubjeds ot 
 the kmg of prance, fhould have freedom of coming and going in fafe- 
 ty ; and to that intent he ordered the fhirrefs to take fuflficient fecurity 
 from the feamen of every vefTel before they failed, that they fhould not 
 commit hollilities againfl: any friendly veffels. He gave his admirals the 
 fame inftruAions for preferving inviolate peace with all neutral nations, 
 and efpecially with the Flemings and Bretons, whom he had taken un- 
 der his protedion. In a few weeks after he ordered all the fliipping of 
 the eafl; coaft of the kingdom from the mouth of the Thames north- 
 ward to Holy ifland *, doubly furnilhed with arms and provifions for 
 one month, to be ready at Erewell (or Orewell) to receive his further 
 orders for proceeding againfl his enemies. [Foedefa, V. '\v,pp. 218, 219, 
 
 225-] 
 
 We have now the firfl certain knowlege of reprefentatives from the 
 
 cities and biirghs forming a conflituent part of the parliament of Scot- 
 land. — In the firft treaty upon record between France and Scotland, in 
 the year 1295, John king of Scotland mentions the communities, or 
 corporations, of the towns ; but they do not appear as compofing any 
 part of the legiflative body. In a parliament, held by King Robert I in 
 1323, the burghs do not appear to ha^-e been reprefented : and in the 
 confirmation of a truce with England, in the fame year, Robert fays, it 
 is done with the confent of the bifhops, earls, and barons ; but he has 
 not a word of any reprefentatives of burghs. \Fcedera, V. ii, pp. 696, 
 698 ; V. iii,/. 1030.] But in a parliament of the fame king, held this 
 year, we find the burghs forming the third eftate in parliament, and 
 confenting to an aid granted to the king f . \Stat. Rob. I, in Karnes's 
 Law tracts, append. «'. 4.] 
 
 1327, April 29'*' — In early times the aldermen of London were pro- 
 prietors of the wards, which were conveyed by hereditary fucceffion or 
 purehafe X- They, together with the mayor, flairrefs, and fome eledlors 
 
 * There are forty ports mentioned in the fum- \_Scotichron. V. '\\,p. 90] when copying Wyntown's 
 monfcs : but as there are no rated quotas of vcfTels narrative, and comparing it with two other author- 
 
 ;ni- 
 
 to (how tlieir relative importance, I have not ities, alfo omits the burgcfl'ts. It may be reme 
 thought it worth while to infcrl their bare names. bered, that biirgcfTcs were not then introduced in- 
 + It ought, however, to be recoUcfted here, to the parliament of England. Under the year 
 that in the year 1209 the buighs granled King 1357 the carlidl knoivu lilt of Scottifli town« re- 
 William a fnbfidy of 6,000 marks, (fe above, p. prefcnted ii) parliament will be given. 
 •37c.) But whether they did fo of duty, as hold- \ Stow begins his account of the ward of 
 ing lands of tiic king in thi-ir corporate capacity, Farringdon by a dedutkion of the property 
 or as a fpontaneous mark of their afTeflion to their of it, as follows. It belonged fucceflively to 
 fovereign, or as occafional members of ihe legifla- Ankeiin de Avern, Ralph Arderne, his fon 
 tive body, docs not appear. The hurgefi'LS of Thomas Arderne, Ralph le Feure by purehafe in 
 Scotland, mentioned by Wyntown, [^/-sny//, ^ i, 1277, John le Feure, William Farendon by pur- 
 * sgrT as exprcffing, along with the barons and chafe in 1279, ^'"^ '"* '^"" Nicolas Farendon, and 
 prelates, '.heir difapprobation of lome negotiations his heirs, wliofe name the two wards formed out 
 with the king of England, muft not be fuppofed of it (till retain. Thofe whom Fitz-Stephen, in 
 a collective, or Icgidative, body. They are not his afftded Latin, calls confuls of the regions of 
 noticed ill the Chronicle of Mclros ; and Bowar, the city in the reign of Henry II, were probably 
 
 proprietary
 
 A. D. I 
 
 327- 
 
 499 
 
 deputed from each ward, eledted the mayor, and other city officers *. 
 But they do not appear to have been noticed, at leafl: by the kings, as 
 principal conftituent members of the corporation of the city, all writs 
 or mandates (at leafl as far as I can find from any acceflible records) be- 
 ing addrefled to the mayor and bailifs (or bailies, ' balivis'), till nowf, 
 that the king ordered the mayor, aldermen, and whole community of 
 London, and the mayor and bailifs, or the bailifs, of other cities and towns, 
 to provide as many men as they were able, properly furnifhcd with arms 
 and horfes, for his fervice. [Foedera, V. '\v,p. 287.] 
 
 July — Gun-powder, which was undoubtedly made by Roger Bacon 
 in the thirteenth century, is faid to have been invented in the year 
 1330 by Barthold Schwartz, a German apothecary, whofe procefs of 
 making it became public, and was foon followed by the invention of 
 cannons, then called bombards. That the invention, or rather re-in- 
 vention, of it was earlier, is evident from the ufe of it in war being now 
 known in England, as appears from the Scottifh poet Barber, who (in 
 hk Life of Kw^ Robert, p. 40S, eri. 1758) relates, that the Englifh now 
 had guns of fome kind, which he calls cracks of ivar, at the battle, or 
 fkirmifh, on the banks of the Were, and that the Scots had never before 
 heard any iMQ)a. cracks. But in the year 1339 ^^ Scots ufed cannons to 
 batter the walls of Stirling caflle, which they probably received from 
 France %. [FroiJJart, L. i, c. 74.] 
 
 proprietary aldeimen. In the year 1266 the al- 
 dermen of London, together with the baih'fs, be- 
 came bound for the payment of ,^500, due by the 
 king to fome merchants of Doway. \_MadoK's 
 Ftrma hurgi, p. 136; and fee u'fo p. 14.] 
 
 * &ee Brady on burghs, p. 22, who quotes the 
 records in the city's archives, as does alfo Strype 
 in liis Survey of London, B, v, p. 73. Both thefe 
 authors wrote after the great fire, which deftroyed 
 fome of the records. But thofe llill remaining, 
 are, by fubfequent misfortunes, and removals in , 
 confequence of new buildings, in fuch a confufed 
 ftate (as they appeared when I faw them by the 
 favour of Mr. Woodthorpe, the city clerk) that 
 they will require the labour of a perfon verfed in 
 antiquarian literature to arrange them, and make 
 a catalogue of them, before they can be rendeied 
 ufeful. 
 
 •}• The lad writ I find addrefled to the mayor 
 and bailifs of London, is dated 2S"' September 
 1326. [Fadera, V. iv, />. 234.] But the other 
 cities and towns, as far as I can iee, were governed 
 by bailifs, either in conjunflion with, or without, 
 a mayor : nor was the title of bailif generally fu- 
 perfeded by that of alderman, till many years after 
 this time. \_See above, p. 438, and Fadera, V. iv, 
 pp. ep, 234, 288, 668, 718, &c. &c.] In the 
 year 1336 we find the mayor, the bailif, and two 
 aldermen, of Cambridge ; and aldermen of Oxford 
 
 and fome other towns appear afterwards. \_Rot. 
 pat, prim. 10 Ediv. Ill, m. 32 ; prim. 20 Fd'W. 
 ill, (ergo, 30. — Fadera, F. v, pp. 353, 254 — See 
 alfo Spelman, Glcjf. vo. .^Idermiuinus ctvilulis. 
 
 It may be oblerved, as a curious circumftance, 
 that England and Scotland have in fome degree 
 made an exchange of the titles of magiftracy, every 
 city and town in the former being at prefent go- 
 verned by a mayor and feveral aldermen, and al- 
 moft every one in the later by a provoft and feveral 
 bailies, the titles of mayor and alderman being ut- 
 terly forgotten. See above, pp. 297, 446, and 
 below, under the year 1 557. 
 
 ^ Some have afferted that the firft appearance 
 of guns of any kind was in the year 1350 ; others 
 fay that they were firft ufed at the battle of CrefTy 
 in 1346 by the Englifli ; and Polydorc Vergil 
 was fo ill informed as to fay that they were fiifl: 
 ufed in the year 1300 by the Venetians, who were 
 taught by the difcoverer of gun-powder. That 
 man wrote a book exprefsly upon the Invealcrs cf 
 things, and alfo a Hi/lory cf Eiigla:4d, without 
 knowing any thing of the date of lo important a 
 change in the method cf carrying on war. The 
 Moorifli king of Grenada in the year 1 33 1 had 
 guns, which fnot balls ot iron capable of throw- 
 ing down walls. [_Zurita, ^Innales de Aragon, V. 
 ">/• 99 ^-1 "^^^ "'^ "^ guns was even common 
 before the year 1334, as appears from a curious 
 
 dialogue
 
 500 A, D. 1327. 
 
 King Edward this year granted a patent in favour of the manufadur- 
 ers of fluffs made of worfted in Norfolk: and foon after an infpedor 
 and meafurer ofthofe fluffs was appointed. \_Rot. pat. fee. 2 Edw. Ill, 
 a tergo, a.nd prim. 3 Ediv. Ill, m. 1.] This is probably the earliefl ex- 
 tant notice of a manufadture which has become an objed: of great im- 
 portance in that part of the country *. 
 
 There is fome difcordance in the various accounts of the introduction 
 of filk-worms and the manufadure of filk in Italy. When the Venetians 
 became maflers of thofe provinces of the Greek empire, which were the 
 chief feats of the filk trade, they furely did not negledl: to tranfport the 
 manufacture at leaft, if not alfo the worms, to their own Italian or Dalma- 
 tian territories : and it is alfo reafonable to fuppofe, that the Genoefe, 
 when they got poffeflion of Galata, did not fail to tranfplant fuch lucrative 
 branches of induftry to their mother country. It is certain, that in the year 
 1306 the bufinefs of rearing filk-worms was fo far advanced in Modena, 
 that it yielded a revenue to the ftate ; and as the filk of Modena was 
 then efleemed faperior to that of the other cities of Lombardy, it is 
 evident, that other cities alfo cultivated that branch of induftry. In 
 1327, whether the filk trade of Modena was then falling off, or the ma- 
 giftrates were defirous of augmenting the revenue derived from it, they 
 made a law, that every proprietor of an inclofure in the city's territory 
 Ihould plant at leaf! three mulberry trees, and that all the cocons fliould 
 be publicly fold in the ftreet, the buyer and the feller paying each one 
 Ihilling to the city. The Bononians (or Bolognians) alone poffeffed the 
 machinery for twitting the filk ; and the Modenefe were obliged to fend 
 their filk to be thrown by ttiem till the beginning of the fixteenth cen- 
 tury, when they acquired the art of fabricating fuch machinery for 
 themfelves ; and from them it has fpread to the other cities of Italy, 
 and in time to other countries. We are told, however, that after the 
 year 1300 the filk manufacture flourilhed chiefly at Florence, where 
 
 dialogue in Petrarch. [Di- rmifJio utrhifjue for- impoitant and imiverfal a revolution tliey have ef- 
 
 tur.t, p. 84. cd. Bafil.'j About tl\e year 1344 fcfted in human alfairs, and that they have in no 
 
 gunners made a part of the military ellahliflimciit i'niall degree contributed to confer upon Europe, 
 
 of Edward III king of England. [^Sfielman, Glcijf. a pre-eminence over the larger quarters of the 
 
 va. Bomiarila.'] And the idea of them was fo fa- world, and efpccially to give the Britidi navy an 
 
 miliar in his reign, that Chaucer (afcribing," as acknowlcged fuperiority upon the Ocean, whence 
 
 then ufual with poets, the manners of his own age the Britilli commerce derives a ptoteilion and 
 
 to antient times) Irjlroduces guns in his defcription fafcty beyond that of every other nation, in every 
 
 of Antony's (lu'p, and alio in his book of Fame, quarter of the globe. 
 
 U^ 200 a, i82 a, ed. IJ9S.] Gun-powder and * Camden fays, that the Dutch, flying from 
 cannons are fuppofed by fome to have been ufed the perfecution of the duke of Alva in the fix- 
 by the natives of India againd Alexander the tcenth ceutury, Jtrjl introduced the mauufadlure 
 Great. But thi» I (liall not pretend cither to af- of light ftufls at Norwicii. l/iri/annia, f>. .547.] 
 firm or deny. ' ,And the prcfident Dc Thou \_Hi/2. Jul temporis, L. 
 Thefc brief hints of fome of the early notices of xlvi] fays the fame. But the teftmiony of both 
 gun-powder and guns, though more ftriftly belong- thole refpeilable writers mull give way to the 
 iiig to military tiiau commercial hillory, will not be furcr evidence of records. 
 tlecxncd imptrtintnt by ^hofe wKo confider how i
 
 A. D. 1327. 501 
 
 many thoufand people were employed in it. But Textrini fays, that be- 
 fore the pillage of Luca in the year 1314 the filk manufacture flourifli- 
 ed only in that city *, which thereby abounded in riches ; and that from 
 it the workmen v/ere difperfed through the other cities of Italy, particu- 
 larly Venice f, Florence, Milan, and Bononia ; and fome went even to 
 Germany, France, and Bretagne$. [Muratori Antiq. V. ii, coll. 406, 408, 
 895, 896, 897.] 
 
 1328, January — ^The magiflrates of London having reprefented to the 
 king, that criminals ufed to fet juftice at defiance by pafling over to 
 Southwark, to which their authority did not extend, he gave them a 
 grant of the bailiwick of that burgh, at the ufual yearly rent of ten 
 pounds §. But Southwark was not properly incorporated with London 
 till the 2^ of April 1549, foon after which it was made one of the 
 wards of the city, and had an alderman and the other officers of a ward. 
 [Chart, in camera Lond. quoted in Strype's ed. oj Stozv''s Survey, V. \\, p. i.] 
 
 This year the ordinance of the ftaple was annulled by parliament ; 
 and entire liberty was given to all merchants, ftrangers or natives, to 
 go and come with their merchandize, according to the tenor of the 
 Great charter. [AB. 2 Edzv. Ill, c. 9.] 
 
 The king and his council (or parliament) enaded, that all foreign 
 cloths ihould be meafured by the king's meafurer in prefence of the 
 magiflrates of the place where they were landed. The flatute meafure 
 for cloth of raye|| was 28 elns in length, meafured by the lift, and 6^- 
 quarters in breadth, and for cloth of colour 26 elns in length, meafured 
 by the ridge or fold, and 6~ quarters in breadth, to be meafured with- 
 out opening (' fanz defoler') the cloth ^. The mayor and bailifs of the 
 towns where the cloth was landed, were required to attend, when called 
 by the meafurer, and to mark the cloths found agreeable to the lland- 
 
 * Muratori hefitates in giving credit to Tex- who defires to have information concerning the 
 
 trini. — ' Si fides Nicolao Textriao'. — And indeed various fpecles of filk goods made in the middle 
 
 his account is completely confuted by the laws of ages, may perufe the twenty-fifth diflertation of 
 
 Modena, which are copied from the originals by Muratcri's Antiquities, wherein ail the luxury of 
 
 Muratori himfclf. But fome families of filk-weavers drefs is difplayed. 
 
 undoubtedly went from Luca to Venice ; [&nrt7 ^7. ^ That rent was far below what it paid in the 
 
 de Vinezta, V. i,/>/>. 247, 256] and thence they have time of William the Conqueror, 
 been fuppofed the founders of the filk manufacture || Striped cloth, as it is explained by Stow, 
 
 there, jull as tlic Flemifh woollen manufafturers, \Jiurvey of London, at the year 1353, in his lijl of 
 
 who removed to England in the reign of Edward temporal governors, z.\x^d.% the word raji^ is ftill ufed 
 
 III, have almoft obliterated the memory of the in French. J Thomas earl of Lancailer (accorc'.ing 
 
 earlier Flemilh colony in the reign of William the to an account of the expcnfes of his houfeliold in 
 
 Conqueror. the year 1314, given by Stow, p. 134) had ' four 
 
 f We learn from Doftor Mofeley, \T'reatife on * clothes ray for carpets' in his haU. And tliis is 
 
 fugar, p. 267, ed. 1800} that the bufinefs of a filk probably the earhelt notice of the ufc of carpet* 
 
 manufacturer, and thofe of a glafs maker, and of in England. 
 
 an apothecary and druggift, are the three trades ^ We are thus informed 'that the coloured cloths- 
 
 which do not contaminate nobility in Venice. were doubled as broad cloths are now, and that the 
 
 J ' Ad Gallos Britannofque.' — In thofe ages cloths of ray were folded or ro! ed fingle, as nar- 
 
 Briiann'ia and Britanni fcarccly ever fignified the row cloths, called yard-wides, arc at prefent. 
 ■fland and people of Great Britain.— The reader,
 
 502 A. D. 1328. 
 
 ard, without any charge upon the merchants : and the meafurer was 
 dire6led to feize thole which were deficient in the prefence of the ma- 
 giftrates, and to accoant for the vaUie of them to the exchequer. \^A6i. 
 2 Edzv. Ill, c. 14.] This law appears to have been produdive of much 
 delay and trouble to the importers. \¥(edera, V. v, p. 79.] 
 
 Auguft 8'" — ^The merchants of Aragon, Catalonia, and Majorca, hav- 
 ing petitioned the king that they might partake of the privileges be- 
 flowed upon foreign merchants by King Edward I, he granted that they 
 fliould for ever enjoy all the liberties, immunities, and accommodations, 
 conferred by his grandfather upon other foreign merchants *. [Fcedera, 
 F. iv,/. 364.] 
 
 The merchants of Dantzik appear to have had fome trade with Eng- 
 land before this time, for this year the king granted them a confirmation 
 of their liberties. [^Rot. pat. prim. 3 Edw. Ill, m. 18,] 
 
 1329, May 9"" — The king, underflanding that John of Rous and 
 Mafter William of Dalby had made filver by the art of alchymy (• al- 
 ' kemonia;'), and thinking, if they really pofreffed fuch an art, that it 
 would be of great benefit to him and the kingdom, gave orders to bring 
 them, with all their inflruments, to his prefence. \Fcedera, V. iv, p. 
 384.] We do not hear of any creation of filver by thofe artifts. 
 
 December 12'^h — At the requefl of his mother, the king gave the 
 merchants and burgefles of Deeft (or Dieft, an inland town of Brabant) 
 a charter, permitting them to come, remain, and depart, and to trade 
 freely with their merchandize, provided they paid the due and ufual 
 cuftoms, and had no communication with his enemies. He exempted 
 them and their property from being feized for any debts or crimes but 
 their own, or on account of any war, unlefs the lord of their town ftiould 
 be at war with him, in which cafe they fhould be allowed forty days 
 to depart from the kingdom with their property. Neither fhould their 
 property be feized for any tranfgreflions of their fervants entrufled with 
 it, nor upon the death of fuch fervants. They fliould be exempted from 
 paying pontage, pavage, or murage, for their goods, provided they did 
 not pafs the goods of any others for their own, and did nothing con- 
 trary to his father's ordinance for keeping the fi:aple in England f. 
 {Yadera, V. iv, p. 408.] This charter, except that it was to be in force 
 only during the king's pleafure, breathes fomewhat of a more liberal 
 fpirit than had hitherto appeared in any fuch grants, though far ftiort 
 of the liberality wherewith all commercial intercourfe ought to be con- 
 duced. 
 
 The merchants of Byerflete in Flanders, who appear to have already 
 had a grant of liberties in trading to England, had thofe liberties now 
 
 * Why they applied to the king, I do not fee, f As the ordinance of the flaple was annulled 
 as the charter of Edward I was to all foreign in the preceding year, this claufe muft have been 
 merchants without exception. inferted by millake.
 
 A. D. 1329. 503 
 
 amply confirmed to them by the king. [Rot. pat. prim. 4 Edzv. Ill, m. 
 
 50-] 
 
 The whole of the old and new cuftoms of all England were farmed 
 
 to the merchants of the company of the Bardi of Florence for a rent of 
 ;^20 per day ; which, if Sundays were not reckoned, amounted only to 
 £6,260 a-year. Next year the rent was raifed to 1000 marks each 
 month, or £^,oqo a-year. [Rot. pat. fee. 4 Edw. Ill, ?n. 7 ; tertia 5 Edw. 
 Ill, m. 4.] We have feen the cufloms for the year 1282 amount to 
 /^8,4i I : 19 : ii^' Had the trade of England fallen off now, or were 
 the king's miniflers very ill informed, or blinded ? 
 
 1330 — The firll clock we know of in this country was put up in an 
 old tower of Weftminfler hall in the year 1288 ; and in 1292 there was 
 
 one in the cathedral of Canterbury.' \Sdden,pref. to Hengham Dart's 
 
 Canterb. Append, p. 3.] Thefe were probably of foreign workmanfhip ; 
 and it may be doubted, if there was even now any perfon in England, 
 who followed the bulinefs of making clocks as a profeflion. There was, 
 however, one very ingenious artifl, Richard of Wallingford, abbat of S'. 
 Albans, who conflruded a clock reprefenting the courfes of the fun, 
 moon, and ftars, and the ebbing and flowing of the fea. That this 
 wonderful piece of mechanifm might be of permanent utility to his ab- 
 bay, he compofed a book of diredions for the management of it. And 
 Leland, who appears to have feen it, fays, that in his opinion all Europe 
 could not produce fuch another *. [Lei. de Script. V. ii, p. 404 ; ColleSi. 
 V. iii, {or iv) />. 27. — Willis's Mitred abb. ap. Lcl. p. 134.] 
 
 The wars in Italy between the Guelfs, who aflerted that the pope 
 ought to be the fovereign of the world, and the GibeUines, who main- 
 tained that the emperor fhould be fovereign of the empire, of which 
 they reckoned Italy a principal part, had now reduced that country to 
 the moll deplorable excefs of mifery. In the principal cities the people 
 waged cruel war againfl their fellow citizens, and at fea they took each 
 other's fliips f . The formerly-flourifhing commercial city of Genoa 
 
 • There is a watch in the pofleflion of his Europe, a clock that flruck the hours was fet up 
 
 Majefty, which has a convex plate of horn inftead in the year 1353, and was a new fight to the Ge- 
 
 uf a glafs, and Robertas B- Rex Scoltorum marked noefe. \_Stell.e yinn. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. 
 
 vipon the dial-plate, and has thence been beheved to V. xvii, col. IC92.] 
 
 have belonged to Robert I king of Scotland. (See -j- During tlie civil wars, the commander of a 
 ylrclijrologia,V. \,p. ^H).) If genuine, it mud have galley, who was chafed by another of fuperlor 
 been made before this time, and it ought to be notic- force in the evening, fet up a lantern on a ihield, 
 fdas the firft known produftion of the chronometnc wliich he left floating on the water, and thereby 
 ;\rl in a more advanced ftate. But it is now known efcapcd in the night from his enemy. \_Sle/ta, cot. 
 that the dial-plate was fabricated by the roguilh 1061.] The fame ftratagem, fomewhat improv- 
 ingenuity of a pedlar, in order to pafs off the ed, was re-invcnted by Commodore Walker in the 
 watch at a high price, as a relique of the great year 1746, (fee his Voyages, V. ii, p. 11) and is 
 King Robert. [Sec Gentleman s Maga-zine, 1785, now common. It is not probable that either 
 p. 688.] It is univerfally allowed that watches Walker or the Italian had read Ammianus Mar- 
 were invented long after clocks : and it is pretty cellinus, [L. xviii] who himfelf managed a fimilar . 
 certain, that clocks were far from being common efcape from the Perfians by a light fixed to a . 
 at this time. In Genoa, where the arts were horfci ■< 
 furely more advanced than in the weftern parts of
 
 504 A. D. 1330, 
 
 was driven to fuch a ftate of wretchednefs, that marriage was neglecled, 
 women were debauched, the people were fold for flaves, and almofl all 
 v/ere funk in poverty. Such was their condition, till the republic be- 
 came fubjedt to Robert king of Sicily (September 1331), to whom both 
 parties had fent advocates, entreating him to be a mediator, or umpire, 
 between them, in confequence of which he fixed a garrifon of his own 
 foldiers in Genoa, to the commander of whom th,e magiftrates were ob- 
 liged to fubmit. As a proof of the prodigious wealth of fome of the 
 citizens of Genoa, even in thofe diftraded times, it is proper to notice, 
 that a fliip taken by a fleet of Gibelline gallies in the year 1330, loaded 
 with wool and other goods, was valued at ;^6o,ooo of Genoa money ; 
 and a Genoele galley from Flanders, taken by a Genoefe pirate in 1344, 
 loaded with cloth and other valuable merchandize, was reckoned worth 
 £'jo,ooo. But fo dangerous was navigation in this unhappy age, that 
 when ten trading gallies failed from Genoa for Greece and Syria, it was 
 thought neceiTary, though they were armed themfelves, to fend ten 
 warlike gallies to prote6l them. So large a convoy made very dear 
 freights. [SielU Ann. Gen. ap. Muratori Script. V. xviii, coll. 1054-1080.] 
 
 Neither were the other ftates of Italy exempted from the miferies 
 which follow in the train of the daemon of civil war. Pifa was ruined 
 by the fadions of the Rafpanti and Bergohni. Ravenna, formerly 
 flourifhing and powerful, was brought to nothing by external war and 
 internal difcord. Naples, which about the year 1280 abounded in 
 riches, was reduced to fuch a wretched condition by the wars, that many 
 women of once-powerful families became proftitutes, and all the inha- 
 bitants were almoft perifhing for want. \Stell. col. 1063.] Such are 
 the fatal eflecls of people fighting in quarrels wherein they have no con- 
 cern, and for they know not what. 
 
 The coal mines in the neighbourhood of Newcaftle now became a 
 fource of revenue to their proprietors, as appears from the chartulary of 
 the monaftery of Tinemouth, which contains accounts of leafes of coal- 
 works, in feveral parts of the lands belonging to that community, to 
 various people, at the annual rents of X,*2, f\,\, £s, and £s : 4, in the 
 years 1330, 1331, and 1334. In the year 1338 the fame monaftery 
 leafed a ftaith (or coal wharf) at Newcaftle at 40/" per annum. [Brand's 
 Hijl. of Newcojlle, V. u,p. 255.] 
 
 1 33 1, March 3'' — In a fet of articles, drawn up by the king for the 
 ufe of his minifters in Ireland, the following are the only ones which 
 might have fome influence on the commercial ftate of that country. — 
 There fliould be the fame laws for the Irifii as for the Englifti, only ex- 
 cepting the fervices of the betaghs * to their lords, fimilar to that of the 
 
 • Lhiiyd fpcUs the woid biatach, and tianflates fuch farmers were in thcjfame condition M-ith the 
 ix. a farmer, i. e. one -who provides food. Wc fee villeins in England, 
 litre the authority of Kin* lidward to prove tiwt
 
 A. D. 133 1. 505 
 
 "villeins in England. — Fines fhould no longer be levied in cows, but in 
 
 money The colledors of the king's cuftoms fhould not be ftrangers, 
 
 but Come of the mofl opulent and prudent burgefles of the towns in 
 which the cuftoms were to be coUefted. [F^dera, V. iv,p. 475.] 
 
 May 23'' — King Edward, at the requefl: of John Pultney, then mayor 
 of London, a renowned and opulent citizen, and for other caufes, gave 
 the merchants of Louvain in Brabant a charter of free trade, with the 
 now-cuflomary exemption from being arrefted for any other debts or 
 crimes than their own, provided the lord of their town fliould not make 
 war upon him, or be aiding to his enemies. The merchants of Louvain, 
 however, allowed at leaft (even years to elapfe, before they began to 
 avail themfelves of this charter; [^Foedera, V. \,p. 77] a circumftance 
 v^hich ought to put us on our guard againft prefuming a great trade 
 with every nation or community, to whom we find fuch charters grant- 
 ed, which were more frequently intended to ferve the intereft of, what 
 are called, politics than of commerce. 
 
 July 23*^ — The difcontents among the manufafturers of Flanders flill 
 continued ; and King Edward availed himfelf of the opportunity to hold 
 out to them an invitation to tranfport themfelves into England. The 
 firfl perfon who thereupon removed into this country to carry on his 
 bufinefs, and alfo to inftrud thofe who defired to learn it, was John 
 Kempe, a weaver of woollen cloth, whom, together with his apprentices 
 bred to the bufinefs, and his fervants, his goods and chattels, the king 
 took under his protedion. And in the fame grant he promifed the like 
 favour to other cloth-weavers, and alfo to dyers and fullers, willing to 
 fettle in his kingdom. [^Fcpdera, V. iv, />. 496.] This fmall, but valu- 
 able, colony, though not (as fome have fuppofed) the original founders 
 of the woollen manufadure of England, may very jufily be confidered 
 as the founders of the manufadure o^Jine woollen cloths, which has for 
 fome centuries been cherifhed with the mofi; anxious fofiiering care, as 
 the mofl: important branch of the induftry of the country*. 
 
 September 30"" — Fairs, which were the fcenes of mofl; of the inland 
 ■trade of the kingdom, were frequently protraded beyond the time limit- 
 ed by their charters. That irregularity was forbidden by parliament in 
 the year 1328; and now the fame prohibition was repeated, with the 
 addition of a penally upon the merchants, who fliould negled to clofe 
 their booths and flails (' fcudes et eftaux') at the due conclufion of the 
 fairs. [A5ls 2 Edw. Ill, f. 15 ; and 5, r. 5.] 
 
 Odober 14''' — The king having, by an ad of parliament (which does 
 not appear in the flatute books) renewed his grandfather's law for pre- 
 
 * Mr. Anderfon afcrlbes the introduction of the people of England dtriving a real and per- 
 
 the Netherlaiid cloth-workers to the king's refent- maneiit advantage IVom a quarrel or their fovercijjo 
 
 ment againft the earl of Fland^is. If that was with a foreign prince, 
 'his motive, it was a Cngularly happy inftance of 
 
 Vol. L 3 S
 
 5o6 A. D. 1331. 
 
 venting the exportation of money, and for obliging all perfons arriving 
 in, or departing from, England, to exchange their money with his ex- 
 changers Rationed at the feveral ports, (fee above p. 463) now, by his 
 own authority, licenced fifhermen bringing in herrings and other fifli 
 for the fuftenance of the people of the coimtry, to receive money in 
 payment for their flfh, and carry it away without being obliged to carry 
 it to the exchangers, provided they gave fecurity not to a6l contrary to 
 the tenor of the ordinance, or a£t, referred to. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 500.] 
 Thofe fifhermen were apparently foreigners, and more fkilful than the 
 fifhermen of England. 
 
 December 29'" — A tafle for foreign horfes appears to have long pre- 
 vailed with the kings and nobles of England. In the year 121 2 King 
 John paid no lefs than 58 marks for two Lombard horfes, bought for 
 him by the agency of a Flemifh knight ; and next year he bought 1 00 
 great horfes from the countefs of Flanders. [Eymer's Coll. ins. V. i, n\ 
 62. — Rot. pat. 1 S Johati. a tergo.'] In 1241 the earl Marlhal rode an 
 Italian horfe, by which he was killed ; and we may fuppofe that Span- 
 ifh and Italian horfes were pretty common at this time in England, as 
 it was thought worthy of remark, that the army of Scotland in 1244 
 had good horfes, though they were not Spanilh or Italian. [M. Paris, 
 PP- 565, 645.] But even the Scots, according to the Norwegian account 
 of Hacon's expedition, had many Spanifh horfes at the battle of Largs 
 in 1263*. In 1309 King Edward II fent to Lombardy for thirty war 
 horfes (' dextrariis') and twelve draught horfes (' jumentis'). In 13 13 
 he fent a merchant to Spain to purchafe thirty war horfes ; and at an- 
 other time he commilTioned two Spaniards to buy war horfes for him 
 in Spain, and put a thoufand marks into their hands. But the death of 
 one of them having put a flop to the bufmefs, Edward III, now 
 defiring to have it accomplifhed, fent an agent to recover the money, 
 and to purchafe fifty horfes f : and in order to forward the bufmefs, and 
 obtain leave to bring the horfes out of Spain and through France, he 
 wrote to the king of Spain, the magiflrates of Burgos, the furviving 
 agent employed by his father, the executors of the deceafed one, and to 
 the king of France. He alfo fent for lix war horfes, or courfers, from 
 Sicily in the year 1335. \Foedera, V. 'in, pp. 124, 394; V. 'vf,pp. 505, 
 561, 658.] By fuch feledions of choice horfes out of every country 
 has the Engli(h breed of horfes been gradually brought to that degree 
 of perfedion, that they are now eagerly fought for in many parts of the 
 continent, and contribute to fwell the vafl amount of the Britifli ex- 
 ports. 
 
 • The Arabian horfe belonging to Alexander 6f, Hil for each. They muft liave been very cofl- 
 
 I, king of Scotland, in the beginning of the ly horfes by the time of their arrival in England, 
 
 twelfth century, was probably a fohtary rarity. Many prices of horfes in tiic lime of Edward I, 
 
 •(• If he allowed 1 000 marks for 50 horfes, the fome as high as 70 marks, may be found in Lil/t_r 
 
 price waa very liberal indeed : no Wfs lliaii (^13, ccnlrarcl. gardcrclg Edw. 1, p. 173 ct pajftm.
 
 A. D. 133 1. 507 
 
 December 23* — ^Though we know that the Saracens had fome veflels 
 of very great burthen, as appears by the number of men faid to have 
 been onboard them *, we know nothing of their conftrudion. The 
 Catalans, who fucce:;ded to their maritime eminence in their port of 
 Barcelona, as has already been noticed, had alfo very large veflels, of 
 the kmds called cogs and fhips, fome with two, and fome with three, 
 decks, befoi-e the year 1315 ; and, from the mention of caftles on the 
 decks, it appears moll probable that each of the three decks ran the 
 whole length of the veflels, as in modern three-deck merchant ftiips. 
 By the original articles of agreement, preferved in the archives of Bar- 
 celona^ it appears that thirteen of the citizens undertook to man a cog 
 (' cocha') of three decks, called the Sent Climent, belonging to the 
 community of the city, in order to cruife againfl: the Genoefe and 
 other enemies, the magiftrates agreeing to furnifli bread for the crew, 
 and to receive one third of the prizes to be taken, or, in cafe of lofs, to 
 bear one third of it : and the citizens engaged to fliip and pay from 
 four to five hundred men, to find all other provifions except bread, and 
 to put no cargo onboard her for commercial purpofes, her defl:ination 
 being merely warlike. From a very copious inventory of the flores, 
 delivered to them along with the velfel, it appears that (he was well fiar- 
 niflied with bows, arrows, fpears, and defenfive armour. But there is 
 no mention of fire-arms. One of the thirteen citizens was formally 
 commiflioned by the other twelve to be their captain of the cog (' ca- 
 ' pitaneum noflrum didae cochse'), and alfo to command the other vef- 
 fels of an armada fitted out by them againfl the enemy. The city's 
 third of the prize-money amounted to /^i. 1 63 : 18 : 9 for a Genoefe 
 cog, and £33^ '• 3' ^^ *'or a Pifan galley, taken by the Sent Climenc 
 during her cruife. [^Gapmnriy, Mem. hiji. de Barcelona, V. i, Mar. p. 46 ; 
 V. ii, Gol. dipl. pp. 77, 406, 408, 415, 417.] Some of the Catalonian 
 vefl^els carried ftill greater numbers of men. In the year 1334 four of 
 them, carrying 1,980 fighting men befides the feamen, and alfo women 
 and horfes, and having moreover cargoes of cloth and other goods on- 
 board for Sardinia, being fitted for trade as well as war, were taken, af- 
 ter a battle of ten days, by ten Genoefe gallies. \Stell(e Ann. Gen. ap. 
 Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 1066.] 
 
 1332, April 13'*^ — In confequencc of fome dilfenfions between the 
 people of England and the foreign merchants, the later had for fome 
 time withdrawn from the kingdom. In order to remove their appre- 
 heniions, the king now publilhed a confirmation of the charter given 
 by his grandfither to the foreign merchants in the year 1303, and add- 
 ed an aflhrance that they fliould not be fubjeded to any-undue prifes, 
 exadions, or arrefls, and that nothing fliould be taken from them for 
 his ufe without their confent. {Faedera, V. iv, p. 516.] 
 
 • See particularly above, p. 335. 
 3 3S 2
 
 5o8 
 
 A. D. 1332. 
 
 July 25"' The king, intending to pafs over to Ireland, fent orders to 
 
 the jufliciary (or viceroy) to prefs all the veflels in that country, and to 
 fend them to attend him at Holyhead, properly provided with bridges, 
 clays *, and other neceflaries ; and he defired him alfo to make agree- 
 ments for the freights to be paid for them. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 524.] 
 
 The king ordained that flaples for wool, hides, &c. fliould be held in 
 various places within the kingdom. \^Rot. pat. tert. 6 Edw. Ill, m. 6.] 
 
 1333, April 27" — King Edward, having refolved to make another at- 
 tempt for the conquefl of Scotland during the infancy of the king of 
 that country, wrote rwo very polite letters to the earl of Flanders, re- 
 prefenting that fome of his (the earl's) fubjeds had confederated with 
 the Scots, his enemies and rebels, and were committing hoftilities againfl 
 the Englifh upon the fea, which he begged he would put a flop to ; and 
 he fhould find him ready to do every jul1:ice to the Flemings, and every 
 pleafure to himfelf. He afterwards begged that the earl would releale 
 fome Enghlhmen, whom he had arrefted becaufe feveral Flemifh vefiels 
 had been taken by Englifh pirates, reprefenting the injuilice of making 
 the innocent fuffer for the guilty, and the fad condition of merchants, 
 if they mufl; be liable to fuflfer for the crimes committed by thieves and 
 pirates upon the fea (which, however, was the law, or practice, of Eu-- 
 rope at the time f). As the magiftrates of the three principal towns 
 had nearly as much authority as the earl, if not more in matters relat- 
 ing to commerce, he alfo wrote to thofe of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres, 
 upon the fame bufmefs. A negotiation enfued, in which mutual refti- 
 tution was promifed. \Fadera, V. iv, pp. 556, 560, 561, 576.] 
 
 Augufl 6"" — One effed of the renewal of the war againft Scotland 
 upon the commerce of England was, that many foreign merchants, ap- 
 prehending that their veflels and goods would be arrefted, defifted from 
 trading to Englajid. King Edward, unwilling to forego the benefits 
 flowing from their trade, thereupon ordered all the fhirrefs to proclaina 
 that foreign merchants fliould not be abridged of anj of their privileges 
 on account of the war, and that nothing Ihould be taken from them 
 without their confent, nor without due fatisfadioru [Fotdera, K iv, 
 
 P- 574-] 
 
 06tobcr 5''' — The kings of France and Aragon, fenfible of the great 
 
 * Clays, a word already luitii-cd in an order of of the eiglitceiitli and iiindeentli centuries. (The 
 
 the year 1324, as of uncertain meaning. fentiincnt of Rapin, tht hiilorian of England, upon 
 
 •J- Is not the properly of merchants npon the tha fnbjtft, will be qnottd in a note under the year 
 
 fea ftill expoftd to capture, and thcnifilvcs to ruin, 1407.) It remains for a conflellation of flatefmen 
 
 in quarrels of which they were not the authors? of fuperior illunnnation and virtue, endowed with 
 
 In the barbarifm of the beginning of the fifteenth courajje fuffieitnt to break through a baibarous 
 
 century, and even in the thirteenth century at cuftom, to at olifii this licenced piracy, at leaf! witli 
 
 Leipfick, (/- a^o-ur, /. 41^) there was a nearer refpefl to wliat are called innocent goads. Then, 
 
 approach, in this rcfpetl, to the civilization of war- and not till then, may they buad, that war is dir 
 
 fare (if fuch a term be not incongruous) than there vclUd u£ its fpirit of ftrocity and dcprsdation., 
 h aow amidd nil the refinement and illumiiiatioa
 
 A. D. 1333. 509; 
 
 interruption of commerce, and the many other abufes, proceeding from 
 the pradice of granting letters of marque to empower individuals to 
 procure redrefs by means of armed vellels for injuries fuffered, or al- 
 leged to be fuffered, by them, had- repeatedly made regulations for ob- 
 taining juflice to the parties aggrieved by an amicable procedure, and 
 agreed to give no letters of marque, unlefs juflice fliould be denied by 
 the fovercign of the aggreffors. \C11pma71y, Mem. hift. de Barcelona, V. ii, 
 Gol. d'lpL p. 100.] James III, the late king of Aragon, having no fuch 
 regulations fettled with England, a country with which he confidered 
 his dominions as no- way connected by neighbourhood or commercial 
 intercourfe, had given a letter of marque againd England to Eerenguer 
 de la Tone, who duely proved in his court (accordmg to the mode of 
 proceeding fettled between Aragon and France) that he had been plun- 
 dered upon, the fea by an Englifh pirate of property to the amount of 
 ;^2,ooo Barcelona money, befides which there were found due to him 
 11,333 fliillings and 4. pennies for intereil, andj(^ioo for the expenfe of 
 feveral journies to England. Alfonfo, the prefent king, having liberat- 
 ed an Englifh ofHcer in the fervice of King Edward, who had been ar- 
 refled at the inflance of Tone's heirs, took tha opportunity of writing 
 to the king of England, and again requefling redrefs for his fubjefts : 
 whereupon King Edward, who by no means wifhed to (tir up any nev/ 
 enemies, now anfwered, that his father, King Edward II, had offered 
 to do juflice to Tone, who had himfelf negledled attending further to 
 the bufinefs. Re argued that neither equity nor juflice warranted let- 
 ters of reprifal in fuch a cafe ; and he profefTed his readinefs to do fpeedy 
 juflice, even with favour, to the parties, if they would apply for it. [fW- 
 era, V. iv, p. 577.] 
 
 October 6''' — It is fcarcely worth while to notice fo common an event 
 as the appointment of two Englifh and two FlemiHi commifTioners to 
 fettle all claims of redrefs between the two nations. \¥a:dera, V. iv. 
 pp. 578, 579, bV.] 
 
 King Edward having got poffefTion of Berv/ick, and being defirous 
 that it fhould be repeopled, proclaimed that all merchants, who would 
 fettle in it, fliould have burgages for their refidence ; and fome time af- 
 ter he gave the burgeffes an affurance, that they Ihould pay no more 
 than the antient cufloms, which thence appear to have been more mo- 
 derate than thofe of England. \^Ayloffe''s Calendar of charters, pp. 146, 
 207.] But it may be doubted, if Berwick, even in the prefent day, be 
 equal to what, it was in the peaceable and profperous reign of Alexander 
 III, when it was the principal port of the ilourifliing trade of Scotland, 
 and the feat of a company of Flemifli merchants reiembUng the merch- 
 ants of the Teutonic gildhall in London. 
 
 1334, March ■^ — In a parliament, held at York, the king, at the re- 
 f^uelt of his people, determined to abolilli the flaples, which- had been..
 
 5IO A. D. 1334- 
 
 eftablifhed in various parts of England, Wales, and Ireland, for wool, 
 wool-fells, and hides. [Rymer's ABa manufcr. Edw. Illy V. ii, n°. 75.] 
 
 April 5''- The king of England and the earl of Flanders allowed free 
 
 intercourfe of trade to the fubjeds of each-other, which was, however, 
 to continue only till the 15'^ of Auguft. But as it would not be worth 
 while for merchants to fit out their veflels for a privilege of eighteen 
 weeks, it was afterwards prolonged to Chriflmas 1336. [Fcsdcra, V. iv, 
 pp. 607, 661, 662.] 
 
 1335, Spring — The knights, citizens, and burgefles, reprefented to 
 the king the hardfhips funered by the public in confequence of the 
 people of cities, burghs, and fea-ports, engroffing the purchafe of wines, 
 ' aver du pois,' flefh, fifh, and other viduals and merchandize, ufeful to 
 the prelates, nobles, and commons. The king, with the affent of the 
 prelates, nobles, and commons, thereupon ordained, that all merchants, 
 aliens or denizens, fhould have perfed liberty in all cities, burghs, towns, 
 fea-ports, fairs, markets, and elfewhere, within franchifes or without, to 
 fell corn, wine, ' aver du pois,' flefh, fifli, and other victuals, wool, cloth, 
 and all kinds of merchandize, to all perfons, natives or foreigners, ex- 
 cept the king's enemies. The mayors and bailifs of corporations, and 
 the lords of unincorporated places, were required, under the penalty of 
 forfeiting their privileges, to proted the merchants in the exercife of 
 their trade ; and the perfons aftually obflru6hng them were made liable 
 to double damages, and alfo to be puniflied by imprifonment and fine. 
 All flrangers and denizens had alfo equal liberty to buy and carry away 
 any articles whatever, except wine *, agreeable to the terms of their 
 charter. And all charters of franchife, which might be alleged in op- 
 polition to the general freedom of trade, were declared to be of no force, 
 as being prejudicial to the king, prelates, and great men, and oppre(Tive 
 to the commons, [i Stat. 9 Edtv. Ill, preo7?ible and c. i.] 
 
 June-Auguft — In the war between England and Scotland there was 
 more of maritime hollihty than might have been expeded in a contefl 
 between the two parts of the fame ifland. Edward, having heard that 
 fome fhips were fitting out in Calais by the Scots and other malefaBors 
 to infeft his coafts by land and water, ordered the warden of the Cinque 
 ports and the magiftrates of Yarmouth to difcover the truth of the re- 
 port, and to fend out a fufTicient force to deftroy them. Thefe pre- 
 cautions, however, did not prevent a veflel belonging to Southampton 
 with a cargo of wool, wool-fells, hides, 8cc. from being taken in the 
 mouth of the Thames by fome malefactors of Normandy and Scotland. 
 King Edward, being informed by his vafl-il, Edward Balliol, whom he 
 had fet up as a duplicate king of Scotland in order to divide and dillrad 
 that kingdom, that fome foreigners, at the iniligation of the Scots, were 
 
 * Though wine is excepted from exportation, corn is left ficc to be exported at pleafure.
 
 A. D, 1335- 51^ 
 
 fitting out a great navy to tranfport men at arms and armour to Scot- 
 land, ordered his fteward of Galcoigne, and the magiftrates of Bayonne 
 and Bourdeaux, to equip all the proper vefTels in all the ports of the pro- 
 vince with good men, arms, and provifions, to oppofe the malice of his 
 and his vaflal's enemies. He alfo wrote repeatedly from Perth to the 
 parliament aflembled at London, to the magiftrates of that city, and to 
 John Pultney and Reginald of the Conduit, opulent citizens who had 
 borne the office of mayor, that he underftood, feveral fleets of warlike 
 fhips, filled with men at at;ms, were coming to invade his kingdom, and 
 he defired them to fit out all the velTels capable of carrying forty tuns 
 (* dolia') or more of wine, with able men and arms, without delay. 
 [Fa^dera, V. iv, pp. 651, 652, 6^6, 658, 659, 665.] 
 
 Many of the Englifli veflels, and particularly thofe belonging to Yar- 
 mouth, Briftol, Lynne, Kingfton upon Hull, and Ravenfere, were now 
 diftinguifhed as Ihips of war (' naves guerrinae'). But whether they 
 were of a different conftrudion from others, or only the largeft and 
 ftrongefi: of the mercantile veflels, we are not informed. Wc know, 
 however, that they were not the property of the nation at large, as they 
 are called the warlike ftiips of Yarmouth, of Brifl;ol, &c. \_Ayloffe''s Ca- 
 lendars of charters^ pp. 139, 140, 142, 154, 155, 156.] 
 
 The king, obferving that counterfeits of the Englifli money were 
 made abroad, enabled that no man of religion or other perfon what- 
 ever fliould carry any Englifli money out of the country, or any filver 
 plate, or any veflels of gold or filver, without the king's licence ; and 
 that no perfon fliould import counterfeits of Englifli money. But all 
 perfons might carry bullion and 'wrought filver, and filver money of 
 any kind, except counterfeits, to the exchanges, and there be accom- 
 modated with convenient exchange. It was declared unlawful to melt 
 fterlings or pennies, halfpennies, or farthings, for making any vefl^el of 
 filver. The currency of black money was totally prohibited. The king 
 and his council were empowered to eftablifli exchanges at proper places. 
 Pilgrims were ordered to take pafl^age only at Dover. All perfons go- 
 ing from, or arriving in, the kingdom, were to be fearched to prevent 
 them from fmuggling money ; and the inn-keepers were to be fworn 
 to fearch their guefl:s. [2 Stat. 9 Edw. III.] 
 
 September 21' — In confequence of this ad the king eflabliflied ex- 
 changes at Dover, London, Yarmouth, Bofton, and Kingflon upon 
 Hull *, to which he ordered all florenes and other money to be car- 
 ried ; and he fl;ridly commanded, that none fliould be carried out of 
 the kingdom or clandefl;inely exported. He appointed all the exchanges 
 
 * From this very (liott lift we fliould fuppofe, had a pretty good (liare of trade. — From Fadera, . 
 
 that there were no money tranfattions worth notice V. iv, p. 697, and many other records, it is cer- 
 
 on the fouth or weft coafts : and yet Southampton tain, that there was alfo an exchange at Cantev-- 
 
 was cue ef the chief ports of England, aad Briilol bury.
 
 5^2 A. D. 1335. 
 
 to be under the management of William de la Pole, who was to be ahf- 
 werable, for his deputies as well as for himfelf, to the exchequer for the 
 profits of the exchange. And he gave notice of the cftablifhment to the 
 magiflrates of 
 
 Yarmouth, Chichefter, Southampton, 
 
 Dover, Hertlepool, Norwich, 
 
 London, Scarburgh, Lynne, 
 
 Boflon, York, Ipfwich, 
 
 Kingfton upon Hull. Ravenfrod, Sandwich, 
 
 Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Winchelfea, 
 
 and Briftol. [Fa-dera, V. iv, p. 668.] 
 
 William de la Pole, now appointed commiflioner or manager-general 
 of the exchanges, was one of the moil illuftrious of the early merchants 
 of England. He was firfb a merchant at Ravenfrod, or Ravenfere, and 
 thence removed to Kingfton upon Hull, for which town his (apparently 
 elder) brother and he obtained a grant of the cuftoms from the king. 
 In the year 1336 he farmed fome of the cuftoms at a rent of £10 a-day. 
 Upon Kingfton being privileged to have a mayor, he was the firft who 
 was eleded to that office ; and he founded the monaftery of S^ Michael 
 near that town. He was efteemed the greateft merchant of England, 
 and with good reafon, for he lent King Edward the prodigious fum of 
 ;^i 8,500, when he was at Antwerp; in payment of which the king 
 made him chief baron of the exchequer, and gave him the lordftiip of 
 Holdernefs, with the rank of a banneret, and a promife of an eftate of 
 1 ,000 marks a-year in France, as foon as it ftiould be under his domi- 
 nion. He was frequently employed in embaflies along with the firft 
 men in the kingdom,, who were directed by his knowlege of bufinefs. 
 His fon Michael, alfo a merchant, was created earl of Suffolk by King 
 Richard II ; and his pofterity flouriflied as earls, marquifes, and dukes, 
 of Suffolk, till a royal marriage, and a promife of the fucceflion to -the 
 crown, brought the family to ruin *. 
 
 November 20'' — Jobn of Cologne, who appears to bave been in the 
 king's fervice f, having purchafed thirty tuns or cartloads (' dolia i'eu 
 plauftratas') of choice Rhenifli wine in Germany, the king took fo 
 much intereft in the fafe conveyance of it, that he wrote to the arch- 
 bifliop of Cologne, the earl of Holland, and the earl of Gelder, requeft- 
 ing their good offices in its paflage through their territories, and exemp- 
 tion from cuftoms. [Fa'ikra,^. iv, p. 676.] 
 
 This year a licence was granted for exporting ale, and another for 
 
 • This brief account of William de la Pole nnj tcrl. 2S Er/tu. Ill, m. 9. — CaniJ. Bill. pp. 341, 
 Ilia family i^ extraflcd from Fadaa, V. v, pp. 91, 578. — S/oiv's j-lmi. p. 367. 
 
 92, loi, 124, 125. — Rol. pat. prim. 3 Ed/w. Ill, f He is called tlie kinj^'s vale£t, and licenced 
 tn. I ; prim. 10 Ediu. Ill, m. 10 ; and fee, m, 17 ; to kernel (fortify) liis houfc on Cornliill in Lon- 
 don. \ Rot. pat. fee. II Edw. Ill, m. 2.]
 
 exporting corn. [Rot. pat. prim. 9 Edw, 111, mm. 37, 38.] That for ale 
 contains, I believe, the earliefl notice of the exportation of that ar- 
 ticle. 
 
 We are indebted to Balducci Pegoletti, an Italian writer, for the fol- 
 lowing itinerary, or route, of the merchants, who traveled from Tana, 
 or Azof, at the head of the Palus Moeotis, to Gamalecco, Cambalek, or 
 Pekin, in China, as the journey was performed at this time *. 
 
 To Gintarchan (Aflracan) with waggojis drawn by oxen - days 25 
 (When horfes were employed, the journey was fooner performed.) 
 to Sara by the river _____ i 
 
 to Saracanco by water (the north coaft of the Cafpian fea) - 8 
 to Organci (fuppofed Urgentz on Lake Aral) with camels - 20 
 
 This place is noted for the expeditious fale of goods. 
 to Oltrarra (or Otrar on the Sihon or Sir) with camels - 35 or 40 
 to Armalecco (or Almaleg in Turkeflan) with affes - 45 
 
 to Camexu, with afles - - - - 70 
 
 to a river called Kara-Morin (or Hoang-ho) with horfes - 50 
 
 to CalTai, where there is good fale for merchandize, and the 1 
 
 merchants exchange their filver for the paper money of >- blank 
 China _____ j 
 
 to Gamalecco, the capital of Cattai or Cathay (North China) ' 30 
 
 1336, July 4'^ — King Edward, intent upon his great project of mak- 
 ing himfelf king of France, had already taken a crowd of the princes of 
 Germany into his fervice ; and being exceedingly defirous of gaining 
 the favour of the Genoefe, whofe naval power he viewed with defire 
 and apprehenfion, he addrefled a conciliatory letter to the podefla and 
 community of that ftate, wherein he acknowleged, that a large Genoefe 
 fhip or coch f , loaded with Oriental goods and other pretious merchan- 
 dize to the value of above 14,300 marks flerling, bound to England, 
 and provided with his father's letters of fafe condudl, had been unjuflly 
 taken in the Downs by Hugh Defpenfer, then commander of a fleet in 
 his father's fervice. Though no part of the plunder had ever come to 
 his father's, or his own, hands, he offered, if they would engage that no 
 other claim fhould ever be made on account of that capture, to aflign, 
 as a compenfation to the parties aggrieved, 8,000 marks, to be allowed 
 out of the cufloms payable upon merchandize to be imported or ex- 
 ported by merchants of Genoa in any port of England. Being further 
 defirous of gratifying the Genoefe, that they might be the readier to 
 ferve him upon occalion, he offered them free entrance for their vef- 
 
 * Not having pofTeffion of Pegoletti's book, I /i/h tranjlatkn : and I have alfo followred him in che 
 have extrafted this curious route from Forjler^s European, or famih'ar, names of the places. 
 Vayages and difcotjerks in the North, p. 1^0 nf Eng- f The fame kind of vefTcl which is elfewhere 
 
 called a cog. 
 
 Vol. L 3 T
 
 514 A. D. 133^. 
 
 fels, with liberty of buying and felling, in any part of his kingdom, and 
 the further liberty of leaving any port without felling, or with felling 
 only a part, and going wherever they pleafed. The offer was accepted 
 by the Genoefe, who entered fo heartily into his interefl, that they 
 burnt fome gallies, which were fitting out in their port, becaufe they 
 conjedured, that they were intended to a6l againfl; him. Edward, high- 
 ly delighted with fuch a proof of their attachment, commiflioned one 
 of their own citizens to hire gaUies and ufcers *, properly manned, arm- 
 ed, and equipped, for war, at Genoa. \_Fa?dera, V. iv, pp. 702, 710, 
 712.] 
 
 October 1 5*^ — The luxury of the table had got to fuch a height in 
 England, that it was thought necelTary to reftrain it by a law, which 
 prohibited all perfons, of whatever rank, from having more than two 
 couries, and more than two kinds of meat with pottages in each courfe ; 
 except on eighteen holidays in the year, when gluttony and extrava- 
 gance might be freely indulged. [3 Stat. 10 JLdw. HI.'] 
 
 October — Notwithflanding the recent friendly arrangements between 
 England and Flanders, the earl, probably at the defire of the king of 
 France, his feudal over-lord, imprifoned the Englifh merchants in his 
 dominions, and arrefted their property. King Edward thereupon iffued 
 orders for retaliating upon the Flemings in his dominions. But being 
 very anxious to avoid having any enemies in addition to France and 
 Scotland, he immediately wrote foothing and expoflulating letters' to 
 the earl of Flanders and the magiftrates of Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres, 
 requeuing redrefs of thofe outrages, and profefling his refolution to al- 
 low no injuftice to be done to the Flemings. \_Foedera, V. iv, pp. 711, 
 
 713-] 
 
 November 3'' — King Edward wrote to the king of Norway, and to 
 
 the earls of Holland and Gelder, requefting them not to allow their fub- 
 ieds to hire any veflels to the Scots, his rebels and enemies. \Fcedera, 
 V. iv, p. 715.] How could the oppreffed and j^erfccuted half of the 
 Scottilh nation, with their agriculture ruined and their trade annUiilat- 
 ed, find money to hire veflels in mod of the maritime countries of Eu- 
 rope ? 
 
 November 6'^ — King Edward, ftill alarmed with rumours of hollile 
 armaments upon the continent, and having heard that fome Englifli 
 veflels had adually been taken, fent orders to all the maritime cities 
 and towns in the kingdom to oblige the owiiers to fit out every vefl^el 
 in their ports in a fufficient manner with men, arms, and ftores : and he 
 appointed the harbour of Portfmouth to be the place of rendezvous for 
 all veflels belonging to 
 
 * Tancrcd king of Sicily gave Ricliard king of England four great fliips calk'd urfns, \_Hovcdin-t 
 ■J. 391 b] or ujfen ; \_Bromloii, col. I 195] apparently the fame kind of vcllcls here called ufceit.
 
 Briflol, 
 
 Chriftchurcli, 
 
 Melcomb, 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 Yarmouth-) .^.^,j 
 
 S'. Helens!"^ ^^ ^ ' 
 
 Liverpool, 
 
 Stonore, 
 
 Sidmouth, 
 
 Sandwich, 
 
 Winchelfea, 
 
 Exmouth, - 
 
 Bridgewater, 
 
 A, D. 1336. 
 
 Chichefler, 
 
 Rumney, 
 
 Teignmouth, 
 
 Reculver, 
 
 Exeter, 
 
 London, 
 
 Dover, 
 
 Tollefbury, 
 
 Rye, 
 
 Seton, 
 
 Portfmoitth, 
 
 Falmouth, 
 
 515 
 
 Pevenfey, 
 
 We V mouthy 
 
 Chefter, 
 
 Lyme, 
 
 Seaford, 
 
 Dartmouth, 
 
 Portchefter, 
 
 Plymouth, 
 
 Faverfham, 
 
 Shoreham, 
 
 Haftings, and 
 
 Folkflone. 
 
 Yarmouth, 
 
 Lynne, 
 
 Kingfton upon Hull, 
 
 Ravenfere, 
 
 Scarburgh, 
 
 Newcaftle upon Tine, 
 
 Little Yarmouth, 
 
 Ipfwich, 
 
 Wallfleet, 
 
 Lymington, 
 He alfo fixed the port of Orewell for the rendezvous of the vefTels be- 
 longing to 
 
 Newbigging, Gosford, 
 
 Whitby, Harwich, 
 
 Alemouth, Grimfby, 
 
 Tinemouth, Barton, 
 
 Blakeney, Saltfleet, 
 
 Dunwich, Eofton, and 
 
 Kirklee, Waynfleet. 
 
 Gillingham, 
 Coeford, 
 
 After meeting at the ports of rendezvous, the veflels bound for Gaf- 
 coigne, or other foreign countries, were to be permitted to fail in ftrong 
 fleets, fo that they might protedl each-other : and he fent orders to the 
 ftevvard of Gafcoigne to oblige all the vefFels of that country, bound for 
 England, to join the Englifh fleet. [Foedera, V. iv, pp. 717-719.] We 
 find fuch orders for vefi^els failing in fleets repeated on many occafions ; 
 for fuch were then the only means of defence for merchant ftiips. 
 
 Edward's fears were not ill founded. A numerous fleet of fliips and 
 gallies, equipped by the Scots, who adhered to David II, the young king 
 whom Edward endeavoured to depofe, (or as probably by the king of 
 France in their name) took a number of EngUfh vefl^els lying at anchor 
 at the Ifle of Wight, and plundered Guernfey and Jerfey, while the fea- 
 •men of the Englifli navy were quarreling among themfelves, and plun- 
 dering vefl^els belonging to Englifli fubjefts, or foreigners in friendfliip 
 with their king. He thecefor appointed a commiflion to confult with 
 the nobles, fliirrefs, magifl:rates, and feamen, of all the ports, on the 
 means of repelling the enemy. He defired them to give due attention 
 -to the greatnefs of the impending danger, for, fays he, ' As our progeni- 
 ' tors, the kings of England, in fuch contejis between themfelves arid thefove- 
 ^ reigns of foreign countries were the lords of thefea and of The paffage to the 
 
 .^ T 2
 
 5i6 A. D. 1336. 
 
 ' continent in all times pajl, it would grieve us exceedingly, if our royal 
 ' honour fjiould in the fmallefl degree be impaired in our times.' He 
 alfo wrote to all the fhirrefs of England to permit no veflels to fail, even 
 though they fhould have obtained his licence, except thofe appointed to 
 carry provifions and arms to Berwick, Stirling, and Perth, for his fer- 
 vice. [Fcedera, V. iv, pp. 721, 723.] 
 
 The above lift of ports, though evidently defedive, as all fuch lifts in 
 the records are *, furnifties an important fad in the hiftory of the flour- 
 iftiing commercial town of Liverpool, which now appears, for the firft 
 time, as a port capable of contributing fome veflels to the national navy. 
 About this time the community of Liverpool were i-epeatedly empow- 
 ered to levy duties for paving their ftreets ; another mark of advancing 
 profperity. \Rot. pat. 1 Edw. Ill, m. 34 ; prim. 7 Edw. Ill, m. 27 ; prim.^ 
 10 Edw. Ill, m. 43.] 
 
 December 3'' — The Brabanters were the principal rivals of the Flem- 
 ings in the woollen manufadure : and the earl of Flanders being now 
 in the intereft of the king of France againft Edward, the duke of Bra- 
 bant thought the opportunity favourable for requefting King Edward 
 to remove the ftaple for Englifti wool to fome town in his dominions. 
 The king, who was very much difpleafed with the earl of Flanders, 
 wrote him, that he would fend over fome merchants to treat with him 
 for proper fecurity and a friendly reception in his territories : and he 
 required of him to engage, that none of the wool ftiould go into the 
 hands of the Flemings f . In a few weeks after he alfo fent an agent to 
 treat with the magiftrates of Brufl^els, Louvain, and Mechlin, upon the 
 fame bufinefs. [Foedera, V. iv, pp. 720, 751-] 
 
 December \2^ — King Edward in the midft of his eft'orts to fubdue 
 Scotland, and preparations for fubduing France, was not inattentive to 
 the more rational projed of eflablifliing the woollen manufadure in his 
 dominions. He now fent a letter of protedion (from Bothwell in the 
 weft of Scotland) for two weavers of Brabant, wlio propofed to carry on 
 their bufinefs at York ; and he exprefl'ed his hopes of utility and ad- 
 vantage to refult to his fubjeds from their induftry and example. He 
 alfo gave fimilar protedions foon after to a confiderable number of 
 woollen-manufadurers from Zeland with their families ami workmen. 
 [Fadera, V. iv, pp. 723, 751.] 
 
 1337, January 16'' — King Edward, having commiflioned three ad- 
 mirals, conferred upon them the power of punifliing all feamcn in the 
 
 * AH tliC Wctfli ports, of wliicli fiveii appear pear in fuch enumerations, that they did not exift, 
 
 in the enumeration of ilie year i jco, are omitted or liad no fhippinjj. 
 
 in this lift, as are alfo many of thofe on the fouth f As England and Brabant could not work up 
 
 and ead coafts, owing, undoubtedly, t') the lofs of all the wool that ufed to go to Flanders, what did 
 
 the writs fent to thofe ports. Tiiefe evident omif- the king propofe that the Englidi proprietors of 
 
 fions or loITeii of records Ihow, that we ought not the wool fliould do with it ? 
 tadily to conclude, bccaufe fome ports do not ap-
 
 A. I>. 1337- 517 
 
 fleet, according to juflice, as it iifed to be in former times : and he alfo 
 gave them full power of chufing, either within liberties or without, as 
 many men as they might think neceflary for manning the fleet, and 
 feizing and imprifoning them, if they were unwilling to go onboard', 
 and he deflred all his faithful fubjecls to be aflifting to his admirals in 
 that fervice. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 727.] The power of punifliing the 
 men onboard the fleet thus appears to have been already cftablifhed : 
 but this ample prefs-warrant feems to have been unprecedented. It 
 would, however, be no additional hardfliip upon the merchants, whofe 
 veflels were all feized, or expeded to be feized, for the king : neither 
 had the feamen any choice of employment except in the king's fervice. 
 
 January 27'" — The king, feeing the necefllty of having veflels of his 
 own, employed William de Kelin, a carpenter, to build a galley for 
 him at Kingfton upon Hull, under the infpedion of the renowned mer- 
 chant William de la Pole, for the ufe of which he ordered the prior of 
 Blithe to furnifli forty oak trees *. Having ordered anchors to be made 
 for his fliips, called the Chriftopher and the Cog Edward, he direded 
 the fliirrefs of London to provide for that purpofe 5,000 pounds of 
 iron, 200 Eaftland boards, and 100 quarters of fea-coal f, to be deliver- 
 ed to the fupervifor of his works (a clergyman) at the Tower. [^Fcedera,. 
 V. iv, p. 730.] 
 
 March 18''' — The Flemings being now leagued againfl Edward, he 
 wrote to the king of Caflile (or Spain) and to his principal courtiers, 
 requefting that the merchants of that kingdom might have no com- 
 mercial intercourfe with the Flemings, and that they would rather trade 
 to the ports of England, where, he promifed, they fliould meet with 
 every indulgence they could reafonably deflre J. [Fcedera, V. iv, pp. 736, 
 
 737-] . 
 
 April 15''' — Though King Edward was as eager to deprive the Flem- 
 ings of commercial intercourfe with other nations as his father had been 
 to deprive the Scots of their commerce with the Flemings, it was foon 
 difcovered, that the Englifli and the Flemings could not live without the 
 mutual advantages they ufed to derive from their friendly fupply of 
 mutual wants. A treaty was therefor fet on foot for marrying a fon of 
 the earl with a daughter of Edward, then in her cradle, and for re- 
 eflabliflaing the ftaple of wool in Flanders. [^Fadera, V. iv, pj>. 744, 
 
 745-] 
 
 May 24"" — The Brabanters, being thus difappointed of having the 
 ftaple of Englifli wool among themfelves, were now allowed to purchafe 
 
 * The trees muft have been very large, if no ten fliillings worth of coals bought for the corona- 
 more were to be employed, or the galley very tion of King Edward 111. 
 fmall. ' J So ftrarigely flutluating were Edward's poli- 
 
 f This is the earlieft -exprefs notice we have of tics, that we Ihall foon fee him granting favours to 
 
 fo large a quantity of coals in London. Brand the Spanifli merchants for the fake of his good 
 
 (in his Hijl. cf NcukoJIIc, V. ii, p. 254) meiuions friends the Flemings.
 
 5i8 A. D. 1337. 
 
 at the towns in England appointed for the fale of wool, as much wool 
 for the ufe of their own manufacturers only, as would be fufficient for 
 the confumption of fix months, the quantity being afcertained by the 
 oaths of two deputies to be fent over from each manufacturing town 
 with the duke's letters patent. [Fcsdera, V. iv, p, 757.] 
 
 Auguil 8"" — ^The king gave orders, that a thoufand foldiers, levied in 
 Wales, (hould be drefl^ed in coats and mantles made of the fame cloth. 
 {^Foedera, V. iv, pp. 803, 810, &c.] Quere, if this is the firil mention of 
 -military uniforms ? 
 
 September 27"" — ^The parliament made it felony to carry any wool 
 out of the kingdom. They alio ordered, that after Michaelmafs * no 
 nfian or woman, of whatever rank, in England, Ireland, Wales, and that 
 part of Scotland fubjed to King Edward, except the king, the queen, 
 and their children, (a moll injudicious and antipatriotic exception) 
 fliould buy any cloth of foreign manufadhire, under the penalty of for- 
 feiture of the cloth, and arbitrary punifhment befides. Neither was any 
 perfon, whofe annual income was not at leaft /,'ioo, permitted to wear 
 foreign furs. All perfons in England, Ireland, Wales, and the Englifh 
 part of Scotland, were licenced to make cloth without being reftrided 
 to any ftandard length. All merchants importing cloths after Michael- 
 mafs were alfo fubjeded to forfeiture of the cloths and arbitrary punifla- 
 ment. And all foreign cloth-workers were promifed the king's protec- 
 tion to live in any part of his dominions, together with franchifes to 
 their full fatisfadion. {A£is, lo Ediv. Ill, cc. 1-5.] Thefe ads are 
 flrangely at variance with the many negotiations with the. princes and 
 communities of Flanders and Brabant for fettling the ftaple in their 
 countries, and permitting them to buy wool in England. They were 
 immediately broken by the king himfelf, who ieems to have adopted a 
 new fyflem of politics almoft every month, v.hich mufl have been ex- 
 ceedingly prejudicial to the commerce of England and the countries 
 conneded in trade with it f . 
 
 * From the king's own mandate to tUe iliiircfs f Walfingliam [/>. 135] obfeives, lliat nobody 
 
 ■for the pubHcation and enforcement of tlicfe a£ls paid any attention to tliele laws, -wliich he dates in 
 
 (prirtcd immediately after them) which is dated 1335. He ailds, that the parh'ament a!'ov%ed the 
 
 at Windfor tl.e 28"' day of March (no year), it foreign mannfaclurers penfions (♦ vadia regis') till 
 
 appears that Michaelmafs in tlie following year they Ihould be cllabliflied in bufinefs. Indeed the 
 
 vas the day propoftd for the commencement ef law is either defective, as we have it in the edi- 
 
 llitir operation : for Michaelmafs niixt, though it tions, or the rtgiiits (in name of the young prince 
 
 is fo expreffed in the adt, c. 2, being the next day when warden of tlie kingdom) made an addition 
 
 but one, was loo foon for it lo be heard of even at to the llrength of it ; for, according to them, it 
 
 a moderate dillance from London. In the end of ordered, ' lliat all they (without any dillinCtioii 
 
 March 1337 Edward was at Windfor: on the of native or foreigner) \\, ho would engage in the 
 
 2S'" of March 13?^ he was at Berwick. Fiom ' manufadUne of woollen cloth, might cany on 
 
 thefe, and other, circumllanccs it appears that there ' their work in every part of the kingdom with- 
 
 is fome enor in the date of thefe atts, which, how- ' out any lu'nderanee whatever,' £Fadera, V. v, p. 
 
 ever, are rather curious, as the mark of a grand de- 137.] 
 lign, conceived rather prematurely, than important 
 on account of any efledl they l>.id.
 
 A. D. 1337- 5^9 
 
 Odober 3'' — Tn dired, and (if they are rightly dated) immediate, 
 ■violation of thefe laws, the king appointed commiflioners to confult 
 with fuch of his allies and friends as they fhould think proper, for fix- 
 ing the flaple for the fale of Englifh wool in fome proper place on the 
 continent. \Focdcra, V. iv, p. 813.] 
 
 It was perhaps in order to deliberate upon the fame bufinefs of the 
 flaple that there was this year held a council of trade, which, as it confift- 
 ed of deputies from the towns, might be called a commercial parliament : 
 and it was apparently more numerous than a parliament, feeing the 
 bailifs of Buckingham (which fent no members to parliament till the 
 year 1545) were direcfled by the king's precept to fend three or four of 
 the beft and mofl prudent men of their town ; and they accordingly 
 fent three. [Willis's HiJ}. of Buckingham, p. 41.] 
 
 About November i" — The king having takeii up wool throughout 
 all England, for which he gave the proprietors tallies at the rate of ^^6 
 per fack, fhipped ten thoufand facks * for Brabant, where they were 
 fold at /^2o each. [Knyghton, coL-25yo.'] 
 
 December 20'*' — Two cardinals, fent by the pope to negotiate a peace, 
 arrived, in England. They received fifty marks a-day for their expenfes 
 from the clergy, being four pennies out of every mark from every 
 church, thofe claiming exemptions not excepted. [Knyghlon, col. 2570.] 
 We are thereby informed, that the revenue of the church amounted to 
 2,000 marks a-day, or, reckoning 365 days, to the enormous fum of 
 730,000 marks a-year, being more than twelve times the amount of the 
 national revenue in the reign of Henry III f . 
 
 The citizens of London this year obtained from the king an oider 
 for the reftoration of their exclufive privileges, notwithftandini^ the uni- 
 verfal liberty of buying and felling allowed to people of all defcriptions, 
 natives or foreigners, by parliament in the year 1335. — The king about 
 the fame time ordered, that no young falmon fhould be taken J. [Rot. 
 pat. prim. 9 Edw. Ill, mm. 37, 38 ; ^/ « tergo.'\ 
 
 1338, January ■^ — The king appointed his own two gallies, com- 
 manded by John De Aurea and Nicolas Blanc §, to cruife upon the eafl 
 coafl againft the Scots and their allies, and alio to convoy the veffels 
 employed in carrying provifions for his own fubjeds in Scotland. {Feed- 
 er a, V. iv, p. 835.] We have feen the merchant veffels ordered about 
 two years before to fail only in flrong fleets for mutual defence ; and 
 
 * The anonymous hi.^orian of Edward III 1 The order againd catching young, falinon was. 
 
 (pubhfhed aloirg with Hemingford by Hearne, very little obferved, as appears by the very frequent 
 
 p. 412) fays, there were thirty thoufand facis,. repetition of new laws on the fame fubjed. 
 and that the veffels were detained in tlie harbours ^ At leaft one of thefe commanders may be 
 
 the whole fummer and autumn waiting for them, ptefumed to be a native of Genoa, the name being- 
 
 to tlie great damage of tie whole kingdom. the fame with De Auria, 01 Doria, of which name 
 
 f See above, p. 423. The revenue in the reign there was a fuccefiion of eminent naval command-- 
 
 of }:dward ILI, I believe, is not kiiowu. erj in the fetvice of that Hate.
 
 520 A. D. 1338. 
 
 this, if I miftake not, is the earHefl notice to be found of an appoint- 
 ment of PZnglifh warUke vefTels to convoy and protect merchant veflels *. 
 
 January B'*" — The king of Caftile, in anfwer to Edward's requeft that 
 he would prohibit trade with Flanders, infifted that neutral merchants 
 fhould have freedom to carry on their commerce with the belligerent 
 powers without being injured by either party. King Edward, in a very 
 fmooth reply, declared, that he did not wifh him to do any thing un- 
 juft, but only to prevent his fubjeds from aflifting his enemies, and that 
 it was his defire, that his own fubjedts fhould do no harm to thofe of his 
 friends. He added, that in fuch turbulent times it would not be very 
 fafe for the fubjeds of Caftile to have any intercourfe with the Flem- 
 ings ; but that, if any injury fhould be done to them, he would give 
 fpeedy juftice, and even favour, to the complainers. \_F(xdera, V. iv, 
 pp. 839, 840.] 
 
 Edward, eager to conciliate the good will of all the neutral powers, 
 and more efpecially of thofe who had the command of fhipping, re- 
 minded the podefta and other magiftrates of Genoa of the antient 
 friendfhip between his anceftors and theirs (a cuftomary introdudion 
 to a requeft) and begged they would prohibit the equipment of a num- 
 ber of gallies, which, he underftood, were arming in their port for the 
 fervice of his enemies. But the Genoefe, having an invariable eye to 
 their own intereft, and little regarding the refentment of a king fo re- 
 mote from them, preferred the friendfhip of their nearer neighbour, 
 the king of France : and fo far were they from burning the property 
 of their fellow-citizens for his pleafure, as they had done in the year 
 1336, that they permitted twenty gallies to be fitted out at Genoa, and 
 twenty at Monaco, to ferve againft him f . \Foedera, V. iv, p. 842. — 
 Stella, ap. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 1071.] 
 
 Neither was King Edward more fortunate in his attempt to get gal- 
 lies built for him at Nice, a fum of money, he had tranfmitted thither 
 for that purpofe, having been feized by the king of Sicily, the lord of 
 the adjacent country of Provence. [Foedera, V. v, pp. 94, 148.] The 
 fovereign, who is ambitious of maritime power, muft have his fliips 
 built in his own dominions, and as many as pofTible of the materials for 
 their conflruftion and equipment alfo produced at home. 
 
 February 24"' — The parliament, which met on the 3"* of February, 
 granted the king twenty thoufand facks of the wool already fhorn, he 
 giving fecurity for the payment of it. He accordingly appointed com- 
 miffioners to take one half of the wool, now ready, from all perfons, 
 without exception. He ordered them to relieve the merchants, whofe 
 
 * Convoys appear to have been ufiial vvitli the f The Gcnocfe failors ami foldicis were the 
 
 commercial llatcs of tlic Mediterranean before this Swifs of ihofe days. They ftrved the kings of 
 
 time, one inftance of which is noticed above, p. France, England, Scotland, and Callile, for their 
 
 504, and a much more antient one in p. 82. money.
 
 A. D. 1338. 
 
 521 
 
 wool he had taken, by giving his own obligations to their creditors in 
 exchange for thofe of the merchants ; and he fixed the prices, payable 
 in two years, at which the befl wool of the feveral fhires fhould be fet- 
 tled for per fack, as follows. 
 
 Hereford 1 2 marks, or j(^S 
 Salop 107 - 7 
 
 Lincoln 10 - - 6 
 Glocefter, Worcefter, 
 
 Chefter, FUnt 
 Leicefler, Stafford, Ox- 
 ford, Somerfet, York 
 (except Craven) 
 Northampton, Notting- 
 ham 
 Warwick 
 Dorfet 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 13 
 
 o 
 o 
 4 
 
 6 6 8 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 13 4 
 
 Cambridge, Huntington, 
 Bedford , Buckingham , 
 Eflex, Hertford, Rut- 
 land, Berks, Wilts, 
 Southampton, Derby ^^5 
 
 Kent, Surrey, Sufl"ex,Mid- 
 dlefex, London, Nor- 
 folk, Suffolk, Lancafter 4 
 
 Craven in York-fhire 3 
 
 Durham - - q 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 All inferior wool, as they could 
 
 agree. 
 
 London, Ipfwich, Yarmouth, Lynne, Bofton, Kingfton upon Hull, 
 Newcaflle, Sandwich, and Southampton, were the ports appointed for 
 fhipping the wool for the continent. [^R}'?;ier^s Acia mamifcr. Ediv. Ill, 
 V. iii, n'. 7-9-] 
 
 At the fame time the king ordered the (hirrefs to arrefl all veflels, 
 however fmall, that were able to fland the fea, to equip them with 
 men, arms, and provifions, and alfo with accommodations for horfes, 
 and to fit up feventy of the largefl of them for the reception of the no- 
 bility. He alfo ordered the following llores to be carried to the ports 
 of Yarmouth and Orewell, at which he propofed to embark his army 
 for the invafion of France, viz. 
 
 From York and the northern 
 
 and 
 
 From London and the foutl 
 
 em 
 
 
 eaftern (hires. 
 
 
 
 and weftern 
 
 (liires, 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 Wheat, or flour, 
 
 2„6oo 
 
 - 
 
 600 
 
 " 
 
 ) 
 
 r4,aoo 
 
 Beans and peas 
 
 200 
 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 
 .quart- 
 
 J 200 
 
 Malt 
 
 4,100 
 
 - 
 
 2,200 
 
 - ' 
 
 ers 
 
 / 6,300 
 
 Salt 
 
 500 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 \ 
 
 L 500 
 
 Bacons 
 
 Beef, or live oxen, 
 
 i>34o 
 490 
 
 - 
 
 760 
 210 
 
 
 ' car- 
 ^cafles 
 
 r 2,100 
 \ 700 
 
 Mutton, or live fheep *, 
 
 4,100 
 
 - 
 
 4,000 
 
 
 (.8,100 
 
 Herrings 
 
 40 
 
 - 
 
 1(5 
 
 - 
 
 lafts 
 
 56 
 
 Cheefe 
 
 5.900 
 
 - 
 
 5,600 
 
 - 
 
 ftones 
 
 11,500 
 
 Stock-fifh 
 
 
 - 
 
 46,500 
 
 - 
 
 fifh 
 
 46,500 
 
 Horfe {hoes with nails 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 40,000 
 
 - 
 
 fhoes 
 
 40,000 
 
 and empty cafks for packing the corn and flour. 
 
 * ' Multones,' latinized from the French word 
 muton or moutoii, which fome explain to mean only 
 a wether, but it is alfo applied to a ram, [_Gagu'm, 
 Bijl. f. 152 b] and is moft commonly ufed for 
 Jheep in general, as It evidently was during this 
 reign, (fee Fadera, V. v, p. 520) and as the Eng- 
 iilh word formed from it is for the flefli of any 
 
 Vol. L 
 
 fheep. If the king had been aware of the danger 
 of Icfing the fuperiority of EnglilTi wool (for fure- 
 ly, out of a flock of 8,100, lome muft have fallen 
 into the hands of the French or Flemings, if they 
 defired to have them) he would have exprcfsly 
 forbidden the exportation of rami, as indeed he 
 did fooii after.
 
 522 A. D. 1338. 
 
 Though the king promifed to make payment for thefe flores in Lon- 
 don on the firft of Auguft next, it is evident, either that the country 
 could not fpare fo large a fupply, or that the people were doubtful of 
 their payment : for in feveral places the king's officers were refifted 
 by force of arms : and the king, fearing the confequence of a general 
 fpirit of difcontent, defired the clergy to foothe the people, and repre- 
 fent to them the inevitable neceflity and the juilice of his proceedings. 
 [Fcedern, V. \,pp. 3-14, 20, 21.] Some of the hiftorians fay, the people 
 were never paid for their wool, which, if true, was little encouragement 
 to them to part with their provifions. And, even if they were punc- 
 tually paid, the negotiation of fecurlties payable in London, which in 
 modern times are generally better than money on the fpot, muft then 
 have been very diftrefsful to the country people in the diftant fhires. 
 
 April 28'" — The merchants of Brabant having bought 2,200 facks of 
 w^ool from King Edward, who was now almofl the only feller of wool in 
 England, he engaged to convoy them fafe from Ipfwich to their own 
 country ; and he accordingly ordered his admiral to appoint a fuffi- 
 cient number of warlike vefTels for that fervice. [Fipdaa, V. v, pp. 32, 
 
 May 7* — Edward, now adverting to the confequence of allowing 
 Englifh rams to be carried to the continent, ordered the bailifs of Bol- 
 ton, and the colledtors of the cuftoms in that port, to fearch all velTels 
 for live rams, and to carry them afhore, becaufe he had heard that fo- 
 reign merchants had fhipped them there on purpofe to improve the 
 breed of fheep in their own country, and hurt the trade in Englifh wool, 
 to the great damage of his kingdom and fubjeds *. [Fcedern, V. v, p. 
 
 May lOth — The king ordered all the tin in Cornwall and Devon-fliire, 
 whether in the hands of his own fubjeds or already fold to foreign mer- 
 chants, to be taken for his account and fhipped at Southampton for the 
 continent, for which he promifed to pay the proprietors within two 
 years. [Ftxdera, V. v,pp, 39, 40.] 
 
 May 1 6"'' — In order to raife money by all pofTible means, he appoint- 
 ed commiflioners, who granted freedom to the llaves, called fiativcs, at- 
 tached to his manors, with the rank of free men to themfelves and their 
 pofterity for ever, for fums of money paid by them for account of the 
 king. [Fa'dera, V, v, p. 44.] This was a happy confequence, among 
 many unhappy ones, of the attempt to conquer France. 
 
 June — He alfo borrowed from the abbays and other religious founda- 
 tions all the money he could get from them, and alfo all their lilver 
 plate, which he promifed to retin-n to them, or the price of it, valuing it, 
 however, for the moll part only at its weight of metal. But this pro- 
 
 * It was not long before this firll law agalnft the ward lilnifL-lf, as well as thofc agaiiiR the cxporta- 
 cxpurtalioii of Englilh rams was infringed by iid- lion of wool and the importation of woolliu cloth.
 
 A. D. 1338. 523 
 
 ceeding, being probably reprefented as facrilege, raifed fuch a clamour, 
 that he was glad to dcfifl: from it. [Fa^dera, V. v, pp. 48-50, 59, 60. — 
 Knyghton , col. 2571.] 
 
 Notwithftanding King Edward's application to foreign princes in order 
 to injure the trade of the Flemings, he was very defirous of being in 
 friendihip with them. In confequence of friendly letters fent by him 
 to the three chief cities of Flanders, his commiffioners appointed to ne- 
 gotiate with the good people of thofe towns and of the country, who, 
 I have already obferved, were in many refpeds independent of their 
 €arl, and who could by no means carry on their manufadure without 
 Englifh wool, concluded a treaty, whereby the Flemings were permitted 
 to purchafe the wool and other commodities of England, then lying in 
 Holland, Zeland, and elfewhere, and had a promife of ample protedion 
 in all the harbours of England and the king's other dominions, and of 
 fafety upon the fea to all their veffels, except thofe found trading with the 
 Scots. The Flemings promifed to take no part in the war between the 
 king of England and Sir Philip of Valois pretending to be king of France, 
 unlefs for the defence of their earl, if he fliould be attacked by either party 
 in their own country ; and they engaged to proted the Englifh mer- 
 chants and their property in Flanders. It was flipulated, neverthelefs, 
 that the earl with his military tenants, might ferve whom he pleafed out 
 of Flanders. Soon after this reconciliation King Edward gratified the 
 citizens of Ghent with an exemption for the cloths, bearing the feal of 
 their city, from being fubjed to the examination of the ulnators, aulne- 
 gers, or meafurers, in the ports of England. Fcsdera., V. v, pp. 38, s^^, 
 59i 74-] Thus was the premature la^v againft the importation of fo- 
 reign cloth effedually repealed. 
 
 July 27 '' — The parliament having granted the king twenty thoufand 
 facks of wool, he immediately, without paying the fmallefl attention to 
 the recent law againft the exportation of it, ordered the whole to be 
 fhlpped, and veflels to be prefTed for the carriage. The colledion of the 
 wool, however, went on fo heavily, that only 3,000 facks were got ready 
 before his departure for the continent ; and on his arrival at Antwerp 
 he found there only 2,500 of them, inftead of the 20,000, on the fale of 
 which he depended for the payment of his army and the fubfidies 
 of his numerous allies. He therefor fent home orders to feize all the 
 wool in the country, fparing no perfon, whether of the clergy or the 
 laity, and to prefs carriages and veifels for the fpeedy conveyance of it 
 to him at Antwerp. [Fcedera, V. ^^ pp. 66, 73, 80.] The quantity of 
 wool levied in Leicefter-fhire was 311 facks, in Lincoln-iliire 600, and 
 in Northampton 300. \^Kiiyghton, col. 2571.] 
 
 Among other expedients for carrying on a war of unprecedented ex- 
 penfe, King Edward gave orders for imprifoning all the Lombard and 
 other foreign merchants, except thofe of the companies of the Bardi and 
 
 ^U2
 
 524 A. D. 1338. 
 
 Peruchi, and for leizing all their goods and chattels, wherever they could 
 be fovind. [Rot. pat. fee. 12 Edw. III. m. 5.] He alfo feized the pro- 
 perty of the Cluniac and Ciftercian monks throughout all England, 
 [Walfingham, p. 146] and of all the religious eftablifhments depending 
 upon foreign ones, called alien priories, till they bought themfelves off. 
 \Fadera, V. v, p. 490 — Knyghton, col. 2570.] 
 
 AugufI: — At the requeft of the duke of Brabant the king granted the 
 merchants and burgeffes of Dieft, Bruffels, Tienen, Mechlin, and Lewe, 
 freedom of buying wool and trading in England, with the privilege of 
 being liable only for their own debts and tranfgreffions, provided their 
 lords fhould not make war upon him or allift his enemies : and he grant- 
 ed, that their cloths fhould be examined and marked by the ulnators, or 
 meafurers, within five days, at the furtheft, after being unpacked *. He 
 alfo confirmed the grants made by his predeceflors to the citizens of Co- 
 logne. [Fadera, V. v,pp. 79, 80, 82.] 
 
 Odlober 4" -24''' — Southampton, the principal commercial port on the 
 fouth coafi: of England, was burnt and plundered by the French. [Feed- 
 era, V. V, p. 99 — Walfingham, p. 512.] 
 
 Odober i4"'-24''' — There being apprehenfions of a formidable inva- 
 fion from France, orders were iifued for ftationing a fufEcient force in 
 the ifland of Sheppey, for fortifying London on the bank of the river 
 with flone or planks, and driving piles into the channel to obflrudl the 
 approach of the enemy's veflels : and all perfons, clergy or laity, without 
 any exception, were ordered to contribute, in proportion to their eftates 
 in London, to the expenfe. [Foedera, V. 'v,pp. 85, 86.] 
 
 1339, March G'*" — Henry Darcy mayor of London having reprefent- 
 ed to the king, that the income of fifty marks, which ufed to be paid 
 annually by the merchants of Amiens, Nele, and Corbie, to his prede- 
 ceflx)rs, (fee p. 389) had now failed by the merchants leaving the coun- 
 try on account of the war, he ordered the fhirrefs of London to pay that 
 fum to the mayor. [Foedera, V. v,p. 105.] 
 
 June 12''' — A fpecies of coin of inferior quality, called black money 
 or turneys (probably fuch as had been lately prohibited in England) 
 had been introduced in Ireland, the currency of which, being fuppofed 
 prejudicial to that of the legal money, had been fupprefled. But the 
 quantity of good money in circulation being found inadequate to the 
 wants of the country, the warden (or viceroy) of Ireland was now au- 
 thorized to reftore the currency of the black money, if he and his coun- 
 cil fhould think it expedient, till a fufficient quantity of better money 
 could be provided. About three months before, twenty-four pair of 
 
 * I liavf been very brief in relating the grants in tliey difTer from the grant to the people of Dieft 
 to thoft cities, becaufe the favour refpeftiiig the in the ye;ir 1328, already infcrtcd. 
 rxaminatiun of tin ir cloths i« the only article where- I
 
 A. D. 1339. 525 
 
 dyes for coining pennies, halfpennies, and farthings, had been ordered 
 from the mint in the Tower for Ireland, of which no notice is taken in 
 the prefent order. [Fadera, V. v,pp. 104, 113.] 
 
 June — Among the mofl notable of King Edward's fliifts for getting 
 hold of money, for the fupport of his wars with France and Scotland, 
 may be reckoned his fcheme for a marriage between his fon, a child 
 juft ten yeare of age, and a daughter of the duke of Brabant, from whom 
 he immediately received ffty thou/and pounds Jlerling as the young lady's 
 portion, he obliging himlelf to return ^ 100,000, if the marriage fhould 
 not be compieted. [F(£dera,V.\, pp. 112,, i8i.] The marriage never 
 was completed ; and it merits notice in commercial hiftory, only as a 
 proof of the very flourifhing flate of the manufactures and trade of Bra- 
 bant, which enabled the prince of that country to lay down fuch a fum 
 of money ; a fum, though it was exceeded by what Edward himfelf co- 
 venanted to give with his own daughter to the prince of Spain, far great- 
 er in real effeftive value than is given with the daughters of any of the 
 modern kings of Europe. 
 
 November 25''' — The liberty granted by the late adl, for carrying on 
 the woollen manufadlure in any part of the kingdom without impedi- 
 ment, feems to have been interpreted by the magiftrates of Briftol as re- 
 ftrided to foreigners ; or the ad: was fo far difregarded by them, that 
 they perfecuted Thomas Blanket and fome others of their own citizens, 
 who had provided machinery, and hired workmen, for fetting up a wool- 
 ten manufactory in that city, with unreafonable exadions. Such was 
 the difcouraging reception given to the woollen manufadure on its firfl 
 appearance in the center of the country which has fince become the 
 chief feat of it, till government fent orders to the mayor and bailifs of 
 Briflol to defift from molefling their fellow-citizens in their meritorious 
 undertaking. [Foedera,V. v, p. i^'].'] 
 
 December 23*^ — The king ordered five lafts of red herrings to be pro- 
 vided for the ufe of his houfehold at Yarmouth, which has fo long been 
 famed for curing herrings in that manner ; and 5,000 ftock-fifh from 
 Bofton, at which port, and alfo at Kingllon upon Hull, thole filh were 
 then imported, whether caught by the Englifli feamen themfelves at 
 Iceland, or bought in that ifland or at the fair of Bergen in Norway, the 
 great market for the filh of the polar regions*. [Fa^dera, V. v,p. 146. 
 — Camdeni Britannia, p. 578. — Qlaus Magnus^ L. 21. J 
 
 1340, February^ — ^The parliament granted the king the ninth part of 
 the lambs, the wool, and the corn, to be produced in the two next years, 
 
 * It mud not be underftood, that this was the the king ordeied 500 ' murruz' from Blakenhetl). 
 
 carlicd notice of flock-fifh in England. They Qnere, if moorfow's, and if tliey were then to be 
 
 were a ciiftomary article of fhip's ilores at leall as found in confiderable quantities fo near London as 
 
 early as the year i 290. See above, p. 436, note at Bhckheath P 
 *.—— Together wl'h the berruigs and ftock-fiih
 
 526 
 
 A. D. 1340. 
 
 the ninth part of the real vaUie of all the property (quere, if not rather 
 income ?) of the citizens and burgefles, and a fifteenth from all others, 
 excxpt labourers and beggars *. {Sfat. 14 Edw. Ill, c. 20 — Knyghton, 
 col. 2576.] 
 
 April 16''' — They granted him alfo a duty of 40/" upon every fack 
 (containing 26 ftones of 14 pounds each) of wool, 40/" upon every 300 
 wool-fells, and 4q/'upon every lafl of hides, to be paid upon exportation, 
 and to be continued till Pentecoll in the year 134 1. In confideration 
 of thefe fupplies the king relinquilhed his right to the feudal tax for 
 knighting his oldeft fon and marrying his oldefl daughter f (a favour in 
 profpedl to thofe who held lands of him in chief) : and he engaged, that 
 after Pentecoft in 1341, he would demand no more than 6/'8 upon the 
 fack of wool, 6/8 upon 300 wool-fells, and 1374 upon the lafl of hides. 
 The exporters of wool were to find fecurity, that, for every fack of wool 
 carried out of the kingdom, they would within three months bring in 
 filver bulUon to the value of two marks, and carry it to the king's ex- 
 change, where they Ihould receive two marks in coined money for it. 
 IStat. 14 Edw. III.] 
 
 Though the parliament, and probably the generality of the people, 
 were fo liberal of their property for the purpofe of enabling their king 
 to make himfelf king of France, it appears, that there were fome who 
 were endowed with more penetration, and faw that the fuccefs of the 
 king would be the ruin of the kingdom. In order to counteract the ef- 
 fed: of fuch an opinion, the king ilTued a kind of charter :}:, wherein he 
 declared, that, being defirous to provide for the fecurity and immunity 
 of his liege people of England, he had, by the alTent of his parliament, 
 determined, that the people of England fhould not be bound by any 
 commands ifTued by him or any of his heirs as king of France, and 
 Ihould be as free of any fubjeilion to that kingdom, as they were in the 
 ^ays of his anceftors. {Stat. 5, 14 Edw. III.] He might as well have 
 promifed the people of Cumberland and Cornwall, that they fhould not 
 be controlled by the laws enaded in the capital. 
 
 April 18"' — King Edward was now fo well pleafcd with his good 
 friends, the citizens of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, that he made fome of 
 their magiftrates members of his council, and fettled penfions on them 
 with an allowance of robes from his wardrobe. For their fakes alfo he 
 
 * Knygliton [_ail. 2569] and Walfingham [f. f Though what is written is permanent, yet, 
 
 J 1 3] ttll us, that the king exaftcd from the peo- without the alTiftancc of printing, it is foon for- 
 
 ple of England, (without any diflindtion of per- gotten. A demand was made for knighting the 
 
 fons), a tribute of ■■iji/l/j part of tlicir goods in the prince of Wales in 1346, and in 1351 a new aft 
 
 year 1339. But I often find tiiefc hillorians inac- was paficd to re-ellablifli the claim for the oldeft 
 
 curate in numbers, when brought to the left of re- fon and the oldeft daughter as before. [Fteilera, 
 
 cords. It may be queftioncd, whether it would ^v,/). 527. — Stal. 5, 25 Edw. Ill, c. II.] 
 have been poffible to levy fuch a contribution in an * It is printed among the acls of parliament, 
 
 age when heavy taxes were as yet new and uii- 
 jtiiown.
 
 A, D. 1340, 527 
 
 granted protedions to the vefTels of Cadile, Catalonia, and Majorca, 
 trading peaceably with Flanders, and giving fecurity to the magiftrates 
 of thofe cities, that they fliould do no damage to him or his friends. 
 Such was the advantage which thofe nations reaped from being conned- 
 ed in trade with the principal commercial nation in the weft part of Eu- 
 rope : and, on the other hand, fo valuable was the trade of thofe Span- 
 ifh nations to the Flemings, that they bound themfelves to indemnify 
 them for any damage they might fuffer from the Englifh ; an obliga- 
 tion, which Edward thought it incumbent upon him to take upon him- 
 felf \_Foedera, V. \,pp, 179, 183, 203.] 
 
 June 24'" — King Edward, underflanding that the king of France had 
 colle6ted a fleet of 400 veffels*, the largefl; of which belonged to Spain 
 and Genoa, in order to intercept him on his paflage to the continent, 
 boldly refolved to engage them with the fleet he had, confifting of 260 
 vefl^els great and fmall. On the 23'' of June he came in fight of the 
 enemy lying at anchor at the Swyn on the coafl: of Flanders. Early in 
 the morning of the next day the French fleet got up their anchors, and, 
 forming in three divifions, advanced about a mile to meet the Englifli, 
 who, having the wind of them, bore down to the attack, which they 
 commenced with a fhower of arrows, in the management of which they 
 excelled all other nations, and afterwards clofed in with them, and fought 
 with ftones thrown from the tops, and with pikes, poll-axes, and fwords. 
 The Englifli made but little impreflion upon the lofty flups of Spain, 
 but in the French vefl^els the carnage was moll horrible, about 25,000 
 men by the moft moderate accounts being either flain or drowned by 
 leaping overboard f. At the conclufion of the battle, which lafled all 
 the day and the enfuing night, 200 fhips and 30 barges fell into the 
 hands of the Englifli. Next day the king landed his forces amidft the 
 fliouts and applaufes of his Flemifli allies. [Fadero, V. "v^pp. 195, 197. 
 — Hcniingford, p. 319. — K?iyghtoii, col. 2577 — Walfinghani^ p. 148 — P. 
 ^myl.p. 276 Stow, p. 369.] 
 
 The fplendour of this naval vidory, the only one gained by a king ot 
 England in perfon fince the days of Alfred, dazzled the eyes of the Eng- 
 lifli, and made them chearfuUy exhaufl: their wealth in order to make 
 their brave king the fovereign of a foreign country, and themlelves the 
 fubjeds of the king of France. It encouraged Edward to proceed in his 
 career : and it induced thofe allies, who wiflied to be on the fuccefsful 
 flde, to ftand by him longer than they would otherways have done. And 
 thus were the miferies and defolation of war prolonged. The phantom 
 of the kingdom, though repeatedly grafped, at laft totally vaniftied : but 
 
 * According to Knyghton, 19 very large (liips — 3C0 French fliips, and ?o of Bretagne. [i?. 
 and 200 other (hips of war, befides fmaller veffels J'Emyl.'\ 
 
 arid barges. — 200 fiiips and many gallies. {_l'/alf,'] f Tliere was no fafety for them on the (here, . 
 
 which was occupied by the Flcmilh army.
 
 528 
 
 A. D. I 
 
 340- 
 
 the taxes, brought upon the commerce and confumption of the country 
 by it, remained a lafling memorial of King Edward's fatal claim upon 
 the crown of France *. 
 
 Odober 11"" — The operations of war being fufpended by a truce, 
 King Edward, in letters addrefled to the fhirrefs of the maritime (hires, 
 obferved that the navy of the kingdom (that is, the whole veffels belonging 
 to the merchants of England) was much reduced by the war f ; and, as 
 the Jecurity of the kingdom depended upon the veffels being kept in the hands of 
 his ozvn fubjecls, he ordered them to make proclamation, that no perfon 
 fhould fell, or give away, any vefTel to a foreigner upon any account : 
 and he alfo defired them to return to him exad: accounts of all the vef- 
 fels, whether great or fmall, in each port within their jurifdi6tions, with 
 the names of their owners. [Fadera, V. v, p. 21 c] Thefe returns, if 
 colleded together, would conftitute, apparently, the firfl; Kegifler of the 
 Jhipping of England %. 
 
 1 341, February 12'" — The king wrote to the magiftrates of the prin- 
 cipal ports of England, ordering that all fliips of fixty tuns or upwards, 
 and all barges and fluves, Ihould be equipped for war. He alfo ordered 
 them to fend deputies, chofen from among their moft fubftantial and 
 prudent inhabitants, who fhould aflemble at Weftminfler, in order to 
 inform him of the ftate of the fhipping in their ports, and the progrefs 
 of the outfit. The following is the lift of the ports with the number of 
 their deputies to this firft naval parliament. 
 
 Sandwich to fend 
 
 Great Yarmouth 2 
 
 Gosford 2 
 
 Lynne 2 
 
 Ipfwich I 
 
 Winchelfea 2 
 
 Dover i 
 
 Rye 1 
 
 Haftings i 
 
 Southampton 2 
 
 Plymouth 2 
 
 Dartmouth 2 
 
 Weymouth i 
 
 Briftol 2 
 
 Bofton I 
 
 Kingfton upon Hull 2 
 
 Newcaftle uponTine 2 
 
 Falmouth i 
 
 Pevenfey i 
 
 Seaford i 
 
 Shorehani i 
 
 Hooke 1 
 
 Poole I 
 
 Exmouth I 
 
 Teignmouth i 
 
 Fowey i 
 
 Ravenfere i 
 Little Yarmouth i 
 
 \f(^dera, V. v,p. 231.] 
 
 April 1 2''' — Six Genoefe gallies, loaded with merchandize for Flan- 
 ders, having been taken at Breft by a fleet of Engli(h veffels in Septem- 
 
 * Though Edward, in an evil Iwur, afTunied the 
 title of king of France, and quartered the lilies of 
 that kingdom with his own leopards in his armori- 
 al bearings, he fccms to have been rather (hy, or 
 dilBdent, in^ufing his new ftile, the moll of his writs 
 about this time being begun with < Rex omn'dus' i^c. 
 without faying what country or countries he claim- 
 ed the fovccignty of. 
 
 f It is not to be fnppoftd, that many merchants 
 would build veffels to replace thofe which were loll, 
 
 as they vrere fure to have very little ufe of thetn 
 during the war. 
 
 \ TIic account of vefTtls furniflied by the fevcral 
 ports of England for the fiegc of Calais (to be 
 found under the year 1346) is nearly equivalent to 
 fuch a regillcr, as all the vclfels of the kingdom (or 
 nearly all) were aflembled on tliat fervice. We 
 there fuid the number of merchant vefFeh to be 685, 
 but for their tunnage vvc liave no other ftandard 
 than the number of mrn they carried.
 
 A. D. 1341. 529 
 
 ber 1340, King Edwaid offered to pay the owners ^10,000 fteriing, if 
 the duke and community of Genoa would abftain from giving afliftance 
 to his adverfary of France. But this offer the Genoefe appear to have 
 declined. [FcederOj V. -v^pp. 244, 571.] 
 
 Augufl 8"' — The king, finding that wool was fmuggled out of the 
 kingdom wiihout paying the duty, appointed the flaple for wool and 
 other flaple goods to be at Bruges in Flanders, under the diredion of a 
 mayor and conftables to be eledted by the merchants of the kingdom ; 
 and he confirmed all their former liberties and reafonable cufloms. All 
 perfons, natives or foreigners, were permitted to carry wool and other 
 merchandize to Bruges, on giving fecurlty to the colledtors of the cuf- 
 toms that they would carry them to no other place. The mayor and 
 conftables of the ftaple were direded, and empowered, to feize all goods 
 hot fairly cleared out for exportation, and to punifh all offences in the 
 ftaple, not according to the common law of the kingdom, but according 
 to the mercantile law: and, for defraying the necelTary charges, they 
 were authorized to levy a duty on the merchandize imported at Bruges 
 in proportion to the quantity belonging to each perfon. [Fadera, V. v, 
 pp. 273, 275.] 
 
 1342, January 22'', May 28''' — The king wrote other letters to the 
 •duke of Genoa, earneftly labouring to win him to his alliance, and pro- 
 mifmg that the Genoefe merchants fhould be treated in all his do- 
 minions as well as his own fubjeds. IF^dera, V. v, pp. 296, 316.] 
 
 February 14"' — He alfo endeavoured to draw the king of Majorca in- 
 to an alliance with him by a propofal for a marriage, and an offer of 
 commercial favours to his fubjeds, \Foedera, V.v, pp. 2^6, 2^^.^ The 
 commercial propofal had probably as" little efFeft as the matrimonial 
 one. 
 
 1343, Spring — Another law againft carrying money out of the coun- 
 try was now enaded. \^ASts 17 Edw. III.} The frequent renovations 
 of fuch laws were not, it feems, fuflicient to convince the legiflature of 
 their inefficacy. 
 
 The chronological order of this work requires me immediately to lay 
 -before the reader the following ftriking contraft to this ad of the Eng- 
 lifli parliament. 
 
 May i'' — Pedro IV, king of Aragon, coftfidering the great hardship ira- 
 pofed upon the commerce of his fubjeds by an order, contained in the con- 
 ititutions of Catalonia, againft carrying filver out of the country, now 
 granted permiflion to the citizens ot Barcelona to export filver, whether 
 in bullion or in coin, except the money of Barcelona, from any part of 
 his dominions to any foreign country whatfoever. [^Caprnany , Menu hi/I. 
 de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. d'lpl. p. 1 17.] 
 
 May 10^ — The parliament ordained, that no perfon for the three en- 
 
 VoL. I. 3 X 
 
 %
 
 53^ 
 
 A. D. 1343, 
 
 - £s 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 13 
 13 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 & 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 13 4 
 
 fuing years, under penalty of forfeiture of the wool fo bought by him, 
 fhould buy wool at any lower prices than the following, viz. 
 
 Lincoln-fhire, befl: wool £g 6 8 
 
 Holland and marlh lands 768 
 York-lhire, beft - 768 
 
 Craven - - 6 13 4 
 
 Kent, Suflex, Middlefex 600 
 
 Marfh wool in thefe three 500 
 Surry - - -400 
 Salop - - -96-8 
 Oxford (Chiltern;^6 : 1 3 : 4) 8 1 3 4 
 Berks - -600 
 
 Nottingham - 700 
 
 Northampton - 768 
 
 Stafford - ^^8 to 8 1 3 4 
 
 Derby - - 6 6 8 
 
 Leicefter - 800 ter 
 
 Warwick, the befl 700 Devon 
 
 Cambridge, Huntington 6 o o Cornwall 
 Buckingham, Bedford 768 Rutland 
 
 The fellers were at liberty to take prices as much above the limited 
 ones as they could obtain *. [Foedera, V. v. p. 2,^g.'] 
 
 1344, January 8 '' — King Edward, agreeable to his conftant policy of 
 conciliating the neutral powers, ordered the fhirrefs of London to make 
 proclamation, that the Portuguefe fhould be treated in all refpeds as 
 friends and, favoured allies. [Fadera, V. \yp. 402.] 
 
 January 22'' — Hitherto there had been very little gold money coined 
 by the kings of England f; fo little, indeed, that it has-been generally 
 believed that there was none : but now the king and parliament order- 
 ed money of three fizes to be coined of gold. The largefl pieces, damp- 
 ed with two leopards, and equal to two fmall florins of Florence of full 
 weight, were ordered to pafs for fix fliillings. The halves had one leo- 
 pard, and the quarters, a helmet. Soon after {]^\y 9'^) the king and his 
 council ordered another coinage of gold, confifling of pieces called 
 nobles, valued at fix fhillings and eight pennies, and halves and quarters, 
 of nobles. The exportation of money was o^aiii prohibited, with the 
 
 Wilt-fhlre,. 
 Somerfet 
 Southampton, befl: 
 
 Wight and New forefl 
 Dorfet - - 
 
 ' 'ereford £6 : 13 14 to 8 
 Worcefler 5 : 6 : 8 to 7 
 Hertford - - 6 
 
 Effex (Marfh wool ^^5) 6 
 Gloucefler /^7 : 6 : 8 to 8 
 Norfolk, Suffolk 5 
 
 Cumberland, Weflmere- 
 
 land - 6 
 
 Northumberland, Lancaf- 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 - 2 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 o 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 * This tnl^lc of pricej rep;iilatfrl by aft of parlia- 
 iricnt, togcttitr with the pricis prclcribcd by the 
 king in the year 1338, pi»es us a ft;Uillical ac count 
 of the comparative quality of the wools in all the 
 iliircs of England, except Chelhirc, Durham, and 
 Monmouth, the two former bciu^' p:ilatiiic coun- 
 ties, aud the later not then an Eiiglilh lliire. It 
 a'fo fhows '13, that tliofe parts of the count ly, 
 
 wliitli produce the bed wool, arc uof tVic chief 
 leat'( of tlie woollen manufaftures. 
 
 f In the year 1338 King Edwaul ordered that 
 the filver, which was expec'U'<l to be found in Ue- 
 von-fliire, fhould be carried to the mint, anil the 
 gold, to the exchequer. [^Firikra , V. v, p. 71.] 
 Had there been any coi.iage of gold, he would molt 
 probably have ordered both to the niiut.
 
 A. D. 1344' 53^ 
 
 exception of this new gold money. The currency of all coins of gold 
 or filver, except the king's, was prohibited. And no perfon, receiving 
 a payment of twenty fliillings or more, was to refufe gold money *. 
 The king, in his orders to the fliirrcfs of London for proclaiming this 
 laft coinage, obferved that hitherto people had been impofed on, becaufe 
 there was no fixed rate of exchange, and informed them, that he had 
 ordered an exchange to be opened at Servate's towerf in London, where 
 the public might receive 6/7 in filver in exchange for a noble of gold, 
 or a noble of gold in exchange for 6/8- of filver, and in the fame pro- 
 portion for the halves and quarters, thus taking to himfelf a profit of 
 1^ per cent on iflliing filver, and | per cent on iflliing gold ^. The firft 
 gold money having been rated fo much above its value that it was im- 
 poflible to get the people to receive it, the king proclaimed ( Augufl; 20 '') 
 rhat no perfon ftiould be obhged to take it but at its value as bullion. 
 \^Foedera, V. v,pp. 403, 416, 424.] 
 
 February 6"' — The king, again defiring to be informed of the fiate of 
 the navy, or fhipping, of England, fent precepts to the magiftrates of 
 all the ports, ordering them to return a number of reprefentatives, pro- 
 portioned to their trade or population, well acquainted with maritime 
 affairs, to a council of fhipping, or naval parliament, to be held at Lon- 
 don in the enfuing lent, as follows, viz. 
 
 Yarmouth to fend 
 
 4 
 
 Dover 
 
 2 
 
 Exeter 
 
 a 
 
 Newcafl;le upon 
 
 Tine 
 
 2 
 
 Winchelfea 
 
 2 
 
 Dartmouth 
 
 2 
 
 Scarburgh 
 
 
 I 
 
 Rye 
 
 I 
 
 Plymouth 
 
 2 
 
 Kingfl;on upon 
 
 Hull 
 
 2 
 
 Haftings 
 
 I 
 
 Exmouth 
 
 I 
 
 Ravenfrod 
 
 
 I 
 
 Gosford 
 
 I 
 
 Falmouth 
 
 I 
 
 Grimfby 
 
 
 ■I 
 
 Waynfleet 
 
 I 
 
 Sidmouth 
 
 I 
 
 Bofton 
 
 
 2 
 
 Lyme 
 
 I 
 
 Barnftaple 
 
 1 
 
 Lynne 
 
 
 2 
 
 Seaford 
 
 I 
 
 Weymouth 
 
 I 
 
 Dunwich 
 
 
 I 
 
 Chichefter 
 
 2 
 
 Briftol 
 
 2 
 
 Tpfwich 
 
 
 2 
 
 Portfmouth 
 
 I 
 
 Poole 
 
 I 
 
 Colchefl:er 
 
 
 I 
 
 Southampton 
 
 2 
 
 London 
 
 4 
 
 Harwich 
 
 
 I 
 
 S'. Helen's in Wight 
 
 ; I 
 
 Blakeney 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 Orford 
 
 
 I 
 
 Melcomb 
 
 1 
 
 Ravenfere 
 
 I 
 
 Maldon 
 
 
 I 
 
 Pevenfey 
 
 I 
 
 Shoreham 
 
 I 
 
 Sandwich 
 
 
 2 
 
 Romney 
 
 I 
 
 [Fadera, V, v,} 
 
 X405.] 
 
 * The permiffion to refufe it in fmaller quanti- 
 ties fhows, tliat it was difli'ied by the people, and 
 for a very good reafon, as it w as rated confiderably 
 above its ^alue according to the proportion then 
 eftablifhcd between gold and filver. About a year 
 and a half after this time we find it ftill refufed in 
 the north partsof En -land. \_Fcrdera, P. v,p. 480.3 
 
 f Appar rtty tl-.r fame which Stow calls Sernes 
 tower tti> ' Ci:inei's tower in Bucklerlbiiry. [_Sur- 
 ijfy of London, pp. u8, 477.] 
 
 X Before this time the exchanges iffued good fil- 
 ver money in exchange for fuch as was deficient in 
 weight or purity, and accommodated travelers with 
 Englifh or foreign money, when arriving in, or de- 
 parting from, the kingdom : and from thefe ex- 
 changes a part of tlie royal revenue was derived. 
 In the third year of King Richard I the profit of 
 the exchange ('cambil') of all England, except 
 Winchefler, amounted to j^400. In the beginning 
 of the reign of John, Hugh Oifcl, a foreign mer- 
 
 3X2
 
 532 A. D. 1344. 
 
 We may here obferve Yarmouth on a footing with London in navai 
 pre-eminence, furely the effed of a vigorous and proiperous fifliery ; and 
 that Ravenfrod, formerly more opulent than Hull, and Dunwich which 
 appears to have antiently had more trade than any of the neighbouring 
 ports, were now outftripped by others in the progrefs of naval and com- 
 mercial profperity *. 
 
 The late law for fixing the prices of wool was repealed, the buyers, 
 whether natives or foreigners, being allowed to make fuch bargains as 
 they and the fellers could agree : and fo fenfible were the legiflators of 
 the impropriety of the reftridive ordinance, that they decreed, that no 
 perfon fliould be troubled for having infringed it. The fea was alfo de- 
 clared free for the pafTage of all merchants of every defcription with their 
 merchandize. [Stat. 18 Edw. III. c. 3.] 
 
 Odober 12^''-— The foreign cloth-weavers, who had fettled in London 
 upon the faith of the king's protcdion, were maltreated and threatened 
 by a mob of people, who were fo foolifli as to think, that what was earn- 
 ed by thofe induftrious and valuable ftrangers was taken from them- 
 felves. The king therefor ordered the mayor and fiiirrefs of London 
 to proclaim that no one ihould do any injury to the foreigners, and to 
 imprifon all who fhould ad contrary to the proclamation. \Fa^dcra, V. 
 V, p. 430,] If the mob had proceeded now as far in their outrages 
 againft the foreign weavers as they often did againft the Jews in former 
 times, England might have continued fome centuries longer dependent 
 upon the Netherlands for the fale of wool, and the purchafe of fine 
 cloth. 
 
 The Ciftercian monks had the privilege of being exempted from all 
 public burthens ; and, in the ufe, or abufe, of that exemption, thofe of 
 them, who were fettled in Lincoln-fhire, had become merchants. Hav- 
 ing thus all the advantages that fmugglers feek to have without any of 
 their rifk, and alio the benefit of correfpondence with the houfes of their 
 order throughout the Chriftian world, no other perfons could enter into 
 competition with them : and they were therefor prohibited from being 
 merchants. [Rot. pat. prim. 18 Edw. Ill, 711, 57 — Bromtofi, col. 1256.] 
 
 Though the people of France had contributed very liberally for fup- 
 porting their fovereign againft King Edward's invafion, yet the preflure 
 
 thant, farmed tlie exchange of nil England for * Such councils wore fometinics called after- 
 
 850 maikja-ycar. But in the ij"h of Henry III wards. Or.c in particular in the year 1347 wae 
 
 the farm was lowered to 700 n.aiks. [_MaJcx's comjiofed of members from only 32 places, if all 
 
 Hi/}, c. 23, ^ I, notti m, n, ;•.] the orders be preferved, Newcaftle, Scarburgh, Pe. 
 
 The ciiargc for exchange was afterwards aug- vcnfty, Exeter, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Exmouth, 
 
 meuted, as appears by a petition of the commons Falmouth, Sidmoutli, Barnilaple, Weymoutli, (and 
 
 in the year 1363, that no more than one penny Ravcnfere, if differtnL from Ravenfrod, for one 
 
 might be taken for the change of a noble. The of thcfc names feems redundant) being omitted, 
 
 petition was rcfufed. \_Cotton's Abridgement of re- [Fadna, F. v, p. 548.] But it feems more pro- 
 
 ctrdsyp. 97.] » table tliat the orders arc loft.
 
 A. D. 1344. 533 
 
 of Philip's expcntes now obliged him to impofe a tax upon fah *, which 
 rendered him very unpopular among his fubjeds, who thought it a horrid 
 oppreffion to make them pay for water and the heat of the fun. {Mezeray, 
 Hi/h de France, V. ii, p. 544. — Meycri, Jhnj. Flnndr.f. 301 . a, J The tax was 
 probably at firft very light, according to our modern ideas of taxation. 
 But taxes are like fnow-balls, which increafe as they roll along : and the 
 progrelTive augmentations of the fait taxes, the inequality of them in 
 different diftrids, and the extreme rigour in collecting them, became the 
 fources of much cvafion, much tyranny, and much mifery, in France. 
 
 It is faidthat anEnglifhman, named Macham (or Machin), failing for 
 vSpain with a lady, whom he had flolen away, was driven by contrary 
 winds upon the ifland afterwards called Madeira. There he landed with 
 the lady and fome of the fliip's company ; and they were deferted by 
 the fhip. The lady died ; and Macham and his companions made a ca- 
 noe, in which they pafled over to the coafl of Africa, and thence they 
 were fent to the king of Caftile. \_Galvands Difcoveries^ in Furcbas^s 
 Pilgrimes, B. x^ p. 1672.] Such is the account of the firfl: difcovery 
 made of unknown land after the ufe of the compafs became genera! f. 
 
 This fame year the pope, after preaching a fermon, wherein he prov- 
 ed, probably to the fatisfadion of his audience, that he had a right to 
 difpofe of kingdoms, created Louis of Spain, an ambaffador from the 
 king of Fvance,^ prince of the Fortunate iJlandsX, \^Hemingford, p. 376, ed> 
 Hear?ie,'\ 
 
 1346, March 24''' — King Edward, thinking it would be advantageous 
 to merchants and to the public in general, both in England and Flan- 
 ders, if the fame money were to have free currency in both countries, 
 empowered two agents to fettle with the magiftrates of Ghent, Bruges, 
 Ypres, and other towns, refpeding a coinage of gold nobles, with their 
 halves and quarters, like thofe lately coined in England, to be executed 
 in" his name in that country. [F^dera, V. v, p. 506.] 
 
 ■* King Edward, whofe pretenhons upon tlis we are told by Sir George Staunton. {_^ccount of 
 
 crown of France made him deny the exiftence of nn cmbaffy lo China, F. \, p. "] \, ed, 179S.] 
 the Salic law, whereby he, as claiming in right of- :j: It would have been a laudable deed, fays He- 
 
 his mother, was excluded from the fuccefiion, when mingford, if he had put him in polTefTion. He adds, 
 
 lie heard of the new tax, faid, with a fneering pun, that there are nine or ten of thofe iflands ; that the 
 
 that Philip of Valois was the real author of the natives^ who are neither Chrillians nor Saracens, 
 
 Salic law. Such falic (fait) laws have fince been live like beafts, and go naked; they cut tlieir bread 
 
 very fufficlently felt in this country, though not v/ith ftones, whicii are alfo tiicir weapons in fight- 
 
 quite fo feverely as in France. iiig, they having no iron, and no knives, nor any 
 
 ■[•According to other accounts, Macham alio other kind of arms ; corn grows there without be- 
 
 died in the ifland. The Portuguefe fay, that, ing fowed, and trees grow to the height of 115 
 
 when they took pofleffion of Madeira, the roonu- feet. — Puichas [fi. >;, p. 1671] fays, from Gal-' 
 
 ment eredled by him, containing his own and the -vano's Difcoverks, that Louis dc lu Cerda (for that 
 
 lady's names, was (landing, and that the bay, where was his name) alked the king of Aragon to aflill 
 
 he landed, is called Machico after lus name. His him to take pofTeflion of his new dominions: but 
 
 llory, true or fabricated, is the fubjedl of a pi3.ure ^Ni hear nothing farther of it at this time 
 ia the hall of the government houfe in Madeira, as
 
 534 
 
 A. D. 1346. 
 
 July 24''' — The king's high-way between the hofpital of S'. Giles and 
 the bar of the old temple* at London, and alfo the adjacent road called 
 Pourtepolf, being very much broken up and dangerous, tolls J, perhaps 
 the earlieft known by any remaining records, were impofed by royal 
 authority upon all cattle, merchandize, or other goods, pafling upon 
 thofe roads, and alfo the Charing road §, for two years, at rates upon the 
 feveral articles, amounting to about one penny in the pound on their 
 value, to be paid by all perfons, except lords, ladies, and perfons belong- 
 ing to religious eftabliftiments or to the church. \^Foedera,V. v, p. 520.] 
 
 September 6"" — King Edward having defeated his adverfary Philip at 
 CrefTy (Augufl 26'^') with a prodigious llaughter, and befieged Calais by 
 land and by fea, fent precepts to the Cinque ports and the ports on the 
 eaft fide of England, defiring the merchants to carry over flour, bread, 
 corn, wine, ale, flefli, fifli, bows, bow-ftrings, arrows, and other flores, 
 for which they (hould be paid in ready money ; and he afTured them, 
 that nothing fliould be taken from them without a reafonable and fatif- 
 fadory price. This order was frequently repeated. [Fcedera, V. v, pp. 
 
 525. 575-] . . . , ^. ^ 
 
 As the commercial progrefs of the maritime towns is belt ilkiltrated 
 
 by comparing ftatements of their Ihipping at different times, I here lay 
 
 before the reader the following 
 
 Account of the vejfels furnijhed by the ports of Evglandfor the fleet employed 
 
 by King Edward III in thefiege of Calais. 
 
 The king's 25 Ihips carried 419 mariners. 
 
 The South fleet. The North fleet. 
 
 
 r#/i. , 
 
 lijiirinfrs. 
 
 V<JfeU. 
 
 ^lartntrs . 
 
 London fent 
 
 25 
 
 662 Bamburgh 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 Aylesford 
 
 2 
 
 24 Newcaftle 
 
 17 
 
 414 
 
 Hoo 
 
 2 
 
 24 Walrich 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 Hope 
 
 2 
 
 24 Hertlepool 
 
 5 
 
 145 
 
 New Hythe 
 
 5 
 
 19 Hull 
 
 - 16 
 
 466 
 
 Margate 
 
 15 
 
 160 York 
 
 I 
 
 9 
 
 Morne 
 
 2 
 
 23 Ravenfer 
 
 1 
 
 28 
 
 Faverfham 
 
 2 
 
 23 Woodhoufe 
 
 I 
 
 12 
 
 Sandwich 
 
 22 
 
 504 Strockhithe 
 
 I 
 
 10 
 
 Dover 
 
 i6 
 
 ^;^6 Barton 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 Wight (ifland) 
 
 13 
 
 220 Swinfleet 
 
 I 
 
 II 
 
 "Winchelfea 
 
 21 
 
 596 Saltfleet 
 
 2 
 
 49 
 
 Weymouth 
 
 20 
 
 264 Grimlby 
 
 II 
 
 171 
 
 * The olJ temple was in Holburn without the towns were very eommon : but I ,im uncertai 
 
 b»rs. [_Sloiu's Survey, pp. 752, 824.] 
 
 •f Now Gray's-inn lane. [5/ow, p. 823.3 A 
 
 fmall lane leading into Gray 's-inu lane has now got 
 
 the name of Portpool lane. 
 
 X ' Confuetudincs,' culloms. Duties for paving 
 
 whether they were levied upon tlie inhaljitanls, or 
 upon thofe who ufeJ the ru:-.Js, as this order, and 
 Tcafiin, diretl. The exemption of thofe who were 
 bell able to pay was not, however, very judic^oiis. 
 § 6uppofed to be HOW S'. Martin's lane.
 
 A. D. 1346. 
 
 535 
 
 The South fieet. 
 
 
 7y&^ North fleet. 
 
 
 
 V^i^h. J 
 
 Mariner J , 
 
 
 V.JfcU. 
 
 , Mariners, 
 
 Lyme 
 
 4 
 
 62 Waynfleet 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 43 
 
 Seton 
 
 2 
 
 25 Wrangle 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 Sidmouth 
 
 3 
 
 62 Lynne 
 
 
 i5 
 
 482 
 
 Exmouth 
 
 10 
 
 193 Blackney 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 38 
 
 Teignmouth 
 
 7 
 
 120 Scarburgh 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 19 
 
 Dartmouth 
 
 31 
 
 757 Yarmouth 
 
 - 
 
 43 
 
 ^095 
 
 Portfmouth 
 
 5 
 
 96 Dunwich 
 
 - 
 
 6 
 
 102 
 
 Plymouth 
 
 26 
 
 603 Orford 
 
 - 
 
 3 
 
 62 
 
 Looe 
 
 20 
 
 325 Gosford 
 
 - 
 
 13 
 
 403 
 
 Yalie 
 
 2 
 
 48 Harwich 
 
 - 
 
 14 
 
 283 
 
 Fowey 
 
 47 
 
 770 Ipfwich 
 
 - 
 
 12 
 
 239 
 
 Briftol 
 
 24 
 
 608 Merten 
 
 - 
 
 r 
 
 6 
 
 Tinmouth 
 
 2 
 
 25 Broughlyngfey 
 
 ■. 
 
 5 
 
 61 
 
 Haftings 
 
 5- 
 
 96 Colchefter 
 
 - 
 
 5 
 
 90 
 
 Romney 
 
 4 
 
 75 Whitbanes 
 
 = 
 
 I 
 
 17 
 
 Rye 
 
 9 
 
 156 Derwen 
 
 - 
 
 I 
 
 15 
 
 Hythe 
 
 6 
 
 112 Boflon 
 
 «» - 
 
 17 
 
 361 
 
 Shoreham 
 
 20 
 
 329 Swinhumber 
 
 . 
 
 I 
 
 32 
 
 Seaford 
 
 5 
 
 80 Maldon 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 3^ 
 
 Newmouth 
 
 2 
 
 18 Barton 
 
 . 
 
 5 
 
 61 
 
 Hamilhoke 
 
 7 
 
 "7 Ireland 
 
 , 
 
 I 
 
 25 
 
 Hooka - r 
 
 II 
 
 208 jp ■ 
 
 
 
 Southampton 
 
 21 
 
 Foreigners. 
 572 r. 
 
 
 
 
 Lymington 
 
 9 
 
 ' Bayonne 
 
 Spam 
 ^Sl Flanders 
 Yg Gelderland 
 
 a. 
 
 15 
 
 439 
 
 Poole - - 
 
 A 
 
 - 
 
 7 
 
 184 
 
 Wareham 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 14 
 
 133 
 
 Swanzey 
 
 I 
 
 ■« 
 
 I 
 
 24 
 
 Ilfracombe- 
 
 6 
 
 79 Summary, 
 
 
 
 
 Padftow 
 
 2 
 
 1 7 King's fhips 
 
 ~ 
 
 ^5 
 
 419 
 
 Pollrewan 
 
 I 
 
 5o South fleet 
 
 - 
 
 468 
 
 9,211 
 
 Wadworth 
 
 I 
 
 14 North fleet 
 
 _ 
 
 217 
 
 4'52r 
 
 Hendefs 
 
 Bridgewater 
 
 Garmarthen 
 
 I 
 I 
 I 
 
 ^* Total, England C 
 1 Ireland 
 
 10 T- 
 
 *or7oo)7io* ] 
 I 
 
 t4»i5i 
 25 
 
 Calchworth 
 
 I- 
 
 Foreigners 
 
 1 2 
 
 ■■ 
 
 37 
 
 780 
 
 Molbrooke 
 
 I 
 
 12 Total t (* 
 
 or 7383 748* 1 
 
 [4.956 
 
 {_MS. Bib. Con. Tit. K 
 
 iii,/ 
 
 262.] 
 
 
 
 
 f The totals do not agree with the particular 
 numbers. But, as it is impolTiblc to difcoter where 
 the error lies, I am obliged to take them as I find 
 them in the manufcript, which is much more ac- 
 curate than the litl publifhed by Hakluyt. The 
 names of the towns are given in modern fpelling, 
 except a few which are unknown ; and the deful- 
 tojy arrangement, rer.de; i it impofiible to trace 
 
 them. We may obfcrve, that tl.ofe parts of the 
 coaft, where the fifhing flouriftied, had the greateft 
 number of velTels. Though we find two veflels 
 carrying 51 and 60 men, yet Gosford is the only 
 town whofe vefiels average fo many as 31 men^ the • 
 average of the whole fleet being under 20 men {os 
 each velici
 
 536 A. D. 1346. 
 
 During the liege of Calais the king of France attempted to detach 
 the Flemings from the intereft of King Edward. He offered to fupply 
 them for fix years with corn at 4/ per quarter inftead of 12/] which they 
 then paid ; to fend them the wool of France at a low price, and to 
 oblige his fubjedts to ufe no other cloth, while their cloths, made of 
 French wool were to be got (thus offering to facrifice the woollen ma- 
 nufafture, which, we have feen, his own fubjedis certainly had). He of- 
 fered to reftore to them the towns of Lifle, Doway *, and Bethune, with 
 their diflrids, to defend them againlt their enemies, to fubfidize them, 
 largely, and to promote their young men. But all his offers were not 
 fufficient to prevail with the Flemings. [R. de Avejhtiry, p. 153.] 
 
 1347 — ^In the year 1347, and apparently in the early part of it, the 
 king's fon Lionel, as warden of the kingdom, in a council without the 
 cotnmons, impofed a duty of 2/ upon every fack of wool exported, 2/ up- 
 on every tun of wine, and dd upon every 20/ in value of other goods 
 (' des avoirs'), to continue till next Michaelmafs, for the protedtion of 
 the kingdom and the convoy of Ihips, [Cotton's Abridgement of records, 
 
 P' 52.] 
 
 April 10"' — For a confiderable time pait we have iiad little notice of 
 any commercial intercourib between England and Venice. In confe- 
 quence of an application by the conful f of the Venetian merchants at 
 Bruges and an Englifli merchant, the king now took all the merchants 
 of Venice, trading to England, Ireland, and his other dominions, under 
 his protedion during one year. [Fcedera, V. v, p. 558.] 
 
 April 13"' — -The king fent agents to Genoa to hire twelve gallics, 
 completely armed and manned, for his fervice. In July a very prolix 
 treaty was figned at Genoa, wherein King Edward offered, and the duke 
 and community of Genoa (for the parties interefted) accepted, ^^ 10,000 
 flerling in full compenfation for the fix gallies taken in the year 1340, 
 and 8,000 marks for the cog taken in the year 1321 X> 'which fums 
 were to be allowed in the cuftoms of goods imported or exported in the 
 ports of England, by the perlbns aggrieved and their heirs, for their 
 own accounts only, till every one of them (hould thus retain as -much 
 as his fliare of the compenfation fhould be fettled at§. Moreover, what 
 was the king's great objedl, each of the contrading powers engaged not 
 to allifl the enemies of the other. [Foedera,V. v, pp. 560, 569.] 
 
 Augufl: 12'' — King Edward, having made himfclf mafler of Calais 
 after a fiege of eleven months, defired the fliirrefs of the maritime 
 
 * So I have vcntiinJ to call llie town wrilteii liiable Mimorlat h'ljloricns de Barcelona, gives « lift 
 
 Rov-'acum in one MS. and Boivacuin in anotlier, of conlul.s commiffioiKcl by tliat city lincc tlie year 
 
 apparently for Do'zlwcum. 1 2 70. 
 
 •j- If I n^iituke not, this is tlie carllift notice of j Triis fccms the fa;nc fliip for which King 
 
 tlieoHtcec.f ac^>n/"«/o/"»ii'rf/i(7«/jinaiiy Englidirccord. Edward oflercJ to pay 8,oco inaiks in the year 
 
 But lor.g before this time the commercial dates in '3^6. 
 
 the Mediterranean had confulsin every confiderable § Another inllance of payment in this mann?" 
 
 port to which tiny traded. Capmany, in liis va- occurs i;i FaiUra, l^. v, p. 789.
 
 A. D. 1347. 537 
 
 fliires, and the magiftrates of the chief ports of England, to make pro- 
 clamation, that merchants and others, wilHng to fettle in Calais with 
 their (lores and merchandize, lliould have houfes at moderate rents *. 
 \F(edei-a, V. v. p. 575.] 
 
 November 6''^ — The parliament of Scotland (if we may depend on 
 the authenticity of the laws publifhed by Skene) confirmed to the in- 
 habitants of the burghs, and to foreign merchants, the rights and pri- 
 vileges formerly enjoyed by them in good and peaceable times. They 
 ordered that the gold and filver coins of England fliould be received at 
 the full nominal value at which they pafTed in England f . And, agree- 
 able to the abfurd policy then generally adopted in Europe, they at- 
 tempted to prevent the exportation of money by charging it with the 
 monftrous and impradicable duty of 33! per cent, [^Stat. Dav. II, cc. 32, 
 ZZ^ ?»Sy 37] which, if it operated at all, could only have the efFedl of 
 raifing the prices of foreign merchandize upon the Scottifh confumer. 
 
 1348, January ts'*" — The merchants and others complained to the 
 parliament of England, that all the tin of Cornwall was bought and ex- 
 ported by Tidman of Limburgh, and no EngUfliman could get any of 
 it : therefor they prayed that it might be freely fold to all merchants. 
 But they received for anfwer, that it was a profit belonging to the prince, 
 and every lord might make his profit of his own. Another petition 
 was alfo prefented, praying for a repeal of the new cufloms upon wool- 
 len manufactures exported, viz. i4(S^upon every cloth, i<i upon every 
 worfied cloth, and loiupon every lit (probably litted, or dyed) cloth, 
 exported by Englifh merchants, which were half as much more upon 
 thofe exported by foreigners. But the parliament thought it reafonable, 
 that thofe goods fhould pay in proportion to what the quantity of wool 
 worked up in them would pay, if exported in a raw flate, and refufed 
 to repeal the duties. The exportation of home-made woollen cloths 
 thus appears to have become already an objeft of fome importance. 
 The commons in parliament alfo reprefented, that the duty impoied in 
 the preceding year, without their confent, for the protedion of (hips, 
 which was to be paid only till Michaelmafs, was ftill continued, and they 
 petitioned that it {hduld ceafe. The duty upon wool was, however, ftill 
 continued. The convoy duty was afterwards fixed by the king, peers, and 
 ^xclztes^ nvith confent of the merchants, at one (hilling per fack ; and the 
 money was ordered to be paid into the hands of fome merchants, who 
 thereupon undertook to maintain a fufficient force upon the fea, and to 
 convoy the merchants fafe to the ftaple. In a fecond ledion, held in 
 Lent, grievous complaints were made, that, though the convoy duty 
 
 * He had no fmall number of houfes to let ; members of the new colony, [^uhyerl Ar.n. Flan- 
 for, of the fonner inhabitants, only one prieil and diiif,f. 151 a.] 
 
 two lawyers were permitted to remain. Thirty- \ At ihis time ^1:2:6 of Englidi money, 
 
 fix merchants from London were the mo!l opulent was only equal to jf i : i : of Scottifli. Sec the 
 
 tables of money in the appendix. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 Y
 
 538 A. D. 1348. 
 
 was exacled, the trade was not proteded, many merchants having loft 
 their lives and properties by the enemy upon the fea. The commons 
 therefor requefted, that thofe who had undertaken the protection of the 
 trade might be obliged to make fatisfaction to the fufferers. About 
 four years afterwards they petitioned for a total abolition of this new 
 duty ; but they were refufed. And it came in time to be firmly efta- 
 bliftied under the well-known denomination of tunnage and poundage *. 
 [Cotton s Abridgement of records, pp. 56, 57, 63, 75.] 
 
 February 14'*' — The Flemings, having again got the ftaple among 
 themfelves, took upon them to hinder the Lombards and others from 
 purchafing the wool carried thither by the merchants of England. 
 Their condu6l being complained of, the king wrote to the magiftrates 
 of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, requiring them to refpeit the liberties 
 of the ftaple, and to permit the Lombards and others to buy wool from 
 the Englifh merchants, and to carry it by land or water whitherfoever 
 they pleafed. [F^dera, V.v, p. 611 .] 
 
 April 5''' — King Edward, in order to promote the profperity of his 
 new colony at Calais, ordained that it ftiould be a ftaple for tin, lead, 
 feathers, Englifh-made woollen cloths, and worfted ftuffs, for feven 
 years : and he ordered, that the exporters of thofe articles ftiould make 
 oath before the coUedors of the cuftoms, that they would carry them to 
 no other place. [Fctdera, V. v, p. 618.] 
 
 September — So earneft was King Edward to obtain an alliance with 
 Alfonlb king of Caftile, the moft powerful of the fovereigns of Spain, 
 that he kept up a correfpondence of feveral years with him, and 
 alfo with his counfelors, the mafter of his genet horfes, and Leonora 
 de Guiman his concubine, for the purpofe of contradhng a marriage 
 between Alfonfo'soldeft ion \ and his own daughter Joanna, which was 
 at laft agreed upon in June 1345, and the portion fixed at the enormous 
 fum oi Jour hundred thoufand gold florins of the JlneldX, Edward profefling, 
 however, that he expeded fome abatement of the fum, and a long in- 
 dulgence of time for completing the payment. But this conjugal alli- 
 ance, the labour of fix years, never took place. The young princefs 
 was fent to Bourdeaux upon her way to the court of Caftile ; and there 
 ftie fell fick, and death delivered her from being one of the wives of 
 
 * This later fentcnce I conceive to be infcrted is dill more fiiprifing, Edward wrote a letter in 
 by Sir Robcit Cotton, or his editor, Pi-ynne. July 1355 to Alfonlo, who had been dead above 
 
 ♦ Born in Anguft 1334- His name appears to five years. \_Ficdera, F. v, />. 821.] 
 
 have btcn imknovvn in England till Augult 1345, J The fum was equal to ^8o,coo (Icrling, each 
 
 wlicn it is firft mentioned in FxJtra, V. y,p. 476. florin being worth four (hillings. (See Fadcra, 
 
 Neither do Edward or his fccretaries fecm to Ikitc V.y,p. 4H5.) But the kings of England and 
 
 known that the princefs and her intended hufhand France were bidding au6lion for the marriage of 
 
 were fo nearly related, that a difpcnfation would Alfonfo's heir. 
 be nccellary to legitimate theu- marriage. Whit 5
 
 A. D. 1348. 
 
 539 
 
 Peter the Cruel*. [Fadera, V. ^,pp. 334, 383,410, 414,422, 423, 425, 
 426, 428, 434, 461, 476, 638.] 
 
 In the courfe of this negotiation many civiUtics pafTcd between the 
 two courts ; and Alfonl'o, underftanding that Edward had given orders 
 to purchafe a Spanifh genet horfe for him, prevented the purchafe, and 
 fent him a pair as a prefent. 
 
 It was probably alfo during this negotiation (for, though the fad is 
 unqueftionable, the year is not known) and perhaps in compenfation 
 for the (hips fent to the fiege of Calais, or in part of payment of the 
 marriage portion, that Alfonfo received a flock of fheep from England, 
 of the number of which we can only judge from more than one vefTel 
 of the large kind, called carracks, being employed to carry them over. 
 Of their importance in the eye of their new mafter we may judge by 
 his appointment of a man of i-ank to be judge over the fliepherds em- 
 ployed in the care of the royal flocks. And thus, by a great and lignal 
 breach of the law, or order, againft their exportation, was the breed of 
 Englifh fheep naturahzed in Spain, which has fince become the market 
 for the fineft wool in Europe f . 
 
 The manufadurers of worfled fluffs in Norfolk were put under the 
 infpedion of an ulnator, or meafurer, foon after they obtained the king's 
 
 * He had three wives living at once. See 
 Dillon's Hift. of Peter the Cruel, V. i\, p. 124. 
 
 f That Spain received fheep from England in 
 the fifteenth century, has been nflfcrted by Holin- 
 (hed, \_Cbronkk, p. 221, f</. 1586] (who, however, 
 knew nothing of this cargo) and by others, ap- 
 parently following him ; but it has been more ge- 
 nerally dilbelieved. It is indeed certain, that the 
 Spaniards had a very excellent breed of fheep in 
 the time of Strabo, and probably long before and 
 after his time. (See above, p. 128.) It is alfo 
 certain, that fome Spanifli wool was imported into 
 England in the reign of Henry II, but it is not 
 iafy to guefs for what purpofe, as the quality of it 
 was evidently inferior to that of Englifh wool ; 
 and England was fo far from needing to import 
 wool, that that article then, and during many fuc- 
 ceeding ages, compofed the chief part of the ex- 
 ports of the country. (See above, pp. 345, 347, 
 &c. &c.) But that the Spaniards were defirpus 
 of obtaining fheep of the Englilh breed, and aclu- 
 ally did obtain a confiderable number of tliem, is 
 now certain, beyond a poffibility of doubt, from a 
 mofl curious Spanifli letter, of which the follow- 
 ing is an extratl. 
 
 * Pedro Lafo faid, in the king's prefence, that 
 ' Gomez Carillo was fon to one of the king's 
 ' gentlemen or pages, and grandfon to King Don 
 • Enrique's chief cup-bearer, who was fon of 
 ' Lope Carillo, gentleman and chief huntfman to 
 « Don Juan the Firfl, and that he v/as not fon of 
 ' ajud^e o-vcrjhepherds. This was faid as a fneer, 
 
 for Juan Sanchez dc Tovar is defcended from 
 Fernan Sanchez de Tovar jtuige of the royal_flocls 
 offlieep and folds. Fernan Sanchez de Berlanga 
 anfwered, in the king's prefence, that he undcr- 
 flood the farcafm, but that it was ill aimed, and 
 might be retorted upon hinifelf ; for that Fer- 
 nan Sanchez, whom he reproached as a judge 
 over fhcpherds, was his equal ; and that the of- 
 fice of judge and alcayde of the royal flocks 
 was always held by gentlemen of rank. That 
 King Alfonfo, 'when he firji brought fljeep from- 
 England in great Jloips, (' in naves carracas') ap- 
 pointed Inigo Lopez de Orozco to be the firfl 
 pcrfon to exercife that office, from whom Pedro 
 Lafo himfelf was dsfcended on the part of his- 
 mother, and now, being informed that himfelf 
 was defcended from a judge over fhcpherds, he 
 might mock at his pleaiure. Written from Me- 
 dina del Campo, A. D. 1437.' \_EpijloL de 
 Ctbdareal, p. 126, a book feemingly almofl entire- 
 ly unknown in this country.] For this mod im- 
 portant extract, we are indebted to tlie elaborate 
 and benevolent refearch of Sir Frederic Eden. 
 See his State of the Puor, F. \, p. 88. 
 
 Alfonfo XI became king of Callile in the year 
 1312, when he was only thirteen months old, and 
 he died on the 29'" of March 1350. As Edward 
 II was dead long before he came of age, we need 
 not hefilate to afcribe tlie exportation of the fheep, 
 to Edward III ; and one or other of the occaCions 
 mentioned in the text may be afTumed for tiiing- 
 the date with a tolerable approach to certainty. 
 
 ^ Y2
 
 540 A. D. 1348. 
 
 patent, as already related : but, on their petition to the king, that of- 
 fice was this year aboliflied. [Rot. pat. prim. 3 Edzv. Ill, m. 1 ; and privi. 
 22, VI. 4. — Cotton^ s Abridgement, p. 71.] 
 
 The contraded fpirit of corporation monopoly fo far prevailed againft 
 the ads of parliament of the years 1335 and 1337 and the king's refo- 
 lution to cherifli the woollen manufafture, that the weavers of Lincoln 
 this year obtained from him a grant of, what they called, their liberties, 
 which confided in a power of depriving any weaver, not of their gild, 
 of the liberty of working at his trade within twelve leagues of their 
 city ; a pretty ample fcope for the exercife of petty tyranny. \Rot. pat. 
 fee, 22 Ediv. Ill, m. 22.] But this and other fuch monopolies were again 
 abohfhed by the a6l, called the ftatute of cloths, in the year 1351. 
 
 This year there were great commotions in Flanders among the weav- 
 ers. Six hundred of them v/ere (lain in a fkirmifh ; and thofe who re- 
 mained at home were dragged out of their houfes and murdered. 
 \Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 154 a.] Such tragical excefles muft undoubtedly 
 have been very prejudicial to the manufactures of Flanders, and contri- 
 buted to fpread them through the adjacent countries. Though we do 
 not meet with any formal letters of fafe conduct at this time, there can 
 fcarcely be any doubt that fome of the Flemilh weavers now availed 
 themfelves of the general encouragement held out to them in England, 
 and fheltered themfelves there from the fury of their enemies. 
 
 1349, May 19"" — The drapers of Barcelona, probably as being among 
 the moft fubftantial of the citizens, carried on the bufmefs of banking 
 or changing money in that city, as the goldfmiths in an after age did in 
 London. But, by an order of the king of Aragon, they were now 
 obliged to give fufficient fecurity, before they could enter upon thofe 
 branches of bufinefs. \Capmany, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona^ V. ii. Col. dipl. 
 
 1350 — The long-projeded marriage with Peter, now king of Caflile, 
 being fruftrated by the death of the Englifh princefs, and the young 
 monarch being conneded with the court of France by a contradl of 
 marriage, the maritime towns of Caftile and Bifcay fitted out a number 
 of large warlike veflels, which took a vail number of Englifli traders 
 with cargoes of wine and wool. Emboldened by the fuccefs of their 
 depredations, they collefted a large fleet, and arrogantly afiliming the 
 title oi lords of the EngTfhfea, threatened to deftroy the navy of England 
 and to invade the kingdom. It became neceflliry to appoint convoys 
 to protcdl the Englifli trade ; and the king, with the advice of the pre- 
 lates, nobles, and community of merchants of the maritime towns ot England, 
 ordained, that a duty of forty pennies flerling (hould be laid upon every 
 tun of wine Ihipped in Gaicoigne onboard any veliel belonging to Eng- 
 land, Wales, or Ireland, for whatever country bound, or onboard any 
 foreign veflel bound for England, Wales, or Ireland, as a fund for de-
 
 A. D. 1350. 541 
 
 fraying the expenfe (06lober 20'''). King Edward, moreover, thinking 
 fuch an enemy fufficiently important to be oppofed. by himfelf, colledt- 
 ed a fleet, with which he engaged the Spaniards near Winchelfea, and, 
 chiefly by the fuperiority of the EngUfli archers, gained a complete 
 vidlory, took twenty-four large veflels richly loaded with Flemifli cloth 
 and other goods, and put the reft to flight. Thus did Edward a fecond 
 time triumph upon that element, which is the appropriate theatre of 
 Britifla warfare. [Fa'dero, V. v^pp- 679, 681, 688, 691. — R. de Avejbury^ 
 p. 184. — Murim. contin. p. 102 *.] 
 
 This year 1,350 veflels failed from Bourdeaux, loaded with 13,429 
 tuns of wine, being nearly 100 tuns in each veflel on an average, and 
 paid ;,^5,i04 : 16 : o Bourdeloife money in duties [Record in the exchequer 
 in London, quoted in Mem. de litterattire., V. xxxvii, ^. 350]. 
 
 The king granted to the burgefll^s of Newcaftle upon Tine the right 
 of digging coals and ftones in the Caftle-field and the Frith, both ad- 
 jacent to their town f \Rot, pat. tertia 24 Ediv. Ill, m. 6]. 
 
 1351 — King Edward, diftrefl^ed by the debts he had incurred in his 
 chimerical attempt to conquer France, and defirous of paying his cre- 
 ditors with lefs money than he had borrowed, had ordered two hundred 
 and fixty-Jix pennies to be made out of the pound of ftandard fllver in 
 the year 1344 : and in 1346 he further diminiflied the money by mak- 
 ing two hundred and feventy pennies out of a pound. By thefe alterations 
 his own, and all other, creditors were defrauded, at firfl: of about a tenth, 
 and afterwards a ninth, part of their property \ ; and the whole body ot 
 
 * The hiftorians here quoted date the battle on of Richard II in the Tower \_Rot. pal. qmnt. i 
 
 the 24'" of July, on which day the king was at R'lc. J I, ot. i], which contains charters to New- 
 
 Weftminftcr. Later hiftorians have other dates, caftle by the lollowing kings, viz. John, in his 17"" 
 
 and make the number of prizes twenty-fix. year, with reference to fome poffellions of the cor- 
 
 f It appeared afterwards by an inqueft, that the poration in the time of Henry II, but without a 
 lands called the Caftlc-field and Caille-moor, ad- word of coals or the Caftle-field ; Henry III, in 
 jacent to Newcaftle, had belonged to the town his 18"" and 36'" years; Edwai-d I, in his 22"* year; 
 froni time immemorial, but had not been exprefs- and Edward III in his 31" year (A. D. 1357), 
 ly granted by any charter : therefor the king in without any mention of this one in his 24'" year. 
 May 1357 confirmed to the corporation the pro- It is certain, however, that coals v.'ere dug in the 
 pcny of thofe lands ; and, in confideration of their neighbourhood of Newcaftle and fiiipped from that 
 fufFerings by the plague and other calamities, which port in earlier times, as appears by tlie Cliartulary 
 difabled them from paying their annual fee- farm of of Tluemouth, quoted in Brand's Hift. of Neia^ 
 ^100, he gave them a right to dig coals and cafde (fee above, pp. 497, 504, and alfo 395) : 
 ftones in thofe lands, without making any mention about the year 1364 we find fome Icafes of coal 
 of this previous grant, which, for ought I can mines near Gatelhead (the Southwark of New- 
 fee, Is thejirjl wherein any notice of coal or ftonc, caftle) by the biftiop of Durham confirmed by the 
 as belonging to the coiporation of Newcaftle, is king \_Rot , pat . fic. 38 Ediv. Ill, m. 26] : and in 
 found. the county of Cumberland we find coal mines be- 
 
 This obfervation becomes neceflary, becaufe it longing to the priory of Carlile in the 14"" year of 
 
 has been aflerted, that the burgefles of Newcaftle Edward I [_Rot. pat. prim. 5 EJiv. Ul, m. 8]. 
 were warranted by royal authority to dig coal and X It may be obferved, that King Edward, in 
 
 ftone in the Caftle-field fo early as in the reign of his manifefto to the people of France in the year 
 
 King John. But in the very ample charter given 1340, affured them, that he would not feek his 
 
 them by that king there are no fuch words, as I own lucre by making sny change in the money, 
 
 have found upon examining an infpcximus charter when he fliould be received as their king, ^Fatd- 
 
 era,
 
 542 A. D.I 351- 
 
 the people, efpecially thofe of the lower clafles, were further diftrefled 
 by the nominal, and partly real, rife in the prices of all the neceflaries 
 of life. They do not feem, however, to have made any attempt to 
 obtain compenfation for the diminution of their incomes till after a 
 dreadful peftilence, which originated in the Oriental regions, and began 
 its ravages in England in the year 1348, and is laid to have carried off 
 the greateft part of the people, efpecially in the lower ranks of life *, 
 Then the furviving labourers took the advantage of the demand for 
 labour and the fcarcity of hands to raife their prices. The king, by the 
 advice of the prelates, nobles, and others, thereupon enaded the Statute 
 of labourers, which ordained, that all men and women under fixty years 
 of age, whether of free or fervile condition, having no occupation or 
 property, fhould ferve any perfon by whom they Ihould be required, 
 and Ihould receive only the wages which were ufual before the year 
 1346, or in the five or fix preceding years, on pain of imprifonment, 
 the employers being alfo punifliable for giving greater wages. Arti- 
 ficers were alio prohibited from demanding more than the old wages f ; 
 and butchers, bakers, brewers, and other dealers in provifions, were 
 ordered to fell them at reajonahh prices. \Stat. 23 % Edw. III.'\ 
 
 The * fervants, having no regard to the faid ordinance, but to their 
 ' eafe and fingular covetife,' refufed to ferve great men and others, un- 
 lefs for higher wages than the law allowed. Therefor the parliament by 
 another ftatute fixed the yearly and dayly wages of agricultural fervants, 
 artificers, and labourers, the payment for threlhing corn by the quarter, 
 and even the price of flioes, &c. § They alfo forbad any perfon to 
 leave the town in fummer, wherein he had dwelt in the winter, or to 
 remove from one fhire to another. \^Stat. i, 25 FJuk III.} Thus were 
 the lower clafles of the people debarred by laws, which in their own na- 
 ture mufi; be inefficient, from making any effort to improve their fitua- 
 
 era, V. "f, pp. iJQi i^>4] apparently glancing a re- fcripts, which have never been published. The 
 
 ttedtion upon the kings of France, who had done conduft of the labourers fcenis alio to infer, that 
 
 an incredilile injnry to their country by fneh erro- rather a greater proportion of them than of their 
 
 ncoTis avarice, which Le Blaiic, the hiflorian of employers had been cut oft. 
 
 French money, alTrgns as a main caui'e of the vie- -f In a fupplcment to the act, made by the king;, 
 
 torics of the Engliih in France. the inferior clergy were alfo included. 
 
 » Moil of the hillorians fay, that fcarccly a J By a note in the margin of the printed fta- 
 tcnth part of the people furvivcd. Perhaps we tntes, the date of this one appears to be doubt- 
 ought to make a large allowance for exaggeration ful. It was as probably in the 24.'" year of the 
 in their narratives, wherein they make attempts at king's reign. For a good account of the many 
 being poetical. The moil moderate accounts (late hmilar laws which followed this one, and of the 
 that above half of the people pt-riflicd, arid Hume jiolliical couferjncnces of them, fee Sir I'rederic 
 fuppofcs one third, a more probable ellimate. Stow iLdcn's Slate 0/ //.'/■ poor, Ki,/. 31. 
 fays that few noblemen died; and though 1 do § In the year 1355 the mayor and fliirrefs of 
 not fee his authority, unlcfs it be the words ' pan- London, with two perfons fent by the king, were 
 « cis divitibus dimtaxat exceptls' in Avclbury, defired to compcll the armourers of I^ondon to fell 
 f/). 178 fJ. //Mz-nc] he may generally be tnifted; armour at rcafonabk prices. [Faclera, K v, />. 
 as he wrote with great fidelity (though too often 817.] 
 without quoting) and had the ufe of fome manu-
 
 A. D. 
 
 '35'- 543 
 
 tlon in life. From thefe ill-judged laws, however, we learn a mofl im- 
 portant fa6l, that a great portion of the lower clafs of the people were 
 now emancipated from bondage, and earning their bread by independent 
 induftry. 
 
 It being evident to every perfon, who was willing and capable to 
 think, that the evil proceeded more from the defalcations of the money 
 than the fcarcity or perverfenefs of labourers *, the parliament enacted, 
 that no further diminution fhould be made in the weight or quality of 
 the money, but, on the contrary, it fliould be reflored as foon as pof- 
 fible to the antient weight. [Stat. 5, 25 Ediv. Ill, c. 13.] However, 
 William Edington bifhop of Winchefter fell upon a frefh device, where- 
 by, he thought, the deception would be lefs perceptible, which was to 
 introduce a new kind of filver money much larger than a penny, which 
 was called a gros or groat, and the king ordered, (June 21") that ic 
 Ihould be current for four pennies f , though it weighed fcarcely more 
 than three pennies and a half of his diminiflied money :^. The imme- 
 diate confequence was a further rife in the nominal prices of the ne- 
 cellaries of life, and another confequence, naturally following the firfl, 
 was an increafe of cunning and fraudulent tricks among workmen and 
 artificers. Edward, neverthelefs, urged by the preffure of his accu- 
 mulated debts, and having tailed, what he fuppofed, the advantage of 
 making a great quantity of money out of a fmall quantity of filver, 
 proceeded in the year 1353 to make feventy-five groats, or tbree hun- 
 dred pemiies^ {twenty-five JJydlings) from the pound of filver, which till 
 the later end of his grandfather's reign had never been coined into 
 
 * As the peftilence dimJnifhed tlie number of new money in payment of their old debts. And, 
 employers as well as labourers, though perhaps ra- becaufe the money of England is forged, clipped, 
 ther in a lefs degree, the demand for labour could and carried out of the kingdom, by the Lombards 
 not be vei-y much greater than before, and would and others, he llriflly commands, that no perfon 
 have probably had no effect upon the rate of wages, except thofe appointed by himfelf, (hall prefume 
 if the proportion between money and food had to deal in changing money, on penalty of forfeit- 
 continued tiie fame. But, however flrange it may ure of the money changed ; and that no perfon, 
 feem, the king, the parliament (except in tiiis one (hall carry out of the kingdom any gold or filver, 
 iuftance) and the writers of the age, afted and coined or uncoined, except only the new (light) 
 wrote, as it ihcy thought it was equal to the la- money. \_Ficdera, V. s, p. 708. j It is very llrange 
 bourers, if they had their number of pennies, whe- indeed, if Edward did not know, that foreign 
 ther they were heavy or light. Could they pof- merchants would pay no attention to the nominal 
 fibly be ignorant, that the diminution of the mo- value he might be pieafcd to put upon his coins, 
 ney, and the confcquent alteration in the price of and in fetting prices upon their goods would only 
 neceffaries, robbed thefe poor people of about a confider the quantity of real gold or filver, which 
 quarter of their incomes ? they would be allowed to carry home. 
 
 •f- On this occafion a proclamation, or manifefto, 1 have called the groat a new kind of money in 
 
 was iffued by the king, wherein he lets forth, that, compliance with the king's proclamation and the 
 
 finding the money of England was exported on writers of that age, though I have already (how- 
 
 accouut of its being too heavy, he had ordained, ed, (p. 432) that fome fuch pieces were coined by 
 
 for the profit of himfelf and his people, to coin King Edward I. 
 
 gold money of fuch imprefTion as the former, and J Fabyan favs, the»filver of the new groats 
 
 a new kind of filver money, which (liould be call- wanted 2j'''> in the pound of the old ftandard qua- 
 
 ed a gros of the value of four pennies, and alio a lity. 
 half gros. He orders all pcrfons to receive his
 
 544 A. D.i 35 1- 
 
 more than twenty /hillings *. [Folkes ofi coins, p. 1 1. — F^dera, V. y,p. joS, 
 — Murim. contin. p. 1 03.] 
 
 February — The parliament enaded, what is called the Statute of cloths, 
 Avhereby it was ordained, that the aulneger, (called elfewhere ulnator) 
 or infpedor of cloths, ihould be fworn to do his duty, and fhould be 
 punifhed if he negleded it. — The a6l of the year 1335, for abolifhing 
 the reflraints of corporation charters and giving perfed freedom to all 
 traders, natives or foreigners, in every part of the kingdom, was re- 
 newed f ; and they were declared free to fell, either in wholefale or re- 
 tail, in London or any other city, burgh, or town of England, ' not- 
 ' withftanding any franchifes, grants, or cuftom ufed, or any other 
 ' things done to the contrary, fithence xh^itfiich nfages and franchifes be 
 * to the common prejudice of the king and his peopled The mayors and other 
 public officers were ordered to abftain from interfering in the fale of 
 provifions. — Foreflallers were made liable to forfeiture of the value of 
 the goods or provifions foreftalled, or to imprifonment for two years. — 
 All wears, kidells, mills, or other erections, by which the navigation 
 of rivers was obftruded, were ordered to be removed:}:. \Stat. 4, 25 
 Fdii). IIL'\ The parliament aboliflied a kind of weight called auncell, 
 and ordained wool and other wares to be weighed by the beam. They 
 alfo ordered, that all meafures of capacity fhould be agreeable to the 
 king's flandard ; that the quarter of corn fhould contain eight bufhels ; 
 and that all corn fhould be fold by flriked meafure, excepting that paid 
 in rent, which fhould be according to the former ufage. \Stat. 5, 25 
 EdiJD. Ill, cc. 9, 10.] 
 
 The people were allowed to make exchanges of money for mutual 
 accommodation : but no one was permitted to take any profit upon 
 fuch exchanges, that emolument being referved to the king's exchange. 
 [Stat. 5, 25 Edw. Ill, c. 12.] 
 
 Augufl: i" — The quarrel with Spain, or rather with the feamen of 
 the north coall of Spain §, was terminated by a truce, which was to lafl 
 twenty years. It was agreed that neither party fhould do any injury to 
 the other, or give any afliflance to their enemies. The mariners and 
 merchants of both countries were to have full liberty of failing with 
 their veffels, great or fmall, loaded with merchandize of any kind 
 whatfoever, or going by land, to the ports or cities of each country, 
 
 * The diminutions of the money by Ed- pear, wliat ftrength this could liavc, tliat tlie 
 
 w: rd III are mentioned here, only on account of other had not. 
 
 their connexion with the ftatute of labourers and \ The owners, by bribes, or by favour, got 
 
 their confequence. All the alterations of tlie mo- them all permitted to remain. \JValfmgbam, p. 
 
 iiey will be found in one clear view in the ap- 170.] 
 
 pendix. § One copy of the treaty was in the polTeflion 
 
 f That is to fay, the parliament cnafted, that of the maritime towns of Caililc and Difcay, and 
 
 it (hould be ' holdcn, kept, and maintained.' As another remained with the king of England and 
 
 the former a6t was not made for a limited time, France. [Fffr/ira, F. v, /i. 719.J 
 
 and confcquently could not expire, it docs not ap- »
 
 A. D. 135 1- 545 
 
 or of any other country. Guardians were to be appointed to attend 
 to the obfervation of the truce, to punifli tranfgreffors, and to give re- 
 drefs to the parties injured within two months. Spanifli property found 
 onboard any veflel taken by the Englifh fliould be reftored to the own- 
 ers, and in like manner EngUfli property fhould be refpedled by Spanifli 
 captors. And the Spanifli fifliermen were permitted to come freely and 
 fafely to fifli in the ports of England and Bretagne, paying the duties 
 and cufl;oms *. [Fa^dera, V. v,p. 717.] 
 
 September 4"" — The merchants of Scotland had now attained fuch a 
 degree of refpedability, that their oaths and fecurities were required 
 by King Edward, along with thofe of the prelates, lords, and other 
 principal fubjeds of Scotland, for the performance of fome articles, of 
 the nature of which we are not informed. {F<jedera, V. v, p. 723.] 
 
 It was this year ordained, that the fame meafures and weights fliould 
 be ufed in Ireland that were ufed in England. [Rot. pat. fee. 25 Edw. 
 Ill, m. 14.] 
 
 1352 — The Genoefe colony of Pera, in the pride of their commercial 
 profperity, had afliimed the fovereignty of the Black fea, infulted the 
 adjacent capital of the feeble fovereigns of the Roman world, and burnt 
 two of the five gallics, which conftituted the imperial navy. After- 
 wards, without any exertion, they defeated a fleet of feven gallies and 
 fome fmaller vefl^els, which the emperor had colleded and fent againft: 
 them ; and with equal eafe they repulfed his military forces from their 
 walls (fpring 1349), and compelled him to cede a tradt of land, which 
 they found ufeful to themfelves. The war between the obftinate rival 
 republics of Venice and Genoa f being renewed, a fleet of gallies from 
 Chio, an ifland lately fubjeded to the dominion of Genoa by a fleet of 
 privateers, took the town of Negropont and the ifland of Cia from the 
 Venetians. The later thereupon made an alliance with the Catalans : 
 and the emperor of Conftantinople, provoked by a frefli infult of his 
 Genoefe neighbours at Pera, acceded as a humble ally to thofe power- 
 ful maritime ftates, and added his fleet of eight gallies x.o fixty-feven vefl^Is 
 of war, which they fent into the narrow ftrait between Afia and Europe. 
 There, before the walls of Confl;antinople and Pera, they were encount- 
 ered hy fixty-four Genoefe veflels, flronger and larger than theirs. The 
 allies loil fourteen Venetian, ten Catalan, and two Greek, veflels ; the 
 Genoefe lofl only thirteen, and claimed the vidlory (9"" March, 1352) :|;. 
 
 * Such a licence muft have been an excellent .% Stella reckons about 45 Venetian, 30 Catalan, 
 
 cover for fmuggling. 14 Gieek, and only 60 Genoefe, veflels: and 
 
 f I have not thought it necefiary to ftain thefe other writers have other numbers. Stella fays 
 
 pages with the recital of all the battles between that the Greeks declined the battle, and the G*- 
 
 the fleets of Venice and Genoa, which were cor.- noefe had a complete viclory. 1 have followed 
 
 diitted with a fanguinary ferocity that would dif- Nicepluirus Gregoras, who feems the moll im- 
 
 grace the traditional fongs of the moll lavage partial lelator of the events of this war. 
 tribes of America 01 New Zealand. 
 
 Vol. I. 3 Z
 
 546 A. D. 1352. 
 
 After the engagement the Venetians and Catalans abandoned their im- 
 perial ally, who found himfelf obliged to grant an increafe of com- 
 mercial privileges to his Genoefe valTals, who were rather his maflers, 
 and to exclude all rival traders from his port. [Nic. Gregor. L. xvii, cc. 
 i_y. — Stella^ ap. Miiratori Script. V. xvii, coll. 1 08 8- 1092.] 
 
 July 25'" — Alfonfo king of Portugal had given a general protedion to 
 Englifhmen in his dominions ; and King Edward in return gave a gen- 
 eral protedtion to the merchants of that kingdom for trading in Eng- 
 land, and at the fame time gave particular letters of protedion to the 
 commanders of feven vefTels, four of them belonging to Lifbon, and 
 the others apparently to Oporto. \Foedera^ V. v, pp. 740, 741, and fee 
 
 P- 756-] 
 
 September 4'" — The city of Pifa has not for fome time furnifhed any 
 materials for commercial hiftory. It appears, however, that the Pifans 
 had fome trade with the weftern parts of Europe, moft probably Fland- 
 ers, the knowlege of which is owing to a depredation committed upon 
 a {hip belonging to them in the port of Sandwich. When they fent to 
 demand redrefs and to propofe a friendly intercourfe, the king anfwer- 
 ed, that their merchants trading to England fhould enjoy his protedhon, 
 and be treated like his own fubjeds. \Fcedera, V. v,p. 743.] 
 
 After Arteville the famous brewer of Ghent, the mofl zealous par- 
 tizan of King Edward in Flanders, was flain in a tumult, the king's in- 
 tereft in that country declined, and many of his ildherents were banifh- 
 ed. Thefe he invited (25'" September, 1351) to fettle in England or 
 his other donlinions, and to carry on their merchandize or other bufi- 
 nefs under his protedtion. This year he gave another very ample grant 
 hf liberties, more particularly to the manufadlurers of cloth fettling in 
 England, who were, no doubt, others of his Flemifh friends, alfo driven 
 out of their country for their attachment to him. {Tcedera^ V. \,p. 727. 
 — Rot. pat. prim. 26 Edzv. Ill, in. 21.] 
 
 The flaple was fcarcely ever allowed to remain long enough in one 
 place to give time to the merchants to form their arrangements agree- 
 able to the lateft eftablifhment of it. This year * it was removed from 
 Flanders, and fixed at Weftminfler and other places in England (Au- 
 gufl 2''), which was a great hardfhip upon the foreign merchants, but a 
 great advantage to the king, who thereupon had j(^i,i02 more than his 
 predeceffors f. [R. de Avejbiiry, p. 1 94. — Knygbton, col. 2606.] 
 
 1353, September — The king and parliament, confidering the great 
 damage which had arifen from the ftaple being held out of the king- 
 dom, now determined that the flaple for wool, hides, wool-fells, and 
 
 * Stow [^Survey 0/ Lin/fon, p. ^^l, ed. ifilS] f Kiiygluon mentions no other place than Weft- 
 fays, tliat in tlie year 1 351 the king fixed the minder, and the i'um dated by him fecnis to have 
 ftaple of wool to be only at Canterbury, for the been an increafe arifmg from the bufincfs done a: 
 lionojr of S'. Thomas. Querc, if a niidakc ? that ftaple. 3
 
 A. D. 1353. 547 
 
 lead, the produce of England, Wales, and Ireland, (hould be heldjbr 
 ever in the following places, and no others, viz. for England in New- 
 caftle upon Tine, York, Lincoln, Norwich, Weftminfter, Canterbury, 
 Chichefter, Winchefler, Exeter, and Briftol ; for Wales at Carmarthen ; 
 and for Ireland at Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda. All ftaple 
 goods were ordained to be brought to fome one of thefe towns, where 
 every fack and every farpler of wool, after being fairly weighed in the 
 prefence of the officers of the cufloms *, were to be marked, and the 
 quantity attelled under the feal of the mayor of the flaple, previous to 
 being fhipped. The goods from the flaple at York were to be fliipped 
 at Hull, thofe from Lincoln at Bofton, from Norwich at Yarmouth, 
 from Weflminfter at London, from Canterbury at Sandwich, and from 
 Winchefler at Southampton, and they were to be weighed again by the 
 officers of the cufloms at thofe ports. The cuftoms payable by denizens 
 were fixed at 6fi for a fack of wool, 6/8 for 300 wool-fells, 20/" for a 
 half laft of hides, and ^d per pound of the value for lead. The natives 
 of England, Wales, and Ireland, were mofh flridlly prohibited, under 
 penalty of death and forfeiture of all their property of whatever nature, 
 from exporting any flaple goods, having agents abroad for attending the 
 fale of ftaple goods, or being in the fmalleft degree interefled, diredlly 
 or indiredly, in the fale of them abroad, or even receiving payment 
 abroad for what they fold at home. Nay, the king even tied up him- 
 felf and his heirs from ever granting licences to any Englifh, Welfh, or 
 Irifh, merchants for exporting fuch goods, and declared, that, if he 
 fhould grant any fuch licences, they fhould be null, and fliould not pro- 
 tedl the exporters from the penalties of the law. But merchant flrangers 
 might carry them whitherfoever they pleafed, being only bound by oath 
 to hold no flaple in foreign countries. In order to replenifh the king- 
 dom with gold, filver, and foreign merchandize, full liberty was grant- 
 ed to all merchants, from countries not at war with the king, to fell 
 their goods at the flaple towns, or any other places, without being op- 
 prefTed by purveyors forcibly taking any part of their property for the 
 ufe of the king, or any prelates, lords, or ladies. All merchants, na- 
 tives, or flrangers, might buy flaple goods in any part of the kingdom, 
 provided they carried them to the flaple. Carriers, having certificates 
 from the mayors of the flaples that they were employed in carrying 
 flaple goods, were exempted, together with their carts, beafls, and boats, 
 from being taken to ferve the king or any other perfon, faving the 
 king's antient right of royal prifes of carriages and vidluals. The king's 
 judges were debarred from taking cognizance of any matters within the 
 province of the mayors and minifters of the flaples. The officers of the 
 king's houfehold were alfo prohibited from executing their office in any 
 
 * ' Noz cuftumers.' In the beginning of the eighteenth century (vflomer fignified in Englifh an 
 officer of the cultom* ; but it would now convey a very different meaning. 
 
 3Za
 
 54^ - A, D, 1353. 
 
 houfe in the flaple towns, occupied by the merchants, their fervants, or 
 the ftaple goods. The mayors and conftables of the flaples had jurif- 
 didion over all perfons concerned in the bufinefs of the flaples in the 
 towns wherein they were held and their fuburbs ; and their proceedings 
 in all matters of debt or con trad concerning the flaples were regulated 
 by the merchant law, and not by the common law, or the cuftoms of 
 the towns. In trials, if both parties were natives, the juries were to 
 confift of natives ; if foreigners, of foreigners ; and if one was a na- 
 tive and the other a foreigner, the jury was to be compofed equally of 
 natives and foreigners. In order to give validity to contrads, the mayors 
 of the flaples were directed to atteft them under their feals of office, 
 and to charge one halfpenny for every contradt under jTi 00, and one 
 penny for every one above that fum. If the debtor failed to make pay- 
 ment when due, the mayor was to imprifon him and arrefl: his property, 
 if within his jurifdidlion, and to deliver it, or the proceeds of it when 
 fold, to the creditor to the amount of the debt. If no property of the 
 debtor were to be found within the mayor's jurifdidion, he was then to 
 certify it in the chancery, from which warrants fhould be ifTued againft 
 the debtor and his property according to the flatute of merchants *. 
 The uniformity of weights and meafure was a^ain enjoined under fevere 
 penalties. All merchants, denizens, or aliens, had liberty to fell their 
 wines and other merchandize, by wholeflile or retail, in the ftaples, 
 burghs, towns, and fea-ports : but no perfon was allowed to bargain 
 for any goods before they were landed. No perfon, native or foreigner, 
 was permitted to carry wool, hides, or wool-fells, to Berwick upon 
 Tweed f, or any other part of Scotland, or to fell them to any native 
 of Scotland, or to any perfon who would carry them to that kingdom, 
 under the pain of death and forfeiture. If any goods were plundered 
 on the fea and brought into the kingdom, they were to be returned to 
 the merchant, who could prove them to be his property. Goods thrown 
 on the fhore by fhipwreck were alfo to be reftored to the lawful owners, 
 on paying a reafonable falvage, to be rated by the fhirrcfs or bailifs of 
 the place. All merchants, bringing gold or filver in coin or bullion 
 into the kingdom, might receive the value of them in current money 
 at the king's exchanges, to be eflabliflied at the flaples and clfewhere. 
 No one was permitted to carry out old fterhng, or any other money, ex- 
 cept merchant ftrangers, who might carry back fuch part of their own 
 money as they had not laid out. All falfe money became forfeited to 
 the king. In every flaple town certain ftreets or places were to be ap- 
 propriated for floring v/ool and other flaple goods ; and reafonable rents 
 were to be fixed upon the houfes by the mayor and conllables of the 
 
 * For the ftatutc of merchants fee above, p. 4^9. 
 
 -)• Berwick was tlun in the hands of the Eiiglilh. But the king was not willing to trull Engli(h 
 wool in the bands of the inhabitants.
 
 A. D. 1353. 549 
 
 ftaple with four of the principal inhabitants of the town. All foreign 
 merchants were now relieved from the grofs oppreflion of being made 
 liable for the debts, and even the crimes, of other foreigners *. But the 
 king referved to himfelf the right of granting letters of marque againft 
 any foreign prince or people, by whom his fubjeds fhould be injured : 
 and in cafe of a war breaking out, the merchants of the hoftile country 
 fhould have a notice of forty days, or even more if neceffary, to leave 
 the country, and perfed: freedom to fell, or carry away, their property. 
 There being lefs refort of foreign merchants to Ireland and Wales than 
 to England, the merchants of thofe countries were allowed to carry 
 their flaple goods to any ftaple in England ; and their cockets, teftify- 
 ing that they had paid the cuftoms in their own country, fhould clear 
 them, and the purchafers of their goods, from any further demand. 
 Any perfon {hipping ftaple goods in Ireland or Wales, or any part of 
 the coafl; of England, for a ftaple port in England, and carrying them 
 to a foreign port, was condemned to deatli and forfeiture of property. 
 No perfon was liable to lofe his property for any adion of his fervant 
 done without his authority. Immediate juflice was ordered to be done 
 in all matters, wherein tranfient merchants were concerned, agreeable 
 to the former ufuage of flaples. A perfon, well /killed in the merchant 
 law, was to be eleded annually for the office of mayor of each ftaple 
 by the native and foreign merchants of the place, and alfo two con- 
 ilables. The adminiftration of juftice in all matters concerning the 
 ftaple being in the hands of the mayors and conftables, particular prifons 
 were afligned to them for the confinement of offenders \ and the mayors, 
 Ihirrefs, and bailifs, of the towns, and lords of the adjacent country, 
 were enjoined to allifl: the magiftrates of the flaple on their requifition.' 
 A certain number of men of experience and refpedable charader, 
 llrangers as well as natives, were appointed in each flaple town as cor- 
 redors, to whom all perfons might apply, if they chofe it, to have their 
 bargains regiftered, agreeable to the former ufage of ftaples : and they 
 were not to be concerned in trade during their office. The mayors and 
 conftables were to make oath in the chancery, that they would faith- 
 fully difcharge the duties of their offices. All merchants, natives or 
 foreigners, trading at any of the flaples, were to fwear to the mayor and 
 conflables, that they would pay obedience to the laws of the flaple ; 
 and the porters, packers, winders and other labourers and officers in 
 the fervice of the flaple, were to fwear to do their bufinefs honeftly. 
 The foreign merchants were direded to eled two of their number, one 
 for the fouth parts of England and the other for the north, who might 
 fit along with the mayors and conflables of the flaples to judge any 
 caufe, whenever they thought proper, in order to lake care that juflice 
 
 * Several relaxations of the rigour of this execrable law or cuflom to particular communities of fo=. 
 reigners have already been noticed.
 
 SS^' ^' ^' '353- 
 
 fhould be done to foreigners. In cafe they could not agree upon the 
 decifion, they were to refer the caufe to the chancellor and the king's 
 council, by whom it fhould be determined without delay. Two Ger- 
 mans, two Lombards, and two Englilhmen, were to be eleded to do 
 immediate juftice in all complaints of the quality or weight of wool be- 
 ing contrary to bargain. The foreign merchants having complained of 
 oppreffions and delay at the ports, contrary to the charter of Edward I, 
 (fee above, p. 469J the fhirrefs, mayors, and bailifs, were threatened 
 with imprifonnaent and fine, if they aded contrary to that charter. All 
 the privileges of the ftaples were confirmed, though they might inter- 
 fere with the franchifes and privileges claimed by cities, burghs, the 
 Cinque ports, or other corporations, or individuals, faving to the pre- 
 lates, dukes, earls, barons, and other lords, their fairs, markets, hun- 
 dreds, wapentakes, &c. In the former year the mayors of the ftaple 
 had levied Sd upon every fack of wool for themfelves : but the wool 
 brought to London being nearly equal to what was carried to all the 
 other ports in the kingdom, and the quantities carried to the other 
 ftaples being exceedingly unequal, it was now ordained that the mayors 
 of all the ftaples ftiould have regular fixed falaries *, as the mayor of the 
 ftaple ufed to have v/hen it was held upon the continent, and that only 
 4^ fhould be charged upon every fack as a general fund for the payment 
 of all the falaries f. [Stat. 2, 27 Edw. III.} 
 
 The lords and commons reprefented to the king, that the feizure of 
 cloths, on account of their varying from the ftatute lengths and breadths J, 
 was fuch a hardfliip upon the foreign importers, that many of them 
 had given up the trade ; wherefor they prayed, that the goods feized 
 might be reftored for a reafonable recompenfe. The king granted their 
 xequeft, and enaded, that uniform lengths in cloth fhould no longer be 
 required, but that his aulneger fliould mark the meafure upon every 
 cloth, and the feller fhould make a due allowance for defedive meafure. 
 The aulneger was intitled to receive a halfpenny for every cloth, and a 
 farthing for every half cloth, from the feller ; and he was not to mea- 
 
 * The falaries were as follows. 
 
 Weftininltei- - the mayor £''00 o o each coiiftable ^^13 6 8 
 
 Lincoln - - - -'■ 26134 - - 6134 
 
 York, Kingfton upon Hull (which, how- 
 ever, is not a llaple in the beginning 
 of the llatutc), Norwich, Wincheftcr, 
 
 each - - - 20 00 - - 500 
 
 Newcaftlc, Chicheftcr, Exeter, each 1000 - - - 368 
 
 •f- I have been nuich fuller in my account of Many parts of it are curious and interclling to the 
 the JIatule of thf Jlaple than my prcileceflor Mr. ftudents of manners, jurifprudence, and antiquities, 
 Anderfon, who, contrary to his ufual culloni, has and might fupply abundant matter for ample com- 
 crulhtd it into a few lines. But, as it exhibits a ments, which rtiall, however, be left to the refltc- 
 compkte view, nowhere elfe to be found, of the tion of the reader. 
 
 fylUm by which the principal branches of the % See above, p. 501. Tlie ftatute breadth of 
 
 commerce of the kingdom were condudcd, it is the cloth of raye in this adl is only fix quarters, 
 furely well worthy of a more particular attention. There is apparently aa error in one of the ads.
 
 A. D. 1353. 551 
 
 fure any cloth till it was fold *. The parliament granted the king a 
 duty of ^d on every plain-coloured cloth, 5^onthofe dyed half in grain, 
 6d on fcarlet cloths, and in proportion on half cloths ; and they ordain- 
 ed that the cloths fhould be fealed by the colle(5tor to atteft the payment 
 of the duty before they could be expofed to fale. Thofe, who made 
 cloth for clothing themfelves and their retinue, were exempted from pay- 
 ing the dutyf. [Stat, i, 27 Edw. Ill, c. 4.] 
 
 Englifh merchants were prohibited from engrofling or foreflalling 
 wines in Gafcoigne, or making any previous bargain for them, on pain 
 of death and forfeiture of property of every kind. The fleward of 
 Gafcoigne and the conftable of Bourdeaux were ordered to arreft all 
 tranfgreflbrs and fend them to the Tower of London. Bourdeaux and 
 Bayonne were declared the only lawful markets for wine. Gafcons and 
 other ftrangers were allowed to bring their wines freely to any port of 
 England, the king's butler having, according to antient ufage, a right 
 to take wines for the king, to be paid for within forty days. All wines 
 were to be gauged ; and for thofe found fhort of the ftandard meafure 
 the feller was to make allowance to the buyer. \Stat. i, 27 Edw. Illy 
 cc. 5-8.] 
 
 Odober 1 5"" King Edward gave his protedion to the merchants and 
 
 mariners of Catalonia, coming to England to purchafe wool, hides, 
 wool-fells, and lead, at the ftaples or elfewhere, and to carry them 
 whitherfoever they pleafed, after having them duely troned (weighed) 
 and cocketed, and paying the due cuftoms and fubfidy. [Foederay V. v, 
 p. 762.] 
 
 06lober 20'" — The merchants, mariners, and communities, of Lifbon 
 and Oporto (the king of Portugal is not mentioned) having fent meflen- 
 gers to King Edward, in order to negotiate a firm alliance for the ad- 
 vantage of both {ides, it was agreed upon, and its duration fixed to be 
 fifty years. It was covenanted, that neither party fliould ailifl the ene- 
 mies of the other ; that the veflels of both parties Ihould be free to 
 carry all kinds of goods from any one country to any other country, 
 and to enter into any port of either country. All by-pall damages 
 fhould be funk in oblivion, and any future damages fhould be amicably 
 fettled by the lords or great men without any breach of the treaty. The 
 property of the merchants of Lifbon or Oporto, found in any place or 
 veflel taken by the Englifh, fhould be reftored to them, unlefs they were 
 
 * We thus fee, that it was the cuftom to fell who were beft able to pay it, the great chiefs, who 
 
 cloths at fo much per piece or half piece, and not kept armies of idle ruffians in their hvery. The 
 
 by the yard. In the prefent day, when they are exemption lets us know, that the duty extended 
 
 fold only by the )-ard, the lengths, though vari- to home-made cloths ; and we mull believe, thar 
 
 able, ftill do not differ very much from the antient there were now dyers and finilhers in England 
 
 ilandard. capable of producing fcarlets and other graii. cu-- 
 
 ■f- By this exemption the duty on home-made lours. 
 ■cloths would be almoft wholely evaded by thofe.
 
 552 A. D. 1353. 
 
 affifting the enemy. Their fifhermen were licenced (as thofe of Caftilc 
 had ah-eady been) to fifh in the harbours of England and Bretagne. 
 [Fcedera, V. v, p. 763.] 
 
 November 20"" — ^The highway between Temple-bar and Weftminfter 
 being already rendered fo deep and miry by the carts and horfes carry- 
 ing merchandize and provifions to the flaple, that it was dangerous, to 
 pafs upon it, the king required the proprietors of houfes, in confidera- 
 tion of the improvement of their property by means of the flaple be- 
 ing fixed at Weftminfter, to repair the road between their houfes and 
 the kennel under the infpedion -of the mayor and conftables of the 
 flaple : and for the reparation of the main road between the two ken- 
 nels, and alfo for the conftrudion of a bridge * intended for the ac- 
 commodation of the merchants frequenting the ftaple, he diredted that 
 a toll fliould be taken for three years upon all goods carried to or from 
 the ftaple, whether by land or water f. [Fadera, V. \,p. 774.] 
 
 The laft year, and alfo this one, were remarkable for great fcarcity • 
 of the fruits of the earth and the filh of the fea, fo that many things 
 were raifed to double price. The duke of Zeland gave fome relief by 
 fending over feveral cargoes of rye to London ; and confiderable quan- 
 tities of corn were alfo imported from Ireland. [Mu/im. co?itin. p. 1 04. 
 —Stow's Anil. p. 398.] 
 
 A Genoefe fleet of fixty gallies was this year defeated, and forty-one 
 of them taken, by the combined fleets of Catalonia and Venice con- 
 fifting of eighty gallies (Auguft 28""). The defeat was followed by keen 
 difl^nfions among the Genoefe, and the ruin of their independence. 
 They depofed their duke, and offered the fovereignty of their ftate to 
 John, archbifhop and lord of Milan; [Stella, op. Muratori Script. V.y.\\i, 
 col. 1092] and from that time their commercial fplendour, and their 
 naval power, have continued to decline. 
 
 1354, April — The parUament enaded that no iron, whether made in 
 England or imported, fliould be carried out of the country ; and in or- 
 der to prevent the price of iron from rifing too high (a conlequence 
 iurely not to be apprehended from the prohibition of exportation) the 
 fellers were fubjeded to the controul of the juftices appointed to take 
 cognizance of the labourers. \^Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 5.] 
 
 Robberies were now more frequent than formerly (a neceflary con- 
 fequence of the continual war) and foreign merchants were more par- 
 
 • Mr. Anderfon doubted whether ihis bridge for a laft of hides - - • 6d 
 
 was intended to go acrofs the river, or only to be a cart of lead - - - 4 
 
 a landing place. From the dcfcription of a bridge a tun of wine for fale - - 4 
 
 at tht New temple, evidently a landing place or other goods for 20/' in value - - ^ 
 
 wharf, [^Fadera, K v, p. 778] nnd from Sloiv's Goods, which paid in coming, were exempted in 
 
 Sirvry [_p. 894] it fetms 10 have been the later. returning. We find by the patent rolls, that this 
 
 f The lolls were pavage duty was renewed in the years J356, 1338, 
 
 for a farpler of wool . . ^d 1359, 1 360, &C. 5 
 
 300 wool-ftlk . . . 3
 
 A. D. 1354. S53 
 
 ticularly the objeds oif plunder. The king, confidering the advantage 
 derived from the refort of thofe merchants, therefor ordained, that the 
 inhabitants of the county, wherein the robbery was committed, fliould 
 be bound to produce the robber, or make compenfation to the party in- 
 jured, within forty days. [Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 11.] 
 
 In cafe of a veflel being driven into any port of England by ftrefs of 
 weather or other neceflity, the mafter or merchants were permitted to 
 fell a part of the cargo without being compelled to land, or pay cuflom 
 for, any more than the goods fold. [Stat. 28 Edw. Ill, c. 13.] 
 A record, preferved in the exchequer, contains the following 
 Account of the exports and imports of England in the year 1354, together 
 with the amount of the cujloms paid upon them. 
 There were exported 
 
 Value. Caftoms. 
 
 31,651-3- facks of wool - at ;(^6 ;^i 89,909 o o 
 
 3,036 cwt(i2o lb each) of wool 40/" 6,072 o o 
 
 t^ wool-fells - - 118 
 
 Total value of wool and cuftoms upon it 195,982 i 8 ;i(^8 1,624 ^ i 
 
 Hides __. » _ 89 50 6176 
 
 4,774| pieces of cloth - 40/" 9,549 o 
 
 8,061^ pieces of worfted Huff 16/8 6,717 i8 
 
 :} 
 
 215 13 7 
 
 Total value of exports and cufloms ;i^2i2,338 5 o ;i('8i,846 12 2 
 
 There were imported 
 1, 83 r pieces of fine cloth ffi £io,g^6 o o £gy 12 o 
 3971 cwt of wax - 40/" 795 10 o 19 17 5 
 1,8297 tuns of wine - 40/" 3^^ 59 00 182 19 o 
 Linens, mercery, groceries, 8cc. amount- 
 ing to - _ _ 22,943 6 10 285 18 3 
 
 Total value of imports and cufloms ;^38,383 16 10 £5^6 6 8 
 
 The balance in favour of England thus appears to have been ;^i73, 954:8:2. 
 But as tin, and lead, which have been flandard articles of exportation 
 from the earliefl times, befides feveral other fmaller articles, are entire- 
 ly omitted in this record, there can be no doubt that the real balance 
 was confide rably larger. 
 
 * Mr. Aiiderfon, and, before him. Sir William /"8l, 260: 5:6 above the real amount refulting 
 
 Temple, [^Obfervations on the Netherlands, p. 235, from the p?.rticulars. 
 
 ed. 1693] Dodfley, {^Preceptor, V. W, p. 41 4] and 1 have not found the particulars of this account 
 
 othcis, though li ey give only the totals, have publilhed by any wiitcr befides Andnfon, who, 
 
 iirangely flumped the cuftoms along with the however, fays it is ' publiihed in almoft all the 
 
 value of the merchandize, as if they wifhed to ' general hiftories of England;' a common way 
 
 ftiike a deluiive balance, which is tliereby raifed of evading accurate quotation. 
 
 Vol. I. . 4 A
 
 554 A. D. 1354: 
 
 This great balance, the exports amounting to almofl fix times the 
 vakie of the imports, (and, as juft obferved, they probably amounted 
 to much more) has been held out as a proof of the moderation and 
 fobriety of the age. But when we look at the articles, and find that, of 
 raw materials for manufadures which conftitute fo great a part of the 
 modern imports, there was not one fingle article imported, and that, 
 on the other hand, the exports conlifted almofl entirely of the moft 
 valuable raw materials, and of cloths in an upfinifhed ftate, which may 
 therefor alio be clafled among raw materials, we mufl; acknowlege that 
 it affords only a proof of the low flate of manufa6lures and of com- 
 mercial knowlege among a people, who were obliged to allow foreign- 
 ers to have the profit of manufa6luring their own wool, and finifhing 
 their own cloths, and afterwards to repurchafe both from them in the 
 form of finifhed goods. 
 
 1355, January 20'" — I have already related the purchafe of the Ro- 
 man empire by Didius Julian, and that of the kingdom of Mann and 
 the Ifles by Alexander 111 king of Scotland : and I have now to relate 
 the purchafe of the kingdom of Scotland by Edward III king of Eng- 
 land, who for the abfolute fovereignty and property of it gave Edward 
 Balliol * five thoufand marks together with an annuity for his (Balliol's) 
 life of two thoufand pounds. [F^dera, V. '^,pp. 832-842.] But, though 
 Edward purchafed a whole kingdom for fo fmall a price, yet, with all 
 his prudence, he made a very bad bargain ; for the feller was not able 
 to ^ii;^' him pofl'effion ; and he, with all his power and great military- 
 talents, was not able to take pofi"efllon. 
 
 March 12"" — At this time the warden of Scotland (the king was a 
 prifoner in England) urged by the exigency of the public affairs, and 
 imitating the pernicious and miflaken policy of the king of England, 
 appears to have coined money, which, both in weight and quality, was 
 inferior to that of England. King Edward thereupon informed the 
 Ihirref of Northumberland, that the new money of Scotland, though 
 of the fame figure with the old, was not, like it, of equal weight and 
 quality with the llerling money of England, and therefor ordered him 
 to make proclamation within his jurifdidtion, that the new Scottifh mo- 
 ney fhould be taken only for its value as bullion, and carried to the 
 proper of^ce to be exchanged for current money ; but that the old mo- 
 nsy of Scotland (which fince the year 1 344 was confiderably better than 
 that of England) fhould flill be current as former-ly f . \Fcedera, V. v, p^ 
 
 813] 
 
 * Balliol had been fupported by Edward in die of England and Scotland, apparently laflcd but a 
 title of king jf Scotland, as his feudal vafial, fincc very Ibort time ; and the money nuill have been 
 the year 1332, and had aclcd as king of that Tcry little below the llandard of the Enjflilh, as it- 
 country a few weeks. required a proclamation to put the people on thei; 
 
 f This deterioration, unknown to the hiftorians guard againft it . 4
 
 A. D. 1355. 555 
 
 The Scottifh pearls were ftill an article of exportation. They were 
 efteemed in France, but not equally with thofe brought from India, 
 as appears by the manuibript flatutes of the goldfmiihs of Paris of this 
 year, wherein it is ordained, that no worker in gold or filver fhall fet 
 any Scottifh pearls along with Oriental ones, except in large jewels * for 
 churches (for which probably a fufficient quantity of Oriental pearls 
 could not be obtained, or would be too expenfive). [Da Cange, Gloffl 
 Lat. vo. Perlce.'^ 
 
 This year Sir John de Mandeville returned to England from his pere- 
 grination of thirty-three years through Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, Africa, 
 Syria, Arabia, Perfia, Chaldaea, Ethiopia, Tartary, ylmazotiia, India, 
 China, and many iflands. His travels, or rather defcriptions of coun- 
 tries, written by himfelf, inform us that the Venetian merchants fre- 
 quently went to the ifland of Ormus in the Perfian gulf, and fometimes 
 even penetrated to Cambalu. He diftinguiflies Famagufla in Cyprus as 
 one of the greateft ports in the world, Avherein the merchants of almofl 
 all nations, Chriftians and pagans (Mohamedans), affembled. The fhort- 
 cfl abridgement, that could be made, of his account of the countries of 
 Afia would be tedious, as he has raked together all the fables accumu- 
 lated in the courfe of ages, and, if we except the fmgle notice refpedling 
 the confiderable trade of Cyprus, gives fcarcely any commercial inform- 
 ation worth noticing f . 
 
 1357, Spring — The parliament now permitted Englifh merchants, as 
 zvell as foreigners, to export wool, hides, and wool-fells, to any country 
 in amity with the king, from the 5"' of May to the 29'" of September 
 enfuing, on paying a duty of '^of for every fack of wool, 50/ for 300 
 wool-fells, and /?5 for every lafl of hides. The buyers were prohibited 
 from refufing any other parts of the wool than what ufed formerly to 
 be rejected ; and the fack was again ordained to contain exadly 364 
 pounds of the exchequer ftandard weight. All wool, fells, and hides, 
 wherever bought, were ordered to be carried to a flaple, and there to 
 remain at leafl fifteen days, after which, if they were not fold, they 
 might be exported. Wool was not permitted to be ftoi'ed or fold wj th- 
 in three leagues of a flaple, except by the owners of flieep, who might 
 fell the wool of their own growth, where they thought proper. \Stat. 
 1,31 Edzv. Ill, c. 8.] 
 
 An author, who lived at this time, elllmates the annual exportation 
 of wool at above a hundred thouiand lacks. \_Ave/bury, p, 210;]:.] 
 
 * In the n.iddle ages any thing reputed pre- Ovid's temple of die Sun, and are proliably the 
 
 tious, or made of valuable material^;, or richly models of fimilar biiilJIngs in the fairy talc?, 
 adorned, war, called a jewel. J He fays, the duty of 50/ was granted by the 
 
 f Mandeville copied from all preceding writers pailiament for fix years ; and he dates the giant 
 
 of hiftory and travels ; and he feems particularly in the year 1355. It may be cbfcrved that the 
 
 to be largely indebted to Marco Polo. His pa- wool of the well part of Enghind was valued at 
 
 laces, made of gold and jewels, arc in the (lile cf little more than 5c/ See Ebove p. 530. 
 
 4 A 2
 
 556 
 
 A. D. 1357. 
 
 Another attack was mad€ upon the monopolizing charters of corpora- 
 tions by direfting the ntiayor and aldermen of London to prevent the 
 ■fifliermen (or fifhmongers), butchers, poulterers, and other dealers in 
 provifions, from molefling thofe who brought proviiions to the city for 
 Me. [Stat. I, 31 Edw. I1I,€. 10.] 
 
 At the fame time was enacted the Statute of herrivgs, the preamble of 
 which fets forth, that the people of Yarmouth made a practice of meet- 
 ing the fifliermen, and buying their herrings at fea ; that the hoftilers 
 peepers of lodging h-oufes) affumed a prerogative of felling the herrings 
 belonging to the fifliermen lodged in their houfes, and paying them 
 what they thought proper for them, whereby the fifliermen were de- 
 frauded and difcouraged, and the price of herrings was advanced upon 
 the public. The parliament therefor enaded, that no herrings fliould 
 be fold, till the boat bringing them was made fafl: to the land. 
 The fifliermen ftiould have perfe<£l liberty to fell their herrings at the 
 fair, openly and without any interference, between the rifing and fet- 
 ting of the fun. No perfon fliould be permitted to buy herrings for 
 hanging up (making red herrings) at above 40/" per laft containing ten 
 thoufand herrings. Pykers * were not to purchafe herrings in the har- 
 bour of Yarmouth between the 29"* of September and the 11'" of No- 
 vember, nor to enter the harbour in the time of the fair. The hoftilers 
 were allowed to charge ■^f\ upon every laft of herrings fold to any other 
 than a hoftiler, in confideration of which they were to infurc the pay- 
 ment to the fifliermen f. The people of Yarmouth were prohibited 
 from felling herrings at more than 6/8 per laft above the price paid for 
 them ot the fair, and thofe of London were not to advance more than 
 i 3y4. (a regulation which we maj' venture to pronounce inefficient), 
 Shotten herrings were ordered to be fold at half the price of full ones, 
 when frefli, and when made red, at 6/8 per laft above the half price of 
 full red herrings. The pykers were allowed to buy herrings and other 
 wares from the fifliermen of Kirklee and other places on the adjacent 
 coaft : but the fifliermen weVc otdered to difcharge only as many her-- 
 rings at Kirklee road, as might be fufficient for loading the pykers, and 
 to carry the reft to Yarmouth, no other fale being permitted within 
 feven leagues of that town, exce|:3t for the herrings of a perfon's own 
 demefne fifliery. The barons of the Cinque ports were declared to be 
 the governors or confervators, of the fair, agreeable to the compofition 
 between them and the peophi of Yarmouth, confirmed by King Ed- 
 
 * Pykers appear to liave been fmall vefTcIs be- fiipplying tlie fifhermen, \v]io were not inhabitant* 
 
 loncinc to London and other places, employed in of yarmniith, with all their neccflaiies, mud have 
 
 carrying lieirings and other fifl). en:ib!Kl them to command the trade. 'J'hey were 
 
 f The hollilcrs were thus allowed to purchafe nquircd, indeed, not to charge that comminion 
 
 hi Trial's nine or ten per cent lowc^- tlian all other on herrings bought by ihemfclves ; but the diffcr- 
 
 Vuyem, which, with the profits tlicy made upon cnce in the price amounted to the fame thing
 
 ward I. It wa's t>rdained, that this ftatute fliould alfo regulate the trade 
 in the other towns of England, where herrings were caught. — The 
 thancellor and treafurer, with the aid of the juftices and others of the 
 king's council, were required to regulate the fale of fbockfiih at Bofton, 
 of falmon at Berwick, and of wine and fifh at Briftol and elfewhere, fo 
 that the king and the people might be better fcrved than before. [Stat. 
 2, 31 Ediv. III.'] 
 
 The people of Blakeney were aecufed of felling their fait fiHi too 
 Q-ear. It was therefor ordained, that all the doggers and lode fhips, be- 
 longing to Blakeney and the adjacent coaft as far as Cromer, fhould de- 
 liver their fifh in the harbour of Blakeney only, and that the fifh fhould 
 not be carried out of the vefTels, till the owners had contraded for the 
 fale of them in clear day-light ; that the price of dogger fifli and loche 
 fifh fhould be let at the beginning of Blakeney fair ; that no fifh fliould 
 be fold by covine (fecret agreement) at any other price ; and that no 
 fifherman fhould fibre up mud fifh or dry fifli to retail them aficrwards 
 at a higher price. No perfons, but thofe employed in the fifhery, were 
 allowed to buy nets, hooks', or other fifhing tackle in the county of Nor- 
 folk. No fifherman was allowed to give up his trade on account of this 
 ordinance being difagreeable to him *. [Stat. 3, 31 Edw. HI.] 
 
 From the perufal of thefe, and, indeed, of moft other antient flatutes 
 relating to commerce, manufadtures, fifheries, and navigation, it is evid- 
 ent that the legiflators knew nothing of the affairs which they under- 
 took to regulate, and alfo that mofl of their ordinances, either froua 
 want of precifion, or from ordering what was almofl impoflible to be; 
 obeyed (for example, that people fliould fell their fifli at a price, re- 
 gulated, not by the flate of the market, but by aiuhority) mull have 
 been inefficient : and hence we find many of them fo very often re- 
 peated. No judicious commercial regulations could be drawn up by 
 eeelefiaflical or military men (the only clafTes who poffefTed any author- 
 ity or influence) who defpifed trade, and confequently could linow no- 
 thing of it. It was not till long after the time now under our confider- 
 ation, that the reprefentatives of towns, the only members of the le- 
 giflative body who could have the fmallefl knowlege of commerce or 
 manufadures, began to have any weight in parliament, 
 
 Th'e mayar and conftables of the ftaple in Ireland were aecufed of 
 taking cognizance of caufes noway concerning the bufinefs of the flaple. 
 An order of the king and council (fuppofed of this year) was therefor 
 iffued, prohibiting fuch practices, together with a vaft number of other 
 enormities, which had crept into the adminiftration of juftice in that 
 country. [ Statutes at large, V. x, Append, p. 37.] 
 
 * As fome cortipenfation for this reftraint, fifher- t'rat to which they were bred up. [TJo/. pat. fee. 
 men and mariners were this year exempted from 31 £iltv. UL m. 16] 
 being compelled to ferve in any other capacity thaa 1—
 
 558 A. D. 1357. 
 
 The neutral nations thought it necefiary to obtain letters of fafe con- 
 dudt for their fliips from tiie belligerent powers. We have three in- 
 flances of fuch letters granted by King Edward to veflels belonging to 
 Venice, the chief feat of commerce in the Mediterranean, fiiiling to 
 Flanders, the chief feat of commerce on the weft coaft of Europe. 
 [Fo'dera, V. vi, pp. 11, 92, 120.] 
 
 April 29''' — We now find what is probably the earlieft precedent ex- 
 tant of the law, or ufage, of recapture, as determined by King Edward 
 and his council. Some goods, which had been taken ii\ a Portuguefe 
 veflel by the French, having been retaken by the Englifh, the Portu- 
 guefe owners claimed their property in virtue of the treaty of the year 
 1353. But the Englilli admiral condemned them as lawful prize ; and 
 the king of Portugal thereupon wrote to the king of England for refti- 
 tution. Edward, after advifing with his council, anfwered, that, if a 
 neutral owner were along with his goods onboard an enemy's veflel when 
 taken, they fhould be reftored : but the goods in queftion having been 
 found as French property, and taken from the French in fair war, the 
 captors were entitled to them. [Fadera, V. \'i,p. 14.] 
 
 April 29''' — In a truce between England and Scotland it was agreed, 
 that, if the fliips of either nation fliould be forced into the ports of the 
 other by fiorm or other unavoidable neceflity, they might quietly reft 
 for a reafonable time, and vidual, without being liable to any arreft or 
 hinderance. [Fa;dera,V. v'l, p. 15.] 
 
 September — Three Scottiih fliips of war, with 3C0 chofen armed men, 
 cruifed (apparently without any authority) on the eaft coaft, and annoy- 
 ed the Englifli commerce very much, till the equinodial gale drove 
 them, with a number of Englifli veflels, into Yarmouth, where the people 
 of the place feized them, and put an end to their cruife. \^K!iygbton, 
 col. 2617.] Tliefe were, however, powerful fliips to be fitted out by 
 private adventurers in that age, and in a country fo exhaufted as Scot- 
 land ii.uft have then been with almoft feventy years of war : but the 
 diftraded ftate of the country forced the people to forfake honeft in- 
 duftry, and fly to rapine for fubfiftence. 
 
 September 26 '' In a parliament, or full council, of the prelates, 
 
 nobles, and communities, of the kingdom of Scotland, held at Edin- 
 burgh, the following feventeen towns were reprefented, and may thence 
 be prefumed to have been the chief towns of the kingdom at the time, 
 viz. 
 
 Edinburgh, Cupar, Dunbarton, 
 
 Perth, S . Andrews, Rutherglen, 
 
 Aberdeen, Mimrofs, Lanark, 
 
 Dundee, Stirlii g, Dunfries, and 
 
 Inverkeithing, Linlitligow, Peebles. 
 
 Carail, • Hadiugton,
 
 A. D. 1357. S59 
 
 The reprefentatlves, of whom Edinburgh, Perth, and Aberdeen, fent 
 three each, and the other towns two each, are all called aldermen, 
 merchants, and burgeffes, of the towns reprefented by them : and it is 
 worthy of obfervation, that of the feventeen towns, four were in the 
 maritime, and apparently commercial, fhire of Fife, and eight more 
 upon the eaft coaft. The bufinefs of the meeting was to agree to, and 
 provide for, the ranfom of their king, then a prifoner in England, which 
 was fixed at the prodigious fum of one hundred thoujand marks Jlerling, to 
 be paid by inftallments within ten years. For the payment of tliat fum 
 the bifliops of Scotland bound all the goods, moveable and immoveable, 
 then belonging, or to belong in time coming, to all the clergy of Scot- 
 land ; the nobles bound themfelves and all the barons (or freeholders) 
 of Scotland, and their heirs ; and the reprefentatives of the towns bound 
 themfelves and the other communities of burgeffes and merchants 
 throughout the whole kingdom, and all their property, for the full pay- 
 ment of the ranfom, with damages, expenfes, and interefl; *. On ac- 
 count of fome delays in the payment, the ranfom was afterwards raifed 
 to one hundred thoujand pounds Jlerling, a fum equal in efficacy (the only 
 true ftandard of the value of money) to at leall two millions in the pre- 
 fent day. We know what a lamentable pidture the writers of England 
 have drawn of the miferies brought upon that kingdom by the ranfom 
 of King Richard. What then muft have been the diflrefs of Scotland, 
 a country inferior in extent, and ftill more in population and fertility, 
 to England, already drained and exhaufted by wars, of which fcarcely 
 any man then living was old enough to remember the beginning, to 
 raife a fum nearly half as much more as that paid for the ranfom of 
 Richard ? We might be well warranted to queftion the poflibility of 
 raifing it, if there were not extant the moll undeniable proofs that the 
 whole of that enormous fum was adually paid in hard gold and filver f. 
 {Fadera, V. vi, pp. 41-65 ; and V. vii,/. 417 for the la/l difcharge.] 
 • The payment of fo great a fum may be admitted, in the want of 
 other evidence, as an unqueftionable proof that the commerce of Scot- 
 land revived immediately upon the celllition of hoftilities, and brought 
 in a confiderable balance in money from foreign countries, which ap- 
 parently proceeded chiefly from wool, fifh, hides, cattle, and probably 
 alfo fome iron and lead ij:, 
 
 * As no rate of interefl is mentioned, it is pre- the king himfelf, and alfo three of tlie principal 
 
 fumed, that there was a known rate, fo well efta- noblemen, put into his hands as hoftages ; and the 
 
 blilhed by cuftom, or the laws of both kingdoms, money remitted for their fupport was of ilfelf fuf- 
 
 that it was thought unnecefiary to fpecify it. ficient to diftrefs a country circumllanced as Scot- 
 
 •(• There was a great deal more money drawn land then was. 
 from Scotland to England : for King Edward, not J ' Ferrifodinis et plumbicidiis, cujufjibet etiam 
 
 fatisfied with the obligations of all the people of ' pene metalli, fatis habilis,' fays Fotdun [Z,. ii, 
 
 (Scotland, had, as a further fecurity, twenty youths, c. 8] in defcribing the productions of Scotland. — 
 
 tlie heirs of the fu-ft men of the kingd9m, and of As I. have already mentioned exportations of doge 
 
 from. .
 
 560 A. D. 1357. 
 
 After this time the notices of the attendance of burgefTes in the par- 
 liaments of Scotland are more frequent : and in the title of the laws of 
 King Robert III (as publifhed by Skene) we are told, that the bifhops, 
 earls, barons, freeholders, and burgeffes holding of the king, were fum- 
 moned in the ufual manner. Admitting this to be genuine, burgeffes muft 
 then have been conftituent members of the parliament for a conliderable 
 time back. 
 
 King David foon after his return into his own dominions appointed 
 Adam Tore, a burgefs of Edinburgh, and James Mulekin of Florence, 
 joint keepers of the exchange for all Scotland, and mafters of the mint*. 
 It feems probable that the exchange, to which thefe officers were ap- 
 pointed, was formed upon the model of the new one lately eftabliflied 
 in England by Edward, whofe example he wilhed, and greatly needed, 
 to follow in all methods of acquiring money. 
 
 1358, November Before David was well fettled in his own king- ■ 
 
 dom, he returned to England on a vifit to his kind brother-in-law, King 
 Edward. His bufinefs is faid to have been to entreat an abatement of 
 his ruinous ranfom, on condition of joining Edward in his wars ; and 
 he alfo requefted, that there might be mutual liberty for the merchants 
 of both kingdoms to trade freely in each, and that the money of both 
 might alfo pafs indifcriminately in each ; and thefe requefts, we are 
 told. King Edward agreed to. [Foederay V. vi, p. 98. — Knyghton, col. 
 2619.] 
 
 It is alleged that the merchant-adventurers of England this year ob« 
 tained a grant of very ample privileges from the earl of Flanders, and 
 thereupon ellablifhed their trade in Bruges ; and that Bruges and all 
 Flanders, in confequence of that trade, grew to great wealth and pro- 
 fperity. {IVheeler's 'Treatife of commerce, p. 14.] But we know from un- 
 exceptionable authority, that Bruges and all Flanders were very profper- 
 ous long before this time f . 
 
 1359, January 12'" — The trade of driving cattle from Scotland for 
 fale in England, which has continued down to the prefent day, is at 
 
 from the fouth part of Biitaiii, it may be proper long captivity in Oftober 1556, the end of 13561 
 
 to obferve, that the greyhounds (' leporarii') of or (ome time in 1357, feems the probable date of 
 
 Scotland were fo much cftcemed, that the duke the appointment. In 1357 Adam Tore was one 
 
 of BeiTy in France thought it worthwhile to fend of the rcprcfentatives of Edinburgh in parliament, 
 
 his valet and three oilier men to procure fome of [Failcra, V. vi, />/>. 44-59.] It is worthy of in- 
 
 them, and to obtain letters of fafe condudl from velligation, whether (he new exchange was eila- 
 
 the king of England for them to travel through blillied tor exciianging _5-o/(/ and fih«r money. See 
 
 his dominions upon that buimcfs. \_Fa:dcra, V. vii, below inidcr the year 1367. 
 
 p. 831.] f Wheeler, wiio was fccretary to the company 
 
 * This information is from a 7'fli/fo/"fon/fn// o/" of merchant-adventurers about the year i6co, 
 
 charlen, i^c. MS. Bib. Harl. 4609, Roll D 2 A x, WTites with great zeal for the honour and intcrcft 
 
 n'. 24, 2J. There are no dates mentioned ; but of his employers : he affetts roundly ; but he pro- 
 
 aa n°. 42 of the fame roll contains the charter of duces no authoriiics, though he mentions feveral 
 
 4:reation of the earldom of Douglas, which was in charters. His only original documints are fome 
 
 February 1358 (as wc now reckon the commence- certilicates, probably procured by himfelf, the ear 
 
 ment of the year) and the king returned from his licll of them being dated in 158^.
 
 A. D. 1359. s(^i 
 
 leaft as old as the times now under our confideration : for we find a let- 
 ter of fafe condud granted to Andrew Moray and Alan Erfkine, two 
 Scottifh drovers, with three horfemen and their fervants, for traveling 
 through England or the king's foreign dominions for a year, with horfes, 
 oxen, cows, and other goods and merchandize. [Faedera, V. \''\,p. 114.] 
 
 The fleet, with which King Edward this year invaded France, is faid 
 by one author to have confided of eleven hundred well-appointed fliips. 
 [IValfinghani, p. 174.] 
 
 November 22'* — In January the Flemings banilhed all the Englifh 
 merchants in their country into Brabant, and put to death many of the 
 citizens of Bruges, who had been favourable to them. King Edward 
 therefor ordered all foreigners of whatever condition, except his own 
 farmers, to leave his dominions before the 20"" of July. But, as I have 
 already obferved, in thofe days neither the Englilh nor the Flemings 
 could live without the benefits derived from mutual friendly intercourfe. 
 When King Edward was this year on the continent, the Flemings were 
 zealoufly attentive in providing his camp with neceflaries ; and he in 
 return granted them liberty to trade in England, and to export corn and 
 other provifions on obtaining his fpecial licences and paying the cuftoms. 
 \_Knyghton, col. 2620. — Faedsra, V. ^i, pp. 40, 47.] 
 
 1360, January — The prerogative of purveying (that is forcibly tak- 
 ing provifions, liquors, or other wares) was not only veiled in the king 
 and the royal family, but was alfo aflhmed, legally or illegally, by many 
 others, to the ruin of the people and the great hinderance of trade. It 
 was therefor now refirided by ad; of parliament to the king, the queen, 
 and the king's oldeft fon ; and feveral things purveyed for the queen 
 and the prince were ordered to be paid for. \^Acls 34 Ediv. Ill, cc. 
 
 2, 3'] 
 
 The flatutes of labourers were confirmed : new penalties were enad- 
 ed for labourers leaving their fervice and going into another county : 
 and they were deprived of the antient privilege annexed to refidence in 
 cities or burghs, the chief ofiicers of which were now required to de- 
 liver them up. \_AEls 34 Fdw. Ill, cc. 9-1 1.] 
 
 All merchants and others, aliens or natives, had liberty to trade free- 
 ly to and from Ireland with their merchandize, viduals, &c. without pay- 
 ing fine or raniom beyond the antient cuftoms and duties. \^A^s 34 
 Ediv. Ill, cc. 17, 18.] 
 
 The exportation of corn was now reflrided to the fupply of Calais 
 and Gafcoigne. {^ABs 34 Edzv. HI, c. 20.] From this ad, and the licence 
 granted in the preceding year to the Flemings, it appears that corn form- 
 ed a part of the ufual exports of England at this time *. 
 
 * In the year 1350 Everard Fitz-Nicol of Flar- \_Rymer''s jiaa mamifcr. Ed-w. Ill, V. vli, a". 130] 
 dyng obtained licence to purchafe 80G quarters of and there is reafon to beh'eve that ttill no corn could 
 corn in England, and to carry it to Holland : be exported without a fpecial licence. 
 
 Vol. I. 4 B
 
 ^62 A. D. 1360, 
 
 The permiflion granted to Englifh merchants to export wool was now 
 confirmed. [JSfs 34 Edw. Ill, c. 21.] 
 
 March King Edward ifTued orders for arrefting all the veflels in the 
 
 kingdom, loaded or unloaded, in order to get together a fleet for an- 
 other expedition to the continent : and he directed, that the largell fliips 
 fhould carry 40 mariners, 40 armed men, and 60 archers ; and barges 
 ihould be manned in proportion. [Fcedera, V. v'l, pp. 167, 169, 174.] 
 
 April \6'^ — The king, underftanding that there were various mines 
 of gold and filver in Ireland, which might be very beneficial to himfelf 
 and the people of that country, commiflioned his principal minifters 
 there to order a fearch for the mines, and to do what would be moft for 
 his advantage. \^F(edera, V. \'\, p. 172.] 
 
 At this time there were fome confiderable manufadures in Ireland. 
 The fluffs called y^y (? J- , made in that country, were in fuch requeft, that 
 they were imitated by the manufacturers of Catalonia, who were in the 
 pradice of making the fineft woollen goods of every kind : they were 
 alfo efieemed in Italy, and were worn by the ladies of Florence, a city 
 abounding with the richeft manufadlures, and in which the luxuiy of 
 drefs was carried to the greatefl height. \Capmany, Mem. hiji. de Barce- 
 lona, V. i, Com. p. 242. — Fazio delli Uberti, L. iv, c. 26. — TranJ. of Royal 
 Irijh acad, Antiq. p. 17.] The annual revenue derived from Ireland, 
 which amounted to near /"i 0,000 *, \Warcei Hibernia, p. 136, ed. 1654"] 
 gives a very refpedable idea of the balance drawn into that country by 
 its commerce and manufactures, though we know next to nothing of the 
 particular nature of them ; unlefs we fuppofe a great part of the money 
 to have been drawn from the mines, for which, I beUeve, there is neither 
 authority nor probability. 
 
 May 8''' The long war with France was terminated (or fufpended) 
 
 by a treaty of peace and friendfliip concluded at Bretigny, whereby King 
 Edward gave up his claim to the crown of France, and the king of 
 France, then Edward's prifoner, ceded many provinces and towns in 
 France to him, and became bound to pay him three millions of gold 
 ecus, which, at the declared value of 374 (lerling, were equal to half a 
 million of pounds of the Englifh money then current. The treaty, 
 which is very long, contains no hint of any commercial intercourfe 
 between the two countries. \Fcedera, V. s'\,p. 178.] France, then de- 
 Ititute of commerce and manufactures, was prodigioufly diftrefied by the 
 ranfom, which never was completely paid oif. 
 
 We are told, tliat Nicolas of Lynne, an Englifh friar and a good 
 aftronomer, made a voyage this year to the northern polar regions, 
 which he repeated five times afterwards, and then prefented an account 
 
 • Wiilfingham [////?./. 350] ftatcs the net re- aiul money at random ; wlieieas Ware's informa- 
 vefint ucrivnl from Ireland at tliis time at j^jo.ooo. lion is taken fiom tlie records Hill remaining. 
 But thai author often dalhes hie numbcis of men
 
 A. D. 1360. 563 
 
 of his difcoveries to King Edward *. [Hak/ujt's Voiages, V. h pp. 121, 
 122.] 
 
 It was about the fume time, if we may depend upon the authenticity 
 of Zeno's voyage, with Dodor Forfter's expofition of the geography of 
 it, that fome filhermen belonging to the Orkney iflands were driven by 
 ftrefs of weather upon an ifland, iituated in the Weftern ocean, called 
 Eftotiland, which was apparently the country called Winland by the 
 Norwegian difcoverers. (See above, p. 279). The people of Eftotiland 
 were ingenious and fenfible ; they raifed corn ; their drink was ale ; they 
 pollefled the arts and handicrafts known in Europe f ; they had fhips, 
 with which they traded to Greenland and to the continent afterwards 
 called America; and they retained the intrepidity of their Norwegian 
 anceftors in croffing the tracklefs ocean, though ignorant of the com- 
 pafs ; but they immediately underftood the prodigious advantage the 
 Orkney-men enjoyed in poflefling that wonderful guide. From Green- 
 land they imported furs, brimftone, and pitch, and from the continent, 
 apparently, gold. The king of Eftotiland, confidering the Orkney-men 
 as fuperior in nautical fcience to his own fubjeds, gave them the charge 
 of a fleet of twelve vefTels for a voyage to the continent. Thofe veffels 
 were driven by a dreadful ftorm upon a part of the coaft occupied by 
 cannibals, who devoured the moft of the feamen : but the Orkney- men 
 faved themfelves from the fame fate by teaching the favages to catch 
 fifh with nets. The only one of them who returned to Orkney related, 
 that he lived thirteen years on the continent, traveling through a great 
 number of tribes, one of whom, Iituated in a mild climate to the fouth- 
 weft, was more civilized than any of the others whom he had known, 
 having gold and filver ; cities and temples ; that he afterwards got back 
 to Eftotiland, whence he made many voyages to the continent, and having 
 acquired wealth, had fitted out a veffel to return to his native country \. 
 
 * Leland fays, that Nicolas wrote Canons of to Zeno, or the recorder of his voyage, or indeed 
 
 tables, an elTay on the nature of the zodiak, and to any perfon in Italy, before books were render- 
 
 another on the houfes ot the planets, which were ed common by printing. That the people of Ork- 
 
 extant HI his own time. [_De fcriptoribus,p. ^^•].'\ iiey, a Norwegian colony, (hould be ignorant of 
 
 But he has not a word of his voyages ; and, I be- the language of thofe of Eftotiland, apparently a 
 
 lieve, they may be confidered as rather doubtful. colony from the fame parent ilock, may feem a 
 
 -}• The king of Eftotiland had a library, where- circumftance unfavourable to the credit of the 
 
 In there were fome Latin books, not underftood narrative. But, as all languages are continually 
 
 ty him, which were probably carried thither by changing, we may well admit, that a feparation of 
 
 Eric billiop of Greenland, who went to convert about five centuries fmce the fcttlement of Iceland 
 
 the people of Winland to Chriftianity in the year would produce a difference in two dialefts of the 
 
 1121, and feems to have died there. fame language fufficient to prevent them from be- 
 
 J Zeno's voyage was confidered as a very doubt- ing wutualiy intelligible. Very little of the lan- 
 
 ful ilory, or rather a mere fable, till Dodlor For- guage, fpoken in England five hundred years ago, 
 
 fter's able rind ingenious expofition removed the can be underftood in the prefent day by thofe 
 
 Tiiill, which overwhelmed it, and poured upon it a who have not ftudied it ; Chaucer's language is 
 
 ilream of light, little inferior to hiftoric demon- difficult to ordinary readers; and many words even 
 
 llration. It is fupported by, and it in return il- in Shakfpeare are obfcure, if not unknown, to 
 
 luftrates, the hiftory of the difcovery of Winland the mpft zealous and diligent of his coaimcnta- 
 
 about the year looo, an event probably notknovim ton* 
 
 4. B 2
 
 564 A. D. 1360. 
 
 \ForJler's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 188, 204 Engl. tranJL'] The 
 fuperior people, here defcribed, mufi: have been the Mexicans, who thus 
 appear to have been known to this native of the Orkneys about 160 
 years before they were invaded by the Spaniards. 
 
 1 36 1 — The traditions of the North give very pompous accounts of 
 the commercial profperity of Wifbuy, a city on the weft fide of Goth- 
 land, an ifland in the Baltic fea. They tell us, that after the total de- 
 ftrudion of Winet and Julin, famous commercial cities near the mouth 
 of the Oder on the north coaft of Germany, and the fubfequent con- 
 flagration of Slefvvick, the whole trade of the peninfula of Yutland and 
 the coafts of the Baltic was removed to Ripen and foon after to Wifbuy, 
 which thereupon became the moft flourifliing commercial city in Eu- 
 rope * ; and the merchants of Gothland, Sweden, Ruflia, Denmark, 
 Pruffia, England, Scotland, Flanders, France, Finland, Vandalia, Saxony, 
 and Spain, had fadories there, and ftreets appropriated to each feveral 
 nation. There all ftrangers were made welcome, and admitted to all 
 the rights and privileges of citizens. The citizens lived fplendidly in 
 houfes built of marble ; and the greateft abundance and profperity 
 blefl'ed the happy ifland, till, in the revolution of human affairs, the 
 commerce, which had rendered Wifbuy rich and happy, was transferred 
 to other places. The invention of fea charts, and a code of maritime 
 laws, are alfo afcribed to Wifbuy ; and we are told, that the merchants 
 of other countries fubmitted their caufes to be tried by the magiftrates 
 of that city. — From thefe exaggerated accounts it feems probable, that 
 Wifbuy had more trade during the dark ages than any other place in 
 the inland fea wherein it is fituated. In the year 1288 the citizens had 
 a quarrel with the other inhabitants of the ifland, after which they for- 
 tified their city with a wall and a ditch ; a circumftance by no means 
 agreeing with the reports of its wonderful opulence in earlier times, 
 for, in thofe days of rapine and violence, no town, that contained any 
 thing worth plundering, could be without walls. Probably we fliall 
 come nearer the truth, if we afTume that date for the commencement 
 of the commercial profperity of Wifbuy f. After that time they be- 
 came very powerful; and, confcious of their naval fuperiority, and in- 
 toxicated, as we are told, with their exceffive profperity, they preyed 
 upon their weaker neighbours. Such condud could not fail to flir up 
 enemies. Waldemar king of Denmark invaded them in the year 1361, 
 threw down their walls, and loaded his fhips with the accumulated riches 
 of the citizens. After doing them all the mifchief he could, he enter- 
 ed into a treaty of friendfhip with them, confirmed all the privileges 
 
 • The authors of ihofe accounts probably knew figncd as one of the principal caufes of the popu- 
 
 uothing of the commercial cities of the Mcdiler- lation and trade of Wifbuy, is dated in 1288 by 
 
 ranean. Eric king of Denmark in his Uijhry of Denmark, 
 
 I The conflagration of Slefwick, which is af- p. 167 in Rep. Dan'ia.
 
 A. D. 1361. 565 
 
 and immunities which had been granted to them by the emperors of 
 Germany and kings of Sweden, and gave them liberty to trade in his 
 dominions on as favourable terms as his own fubjeds, together with the 
 right of coining money, which thej' had hitherto pradifed without hav- 
 ing any right *. \_Pontani H'tjl. rer. Dan. pp. 376, 470, y^iS- — Olaus Mag- 
 nus, L. ii, c. 22. — Rc/p- Daniee, p. 80.] 
 
 1362, Odlober — Notwithftanding the ad of the year 1360, the op- 
 preffive abufe of purveyance ftill continued. It was now enaded, that 
 there fhould be no purveyors but for the king and queen ; that the 
 odious name of purveyor fhould be laid afide, and that of buyer fubfti- 
 tuted for it f ; that ready money fhould be paid for all things taken for 
 the royal houfehold, and that the prices of them fliould be appraifed, 
 Except thofe of things for the ufe of the horfes, for which the buyers 
 were to agree with the fellers ; that commiflioners fhould be appointed 
 to infped the condud of the purveyors ; and that no chator (or pur- 
 veyor) for any fubjed fhould take any thing without the confent of the 
 owner. \^Stat. i, 36 Edw. Ill, cc. 1-6.] As the purveyors, or buyers, 
 made very lucrative jobs of their office ij:, it is probable that thefe laws 
 were no better obferved than the preceding ones on the fame fubjed : 
 and, indeed, the frequent repetitions of laws for the fame things fhows 
 plainly, that they were in genera] very inefficient. 
 
 The flatute of the fhaple having vefled the mayors and conftables of 
 the ftaples with jurifdidion in matters of felony, affaults, and trefpaffcs, 
 in their towns, it was thought proper, that they fhould only take cog- 
 nizance of debts and contrads between perfons who were known to be 
 merchants, and that criminal matters fhould be tried at common law, 
 as formerly ; only that alien merchants might flill, if they chofe it, 
 bring all caufes, whether civil or criminal, wherein they were any way 
 concerned, before the mayor of the flaple. It was alfo ordained, that 
 the king and other lords fliould enjoy all the privileges they had pof- 
 fefled before the ftatute of the flaples was enaded, except in pleas of 
 debt, which were referved to the jurifdidion of the mayor of the flaple, 
 whoever might be the parties. [Stat, i, 2^ Edw. Ill, c. 7.] 
 
 The liberty granted to all merchants to export wool was this year con- 
 firmed. \_Stat. r, 2,'^ Edw. Ill, c. 11.] 
 
 The prelates, lords, and commons, reprefented to the king, that many 
 people fufFered exceedingly from the laws being unknown, becaufe they 
 
 • If they were an independent community, up- + We know, that the purveyors of wine in the 
 
 on what principle could it be alleged, that they year 1369 were accufed of detaining cargoes of 
 
 had not a right to coin money ? wine, on pretence that they were taken for the 
 
 f New names do not change the nature of king, to the great difappointment of intending 
 
 things. How long the name of purveyor remain- purchafers, and damage of the owners, that they 
 
 ed profcribed, is perhaps unknown : but we fee it m ght make their own profit of them. \Scc AHsy 
 
 revived, and holding its place (I fuppofe, very in- 43 Edw. HI, c, 3. J 
 nocently ) in the modern Ufts of the royal houfehold.
 
 566 A. D. 1362. 
 
 were * pleaded, fliewed, and judged in the French tongue,' which was 
 little known in the kingdom, fo that the parties were ignorant of what 
 was faid in their own caufes by the lawyers in the courts ; and that the 
 laws ought in reafon to be exprelled in the language of the country, 
 agreeable to the pradlice of other nations, in order to enable the people 
 to know how to conduct themfelves. — It was ordained, that all pleadings 
 in courts fhould be in Englilh, but that they Jhoidd be inroUed in Latin; 
 and that the laws fliould be kept as they were before *. \_Stat. i , 36 
 Edw. Ill, c. 15.] 
 
 The parliament fixed the duty upon wool exported at ;^i : 6 : 8 per 
 fack, and fo to continue for three years. At the fame time duties were 
 alfo granted on wool-fells and hides. [Cotton's Abridgement, p. 94. — 
 Walfmgham, p. 179.] 
 
 Oftober 26"' — As if the enormous ranfom for the king and the ex- 
 penfe of the hoflages, all going out of Scotland without any return, had 
 not been fufficient to impoverilh that country, the bifhop of S'. Andrews, 
 feven earls and barons, one countefs, and nine burgefles and merchants 
 of Linlithgow, S". Andrews, Edinburgh, and Tinedale (one of whom, 
 however, is faid to be on the bufmefs of merchandizing) were all ftruck 
 with the frenzy of paying their devotions at the tomb of S'. Thomas at 
 Canterbury, for which purpofe each of them obtained a paflport from 
 King Edward. Some of them, whofe devotion to the martyr flill con- 
 tinued ardent, returned foon after with a new {hole of devotees to Can- 
 terbury ; and it is obfervable, that then, and afterwards, they were re- 
 llrained by the terms of their pafFports from carrying any Englifti horfes 
 to Scotland with them. So far was the king of Scotland from endea- 
 vouring to alleviate the mifery, his ranfom brought upon his fubjeds, 
 by a wife public economy, and the difcouragement of this ruinous 
 folly, that he himfelf, as long as he lived, was the mofl frequent vilitor 
 to S'. Thomas ; and, by his example, the people of all ranks in Scotland 
 continued many years infedted with the fame fuperftition. IFirdera, V. 
 
 vi, pp- 395. 4^7' 576. &c. 8cc,] 
 
 1363, March "i — The parliament having ordained * for the profit of 
 
 • the realm and eafe of merchants of England, that the ftaple of wool, 
 
 * wool-fells, and hides, fhould be held at Calais,' it now began to be 
 held there accordingly f . [A£is, 43 Ediv. HI, preamble.'] The king ap- 
 pointed twenty-fix principal merchants to have the cuflody of that town, 
 
 • By this law we learn that Englidi had been f In the parliament held in Oiloher 1 362 ' the 
 
 for a coiifidL-iablc time the predominant languajrc, * lords being required to fpeak what they thought 
 
 even among the higher clafles, in England. But ' of the repair of merchants to Callis, thought it 
 
 this law was as little within the comprchenfion of * good to have the fame done. But the com- 
 
 the great bulk of the people as all thofe which ' raons referred their anfwcr untill conference with 
 
 preceded it ; for it, and alfo all thofe after it, willi • the merchants.' \_Collon''s Ahr'ulgcmrvt of records, 
 
 very few exceptions, for above a century, were /). 92.] Tliis is a good inllance ot the ottcntioii 
 
 written in unknown language, generally French, of the reprefentatives to the commercial intercft* 
 
 cnly a very few being in Latin. of their conllitucnts.
 
 A. D. 1363. 567 
 
 each having under him fix armed men and four archers en the king's 
 pay. He appointed a mayor for the ftaple and another for the town. 
 Tiie impoft, called maletorth, payable to the king, was fixed at 20/", 
 and that payable to the merchant wardens at 3/4, for every facie of 
 wool. [Kriygblofi, col. 2626.] Thus were the flatute of the ftaple, and 
 all the vafl: multitude of regulations relating to it, rendered nugatory, 
 before they were fairly efl:abli{hed, and before the people concerned were 
 habituated to the arrangements proper for conducting their bufinefs with 
 propriety and advantage. 
 
 June 7'^ — It appears that Englifh cattle were a profitable article in 
 Flanders, as Andrew Deftrer of Bruges giternar (player on the guitar) 
 to the queen, obtained permiflion to carry over twenty-five oxen or 
 cows, without paying any duty. [Fardera, V. vi, p. 418.} 
 
 Odober — Some very extraordinary laws were now enaded. The par- 
 liament, after fetting forth that many merchants, by undue arts and 
 combinations, and by means of their fraternities and gilds, had en- 
 grofi^ed all kinds of goods, which they kept up, till they could fell them 
 at enormous prices, ordained that every merchant or fhopkeeper fhould 
 make his eledion before Candlemas of one particular kind of goods, 
 and ihould be allowed till the 24'" of June to difpofe of his other goods 
 on hand, after which time he fliould deal in the one kind chofen by 
 him, and no other. Artificers were in like manner tied down to one 
 occupation, with an exception in favour of female brewers, bakers, 
 weavers, fpinfters, and other women employed upon works in wool, 
 linen, or filk, in embroidery, &c. * [Stat. 37 Edw. Ill, cc. 5, 6.} 
 
 Goldfmiths were ordered to make their work of fl:andard quality, and 
 to ftamp it with their own marks in addition to the eflayer's flamp. 
 Thofe who made filver work, were prohibited from gilding. [Stat. 27 
 Edw. Ill, c. 7.] 
 
 Luxury being come to a great height, the parliament took the trouble 
 to prefcribe a fcale of viduals and clothing for the various members of 
 the community, regulated by the rank, fortune, or profeflion, of each 
 
 * If this aft had been in the language of the In the piogrefs of improvement artificers have 
 
 country, we fliould have feen breiujhr, bakjler, found it expedient to fubdivide their employments, 
 
 -weljler, the termination _/<•/• fignifying a woman and reftriift thcmfelvtf, each to a particular branch, 
 
 (not a man) who brews, bakes, weaves, &c. as I not for the purpofe of preventing combinations, 
 
 have obferved in another work. When men be- but for a facility in carrying every particular 
 
 gan to invade thofe departments of indullry by branch to the greater perfedlion by attending to 
 
 which women ufed to earn an honeft livelihood, one only. Thus does trade, in procefs of time, 
 
 they retained the feminine appellations (as men- regulate itfelf, far better than the interference of 
 
 midwives and men-milliners do now) for fome any legiflature can ever do. He was a wile man, 
 
 time: but afterwards mafculine words drove the who, being afced by the prime miniller ot Fiance,, 
 
 feminine ones out of the language, as the men had what the merchants wilhed him to do for the be- 
 
 driven the women out of the employments. Spin- nefit of commerce, anfwered him with this (hort 
 
 fter Hill retains its genuine termination ; and the and pithy fentence, ' Laijffx, nous fain,' leave ua 
 
 language of the law feems to prefume, that every to ourfelves. 
 unmarried woman is indufliioufly employed in 
 fpinning. *
 
 558 A, D. 1363. 
 
 individual. Plougbmen and others employed in country work, and 
 people not pollelling property to the value of 40/", were to clothe them- 
 ielves in blanket and ruflet lawn. Servants of lords, tradefmen, and 
 artifl^ns, were allowed cloth of the value of £1 : 6 : S per piece. Arti- 
 ficers and yeomen might give £2 for their piece of cloth. Gentlemen 
 having /^loo a-year, and merchants and tradefmen worth ^500 of clear 
 property, might wear cloth of ^3 per piece. Gentlemen having ^200 
 a-year, and people in trade worth above /^i ,000, were only intitled to 
 cloth of £^ : 6 : 8. But knights having 200 marks of income might be- 
 ftovv £4. for their piece of cloth : and thofe having above 400 marks 
 a-year might wear whatever they chofe, except ermine. The clergy 
 were to have their cloth equal to that of the laity of the fame income. 
 And all women were to drefs in proportion to the incomes of their 
 hufbands, fathers, &c. But it would be too tedious to go into the mi- 
 nutiffi of thefe fhort-lived and futile regulations, efpecially thofe for the 
 drefTes and trinkets of the women. We learn by them, that veils were 
 •worn, even by the wives and daughters of fervants, who were not al- 
 lowed to give more than twelve pennies for them. [Stat. 37 EJiv. Ill, 
 cc. 8-14.] We are told that the plunder brought from France furnifhed 
 the materials of a great part of the extravagance now complained of, 
 and an infectious example for the reft of it. \JValftngham, p. 168.] 
 
 Thefe regulations were immediately followed by another, worthy to 
 accompany them. The clothiers were ordered to make a fufficient 
 quantity of cloth of the feveral prices required ; and the ftiopkeepers were 
 ordered to provide a proper ftock of them to fupply the demand. [Slat. 
 37 Edw. Ill, c. 15.] This law, however, feems to infer, that there was 
 now a fufficient quantity of cloth made in England to fupply every 
 confumer, except thofe of the higheft clafles, whofe number being 
 fmall, their confumption of foreign-made cloth could have no influence 
 in depreffing the home manufadure. 
 
 This year the king commanded, that no man fhould export cloth, 
 butter, cheefe, flieep, malt, or beer. But the German merchants might 
 export worfteds and ftreight cloths, and thofe of Gafcoigne might carry 
 woollen cloths to the value of the wines imported by them. [Cotton's 
 Ahridgenmit , p. 96.] In the following year feveral licences were grant- 
 ed for exporting cloths ; and the merchants of Bofton, in particular, 
 were allowed to export wooled, fliort, and ftreight (perluaps narrow), 
 cloths*. \Rot. pat. prim, ■^'i Edw. Ill, mm. i, 2, 5, 17.] From theie 
 prohibitions and limited permiftions it may be inferred, that Englifti 
 cloth was already in great demand abroad. Probably the quantity made 
 in Flanders was now diminiflicd in confequence of more Englifti wool 
 being worked up at home than formerly. 
 
 a • • Paiinos lanutos, curtos, et ftrI£lo9.'
 
 A. D. 1363, 569 
 
 November 27'h — King Edward having renounced his pretenfions to 
 the kingdom of France, and finding his purchafe of the kingdom of 
 Scotland from his va(T:d Balliol as ineffectual as his attempts to fubdue it 
 by force, bethought himfelf of another method of acquiring that king- 
 dom. Before King David was born, the parliament of Scotland had 
 fettled the fucceflion of the crown on the heirs male of King Robert, 
 and, failing them, on Robert Stewart the fon of his deceafed daughter. 
 David's wife had lately died without having ever born a child, and, as 
 often happens, he was not upon friendly terms with his declared fuc- 
 ceflbr. Such being the lituation of the royal family of Scotland, and 
 the country groaning under the preffure of the king's ranfom, Edward 
 thought it a favourable opportunity for perfuading David to confent, 
 that, failing male * ifTue of himfelf, he, or his fucceffors, kings of Eng- 
 land, fhould fucceed to the kingdom of Scotland. In order to fweeten 
 the propofal to the king, the nobles, and people, of Scotland, he offered 
 to remit the whole balance, then unpaid, of the ranfom (30,000 marks 
 were now paid) ; to reftore Berwick, Rokfburgh, Jedburgh, and Loch- 
 maben, with their annexed diftrids, immediately to the Scots ; to re- 
 ftore, or compenfate, to David the greateft part of the lands belonging 
 to his anceftors in England ; to make fimilar reftitution to Douglas (a 
 powerful earl in Scotland) and to the abbays and other religious founda- 
 tions ; to take upon himfelf to fatisfy fome Englifla barons for their 
 claims upon eftates in Scotland ; to fwear that the king of England and 
 Scotland fhould never alienate nor divide the later kingdom ; to pre- 
 ferve the antient laws and ufages of the kingdom ; and to condud the 
 government entirely by the adminiftration of natives of the country, 
 and by parliaments to be held in Scotland ; to lay no new impofitions, 
 prifes, tallages, or exactions, befides thofe which were eftablifhed in the 
 times of the good kings of Scotland; that the Scottifh merchants fhould 
 ufe their own franchifes in trade, without being under any compulfion 
 to go to Calais or any other place but at their own pleafure, and they 
 iliould pay no more than half a mark for every fack of wool to the 
 
 great cuflom f . [Ft^dera, V. vi, p. 426.] Such was the fketch of a 
 
 treaty talked over by the privy counfelors of the two kings in their 
 prefence at London, and approved of by them both. But David, hav- 
 ing already raifed an infurrection againft himfelf by propofmg to his 
 parliament to appoint Lionel, the fecond furviving fon of Edward, to 
 be his fucceflbr in cafe of his death without iflue, was now more cau- 
 
 * The word male is kept out of fight \n the be- to be liable to pay the much-heavier duty then 
 
 pliiiiing of the i'cheme ; but it appears in the con- paid upon wool in England. In a propofed treaty, 
 
 clufion of it. lomewhat fimilar, in the year 1290, when there 
 
 ■\ Abercromby and Lord Hailes give dlfTerent was a profpeft of uniting the two kingdoms by a 
 
 cxpofitions of this article. I prefame, that half marriage, there was not a word of the commerce 
 
 a mark per fack was the antient duty on wool ex- or merchants of either kingdom. \_FaMra, V. ii, 
 
 ported from Scotland, and that the Scots were not p. 482.3 
 
 Vol. L . 4 C
 
 ^yo A, D. 1363. 
 
 tious : and it appears, that he never favv any profped of obtaining the 
 confent of his fubjeds, exafperated by the miferies of an age of war- 
 fare, to an union with their inveterate enemies ; and therefor he care- 
 fully kept the fcheme (for it was exprefsly declared to be no more) a 
 dead fecret *. Certain it is, that, under more aufpicious circumftances, 
 fuch an union might have been acceptable, and have greatly accelerat- 
 ed the improvement of agriculture and manufadures in both kingdoms, 
 efpecially Scotland, and would have enabled Great Britain much fooner 
 to aflTume a pre-eminent rank among the kingdoms of Europe. 
 
 The equitable mode of repairing the roads by funds raifed from tolls, 
 collected from thofe who ufed them, was now fo far eftabliflied, that we 
 find, befides the renewals of the tolls for the Wcftminfter road almofl 
 annually, tolls granted this year for the road between Highgate and 
 Smithfield, for that from Wooxbridge (Uxbridge) by A6ton to London, 
 and for the venel called Fay tor (Fetter) lane in Holburn. [Rot. pat. fee. 
 37 Edw. Ill, mm. 25, 44, 47.] 
 
 It may be proper to obferve, as a proof that fome of the citizens of 
 London were already very opulent, that Henry Picard, who had been 
 mayor fome years before, made a magnificent entertainment this year 
 at his own houfe in the Vintry, to which he invited his fovereign the 
 king of England, the kings of France, Scotland, and Cyprus, (all three 
 then vifitors at the court of England) the prince of Wales, and many 
 of the nobility ; his wife at the fame time giving another entertainment 
 in her apartments, I prefume, to the ladies. According to the cuftom 
 of the age, Picard prefented rich gifts to the king, the nobles, and 
 knights, who dined with him f . [5/oty'j- Annoles, p. 415, ed. 1600.] 
 
 1364, January — The experiment of compelling the people to feed 
 and clotl)e themfelves according to a prefcribed ftandard of rank and 
 fortvme was found not to anfwer expectation, and the ads ordaining it 
 were repealed. The other ftrange law, reftriding merchants or {hop- 
 keepers to one fingle article of merchandize, was aUb abrogated ; and all 
 merchants, aliens &r denizens, were allowed to buy and fell all kinds of 
 goods, and to export them on paying the cuftoms, except that Englifh 
 merchants were now again prohibited from exporting wool and wool- 
 fells. All perfons were again prohibited from carrying abroad any gold 
 or filver, excepting (as before) the fiflaermen who fold nothing but fifh. 
 {Stat. 1, 38 Edw.. Illy cc. 2, 6.] 
 
 * And it remained unknown to all the In'ftori- when he was mayor ; but 1363 was the year of 
 
 ans of England and Scotland, and utterly forgot- the vilitatlon of the kings. — In the year 1350 
 
 ten, till it was publilhed by Rymtr in the year Henry Picard and another perfon were appointed 
 
 J •727. by the king to make an inquiry concerning a Ge- 
 
 f Stow tells us that Picard, having won fifty noelc veffLi ; and in 1339 he and Hiigli de Wich- 
 
 marks from the king of Cyprus at play, reftorcd ingham lent the king 15,000 marks. \_Fa(laa, 
 
 ihcm to him, and gave gifts to his retinue. Stow y.s\, p. Ci^l.—Rut. put. ftc. 33 Ediu. Ill, m. 14.}; 
 but dated the entertainment in the year 1357, *
 
 A. D. i^r^. 571 
 
 • It was enaded, that a veflel fhould not be liable to feizure for a little 
 thing put onboard, without paying cuftom, unknown to the owner. 
 [Stat. I, 38 Edw. Ill, c. 8.] It is evident that the want of precifion in 
 this law (as indeed in mofl others of the age) left it in the breafl of the 
 judge to acquit or condemn any veflel, juft as he chofe to call the thing 
 fmuggled a little thing or a great thing. 
 
 That there might be the greater plenty of wine in the country, the 
 king allowed all denizens, except artificers, to bring wine from Gaf- 
 coigne, as well as the Gafcons and other aliens. \Stat. i, 38 Edw, III, 
 
 c. II.] 
 
 1365, May 20"* — A (hip belonging to the bifhop of Aberdeen, having 
 been left at anchor with only two men onboard, had been driven out to 
 fea, and put into Yarmouth, where the admiral feized her as a wreck. 
 On complaint being made to King Edward, he ordered the admiral to 
 reflore the veflel, which could not be adjudged to be wreck when there 
 was any living animal onboard, and much lefs being in the charge of 
 two men. [Fcedera, V. vi, />, 462.] 
 
 July 28''' — The king, obferving that many of the clergy and laity 
 carried great fums of money out of the kingdom, by bills of exchange, 
 and by way of advance, in merchandize, in coin, and by many other 
 fubterfuges, without obtaining his licence, fent orders to many of the 
 great officers of his foreign dominions to make flirid: fearch by day and 
 by night, and to flop all perfons having money, bullion, bills of ex- 
 change, 8tc. except known merchants ; and to make all mariners and 
 merchants arriving from England fwear, that they had no money, bul- 
 lion, or bills of exchange, except for the purpofes of their lawful trade. 
 \Fcsdera, V. vi, p. 475.] As the balance of trade is known to have 
 been favourable to England at this time, thefe prohibitions, and very 
 laborious and expenfive watchings, fliow clearly, that, though fome re- 
 mittances were made by bills of exchange, the fcience of negotiating 
 them, and, indeed, all other commercial fcience, was fcarcely known, 
 at leaft in England. 
 
 The number of perfons at this time in England, poflefllng property 
 to the value of thirty pennies in cattle *, was only Jortj-eigbt thoufand, 
 if we may venture to take it from the collection of S'. Peter's pennies, 
 amounting only to 300 marks, which the king this year took to him- 
 felf. [Slaw's Annales, p. 420.] 
 
 * Stow fays, ' All that had 30 penny woorth of -his houfe. Earlier defcriptions may be fcen in the 
 
 ' goods, of one manner cattel in their houfe of Saxon laws, and Spelman's explanations of them 
 
 • their own proper.' — The fenfe cf this is rather in his Concilia and his Glofary : but this is the 
 
 obfcure : but It may perhaps be explained from latelt I find, for I do not know whence Stow hai 
 
 Knyghton's dcfcription \_coI. 2356] of the perfons taken the paflage, which 1 have here quoted from 
 
 liable to pay S,. Peter's penny in the reign of the him, and given on the farth of his general inte- 
 
 Conqueror, viz. every perfon having the value of grity. 
 thirty pennies of live money (flaves and cattle) in 
 
 4G 2
 
 572 A D. 1365. 
 
 From the account of Bartholemew Glantville * \T)e propridatibus rerum, 
 L. vi, cc. 12, 16, ed. 1481] we find, that flavery ftill remained with all 
 its rigours in England ; the child of a female flave was a Have ; fhe was 
 debarred from marrying without the confent of her proprietor ; and a 
 free man by marrying a flave reduced himfelf to the ftate of flavery. 
 All flaves were fold like any other living property. We find, however, 
 no accounts of flaves being imported or exported in this age. 
 
 After an interval of almofl: a century, a feeble attempt was made this 
 year by the king of Cyprus to renew the holy war. He took Alexand- 
 ria, and after keeping pofliflion of it four days, burnt the greatefl; part 
 of it, and, underflanding that the enemy were approaching in great 
 forcfe, went off with a great deal of plunder, confifting of cloth of gold, 
 filk, and other pretious articles, which his foldiers, among whom there 
 were fome Engliftimen and Gafcons, proudly exhibited as trophies of 
 their valour in their own countries. But in confequence of the de- 
 llruftion made by thofe marauders, the price of fpices was raifed in all 
 the wefl:ern parts of the world. The crufade, undertaken on pretence 
 of religion, being thus found defl:ruclive of commerce, the Venetians 
 who were moreover fuffering from the refentment and revenge of the 
 Egyptians, perfuaded the king of Cyprus to negotiate a peace, in which 
 the recovery of the Holy land was entirely loft fight of. The war was 
 foon renewed by the turbulent king of Cyprus, who interefted the pope 
 in his caufe fo far as to attempt to ftir up fome of the princes of Europe 
 to renew the folly of the preceding century. But his holinefs, finding 
 he could not prevail with any of them to take the crofs, perfuaded the 
 king of Cyprus to feek for peace, which he obtained. [Fcedera, V. vi, p. 
 533. — A?ion. Vit. Edw. Ill, p. 430. — Walfingham, p. 180 — De Guignes, en 
 Mem. de Utter ature, V. xxxvii, p. 513.] 
 
 We are told, that fome navigators of Dieppe in Normandy this year 
 (or the year before) difcovered the coaft of Africa as far as the River 
 Senegal, v/here they formed a fettlement, and obtained fome articles of 
 African produce, which they had formerly received by the way of 
 Alexandria. The difcoverers admitted feveral merchants of Rouen to 
 flia-re with them in the African trade ; and in the year 1 366 the enlarged 
 company fitted out feveral veflTels, and fettled fadlories on the Rivers 
 Niger f and Gambia, at Sierra Leona, &c. In 1382 they built the fort 
 De la Mine d'or on the coaft of Guinea, and afterwards thofe of Acora, 
 Cormentin, and others : and they went on very profperoufly till the 
 year 1392, when the civil wars, cogether with mifmanageinent among 
 
 * Better known by the name of Baitholomxus known better liimfdf, render it often doubtful, 
 
 Angliciis. His book upon the properties of thiugs whether the manners he dcfcribes are thofe of his 
 
 is a kind of fummary of the knowlege of tlie age, own age or not. 
 
 in the manner of Ifidorc. It ib a pity, tliat his •(■ Rather tlic river which ufed to be fuppofed 
 
 very frequent quotations from anticnt autliors, and the mouth of the l>Jiger. 
 chiefly from llidore, for what lie ought to liavc
 
 A. D. 1365. 573 
 
 themfelves, brought on their ruin and the lofs of all their fettle- 
 ments, except the one on the Niger. Thefe eftabliftiments (if they were 
 unqueflionably authenticated) might be confidered as a renovation of 
 the antient commerce carried on by the Carthaginians on the African 
 coaft, and the firfl: rudiments of the difcoveries, which, extending along 
 the whole coaft of that continent, and at length to India, entirely un- 
 hinged the fyftem of antient commerce, and paved the way to thofe 
 mighty revolutions which have affeded the whole furface of the globe *.. 
 [See De Guignes, en Mem. de lilteratu?-e, V. xxxvii,/)/>. 518-521.] 
 
 The Flemings, who knew, better than any other people in the weft 
 parts of Europe, how to turn all raw materials to the mofl profitable 
 ufes, this year (and probably long before and after) received rabbit flcins 
 from England, which, we may fuppofe, they made mto hats. {^Rot. pat. 
 prim. 39 Edw. Ill, 7n. 28.] 
 
 1367 — Some writers have thought it worth while to inform us, that 
 a thouland citizens of Genoa, all drefled in filk, welcomed the pope to 
 their city, when he Hopped there in his way from Avignon to Rome : 
 and the exhibition of fo much finery is adduced as a proof of the great 
 opulence of the city f . 
 
 May 1 5'" It is worthy of notice, that Galeaz, lord of Milan, offer- 
 ed his fecond daughter in marriage to Lionel, the fecond furviving fon 
 of King Edward, and to give, as her portion, lands in Piedmont of the 
 annual value of 24,000 gold florins (then equal to three ihillings fter- 
 ling each) together with 100,000 in ready money ; or, if it were more 
 agreeable to the king and his fon to have all money, he offered to give 
 250,000 gold florins, befides furnifhing his daughter magnificently with 
 dreffes and jewels, and even furniture, and conduding her and the mo- 
 
 * ' The ivory brought from the Tooth coaft by and Carthage enjoyeJ thtir fecret trades to the 
 ' the merchants of Dieppe gave birth to the works Caffiterides and the African coaft. 
 ' in ivory, by which that town was enriched as f Quere, if not rather a proof that l,OCO 
 ' long as the ware continued to be eftecmed by the dretfes of filk appeared in tlie eye of the writer a 
 ' pubHc' \_Spc9acle de la Nature, Fl iv, jt). 429, veiy extraordinary difplay of magnifcence ? When 
 ed. 1739.] — Notwitiiftanding the very refpeiflabie filk was more worn by the ladies of this country 
 authority of De Guignes, the author of the Spec- than it is at prefent, would it have been vi'orthy 
 tacle de la Nature, &c. the whole hillory of the of notice, even in a newfpaper, that 1,000 ladies 
 French colonies on the African coaft is contro- appeared in filk gowns in Hyde park or Kenfing- 
 verted ; and it is generally aflerted, that no Eu- ton gardens ? Neither was the difplay of filk be- 
 lopcan ever failed beyond Barbary before the Por- yond fome others of much earlier ages. In the 
 tuguefe. It is faid that the Portuguefe kept their year II30 all the attendants at the coronation din- 
 difcoveries as fecret as pofTible ; but, admitting the ner of Roger king of Sicily were drefled in iilk. 
 authenticity of the French difcoveries, the fecret \^A'ex. Tenec. ap. Muratori Script. V. v, col. 622.] 
 of them muft have been much better preferved, as Sicily, it is true, was then a chief feat of the filji 
 it fcems pretty certain that the Portuguefe had no manufadlure. But even in the remote ifland cf 
 knowlege of any voyages made by the French to Great Britain the difplay of fdk and other finery 
 the coall of Africa previous to their own. But a at the marriage of Alexander III king of Scot- 
 continuation of a fecret trade for above a hundred land to the daughter of Henry III king of Eng- 
 years was not fo prafticable in the fourteenth and land in the year 1251 (See above, p. 4C0) was ra- 
 fifteenth centurief, as when the Phoenicians of Gadir ther fuptrior to this boafted exhibition of Gciio-* 
 
 the Stately. 4
 
 f;^4 A. D. 1367. 
 
 ney to Calais at his own expenfe. The bargain was ftruck for the landt 
 and 100,000 florins. [Fadera, V. vr, pp. 547, 564] We have here a 
 notable proof of the vaftnefs of the mafs of the pretious metals circul- 
 ating in Italy at this time, the fruit of flourifhing commerce and ma- 
 nufadures : for it is idle to fuppofe, tliat any great proportion of the 
 wealth of Italy could be acquired by the trade of lending money upon 
 ufury or intereft, as fome have aflerted. Produdive induftry mufl ne- 
 cefTarily provide the funds for the payment of intereft, which, unlefs 
 in the cafe of intereft paid by the ftate, and provided for by national 
 eftates or taxes *, is truely a participation of profits between the pro- 
 prietor of the capital and the adual condudor of the bufinefs fupported 
 by that capital. 
 
 June i" King Edward licenced a German merchant to import eight 
 
 horfes from Flanders, and to fell them for his beft advantage in Eng- 
 land, or to carry them to any other country, except Scotland, to which 
 he did not allow any horfes to be taken out of England f . [Fadtra, V. 
 vi, p. 566.] 
 
 The parliament of Scotland had in the preceding year ordered the 
 money of the kingdom to be coined of the fame quality and weight 
 with that of England, viz. twenty-five fliillings out of the pound of 
 ftandard filver. But this year, confidering the fcarcity of filver money, 
 and thinking, according to the ftrange erroneous notion of the age, that 
 it was in their power to increafe the quantity of it, merely by diminifti- 
 ing its intrinfic value, they ordered that the pound of filver fliould be 
 coined into twenty-nine fhillings and four pennies, or rather (as there 
 were no fuch coins as fliillings) into 352 pennies, pennies with their 
 halves and quarters, together with fome groats and half groats, being 
 hitherto the only filver coins ftruck either in Scotland or in England. 
 They alfo ordered that no perfon, whether native or foreigner, ftiould 
 carry any money of gold X or filver out of the kingdom, except what 
 might be fufficient for his neceflary expenfes, without paying a duty of 
 
 * IntereR arifing from national eftates or taxes X I' '^ geneially agreed, tliat no gold money 
 
 does not crirlcU the comnMinity, as it only transfers was coined in Scotland before the reign of Ro- 
 
 moiiey from one hand to another, generally within btrt II, the fucceflor of David II. if the Iaw« 
 
 the fame territory. But manufaftures and com- of David II, pulililhed by Skene, were unquellion- 
 
 mercc enrich the country by money drawn from ably genuine, here would be a proof, or at lealt a 
 
 foreigners; and of the wealth fo acquiied, this ftrong prtfumption, that he coined gold. — But the 
 
 marriage portionl and the one given by the duke laws are not to be depended upou ; and I even 
 
 of Brabant to King Edward in the year 1339, are hcfitate in tranfcribing the regulations concerning 
 
 illuftrious examples and proofs. the Scott ifh money, though fiipported by the ex- 
 
 + When Lionel went from England to marry ample of the diligent and accurate Ruddiman. 
 
 the daughter of Galeae, he took with him 1,280 Sec his learned Preface to Amieifms D':plomata et 
 
 hoifts though he nad only 547 men, and was go- tiumifmuta Scoliit. The anllent laws ol Scotland 
 
 ing to I.ombardy, a country from which England Rand much in need of a new edition ; but the 
 
 ufcd to import horfes. On that occafion the king work ou^ht to be undertaken by an editor, very 
 
 alfo fent fome horfes as a prefent to Galtaz. [Fad- different in knowlegc »nd induftry from Skene. 
 
 era, V. vi,/. 590 Mad'jxs MS. Coll. F. i./- 63, 
 
 IB Muf. Brit.^
 
 A. D. 1367. 575- 
 
 half a mark for every pound (or i6j per cent), the duty impofed in the 
 year 1347 being thus lowered to one half: but foreigners were permit- 
 ted to carry away the money brought by themfelves without paying any 
 duty. They alfo further enforced the duties, formerly impofed, of forty 
 pennies in the pound on the price of horfes, and twelve pennies on that 
 of oxen and cows* carried out of the country : and they made fome re- 
 gulations refpeding the payment for things taken for the royal houfe- 
 hold, fimilar to thofe lately enadled in England. {^Siat. Dav. II, cc. 37, 
 38, 46. 48, 49, 52.] 
 
 1368, Januai-y — That the armourers of England were fupcrior to thofe 
 of Scotland, and probably alfo to thofe of fome other countries, appears 
 from the petitions of two Scottifh gentlemen to King Edward for leave 
 to purchafe armour in London for a duel, which they were engaged to 
 fight in Scotland. Their petitions were granted : but fo much was arm- 
 our an objed: of the jealous attention of government, that the various 
 pieces they were permitted to buy were carefully fpecified. Further 
 proofs of the fuperiority of the armour, and of the jealouly. of govern- 
 ment refpe6ling it, alfo appear in fome of the pallports granted to Scot- 
 tifh travelers in England, wherein they are charged to curry no armour 
 out of the country. [Fcedera, V. vi, pp. 582, 583, 584, &c.] 
 
 May I'-' — ^The permiflion, lately granted to the Engliih to import wine 
 from Gafcoigne, was now revoked ; and they were not even allowed to 
 bargain for any wine, till after it was landed by the foreign importer. 
 [A6is^ 42 Edw. Ill, c. 8.] As the natives of England were now de- 
 barred from exporting wool and wool-fells, and from- importing wine, 
 the chief articles of the trade of the country, we need not wonder, that 
 they looked upon foreign merchants with an evil eye. I believe, no 
 writer has ever attempted to account for thefe extraordinary prohibi- 
 tions, fo glaringly and diametrically oppolite to the moft obvious prin- 
 ciples of commercial policy and common fenfe. 
 
 May 4'" — King Edvv^ard took under his protedion John Uneman, Wil- 
 liam Uneraan, and John Lietuyt, clock-makers from Delf, who pro- 
 pofed to carry on their bufinefs in England : and he ordered all his fub- 
 jeds to proted and defend them from all injuries *. {Fasdera, V. vi, p. 
 
 May 24''' — The king had promiied by a charter to the burgefles of 
 Berwick upon Tweed, that they fhould be governed by the fame laws 
 and cuftoms, which had been eftablilhed in the reign of Alexander king 
 of Scotland. On their complaint of encroachments upon their rights, 
 he ordered his warden and chamberlain of that town to pay due atten- 
 tion to the laws of Scotland, and regulate their proceedings by them, 
 
 * Thefe were probably the firft profeffed clock, chanifm in the beginning of this reig.n (fee above, 
 makers in England. Wallingford, abbat of S'. j». 503) was a volunteer artift. 
 Albans, who conllruded a wonderful piece of rao
 
 ^76 A. D. 1368. 
 
 agreeable to his charter. But his order was not obeyed ; for the fame 
 complaint, and the fame order, were repeated a year after. [Fcedera, 
 F. vi.//-. 593, 620.] 
 
 November 20'" — In a treaty of alliance between Charles, king of 
 France, and Henry, the new king of Caflile, the later engaged to con- 
 tribute, and keep at fea, twice as many gallies as France, to ad againfl 
 England. [Fcedera, V. \i,pp. 598, 622.] Though the war was chiefly 
 on Henry's account, in confequence of the afTiftance given by the prince 
 of Wales to Peter the Cruel, we {hall, perhaps, not err very much, if 
 we fuppofe that Caftile had twice as much trade and navigation as 
 France. 
 
 1369, March 20'!= — King Edward, underftanding that fome artificers 
 refufed to work for the wages appointed by him and his council, order- 
 ed the keepers of the peace and the fhirrefs to punifh all recufant arti- 
 ficers, and alfo all employers who gave any more than the limited wages. 
 [Fcedera, V. vi, />. 615.] 
 
 May 10''' — The merchants and other people of Flanders and Lom- 
 bardy being injured andiniulted in London, the king declared, that they 
 were under his protedion, and that the kingdom was benefited by 
 them ; and he commanded, that all who molefiied them (hould be im- 
 prifoned. \Fcedera, V. vi, p. 618.] 
 
 Summer — In confequence of the renewal of the war with France, it 
 was thought unfafe to continue the ftaple for wool, wool-fells, and hides, 
 any longer at Calais : and therefor the king and parliament ordained, 
 that fl:aples for thofe articles fhould be held at Newcaftle, Kingfi:on upon 
 Hull, Bofton, Yarmouth, Queenburgh, We{lminfi;er, Chichefter, Win- 
 chefter, Exeter, and Brift;ol, and alio in thofe towns in Ireland and 
 Wales, wherein they had formerly been*. All merchants, denizens or 
 aliens, were permitted freely to go over all the country to buy and fell 
 all kinds of goods, carrying the Itaple articles to the fl;aple towns, there 
 to be weighed, cocketed, and cufiomed, and the facks of wool to be 
 fealed by the mayor of the fi;aple of the place. The fl;aple goods of 
 Weflminfl:er and Winchefier were obliged, as formerly, to undergo a 
 fecond weighing at London and Southampton, the ports of (hipping. 
 Alien merchants were at liberty to carry their merchandize to any port 
 whatever : but denizens were not permitted to export any ftaple goods 
 on pain of forfeiture of veflel and cargo, befides imprifonment for three 
 years. \Stat. 43 Fdw. Ill, preamble, and c. i.] 
 
 Though it was alleged that the law for allowing foreigners only to im- 
 port wines was found advantageous to all the kingdom, neverthelefs, as 
 the prince of Wales, who was alfo prince of Aquitaine (or Gafcoigne), 
 complained, that his revenue was impaired by the abfence of the Englilh 
 
 * 
 
 Stow [yf/;«/7/i-j-,/. 423] mentions only Q^ecn- fcrvcd that Sir Robert Cotton \_Mri,!^_iiiunt, f. 
 burgh, Kiiigfton upon I^ull, and Bolloii, I'.s tie no] notes the printed a(fl as varying nnitli from 
 ilaplcs urdaiucJ by patliamtnt : and it m;iy Le ol- the original record.
 
 A. D. 1369. .577 
 
 buyers of wiiie> and great quantities of wine remained unfold, it was 
 now enaded, that any native of England, Ireland, or Wales, not being 
 an artificer, might go to Gafcoigne to buy wines, on finding fecurity to 
 the magiftrates of the port of departure, that he would buy at leafl: one 
 hundred tuns of wine, and carry them to no other country but his own, 
 on pain of forfeiture of veflel and cargo, befides imprilbnment. [Stat. 
 43 Edzv. HI, c. 2.] 
 
 A war, almofl entirely maritime, between Waldemar king of Den- 
 mark and the citizens of the Hanfe towns was this year concluded. By 
 the treaty of peace Waldemar agreed to put into their hands the towns 
 of Helfingburg, Malmog, Schanore, and Falfterbo, being almoft the 
 whole of Schonen, for fifteen years, during which they were to enjoy 
 the revenues as a compenfation for the injuries done to them by him *, 
 [Pontani Rer. Dan. Hijl. L. vni, p. 499.] Thus was the dominion of the 
 Baltic fea evidently in the hands of the merchants of the Hanfe. 
 
 King Edward, having refumed the title of king of France, fent am- 
 bafladors to confirm the alliance with the earl and people of Flanders. 
 He alfo ordered all his fubjefts to be very careful in preferving the truce 
 between him and his fubjefts on the one part and his brother David of 
 Bruys of Scotland f and his fubjeds on the other part. The truce with 
 Scotland was foon after extended to fourteen years ; mutual liberty of 
 trade was confirmed, letters of fafe condud: being even declared unne- 
 cef&ry. [Faedera^ V. v\,pp. 624, 625, 632, 62,S'^ 
 
 1370, April 22" — The king alfo ordered his admirals to proteft all 
 Venetian fhips, carracks, and gallies, coming to England, provided the 
 Venetians gave no affiftance to his enemies, nor took their goods on 
 freight in order to fcreen them from capture. [^Fadera, V. vi, p. 6^^.'^ 
 
 Augufl; 4"' — By a new treaty, between King Edward and the earl and 
 people of Flanders, the Flemifh merchants, and all other merchants of 
 countries in amity with both parties, were permitted to trade as freely 
 as in time of peace. The Flemings engaged to carry no goods belong- 
 ing to the French or Spaniards, and to make no Frenchmen nor Span- 
 iards burgefi^es of their towns to enable them to fail with Flemifli papers. 
 All Flemifli vefl^ls {hould have clear papers exhibiting the contents of 
 their cargoes, the real proprietors or fliippers, and the intended port of 
 difcharge, attefled by the magiftrates of the port of departure and by 
 
 • Others fay, they were to have only two thirds of courting the friendniip of David ?.t this time, 
 of the revenues. Some date the commencement Edward could not End ii: his heart to give hira hi* 
 of the Hanfeatic league from the beginning of this proper title oi king of Scotland, nor even any of 
 war. So very uncertain is Hanfeatic hiftory ; and tliofe additions which were ufupUy given to princes 
 therefor I truft the judicious reader will not blame of rank inferior to royalty. In like manner Rich- 
 me for giving fewer particulars of it than Mr. ard II refufed the title of king to his mojt dear 
 Anderfon has done. I am not quite fo well af- father of France, whole infant daughter wjs mar- 
 lured, as I wifh to, be^ of the authenticity of fome ried to him. See Fadtra, V. vi, f. 756 ; F. vii 
 parts of their hjftovy which I have admitted. pajjlm in A. D, 1396, S5°f. 
 
 f Notwithftanding the ftrong poHtical necefiity 
 
 Vol. I. 4 D
 
 578 A. D. 1370. 
 
 the earl. The Flemings alfo engaged to carry no armour, artillery, or 
 ftores, to the king's enemies, [Fa^dera, V. \i, p. 659.] From this treaty 
 we learn, that the expedient ufed by merchants and mariners for fcreen- 
 ing their property from capture, when their fovereigns engaged in war, 
 by becoming nominal denizens of neutral powers, is at leaft as old as 
 the year 1370. 
 
 1 371, January i'' — A (hip and two cogs or carracks, belonging to 
 Genoa, and loaded with merchandize belonging to Genoefe, Florentine, 
 Lucan, Venetian, and Valentine *, merchants, had been feized by the 
 Englilh in the years 1369 and 1370: and now the king ordered that 
 they {hould be reftored, and that each of the merchants fhould receive 
 the packages appearing by the marks to be his property. Soon after 
 (February 3'') the treaty with Genoa of the year 1347 was renewed, 
 and all damages and hoflilities on both lides were configned to oblivion, 
 the king adding, as a condition, that the Genoefe fliould give no aflifl:- 
 ance by land or fea to his enemies. It appears that 2,000 marks were 
 paid to the Genoefe in the following year by the king ; and at the fame 
 time a perpetual peace, or alliance, between England and Genoa on the 
 above terms was concluded, or confirmed (26"' January, 1372). \_Fa;d- 
 era, V. v\,pp. G6^^ 670, 673, 676, 679, 682, 706, 707.] 
 
 Lent — The parliament, apparently in confequence of the duty, in- 
 tended to defray the expenfe of guarding the fea, being impofed by 
 the king's authority, enaded, that any new impofition laid upon wool, 
 wool-fells, or hides, without their aflent, fhould be null. \Stat. 45 Fdw, 
 III,c.^.-\ 
 
 The commons reprefented in parliament, that fhips were often taken 
 up for the king long before they were wanted, and the merchants ruin- 
 ed by fupporting their feamen in idlenefs ; that by the merchants, the 
 fupporters of the navy, being fo often deprived of their fliips, the mar- 
 iners were driven into other trades ; and that the mailers of the king's 
 veflels took up (preffed) the maflers of other veflels, as good men as 
 themfelves, whereby the men were alfo obliged to feek other means of 
 living, and the fliips were rendered ufelefs ; and that by thefe means the 
 navy was reduced. [Co//o«'x Abridgement, p. 113.] 
 
 1372, February 7"" — Notwitliftanding this remonftrance, the king 
 iffued orders for all veffels in England and Wales to enter into his 
 fervice, and to affemble on or before the firft day of May in the har- 
 bours of Southampton, Portfmouth, Hamel in the Rys, and Hamel 
 Hoke, all on the coaft of Hamplhire oppofite to the Ille of Wight, 
 \FcEdera, V. vi, p. 708.] 
 
 April 7"" — A merchant of York obtained leave to fliip four pipes of 
 Rhenifh wine at York for Kingflon upon Hull, and thence to carry it 
 to Pruiria for fale,' he being bound to bring home wood for bows in re- 
 
 * Apparently of Valencia in Spain,
 
 A. D. 1372. 579 
 
 turn for the value of it. [^Fa;dera, V. vi, p. 718.] By this very circuit- 
 ous carriage we might fuppofe, that the merchants of England carried 
 on a mod adive foreign trade, when they would undertake to fupply the 
 Pruilians with wine, which grew in a country between themfelves and 
 York. But this was only a rare inftance for a particular purpofe. 
 
 May 24."" — The race of architeds, who ereded the magnificent ca- 
 thedrals and abbays in Scotland, the ruins of which are ccitemplated 
 even in the piefent day with reverence and admiration, feem to have 
 been extind at this time ; for we find, that fix men were licenced to go 
 from England to ered a tomb for David II, the deceafed king of Scot- 
 land ; and Scottilli agents were licenced to travel through England on 
 their way to the continent to procure a Hone (moft probably a flab of 
 marble) for it, which, we thus fee, could not be procured in all Great 
 Britain*. {Fasdera, V. v\, p. 721 ; V. vu,p. 10.] 
 
 There were two confiderable naval engagements this year. In the 
 firfl the Englifli fought with the Flemings, without knowing whom they 
 were engaged with, as it is faid, and took twenty-five of their veflels, 
 loaded with fait f. The other battle was fought before Rochelle (23** 
 June) with the Caftilians, who by the fuperior bulk of their vefiels, and 
 alfo by the execution of fome cannon, now for the firfl; time (as far as 
 we know) ufed at fea, had fuch a fuperiority, that, after fighting almofl; 
 two days, the moft of the Englifli veflels were burnt, funk, or taken. 
 [Anoti. Hijl. Edw. Ill, p. 438, ed. Hearne. — Froi/fart, L. i, cc. 302-304, — 
 Murim . Contin .p. 127.] 
 
 July 19"' — In a league ofFenfive and defenfive between King Edward 
 ^nd his fon-in-law, the duke of Bretagne, reciprocal freedom of inter- 
 courfe upon land and water, and free trade in all parts of both coun- 
 tries, were ftipulated. [Fcedera, V. y'\, pp. 738, 750.] 
 
 It is worthy of notice, as illuftrative of the growth and progreflive 
 profperity ef the great commercial capital of the Britifh empire, that 
 at this time at leafl: twenty of the houfes in Burcher (Birchouer or 
 Birchin) lane, in the very heart of the city, came under the defcrip- 
 tion of cottages, and under that denomination were conveyed to S'. 
 Thomas's holpital in Southwark. [^Rot. pat. 46 Edtu. Ill, rn. 2.] It may 
 be aUb obferved, that about this time Ihops m London appear to have 
 been detached and i'eparate tenements, or at leaft feparate properties, un- 
 conneded with houfes J, as they are at this day in feveral cities and. towns. 
 
 ■ * The mountnitis of marble in Scotland were, upon the citiiens of Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, 
 
 it feenis, unknown to the king and his minifters. without regarding the king of France or even their 
 
 Yet marble is mentioned among the productions of own earl, accommodated matters with the Englifli, 
 
 Scotland by Fordun, [Z,. ii, c. 8] who furvived \Vhom they confidcrcd as their beft friends and al- 
 
 King David but a few years. lies, connected with them by the mutual benefits 
 
 f This fecms the fame battle, v/hich Meyer, of dayly commercial intercourfe. 
 t?ie annalift of Flanders, dates in 1371'. He fays, J Of many documents, which inight be adduced 
 
 tht Flemidi fliips were loaded with wine from in fupport of this obfetvation, one grant by King 
 
 •Rochelle ; and he adds that the Englifh fleet af- Edward III to William Latimer may be fufficient.' 
 
 terwards blocked up the Straits of Dover, where- It conveyed to h!m 2 melfuages and 4 (hops in the 
 
 A D 2 P^"^'
 
 58o 
 
 A. D. 1372. 
 
 The citizens of London this year reprefented to the king and his 
 council, that by their induflry and their franchifes they had gained their 
 livelihood by land and water and in various countries, from which they 
 had imported many kinds of merchandize, whereby the city and the 
 whole kingdom were greatly benefited, and the navy fupported and in- 
 creafed : but that lately their franchifes were taken from them, con- 
 traiy to royal grants and Magna charta, which would be of ruinous 
 confequence to the city, the kingdom, and the navy, and difable them 
 from paying their taxes. They therefor prayed, that they might -have 
 relief, and that the relief might be extended to all the cities and burghs 
 in the kingdom *. [Bradj on burghs, Jippcnd. p. '^^.^ 
 
 1373, January — King Edward having engaged a number of Genoefe 
 galUes in his fervice, and appointed the brother of the duke of Genoa 
 to command them, alfo employed Genoefe officers, foldiers, and mar- 
 iners, who received certain pay, and were moreover to have all the pri- 
 foners and merchandize they fhould take, together with all things that 
 could reafonably be called pillage, to be divided among themfelves, the 
 caflles, towns, and fhips, taken from the enemy being referved to the 
 king. \F(£dera, V. \i,pp. 753, 762, 763.] 
 
 November — The city of Briftol with its fuburbs was detached from 
 the counties of Somerfet and Glouceller, in both of which it is fituat- 
 ed, and made a county of itfelf by parliament ; and all its liberties and 
 charters were confirmed. {Cotton^ s Abridgement, p. 119.] Brifi:ol, feat- 
 ed in the heart of the clothing country, was at this time unqueftionably 
 the fecond commercial city in England. 
 
 By a new regulation for the meafurement of woollen cloths it was now 
 enaded, that cloths of raye fliould be 27 elns long and 5 quarters broad, 
 and cloths of colour 26 elns long meafured by the ridge, and 6 quarters 
 broad ; and half cloths in proportion. Thofe who made cloth for their 
 own ufe, or for clothing their retinue, were not bound by this law. 
 \Stat. 47 Edw. III.'\ 
 
 1374, July 24"'-^King Edward, obferving that the money of Scot- 
 land was now inferior to that of England, ordered the chancellor of 
 Berwick to proclaim that the Scottifh groat fliould be taken for only 
 three pennies, and other coins in proportion f. {Fa^dera, V. vii,/*. 41.] 
 
 parifh of S'. Dionis, Langburn ward ; 3 mcfTuages ftand.ird of excliange. By the bed information we 
 
 end 5 ftiops in S'. Andrews, Billingfgatc ; I meff- are poffcfTcd of, the filver money of botli king- 
 
 uage and i (liop with a quay adjoining in S'. Mary doms was of the fame ftandard. The Englifh 
 
 at Mill, Bilhngfgate ; 3 mcITuages with a cellar in coined ;^i : 5 : o, and the Scots jf i : 9 : 4, from 
 
 S'. Botulph's, Billingfgatc ; and i mcfTuagc and a pound of itandard filver. So, if the Scots had 
 
 2 (hops in S'. Mildred's, Bread llreet. {^Rot. pal. fubmittcd to King Edward's regulation, and given 
 
 fee. 47 Ediu. Ill, m. 18.] jf l : 9 : 4 of their own money for /]'i : 2 : o of 
 
 • All the annalifts fay, that the merchants of Englith, they would have fudained a lofs of about 
 
 London, Norwich, &c. were inch'ned to rebell this 14 per cent. — Therefor wc are fure that the people 
 
 year : but tlicre is nothing in the preceding or fub- of Northumberland difregarded the proclamation, 
 
 fequcnt events to warrant fuch an affertion. gr evaded it by coUufivc prices, 
 
 f This was but a lumping way of fixing 3
 
 A. D. 1375. 581 
 
 1375, January 31" — Some Scottifli traders having been plundered at 
 lea by pirates from Normandy, King Robert direded his ambafladors, 
 ihen going to the court of France, to demand compenfation. [Robert- 
 fotfs Index of charters, l^c. p. 100.] 
 
 February 1 6"' — ^The Scots had very often occaiion to import grain 
 and malt, of which many inftances might be adduced from the records, 
 but one may fuffice. — King Edward licenced James, fon of the carl of 
 Douglas, to purchafe for the ufe of his own houfehold 100 quarters of 
 wheat and 300 quarters of malt in Lincoln-lhire and Norfolk, and to 
 fnip them at any po"c for Scotland. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 58.] 
 
 February — Though King Edward in the year 1370 had ordered his 
 naval commanders to refped: the Venetian flag, the duke of Venice 
 thought it neceflary again to apply for letters of fafe conduct for the 
 Venetian veflels trading to Flanders, and particularly for five gallies, 
 which were foon to fail for that country *. The merchants of Catalonia 
 alfo about this time applied for letters of fafe condud, before they would 
 venture to fail for Flanders. {Feeder a, V. vii, p. 52. — Rot. pat, prim. 48 
 Edw. Ill, m. 2 1 .] 
 
 June 27"" — The war with France was fufpended by a truce, wherein 
 it was provided, that the fubjeds of both powers might go and come 
 unarmed in either kingdom, and exercife merchandize or any other 
 bufinefs. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 68.] 
 
 1376, January — It being ufual for fraudulent debtors to make over 
 their tenements to their friends in confidence, and live upon the rents 
 of them in the fanduaries of Weftminfter, S'. Martins le Grand, and 
 other fuch privileged places, in order to compell their creditors to ac- 
 cept trifling compofitions in full payment of their debts, the parliament 
 enaded, that all tenements or chattels, collufively conveyed, fhould be 
 liable to the jufl claims of the creditors. [Stat, jo Edxv. Ill, c. 6.] 
 
 It was enaded, that no woollen cloths fhould be exported without be- 
 ing fulled ; nor fhould any fubfidy be demanded for them before they 
 underwent that operation. \Stat. 50 Edxv. Ill, c. 7.] Thus we fee the 
 Englifh, who had hitherto been generally only the fhepherds, fpinners, 
 and weavers, for the foreign manufadurers, making a confiderable ad- 
 vance towards getting the manufadure entirely into their own hands. 
 But it was not till a very long time after that a law againfl: exporting 
 cloths, before they were completely finiQied, could be enaded. 
 
 The parliament alfo ordained, that neither fubfidy nor aulnage fhould 
 be charged upon the cloth called frife, made in Ireland, or in England 
 of Irifh wool brought to England ; and alfo that they fhould not be fub- 
 
 * In a fimilar application in the year 1382 the and ctlier fubjefl,; of England traveling to that 
 
 duke promifes, not reciprocal favour to Englifh city, \_FaJira, V. vii, i" . 354] the fuperior fplcnd- - 
 
 merchants in Venice, for there were apparently our of wliich thus appears to Lave already at- - 
 
 none, but L-beral treatrnent and favour to the nobles trafted the notice of Engliih travelers.
 
 5'82 - A. D. 1376. 
 
 ]e6t to the law,' lately palled, for regulating the lengths and breadths of 
 cloths. [Stot. 50 Edzv. Ill, r. 8.] 
 
 The magiflrates and community of London petitioned the parliament, 
 that they might enjoy their liberties, and that ftrangers might not be 
 allowed to have houfes, to be brokers, or to fell goods by retail. Soon 
 after, in the fame parliament, the community of the city reprefented 
 to the king and council, that their franchifes were invaded, merchant 
 flrangers aded as brokers, and fold goods by retail, and alio difcovered 
 fecrets to the enemy ; and they prayed that a flop might be put to thofe 
 enormities. Their petition v/as granted, ' faving to -the German merch- 
 * ants of the Hanfe the franchifes granted and confirmed to them by the 
 ' king and his progenitors.' {Cotton^ s Ahndgement, p. 133.] 
 
 July 23'' — The flaple was again fixed on the continent. The inhabit- 
 ants of Calais having complained to the king, that their city was declin- 
 ing, he ordained, that the ftaple for wool, hides, wool-fells, and alfo lead, 
 tin, worfted fluffs, together with cheefe, butter, feathers, ' gaulae *,' 
 honey, peltry (' felpariae'), and tallow (' cepi' apparently for y^'Z'i), fhould 
 be held there ; and he ordered that all ihofe articles f, exported from 
 any part of England, Ireland, Wales, and Berwick upon Tweed, fhould 
 be carried to Calais, and to no other place. \Fadera, V. vu.,pp, 1 1 6, 1 1 8.] 
 
 Licences were required for bringing corn into England as well as for 
 carrying it out, as appears by a perniiffion granted this year to import 
 400 quarters from Ireland to Kendale in Weftmereland. \^Rot. pat. prim. 
 50 Edw. Ill, 711. 5.] 
 
 1377, January 30"' — Some Florentine merchants being perfecuted by 
 the pope. King Edward took under his protection all thofe who were in 
 England or Calais by putting them in the Tower and taking all their 
 property into his own hands. He then declared that they were his own 
 real and unfeigned fervants, and that the property, which he again put 
 into their hands, belonged to him, and was to be improved by them 
 for his advantage, wherefor he ordered all perfons to abftain from doing 
 them any injury %• [Faedern, V. vii, ^. 135.] 
 
 January or February — The parliament granted the king a cajntation 
 tax of four pennies from every lay perfon of either fex in the kingdom 
 above fourteen years of age, real known beggars only excepted. The 
 unpromoted ecclefiaftical perfons of either fex, except the brethren of 
 the four mendicant orders, paid the fame tax, and thofe v.'-ho were pro- 
 moted, twelve pennies §. [Cottons Abridgement, p. 145. — Walfmghav!., 
 p. 191.] 
 
 • Gaulc, in rVeucli, a fwitcli, roil, or pt.lc. — % Wairiiigliam [/>. 190] fays, tliC pope gave 
 
 Q^i. if ofier branches for ihe coopers and balktl- them the option of bting ilavts to the kinj^of 
 
 makers on the continent ? England, Or fnbmittlug to the mercy of the papd 
 
 f They probably coniprlKended almofl all the court ; and of two evils tlicy cliofe the lealh 
 exports of the kingdom, except feme cloth, and § Walfingham [/>. 191] obfcrvxs;, that this was 
 
 fomttimcs corn. an unheard-of tax.
 
 A. D. 1377. 
 
 5^. 
 
 From the accounts of the produce of this tax, happily prefcrved *, we 
 are enabled to form, a pretty good eftimate of the population of the 
 whole kingdom, and particularly of the following cities and towns. 
 
 London, a city 
 
 York, a city 
 
 Bristol 
 
 Plymouth 
 
 Coventry 
 
 Norwich, a. city 
 
 LitiGoIn, a city 
 
 Salisbury, a city - 
 
 Lynne 
 
 Colchester 
 
 Beverly 
 
 Newcastle upon Tine 
 
 Canterbury, a city - 
 
 S'. Edmundsbury 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 Leicester 
 
 Shrewsbury 
 
 Yarmouth 
 
 Hereford, a city 
 
 Ely, a city 
 
 The counties of Bedford, Surrey §, Dorfet, Middlefex exclufive of 
 London ||, Weftmereland, Rutland, Cornwall, Berks, Hertford, Hunting- 
 don, Buckingham, and Lancafter, contained no towns thought worthy 
 of particular enumeration. Chefter and Durham, being palatine coun- 
 ties and having their own colledors, are not included in the roll ; neither 
 is Wales. 
 
 The whole number of lay perfons taxed in the Ihires and towns inferted 
 
 Lay p 
 
 crfoiii.. 
 
 
 liove 14. Eftim.tocalf. 
 
 
 23,314 
 
 34,97 1 
 
 Cambridge 
 
 7,248 
 
 10,872 
 
 Exeter, a city 
 
 6,345 , 
 
 9,517 
 
 Worcester, a city - 
 
 4,837 
 
 7,256 
 
 Kingston upon Hull 
 
 4,817 
 
 7,225 
 
 Ipswich 
 
 3,952 
 
 5,928 
 
 Northampton 
 
 3,412 
 
 5,1 18 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 3,226 
 
 4,839 
 
 Winchester, a city - 
 
 3,127 
 
 4,691 
 
 Stanford 
 
 2,955 
 
 4,432 
 
 Newark 
 
 2,663 
 
 3,9^5 
 
 Wells 
 
 2,647 
 
 3,970 
 
 Ludlow 
 
 2,574 
 
 3,861 
 
 Southampton 
 
 2,442 
 
 3,663 
 
 Derby 
 
 2,357 
 
 3,536 
 
 Litchfield, a city 
 
 2,239 
 
 3,358 
 
 Chichester, a city 
 
 2,101 
 
 3,1-52 
 
 Boston 
 
 2,082 
 
 3,123 
 
 Carlile, a city % 
 
 1,941 
 
 2,911 
 
 Rochester, a city 
 
 1,903 
 
 2,855 
 
 Bath, a city 
 
 1,722 
 
 2,583 
 
 Dartmouth 
 
 Lay p 
 
 crl:>-i.,, 
 
 ibove 14. 
 
 EUin^.. total 
 
 1,722 
 
 2,583 
 
 1,560 
 
 2,340 
 
 1,557 
 
 2,335 
 
 1,557 
 
 2,336 
 
 1,507 
 
 2,260 
 
 1,477 
 
 2,2 J 6 
 
 1,447 
 
 2,170 
 
 ],440 
 
 2,160 
 
 1,218 
 
 1,827 
 
 1,178 
 
 1,767 
 
 1,172 
 
 1,758 
 
 1,172 
 
 1,758 
 
 1,152 
 
 1,728 
 
 1,046 
 
 1,569- 
 
 1,024 
 
 1,536 
 
 869' 
 
 1,304 
 
 814 
 
 1,221 
 
 678 
 
 1,017 
 
 570 
 
 855 
 
 570 
 
 855 
 
 506 
 
 759 
 
 * For the publication of them we are indebted 
 to Mr. Topham and the Antiquarian fociety. See 
 their Archaologla, V. vii, p. 340. ' 
 
 f As many people would endeavour to pafs their 
 children of 15 and 16 as under 14, and many miifl 
 Isave been omitted by the colleftors, we (hall pro- 
 bably come very near the truth, if we reckon the 
 untaxed perfons, exclufive of beggars, equal'to one 
 half of tliofe who psid the tax. Thofe, who have 
 made the duration of human life their ftudy, agree 
 that one third of the perfons living arc under fix- 
 teen. 
 
 + It is recorded in the patent rolls \_fec. 14 
 Ric. 11, m. 3] that onf thoujand Jive hundred houfes 
 's'ere burnt in the three principal ftreets of Car= 
 
 lile. But, notwithftanding the high authority of ■ 
 a public record, and though the number is ex- 
 preffed fully in words, there muft be a- miftake. 
 Carlile, like almoll every other town in the king- 
 dom, is furely much more populoirs now than in 
 the fourteenth century : and in the year 1780 the 
 city and fuburbs contained only 1,605 families, or . 
 6,299 perfons, who lodged in 891 houfes. See 
 Sir Frederic Eden's Stale of the p'.or, V. W, p. 64. 
 
 § Southwark feems to be included in London. 
 
 Jl It is furpriiing that VVellminll'r is not no- 
 ticed. We can fcarccly fuppofc it included in 
 London ; and yet the taxables of Middlefex, only 
 1 1,243, ^^^^ too few to comprehend the inhabit- 
 ants of that city, or large fuburb.
 
 584 A. D. 1377. 
 
 in the roll, agreeable to the addition * at the bottom of it, is 1,376,442 
 
 Chester, supposed equal to Cornwall _ _ _ ^ 34,274 
 
 Durham, to Northumberland, including Newcastle - _ - 1(3,809 
 
 and Wales, including Monmouth-shire, to York-shire with its towns f 131,040 
 
 1,558,565 
 Proportion assumed for children under fourteen, and omissions - 779)282 
 
 Ecclesiastical persons, male aiid female, except mendicant friars - 29,161 
 
 Suppose the number of ecclesiastics in Wales and Durham, mendicant 
 
 friars, and other beggars - - _ _ _ 1 32,992 
 
 The whole people of England and Wales appear to have been about 2,500,000 
 
 The parliaments very often granted taxes of tenths and fifteenths to 
 
 be levied upon perfonal property. In a record of the year 1373, when 
 
 both a tenth and a fifteenth were coUeded, the following appear to have 
 
 been the only cities or towns which paid feparately from the fliires J. 
 
 London paid - ^733 6 8 Kingston upon Hull ^33 6 8 
 
 Bristol - - 220 O Bath - - 13 6 8 
 
 York ,- - 162 O O 
 
 During the long reign of Edward III the commerce and manufadures 
 of England appear to have been in a progreffive flate of advancement, 
 notwithftanding the rapid fucceflion of contradidory laws by which they 
 were haraffed. The merchants began to open their eyes to the bene- 
 ficial efFedls of taking the exportation of wool and other Engliih produce 
 into their own hands ; and confequently they pofTefl^ed more {hipping §, 
 and carried on more adive trade, than their anceilors had ever done. 
 The woollen manufacture, which almoft ever fince the reign of Edward 
 has been efteemed the chief fupport of England, made fuch a progrefs, 
 that before his death the people feem to have been almoft entirely cloth- 
 ed with it ; we fee Engliih cloths even a confiderable article of export, 
 and have reafon to believe that no great quantity of FlemiOi or other 
 foreign cloth was imported. The regulations for the fifhery, though far 
 from being judicious, fhow that it was at leaft an object of attention. 
 But the rage of conqueft fwallowed up every other confideration : to 
 that the interefts of commerce were unhefitatingly facrificed upon every 
 occafion ; and even the marriages projeded |1 for his children were di- 
 feded by belligerent politics. Thence, though he got vaft fums by 
 marriage conti ads and by the ranfoms of two captive kings, lie expend- 
 
 • The total difagrces with the particulars, and and Wales, I have followed Mr. Chalmers in hit) 
 
 alfo with the fum. But it is impoffibit to fay, EJlimate of thejlrenglh of Great Britain, p. l\,ed. 
 
 where the errors lie. The appearance of four 1794. 
 
 pairs of towns, perfetlly equal to each-other, is at % This tax-roll was prefcntfd to the fociely by 
 
 Icaft a llrange circumftaiicc, if not erroneous. That Mr. Topham at the fame time with the others, and 
 
 BolloM.alown of confideraLle foreign trade, Ihould is alfo publillied along with tlieni. 
 contain only 8:4 people above 14 ye.irs of age, is § Tlic proof of the incrcafe of (hipping is found, 
 
 alfo very furprifing. But it nr.ull be acknovvleged, notwithllanding the affcrtion to the contrary, in 
 
 that there is much inaccuracy ni the numbers, and the firll Navigation aS, palfcd in the beginning of 
 
 alfo in the words, of many of the records of the his fucecflbr's reign, 
 middle ages. II Many marriages were projcfted, which did not 
 
 I In the numbers affumed for Cheftet, Durham, take place. 2
 
 A. D. 1377. 585 
 
 ed more of the money of his fubjeds (who, dazzled with the fplendour 
 of his fruitlefs vidories, generally gave it with good will) than any of 
 his predeceflbrs. The acquifition of the crown of France was the dar- 
 ling wifli of his heart, and the great objedl of all his politics. But, of 
 all that he had conquered in that kingdom, there remained fubjed to 
 him at his death only the fingle town of Calais, an ufelefs incumbrance 
 upon the treafury of England * : and, fortunately for Great Britain, his 
 attempt to conquer France deprived him of almofl all the territories in- 
 herited by him from his anceflors in that kingdom, except Bourdeaux, 
 Bayonne, and the iflands in the Channel. In his reign the integrity of 
 the fterling money was loft fight of, and permanent taxes became fami- 
 liar to the Englifli ; but that hardfhip was in fome degree alleviated by 
 the reprefentatives of the commons, the branch of the parliament moft 
 connefted with commerce, beginning to feel and aftert their own poli- 
 tical importance as an eflential part of the legiflative body, and truftees 
 for the purfes of their conftituents. If Edward had fet himfelf down 
 quietly (and there was nothing to hinder him) to mind the beft duty 
 of a king, and the beft interefts of his fubjeds, the Englifh might very 
 foon have become a great agricultural, manufaduring, and commercial, 
 people. 
 
 November — Before the introdudion of manufadures created profit- 
 able employment for the people not neceflarily engaged in agriculture, 
 (for the population of Europe, though far ftiort of the numbers now 
 maintained in the more civilized parts of it, was more than fufficient 
 for cultivating the ground, as cultivation was then managed) the fuper- 
 fluous people attached themfelves to chiefs, by whom they were main- 
 tained in idlenefs in peaceable times, and whofe ftandard they followed 
 in battle, to defend the country, to convulfe it by civil war, or to at- 
 tack a neighbouring chief, juft as their lord commanded them. In this 
 ftate of fociety even the fmaller barons found it impoilible to live in 
 fafety in the neighbourhood of a great lord without conneding them- 
 felves with him by an obligation of military fervice on their part and a 
 promife of protedion on his. Thus was a kingdom, though nominally 
 united under one fovereign, adually divided into a number of inde- 
 pendent territories, the lords of which paid no more obedience to the 
 king or the laws than what their own inclinations or interefts prompted 
 them to : and thence we find the perfonal charader of the fovereign in 
 thofe ages have a much greater effed in exalting a kingdom to a tran- 
 fitory fuperiority, or finking it into a temporary decline, than ever ap- 
 pears in the better conftituted and confolidated governments of later 
 times. It appears, that fome people of fmall eftates in England, perhaps 
 defirous of imitating the condottieri, or leaders of the companions, who, 
 
 * In the fecond year of King Richard 11 it was afieited in parliament, that Calais coft ^20,000 a- 
 year. {_Cotton^s Abridgement, ^. 174.J 
 
 Vol. I. 4 E
 
 586 
 
 A. D. 1377. 
 
 independent of any loverelgn authority, about this time rendered them- 
 felves the terror of France, Spain, and Italy *, alfo fet themfelves up 
 as chiefs of retinues of armed idlers. The retinues or bands of each 
 chief were diftinguifhed by uniform hats and clothing, which were call- 
 ed liveries f , and ferved as a fymbol of union and attachment. The 
 parliament, fenfible of the pernicious tendency of fuch affociations, pro- 
 hibited the ufe of liveries under pain of imprifonment and forfeiture. 
 [^Statute I Ric. //, c. 7.] But the law, though feveral times renewed, 
 had little effed ijl, till the extenfion of manufactures and commerce, by 
 which the lower claiTes of the people found ufeful employment and were 
 enabled to eat the bread of independent honeft induftry, and the nobles 
 found more agreeable means of employing their redundant wealth, gra- 
 dually, but much more effectually, relieved the kingdom from the nuif- 
 ance of chiefs, who were above the law, and vaflals, who knew no law 
 but the commands of fuch chiefs. 
 
 1378, Summer — John Mercer, a merchant of Scotland §, who ufed 
 to trade to France, and was in great favour with the king of that country 
 on account of his prudence and good fervices, when returning home to 
 Scotland in the year 1 377, was driven by flreis of weather upon the coaft 
 of England, feized, and confined in the caftle of Scarburgh, till an or- 
 der from court efFeCted his difcharge||. His fon, to revenge the injury, 
 cruifed before Scarburgh with a fleet compofed of French, Scots, and 
 Spaniards, and took feveral vefTels. John Philpot, an opulent citizen of 
 London, thereupon took upon himfelf the protedtion of the trade of 
 the kingdom, negledled by the duke of Lancafler, who, without the 
 name of regent, governed the kingdom in the minority of his nephew, 
 and having hired a thoufand armed men, fent them to fea in fearch of 
 
 * The companions confided chiefly of Enfrlidi cloth, fome of them fcarlet and others gilded 
 
 and French foldiers, difbanded after the peace of (' deauratos'), among knights, fquires, valets, and 
 
 Bretigny in the year 1360, who, unwilling or in- others, his dependents. [^Knyghton, col. 2727.3 
 capable to return to honell induftry, affociated un- § He feems to have been a burgefs of Perth, 
 
 der the banners of profligate chiefs, and fupport- apparently the chief port of Scotland after the 
 
 ed themfelves by plunder. The king of France lofs of Berwick, till the royal refidence, pcrman- 
 
 feized the opportunity of the civil war in Spain to ently fixed at Edinburgh, gave Leith a fuperiority 
 
 perfuade them to enter into the fervice of Henry over the other ports of the kingdom. He obtain- 
 
 of Tradamare, who by their means became king ed charters for feveral tenements in and near Perth ; 
 
 of Callile. Tiie two daughters, legitimate or illc- and he alfo iield lands of the earl of Douglas, who 
 
 gitimate, of Peter the Cruel, the dethroned ty- calls him his vafTal in a letter fent to King Richard, 
 
 rant, were brought to England, and married to rcmonllrating upon the injullice of the feizure. 
 
 King Edward's two fons, John and Edmund, the l^Iiri!>erlfon's Index, pp. 66,74, '20, 129. — Original 
 
 former of whom immediately alfnmed the title of kller in Bib. Colt. Vejp. F vii,y. 34.^ 
 king of Caftile and Leon, and thereby drew the || WaUingham fays, if he had been releafed as 
 
 enmity of King Henry upon England. a captive for a ranfom, the king and the whole 
 
 t The name and the uniformity of drefs dill re- kingdom would have got ineflimable riches by it, 
 main m the fmall retinues of noblemen and gentle- and he regrets the lofs of it. This is furcly over- 
 men, rating the opulence of Mercer at a prodigious rate. 
 
 X So little regard was paid to this law by the The narrow-minded monk, blinded with, what \\e 
 
 courtiers, that Simon Burley, warden of the Cinque fuppofed, patriotic zeal, did not fee any injuftice 
 
 ports and a great favourite with King Richard, in detaining a man a prifoner in time of peace., 
 every Chriftmas gave from 140 to 220 pieces of 4
 
 A. D. 1378. 587 
 
 Mercer, whom they took together with his prizes and fifteen Spanifli 
 veilels, his conlbrts, all richly loaded *. [Waffnigham, p. 211.] 
 
 October — The adl of 1376 having abolifhed the liberties formerly 
 granted in England to foreign merchants, except ihofe of the Hanfe, it 
 now appeared, that the franchifes, claimed by the cities and burghs, 
 were deftruftive of trade and hurtful to the community. The parlia- 
 ment therefor, perceiving the advantages derived irom the refort of 
 merchant ftrangers, revived the ads of the years 1335 and 135 1, and 
 gave the foreign merchants liberty to remain in the kingdom as long as 
 they had occafion, inflead of being reftridled to forty days, with per- 
 miffion to buy and to fell, either in wholefa'.e or retail, corn, flefh, fifh, 
 and other provifions, and alfo fpiceries, fruits, iurs, filk, gold und filver 
 wire or thread, coverchefs, and other fmall wares, from or to any per- 
 fon whatever, native or foreigner. But wines were to be fold in the 
 cafks wherein they were imported, and not to be retailed by any but the 
 freemen of cities and burghs. Cloth of gold or filver, ftuffs of filk, 
 fendal f , napery, linen, canvafs, and other large articles J, might be fold 
 by foreign importers to any perfon, native or foreigner, in any city, 
 town, fair or market, London not excepted, but in quantities not lefs 
 than a piece, only the freemen of cities and burghs being allowed to 
 fell thofe articles by retail as well as by wholefale. All charters and 
 franchifes, containing any thing contrary to this ad, were annulled, as 
 prejudicial and oppreffive. The prelates and lords, however, flill retain- 
 ed their oppreffive prerogative of purveying viduals and other necef- 
 faries, as they were wont to do in old times § : and the ordinances for 
 the ftaple at Calais were maintained in full force. Strangers were per- 
 mitted to buy and fell wool, wool-fells, mercery, cloth, iron, and other 
 merchandize, at fairs and markets in the country as formerly. All ma- 
 giflrates and others in authority were defired to protect the foreign 
 merchants in the enjoyment of the privileges now conferred upon them. 
 — The laws againfl foreftalling wines, viduals, mercery, and other merch- 
 andize, were alfo renewed. [Stat, i, 2 Ric. II, cc. 1,2.] 
 
 The parliament in the very next ad made an encroachment upon the 
 privileges of the ftaple at Calais, by granting permiffion to the merch- 
 ants of Genoa, Venice, Catalonia, Aragon, and other countries lituated 
 to the weftward, and in amity with the king, who brought carraks, fliips, 
 gallies, or other veflels, to Southampton or other ports of England, load- 
 
 * By this enterprife Philpot got much envy and imported, the quantity of them was very fmall iii- 
 
 illwill among the uobles and military men, but deed. 
 
 much applaufe among his fellow-citizens, who chofe § That oppreffive and unjnft prero'^ati<'e was 
 
 him for their mayor at the next eleciion. taken away from all perlons, except the king and 
 
 f A thin filken Huff. \_Du C:mge Glojf. vo. Cat- queen, in the year 1362, and even for them it was 
 
 dahim.'] modified fo as to be pretty tolerable, if the law 
 
 X It is well worthy of notice, that woollen liad been adhered to ; but fmiilar acts in fucceed. 
 
 cloths arc not mentioned, which, confidering their ing reigns fhow that it was not adhered to, and 
 
 former importance in the lift of imports, may be the legiflators of 1377 appearnot to have known 
 
 regarded as a good proof, that, if any were now any tiling of it. 
 
 4 E 2
 
 588 
 
 A. D. 1378. 
 
 ed or light, to fell their merchandize freely, to load with wool, hides, 
 wool-fells, tin, lead, and other merchandize of the ftaple, and to carry 
 them to their own countries, on paying the cuftoms payable on goods 
 carried to the ftaple at Calais, and giving fecurity not to carry them to 
 the eaft countries*. [Stat, i, 2 Ric. I/, c. 3.] 
 
 A further infraction of the ordinance of the ftaple was a permifTion 
 to merchants of Gafcoigne and England to carry to the king's friends in 
 Gafcoigne and alfo in Breft, which had been lately ceded to the king 
 by the duke of Bretagne, corn and other victuals, together with leather 
 gloves, purfes, caps, and fome other petty articles. {Cotton's Abridge- 
 ment, /. I57-] 
 
 1379, March 6"" — Formerly when the kings of England borrowed 
 money, they got it chiefly from the clergy, becaufe they were almoft 
 the only people who had any money, the wealth of the nobles confifting 
 of lands and the produce of them with the fervices of their vafials, and 
 the commons being generally too poor to have any money to lend. The 
 loans, made by King Richard, fhow that a happy change in the circum- 
 ftances of the people had already begun to appear. In the firft year of 
 his reign he borrowed ' infinite thoufands of pounds from certain merch- 
 ' ants:' {Rot. pat. prim. 1 Ric. II, m. 12] and at this time we find in a 
 lift, evidently defective f, of 145 fubfcriptions, as we would now call 
 them, to a loan, that 55 of them were by fix bifhops, and by abbats, 
 priors, and others belonging to ecclefiaftical eftablifhments, eight of them 
 being for £100 each ; 74 by noblemen and gentlemen from ;^ioo down 
 to ;^2 if ; and 17 by the communities of cities and towns, as follows. 
 London ^5 ,000 O O Winchester ^40 O O Hadley ^50 
 
 Gloucester 40 O O Brentwood 
 Bedford 20 O O Coggeshale 
 
 Northampton 40 O O Cambridge 
 Cirencester 33 6 8 Maldon 
 Salisbury 100 O O Retford 
 {Fa;dero, V. \\\,p. 210. — Rot. pat. sec. 
 
 * Genoa, Venice, &c. though fituated to the 
 caflward of England, were accounted we ftcrn coun- 
 tries, becaufe their (hips paffed the well parts of 
 France and England in coming to the later. The 
 Netherlands and the countries adjacent to the Bal- 
 tic fca were the eaft countries. This a£l permits 
 Etiglilh wool to be exported to Spain. How the 
 times are altered ! 
 
 f 1 call it dtfeftivc, becaufe we may be alFured, 
 that no bifliop or earl could excufe himfelf from 
 contributing on fuch an occafion, and many towns, 
 of more importance than tbofe whicii appear, are 
 omitted. 
 
 % Several of the fubfcriptions are by two or 
 more pcrfons conjundtly ; but, as they are not dif- 
 tinguilhed as merchants or by any profeffioiral ad- 
 dition, we are not warranted to fuppoii. them part- 
 ners in trade. 
 
 In the year 1346 there was a loan, not by fiib- 
 
 10 
 40 
 
 66 
 
 40 
 33 
 o 
 
 O S'.Edmundsbury 33 
 O O Alderton and 7 
 13 4 Baudsey, Suffolk 5'*'' 
 O O Ipswich 40 
 
 6 8 Bristol §. 666 
 
 Ric. J I. m. 17.] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 fcription, but by prcfcriptlon, the king fending 
 his mandate to each perfon to advance fuch a fum 
 as he thought proper to order. Of 89 lenders 19 
 fcem to be laymen, one of whom, John of Cherle- 
 ton of London (apparently the mayor of the 
 merchants of the ilaple, and the only one in the 
 hll who can be fuppoftd a citizen, merchant, or 
 trader) was charged with ^^1,000, by much the 
 largeft fum in the hll. On that occafion the towns 
 were not required to advance money but to furnilh 
 prefcribed numbers of men. \_FaJera, V. v, p^. 
 
 49'. 493-] 
 
 J To a lefs general loan in the year 1377 the 
 city of lirillol fubfcribed £621 : 13 :4; Robert 
 Spiccr, a merchant of 15rilloI, ,^45 ; and fome 
 other laymen, very confiderable funis. The arch- 
 bidiop of Canterbury on that occafion fubfcribed 
 /^333 : 6 : 8, and now only ^100. [Fadcra, V. 
 Nil, /.I 77.] 4
 
 A. D. 1379. . 589 
 
 June 6"' — The king, confidering the great force of warhke fhips, which 
 the French had upon the north (or rather eaft) coaft of England, and 
 the damage fuffered by the people of Scarburgh in particular by cap- 
 tures, and by paying ;^i, 000 in ranfoms within two years, whereby they 
 were brought almoft to ruin, ordered two (hips, two barges, and two 
 balingers, properly fitted for war, to cruife upon that coaft. For fup- 
 porting the expenle of thofe velTels he, at the requefl of the commons 
 in parliament, ordered the admiral and wardens of the North fea to 
 levy a duty of fix pennies per tun upon every fliip and crayer for each 
 voyage outward and homeward upon that fea, except thofe trading be- 
 tween London and Flanders or Calais (which on the other hand were not 
 intitled to the protection of the fquadron) ; fix pennies per tun from 
 fifhing veflels for every week they fhould be employed upon the herring 
 fifhery, or for every three weeks upon any other fifhery ; fix pennies per 
 tun upon all vefi^els with coals from Newcaftle to be paid quarterly ; and 
 fix pennies per laft of grain for each voyage from all fliips, crayers, and 
 veflels, trading to Pruflia, Norway, Sconen, or the adjacent countries. 
 [^Fa'dera, V. vii, p. 220.] We here fee the Newcaftle coal trade an ob- 
 jedt of the attention, and alfo of the favour, of government, being tax- 
 ed the lowefl:, while the herring fifhery was very unwifely taxed the 
 highefl. The attention of government to the coal trade appears further 
 in an order ifliaed foon after this time for meafuring the keels * at New- 
 cafl;le. \^Rot. pat. prim. 8 Ric II, a tergo, 34.] And that coals, together 
 with grindflones, were then, as at this day, the chief objeds of the in- 
 duftry of the country adjacent to Newcafi;le, may be prefumed from 
 their being firft mentioned among the things fwept away by a great flood 
 in the rivers of Northumberland about the beginning of the year 1377. 
 \Walfmgham, p. 191.] 
 
 This year an opulent merchant of Genoa offered to raife Southampton 
 to a pre-eminence above every port on the weftern coafts of Europe by 
 making it the depofit of all the Oriental goods, which the Genoefe uled 
 to carry to Flanders, Normandy, and Bretagne, which countries would 
 thenceforth be fupplied from it, to the great advantage of England, pro- 
 vided the king would allow him to flore his goods in the caftle of 
 Southampton. If this plan had been cai-ried into execution, it was fup- 
 pofed, that pepper would have been fold in England at four pennies a 
 pound, and other fpiceries in proportion. But the Genoefe merchant 
 was murdered upon the llreet in London ; and the Englifli merchants, 
 v/ho are faid to have thought his fcheme ruinous to their own trade, are 
 charged with having hired the affaffins. {IValfinghaniy pp. 227, S3Z-^ 
 
 It muft be acknowledged, that the people of England, elpecially thofe 
 engaged in any kind of trade or manufactures, were fo far from being 
 fenfible, that an accefllon of well-employed capital, or of induftrious 
 
 * River craft for carrying the coals onboard the fiiips, and ufed as meafurcs then, as mow—.
 
 590 A. D. 1379. 
 
 hands, is a powerful encouragement to every branch of the induftry of 
 the country in which^they fettle, that they were continually perfecuting 
 the foreign traders and workmen with every iniult and injury in their 
 power. The weavers in particular were perpetually quarreling with the 
 Netherianders, whofe example was deflined to exalt their trade to a fur- 
 prifing height of affluence and dignity. After a long fucceffion of 
 fquabbles, embittered by national pride and a collifion, real or fuppofed, 
 of interefts, between the weavers of London and thofe from the Nether- 
 lands *, an agreement was effeded between them this year, which was 
 confirmed by royal authority, as were alfo at the fame time the liberties 
 granted to the foreign weavers by Edward III. [Rot. pat. fee. 3. Ric. 11, 
 m. "^.J 
 
 1380, February 10'" — The accident of a Catalan fliip bound from 
 Genoa to Sluys, the port of Bruges in Flanders, being driven onfhore 
 at Dunfter in Somerfet-fhire, where llie was feized, and the application 
 of fome Genoefe merchants for the reftoration of their property fhipped 
 onboard her, gives us a fpecimen of the articles carried from Italy to 
 Flanders in thofe days. They confifled of 
 
 Green ginger ; White sugar, perhaps sugar-candy ; 
 
 Ginger cured with lemon juice ; Empty boxes, 6 bales; 
 
 Arquinetta, one bale ; Dry primes ; 
 
 Dried grapes, or raisins ; ' Oclo balas risarum,' qu. rice ? 
 
 Sulphur ; Cinnamon, 5 bales ; 
 
 Wadde (perhaps woad) 172 bales ; One pipe * pulveris salvistri;' 
 
 Writing paper, 22 bales ; Bussus f , 5 bales. 
 
 [Fcedera, F. vii,/). 233.] 
 
 Summer — Some privateers of Hull and Newcaftle took a Scottifli fhip, 
 the cargo of which was valued by the captors at Jeven thoufand marks. 
 [Walfingham, p. 239.] But there were probably very few veflels, belong- 
 ing either to England or Scotland, which had cargoes of fuch value J. 
 
 September 8"'— What muft have been the condition or management 
 of the navy of England, when the French, after having infulted many 
 parts of the fouth coaft, went up the Thames as far as Gravefend with 
 only four gallies, burnt fome houfes in that town, and after plundering 
 and deftroying on both fides of the river, carried off their prey and 
 prifoners with impunity ? {Murim. Contin. p. 150. — Stow's Ann. p. 449.] 
 
 November The king in parliament, ordered, that all kinds of wine, 
 
 oil, honey, and other liquors, fhould be gauged on importation, agree- 
 able to the law formerly made for gauging wine. [Stat. 4 Ric. II., c. i.] 
 
 * Some years before tliis time the Nethcrlaiid ritd to Tlaiiders for making cambrics. Sec San- 
 
 weavcrs in London were fo numerous, tliat ditfer- iito, p. 24, or above, p. 491. Tlicre arc fome 
 
 cnt places were appointed for their deliberations other articles unknown, which I have left in the 
 
 on the affairs of their communilies, thofe of Flan- original Latin.— A further fpecimen of Genoefe 
 
 ders having the church-yard of S'. Laurence Pult- expotts to Flanders will be feen under the year 
 
 iiey, and thore of Brabant tliat of S'. Mary So- 13S6. 
 
 merfet. ISloiu's Survey, p. ^o-], e,l. 1 61 8.] " f I have already had occafion to obferve that 
 
 t Probably the linell Egyptian flax (Bvjsoj) car- Walfingham dallies his numbers at random.
 
 A, D. 1380. 591 
 
 About this time, according to the account of Zeno's voyage, with 
 Do6lor Forfter's geographical illuftration of it, the chief port of the 
 Orkney iflands was frequented by many veflels from Flanders, Bretagne, 
 England, Scotland, Norway, and Denmark, attracted by the vaft abund- 
 ance of fifh caught there, by means of which the inhabitants got great 
 wealth. {Forjler's Difcoveries in the North, pp. 183, 202, Engl, tranjl.'] 
 
 1 38 1 — Capitation taxes, begun in the laft year of King Edward III, 
 now followed each other in rapid fucceffion. In the year 1379 thofe of 
 the higher ranks were made to pay for their titles as well as their pro- 
 perty ; for example, a duke or archbilhop £6 : 13:4, an earl, countefs 
 dowager, mayor of London, /^4 ; other mayors from 6/8 to 40/; merch- 
 ants from iJ6 to 2of, &c. and every perfon, male or female, above fix- 
 teen, 4<^. In 1380 a tax of twelve pennies was impofed upon every 
 perfon of either fex above the age of fifteen, except mere beggars. 
 IParliam. hijl. V. i,pp. 346, 358.] Thefe taxes were exacted with much 
 tyrannic rigour, indecency, and brutal infult, infinitely more galling 
 than the payment itfelf. The confequence was an infurredion of the 
 lower clafs of the people, whom the feverity of depreffion, and per- 
 haps fome faint glimpfe of the independence which commerce and ma- 
 nufadtui'es were deilined to confer upon their pofterity, difpofed to en- 
 gage in any defperate attempt to meliorate their condition. For fome 
 little time they carried all before them, and were, as may be fuppofed, 
 guilty of many atrocities. They obtained from the king charters for 
 the abolition of flavery, for freedom of trade, and for the fubftitution 
 of money rents for lands in place of oppreffive fervices. But Walter, 
 a Kentifti tiler, who was their leader, being killed by William Walworth 
 mayor of London (June 15'"), the unorganized multitude were imme- 
 diately difperfed: and fimilar tumults in other parts of the country were 
 alfo quelled. Then the king, or rather his counfelors, confidering the 
 charters of liberty as extorted, and ' prejudicial to the king, the nobles, 
 ' and the church,' revoked them, and ordered the villeins and others, 
 who were under feudal fubjedion to fuperiors, to return to the accufi:om- 
 ed duties and labours of their condition (July 2''). But thofe convul- 
 fions were not without beneficial confequences : they admonifhed the 
 feudal lords to be more moderate in the exadion of fervices, which had 
 no foundation in mutual agreement, and were not wan-anted by reci- 
 procal advantages ; they induced them to confent to the emancipation 
 of their villeins on moderate terms * ; and, though they were to all ap- 
 pearance completely fupprefl^ed, the remembrance of them infpired the 
 vaflals with a defire for the independence enjoyed by their brethren em- 
 ployed in trades in cities and burghs, and particularly in the woollen 
 
 * Simon Burley demanded 300 pounds of filver and impn'fonment of the man, according to Stow, 
 for the freedom of one of his bondmen ; a price \_^iinales, p. 45 I ] provoked the infurredion in 
 perfeftlv equal to an abfolute denial : and his feizure Kent.
 
 592 . A. D. 1381. 
 
 manufadures, now become pretty extenfive, which never ceafed to 
 operate, till manufadures finally banilhed flavery from the land, and 
 liberty became the inherent birthright of every Britifh fubjedl. [Knyg/j- 
 ton, col. 2633. — JVal/ingbam, p. 247. — Fcedera, V. Vn, pp. 316, 317, 371.] 
 
 November — The parliament, after premifing, that, in confequence of 
 the grievous mifchief of carrying abroad money and bullion, there was 
 fcarcely any gold or filver left in the kingdom, ftridly prohibited all 
 merchants and clergymen, aliens or natives, from carrying abroad any 
 gold or filver in coin, bullion, or vefl^el, or by exchange. But money 
 for paying the king's garrifons on the continent might be exported. 
 Prelates, great lords, and fome others, having occafion to make pay- 
 ments beyond the fea, might remit money by exchange on obtaining 
 the king's fpecial licence for the exprefs fum. But the negotiators of 
 the exchange were to be fworn, that they would fend no gold nor filver 
 out of the country for the purpofe of anfwering their bills. No perfon, 
 either of the clergy or laity, except lords and other great men, real 
 known merchants, and the king's foldiers, was to be allowed to go out 
 of the kingdom * : and to render the prohibition the more effedual, 
 London and fome other principal ports were declared the only places, 
 whence any perfon could pals over to the continent. The infringers 
 of this law were to be punifhed by heavy forfeitures. [^Stat. i , 5 Ric. II, 
 c. 2.] 
 
 In order to augment the navy of England, which was now faid to be 
 greatly reduced, it was enaded, that no fubjed of the king fhould fhip 
 any merchandize, outward or homeward, except in fhips of the king's 
 allegiance, after the next Eafter, on penalty of forfeiture of veflel and 
 cargo. \^Stat. i, 5 Ric. II, c. 3.] This was the firll Navigation acl pafl^ed 
 by the parliament of England. 
 
 If any EngUfhman pafled over the fea to import wines, he was pro- 
 hibited from felling them in England at above £$ per tun for the befl: 
 wine of Gafcoigne, Ofey, or Spain, and £^ for the bell Rochelle wine, 
 or above 6d per gallon for any of them in retail. Rhenifh wine, being 
 imported in calks of various fizes, was to be fold by the gallon only, 
 and not above 6d, whether in wholefale or retail. Inferior wines to be 
 fold in proportion. The king ftridly commanded, that no fweet wine . 
 or claret (' clarree') fliould be retailed in the kingdom after the 2^'" of 
 June 1382 ■\. [Stat, i, 5 Ric. II, cc. 4, 5. — Fadera, V. vii,/. 378.] 
 
 The citizens of Cork in Ireland this year obtained from the king an 
 ample confirmation of their liberties. \Rot.pat.Jec. 5 Ric. II, m. 32.] 
 
 1382, January — The parliament granted liberty to all foreign merch- 
 
 * This prohibition was in direft oppofition to f By Stat, i, 6 Ric. II, c. 7 they were per- 
 the 42J article of the JMagiia charts, which ufed mittcd to be retailed at the price of Gafcoigne and 
 to be formally ratified, without paying any other Riienifli wines, 
 attention to it, at the beginning of every fcfTion 
 of parliament.
 
 A. D. 1382. ' 593 
 
 ants, of every nation in amity with the king and kingdom, to come in- 
 to England, to refide as long as they pleafed in franchifed places or 
 others, to manage their bufinefs under the king's protedion, and to re- 
 turn to their own countries at their pleafure, [Stat. 2, 5 Ric. II, c. i.] 
 It appears from the ftatutes, that this liberty required to be re-enaded 
 in the year 1387. 
 
 The parliament alfo permitted all merchants, natives or foreigners, to 
 carry wool, hides, and wool-fells, to any country, except France, if they 
 chofe to pay the Calais fubfidies and duties before-hand, for which they 
 offered a difcount of 6/8 from the duty on each fack of wool, 6/8 on 
 every 240 wool-fells, and in proportion on hides, to continue till Michael- 
 mas 1383. \Stat. 2, 5 Rk. H, c. 2.] This was, I believe, the firft at- 
 tempt to anticipate the revenue. 
 
 At the requeft of the merchants, who found themfelves much injured 
 by the French cruifers, the parliament impofed a fubfidy of 2/ per tun 
 on all wines imported, and fix pennies per pound on the value of woollen 
 cloth and other merchandize imported or exported, except wool, hides, 
 and wool-fells, over and above all other cuftoms and fubfidies, which 
 were to confi;itute a fund for the exprefs purpofe of guarding the fea. 
 {Stat. 2, 5 Ric. 11, c. 3.] * 
 
 May 4'" — I know not whether we may venture to confider all the articles, 
 which the pope's colledor was allowed to fliip at Brifliol without paying 
 duty, as fpecimens of Englifli manufadures. They confifi:ed of 6 pieces 
 of green tapefi:ry powdered with rofes, a prefent for the fovereign pon- 
 tiff; I great curtain of green ferge ; 2 blue bancals f of tapefi:ry work ; 
 5 pairs of fheets (' lintheaminum'), 2 blankets, and 6 blue curtains, for 
 beds ; i large coverlet for a bed ; and 6 culhions for a chamber ; 5 red 
 bed-curtains ; 2 long and 2 fliort pieces of red fluff for ornaments to a 
 chamber, with a blue bancal ; 2 large pieces of red ferge, worked with 
 the arms of the pope, the king, and the church :|:, for adorning a hall ; 
 2 large bancals and i fmall piece of red ferge for a hall ; i piece of red 
 andjblack tapefi;ry ; i palat, 5 mantles of Irilh cloth, one of them lined 
 with green cloth ; i mantle of mixt-coloured cloth likeways lined with 
 green ; i garment of ruflet lined with Irilh cloth ; i green woollen cloth 
 for counting upon ; 3 covered beds § with tefi:ers ; i blue fi;i-iped cloth 
 for a valet ; 5 elns (' alas') of blue cloth, and 16 of mixt cloth of two 
 kinds ; 6 elns of blanket ; i mantle of mixt colour lined with vair 
 
 * Walfingham \_p. 281] after a very brief ac- the additional uncertainty produced by fucli an in- 
 
 count of the jtls of this parliniiicnt, cries out, terferencc (which would now be called unconftiti - 
 
 ' What is the ufe of ftatutes of parliament, when tional) of royal authority. 
 
 ' they have not the fnialletl effeft ? The king with -j- Bancalt is tranflated bench ox feat by the glof- 
 
 ' his privy council ufed to change or abolirti all faritls. But it mull here be fome kind o: fluff, 
 
 • that was done in parliament by the community perhaps a covering or cufhion for a bench. 
 
 • of the whole kingdom, and even the nobles them- J The women of England were famous fr m 
 
 • felves.' The rapid changes of the laws by the very remote ages for their fuperior flcill in era- 
 legiflators was fufficiently dillrefiing to the people, broidery. See above, pp. 290, 348. 
 
 ■aad efpec'.ally to thufe engaged in trade, v.ithout § ' Cuoperta Ictta,' apparently for cooperti .cHi. 
 
 Vol. I. 4 F
 
 594 ■^' ^' ^ 3^2. • 
 
 (* bayro'), with a fupertunic and capuce lined with their own fluff; 
 1 blue mantle lined with grife (' grifeo') with a fupertunic of the fame 
 colour lined with its own fluff; i garment lined with fquirrel (' calabre'), 
 with a tunic lined with blanket, and a capuce lined ; i garment without 
 fleeves, lined with vair, with a tunic lined with lamb-fkin ; a fur of vair 
 for a fupertunic ; a cap and a pair of gloves lined with grife, and a pair 
 of beaver gloves ; a tunic of mixt colour lined with blanket; 2 round 
 mantles, one mixt, and one black ; 2 garments of Norfolk cloth, one 
 lined with black cloth, and one with green ; and a caffock of another 
 form ; 4 ftrait tunics of blanket ; i entire blue robe lined with fine 
 linen ; i garment of bloody colour lined with fine linen ; i violet capuce 
 lined with fcarlet *; 10 elns of blue, with hand-towels and other linen 
 cloths ; a tabard f with a fupertunic and capuce of the fame fluff, lined 
 with blue linen ; i blood-coloured capuce lined with black; i fcarlet 
 capuce lined, and i blood-coloured one unlined ; and 30 books belonging 
 to the colledor. — He had alfo licence to fhip at Southampton a parcel 
 of images of faints, with many veffels of pewter, knives, &c. which 
 feem, as well as the books, to have been his own traveling equipage. 
 In the year 1388 a fimilar licence was given for fhipping a bed of cloth 
 of gold on a red ground, with gold foliage worked on a white ground 
 (' fredo') with covering, &c. and curtains of red tartarine if, and fome 
 other articles of furniture §. Such exemptions from cuflom in favour 
 of foreign ecclefiaftical dignitaries occur pretty often. [^Foedera, V. vii, 
 
 PP- 356, .357» 577. 59°-] 
 
 06lober — It was now enabled, that Englifh merchants, being in foreign 
 
 ports, and not finding any fufBcient Englifh veffels there, might fhip 
 
 their goods onboard foreign veflels. [Stat. I, 6 Ric. II, c. 8.] 
 
 Aliens were permitted to bring fifh and all other kinds of viduals into 
 any city or town, and to cut them and fell them in any manner they 
 thought proper. [Stat, i, 6 Ric. II, c. 10.] 
 
 Landlords, or hofls, in London, Yarmouth, Scarburgh, Winchelfea, 
 Rye, and other coaft towns, were ordered to defift from their noxious 
 pradlice of foreflalling herring or other fifli, or provifions of any kind, 
 on pretence of any cuflom or charter, all fuch being hereby abrogated : 
 and they were upon no account to hinder fifhermen or vidualers, natives 
 or foreigners in friendfliip with the king, from felling their wares, as 
 they might think proper. The fifhmongers of London were prohibited 
 
 * There feems to be no doubt, that fcarlet their armour, having their armorial bearings re- 
 cloths were now dyed and comjiktcly finiflied in prcfcntcd on it in embroidery. It Is (till worn by 
 England : and we find eight cloths, fcarlet, black, the heralds on folemn occafions. 
 and rufTct, (Englifh maniifaftiire undoubtedly) J Quere, if the party-coloured (Inff, now called 
 llioiight wortiiy of being fent as prcfents to the tartan, with red the predominant colour ? 
 great lords of France in the year I 383. \_Fccdcra, § This liil of articles, which throws light upon 
 V. vii, *. 415.] It is alfo worthy of obfervation, the codumc, as well as the manufafturcs, of the 
 that In(h cloth makes fome figure in this enumei- age, will be very acceptable to fome readers, and 
 ation. will prove tedious to others. The later have ouly 
 
 ■|- The tabard was a drefs worn by knights over ^o Ikip over it. »
 
 A. D. 1382. 595 
 
 from buying any frefh fifli to fell again, except eels, luces *, and pikes, 
 which either they or the foreigners might fell in London. [Stat, i , $■ 
 Ric. II, c. II.] 
 
 Odlober 22" — The exportation of corn appears not to have been law- 
 ful without fpecial licences ; but now a general proclamation was iflued, 
 prohibiting, under penalty of veflel and cargo, any exportation of corn 
 or malt to any foreign country, except to the king's territories in Gaf- 
 coigne, Bayonne, Calais, Breft, Cherburg, Berwick upon Tweed, and 
 other forts held for the king. [Fcedera, V. vii, p. 369.] 
 
 1383 — In the beginning of this year a large Genoefe carrack was 
 driven by ftrefs of weather into Sandwich f. It was reported, that the 
 merchants of London, who had on hand great quantities of fruit, va- 
 rious fpicery, oil, &c. fearing that their goods would be rendered un- 
 faleable by the arrival of fo great a quantity of freflier articles, bribed 
 the Genoefe to fail for Flanders : and it was faid, that their cargo, if it 
 had been landed, was fufficient to make a glut of the articles it confid- 
 ed of throughout the whole country. {IValfingham, p. 296.] But we 
 may be permitted to doubt, if one cargo, though a very large one, could 
 have had fuch an effed, efpecially as the Genoefe were under no oblig- 
 ation to fell their goods under their value. 
 
 October — There being great complaints of frauds in cloth, the parli- 
 ament ordered, that all cloths expofed to fale, and found contrary to 
 law, Ihould be confifcated, and the informer fhould have one third of 
 the value %• i^^s 7 Ric. II, c 9,] 
 
 The reftraints put upon the fale of wines, vidluals, fifli, &c. were re- 
 pealed : and the dealers were placed under the controul of the mayor 
 and aldermen of London. [AEls 7 Kic. Ily c. 11.] 
 
 No perfon was permitted to carry armour, corn, malt, or any other 
 viduals or refrefhments to Scotland. \_A£is 7 Ric. II., c. 14.] 
 
 1384, January 26'" — A truce was concluded between King Richard 
 and his adverfary of France, to continue till fun-rifing on the i" of Oc- 
 tober 1384. The merchants of both countries were allowed to trade in 
 either country in lawful merchandize, but not in armour or other pro- 
 
 * A luce is a pike in the laft ftage of his growth, ceiving a large fliip. In the year 1385 two Frencli 
 
 The gradation of uames is frie, gilt-head, pod, prize (hips, which were too large to get into Ca- 
 
 jack, pickerel, pike, luce. [^Harrifun's Dtfcrip- lais, were brought over to Sandwich. \_Walfmg' 
 
 t'lon of Brilain, p. 224 in Hohurticd, ed. 1586.] ham, p. 319.3 See an account of the changes, 
 
 f Sandwich has apparently arifen in place of this Itrait, or river, has undergone, by Doctor 
 
 Rhutupis, the principal port of Britain in the time Campbell, \_Polhical Survey, y. i, p. 392] who 
 
 uf the Romans, when there was a navigable arm would have been glad to add the arrival of thefe 
 
 of the fea, open at both ends, between Thanet (hips to the fads he has colledlcd. 
 and tlie main land. The llrait was much diminilh- % It appears, that the aulnage, or ulnage, was 
 
 ed in the age of Bcde, and has (ince dried up en- farmed : \_Rot. pat. fee. 8 Rk. 11, tn. 27] and 
 
 titely, its place being now moftly occupied by two thence it is probable, that the duty was not very 
 
 Imallriveia; audi apprehend this great carr?ck faithfully performed. About this time there are 
 
 muft have rode in the bay befoie Sandwich, but very frequent orders in the patent roUi. for a ftri^t 
 
 could not enter the river, which probably never inl'pec^ion uf cloth otfcred for fale. 
 
 V95 capable, fmcc it became a mere river, of re- 
 
 4 F 2
 
 596 A. D. 1384. 
 
 hibited goods ; and veffels driven on either coaft by ftrefs of weather, 
 or putting in for want of provifions, were not to be maltreated. The 
 truce was afterwards prolonged to the i*' of May 1385, and the kings 
 of Caftile and Scotland became parties to it. [Fcedera, V. Vn, pp. 419, 
 441.] 
 
 Both kingdoms immediately felt the happy efFeds of the fufpenfion of 
 hoflilities in a brifk commercial intercourfe, wherein the Normans were 
 diftinguifhed as the mofl active traders. By them was England fuppUed 
 in the fpring of this year with an extraordinary abundance of wine, 
 fruits, fpicery, and fifli, which were all fold wonderfully cheap ; and, as 
 gold and filver were given by the Englifh in exchange for them, the 
 reciprocal advantages of the intercourfe made the people on both fides 
 very defirous of a permanent peace *. [IValfingham^ Hijl. p. 308.] 
 
 About this time Edinburgh, though lately become the general re- 
 fidence of the kings of Scotland, was reckoned by Froiifart, a French 
 author who had vifited it, rather inferior to Tournay or Valenciennes, 
 cities in the Netherlands, and eflimated to contain fcarcely four hundred 
 houfesf. The houfes, according to Walfingham, {Hiji. p. 308] were 
 thatched with ftraw (' ftramentum'), as, indeed, thofe of the cities of 
 England generally were. Edinburgh was this year deflroyed in confe- 
 quence of an Englifli invafion : and its fituation, fo near the border, 
 whereby it was expofed to a frequent repetition of fuch difafters, was 
 fufficient to prevent the citizens from ereding valuable houfes, though 
 they had had the means. It is not probable that any other town in 
 Scotland, unlefs perhaps Perth, contained even fo many houfes as Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 King Richard in his feventh year appointed William Brampton of 
 London to be governor ^ of the merchants of the wool-flaple at Middle- 
 burg ; and he direded him to fearch all merchants, natives or aliens, ar- 
 
 • This fpiritci'. trade of the Normans, who with Bath, were certainly much fmaller. Such were 
 refpeft to the rpiceries appear to have been the cities in thofe days. There is, therefor, no need 
 carriers between the Mediterranean ports and Eng- to fuppofe Froifl'art niillakcn, and to correft his 
 land, gives fonie fupport to what is faid of their account by altering it to/war thoufand, a number 
 early adventurous voyages and fettlements on the fcarcely inferior to that of the houfes in London, 
 coall of Africa. {See above, p. ^1 2.) The Nor- and vallly too great for any other city or town of 
 mans were undoubtedly the greateft merchants on England in that age ; or to fuppofe that he muft 
 the weft coaft of France, as thofe of Marfcille were mean lands, as they are now called in Edinburgh, 
 on the fouth coaft. Robert Bremville was at this each floor of which is a feparate habitation, near- 
 time diftinguidied as the moft opulent and power- ly fimilar to a fet of chambers in the inns of court 
 ful merchant in Normandy. \_lValfingham, Hiji. in London. The very fubftantialllile of building, 
 p. 318.] ncceflary for fuch large edifices, was apparently 
 
 f Though the houfes, and confequently the po- then confined to ecclefiaftical and mililaiy archi- 
 
 pulation, of Edinburgh arc rated fo low by Froif- tefture in both the Britifh kingdoms, 
 fart, we hnd he places it nearly on a level with the J The title of governor feems to have come in 
 
 ppulerit manufacturing city of Tournay. And from place of that of mayor ofthejlaple. This is prob- 
 
 ihe tax-roll of England in the year 1377 it is pre- ably the firft cftablilhment of the ftaple at Mid- 
 
 fumablc, that the cities of Exeter, Worcefter, and dlcburg, of which, I believe, we have no other 
 
 Winchcilcr, were not larger or more populous than record, except the xiXmnJrotn it to Calais in the 
 
 Edinburgh, if, indeed, they were equal to it, and year 1388. a 
 
 that Litchfield, Chichcfter, Carlile, Rochtftcr, and
 
 A. D. 1384. 597 
 
 riving there, for gold or filver carried out of England. [Rot. pat. fee. 7 
 Ric. II, m. 13.] 
 
 1385 — This year the governor of Calais, the feamen of the Cinque 
 ports, and others, took above 800 veflels of various kinds, fhips, gallies, 
 cogs, carracks, barges, lines, balingars, &c. from the French *. Of thefe 
 fome, which were taken near Calais, in confequence of the fleet being 
 difperfed by a florm in September, were remarkably large and lofty ; 
 one in particular had been recently built for the Norman merchants in 
 the Eaft country at the expenfe of 5,000 francs {jC^t,3 : 6 : 8 fterling) for 
 a proteclion to the reft of the fleet ; and they had fold her at Sluys to 
 Cliflx)n, the conftable of France, for 3,000 francs (;C50o). Another 
 fliip belonging to the fame Cliflbn, taken by the Cinque-port vefl^els, 
 was valued at 20,000 franks, which muft have comprehended her cargo, 
 and is therefor no great fum, if compared with the value of fome of 
 the Mediterranean fliips and cargoes. (See above, p. 504.) Two of them 
 were loaded with fpiceries, and fome of them with isohite herrings to the 
 amount of 400 lafts f. \Kiiyghton, col. 2676. — Walfingham, p. 318.] 
 
 1386, March 28'" — In an order for prefllng veflels and feamen into 
 the king's fervice, the fifliermen of Blakney, Cley, Cromer, and the ad- 
 jacent coafts, were exempted. [Fa^dera, V. vii, p. 507.] As a contraft 
 to this indulgence, it may be obferved, that the fifliermen of Suflex and 
 Kent were taxed three pennies upon every boat-load for fortifying the 
 town of Rye. \Rot. pat. Jec.^ Ric. II, a tergo 32.] The fifliermen of 
 Rye moreover gave a fliare of their fifli to the king : and thofe of Win- 
 chelfea gave a fliare to the redor of the church. Probably both thofe 
 taxes were general, at leaft on that part of the coaft ; and in moft places 
 the fifliermen have been obliged to give a flrare of their earnings to their 
 fuperior lords :j:. 
 
 June 27'" — In a truce between England and Scotland * it is accordit, , 
 ' that fpeciale afRirance fal be on the fee frathe Watir of Spec to the 
 
 * Watir of Tamyfe, for all marchandes of bath the roialmes and here 
 ' godes §.' {Fcedera, V. vii,/). 527.] 
 
 September 1 G"' — Loans to the king were now much more frequent than 
 formerly. There was one in the year 1382 ; and in that year the king , 
 
 * Walfingliam fays, ' There were taken and flain was granted, probably rather confirmed, to the 
 ' in thofe (liips 226 feamen and mercenaries. BlelT- reftor of S^ Thomas's church in Winchtlfea by 
 
 * ed be God for all things.' Henry IV. \_Rot. pat. prim. 37 Ed'W. Ill, m. 22; 
 
 •J- It is pretty generally believed (notwitlilland- tc'rtia 2 Hen. IV, m. 30. j Prifes of lilh were due 
 
 iog this and many other authentic proofs of the from the tilhermcn ot Hertlepool to the lord of 
 
 contrary, to be found in this work) that no her- the place. \_Fadera, V. s\\\, p. 573.] 
 rings were cured in any other way than what are § Spee, Spey — I'amyle, Thamei — here godes, 
 
 called red herrings, till Van Beukelen invented the tlxir goods, and cipecially cattle. — This is the fe- 
 
 metiiod of curing luhite herrings in the fifteenth cond appearance of the native language of the 
 
 century. country in Rymcr's Fadera yinglia, the lirll being 
 
 ;f Edward III granted to the abbat of Stanley alfo a truce between the two Britilli kingdoms, 
 
 for ever the profits arifing from the ' kinge(hare' dated 15"' March 13S4-5, [/>. 468] which cou- 
 
 in the fifliing boats of Rye. The tenth part of tains nothing relating to commerce. 
 "the fifh caught at Winchelfea, called ' Chriftelhare,'
 
 598 
 
 A. D. 1386. 
 
 repaid ;^2, 000, tvhich he had borrowed from the city of London by 
 laying his crown and fome valuable trinkets in pawn. The king now 
 niade a loaiij wherein the iums fubfcribed, or demanded, were larger 
 than in any preceding one. Of 51 fubfcriptions there were 25 by ec- 
 clefiaftical perforis, from £4.33 : 6 : 8 , the fum lent by the archbifhop of 
 Canterbury, down to ;^i3 : 6 : 8 j none by the barons j and 26 by cities 
 and towns, as follows. 
 
 Chichester 
 
 L-tTine 
 Worcester 
 Leicester 
 Gloucester 
 Lincohi lOO 
 and 70 
 York - 
 S'. Edmundsbury 
 
 London * 
 
 and again 4,000 / •^^'"^ 
 Cambridge - 60 
 
 Cirencester 
 Salisbury 
 <L"oventry 133 6 
 
 and S2 10 
 
 and 100 
 Bristol 
 
 o 
 
 6 8^ 
 
 10 > 
 
 oj 
 
 20 
 200 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 315 16 S 
 
 200 O 
 
 Oxford 
 
 - s£ 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 Nottingham s^ 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 Norwich - 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ip-\vich 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 66 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 Winchester 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shrewsbmy 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 S S}'™ 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 Derby 
 Canterbury 
 
 20 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hereford 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 
 
 iry - 66 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 
 Litchfield 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Whether the people of Boflon were refradory, or it was the general 
 form, we find, by a mandate direded to that town, that every perfon 
 living in it and its fuburbs, pofTeffing property to the value of ;^20, 
 was ordered under pain of imprifonment, to contribute his proportion 
 of/^200, the fum demanded by the king. [Fo^dera, V. v\\,'pp. 341, 2)S9^ 
 543, 544.] It does not appear that intereft was ever paid upon any of 
 thofe loans, which were therefor in effed taxes, even if they were punc- 
 tually repaid, of at leaft the value of the intereft. In the preceding 
 year the king borrowed /^i,6oo from a Lombard merchant. \Rct. pat. 
 prim. 9 Rk. II, m. 31.] Whether he had the ufe of that money without 
 intereft, depended upon circumftances between him and the lender. 
 
 September 25"" — ^The king obferving that the increafed demand had 
 raifed the price of armour and horfes, which he thought wicked and 
 unrealbnable, direded proclamations to be made in the counties of Lin- 
 coln and Cambridge, aird the Eaft and North ridings of York-ftiire, or- 
 dering that they ftiould be fold no higher than formerly f . [Fccdera, V. 
 vii, p. 546.] 
 
 This year fome Genoefe cogs and carracks, loaded with wines, fpices, 
 ftuffs of gold and filk, gold, filver, pretious ftones, 8cc. bound for Flan- 
 ders, were feized on the coaft of Kent, and carried into Sandwich. By 
 the interceflion of Michael de la Pole, earl of Suffolk and chancellor of 
 the kingdom, the captors were ordered to give up the veflcls to the own- 
 ers, who were moreover indemnified for the damage fuftained by them J. 
 {Knyghton, col. 2678. — Walfingham, p. 322.] 
 
 • The London loana do not appear along wlih 
 the red in the Fader.! ; but they art found in the 
 patent rolls, prm. 9 Ric. II, m. 42 and prim. 10 
 Ric. II, m. 5. 
 
 f Though the proclamation wai probably of no 
 avail for tlie purpofe intended by its author, it 
 fcrvcs to let uf. know, that thofe parts of England 
 mentioned in it were then, as they arc at this day, 
 the chief breeding conntrici for horfes, 
 
 X With the fame blind avarice, wherewith he 
 
 had inveighed againfl the relloration of Mercer 
 [fee (ihovc, p. 586) Walfingham now reprobates 
 tin's 3.t\ of jnftiec of tlie earl of Suifolk, whom, 
 intending to dilhonour him, he calls a merchant, 
 the fon of a merchant, nioie engaged from hi»- 
 infancy in commerce than in militaiy affaiis, more 
 acquainted with bankers than witli loldiers. In 
 thofe days the chuich and the army cngioflcd all 
 rcfpcdtability to thcmfclvcs.
 
 A. D. 1386. 599 
 
 The king of France got together a fleet of about twelve hundred vef- 
 fels for an invafion of England, which he Rationed at Skiys and along 
 the adjacent coaft, having alfo a great army * encamped upon the land. 
 Though the Flemings faw their country devoured by fo many myriads 
 of confumers, fo important was the herring fifhery in their eflimation, 
 that the fafe arrival of all their fifhermen was thought a confolation for 
 all the hardfliips they had fufFered. [Froijfart, L. iii, c. 35. — Aleyeri Ann, 
 Flandr.f. 207 a. — Walfinghcun, p. 325.] 
 
 1387, March 24'" — A great fleet of Flemifh, French, and Spanifh, 
 vefFels, failing together, as ufual in thofe days, for mutual protection, 
 was attacked by the earl of Arundel, who took 126 vefTels, loaded with 
 between twelve and thirteen thoufand tuns of wine f, the whole of which 
 the citizens of Middleburg offered to purchafe at £^ per tun, ready 
 money, which was no flight proof of their opulence : but their offer 
 was declined, and the prizes fent to England. Some time after he at- 
 tacked the harbour of Sluys, where he took feveral Flemifli, and alfo 
 fome Scottifh, veffels. \_Knyghton, col. 2692. — Walfingham, pp. 326, 539.] 
 
 1388, February — Some laws favourable to commerce, enaded by Ed- 
 ward III, were now renewed, whereby foreign merchants were allowed 
 to fell in wholefale or retail in London or any other city, burgh, &c. in 
 England, notwithftanding any claim of exclufive privileges, and all new 
 impofitions upon merchandize w^ere declared to be illegal and of no ef- 
 fed. [Stat. 1 1 Ric. II, ec. 7, 9.] 
 
 Auguft 21" — That fome Englifli merchants traded to PrufTia, has 
 been noticed under the years 1372 and 1379. Outrages, as ufual, were 
 committed on both fides in the reign of Edward III, probably in the 
 very infancy of the trade. The Prufllans complained, that fix of their 
 veflels had been plundered by the Englifli at the Swyn in Flanders. At 
 the prayer of his fubjeds the grand matter arrelted fome Englifh veflels 
 at Elburg and Dantzik : and, in return, fome Pruflian veffels were ar- 
 refted at Lynne. Conrad Zolner, now the grand mafler of Pruflia, de- 
 firing to have matters amicably adjufled, had fent ambafladors to Eng- 
 land, and Englifli ambafladors had alfo been fent to him. After long 
 negotiation, it was now agreed upon at Marienburg, the refidence of the 
 grand mafler, that juftice fliould be done to the Prufflan complainants at 
 London, and to the Englifh at Dantzik ; that Englifh merchants fhould 
 have free accefs to every port of Pruifla, with liberty alfo to carry their 
 merchandize to any part of the country, and to trade freely, ' as it ufed 
 ' to be in antient times,' the Pruffians having equal liberty in England. 
 If any difpute fhould arife, the king and the grand mafler were to ufe 
 
 • Some writers, who think nothing worth no- but the loweft numbers are generally the trued ; 
 
 tice that does not at leaft border upon the incred- and Knyghton is the earh'er writer. — Stow fays, 
 
 ible, have increafed the fleet to 1,400 fliips, and the wine was fo!d in England for 23/). a tun ; but 
 
 the army to 600,000 men. that feems a millake ; for the king paid 20/ for 
 
 f Walfingham makes the wine 19,000 tuns; the wIiil- taken by prerogative as his prife.
 
 Goo A. D. 1388. 
 
 iheir beft endeavours to accommodate it ; and, if they could not con- 
 ciUate matters, the merchants were to be allowed a year to withdraw 
 with their property from either country. [^F^dera, V. vn,pp. S'^S^ 579' 
 581, 588, 599. — Rot. pat. prim. 9 Ric. II, m. 1 1 — Hakluyt, V. i, p. 148.] 
 
 The Englifh ambafladors, who were fent to Pruflia, were aUb direft- 
 ed to adjuft fome difputes with the merchants of the Hanfe. \Fcedera, 
 V. vji,^. 602.] 
 
 September — Ever fince the infurredions in the year 1381 the court 
 and parliament had been intent upon depriving the inferior clafles of 
 the people (or rather the people, for the barons and clergy were but a 
 fmall part of the whole population) of any opportunity, or even hope, 
 of bettering their condition. In this fcflion the parliament enacted, that 
 no fervant {hould remove from one hundred to another, unlefs traveling 
 upon his mailer's bufinefs, and not even in pilgrimage for the good of 
 his foul, without a teltimonial under the king's feal, which it muil have 
 been next to impofllble to obtain. — The penalties for taking more than 
 the prefcribed wages were renewed ; and the wages for country labour 
 were fixed by law *. — Boys and girls, who were employed in hufbandry 
 till they were twelve years of age, were to be confined to it for life f . — 
 Servants in hufbandry were prohibited from carrying armour, except 
 bows and arrows for pradice on Sundays and holidays. — No beggars 
 were permitted to travel about, except certified people of religion, her- 
 mits, and ' fcholers of the tiniverfities' having the letters of the chan- 
 cellors. Impotent beggars were to be provided for by the people of the 
 towns, if they were able and willing. — Beggars, alleging that they had 
 been imprifoned beyond fea, were required to have teftimonials. — The 
 ftatute of labourers was to be in force, as well in cities and burghs as in 
 the open country. \Stat. 12 Rk. 11, cc. 3-9.] 
 
 It was enafted that llriped or coloured cloths and half cloths, made in 
 Briflol and the counties around it, fhould be agreeable to the law of 
 the year 1373 in length and breadth. \Stat, 12 Ric. II, c. 14.] This law 
 is mentioned here, only becaufe it proves that the country around Briflol 
 was then, as it has ever fince continued, the chief feat of the clothing 
 trade. 
 
 The ftaple was ordered to be removed from Middleburg, and to be 
 again eflabliftied at Calais by the firft of December. [^Stat. 1 2 Ric. II, 
 c. 16.] 
 
 1389 — In the year 1379 a general privateering commifiion was given 
 to the people of Dartmouth. [^Rot. pat. prim. 3 Ric. II, in. 10.] In 1385 
 they brought away fome rich vefi^els from the mouth of the Seine, one 
 of which, called CUflbn's barge, had not its equal in England or France. 
 
 • See them in the Appendix. vvho put llicrr cliiklrcn apprentices, wlien very 
 
 f Tliis law was made for preventing tlie cliild- young, to trades, which they afterwards folloivcd 
 
 rcn of villeins from becoming free by being ar- or not, a» inclination or circumftanccs dlretted. 
 
 tifans in burghs. It was evaded by the yilleins,
 
 A. D. 1389. 601 
 
 {Wal/mghatn, p. 315.] And this year, after Eafter, a merchant of Dart- 
 mouth,- with a fleet fitted out by himfelf, is faid to have taken ^^ veflels 
 loaded with about 1,500 tuns of Rochelle wine *. [^Knygbton, col. 2735.] 
 
 June 18"' — In another truce with France the articles for inutual free- 
 dom of trade were inferted, as in that of 1384. {Foedera, V. v\i,p. 627.] 
 
 The king Hcenced Hugh of Huhiie in Middlewych and his fons to 
 boil fait f and brew ale, and to fell them and other merchandize. \Rot. 
 pat. fee. 1 2 Kic. II, m. 1 1 .] 
 
 He alfo granted to Thomas Scot the fifliery of the Thames from Lon- 
 don bridge down to Yenlade. {Rot. pat. Jec. 12 Rk. II, m. 21.] This 
 feems an invafion of the jurildiilion of the city : and it fubjected the 
 inhabitants to the extorfion of a mononolifh of river fifh. 
 
 1 390, January — The parliament confidering, that the prices of pro- 
 vifions could not be permanently fixed :t^, directed, that the juftices of 
 peace fhould every year afcertain the wages to be given to tradefmen 
 and labourers, and alfo limit the price of provifions §. \Stat. 1,13 Ric. 
 II, f. 8.J 
 
 Becaufe the cloths called cogware and Kendal cloths of the breadth of 
 three quarters or one yard, made in feveral parts of England, and ufual- 
 ly fold from 3/4 to 57 per piece to poor people, or for exportation, were 
 made of wool which was fit for no other ufe, they were allowed ftill to 
 be made of the accuftomed lengths and breadths, notwithftanding the 
 law for regulating the finer cloths, provided they were made of wool no 
 better than had hitherto been ufed for them. \Stat. 1,13 Ric. II, c. 10.] 
 
 Frauds were now beginning to difgrace the woollen manufadure in 
 the counties of Somerfet, Dorfet, Briftol, and Gloucefter, then, as in 
 a great meafure now, the chief feats of it ; and a common mode of 
 evading detedion was to tack the cloths fo as to render it very difficult 
 to infped the inner part of the piece, which was fometimes of inferior 
 wool, different colour, deficient breadth, or otherways difhonefily made. 
 By thefe deceptions the merchants, who had the misfortune to export 
 fuch cloths, were expofed to great lofl'es ; even their lives were in danger 
 from the refentment of foreigners ; and the national character of the 
 manufadure was finking in foreign countries. It was therefor enaded, 
 that all cloths ftiould be fold, agreeable to the pradice in ElTex, without 
 any fuch tacking : and the cloth-workers, weavers, and fullers, were re- 
 
 * Thefc feem the prizes, whicU, according to in a fiiigle privateer, alfo from Dartmouili, in the 
 
 De Witt, [_Intere/l of Holland, p. 235 Engl. trari/I.J year 1745. 
 
 the Engliili carried into Dort and Ziriczee ; and, f Tliole falt-works made a part of the revenue 
 
 as thofe towns had refufed to join their earl in the of the Saxon kings, as noticed above, p. 295. 
 war againft Englaild, the veffcls belonging to J Such I conceive to be the medning of the 
 
 merchants living in them were rellored by the words, ' pur ce qe homme ne purra mye mettre en 
 
 Ensrliili captors. — If the numbers are near cot- ' certein les pris des bledz ei autres vitailles.' 
 left, the veflels carried lefs than ^3 tuns each, which § This aCt orders that no liolleller fhould make 
 
 is not likely. This capture exceeded in number, bread for horfes, but it Ihould be made by tiie 
 
 though probably not in value, the French fleet bakers. The hollelleis are allowed a proQi of a 
 
 from Martinique, taken bv Commodore Walker halfpenny upon a bufliel of oats. 
 
 Vol. I. ' . 4 G
 
 6o2 A. D. 1390. 
 
 quired to affix their feveral feals to every cloth paffed through their 
 hands. [Siat. i, 13 Ric. I/, c. 11.] 
 
 November — The parUament now ordered the flaple to be removed 
 from Calais by the 6"' of January, and to be eflablifhed in thofe towns 
 in England (and, I fuppofe, alfo in Wales and Ireland) wherein it was 
 fettled in the year 1353 *. Every foreign merchant, bringing goods 
 into England, was required to give fecurity to the officers of the cuftoms 
 at the port of landing, that he would inveft one half of the proceeds 
 of his goods in wool, hides, wool-fells, lead, tin, butter, cheefe, cloth, 
 or other Englifli commodities. [Stat. 14 Ric. II, c. i.] From this ad 
 it feems prefumable, that they were allowed to carry off half the pro- 
 ceeds of their fales in money or bills of exchange, if they chofe it f . 
 
 Every merchant, drawing a bill of exchange payable at Rome or 
 elfewhere, was required to lay out the whole money received for it, 
 within three months, upon the above-mentioned Englilh commodities. 
 [Stat. 14 Ric. II, c. 2.] 
 
 In order to keep up the price of wool, it was enaded, that no denizen 
 of England fhould buy wool from any perfon but the owners of fheep 
 or of tithes, unlefs in the flaple, nor regrate wool or other ftaple merch- 
 andize. No Englifhman was allowed to buy wool, except on his own 
 account for fale at the flaple, or for making into cloth. The exporta- 
 tion of wool, hides, and wool-fells, was prohibited to denizens, and al- 
 lowed only to foreigners. {Stat. 14 Kic. II, cc. 4, 5.] 
 
 It was enadted, that the merchants of England fhould export their 
 merchandize in Englifli vefTels only: and the owners were defired to carry 
 them for reafonahJe freights. \c. 6.] 
 
 Dartmouth was declared the only port for the exportation of tin. 
 
 Ic. 7.] 
 
 In order to encourage foreign merchants to come to England, the par- 
 liament alTured them of a courteous reception and fair treatment, [c. 9.] 
 
 Officers of the cuftoms were prohibited from being owners of vefTels. 
 Ic 10.] ■ 
 
 The parliament ordered, that the Scottlfh money fliould be taken in 
 England for only half its nominal value if:, [r. 12.] 
 
 1 39 1, January 17'" — The Englifh merchants trading to Pruflia, the 
 Hanfe tov/ns, and the adjacent countries, imputing the many troubles 
 
 * Some new llaple towns were appointed in tlie exportation of flaple goods was then confined to 
 
 44"" year of Edward III. (iV<? ulniie, p. ^"jG.) ccitaiu ports, and tliat they were thence called 
 
 It is obfervable, that fome places in England were ftaplc ports. 
 
 called ftaple towns, when the folc legal flaple was f Their right to c.irry away one half of their 
 
 at Calais, e. g. in the year 1377 the ftaple was re- money is explicitly declared in an iCl, 2 I/iri. IV, 
 
 moved from Queenhurgh to Sandwich ; {^Cotlon^s c. 5. 
 
 /IliriJgemenI, p. 157] and in 1385 King Richard \ Unlefs there was fome great, but fhort-lived, 
 
 removed the ftaple of wool and wool-fells from diminution of the money of Scotland, unknown to 
 
 Ipfwich and London to Yarmouth. [^Table in the hiftoric or antiquarian rclearch, this law was drawn 
 
 toivn hall of Yarmouth, publ'iJlKd iv'ilh Leland's Col- up with ftill lefs regard to accuracy than the order 
 
 liiJaaca, y. \i, p. a86.] Ilia probable that the of 1373. See the table of money iu the Appendix.
 
 A. D. 1391. 603 
 
 and difputes, which had happened in former times, to the want of a 
 proper dii'edion of their community, and, doubtlefs, obferving the ad- 
 vantages foreign merchants enjoyed by having regulated companies 
 eftablifhed in England, had eleded John Bebys, a citizen of London, 
 to be governor of the Englifli merchants in thofe countries *. Their 
 eledion was now ratified by the king, who alfo gave the governor full 
 power to difpenfe juftice to all the Englifli merchants in thofe countries, 
 to accommodate all difputes between them and the natives, or to de- 
 mand redrefs from the fovereigns of the countries : he authorized the 
 governor and his deputies to make ordinances, with the confent of the 
 Englifli merchants, for the regulation of their affairs, agreeable to the 
 privileges granted to them (apparently in the year 1388) by the grand 
 niafler of Prulfia : and he empowered the merchants to meet annually 
 in all time coming for the eledion of a governor f . \Foedera, V. vii, 
 p. 693.] 
 
 May 24''' — The fame of Richard's profufion attraded to England every 
 thing that was eminently magnificent and coflly. We now find two 
 merchants of Luca obtaining permiffion to import two crowns ot gold 
 with jewels, and a fet of furniture of cloth of gold and filk for a cham- 
 ber, to be offered firfl to the king, or fold to others if he fhould de- 
 cline purchafing them, without paying any cuflom for them, unlefs 
 they fhould fell them %. [Foedera, V. vii, p. 699.] 
 
 After fome years of abundance there was a comparative fcarcity of 
 corn this year in England, and the price was confequently very high : 
 but it would have been much higher, if there had not been as great a 
 fcarcity of money, occafioned by the refiraints laid upon the exporta- 
 tion of wool §. On this occafion London enjoyed the advantages flow- 
 ing from fuperior commerce and police : for, while wheat was felling at 
 Leicefter from 1 3/4. to 1 6/8 per quarter, it was fold in London for about 
 10/! Some veflels II arrived with corn from the continent in various 
 
 • The prcfent Btitifh couful in Priiffia is pro- few people in England were now clothed in foreign 
 
 bably the fucceflbr of this governor. The name cloth. 
 
 of conful, however, was uftd before this time, as Knyghcon dates tin's fcarcity in 1390 ; and he 
 
 appears by the mention of it already in this work, fays, t)iat the wool had lain unfold in many places 
 
 />. 536, to fay rothing of other proofs, which two, and three, years, in confequcnce of the Eng- 
 
 might be adduced, if neceffary. lifh merchants not being allowed to export it, and 
 
 f The mercantile companies, who formerly car- the fale of it being confined to twelve places for 
 
 ried on very licrce contclls for priority of dignity all England. But, as the reftraints were not en- 
 
 and antiquity, without knowing any folid founda- aded till November 1 390, they could not produce 
 
 tion whereon to build their claims, might apparent- fuch effects in 1391, and far lefs in 1390. Stow 
 
 ly have found foraething in this grant to guide them places the relief procured by the magillratcs of 
 
 to a knowlege of their antiquity. London in the mayoralty of Adam Bamme, which 
 
 X In the year 1409 Henry IV licenced a Ge- commenced in November 1390; and thence Wal- 
 
 nocfe merchant to import an expenfive collar or fingham appears more accurate than Knyghton in 
 
 necklace on fimilar terms. \_Fadera, V. viii,j((. 569.] the date. 
 
 ^ We thus fee, that the (hcep of England pro- |1 Knyghton fays, ' xi naves.' But I appre- 
 
 duced more wool tliau was required for the manu- hend, the numerals are erroneous. The cargoes ot 
 
 fafture of cloth and other woollen goods for the eleven fliips, unlefs they were much above the ufual 
 
 confumption of all the people, and the export burthen, could have but very little effed in reducing 
 
 trade befides : and it feeras pretty certain, that the price or alleviating the calamity. 
 
 4G 2
 
 6o4 ^^> E^« 139 1* 
 
 parts of the kingdom : and the magiflrates of London, with 2,000 marks 
 borrowed from the orphans' chefl: *, together with £:^^o contributed by 
 the twenty-four aldermen, purchafed a ftock of corn, wherewith the 
 poor of London and the adjacent country were fupplied on eafy terms. 
 [Knygbton, col. 2737. — Walfingham, p. 346.] 
 
 In the year ending 21" June 1391, during which the quantity of 
 wool exported is faid to have been much lefs than ufual, the cuftoms on 
 it amounted to /^ 160,000, over and above tunnage, poundage, aulnage, 
 pellage, &c. [Cotton's Abridgement , p. 472.] 
 
 November — It was enacfted, that all merchants, denizens, or aliens, 
 might buy wool from any perfon whatever till the 24"" of June next, 
 they bringing to Calais one ounce of gold in bullion for every fack of 
 wool f . After the 24'" of June the flaple, now held at the towns ap- 
 pointed by parliament in the year 1353, fhould be held in fuch towns 
 upon the coaft as the lords of the council fhould diredt. [Cotton s Abridge- 
 ment, />. 341.] 
 
 The ad of the preceding year, for (hipping tin at Dartmouth only, 
 was now repealed. Tin might now be {hipped at any port ; but it was 
 to be carried only to Calais, as long as wool fhould be carried thither. 
 [Stat. 15 Ric. II, c. 8.] 
 
 From thefe reflriflions Calais appears to have been flill a flaple, at 
 which all wool and tin were to be landed ; flaples and reflraints in Eng- 
 land, and a fecond ftaple and other relliraints at the fame time on the 
 continent ! The condition of the merchants, who were obliged to deal 
 in flaple goods, was truely pitiable in thofe days of perpetual changes. 
 
 It was reprefented in parliament, that the cloths manufactured at Gild- 
 ford and the adjacent parts of Surrey, Sullex, and Hampfhire, called Gild- 
 ford cloths, which ufed to have great reputation as well-made goods, 
 were now much depretiated in confequence of fullers and others buy- 
 ing them unfulled, and injuring the lubflance by overftretching them 
 in length and breadth. It was therefor now enafted, that no Gildford 
 cloths fhould be fold, till they were completely finifhed and fealed. [Stat. 
 15 Ric. 11, c. 10.] 
 
 The people of Amfterdam had for fome time pafl traded to Schonen 
 for herrings :{:, and they had obtained from the king of Denmark a grant 
 of a piece of land for tranfading their bulinefs. This year the earl of 
 
 * This is belicve-.l to be llie carlitft notice, given !f. Scliouk [Difcr/. Je harengis, J 34] fay5, that 
 
 ly any bijlortan, of the orphan's fund in the city of the HoUaiidtrs had not ytt begun to filh on the 
 
 London. But it may be pnfumed to be nnicli Btitilh coaft. We know that the Flemings adua!- 
 
 more anticnt, as we find an tllablilhniint fur the ly fiihcd on tlie coafts of England and Scotland 
 
 orphans of Sandwich in the year 1390. \_Rot. pat. above ico years before, and that the Hollanders 
 
 1 8 Edvj. I, m. ^5.] obtained a licence in the year 1 295 to lifii on the 
 
 -}■ In the year 1397 the parliament ordered the coaft of England ; and they were probably among 
 
 nunce of gohl to be carried to the Tower of Lon- the Belgians who frequented the filliery in the 
 
 don ; and ii 1399 Cidais wis again appointed to Firth of Forth in the twelfth century. See above, 
 
 be the place for it. \_Cottvnt Ahrllgcment pp. 362, pp. 325, 427, 45J. 4 
 ?93-]
 
 A. D. i39i» 605 
 
 Holland gave a charter to his faithful fcabines and fenators of his city 
 of Amfterdani, authorizing them to elecft a prefeft, and to govern their 
 lands in Schonen by their own laws *. [Chart, op. Poniard Dan. hijl.p. 522.] 
 
 1392 — ^The merchants of the Hanfe obtained from the king a de- 
 claration, that they fhould be fubjeded to no new impofitions in any 
 town. \_Rot. pat. fee. 15 Rie. II, m. '^6^^ 
 
 The magiflrates of London having refufed to lend the king ^1,000, 
 he took occafion to quarrel with them, deprived them of their offices, 
 refclndcd the city's privileges, and got a fine of ^100,000 impofed upon 
 it. He was encouraged in thefe oppreffive meafures by the nobles, who, 
 not knowing that the improvement of their own lands depended upon 
 , the profperity of trade, envied the growing opulence of the citizens. It 
 was probably thought at court, that the payment of fuch an exorbitant 
 fine would be impoflible ; and the king hinted a defire to be reconciled 
 to the citizens, who were fo tranfported with joy at the news, that they 
 begged to be honoured with his prefence in the city. He accordingly 
 made a proceflion through the city (Auguft 29'") ; and the citizens 
 ftrained their abilities to receive him with Iplendour and magnificence. 
 Two crowns of gold (probably thofe imported from Luca in the pre- 
 ceding year), two tables or plates of gold, one reprefenting the Trinity, 
 and valued at /^8oo, and the other a pidure of S'. Anne, with a vail 
 profuficn of other coftly baubles, were prefented to him and the queen, 
 and gratioufly received. The fine of /^i 00, 000 was remitted, and all 
 offences were pardoned, except treafons and felonies (September 19"'). The 
 citizens now rejoiced in the belief that the fi:orm of royal indignation 
 was blown over. But they were icon convinced of their miflake by a 
 demand of ^^i 0,000, to be paid for obtaining the king's good will : and 
 that fum, lufficiently difirefling, was collecfted by an afieflinent upon 
 all the inhabitants, and adually paid to the king f . \Fcedera., V. vii, pp. 
 735» 'ld>^-—Knygbion, col 2^^o.—Walfingham, p. 348.] 
 
 * According to fome authors, it was not before ferring him to thofe who place it in 1 400. Per- 
 
 tbe year 1400 that the fta made a breach through haps it may have happened in the great inundation 
 
 the ridge of hill?, which guarded the noith coall in January i 198-9 recoided by Hov(dtn,f. 326 b. . 
 
 of Holland and Friftland, into the lakes formed — Ann. IVaverl. and Chron. Mclros, ad an. 1198. 
 
 by the ftagnation of the north mouth of the Rhine, Meyer [Ann. Flar.dr.f. 117 b] is fo dillrcfied by 
 
 which, according to Pliny, [H'ljl.nal. L. iv, r. 15] the carelcfTEicfs of writers refpefting the in undatfonf, 
 
 ■was called the Flevus, and converted them into an that he is quite angry with them : and, tc-b£-fure, 
 
 inland fea, well known in modern limes by the name there can be little dependence upon the early hif- 
 
 of the Zuyder zee, the chief entrance of which tory of a country, wherein an event of fuch im- 
 
 is at the ifland called the Texe). Before that ir- portance is lo veiy difcordantly related, 
 ruption took place, Amfterdam could have no f The prefent citizens of London, accuftomed 
 
 other navigation than by boats upon the ftefl> to turn much larger funis in their private concerns 
 
 water lakes and the rivers connefted with them, than what is here Hated as perhaps impoflible to be 
 
 We here fee undoubted proof that it was earlier paid by the conimunity of the city, will not blame 
 
 than the year 14CO: but it is impoflible to afcer- me, or rather WaUingham, for faying, that the 
 
 tain the precife time on account of the numerous colleftion of j^io,o;o diftrefled the whole city, 
 
 inundations difcordantly and indillinftly recorded when they recoiled, that /' 10, COO contained 8,000 
 
 by tlie Dutch writer?. [See Scbooi de inundationi- pounds or 96,000 ounces of ftandard filver, and 
 
 kus, and Junii Balavla, p. 122.2 De Witt [/>. 301 could purcbafe JOjOCO quarters of wheat at an 
 
 Jing/. traii/l.'\ quotes Pantaleon (publillied by M. average price. 
 VojQius) who dates it in 1 1 70, but without pre-
 
 6o6 A. D. 1393. 
 
 1393, January — London, and the other incorporated communities, 
 were now indulged with ap ad: of parHament, prohibiting all foreign 
 merchants from buying and felling with each other, and from cutting 
 up or retailing any goods *, except provifions (' vivres et vitailes'). No 
 fpiceries were to be carried out of the kingdom, either by denizens or 
 aliens. [Stat. 16 Ric. II, c. i.] Thus, after being unfairly deprived of 
 their jufl rights, were the citizens of London, in return for what ought 
 ]iot to have been demanded from them, gratified with what ought not 
 to have been granted to them. 
 
 March 8"" — Some merchants of Plafencia, a city on the north coafl 
 of Spain, having plundered Nicholas CoUyng of Chepftow, the king had 
 granted him letters of reprifal to the amount of ;^3,20o, that he might 
 recompenfe himfelf by taking veffels belonging to Plafencia ; and he 
 had moreover, at his fuit, imprifoned all the Plafencians found in Eng- 
 land. But at the requeft of the earl of Virtues (' comitis Virtutum'}, 
 the lord of that city, who appears to have undertaken to compenfate the 
 damage, the letters were now fufpended. [Foedera, V. v'n, pp. 740, 749.] 
 
 April 20'" — Margaret, queen of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the 
 countries whofe naval power four centuries before this time had been 
 a terror to all the weilern coafls of Europe, finding her fleet fcarcely 
 able to make head againft that of the Hanfe towns, and having applied 
 to the king of England for his afllftance, he licenced three large warlike 
 ihips of Lynne, with their commanders and mariners, to enter into her 
 fervice. \Fcsdera, V. vii, p. 744.] 
 
 April 22* — ^The following articles, which were permitted to be (hipped 
 at London for the duke of Bretagne without paying any duty, may ap- 
 parently be confidered as fpecimens of the manufactures, filhery, and 
 trade of England, viz. i piece and 1 5 elns of fcarlet cloth ; 9 cloths of 
 various colours ; 1 5 elns of blanket f ; 1 5 elns of black cloth ; 1 6 faddles ; 
 3 buts of Malvefey wine ; 132 pounds of fugar ; 50 grelings, 50 lings, 
 3 barrels of white herrings, 4 cades of red herrings, 120 fiock-fifh ; 
 12 brafs pots with covers, and fundry other articles of metal ; i bed of 
 bloody colour and green with 8 ' tapetis' (figured cloths, or perhaps bed 
 blankets) and curtains ; i image of alabafler. and feveral fmall articles. 
 \Fcedera, V. vii, p. 745.] From fome other fuch licences, occurring in 
 the fubfequent parts of the Foedera (and particularly V. viii, />. 117) it 
 appears, that the goldfmiths of England flill kept up their reputation as 
 excellent workmen. 
 
 1394, January — It was enabled that no filver money fliould be melted 
 for making veflels or any other things ; and that Scottifh, or other 
 
 m 
 
 It vmy be rcmaiked once for all, that the upon foreign doalors in fifli, S:c. was repealed by 
 
 tranfient foreign merchant, who could fubmit to Henry IV in the firft year of his reign. 
 
 the petty drudgery of retailing his goods, mulb f Blanket, a coarfe kind of cloth, allotted for 
 
 have liad but a very trifling cargo.— The rcftraiut the drefs of country lubourers by parliament in tlie 
 
 3 ycai- 1363.
 
 A. D. 1394. 607 
 
 foreign, money fhould not circulate, but be carried to the mint. [Stat. 
 17 Ric. 11, CI.] 
 
 All perfons were now permitted to make cloth and kerfey of any 
 length and breadth, the quantity (and apparently alfo the fufficiency of 
 the fabric) being certified by the aulneger's feal, before it might be 
 offered for fale. {c. 2.] 
 
 The merchants, and the makers of the fluff called y^wj'/i? worjled, were 
 allowed to export bolts of it to any country not at war with the king, 
 paying only the cuftoms and fubfidies without the Calais duties, not- 
 withflanding the charters granted to the burgefles of Calais and the 
 merchants of the ftaple of Calais. But they were not permitted to carry 
 any double worjleds or half doubles, ox Jlr'iped or moiled worjleds. [f . 3.] 
 
 All the fubjedfs of England were allowed to export corn to any country 
 not hoftile, on paying the due cuftoms. A power was however referved 
 to the king's council to flop the exportation, if neceffary. [c. y.] 
 
 According to the ordinances of Edward II and Edward III, the alder- 
 men of London continued in olHce only one year. But now it was enacted, 
 that they fhould not be removed out of office at all, unlefs for fome jufl; 
 and reafonable caufe *. — The ward of Farringdon being lately very much 
 increafed in houfes and inhabitants f , it was enadfed, that there fhould 
 be one alderman for the divifion within the walls, and another for the 
 divifion without, in all time coming, and that they fliould thenceforth 
 be called the wards of Farringdon within and Farringdon without. 
 [cc. ilr^S] 
 
 Auguft 29'^ — The king, underftanding, that, in confequence of the 
 failure of herrings in other places %, many foreigners, with vefTels, fait, 
 and other requifites for curing herrings, had come laft year and this 
 year upon the coaft of York-fhire, where they had bought up great 
 quantities of herrings, which they faked and barreled, or cured red, 
 and carried away for their own advantage, to the great hurt of the 
 whole kingdom by raifmg herrings to an extravagant price, but efpecial- 
 ly of the inhabitants of Whitby, who fupported themlelves chiefly by 
 curing herrings, he therefor ordered the magiftrates of that town § to 
 proclaim, that no ftrangers fhould thenceforth be permitted to carry 
 away any herrings. [Fasdera, V. vii, p. 788.] We do not, however, 
 fee, that any attention, adequate to the importance of the objedf, was 
 
 * Stow, in his lift of temporal governors at the of thofe gardens may be the modern Sali/bury 
 
 end of liis Survey dates this alteration in the con- fquare. 
 ftitutioa of the city in the year 1354. % Werdenhagen [/. 3663 fays, the fifliery on 
 
 •f- We muft not fuppofe, that this ward then the coaft of Schonen was interrupted by the pirates, 
 
 approached to any refemblance of its prefent crowd- who infefted the Baltic fea. But King Richard'* • 
 
 ed ftate. In the fecond year of Henry IV the mandate is far better authority, 
 bifhop of Saiifbury leafed two gardens in S'. Brides § Similar orders, we may prefiime, were fent to 
 
 pariQi, Fleet ftrect for 80 years to George CrefTey, the other towns on the coall vilkcd by the her-- 
 
 a citizen of London, at a rent of zcy' a-year. rings, thougli they do not appear. 
 l_Rot. j'tt./ei. z Hen. IV. m, 15.] Perhaps a part.
 
 6o8 
 
 A, D. I 
 
 394- 
 
 paid to the filliery, fo as to make herrings a confiderable article of ex- 
 portation. 
 
 1396, Odober 25"' — The Genoefe, formerly raifed by profperous com- 
 merce to fuch a height of power and infolence that they pretended to 
 prohibit the neighbouring ftates from navigating the Mediterranean fea, 
 were fo far reduced by their inteftine divifions as to be incapable of 
 conducing their own government, and now furrendered themfelves to 
 the dominion and protedion of the king of France, under which they 
 remained till the year 1409, when the French, unwilling to be at the 
 expenfe of maintaining a Sufficient force in their city, obliged them to 
 refume their independence. [Stella Arm. op. Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 
 1 1 51. — Muratori Ann. V. xii, />. 473.] 
 
 It was not long before the king of France found himfelf obliged to 
 his new vallals for a piece of fervice, which his own fubjeds could not 
 perform for him. The religious and military ardour of fome of the 
 princes of France and Burgundy had plunged them into a kind of cruf- 
 ade againfl: the Turkifh fultan Bajazet, and in the battle of Nicopolis 
 their own impetuous valour made them his prifoners. In the prefents, 
 lent to the iultan by the king of France to induce hini to ranfom his 
 captives, we have a fpecimen of the mofl valuable manufadures of 
 Europe. They confiiled of fcarlet cloth, fine linen of Rheims, and 
 tapeftry of Arras reprefenting the battles of Alexander the Great. The 
 ranfom was fixed by Bajazet at 200,000 ducats : and the merchants of 
 Genoa became bound for their fovereign in an obhgation for five times 
 the fum, ' a leflbn to thofc warlike times, that commerce and credit are 
 ' the links of the fociety of nations,' [Gibbori's Roman hijl. V. xi,/). 453] 
 and alfo a proof, that the commerce of Genoa was flill very great and 
 refpedable in the eyes of the Oriental princes, who, however, might 
 eftimate it rather by its former fame than its adual ftate at the time. 
 
 1397, Augufl lo"" — We hear of no loans for fome years paft. But 
 there was one made now, the contributors to which were more numer^ 
 ous, and the fums larger, than in any preceding one. Of 193 fubfcrip- 
 tions there were 78 by the clergy, from ^1,000 by the bilhop of Win- 
 chefler down to /,"i3 : 6 : 8 ; 45 by gentlemen from /^4oo by Sir Robert 
 
 Knollys down to ^3 : 6 
 
 8 ; and 70 by cities and towns, as 
 
 follows. 
 
 
 I^onJon 
 
 ^e£QjQm 13 A 
 
 C;!mbridge ^100 
 
 
 
 Chichester 
 
 
 £m 13 
 
 4 
 
 iiristol 
 
 800 
 
 Winchester - 100 
 
 
 
 Northampton 
 
 
 m 13 
 
 4 
 
 Norwich 
 
 33:J 0" 8 
 
 Colchester - 100 
 
 
 
 Yarmouth 
 
 - 
 
 m 13 
 
 4 
 
 Boston 
 
 300 
 
 Kingston upon Hull 1(X) 
 
 
 
 Abingdon 
 
 - 
 
 m 13 
 
 4 
 
 I ynne 
 
 26G 13 A 
 
 Hereford - 100 
 
 
 
 Scarburgii 
 
 - 
 
 60 13 
 
 4 
 
 York 
 
 200 
 
 Shrewsbury - 100 O 
 
 
 
 Nottingham 
 
 - 
 
 60 13 
 
 4 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 2(X) 
 
 C;inlerbury - 60 13 
 
 4 
 
 Worcester 
 
 - 
 
 OO' 13 
 
 4 
 
 Salisbury 
 
 2(X) 
 
 Sandwich - 6ti 13 
 
 4 
 
 Leicester 
 
 • 
 
 66 13 
 
 4 
 
 Ijncoiii 
 
 133 6 8 
 
 Stanford - QQ 13 
 
 4 
 
 Cirencester 
 
 - 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 Soutliampton 
 S;. Edniundsbu 
 
 113 (5 8 
 y 10t> 13 4 
 
 Grantliam and "1 0(j 13 
 Harlaxton J 
 
 A 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Wells (' Walleys 
 
 S3 6 
 ') 53 Q 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 and others 
 
 for fums und 
 
 er £$0 down to /^6 : 
 
 \l 
 
 j : 4. \Foedera^ V. viii.. 
 
 P-9''\
 
 A. D. 1397. 609 
 
 This lift, though evidently very defective *, fhows that the people were 
 much richer, or the king much greedier, now than a few years before. 
 
 ^39^' January — The commons reprefented in parliament, that the 
 llaple was appointed to remain at Calais, and that all wool, wool-fells, 
 hides, lead, tin, cheefe, butter, honey, peltry, and tallow, from England, 
 Ireland, and Wales, ought to be carried to Calais and no other place ; 
 but that fome perfons had purcPiafed licences to carry thofe articles to 
 other ports, which gave them an unfair'advantage over other traders, to 
 the deftrudion of the ftaple, and detriment of the coinage and cufloms 
 of Calais, The king thereupon ordained that the ftatute fliould be ob- 
 ferved with refpecT: to wool, hides, wool-fells, tin, and lead, and that no 
 licences fhould be granted to the contrary, unlefs by his own efpecial 
 grant f. [Slut. 21 Ric. II, c. 17.] 
 
 February 21" — The grand mafter of Prufha complained to King 
 Richard, that his fubjeds could get no redrefs at his court for damages 
 done to them by the Englifh : and he therefor renounced the commercial 
 alliance formed in the year 1388, allowing the Englifli merchants a year 
 to withdraw from his dominions agreeable to the terms then ftipulated. 
 Such prohibitions were repeatedly ilTued by the grand maflers again ft 
 the Englifli merchants : but it is not necelTary to particularize every 
 one of them. IHakliijl, V. i, pp- 153, 154-] 
 
 The city of London this year purchaled Blackwell hall, which wns 
 thereupon appointed to be the only place in the city wherein any for- 
 eigner or ft ranger X ftiould be permitted to fell woollen cloth, [Stew's 
 Survey, p. 518, ed. 1618.] 
 
 1399, A-pril 16"' — King Richard, while preparing for an expedition 
 to Ireland, made his will, whereby it appears, that he had amaffed a 
 treafure of 91,000 marks. He was very particular in ordering the ce- 
 remonial of his funeral, for which he allotted ^^4,000. \Fcedera, V. viii, 
 p. 75.] Within ten months the unhappy Richardwas depofed, murder- 
 ed, and buried without any pomp. He was fucceeded (September 30'") 
 by Henry duke of Lancafcer, who had no hereditary right, though 
 Richard had been dead ; and that ufurpation was the direful fpring of 
 innumerable woes to England ; the royal family was alm.oft exterminat- 
 ed, and the kingdom depopulated, by the ftaughters in the civil wars 
 which enfued, whereby the manufadures and commerce of the country 
 were grievoufly deprelTed, and their advancement retarded. - 
 
 During the reign of Richard feveral projects for mining were fet on. 
 foot in England, but we know not with what fuccefs. \Rot, pat. pnjfim.'\ 
 
 The Viifliop of Winchcfter for £i ,000, and f We find the merchants of Newcaftle in pof- 
 
 "]^ bifliop of Hereford for yf66 : 13 : 4 are the only ftfiion of fuch a licence in the year 1401. [^Co!- 
 "''"ops in the lift, and there is not one noble- tons^Abrid^eir.ent, p. 408.] 
 
 "^^n : but we may be fure, tliat no bifhop or no- ;{: Foreigner or Jlratigcr uiufl here mean one no'. - 
 
 blcman could be cxcafcd. Walfmgham [/. 353] a citizen of London, 
 fays exprefsly, that no prelate, no city, no citizen 
 reputed to be rich, in the whole kingdoRi efcapcd, ^ 
 
 Vol. L 4K
 
 6ix> A. D. 1399. 
 
 It may be obferved, that England mull at this time have had no 
 ■flrength of fhipping befides thofe attending the king in his Irifh expe- 
 dition, when the duke of Lancafter, after fhowing himfelf on feveral 
 parts of the coaft, merely for the fake of difcovering what refiftance he 
 was to expeft, and thereby giving very fufficient warning, could land 
 deliberately and unoppofed, with a very trifling retinue. 
 
 Odober — For the eafe of the poor it was enaded, that cloth, kerfey, 
 Kendal cloth, Coventry frife, cogware, or any other Englilh cloth or 
 Welfh cloth, of value not exceeding i^/^- per dozen *, fliould not be re- 
 quired to be fealed, or to pay any duty, for the fpace of three years. 
 [Stnt. I Hen. IV, c. 19.] 
 
 It was enaded, that the ftaple for wool-fells, ikins, lead, and tin, ihould 
 be held only at Calais ; faving that the merchants of Genoa, Venice, and 
 •other places towards the Weft, in friendfliip with the king, might dif- 
 charge their merchandize at Southampton, and take in fuch ftaple wares ; 
 and faving alfo to the people of Berwick their liberties for their wool f . 
 [Cotton'' s Abridgement.) p. 393-] 
 
 Odober 27''' — Letters of marque and reprifal were granted not only 
 for revenging or compenfating hoftile aggreilions upon individuals, .but 
 alfo for procuring payment of debts due to them in foreign countries, as 
 appears by fuch letters now granted to John of Waghen of Beverley 
 againfl the fubjeds of the earl of Holland, becaufe he had not com- 
 pelled two of them to pay fome money due to Waghen. King Henry 
 -moreover ordered his admirals to detain all veflels and property found 
 in England belonging to Holland and Zeland, till the earl fhould de- 
 termine the affair according to juflice :]:. \_Foedera, V. viii,^. 96.] 
 
 December 6"' — King Henry fummoned the grand mafter of Pruflia, 
 and the governors of Lubeck, Wifmar, Roftock, Stralfund, and Grip- 
 pefwald, to appear in perfon, or by deputies, before his council to an- 
 iwer to the merchants of England, who complained, that they were not 
 treated in thofe places fo well as the merchants froni them were treated 
 in England, though the exprefs condition, upon which they had obtain- 
 ed their privileges in England, was, that Englifh merchants fhould en- 
 joy the fame advantages in their countries §. He alfo warned the merch- 
 ants of the Hanfe, that if they allowed others to enjoy, under colour of 
 their name, the privileges granted only to themfelves, he would totally 
 abolifli and annuU their charter. \Fa'dcro, V.\i\\,p. 112.] 
 
 About this time Timour (corruptly called Tamerlane) completed the 
 
 * It appears by an acl li Htn. IV, c. 6, lliat liis letters of inarqnc wf-re renewed in 1412 and 
 
 a do7:cn ot cloth was a half piece coiihlliiig oifour- 1414. \_Fa:lcra, r. ini, p. 733 ; /''. ix, pp- 125, 
 
 teen yards. 1S8. j 
 
 f Their liberties authorized them to export all § When thofe coiidiliona wtre fti;)idated, the 
 
 the wool produced on the north fide of Coquet reciprocity was merely nominal, for tliere were 
 
 liver to any place whatfocver. [^Cotton's Abridge- very few Englifhmen who traded to foreign coun- 
 
 ;n.'n/, p. 482.] tries : but there were now many, and thence more 
 
 X Waghen, however, got no falisfadion, and freqiicnt occafions of quarrel.
 
 A. D. ij99^. 61 r 
 
 conqucff of Hindooftan, a country, which, by the great riches and un-' 
 military temper of its inhabitants, has repeatedly invited, and fldlen a 
 prey to, thofe fcourges of the human race called conquerors. 
 
 1400 — About this time the. fifhery on the coafl of Aberdeen-fhire, 
 which in later ages has been almoft abandoned to the Dutch, was fre- 
 quented by the Englifli. The Scots fitted out a fmall fleet under Sir 
 Robert Logan to drive away or deflroy the Englifli veflels. But Logan's 
 force was apparently infuflticient, for he him felfwa& taken by the vefl!el& 
 belonging to Lynne. [Walfingham , p. 364.] 
 
 The Roman world comprehended now but a few miles beyond the- 
 walls of Conflantinople, the peninfula of Peloponnefus or Morca, and 
 fome trifling fpots and' iflands. Manuel, the unhappy emperor, was 
 driven by the terror of the Turkifli arms to mendicate pecuniary aflift- 
 ance from the defcendents of thofe barbarians., who had ufurped his 
 weftem provinces. From the obfervations of the emperor, or his at- 
 tendants, on the diflferent countries vifited by- them, I feled fuch parti- 
 culars as fliow the ftate of commerce and- manufadures, at lead as they 
 appeared to the Greeks. — The natives of Germany excell in the me- 
 chanic arts, and they boafl; of the invention of gun-powder and canuons. 
 
 Above two hundred free cities in it are governed by their own laws 
 
 France contains many flourifliing cities j of whicb Paris, the royal refid- 
 ence, is pre-eminent in wealth and luxuryi — Flanders is an opulent pro- 
 vince, the ports of which are frequented by merchants of our own fea 
 (the Mediterranean) and the Ocean. — Britain (or rather England) is full 
 of towns and villages. It has no vines and bur little fruit, but it abounds 
 in corn, honey, and wocl, from ivhich the natives make great quantities of 
 cloth. London, the capital, may be preferred to every city of the Wefl 
 for population, opulence, and luxury. It is feated on the River Thames, 
 which, by the advantage of the tide, dayly receives and difpatches trad- 
 ing vefl^els from and to various countries. — Venice * excells all the cities 
 of Italy in the opulence of its citizens and the magnificence of its build- 
 ings. The Venetians fend every year ten triremes \ to the Ionian and 
 jEgaean feas to protedt the- fliips trading to Egypt and Africa againfl: 
 pirates ; and they are relieved by other ten at the end of a year's cruife. 
 Twenty-two veflTels, larger than others, trade to Alexandria, Syria, Ta- 
 nais (or Afof), the Britifli iflands, and Africa, under the care of the 
 fons of the nobles, for fuch is the cuflora, [Laon. Chalcocortdyles, L. ii, 
 pp. 36-50; L. iv,p. 105:.] 
 
 1 40 1, January 1 1"" — King Henry propoflng to go to war, and under- 
 
 * The defcription of Venice is taken from tlie f;ave the claflical rame of ti iiemis or r^n:^:;;. Stella, 
 
 emperoi's vifit to it in the year 1438, and brought the Genoefe chronicler, fays exprefsly that the tri- 
 
 in here for the fake of connexion. remes were the fame vefftls, which in his time were 
 
 f From Sanuto [/>. 57] and many other Itah'an UhtUal/y called galli-.s. 'i'he real triremes were 
 
 culhors it is pretty certain, that the terzaroli (gaU then as much unki;own and forgotten, as if the? 
 
 iies with three men to au oar) were the veffels, to Lad never exifted. 
 
 vhich they, and this Greek writer imitating them. 
 
 4H 2
 
 6i± A. D. 1 40 1. 
 
 ftanding that barges and balingers were the veflels mofl proper for that 
 purpofe, ordered the community of the city of London to provide one 
 of each at their own expenfe. Tlie other confiderable towns, inland as 
 well as maritime, were taxed, fome to find a barge, and fome a balinger; 
 and the fmaller towns were made to join, two, three, or more, according 
 to their abiaties, to find a barge or a balinger *. [^Fcedern, V. •v\\\,p. 172.] 
 
 January — In order to put a flop to the frauds committed by means of 
 the currency of Flemifh and Scottifli coins in England, it was enaded, 
 that they ihould be all coined into Englifli money in England or Calais-; 
 and that no more fhould be admitted into the kingdom f . \Stat. 2 Hen. 
 IV, c. 6.] 
 
 June 8"* — Notwithftanding the complaints on both fides, and the 
 formal renunciation of the grand mailer, the commercial intercourfc 
 between England and Pruflia was ftill kept up, and many Englifh merch- 
 ants were fettled in that country. But the harmony was interrupted by 
 the capture of a Pruflian veflel by the Scots, which being retaken by 
 fome vefFels belonging to Lynne, it was reported in Pruffia that flie was 
 taken by the Englifh, and, in confequence thereof, all the Englifli fub- 
 jedls found in that country, with all their property, were arrefled. King 
 Henry, therefor, now wrote to the grand mailer in order to correal the 
 mifreprefentation, and requefled him to take off the arrefl from his 
 fubjeds and their property. [Foedera, V. viii, p. 203.] 
 
 This year the magiflrates of Barcelona ellablifiied their bank of ex- 
 change and depofit, called Taula de cambi (Table of exchange), upon the 
 fecurity of the funds of the city, and with the intention of extending 
 the accommodation afforded by it to foreigners, as w^ll as to their own 
 citizens. And it appears, from records ftill extant, that foreign bills of 
 exchange were ufually negotiated in it, and that the diredtors of it gave 
 affiftance to the manufadurers, when making their purchafes of raw 
 materials, fuch as EtigliJJj tvool, &cc. The Spanifli writers call this bank 
 the firfl cflabUfhment of the kind in Europe J. [CnprnaTij, Mem. hiji. de 
 Barcelona., V. i, Com. pp. 144, 213 ; V. ii, Col. dipl. p. 203.] 
 
 1402, Augufl 11'" — The magiflrates of Bruges complained to King 
 Henry's council of feveral injuries, and particularly, that a fillierman 
 of Oflend, when fifliing for herrings in the North fea, and alfo one be- 
 longing to Briel in Holland, had been taken by the Englifh, and car- 
 ried into Hull, though they havered their fails ^ the moment the Englifli 
 called to them. \_Foedera, V. win, pp. 273, 276.] 
 
 * In the preceding year fcvcnil of the batons concerning tlu' conflitution and management of tlii? 
 
 found vcfTels for the king at their own expenfe. bank of Venice in the early ages of its exillenct. 
 
 [^FceJcrti, Ffviii, /I. 125.] Capmany and the authors preceding him mull liave 
 
 f The meaning mull be, that they fliouM no confuh-rtd them as very diil'ercnt from thofe of the 
 
 longer be current. A refufal to adnu't money bank ol Barcelona. The creditors of the republic 
 
 would have been in direft oppofition to the policy of Cen )a were not yet incorporated as a banking 
 
 of the age. company. 
 
 I I have not been able, even with the alTillancc } This acknowlegcmcnt of the dominion of tlie 
 
 of a Venetian gentleman, to find any information fea h marked with capital letters by Rymer.
 
 A. D. 1402. 613 
 
 Odober — All importers of merchandize, whether Englifli or foreign- 
 ers, were ordered by parliament to invefl the zvholc proceeds of their 
 cargoes in Englifli merchandize for exportation, relerving money only 
 for their neceflary expenfes. Neither was any perfon whatfoever per- 
 mitted to export gold or filver without the king's fpecial licence. \Stat. 
 4 Hen. JV, cc. 15, 16.] 
 
 It is probable that the Canary iflands, which were undoubtedly known 
 to the Phoenicians of Gadir, and by report even to the Romans, were 
 never entirely forgotten in Europe *. 'fhe French and Spaniards claim 
 the merit of having difcovered them in the year 1395, and feem to ac- 
 knowlege that they were put upon the fearch for them by the report of 
 Macham's difcovery of Madeira. Jean de Bethencourt, a Norman. gen- 
 tleman of Dieppe, now made a conquefl of thofe iflands. [Hakluyt, V, 
 ii, part ii,/>. I. — Mem. de litterature, V. xxxvii, ;!). 521.] 
 
 1403, March 10''' — It is vexatious to find the records filled with com- 
 plaints, made by the continental merchants and efpecially thofe of the 
 Hanfe, of outrages and depredations committed by Englifli feamen, 
 who, it mufl be acknowleged, feera too often to have confidered power 
 as the only flandard of right. The aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe 
 merchants refiding at Bruges complained of the capture of a Pruflian 
 veflel loaded with wine in July 1402 ; and the confuls of the maritime 
 cities of the Hanie afl'embled at Lubeck reprefented, that a veilel be- 
 longing to Stetin was taken by the mayor of King Henry's city of 
 Bayonne, who prefumed to detain her in defiance of the king's order 
 for reftitution f . The magifi:rates of Eubeck, and thofe of Hamburgh, 
 alfo reprefented, that a veilel loaded with 29 lafts of herrings ij: was 
 taken on her way from Malrao to Flanders in Autumn 1402 by fome 
 veflels belonging to Lynne and Blackney. [Fcedera^ V. viii, pp. iCg, 
 270, 284, 287, 297.] 
 
 June 27''' — It was agreed, in a truce with France, that all perfons, 
 "veffels, and property, fl:iould be mutually and freely refl;ored ; that merch- 
 ants and others might go about their bufinefs in either kingdom with- 
 out any hinderance, and without needing letters of fafe-condud: ; and 
 that, for the fecurity of navigation, all armed veflels ftiould be called 
 into port. It was afterwards further fl.ipulated, that during the ap- 
 proaching herring feafon the fifliermen of both kingdoms might fifli 
 freely and together from Graveling and Thanet down to the mouth of 
 the Seine and Southampton ; and, if they fhould be obliged to go into 
 port, they fliould be kindly received on either fide. [Fcedera., V. viii, 
 pp. 305, 336.] But all thefe harmonious meafures were very foon broken. 
 
 * See above p. 112 for Gadir, Sec. and p. 327 Bruges again reqiieftcd the king to enforce refti- 
 
 for a voyage made to them by the Saracens in the tution. \_p. 354.] 
 twelfth century. J We tlius lee, that the capricious herrings had 
 
 ■f- The vefiel was ftill detained in April 1404, again returned to their old flation on the coaft of 
 
 when the aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe at Schonen.
 
 6i4 ^' ^' ^4^3' 
 
 This year treaties, containing ftipulations for mutual freedom of trade, 
 were entered into with Caftile, Portugal, and Flanders. [Fadera, V. viii, 
 PP- V^' 3^7' 329.] All of them were frequently renewed j and the 
 renovation is a lufficient proof of their inefficiency. 
 
 1404, January — The parliament made it felony to multiply gold or 
 filver, or to pracRiife the art of multiplication. [Stat. 5 Hen. IV, c. 4.] 
 
 The parliament, in their anxiety to keep money within the country, 
 obliged all foreign merchants to give fecurity that they fhould lay out 
 their money on Englifh merchanoize, and moreover compelled them to 
 fell their goods within three months after their arrival, and to Englifli- 
 men only, but upon no account to other foreigners. The magiflrates 
 of the fea-ports were alfo direded to affign lodgings to foreigners *. 
 
 To prevent deceptions in putting off gilt or plated locks, rings, beads, 
 candlefticks, harnefs for girdles, chalices, iword-pomels, powder-boxes, 
 and covers of cups, for folid metal, all fuch workmanfhip upon copper 
 or latten was prohibited, except ornaments for the church, of which 
 fome part Ihould be left uncovered to fhow the copper or latten f . [c.. 
 
 May i^'"* King Henry borrowed 1,000 marks from ten merchants 
 
 of Genoa, and for payment he allowed them to retain the duties on 
 goods to be imported, and on wool, hides, wool-fells, cloth, and other 
 goods, to be exported, by them in London, Southampton, and Sandwich, 
 for four months ; and he engaged to pay them the balance, if any, at 
 the end of four months by the hands of his treafurer. Five merchants 
 of Florence lent him 500 marks on the fame terms. And in the fol- 
 lowing year fums to the fame amount were lent by the fame parties, and 
 on the fame terms. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp, 358, 359, 383.] 
 
 June 6'' — The king empowered the EngHfh merchants trading to 
 Pruffia, Schonen, and other places within the limits of the Hanfe, to 
 meet, as often as they ihould think proper, for the purpofe of eleding 
 governors ; to whom he delegated the fame authority over the Englifh 
 merchants, and for obtaining juftice in difputes between them and the 
 natives of the places of their relidence, confiftent with the privileges and 
 authority granted to them by the grand mafter of Pruflia or other po- 
 tentates, which had been conferred on a fmgle governor of the merch- 
 ants in the year 1351. [Foedera, V. viii,/>. 360.] 
 
 December 4'' — The commercial reader will undoubtedly be pleafed 
 to fee how nearly the tenor of bills of exchange, and the.circumflances 
 attending the non-payment of them, about four centuries ago refcmbled 
 thofe of the prefent day. Antonio Quarti, a merchant of Luca refid- 
 
 * The rcftraints of this law, being fotind de- goods imported by foiiigiurs ; a prohibition ap* 
 (Irudtive to tht trade, were partly repealed in the parently umicciflTiiry. 
 
 enfuing year, with a faving of the privileges of f 'Jhls att dclcrves ridticc merely as an evidence 
 London, and a prohibition of exporting foreign of the perfcdiion to which gilding and platinjj were 
 
 ihca brought in Enghuid.
 
 A. D. 1404. 615 
 
 jtng at Bruges, the center of the commerce of the weftern parts of 
 Europe, had fold two bills of exchange for 1,000 fcutes each to John 
 Colombo, a merchant of Barcelona alfo refiding at Bruges, to be paid 
 by Francifco de Prato a merchant of Florence, in the ufual manner, at 
 Barcelona. The following is a clofe tranflation of one of the bills *. 
 Francifco de Prato and Company at Barcelona. 
 
 In the name of God, Amen^ the 28"' day of April 1404. 
 
 ■Tay by this firfl of exchange at ufance to Piero Gilberto and Piero Olivo one thou- 
 
 f and fcutes at tenfhillings Barcelona money per fcute ; which thoufand fcutes 
 
 are in exchange with "John Colombo at twenty-two grofjes per fcute. Pay on 
 
 our account, and Chriji keep you. 
 
 Antonio ^artifal. of Bruges. 
 
 The other differs only in the dare, 18'^ of May, and being payable 
 to Piero Gilberto and Piero de Scorpo. 
 
 The bills were fent to Barcelona, but were not paid by Prato ; and 
 William Colombo, as agent for Gilberto, Olivo, and Scorpo, purchafed 
 -fcutes in Barcelona to pay the bills, for the expenfe of which he claim- 
 ed reimburfement from Antonio Quarti, and for that purpofe returned 
 the bills protefted to John Colombo at Bruges. But Quarti alleged that 
 William Colombo ought to have got money for the bills at the bank 
 {taula di cambi) of Barcelona, according to the cuflom of the city in 
 fuch cafes, which would have been lefs expenfive, and that therefor he 
 was liable only for the expenfe attending the re-exchange in that form, 
 and not for the expenfes and interefl demanded by John Colombo. 
 Thus the matter relied at this time, when the magiftrates of Bruges 
 %vrote to thofe of Barcelona, requefting information upon the ufage re- 
 fpediing bills of exchange in their city : and to their letter we are in- 
 debted for this curious relique of commercial antiquity. [Capmany^ Mem. 
 hifl, de Barcelona, V. ii. Col. dipl. p. 203 — above, p. 612.] 
 
 1405, July 16'^ — The king had ordered fome pirates of Whitby to 
 make reftitution to two Danifli merchants, whofe veflels they had taken. 
 But they paid no attention to the mandate ; and an officer was now or- 
 dered to bring them before the king, that they might anfwer for their 
 difobedience — The Scottifh traders were alfo haraffed by lawlefs Eng- 
 liili cruifers, fome of whom, belonging to Cley on the coaft of Norfolk, 
 fhowed themfelves as regardlefs of their fovereign's commands, and of 
 :".heir own contrads, as if they had been fubjed to no government, and 
 •might adt as independent of controul upon the land, as they did upon 
 the fea. ^Foedera, V. \ni, pp. 404, 450. — MS. Bib. Cott. Vefp. F vii, n'. 22, 
 89, 116, ;ii7, 118.] 
 
 * For the fatisfaftion of the reader I here add th« oiigiual bill. 
 Francifco de Prato l^ Comp. a Bjrfalona. 
 Al name di Dlo, Amen, a di xxviii Aprile 1404. 
 
 Pagatt per quejla prima di camh. a ufait-Tia a Piero Gi/k'rfo e Piero Olivo fctiti m\lle a fold x Barfclonej't 
 iitrfcuto: i quali fctiti miUe fono per camlii chc con Giovanni Cal-nnilio agroffl xxii d.g.fcuto : iff pag. a 
 tiojlro cento, ip" Chrtjlo vi guardi. 
 
 An/onio ^arli/al tie Bru^gicti.
 
 6i6 A. D. 1405, 
 
 September 4* — The king, defiring to anticipate the receipt of the 
 taxes voted by parliament, commilTioned the fliirref and fome other 
 gentlemen in every {hire to oblige the richeft men to advance the money 
 for the taxes to be colleded in their diftricfl, which fhould be repaid to 
 them by the colledors. [Foedera, V. vn\,p. 412.] 
 
 October 1 2''' — In the Scottidi court of the Four burghs, held at Stir- 
 ling, it was ordained, that every royal burgh on the ibuth fide of the 
 River Spey fliould annually commiffion two or three fufficient men as 
 members of the parliament of the Four burghs, which, I have already 
 obferved, was a board of trade*. [Regiam majejiatem, ^c.f. 153 b.] 
 
 1406, March — The magiflrates and traders of London having taken 
 upon them to prevent the eloth-makers and the dealers in wine, iron, 
 oil, wax, and other articles, from felling their goods by wholefale in 
 London to any but the citizens, the parliament enaded, that they might 
 freely fell their goods by wholefale in London to any of the king's fub- 
 jeds.' [Stat. 7 Hen. IV, c. 9.] 
 
 It was enaded, that thofe, who did not poflefs twenty fhillings yearly 
 in land or rent, fhould not put their fons or daughters to be apprentices. 
 But fuch perfons were allowed to fend their children to fchool f. [c. 17.] 
 
 April 6'*' — The parliament having affigned to the merchants the guard 
 of the fea from the i" of May 1406 to the 29"' of September 1407, 
 they were empowered to receive 3/ upon every tun of wine, and one 
 {hilling in the pound of the value, befides a quarter of the fubfidy, up- 
 on wool, hides, and wool-fells, they being bound to keep 2,000 fighting 
 men fufficiently armed, and 1,000 mariners, upon the fea. The merch- 
 ants were alfo direded to appoint an admiral for the fouth and another 
 for the north, to be invefled by the king with the ufual powers of ad- 
 mirals to punifh all offenders, take up veffels, prefs men, and appoint 
 deputies if. In a few months the funds allotted to the merchants were 
 {topped in confequcnce of complaints of the many lofles fuflained for 
 want of a fufHcient guard upon the fea. [Fcedero, V. \'m, pp. 437, 439, 
 449, j^^^.-'^Cottovs Ahridgement, p. 452.] 
 
 Odober 5''' — The king again granted his protection till the 2"^ of Fe- 
 bruary to all fiflicrmen of France, Flanders, and Bretagne, for their fifh- 
 ing bufinefs only, and provided they did nothing contemptuous or pre- 
 judicial to him or his kingdom. [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 451, and fee 459.] 
 1407, February 5''' — The Engli{h merchants trading to Holland, Ze- 
 
 * Skenf, in lils title, moft thouglitlefKly tfalls tloii of freedom enjoyed by meclianiL's. The per- 
 
 F.dlnbiirgh, Stirling, Berwick, and Rokfbiirgli, milTion to Icnni to icad Uas of little avail before 
 
 ihrfvur burghs, though Vie ought to have known, the art of printing brought books within the reach 
 
 cvi.n from the oppoiltc page of his own book, of the poor. 
 
 tliat Lanark and Linlithgow were at thin time ftib- | Together with the mai-itime towns, to which 
 
 llituted for Berwick and Roklburgh, which were the king fent notice of this regiil.ition, we find 
 
 in the hands of the Englilh. not only Lincoln, Norwich, Beverley, and Nol- 
 
 + Tiie poor would fully comprehend the op- tiiighatti, which were acCefiible by boats, but 
 
 prcfiivc tendency of this law, which was to pic- Grauthain, which could fcarcely have any coj)- 
 
 vent their children from acquiring the fmall por- ueftion with the fea.
 
 A. D. 1407. 617 
 
 land, Brabant, and Flanders, feeling the inconvenience of a want of re- 
 gulation and government, obtained authority from the king to eledl go- 
 vernors, on whom he conferred the fame powers, which had been given 
 to the governors of the merchants in Pruflia, 8cc. they acting agreeable 
 to the privileges and authority granted to them by the lords of the places 
 of their refidence *. [Foedera, V. viii, p. 465.] 
 
 March lo'*" — In a convention between the ambafllidors of King Henry 
 and thofe of the duke of Burgundy, who was alfo earl of Flanders, it 
 was agreed, that the king's fubjeds of England, Calais, Ireland, &c. and 
 thofe of Flanders or other parts of France f , whether dealers in wool, 
 hides, provifioiis, or other goods, except cannon and other warlike flores, 
 fhould have mutual freedom of trading by land between Calais and 
 Flanders \. — All merchants, mariners, and vellels, fliould have free en- 
 trance into the ports of either fide with their goods, they carrying no 
 cannon or other warlike ftores beyond what were needful for their own 
 defence. — No reprifals fliould be made on either fide on account of al- 
 leged hoflilities or pillage ; but all fuch fhould be duely redrefled by the 
 fovereigns on both fides. — The liberty lately granted to the fifhermen 
 on both fides, was confirmed, and extended to the whole coaft of France. 
 — Pirates were not to be allowed to enter the ports on either fide, nor 
 to go out of them to prey upon the fubjeds of the other fide, nor to 
 fell, or land, their plunder in any port — In cafe of any infraftion of 
 the treaty, commiflioners, appointed by the king of England, the cap- 
 tain of Calais, or the company of the ftaple, on the one fide, or by the 
 king of France, the duke of Burgundy, or the four members of Flan- 
 ders, on the otlier, ftiould have free paflage by fea or land to demand 
 
 redrefs The merchants of Brabant, Holland, Zeland, Italy, &c, who 
 
 were accuftomed to frequent the w^ool fi:aple at Calais, fliould have free 
 paflage to and from it by land or water with their wool or other merch- 
 andize, except cannon and other warlike (lores — This treaty was to be 
 in force for one year, and not to be broken, even though hoilihties 
 could commence between England and France within that time. — On 
 occafion of one of the feveral renewals of this treaty, King Henry ob- 
 ferved, that the fuft;enance of the Flemings depended upon trade, and 
 very much upon drapery. We may thence infer, that the chief de- 
 pendence of their manufadures was fiiill upon Englifli wool. The po- 
 licy of the kings in keeping up the commercial intercourfe of their fub- 
 
 * This is the chatter, by which the company tiouble in fearching for records to fubftantiatt their 
 
 oi menhant-advcnlurrrs claimed tlic excrcile of ex- pretenfions. 
 
 cluf)ve trade. But there is here no mention of f Flanders is here reckoned a part of France, 
 
 uiiy cxclufive privilege, nor any hint of a corporate of which it was a tief: and th;s treaty is exprefs- 
 
 bu'dy, or a collediive name, whether of S', Thomas ly faid to be auth>^rized by the king of France, at 
 
 Bechet or adventurers. Wheeler, Miflclden, Ma- the dnke's over-lord. 
 
 lynes, and other keen difputants on both fides of J The n.eichants were to have no dcgs witii 
 
 thofe now-dormant conteitf, feem all to have af- them, and to catch no rabbits on the downs he- 
 
 ferted boldly without giving themfclves much tween Calais ar.d Graveling. 
 
 Vol. I. 4 I
 
 6i8 A. D. 1407. ^ 
 
 jedls, even when themfelves fhould be at war, fhows, that they were be- 
 ginning to difcover that their own welfare depended on the profperity 
 of their fubjeds *. [Fcedera, V. v'ni, pp. 469-477, 530, 548. J 
 
 July 1 1 ill — It was alfo flipulated, in a truce of one year between King 
 Henry and his ftep-fon the duke of Bretagne, that the merchants of 
 either party fhould have freedom of trade in the dominions of the other, 
 without being concerned in any hoftilities. [Fa^dera, V. viii, p. 490.] 
 This treaty was alfo frequently renewed. 
 
 June 27''' — The king again anticipated his revenue by borrowing on 
 the fecurity of his fubfidies on wool, hides, and wool-fells, for the pay- 
 ment of his garrifon at Calais. The tranfadion merits notice only as 
 i"howing that laymen were now become more able to advance money 
 than formerly, the happy eflfed of the filent influx of commercial opul- 
 ence. The fums were as follows. 
 
 The bishop of Durham ^ 66 1 3 4 John Norbury f ^2,000 O 
 
 The earl of Westmerland 500 O O John Heiide f - 2,000 O O 
 
 William lord of Rods 166 13 4 Richard Whityngton f 1,000 O 
 
 Hugh lord of Burnel 1 66 13 4 The merchants of the staple 4,000 O 
 
 The Italian company of the Albertini alfo lent j^" 1,000, for which they 
 were allowed to retain the cufloms on wool, &.c. exported by them at 
 London, Dover, and Southampton, till their debt fhould be paid up. 
 [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 488.] 
 
 The bank of Genoa may be properly faid to have commenced this 
 year. It had been ufual for the republic to borrow large fums from 
 the citizens, and to affign certain branches of the public revenue as 
 funds for the payment of the intereft, which were put under the man- 
 agement of fome of the mofl refpectable citizens, who were to pay the 
 interefi; to the creditors, and account to the flate for the funds entruft- 
 ed to their care. In procefs of time the multitude of thole funds, there 
 being apparently as many as there had been loans, bred confufion ; and 
 it was now thought proper to confolidate the whole into one capital 
 flock, to be managed in one bank, called the chamber of S' . George, and 
 to be governed by eight protectors eleded annually by the creditors or 
 
 * On a fomcwliat-fimilar occafion it was ob- tizens of London, and great builders of cluirclies, 
 
 ferved by Rapin, that England and the Nether- colkges, &c. Hcnde was elcftcd mayor in 1391 
 
 lands were fo cluftly comicfttd in trade, that it and 1404. Whityngton was fubrtitulcd by royal 
 
 could not be interrupted without remarkable pre- authority in place ot Adam Bamme, who died in 
 
 judice to both, and therefor treaties for guarding his mayoralty in 1397, and he was cledled mayor 
 
 the interells of commerce were often made even in in that year, and alfo in 1406 and 1419, fo that 
 
 times of the hotte.1 war. He adds, that ' tins he was in office at the time of this loan, and in 
 
 • maxim was infiiiilely hetler than -jihat has been fol- all three years and five njonths. He feenis to have 
 ' loiuedfince of making a prey of the merchants, tvhich been alfo mayor of the llaplc at Calais, but refid- 
 
 * proves to their ruin.' \_Rapin'' s ^iia regia, V. ii, ing in London, about 1420. [/IW. Bib. Colt. 
 p. 367, %-vo ed.'\ Calba, B i, n". 172.] The manufa<5lurers of books 
 
 ^ff Norbury was treafurer of the exchequer in for childien have moil unaccountably taken it into 
 
 the lail year of Richard II, and firfl of Henry IV, their heads to make Whityngton originally a fcul- 
 
 and afterwards king's treafurer, as appears by the lion boy, and have veiy confiflently provided ^ 
 
 Tatcnt rolls. Tlic other two geutlciiicn were ci- great fortune for him by means of a cat.
 
 A. D. 1407. 619 
 
 ftock-holders. Under tins form of government the affairs of the bank 
 were conduced very profperoufly, till the further increafe of the public 
 debts, and the acceflion of whole towns and territories, among which 
 was the little nominal kingdom of Corfica, made them fenfible of the 
 inconvenience of annual fucceifions of new protedors, and determined 
 them, in the year 1444, to eled eight new governors, of whom only 
 
 two were to go out every year. [Biza/i Atin. Genuenf. pp. 205, 797 
 
 "J. De Laet de princip. Ital. pp. 175, etfeqq.'] 
 
 Emden is noted as a retreat of the northern pirates in the year 883. 
 [R. Hoveden, f. 240 b.] At this time the citizens, being diftreffed by 
 their too-powerful neighbours, applied for afliflance to the affociated 
 cities of Hamburgh and Lubeck, whole maritime power was now very 
 refpedable. They were the firfl of their nation, who were alTumed in- 
 to that confederacy ; and, in confequence of the fupport of their new 
 allies, they in their turn became formidable to their enemies. IPontatii 
 Rer. Dan. hijl. p. 539.] 
 
 1408, March i" — The Englifli merchants trading to Norway, Swed- 
 en, and Denmark, were empowered to eleft a governor, whofe fundions 
 and authority were made fimilar to thofe of other governors of merch- 
 ants, already fpecified. It appears, that his refidence was at Bergen, 
 and that he was alfo called alderman of the merchants. [Fcedera, V. 
 viii, pp. 511, 685.] The office of governor of the Englilh merchants 
 trading to a particular country now beginning to be general, it will not 
 be neceflary to particularize any more of them. 
 
 The city of Wifbuy with the ifland of Gothland, after being jointly 
 poflefTed by the northern heroine, Margaret queen of Denmark, Sweden, 
 and Norway, and by the Vitalian pirates, was wrefted from them by a 
 fleet equipped by the citizens of Lubeck, Dantzik, Thorn, and Elbing, 
 and put into the hands of the grand mafter of Pruflia, from whom Eric, 
 king of Sweden (under Margaret), endeavoured to take it. But, by the 
 mediation of the emperor Wenceflaus, he agreed to pay the grand maf- 
 ter nine thoufand Englijh nobles for the furrender of the ifland, which 
 accordingly took place in the year 1408, Eric not being able to raife 
 the money before that time*. \Fontani Rer. Ban. hiJl. pp. 531, 532, 
 
 The people of Holland were now beginning to lay the foundation of 
 that commercial importance, which afterwards aftoniflied the world. 
 
 * Olaus Magnus \_L. !i, c. 22] makes the price to the duke of Burgundy at the current rate in the 
 20,oco nobles or dubloons ; and he makes Q\ieen year 1431. \_^Meyeri Ann. Flandr. f. 278 a. J 
 Margaret the purchafer, as does alfo PufFendorf, After this we hear little or nothing of the cele- 
 who Hates the fum 10,000 nobles. Thus it ap- brattd commercial city of Wilbuy, which in the 
 pears, that all the afts of the Englifh parliament (ixteenth century, perhaps earlier, was only known 
 could not prevent the gold of England from find- by its ruins, among which the fragments of polish- 
 ing its way to the continent : and the Englifli no- ed marble, doors made of iron, brafs, and copper, 
 bles continued to be current money in the Nether- and windows made of copper covered with gold 
 lands, as appears by a payment of 100,000 of them and filver, exhibit proofs of the magnificence of 
 
 the antient inhabitants. [0/. Mag. L. ii, c. 22.} 
 
 4 I 2
 
 620 A. D. 1408. 
 
 The frequent fquabbles between the cities and villages of Flanders and 
 Brabant, refpedling the right of the villages to make woollen cloth, had 
 driven many of the manufadurers to take refuge in England and Hol- 
 land, and especially in the later, whereby the towns of that province 
 were greatly increafed in magnitude and population. The Hollanders 
 alfo engaged in maritime commerce : but their trade was much infeft- 
 ed by piratical veffels fitted out by their neighbours of Eaft Frifeland. 
 The earl and the barons, thinking themfelves not at all interefled in the 
 profperity of the commerce of their country, ufed to pay no attention 
 to thofe depredations ; and they went on with impunity, till the citizens 
 of Amfterdam and fome other places in North Holland, with the aflifl- 
 ance of thofe of Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Campen, cleared the fea of 
 thofe pirates *. 
 
 1409, May — The magiftrates of Norwich were authorized to infpedl 
 and meafure all worfled fluffs made in their own city and in all Nor- 
 folk, and to affix their feal, without which they Ihould not be offered 
 for fale f . [Cotton's Abridgement, p. 474.] 
 
 Augufl 23'' — King Henry granted permiflion to the nierchants of 
 Venice to bring their carracks, gallies, and other veffels, loaded with 
 merchandize, into the ports of England and his other dominions, to 
 tranfaft their bufinefs, to pafs over to Flanders, to return to his domi- 
 nions, to fell their goods without impediment or moleftation from his 
 officers, to load their veffels with wool, cloth, or other Englifli merch- 
 andize, and to return to their own country. [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 395.] 
 We find frequent renewals of this permiffion, with the fame routine of 
 the trade, in the fubfequent years. 
 
 Odlober 10th — A negotiation and correfpondence were kept up dur- 
 ing feveral years for the purpofe of effecting an amicable compenfation 
 for the dam.ages fuftained by the fubjeds of England on the one fide, 
 and thofe of Pruflia and the Hanfe confederacy on the other, from the 
 freebooters of both fides. As the complaints brought forward on each 
 fide in the courfe of this bufinefs contain many curious fads illuftrative 
 of the nature of the trade between England and the Eafl country, a 
 brief enumeration of them will not, I truft, be deemed tedious. At the 
 lafl meeting, held at the Hague in Holland in Augufl 1407, the Eng- 
 lifli complained, that in the year 1394 a fliip of 200 tuns belonging to 
 Newcalllc, valued at ^^400, having onboard woollen cloth, wine, gold, 
 and money, to the value of ^^133 : 6 : 8, was taken. — An inhabitant of 
 Hull, being palfenger onboard a Pruffian vefl'el, was robbed of goods to 
 the amount of ^^53 : 6 : 8 In 1395 an Englifliman was robbed of 5 
 
 * See Vojfn ylnnal. L. xv, />. 126, or De ll'^ill's contains all the terms, fabrics, and qUc-Hitities, of 
 
 Inlerrft of Hullaiul, p. 161, and alfo/). 47, of Engl, the various kinds of worded ilufTs. Tiity are pro- 
 
 tranjl. an<l Meycr'i /inn. FLinilr. fiajim. bably the fame as thofe which the reader may find 
 
 f yir Robert Cotton obferves, that tlie grant under the year 1422.
 
 A, D, 1409. 621 
 
 pieces of wax, 4 handred of werke, and half a laft of ofmunds*, near 
 the coall of Norway. — In 1396 a cog of Hull, with 300 woollen broad 
 cloths and 1,000 other cloths, value X^200, was taken. — In 1398 an- 
 other veiTel of Hull, with oil, wax, and werke, value ;i^3oo, was taken 
 
 In 1399 an Englifli paflenger in a Dantzik veflel was robbed of two 
 cakes of wax, value /^i 8 — In 1394 werke, wax, ofmunds, and bow- 
 flaves, to the value of 1,060 nobles, belonging to three citizens of 
 
 York, were taken out of a veflel of Elbing 140 woollen cloths, worth 
 
 j^2 : 13 : 4 each, befides other things, were taken from another citizen 
 
 of York onboard a veflel of Holland In 1393 ^ citizen of London was 
 
 robbed of woollen cloth, green cloth, meal, and fifli, to the value of 
 
 ;^I33 : 6 : 8 In 1405 another citizen of London was plundered of 5 
 
 lafl:s of herrings in the North found In 1398 eleven packs of woollen 
 
 cloth, value £2>^6 : 13 : 4, the property of merchants of Colchefl:er, were 
 plundered out of a Pruffian veffel. — In 1 394 four merchants of Yarmouth 
 and Norwich v-ere robbed of woollen cloth to the value of £666 : 13 : 4, 
 which they had onboard a Pruflian veflel. — In 1401 a veflel belonging 
 to Zeland was plundered of hides of oxen and flieep, butter, mafts, fpars, 
 boards, quefting ftones, and wild werke, value £66 : 13 : 4, the property 
 
 of a merchant of Yarmouth In 1402 a barge belonging to Yarmouth 
 
 was taken near Plymouth, with 130 weys of fait and 1 ,000 pieces of 
 canvafs of Brctagne, value £3;^^ : 6 : 8. — In 1405 another vefl^el of Yar- 
 mouth was taken in Selaw, a port of Norway, loaded with fait, cloth, 
 
 and falmon, value ;^40 Six veilels belonging to Cley, chiefly loaded 
 
 with fait fifli, were taken, and moft of them, carried over to Norway. — 
 The people of Wiveton loft two doggers and another veflel employed in 
 the fifliery, with their fifli, &c. and two veflels of Zeland, loaded in Pruf- 
 fia with mafts, fpars, &c. for account of a merchant of that town, who 
 alfo loft a pack of woollen cloth, plundered out of a vefl'el belonging to 
 
 Lynne In the year 1394 the pirates took Bergen in Norway, and 
 
 burnt twenty-one houfes, value £^46 : 13 : 4, belonging to the merch- 
 ants of Lynne, whom they alfo plundered of proj^jerty to the amount of 
 ;^i,8i5. — In 1394 four veflels of Lynne, loaded with cloth to the value 
 of jr3, 623 : 5 : II, befides wine and other goods, were taken on their 
 way to Pruflia. — In 1396 a crayer belonging to Lynne, with ofmunds 
 and other goods to the value of ^^643 : 14 : 2, was taken between Bergen 
 and the Scaw ; and two veflels were robbed of cloth and other goods, 
 alfo belonging to merchants of Lynne. — In 1399 many articles of con- 
 liderable value, belonging to a merchant of Lynne, were plundered out 
 of a veflel, apparently foreign, belonging to Michael Van Burgh. The 
 complainants further ftated, that many men were killed, and many car- 
 ried away as prifoners, and forced to pay heavy ranfoms : and the Eng- 
 lifli commiflloners aflerted, that thofe outrages were perpetrated by pi- 
 
 f I can find no fatisfaftory explanation of werie, ofmunds, and feme other articles intntioJied in tktfe 
 complaints. a
 
 622 A. D. 1409. 
 
 rates fitted out by the Hanfe towns, and chiefly by the citizens of Wif^ 
 mar and Roflock *. 
 
 From this ftatement we learn, that woollen cloths now formed a con- 
 fiderable part of the exports of England, and that there was fome ex- 
 portation of wine notwithflanding a law againfl it. From the frequent 
 mention of Englilh property onboard foreign veflels, it alfo appears, that 
 the naiigat'ion a£l, which has been pretty generally fuppofed to have re- 
 mained in full force ever fince its firll enadment, was but little attend- 
 ed to. 
 
 The complaints of the merchants of the Hanfe turned chiefly upon 
 infringements of their chartered privileges by the communities of Lon- 
 don and other corporations. They alfo iiated, that beiides the antient 
 duty of 3/4 upon every fack of wool paid by them in addition to the 
 duty paid by Englifli exporters, they were of late compelled to pay 1/7 
 as an impofl for the town of Calais, contrary to the terms of their chart- 
 er ; that the oflacers of the cuftoms over-rated their goods for the pay- 
 ment of poundage duties, and exaded duties for fome kinds of cloth, 
 which were exempted by the charter of merchants ; that they were com- 
 pelled to pay the duties twice upon goods, which they had occafion to 
 remove from one port of England to another ; that the officers aug- 
 mented their fees, and demanded new ones ; and alfo created unnecef- 
 fary delays, whereby the merchants often lofl their markets, and got 
 their goods damaged by lying three or four weeks upon the wharfs ; 
 that the officers at Southampton overcharged them 2/ for every lafl: of 
 herrings f, pitch, and foap-aflies, 2d for every hundred of bow-flaves 
 and wainfcot boards, and 4^ for every hundred of Richolt boards, im- 
 ported by them ; and that they had alio been impofed upon by the ma- 
 gifl;rates of Newcaftle. The Englifli commiflioners, on the other hand, 
 affirmed, that the Hanfe merchants had combined to diftrefs the com- 
 merce and manufactures of England by refufing to hold any intercourfe 
 with Englifh merchants in the Hanle towns J, or to buy any Englifli 
 cloth from Engliflimen, and had even impofed fines upon thofe who 
 had Englifli cloth in their pofl^eflion. They accufed them alfo of pafl'- 
 ing the goods of people not belonging to the Hanfe under their names, 
 in order to flicker them from paying the proper duties ; and they de- 
 manded a lift of the cities, towns, and companies, claiming the privi- 
 leges granted by the kings of England to the Hanfe aflLciation, and alfo, 
 if the general alfociation difavowed the hoftile proceedings now com- 
 plained of, the names of the cities wherein the Englifli were fo mal- 
 treated. 
 
 * Kraiitz [Hi/l- Noiiuet;. L. vi, c 8] alfo fays, % To fuch excefs did tliey carry their barbarity 
 
 dial thiKc pirates, wiiom he calls Vitaliaiis, acted in one of their principal cities, that they icfiifcd 
 
 by the authority of the cities of Wifmar and Rof- to purcliale cloth from fome Englidi tiKrcliante, 
 
 tock. who had arrived dellitiite of provifions or money, 
 
 f Herrings thus appear to have been imported, though they defired to fell it only for the purpofe 
 
 as well as exported, in thute times. of obtaining food. 4
 
 A. D. 1409. 623 
 
 The people of Hamburgh claimed reftitution to the amount of 9,1 17. 
 nobles i fhilling and 8 pennies ; and upon examination their demand 
 was reduced to 416 nobles 5 fliillings. 
 
 Bremen demanded 4,414 nobles 
 
 not fettled. 
 
 Stralfund 7,4 1 5 i 8 
 
 reduced to 253 nobles, 
 
 Lubeck 8,690 3 4 
 
 550 
 
 Gripefwald 2,092 3 4 
 
 153 3 4 
 
 Campen 1,405 
 
 not fettled. 
 
 At laft the commiflioners, or ambafladors, having made the befl fet- 
 tlement they could, King Henry now gave his obUgations as follows, viz. 
 To the grand mafter of Pruffia for his fubjeds of Pruflia and Livonia, 
 
 payable 11'" November 1409 - EngUJh nobles s, 3'^^ 4 5 
 
 2'' February 1410 - - _ 5,318 4 5 
 
 2"* February 141 1 - - 10,637 2 2 
 
 2^ February 141 2 - - - 10,637 2 2 
 
 and to the magiilrates of Hamburgh, due 2^ Feb. 141 1 416 5 o 
 
 At granting thefe bills he flipulated that the money fliould not be 
 carried away in gold or filver, but in bills of exchange *. 
 
 The grand mafler, on the other hand, became bound to pay 766 
 nobles to the Englifh fufFerers. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp. 601-603. — Hakluyt^ 
 r. i, pp. 154-179-] 
 
 December 4^'' — The commercial treaty with Pruffia was renewed. 
 Mutual freedom of trade, and oblivion of pafl injuries, were agreed 
 upon. In cafe of any fubfequent outrages the fovereigns were bound 
 to make fatisfadion for the aggreffions of their fubjeds ; failing which, 
 the fovereign of the party injured was at liberty to arreft any fubjed of 
 the other power, found in his dominions, within fix months after pre- 
 ferring the complaint. It was alfo fettled, that feveral fums, particular- 
 ly exprefled (and all reckoned in nobles), fliould be paid for outrages 
 committed by the feamen of Hull, Scarburgh, Blakney, Cromer, Ply- 
 mouth, Dartmouth, Calais, and Bayonne, and alfo by a vice-admiral of 
 England for provifions taken from a Pruffian fliip of 300 tuns, together 
 with 838 nobles due by Henry de Percy for corn bought for the caftle 
 of Berwick upon Tweed in 1403. On the other fide only 200 nobles 
 were found due for an outrage committed by a man of Dantzik. \H.ak' 
 /a/?, F. i, A 181 f.] 
 
 1410, April 28"' — In a royal grant of tolls for paving the fireets of 
 
 * I remember reading in a newfpaper a fjieech, al proof of the common currency of that fpecies 
 
 made in reply to a rcmonftrance againft continent- of Englilli gold coin upon the continent, contrary 
 
 al fubfidits, wherein it was aficrted, that this coun- to aft of parliament. 
 
 try fuffered nothing by fuch fubfidits, as they were + The king's comminion for treating is in the 
 
 paid m broad cloth and bills of exchange. The Foedera, as is alfo the treaty itfelf, but without the 
 
 anlient politicians of England, like this modern flipulations for compcnfation, in a confirmation of 
 
 one, mull have fuppofed that bills of exchange it in December 14 lo by the fucceeding grand maf-- 
 
 could begot for nothing. — The ftatement of all ler. \Fii:dcra, }', viii, pl>. 61 2, 664.I 
 tlie accounts in Ensrlilh noblss affords an additioii-
 
 624 A. D. 1410. 
 
 Cambridge and the adjacent roads, there are fome things worth notice. 
 Coals (fold by the chalder), turfs, reeds, and fegs (fedges), appear to 
 have been articles of fuel; falmon, frefh or faked, wxi'A. porpufes , paid one 
 farthing each ; herrings, a halfpenny per barrel ; a large boat (' navis') 
 loaded with herrings or other fifh, ifd ; a fifhing boat with fifli, oifters, 
 or muffels, 2d ; a cart-load of fifh, frefh or falted, 2d. Irifh cloth muft 
 have been pretty common in England, as we find it here charged, 
 equally with worfted fluffs, canvas, and fome other articles, 2^ per hun- 
 dred (' centena'). \Fcedera, V. viii, p. 634.] 
 
 This year Sir Robert I'mfraville, vice-admiral of England, with ten 
 fhips of war, entered the Firth of Forth, both coafls of which he plun- 
 dered, the Scots having apparently had no naval force fit to oppofe to 
 him. He burnt many veflels, among which was one, probably belong- 
 ing to the crown, diftinguifhed by the name of the Galliot of Scotland; 
 and he carried off fourteen veflels (called good fiiips), with prizes of 
 woollen and linen cloth, pitch, tar, woad, meal, wheat, and rye. Un- 
 fortunately we are not able to diftinguifh, what part of thofe goods were 
 Scottifh manufacture and produce, and what imported : but, if there is 
 no exaggeration, the quantity of them was fo very great, that the falc 
 of them lowered the prices in England ; and thence Umfraville got the 
 name of Robin Mend-market. IStow, udnn. p. 549.] 
 
 141 1 , June 25"" — Guns were now become an article of Englifh manu- 
 facture and exportation, as appears by a licence for fending two fmall 
 guns for a fhip, along with the king's great gun, to Spain. [Fardera, 
 V. viii, p. 694.] 
 
 1 41 2, February 3* — The fliare, which the Englifh had now obtained 
 of the active commerce of Europe, was fuch as aroufed the jealouiy of 
 thofe mercantile communities, who, in virtue of long, and almoft unri- 
 valed, occupancy, conceived the commerce and navigation of Europe 
 to be their own patrimonial inheritance : and, agreeable to the ferocious 
 and unprincipled manners of the age, they had recourfe to the moft 
 atrocious meafures for crufhing the Englifli adventurers, before they 
 fhould acquire much wealth and power. William Waldern and a con- 
 fiderable number of other principal citizens of London * hud Ihipped 
 wool and other goods, to the amount of ^^24,000, onboard feveral 
 veflels f for the Mediterranean J, under the care of fadors, or fupei*- 
 
 • William Waldern was clefleJ mayor in 1412 t ' Verfus partes occidentales per Didridlus de 
 
 and 1422. His partners were Drue Barantyn, ' Mam k' (to the wcllern countrits /i_)' (01 //jroB^;,'/j) 
 
 mayor in 1^98, 1408, who lent the king ^1,500 the Snails of Morocco) ; chat is to lay, w/V/j/n the 
 
 in 1409; \_Rot. />al. fee. 11 Hen. IV, m, 5] John Midilerraiiean. For the application of wi/fern to 
 
 Reynewell, mayor in 1426 ; and other gentlemen, coiintiics ii:A\\y foulh-etij} from England, lee above, 
 
 who had been fliirrefa, ice. p. 588 note, and p. 610. There is nut a (liadow 
 
 \ We are not told, whether the vclTcls were of a reafon to fiippofc the voyage intended for 
 
 Entrlifh or foreign ; awd Mr. Anderfon fuppofes Morocco, a coui.tiy which never had occafion to 
 
 them Venetian, and thereby accounts for the fciz- import wool. The fliips were probably dcllined 
 
 lire by the Gcnoefc. But there feenis no reafon to Catalonia or Tufcany. 
 to fuppofe them any other than Englifli.
 
 A. D, 1412. 625 
 
 cargoes, to whom, as it was a great, and apparently a new, undertaking, 
 the king gave letters recommending them to the tViendfhip and good 
 offices of the Genoefe government. But fo Uttle refped: did the Genoefe 
 pay to the king's letters, that they feized the vellels, and publicly fold 
 their cargoes in Genoa. In confequence of this acT: of hoflility, the king 
 ordered proclamation to be made in London and the other ports of Eng- 
 land, and in Calais, that none of his fubjeds, nor any Granger within his 
 dominions, fhould fend abroad any merchandize, money, or bills of ex- 
 change, for account of the Genoefe, or receive any merchandize brought 
 in Genoefe veflels, except fuch as fliould be brought in as prize in vir- 
 tue of the letters of marque, which he had granted to the injured merch- 
 ants, empowering them to take all Genoefe veflels they could find, till- 
 they fhould be reimburfed of ^^24,000, their prime cofl, and /^lo, 00c 
 for damages. Thus were a few merchants of London at war with the 
 whole republic of Genoa. [^Fadera, V. viii, pp. 717, 773.] 
 
 In the North fea the Hanfeatic aflbciation, aduated by the fame fpir- 
 it, and utterly regardlefs of that probity, which conftitutes the princip- 
 al feature of the modern commercial charader, committed many out- 
 rages upon the Englifh. About the year 1390 they entered the harbour 
 of Bergen in Norway with a fleet of armed veffels, attacked the Englifli 
 merchants fettled there under the charter of the fovereign of the coun- 
 try, and burnt their houfes and merchandize to the value of /^2, 000, to- 
 gether with fecurities for debts to the amount of above £1 ,000 *. Not- 
 withftanding the interpolation of the king of Denmark in favour of the 
 Englifh, the Hanfe pirates continued to harafs and abufe them, and, ia 
 mere wantonnefs of cruelty, drowned loofifliermen belonging to the 
 coafl: of Norfolk, who had fled to a Norwegian port for fafety from ene- 
 mies. A fhipmafter of Bremen, whofe vefTel was chartered by fome 
 merchants of Lynne, was threatened with death, if he fhould perform 
 his contrad. Some Englifh merchants were robbed of hard fifh to the. 
 value of/^roo in Bergen, where the fovereign of the country feems to 
 have exercifed no government. The Hanfe merchants at Bergen enter- 
 ed into a combination to have no intercourfe with the Englifh fettled 
 there ; and by fuch means they hoped to drive them out of the North 
 fea. King Henry repeatedly arrefted the merchants of the Hanfe at 
 Bofton, in order to make them anfwer for the aggrefTions of their bre- 
 thren in Norway ; for, according to the reprefentation of the merchants 
 of Lynne, the whole of the Hanfe confederacy were combined in a de- 
 termination to diflrefs the Englifli trade : but they found means fome- 
 how to get out of his grafp. He then wrote to the alderman f of the 
 Englifh merchants at Bergen, and alfo to the alderman of the Hanfe merch- 
 ants there, defiring them to inquire into the truth of thti complaints, 
 
 ■* Perhaps this is the fame outrage, which is already noticeJ, under the year 14^:9, as committed In 
 
 J394- 
 f The fame who was formerly called governor. 
 
 Vol. L . 4 K
 
 626 A, D, 1412, 
 
 and fend him information. We are not informed, what effect thefe 
 meafures produced : but we find by a letter from Henry to the magif- 
 trates of Bergen, dated 22'' September 141 1 *, that the EngUfh had been 
 treated as the aggreflbrs : and the affair appears to have been ftill unfet- 
 tled in December 141 5. [Fcedera, V. viii, pp. 684, 700, 722, 736 ; V. ix, 
 
 A 415-] 
 
 March 5"" — The Englifh were alfo infulted in Portugal. A fhip of 
 200 tuns belonging to a nierchant of London, and carrying a merchant 
 or fupercargo, and a purfer, befides her commander, was feized in Lif- 
 bon on a falfe information, after having taken in a cargo of oil, wax, 
 and other merchandize ; but there is no mention of wine. Her com- 
 mander and people were loaded with irons, and obliged to fupport them- 
 felves at their own expenfe in the prifon, wherein they were kept feve- 
 ral weeks, till the «rror was difcovered. Thomas Fauconer f , the own- 
 er, ftated that the freight of his fhip amounted to 6,000 crowns of gold, 
 for which, and the damage and expenfes, he got King Henry to make a 
 demand upon the king of Portugal. [Fiedera, V. viii, p. 727.] 
 
 June 11'" King Henry having written to the magiftrates of Ghentj 
 
 Bruges, Ypres, and the free territory of Flanders, defiring to know, whe- 
 ther they would adhere to the terms of their truce with him, or aflift 
 their earl againfl him, they, preferring the profperity of their trade to 
 the gratification of their earl, anfwered, that they wifhed to preferve 
 peace with England : and .the truce was thereupon proclaimed on both 
 fides. [F^dera, V. viii, pp. 737, 75 1, 756 — MeyeriAmi. Flandr,f. 238 b.] 
 
 June, July ^The king borrowed 10,000 marks from the community 
 
 of the city of London, 400 from Norwich, and other fums from the 
 prelates and nobles, for an expedition to Guienne. \Foedera, V. viii, pp, 
 747-767.] 
 
 July 5"" The king, having given letters of reprifal % to fome merch- 
 ants, from whom two veffels loaded with wine, &c. to the value of 5,250 
 marks, had been taken by a French lord, at the fame time declared, 
 that merchants going to, or returning from, the fiaple at Calais fhould 
 not be liable to feizure in virtue of thofe letters. [Fcedera, V. viii, p. 
 755.] Thus did this favourite town enjoy the privileges of a neutral 
 port §. 
 
 Notwithftanding the turbulent ftate of England during the reign of 
 
 •» It is worthy of notice, that in tUis letter the \_Stoiu's Survey, p. 934. — Fadera, V. ix, pp. 298, 
 
 king appears to rank, the Kiiglilh ni<-rchaiits of 405. J 
 
 Lynne tradiiijj to Ikrgcu among the mcrcliants of \ Letters of marque or reprifal were (rencrally 
 
 the Hanfc ; — ' Mercatorts villte nollrae dc Lrnii, granted for the recovery of private property, where- 
 
 ' partes dc Norili Berne pi-xdifts mereantilitcr by the execution of jultice, perhaps injullice, was 
 
 ' ufitantes, ex una, c^terofque mercalores de Hanfa, put into the p:'.rty' own hands. Of a general pri- 
 
 ' regnum nollrum Anglix mode confimiii frequent- vateerin^ comniiirion om inlhuu.c has occurred in 
 
 ' antes, parte ex altera.' the year 1375. Sec above, p. Goo. 
 
 f This gentleman was eleftcd mayor in 1414; § Aiiollier inRancc of the trade with Calais be- 
 
 and in his mayoralty tlic city lent the king 10,000 ing protecleJ from c.ijiture occurs in FuclcrOf K 
 
 -narks, for which he received jewels in pledge, ix, /. ijfi. ■*
 
 A, D. 1412. 627 
 
 Henry IV, the commerce and manufadures of the kingdom appear to 
 have been in a fiate of progredive improvement. The guard of the fea 
 (to the negled of which by his predeceflbr he owed his elevation) was 
 more flridly maintained ; piracy was more rigorouOy fupprefled ; and 
 more attention was beftowed in terminating the quarrels, or petty wars, 
 ©f the feanien and merchants of England with thofe af the continent, 
 than in any preceding reign. 
 
 1413 — 'The book of duties on imports and exports, compiled at this 
 time under the authority of Fernando I, king of Aragon, gives a good 
 idea of the trade and commercial policy of the antient and flourifliing 
 city of Barcelona — All goods, imported or exported, paid a duty of two 
 thirds per cent ad valorem, except thofe imported from Conftantinople, 
 Syria, and Egypt, which paid only one third — Corn and all vegetables, 
 wine, and pork, were free from duty on importation ; but they were 
 charged with five per cent on exportation, except to Majorca, Minorca, 
 and Iviza. Wrought filver, jewels, arms, and wearing apparel, exported 
 as merchandize, paid two and a half per cent. — Cloth and other manu- 
 fadlures paid no duties on exportation : and the like goods^ imported 
 for fairs, paid only at the place of fale, where a duty of three quarters 
 per cent was levied on the fales, the home manufadures being charged 
 three eights — Ships built for foreign countries, and all fhip timber ex- 
 ported, paid thi"ee per cent on the value — Small parcels, not exceeding 
 in value five fueldos (twenty reals of modern money), paid no duty, ei- 
 ther inward or outward. — Neither was any duty charged on caflcs, wrap- 
 pers, or other packages. — Veflels arriving in port, and neither landing 
 nor trans-lhipping any goods, were not required to pay any duty. [Cap- 
 many, Mem. hiji. de Barcdona^ V. i, Com. p. 231.} The wifdom and hber- 
 ality of thefe regulations, in an age wherein cuftoms were generally 
 impofed with no other view than merely to raife a revenue for the fo- 
 vereign, mufl imprefs us with a very high opinion of the commercial 
 policy and experience of the Barcelonians, in which they appear to have 
 been nothing inferior to the moil enlightened legiflators of the prefent 
 age *. It is a pity that we have no firnilar documents of the commer- 
 cial jurifprudence of Venice or Genoa, or of the Hanfe towns. In all 
 fuch matters our own country, now fo pre-eminent,. was then exceeding- 
 ly deficient. 
 
 King Henry V, in the beginning of his reign, confirmed the privileges - 
 granted by his predecefTors to the Venetians and to foreign merchants 
 in general. \Fcsdera, V. ix, pp. 26, 72.]" 
 
 * Other proofs of the commercial wifdom and which occupies almoft the whole of his fecond vo- 
 
 liberality of Barcelona have already appeared ia Iflme ; and I obfcrve that Sir John Talbot Dillon, 
 
 this work. Bnt the general wife pohcy of the when mentioning thefe diilies in his Hlflory of Pc- 
 
 other duties and exemptions Teems to render the Ur the Cruel, has written ^ imptirud' infteadof^x- 
 
 genuinenefs of the duty on filver ware, jewels, Sec. portsd, perhaps from the original Llibre dt!s JV 
 
 tstporled for fale (' fi fe extrahian por via de com. fenjah d:l g^iral de Cujhinya, which certainly is 
 
 ' mcrciu') rather doubtful. Capmany has not in- more copfuter.t with found commercial policy, 
 icrted the ori^aji^] {q the C'jlccdcn diplomatka ^ 
 
 4 K 2
 
 628 A. D. 1414. 
 
 1414, May 26"' — The king farmed ihe fole right of drawing bills of 
 exchange for the ufe of perfons going to the papal court, the city of 
 Venice, or other foreign places, for three years, to Louis John, at an 
 annual rent of ;^ 133 : 6 : 8 ; and he bound him down to export no gold 
 or filver on account of his bills. The merchants were, however, allow- 
 ed to draw bills for their merchandize, but upon no other account. But 
 no perfon was permitted to carry money to Bruges or any other place 
 for remittances to the papal court or elfewhere. The leafe of the trade 
 of exchange was afterwards renewed to Roger Salvern and Louis John, 
 and the rent raifcd to £200. [Fcedera, V. ix, p. 130 — Rot. pat. 5 Hen. V, 
 
 VI. I.] 
 
 September 26"" — It is probable that gun-powder was not made in 
 England in the year 1386, as we find a quantity of it efteemed more 
 valuable than all the other articles found onboard two French fhips 
 taken at that time. In 141 2 the ambafTadors of the earl of Alen9on 
 were licenced to export 400 pounds of faltpetre and 100 pounds of ful- 
 phur, along with other military flores, whence we may infer, that pow- 
 der was then made in England : and now we find the exportation of 
 gun-powder firidly prohibited. [Walfingham, p. 323 — Feeder a, V. viii, 
 p. 754; V. ix, p. 160.1 
 
 November — ^The parliament ordained, that goldfmiths (hould take 
 no more than £,2:6:Z for the Troye pound of ftandard filver gilded ; 
 and that they fhould charge only a reafonable price for gilding *. lAds 
 2 Hen. F, Jlat. 2, c. 4.] 
 
 The exemption from the obligation of carrying the ftaple goods to 
 Calais, granted to the commercial ftates of Italy and Spain by the adl of 
 the fecond year of Richard II, was renewed. The parliament alfo con- 
 firmed to the merchants and inhabitants of Berwick their privilege of 
 purchafing wool, hides, and wool-fells, of the growth of Tiviotdale and 
 the adjacent part of Scotland then fubjed to England, and of England 
 as far fouth as the River Cocket, and to fell the fame in Berwick, or to 
 export them. The merchants of Jerfey, Guernfey, Bretagne, and Guy- 
 enne, having made a pradice of buying unfounded tin and fliotten tin 
 in Cornwall, and carrying it to France, the Netherlands, &c. all perfons, 
 except thofe above-cxcepted, were (Iridly ordered to carry all kinds of 
 ilaple goods to Calais. \c. 6.] 
 
 141 5, March, April — King Henry, having determined to afiert his 
 claim upon the crown of France by the fword, fent commiffioners to 
 hire vefiels for him in Holland and Zeland. He alio ordered all the 
 veflTels in England of twenty tuns burthen and upwards to be taken into 
 
 • By tliis aft the goldfmiths were allowed it dcteimiiic, what was a rcafoiuil-lc piice for gild- 
 
 jfl : 1 : 8 for the gold and workmaiifliip. If lliat iiig. Biitltr, llic author of IrhiJibras, who under- 
 
 was' too little to pay for fufficient gildinjr, they flood that matter better tl)aa our anticnt Itgiflat- 
 
 had only to make it flight ; for the law did not, ors, fays, that the worth of any thing is fo much 
 
 like the one now in force, afccrtain tlic qnantity money ae 'twill bring. 
 -of gold to be laid on a given furface. Neither did
 
 A. D. 1415. 629 
 
 his fervlce ; and the whole, Englifh and foreign, were direded to af- 
 femble in the ports of Southampton, London, Sandwich, Winchelfea, 
 and Briftol. The commanders of feveral fhips, which, being diftinguifh- 
 ed as belonging to the I'ower, may be prefumed to have been royal JJnps, 
 were commiflioned to prefs men for their veflels. The whole fleet, col- 
 lected for the invafion of France, confiftcd of 1,500 veflels. [Foedera^ K 
 ix, pp. 215, 216, 218, 238 — Waljhgham, p. 390.] 
 
 November — The parliament ordered, that none of the foreign coins, 
 called galley halfpennies becaufe imported in the Genoefe gallies, thofe 
 called fefkyns and doydekyns, nor any of the Scottifh filver money, 
 Ihould any longer be current in England *. \^ABs 3 Hen. V,Jl. i , c. i .] . 
 
 November 28'" — King Henry, in order to conciliate the favour of the 
 king of Denmark and Norway, ordered proclamation to be made in all 
 the ports on the eaft fide of England, that none of his fubjeds fliould 
 go to any of that king's iflands, efpecially Iceland, for the fpace of a 
 year, to catch fifh, or do any other bufinefs, except what ufed to be done 
 in antient times. [Foedera, V. ix, p. 322.] It may be obferved, that 
 ftockfifli, which were common in England above a century before this 
 time, were all brought from the Norwegian territories. 
 
 This year John king of Portugal, with the afliftance (according to 
 Walfingham) of fome Englifh and German merchants, took the city of 
 Ceuta, fituated on the fouth fhore of the Straits of Morocco (or Gibral- 
 tar), from the Saracens of Africa. If it be true, that by converfations 
 with the Saracen captives John's fon Henry firft conceived an idea of 
 the pradicability of a route to India by filling round the fouth end of 
 Africa, the capture of Ceuta is of great importance indeed in commer- 
 cial hiftory. \Walfingham, p. 393 — Purchases Pilgrims, B. ii, p. 5.] 
 
 Henry, the fifth fon of King John by Philippa the daughter of John 
 duke of Lancafler, was a prince enlightened beyond the flandard of the 
 age ; and he fpread the illumination of fcience all-around him by the 
 munificent encouragement he gave to learned men and artifis, whom 
 he endeavoured to attrad from all countries to his refidence at Sagres 
 near Cape S'. Vincent, where he ereded an obfervatory, and eftablilhed 
 fchools for the fciences conducive to the improvement of navigation. 
 James, a man eminently fkilful in geography, navigation, and the ufe 
 of the inftruments then known, whom he invited from Majorca, in- 
 ftruded the Portuguefe youth in thofe fciences : and, cherifhed by the 
 beams of royal favour, a number of artifl;s quickly fprung up, who com- 
 pofed maps, wherein all parts of the world, known by report as well as 
 by difcovery, were inferted, with very little attention to corrednefs in 
 their configuration or pofition. Thofe maps, fuch as they were, difle- 
 
 • The currency of the galley halfpcniiies had days, being fomcwhat broader, but thinner, than 
 
 already bicn prohibited by an ad\ 1 1 Hen. IV, the Englilh halfpennies of his time, which were 
 
 c. 5. Stow, however, fays, that they continued much inferior in weight of filver to the halfpennies 
 
 current in fome degree even in his own younger of the age of Henry V. [Survey of London, p. z(i2.'\
 
 630 A. D. 1415. 
 
 minated among the Portuguefe a fcience hitherto fcarcely known to any 
 Chriftian nation, except the commercial ftates of Italy *, and contribut- 
 ed to nourifh that fpirit of enterprife, which in time accompliihed the 
 greateft revolution that ever happened, or probably ever can happen, in 
 the commercial world. 
 
 Prince Henry, being defirous of making difcoveries upon the weft 
 coaft of Africa (but whether with the expedation of finding a paffage to 
 India, I will not venture to fay) fent out two veflels, with orders to pro- 
 ceed as far as poffible along the coaft, which they traced only as far as 
 Cape Bojador in 27 degrees north latitude. {^Piircbas's Pilgrims, B. i, 
 <r. 2, § I ; B. K, c. I ; and authors there quoted.'\ 
 
 141 6, March — The crimes of clipping, waftiing, and filing, the money 
 of the kingdom were declared by parliament to be treafon ; and the pu- 
 niftiment of them, as well as of importing bafe money, was committed 
 to the judges, [^fls 3 He?i. V^ flat. 2, cc. 6, 7.] 
 
 It has been obferved (p. 515) that merchant veflels ufed to fail in 
 fleets in time of war, that their united force might enable them to re- 
 pell the attacks of the enemy. Before they failed, they eledted admirals 
 among themfelves, and all the commanders, in prefence of the magif- 
 trates of the port of departure, fwore to ftand by their admirals. In 
 confequence of a feparation of the vefTels of a fleet from Bourdeaux, one 
 of the admiral fhips, a vefl'el belonging to Hull with a valuable cargo, 
 was taken : and the owner of her applied to parliament to oblige the 
 owners of the other veflTels to indemnify the lofs fuftained by their de- 
 fertion. \Cotton''s Abridgement, p. 548.] 
 
 It appears from the rolls of the king's wardrobe, that the greateft part 
 of the linen ufed in England, efpecially by thofe of the higher ranks, 
 was imported, and was chiefly of the fabrics of Reynes (or Rennes) and 
 
 * If we may credit the accounts given of maps l!(hed by Formaleoni, wherein Africa appears with 
 executed in tliis age, trpetiiSny the Venetian ones, a chai' fea to the foiilLward of U, one of tlic Azores, 
 not only the Cape of Good Hope, under the name or Wcllein idands, lias the name of Brafii* , and to 
 of the Fore front of /ifr'ica, but even the Straits the weltward of them there is adliially delineated 
 of Magellan, called the Dragons tad, were now a great illiind called y^iilUHa. But it may well be 
 known. Pedro, an elder brother of Henry, is faid doubled, whether envy of the naval pre-eminence, 
 to have got a map of the world at Venice in the fiiatched out of their hands by the Portuguefe and 
 year 1428, wherein thofe foutliern extremities of Spaniards, may not have inlligated the Venetians 
 the old and new continents were delineated : and to make interpolations upon, and give fiflitious 
 Cralvano relates, that Francis dc Sola Tavares told dates to, fome antlcnt maps ; for iflands can eafdy 
 him, that in the year 1528 he faw a map, drawn be inferted in the void fpace reprefenting the fea 
 in 1408, containing ' all the navigation of the long after the original conilrudion of a manufeript 
 ' E.ill-Indies with the Cape of Bona Speran^a map, without the overciowding or crafure, which 
 
 • (Good Hope) according as our later maps have detect interpolatiuns in a manufcript book ; and 
 
 • defcrlbed it.' [_Pur(.has, B. x, /). 1673.] To we, who fee them only in engraved copies, have 
 »hcfc may be added the maps, (llll prefcrvcd in the not the fmalkil opportunity to judge of their gen- 
 library of S'. Mark at Venice, bearing the name uinenefs. 
 
 of Andrea Bianco and the date of 1436, and pub- 
 
 * In Tcnreira, onr of lh<! Ajcrcs, tliirc arc two hills ' ihe enchanted ifl:>nj, llic ])..radifc of the pagan Irifh,* was 
 Cillcd Brcfyl. \Lllfdl,trHl^'li\(l)^rJ,fj>.lii,l'6(l■^ I know fuppoffd to he fituatcd in ihc Ocean to the Wtftward of 
 r.ot if il bt worth while to otftrvc, th.tt ' U-/ lirsfajl, or lithnid. [I'ulufucyj Coll. de rth. Hit'crii. yi. xi, f. 282.]
 
 A. D. 1416. 631 
 
 Champagne in France, and of Flanders and Brabant in the Netherlands *. 
 [Foedera, V. ix, pp. 334, 335.] 
 
 ' Henry Barton (mayor of London) ordained lanthornes with lights 
 ' to be hanged out in the winter evenings betwixt Hallontide and 
 ' Candlemaflb.' [Stoiv''s Survey, p. 935.] 
 
 This year the Hollanders in their herring fiftiery began to ufe the 
 veflels called bufTes. [^Schoockn Differ t, dehareng. § 35.] 
 
 1417, July 31" — The truce with the duke of Burgundy, who was 
 alfo earl of Flanders, Bologne, &c. was renewed till Eafter 1 41 9. It 
 was agreed, that during war with Genoa all goods, belonging to the 
 Flemings or others, found onboard Genoefe velFels, fhould be liable to 
 feizure and condemnation ; but that the property of the Englilh in Flan- 
 ders and of the Flemings in England fhould not be liable to any arreft, 
 unlefs for debts contraded, or crimes committed, after the date of the 
 truce. In the fubfequent confirmation by the duke, it was alfo provid- 
 ed, that no damage fhould be done to the merchants, feamen, pilgrims, 
 clergymen, and fifhers, on either fide ; that veflels belonging to either 
 party, taken by corfairs, and carried into the ports of the other party, 
 fhould be reftored to their owners, or the value be made good to them ; 
 provifions and merchandize might be imported in neutral veflels into 
 either country without moleftation ; unarmed merchant vefTels chafed 
 by enemies fhould be freely admitted into the ports of either party ; 
 the Englifh fhould make a ipacious road from Calais to Gravelings, and 
 the Flemings fhould continue it along the Downs of Flanders, for the 
 ufe of merchants and other perfons of both countries, who were to have 
 no dogs with them, and not to moled the rabbits on the Downs ; the 
 Englifli fhould have the liberty to make fafl their vefTels in the Flemifh 
 ports, as pradifed by the French, Hollanders, Zelanders, and Scots, the 
 Flemings having the like liberty in the Englifh ports ; neither party 
 fhould carry goods belonging to the enemies of the other. The duke 
 moreover engaged, that the four members of Flanders fhould become 
 bound for the due execution of this treaty, and that he would obtain 
 the confirmation of his over-lord, the king of France. It was alfo de- 
 clared, that the treaty fhould be obferved in all his territories from the 
 coaft of Flanders to Cologne on the Rhine ; and that no infringement 
 of any of the articles by individuals of either fide, nor even war be- 
 tween France and England, fhould efFed any breach of it. \Fadera, V. 
 'r%,pp. 476, 483.] 
 
 Augufi: — King Henry, obferving that the fhips, brought to aflifl the 
 French by the Caflilians and Genoefe, were much larger than thofe of 
 his fleet, had got fome large vefl^els, called dromons, built at Southamp- 
 ton, fuch, fays an old writer, as were never feen in the world before, 
 
 * The excellence of the linens of thofe coun- ation. Fine linen of Rlicims made a part of the 
 tries is celebrated in many romances and poems prefents fent by the king of France to Bajazet, a) 
 'jompofed before the age now under our confider- already noticed, p. 698.
 
 632 A. D. 1417. 
 
 three of which had the names of the Trinity, the Grace de Dieu, and the 
 Holy Ghqft. But the principal veflels of the whole fleet, wherewith he 
 now made his fecond invafion of France, were two large fhips, mofl; 
 magnificently fitted up. One of them, called the Kings Chamber, in 
 which he embarked himfelf, carried a fail of purple filk (furely only for 
 holiday exhibitions) whereon the arms of England and France were 
 embroidered ; and the other, called the King's hall, "was alfo very fump- 
 tuoufly adorned *. {Fragment, and Libell of EngliJJ? policy, in Hakluyt, V. 
 h pp. 185, 203 — Tit. Liv. Fit. Hen. V,p. '7,-i,?[ 
 
 We have already I'een that the Normans were the mofl fpirited merch- 
 ants in France ; and, as commerce and manufadtures mutually fupport 
 each other, we find them alfo the greateft manufacturers, at leaft in 
 the woollen branch. The arrival of the Englifh army in Normandy 
 ftruck fuch a terror throughout the province, that above twenty-five 
 thoufand families fled from it into the adjacent province of Bretagne 
 (whofe duke was then in friendfliip with King Henry) and carried the 
 art of making woollen cloth among the Bretons, who were hitherto ig- 
 norant of it : and thus was Henry's invafion the means of fpreading 
 that manufadure more widely through France. {Meyeri Ann. Flandr. 
 f. 250 b.] 
 
 1418, May 4'^ — King Henry, having got pofi'eflion of Normandy, 
 and underftanding that his fubjedls of that country had been grievoufly 
 opprefTed by heavy duties impofed upon fait in times pafi: by his adver- 
 faries, and tyrannically compelled to buy fait at exorbitant prices, gave 
 notice, that he, being defirous to relieve his poor people from fuch op- 
 prefiion, and to govern them according to jufl:ice, licenced the Normans 
 and his other French fubjeds to buy whatever quantities of fait they 
 fhould think proper in places to be appointed by him. And forafmuch 
 as it was ufual in all Chrift;ian kingdoms to levy cufi:om upon every 
 kind of merchandize bought or fold, and fait among others, and he was 
 in great need of money to carry on the war, he impofed a duty of one 
 fourth part of all fait fold, to be levied in kind or in money at his op- 
 tion, and ordered that all filt ftiould be fi:ored in warehoufes to be efta- 
 blifiicd by him, and meafured by his meafurers, under penalty of for- 
 feiture of the fait, the flefh faked, carts, horfes, harnefs, &c. [Fcedera^ 
 r. ix,/>. 583.] 
 
 September 24'*" — Alfonfo king of Aragon having about a year before 
 granted protection to the fubjeds of England with their vefl^els and merch- 
 andize in his territories, which feems to have been little, if any thing, 
 more than a fliadow of favour in order to obtain a fubftance by way of 
 rcciprocration, King Henry now granted fimilar protedion to the fub- 
 
 • As the Libctl of Englifli policy has no men- been given on the occafion to two of the three 
 tion of the King's chamber and the King's hall, large (hips piirlicularly named in it. 
 it is not improbable, tliat thofe nanncs inay liave 3
 
 A. D. 141 8. 6^^ 
 
 jeds of Aragon, [Fadera^ V. ix,p. 622] who, as we (hall fee afterwards 
 (A. D. 1438), knew how to make the beft ufe of the privilege. 
 
 1419, July 14''' — The truce or treaty with Flanders for the fecurity 
 of trade was renewed. King Henry having made a demand of /?i 0,000 
 as a compenfation for merchandize taken from fome merchants of Eng- 
 land and Ireland in the port of Sluys, and alfo feveral privileges re- 
 fpeding the conveyance of money through Flanders to the flaple at 
 Calais, the Flemifli ambailadors declared, that thofe matters were not 
 within their commiflion ; and it was agreed, that they fliould be adjuft- 
 ed in a fubfequent meeting to be held at Calais. IFcede/a, V. ix, pp. 769, 
 
 779-] . ^. 
 
 Odober 1 2'^ — King Henry accordingly appointed commiflioners to 
 meet thofe of the duke of Burgundy. But the Flemings were prevent- 
 ed from attending by the troubles confequent upon the murder of their 
 duke, till January 1420, when the treaty was renewed till the 1" of the 
 enfuing November, and a commiflion was appointed to liquidate the 
 claims for damages on both fides. [Faedera, V. ix,pp. 804, 843.] 
 
 This year Schahrok, the fon of the great Timour, fent ambaffadors 
 to the emperor of Cathay, or China. Some merchants went in their 
 train ; but no commercial tranfadions are noted in a pretty circumftan- 
 tial account of the embaffy, from which we learn, however, that the 
 arts were then in as high a degree of perfedlon in that great empire as 
 they are at this prefent day. [T'/jevenoi, Voyages curienx, pariie 4.] 
 
 1420, December — The parliament gave a new proof of their anxiety 
 to flock the kingdom with gold by an ad obliging every merchant 
 flranger buying wool in England, to be carried to the weflern countries* 
 without previoufly going to the fl:aple, to deliver to the mafl:er of the 
 mint in the Tower one ounc6 of gold bullion for every lack ; and the 
 fame was alio to be delivered for every three pieces of tin. \_ASls 8 Hen. 
 
 V,C.2.-] 
 
 The Portuguefe began this year to cultivate the ifland of Madeira. 
 The firll fettlers did not think of planting vines, but gave their atten- 
 tion chiefly to fugar canes, brought from Sicily, which fucceeded very 
 well, the prince's tifth part amounting in fome years to 60,000 arobas, 
 or about 15,000 hundredweights f. [Furcbas, B. ii, c. i, § 2.] 
 
 We have the following pidure of the commerce of Venice about this 
 time in a fpeech addrefled by the duke Tommas Mocenigo to the fena- 
 
 tors The annual value of goods exported was ten millions of ducats, 
 
 and the profits, outward and homeward, were about four millions. The 
 ihipping confifl;cd of 3,000 veflels of from ten to two hundred amforas 
 burthen carrying 17,000 feamen, 300 fliips carrying 8,000 feamen, 
 
 * In the fecoiid year of Richani II the paili,-- the difcovcry and fettlement of every idand occu- 
 
 rr.cnt cxp'.aintd which countries they comprehend- pied in th.i': sj^c oi ll;e weft fide of Afiica. The 
 
 cd under the term Wcftcrn. See above p. 587. Portuguefe and Spanilli accouius arc apparently 
 
 ■}■ 1 do not pretend to give a clear account of irreconcilable. 
 
 Vol, I. 4 L
 
 634 '^' ^' M'^o. 
 
 and 45 gallies, great and fmall, manned by 1 1 ,000 feamen * : and there 
 were 1 6,000 carpenters employed in the dock-yards. The mint of 
 Venice coined annually 1,000,000 of ducats in gold, 200,000 pieces of 
 fjlver of various fizes, and 800,000 foldi. Every year 500,000 ducats 
 were fent into Syria and Egypt, and 100,000 ducats to England (the 
 balance of the Venetian trade with England being thus one fifth of the 
 Turn paid for the oriental produdions, for it may be obferved that the 
 Venetians affuredly carried a great deal of merchandize to England, and 
 probably very little to Syria and Egypt). The Venetians received an- 
 nually from the Florentines 16,000 pieces of cloth, from middling qual- 
 ity to the very fineft, which they fent to Apulia, Sicily, Barbary, Syria, 
 Cyprus, Rhodes, Egypt, Romania, Candia, and the Morea through Iftria. 
 Though the Florentines fold fo much cloth to Venice, they alfo carried 
 thither 7,000 ducats weekly, and purchafed French and Catalonian 
 wool, crimfon, and grain, filk, gold and iilver thread (or wire, ' fdati'), 
 wax, fugar, and violins. The value of the houfes in Venice was eftim- 
 ated at feven millions of ducats, and the annual rents at half a mil- 
 lion. [Sanuto, Vite de duche di Venezia, ap. Muratori Script. V. xxii, coL 
 
 1421, May 6''' — As we can have but few opportunities of feeing any 
 account of the antient revenue and expenditure of the kingdom of 
 England, the following ftatement of them for one year ending with 
 Michaelmafs, prefented to the king by the treafurer of England, appears- 
 worthy of notice, efpecially as it fhows, that, even in thofe days, the 
 greatefr part of the public expenfes were fupplied from the trade of the 
 country. 
 
 The revenue confifled of 
 Customs on wool - - - - ,^3,976 1 1 
 
 Subsidy on wool _ _ - _ 26,035 18 8- 
 
 Small customs - - - - - 2,'138 9 I4 
 
 Duty of 1 1 pennies on tlie pound in the value of goods (the w hole a- 
 
 mountofwhich thence appears to have been^l64j750:15:10) 8,237 10 gf 
 
 40,676 19 gi 
 Causual revenues paid into the exchequer - - 15,o66 11 1 
 
 Total revenue - _ _ _ 55,743 10 10^ 
 
 Out of the above were to be supported 
 The custody or defence of England - ^5,333 6 8 
 
 ofCalais and its marches in time of war 1 9,1 1 9 5 10 
 
 of the marches of Scotland and Koks- 
 
 burgh, in war - - 19,500 O 
 of Ireland f - - 1,666 13 4 
 
 • The 3000 vefTch carried only five or fix men f With icfpcft to the marches of Scotland vvc 
 
 each on an average, and the 300 Ihips about have the correfpoiulinf; tcllimony of the hillorian 
 
 twenty one eacl). Ot the 45 gallics fome mud ofCroyland, \jip- Giile, p. 56^] that the keeping 
 
 have heen formidable vcfTcls, each of them having, of Berwick alone cod abont this time 10,000 
 
 upon an average of the whole 45, about 244 fea- marks annually ; and thence he concluded, tliat 
 
 ir.en, a fufficient complement for a very rcfpcdtabic the pofilfllon of it was a lofs, rather than an ac- 
 
 modcrn frigate. qviifition, to England. Thus thofe two antient
 
 A. D. 1421, 635 
 
 The custody of the castle of Frounsake - ^666 13 4 
 
 Salaries of the treasurer, keeper of the privy seal, 
 judges, barons of exchequer, and 
 and other officers of the court 3,002 1 7 6 
 
 of the officers of the customs, &c. 547 O O 
 
 of dukes, carls, knights, esquires, abbess 
 
 ofShene, &c. - - - 7,751 12 7i 
 
 Annuities charged on the customs - 4,374 4 3 
 
 Salariesofofficersofthecustomsinthe several ports* 274 3 4 
 
 Total expenditure - f 52,235 16 10; 
 
 Surplus of revenue _ _ _ _ _ ^3,507 13 Hi 
 
 out of which were to be defrayed the charges of 
 
 The king's and queen's houfehold and wardrobe (' camera — hofpitio 
 
 ' gardei'oba') ; The king's works, the new tower at Portfmouth — clerk 
 of the king's fhips — the king's lions and the conftable of the Tower — 
 artillery — the king's prifoners — ambafladors — meffengers, parchment, 
 &c the duchefs of Holland. 
 
 There remained unprovided for 
 Old debts for Harfleur and Calais — the king's wardrobe, and clerks of 
 the king's fhips and works — arrears to annuitants — debts of King Henry 
 IV, and of Henry V when prince of Wales. \_Fadera, V. x, p. 113, ex 
 MS. Bib. Cott. Cleop. F iii.] 
 
 May — It being cuflomary to build the keels, ufed at Newcaflle for 
 carrying coals onboard the fhips, larger than the ftandard meafure of 
 twenty chaldrons, in order to evade part of the duty of two pennies, 
 payable by all perfons not free of Newcaftle, it was enaded, that their 
 burthen fhould be meafured and marked by commiflioners appointed 
 by the king %. {Acts 9 Hen. V^Jlat. i, c. 10.] 
 
 Notwithflanding the late law againfl vitiating the money, it was now 
 in fo bad a flate, that the parliament cnaded, that the gold money of 
 England fhould only be taken by weight. And the people were ordered 
 to carry their light and vitiated money to the tower to be recoined, the 
 king, in confideration of their lofs, foregoing the emolument due to him 
 upon the coinage ||. [r. n.] 
 
 May 29"^ — Peace being made with the king of France (May 21"), it 
 was immediately followed by a reconciliation with the Genoefe, and by 
 
 Gibrahars, Calais and Berwick, appear to have % The parliament feem to have known nothing 
 coll almoil fixteen times as much as the whole of an order fimilar to this aft in the reign of Rich- 
 kingdom of Ireland. ard II. See above, p. 589. 
 
 * As the officers miift have been very numer- || Stow \Survey of Lond'jn,p. 85] fays, that the 
 
 ous, this very fmall amount of all their falaries ac- nobles were taken this year in payment of the flf- 
 
 counts for the frequent complaints of their extor- teenth granted to the king at the full value of <^?, 
 
 tions. if they were worth 5/8. That regulation was 
 
 f In this account we find the very ufual difa- probably fubfcqucnt to the diminution of the mo- 
 
 grecmcnt between the totals and the particular ney, for which Ice the appendix, 
 numbers : but, as it is impofiible to trace the error, 
 wc mull take them as they Hand in the record. 
 
 4 L 2
 
 636 A. D. 142 1. 
 
 a new treaty, whereby all paft injuries were configned to oblivion. Each 
 party was at liberty to trade with the enemies of the other, but not to 
 give them any affi fiance by fea or land. In cafe of a breach of this 
 perpetual alliance rhe fubjeds of either party were to be allowed eight 
 months * to retire with their property. The fubjeds of each power 
 might import and export in the ports of the other all kinds of merchan- 
 dize not prohibited, on paying the ufual cuftoms, and freely tranfadl 
 their bufinefs. Infractions of this treaty by individuals (hould be duely 
 punifhed, but fhould make no breach of the friendfhip between the 
 contrading powers. The duke and community of Genoa became bound 
 to pay to William Waldern and his partners, who had obtained letters 
 of marque againft them, (fee above, p. 625) ;(^6,ooo fterling, as the full 
 balance for damages remaining unfatisfied f . \Fcedera, V. \, p. 117.] 
 
 December — The parliament enaded that exchanges for gold and fil- 
 ver money fhould be eftablifhed in London and other places in the 
 kingdom, where money fhould be coined for the public on paying 5/ 
 for the Tower pound of gold, and 1/3 for the fame weight of filver, as 
 the dues of feignorage and coinage. [ABs 9 Hen. V,Ji. 2, c. 2.] 
 
 For the eafe of the merchants and others reliding at Calais, it was 
 enaded, that a mint and coinage (hould be eftablillied there during the 
 king's pleafure, faving to him his dues from the coinage, &c. [c. 6. J 
 
 1422, Augufl 51" — It pleafed God to cut off King Henry in his bril- 
 liant career of vidory, and to fave the Britifh iflands from becoming 
 provinces of the French empire. I fay the Britifli iflands ; for not only 
 Ireland, as an appendage of England, would have been fubjed to the 
 king of France and England, but Scotland alfo, as foon as the French 
 fhould have perceived, that, inflead of being a conquered and deprefTed 
 people, they were really the predominant nation, and had acquired a 
 great and valuable addition of territory and of naval and miUtary power 
 along with their new king, mufl have fubmitted to the irrefiftible unit- 
 ed naval and mihtary forces of France, England, and Ireland : and 
 then the agriculture, manufadures, and commerce, of the Britifh king- 
 doms would have been as completely fubfervient to the interefl and 
 policy of France, as ever thole of Ireland and the colonies were to thefe 
 of England. By the invafions of France England was depopulated % ; 
 and Henry, like his predeceffor who tiril flarted the fatal pretenfion to 
 the fovereignty of that kingdom, found himfelf reduced to the mifer- 
 able and illuiory expedient of diminifliing the value of the current mo- 
 ney of the kingdom ||. In fhort, the interefis of commerce and the 
 
 • In the treaty with Priifila in J387 the merch- \ One proof of the depopulation is recorded by 
 
 ants were allowed liL'elve monlhs to fctlle their bu- parliament, in the aft 9 Hen. V,Jl. Ij «"• 5> where- 
 
 lincfs in eafe of a rupture. by the (lierrifs, inltead of being changed annually, 
 
 •j- In the year 1414 the Gcnoefe made olTera of were to continue levtral years in olHee, bccaufe a 
 
 compeiifation to the injured merchants, which fujfic'tent wimber of ptijons Juely qualified for the office 
 
 were probably not falisfattor)' ; [^Fadera, V. \\, p. couH nol he found, 
 
 160.^ It is oblervable, tliat this treaty, which |{ Sec the appendix, 
 contains but little matter, is almoll as proUx as a 
 modern one.
 
 A. D. 1422. 637" 
 
 happinefs of the people were equally difregarded during this fplendid 
 reign of conquefl and defolation. The Scots, by their ftrenuous exer- 
 tions againfl Edward III, and their opportune afliftance to France againfl 
 Henry V, contributed largely to prevent the fubjedion and ruin of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 October — In the firft year of Henry VI feveral laws refpefting money 
 and the ftaple of Calais were confirmed by parliament. {Acts i Hen. VI.J 
 
 The Genoefe had obtained from the Greek emperor, Michael Palajo- 
 logus, a leafe of a mountain on the coafl: of Afia Minor, containing a 
 mine of alum ; and near it they built a fmall fort, which gave birth to- 
 a town called Nev/ Phocsea, being nearly on the fite of the antient 
 Phocsea, a city of fome note in the early annals of commerce. The 
 Turks, when they became m.afters of the country, permitted the Genoefe 
 to enjoy their trade in alum as before. The French, Germans *, Eng- 
 lifh, Italians, Spaniards, Arabians, Egyptians, and Syrians, were their 
 purchafers ; and the fadory, or colony, continued to profper, till their 
 trade was interrupted by the war with Catalonia, which prevented the 
 Genoefe vefTels from tranfporting the alum to France, Spain, England, 
 and even to their neighbouring ports of Italy |. {Di^cas, c. 25, pp, 
 89-91.] 
 
 1423, 06lober — ^The parliament permitted gold and filver to be car- 
 ried out of the kingdom for military expenfes, and to pay for horfes, 
 oxen, flieep, and other things, bought in Scotland for the fervice of the 
 adjacent parts of England, and for thofe purpofes only. In order to 
 prevent alien merchants from fmuggling money out of the country, 
 every company was obliged to find fecurity that none of the partners 
 (hould export gold or filver. [Acts 2 Hefi. J^% c. 6.] 
 
 Frauds in the fizes of feveral kinds of caiks having become common, 
 the parliament ordained, that no perfon fliould import, or make within 
 the realm if, a tun of wine meafuring lefs than 252 gallons Englifli mea- 
 
 * Tiie Flemings are furely comprehended here this patTage Ducas does not exprefsly fay, where 
 
 under the name of Germans. thofe nations bought the alum ; but the fubfequent 
 
 ■\ I am here obliged to differ from Mr, Gibbon, information in p. 91 leaves no doubt, that thty re- 
 
 an author, whofe general accuracy, ftricl: attention ceived it in their own ports from the Genoefe vef- 
 
 to authority, and extent of refearch, are almoft un- fels. In the year 1450 we (hall fee alum to the 
 
 fq^ialed. He fays, \_V. xii,/i. 52] that the Eng- value of ^{^4,000 delivered by the Genoefe to Henry 
 
 liih are mentioned by Ducas among the nations VI king of England. 
 
 that refortcd to New Phocxa ; an early evidence % ' Si eft ordeinez et eftablez, qe null homme 
 of Mediterranean trade.— I was myfelf very much < *»* » apporte en le royalme d'Engleterre, de 
 pleafed to think that the Engiilh were now carried ' qel paiis qe ceo foit, ne face deins melme !e roy- 
 by the fpirit of commercial eiiterprife almoft as far ' alme, tonell de vyn, s'll ne conteigne del mefurc 
 from home, as their anceftors liad been by the ' d'Engleterre J' et xii galons.' — Does the verb 
 frenzy of fuperftition, till I confulted the original _/icf j^ma/ff^ apply to the tun, or to the wine ? Was 
 author, who only fays, that the mariners faiUng wine made in England at this time in fuch quant- 
 from the eaft to the weft thought alum a ufeful and ities as to be an objeft of trade and legiflative re- 
 convenient cargo for their (hips, (as, I fuppofe, it gulation, or was it only mentioned from fuper- 
 has, like common fait, the virtue of preferving the abundant caution ? Doctor Henry [K viii,^. 270^ 
 timbers) and that the French, Germans, Englifli, thinks that this acl indicates, that the wines made 
 &c. purchafcd the alum dug from the mountain, in England were confiderable in quantity, and of .- 
 v/hich is very valuable to fullers and dyers. lu the fame kinds with foreijjn wines.
 
 638 
 
 A. D. 1423. 
 
 fure, the pipe 126, the tertian and hogfhead in proportion; that the 
 barrel of herrings or eels fhould contain 30 gallons, the butt of falmon 
 84 gallons, and fmaller cafks in proportion, the fifh in all of them, whe- 
 ther imported or cured at home, being fully packed, {c. 11.] 
 
 The laws for regulating the ftandard quality of filver were renewed. 
 The filverfmiths were ordered to affix their own mark to their work. 
 Keepers of the touch (or elTay-mafters) were appointed in London, 
 York, Newcaftle upon Tine, Lincoln, Norwich, Briflol, Salifbury, and 
 Coventry, who were to ftamp all filver work of the due flandard with a 
 leopard's head. In other places the filverfmiths were allowed to fell 
 their wares with their own flamp only, but liable to a penalty of double 
 the value of any filver found under the ftandard of flerling money. 
 [c. 14.] 
 
 1424, February — James, king of Scotland, having bound himfelf and 
 his kingdom to pay ^^40,000 flerling, by inflallments in the courfe of 
 fix years, to Henry VI, king of England, for his board or keeping *, 
 gave his own obligation, and delivered a number of hoflages of the firfl 
 families in Scotland ; and moreover, as if thofe fecurities were not fuf- 
 ficient, the communities of Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, and Aberdeen, 
 as the moft opulent towns of Scotland, gave their obligations for 50,000 
 marks each, every one of them thus taking burthen for the whole, 
 which, by an allowance of 10,000 marks as the portion of Lady Jane, 
 daughter of the duke of So'merfet, married to King James, was reduced 
 to that fum inftead of the original 60,000 marks. In a truce of feven 
 years, which accompanied this pecuniary tranfadion, the only article, in 
 the finallefl: degree conneded with commerce, provided that the merch- 
 ants, pilgrims, and filhers, of either party, driven by ftrefs of weather 
 into the ports of the other, fhould not be feized. [Foedtra, V. x, pp. 
 
 .324,3291-] 
 
 May — James I, king of Scotland, was diilinguiflied by a bright genius, 
 a vigorous mind cultivated in the fchool of early adverfity, and an eager 
 defire to improve the condition of his kingdom, which had been in a 
 retrograde ftate fince the death of King Alexander III. With his reflor- 
 ation commences the regular feries of the written laws of Scotland J, 
 which will henceforth furnifli authentic materials for the commercial 
 
 * ' Pro tempore quo diclus dominus Rex Ja- + It is worthy oF obfcVvation, that the laws of 
 
 ' cobus ftclit ill prefentia regum Anglis'. The Scotland, vvhich had hitherto all been written in 
 
 comniifiioners carefully avoided the word ranfom, Latin, were after the relloration of James, with the 
 
 ;is they did not chufe to fay that James was a prif- exception of about half a dozen, all cxprefled in 
 
 oner. ''"■' language of the |)eoplc, who were to be go- 
 
 f The panes here quoted are only thofe con- verned by them, and the (liirrefs were diredled to 
 laiiiing the obligations of the four towns, whicli make them fufficieiilly public throughout the king- 
 had tlic heavy honour of jjciiig fteuritica for iheir dom. In England tiie laws were either in Latin 
 fovcrcign, and the article of the truce referred to. or French, and moftly Freneli, till the reign of 
 Of the hundreds of writings concerning the libera- Richard III, when the full EnglKh llatute was 
 tion of King James, thofe printed in the ninth and enafted, whicli was long after the French lan- 
 icntli volumes of the Focdera, though only a part, guage had become obfoletc even among the upper 
 are far too numerous to be particularly quoted. tanks. »
 
 A. D. 1424. 
 
 639 
 
 Iiiftovy of that kingdom. la his firfl: parHament the great and fmall 
 cufloms and the burgh mailles (or rents) were annexed to the crown. 
 — The fluughter of fahnon in the improper feafon was ftritflly prohibit- 
 ed * — Cruivcs and yairs (engines for catching fifli) were prohibited in 
 tide rivers ; and thofe, who had right to fet them in rivers above the 
 tide, were enjoined to obferve the laws for preferving the breed of the 
 fiiii. — All mines, yielding three halfpennies of filver out of a pound of 
 lead, were declared the property of the kingf — The exportation of 
 gold and filver was permitted, but loaded with the prohibitory duty of 
 <^ per pound (i6| per cent); and foreign merchants were to prove 
 by the evidence of their hofts, that they had inverted the proceeds of 
 their imports in Scottifli merchandize, or paid the duty for exporting, 
 the money. — The following duties were impofed upon cattle and other 
 
 ■} 
 
 goods carried out of the kingdom. 
 
 Horses, oxen, and sheep, one shillings" 
 per pound of the value 
 
 Heirlngs, per thousand I 
 
 Herrings, barreled, taken by natives, per last 4 O 
 
 ■■ — by foreigners, 6 
 
 Redherrings,curedinScotland,pertliousand O 4 
 
 Skins of merlriks (martins) each 2 
 
 of fowmarts (weasels) — O 
 
 of cunnings (rabbits) perhundred . . I 
 
 of otters and foxes per daker 
 
 of harts and hinds 1 
 
 of does and roes every ten 
 
 J. 
 O 
 I 
 
 o 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 — The parliament empowered the king to reftore the money to an 
 equality with that of England |. — Able beggars were not to be permit- 
 ted to infeft the country ; and thofe efteemed proper objedls of charitv 
 were to be furniilied with tickets by the fhirrefs in the country, and by 
 the aldermen and bailies in the towns ||. [Acisjac. /, cc, 8, X2, 13, 14, 
 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 27.] 
 
 Thefe regulations were intended to be permanent. But as it was ne- 
 cefTary to make provifion for the payment for which the kingdom was 
 bound to the king of England, a temporary law of this feflion [cc, 10, 
 11] impofed a tax of twelve pennies on every pound of rent and other 
 branches of income, and alio of the annual increafe of corn and cattle, 
 to be paid agreeable to a ftandard valuation fixed by parliament § : and 
 this tax was to be paid by the clergy as well as the laity. We learu 
 from Walter Bowar, one of the commiffoners for this taxation, that it 
 
 * From an aft of the next fLflian the prohibited 
 feafon appears then to have begun on the 15"" of 
 Auguft and ended on the 30'" of November. 
 
 ■)- Tliis law is fomevvhat obfcuve. It fays, ' Gif 
 ' ony niyne of gold or filver be fundln in oiiy lordis 
 ' landis of the reahne, and it may be previt that 
 ' thre half pennyis of lilver may be fynit out of the 
 ' pund of leid : the lordis of parliament confentis, 
 • that fic myne be the kingis, as Is ufuai of utlicr 
 ' realmes.' — Wa3 the lead, with the filver, or only 
 the filver, to belong to the king ? Though gold is 
 mentioned, 1:0 provifion is made refpecling it. 
 Tliere was probably no expectation of ever finding 
 any : but fome gold was afterwards found In fome 
 of the rivulets of Scotland. 
 
 X The Impoveriihed {late of the country, not 
 
 yet recovered from the calamity of King David's 
 ranfom, and now further drained by the contribu- 
 tion for the boaid-money, ranfom, or finance, of 
 King James, together with the erroneous ideas of 
 tlic age concernirg money, operated more power- 
 fully than any act; of pailiament, and produced a 
 diminution, inllead of an improvement, of the mo- 
 ney of Scotland. See the appendix. 
 
 II The repetition of this act in lefs tlian a vear 
 fliows that it was inefficient. 
 
 § Fur the rates fee the ajjpcndix of prices. But 
 it muH be obfervcd, that the articles are all much 
 undervalued, e. g. a boll of wheat only 2/, which 
 is much below the price in Englan.', and, allowing 
 for the diminution of the money, hclow the ufual 
 price in the happy days of Alexander III.
 
 640 A. D. 1424. 
 
 amounted in the firfl: year almofl to fourteen tlioufand marks, which, 
 without making any allowance for (hort returns ufual in fuch cafes, 
 makes the annual income of the people of Scotland, independent of the 
 lands and cattle employed by land-holders in their own hufbandry, 
 which were exempted, amount to near 280,000 marks, equal in efFe<5live 
 Talue to about three millions of modern flerling money. Next year, 
 the zeal of the people being cooled, the tax was lefs productive ; the 
 people grumbled (for taxes, except in cuftoms, which became part of 
 the apparent price of the goods on which they were charged, were un- 
 known) and no more was levied. [Scoticbron. V. ii, p. 482.] 
 
 1425, March — The parliament of Scotland prohibited the exportation 
 of tallow. — No perfon was allowed to go abroad as a merchant, who 
 had not three ferplaiths* of wool, or other goods of equal value, either 
 of his own property, or configned to him — A duty of 2y"in the pound 
 on the value was impofed on woollen cloth exported ; and a duty of 2/6 
 in the pound was laid upon falmon exported by ftrangers. Englifh 
 goods imported were charged with a duty of 2/6 in the pound, alfo of 
 the value. [ABs Jac. I, cc. 35, 41, 44.] Thefe laws fhow, that there 
 •was fome manufacture, and even exportation, of woollen cloth in Scot- 
 land. And they alfo {how, how much the principles of commerce were 
 miftaken by one of the mod enlightened and patriotic kings of the age: 
 but thofe principles were not then known on this fide of the Alps and 
 the Pyrenees, unlets perhaps by the Flemifli and Hanfeatic merchants. 
 
 INIay — It was now a common pradice to carry fheep from England 
 to Flanders, whereby the price of wool was lowered, to the great dam- 
 age of the king and the kingdom. The parliament therefor ftridtly 
 prohibited all perfons from carrying fheep beyond the fea, except for 
 victualing the town and marches of Calais. \_ABs 3 Hen. VI, c. 2.] If 
 the exportation of live fheep was really fo confiderable as to deprels the 
 price of wool in England, it proves, that there was ftill more wool ex- 
 ported than v/as worked up in the home manufactures. The uncon- 
 troulable opportunity offmuggling fheep from Calais (which might as 
 well have received carcafes from the butchers at Dover) was one ot the 
 evils attending the pofleflion of that poft. 
 
 We find an inftance of attention to inland navigation in an ad; en- 
 forcing the ordinances formerly made for removing all impediments to 
 the paffage of boats on the River Lea, whether by abftradion of the 
 water in ditches, by kidcls, wears, or mills, {c. 5.] 
 
 October 1 1'" The Lombards traded to Scotland in very large car- 
 
 • The quantltj' of tlie fci'plaitli prc^bably varied Merchant, explnine three ferplaiths lobe 2 24ftonc3 
 
 !n the co'irfe of ages. In tlie year 1527 the Uirds of wool. Q^. if not an ciror for 240 : — In Eng- 
 
 of council in Scotland determined its contents to land a farpltr (apparently the f,>nie word) was 
 
 be eighty Hones of wool. [_Shne de verh.fi^n. In tqiial to two faeks and a half in the year 1449, as 
 
 vo."] Murray in the alphabetical abridgement at ajpedis by the act 27 Ktn. VI, c. 2, to be noticed 
 
 the end of \u\i edition of the Luwi of Scolltiinl, vo. in due time. 4
 
 A. D. 1425. 641 
 
 racks, one of which (' navis immaniflima'j was wrecked near Leith by 
 a fudden ftorm with a fpring tide on the change of the moon *. ^Sco/i- 
 chron. V. ii, p. 4S7.] 
 
 The I'lemings, as aUies of England, having commiitcd feveral hoftil- 
 ities againft the Scots, the alUes of France, King James had ordered the 
 flaple of the Scottifli commerce in the Netherlands to be removed to 
 Middleburg in Zeland. About the end of this year the Flemings fent 
 umbafladors to Scotland to folicit the return of the trade, which was 
 granted in coniideration of more ample privileges ftipulated for the 
 Scottifh merchants in Flanders f. [Scotichroti. //>.] 
 
 The Florentines having acquired the port of Leghorn by purchafe, 
 were defirous of participating in the lucrative commerce of Alexandria, 
 then almoil entirely in the hands of the Venetians. Their firfl: fhin 
 carried ambafladors with prefents for the fultan of Egypt, who granted 
 them permiflion to eftablifli fettlements in his dominions, with a churchy 
 warehoufe, bath, &c, and a conlul, at each, with all the privileges grant- 
 ed to the Venetians jl. [Leibnitz, Mantljpi. Cod. jur. gent. dipl. pars 2, p. 
 163 Rofcoe's Life of Lor. de Mediti, V.i, p. 136.] 
 
 1426, February 18'" — Formerly one of the aldermen of London ufed 
 to ad. as a judge in mercantile caufes, wherein the German merchants of 
 the Hanfe reliding in England were parties : but for above feven years 
 the magiftrates of London had refufed to appoint any one of their num- 
 ber to adl in that capacity. After repeated applications of the Hanfe 
 merchants to parliament, the king now nominated Alderman Crowmer 
 to the office of alderman and judge of the Hanfe merchants §. {Fcedera, 
 F;x,/>. 351.] 
 
 March — The Scottifh parliament directed the merchants returning 
 from foreign countries to import harncfs (defenfive armour), fpears, 
 fhafts, bows, and ftaves They renewed the unavailing law for confin- 
 ing money within the kingdom, and fubjeded foreign merchants, not 
 only to the infpedion of their hofls, but alfo 10 the controul of two 
 fupervifors in every port. — They ordained, that uniform meafures of the 
 boll, firlot, half firlot, peck, and gallon, conform to ftandards kept at 
 Edinburgh, Ihould be ufed throughout the kingdom. ; that all goods 
 fold by weight (hould be weighed by the ftone, containing fifteen law- 
 ful Troye pounds, equal to fixteen lawful Scottifh pounds , and that the 
 
 •0 '!:.j: . :■■■'- ■■'-■ 
 
 * The failors cf this great (liip, accuftomed ap- treaty with the Flemings. [^Scolic/jron. V. ii, p. 
 
 patently only to the ahiioil-tidclefs Mecliterranean 509.] Perhaps he is coiifuledly repeating the 
 
 fea, were not aware of the great rife of the fpring fame tranfaftlon a fccond time, 
 
 tides on our Britijh fhorts, and their (liip feems to J A fptcimen of the fales of the Florentine 
 
 have been loft by diaijging her anchors or parting woollen manufadlures has already been given in the 
 
 lier cables. She was^vrccked at Granton about view of the commerce of Venice under the year 
 
 three miles above Leith. J420. 
 
 -j- Bowar nieniions, without any date, a pacific- J In the year 1442 we find the king making a 
 
 ition between King James and the Hollanders, fimilar nomination of Alderman Frowyk. [Fctdera, 
 
 with fome circumliances fimilar to thofe of this V. xi,/. 16.] 
 
 Vol. I. 4 M
 
 642 A. D. 1426. 
 
 alderman and bailies of each town fhould appoint a fufficient perfon to 
 meafure coals and other goods fold by the water mete, with whom the 
 fellers fhould not interfere. — Laflly, they ordered that the ads of this 
 and the two preceding parliaments fhould be regiftered, and that the 
 fhirrefs fhould ufe the proper means to render them fufficiently known 
 in every part of the kingdom, [^^s Jac. /, cc. 52, 55, 63, 64, 6^, 
 
 77-] 
 
 July 29"' — In a treaty between James, king of Scotland, and Eric, king 
 
 of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, theantient treaties were renewed or 
 confirmed ; mutual freedom of trade in the ports formerly frequented, 
 and agreeable to the rights and approved cuftoms of both kingdoms, 
 was agreed upon ; and all damages, tranfgreliions, and defaults, on both 
 fides were forgiven and cancelled, the annual rent for the vaflal king- 
 dom of Mann and the Ifles being ftill payable to Norway. [Tra^. ap. 
 For dun, p. 1353, ed. He arm. '\ 
 
 July 30"" — The commanders of fome Englilli fhips, alleging that the 
 Flemings palFed the goods of Spaniards, Bretons, and other enemies, as 
 their own, had feized feveral Flemllh vefTels ; and the duke of Burgun- 
 dy had interpofed in behalf of his Flemifh fubjeds. The council of 
 England thereupon promifed, that juftice fhould be done to the Flem- 
 ings, and ordered the king's fubjeds to abflain from doing any injury 
 to them. \Joedera, V. yi,pp. 360, 361, 367.] 
 
 1427, March — The parliament of Scotland decreed, that the elne 
 fhould contain thirty-feven inches, agreeable to the law of King David I; 
 and they made fome alterations on the corn meafures *, which have re- 
 peatedly been altered fince. ^JEts Jac. I, cc. 78, 79, 80 f .] 
 
 July — They alfo ordained, that caufes concerning the property of 
 Scottifh merchants or pilgrims dying in Zeland, Flanders, or other for- 
 eign countries fhould be tried in Scotland before their ordinaries, by 
 whom their wills fhould be confirmed, though fome part of the property 
 might be in England or beyond the fea. [ABs Jac. /, c. 99 f .J 
 
 Odober — The parUament of England pafled an ad, whereby all merch- 
 ants, whether denizens or aliens, were permitted to fliip wool, hides, 
 wool-fells, and other merchandize, at the port of Mclcomb for Calais on 
 paying the due cuftoms, &c. [y/c?x 6 Hen. VI, c. 6.] 
 
 1428 March The parliament of Scotland permitted merchants for a 
 
 year enfuing to fiiips their goods in foreign vefTels, where Scottilli ones 
 were not to be found, notwithflanding the ftatute made to the contrary. 
 lABs Jac. I, c. 1 17.] This law, copied from the Englifh ad of the 6" 
 of Richard II, (as, indeed, almofl all the Scottifli laws were copied from 
 
 * The meafures are contradidlorily (U-fcribeJ iu two fcfTions of parliament, between which another 
 
 ibe aft by tiic blunder of the ocigiiiul clerk, the one, l>floiigiii[r to the preceding year, is placed in 
 
 tranfcribcr, or printer. the eJiUons. 
 
 ff There is an error in the numeration of ih«fs
 
 A. D. 1428. 643 
 
 thofe of England) neceflarily infers the pre-exiftence of a Scdttifh )i/tvi- 
 gation a6l, whereof we find no traces in any edition of the adls *. 
 
 March, May — Some idea of the progreflive ftate of the manufa6liires 
 of England may be obtained from a comparifon of the articles now 
 fhipped, without paying cuflom, for the ufe of the king of Portugal and 
 the countefs of Holland, with a fimilar Hfl: of articles in the year 1393. 
 For theking, 6filver cups, weighing 6 marks each, gilded ; r pi6ce of fcarlet 
 cloth ; I piece fanguine dyed in grain ; 1 piece blood colour ; 2 pieces 
 muftrevilers ; 2 pieces of marble colour ; 2 pieces of rulTet murtrevilers ; 
 1 pieces black cloth of lyre ; i piece white woollen cloth ; 300 pieces 
 Eflex flraits for liveries j 2,oco platters, difhes, fawcers, pots, and other 
 vefTels, of eledrum f ; a number of beds of various kinds and fizes with 
 curtains, &c. ; 60 rolls of worfted ; 12 dozen of lances ; and 26 ambl- 
 ing horfes. For the countefs, feveral cut quantities of various woollen 
 cloths ; 12 yards of red figured fatin ; 2 pieces of white kerfey \ 3 man- 
 tles of rabbit's fur ; i| timber of martin's fur ; a quantity of rye, whole 
 and ground, in cafks. \Fcedera. V. •&, pp. 391, 398.J 
 
 July i" — The merchants of Holland, Zeland, and Flanders, had for 
 fome time in a great meafure given up trading to England in apprehen- 
 iion of being arrefled on the complaints of fome Englifli fubjeds. The 
 council of England, therefor, fenfible that commerce was ufeful and ne- 
 ceflary to all the world, and in compliance with the requeft of the 
 merchants of England, declared, that all people of Holland, Zeland, and 
 Flanders, coming in a mercantile manner, with provifions, merchandize, 
 gold, filver, coins, filver veflels, jewels, and all other goods whatever, 
 fliould be freely admitted in the king's dominions to fell their goods, and 
 purchafe any other lawful goods in return. {Fcedera, V. \, pp. 403, 404.] 
 
 1429, February 18"" — ^The king's fubjefts of Bayonne in France were 
 prohibited from exadling toll, laftage, pavage, pontage, or murage, from 
 the citizens of London, the charters of former kings having exempted 
 them from thofe impofts. [Fadera, V. x, /». 411.] 
 
 May 13"' — The eftablifhment of Bergen in Norway (' Norbarn'j, as 
 the ftaple for the trade in fifh and other merchandize, by the king of 
 Denmark, was announced by the council, who flridly prohibited the 
 Englifh feamen from going to Finmark, or any other place in the Dan- 
 ifti dominions than Bergen. {^Fcedera, V. x, />. 416.] 
 
 September — The weight called auncel being found a means of fraud, 
 it was prohibited :j: ; and all cities and burghs were required to provide 
 
 * The omiffion need not furprife, when wc find f What kind of fubftance or metal is here 
 a Cmilar want of fome afts of the parliament of meant by the name of elcdlrum, I fuppofe, it i? 
 England, where the records have been preferved, now impoffible to tell. 
 
 probably witli more care than in any other coun- J Though the auncel weight, which foems to 
 
 try in Europe. See below in the year 1463. have been fomething of the nature of a lleclyard, 
 
 was 
 
 3 4M 2
 
 644 A- ^' 1429. 
 
 balances and weights made conform to the ftandard of the exchequer 
 and fealed, for weighing wool and other merchandize. None but 
 makers of cloth were permitted to buy woollen yarn. {Atls 8 Hen. VI, 
 
 c. 5] 
 
 The parliament, obferving, that many merchants for their own pro- 
 fit carried to Flanders, Holland, Brabant, and other places, the wool 
 and other ftaple goods of England, which ought all to have been carried 
 to Calais, whereby the payment of the duties was evaded, and the king's 
 mint at Calais was almofl: at a ftand, flridly prohibited ail perfons from 
 carrying any fuch goods from England, Wales, or Ireland, to any other 
 place than Calais, on penalty of forfeiture of double value and imprifon- 
 ment for two years. The merchants of Genoa, Venice, Tufcany, Lom- 
 bardy, Florence, and Catalonia, were, neverthelefs ftill allowed to fhip 
 wool, &c. for their own countries ; and the burgefles of Berwick were 
 alfo ftill allowed to retain their former privileges. \_c. i 7.] 
 
 For the profit and wealth of the kingdom it was ordained, that the 
 prices of wool, wool-fells, axid tin, fhould be raifed ; — .that they fliould 
 
 be fold only for gold and filver ; that three quarters of the price fliould 
 
 be carried to the mint at Calais to be coined ; — that the merchants 
 ihould account faithfully to thofe concerned with them ; — and that the 
 fellers fliould give fealed difcharges to the buyers, and make no coUuf- 
 ive agreements for giving them credit, [c. 18.] 
 
 The parliament, obferving that the people of Flanders, Holland, Ze- 
 land, and Brabant, in order to avoid carrying wool and other Englifli 
 merchandize of the ftaple to Calais, frequently packed them in tuns, 
 pipes, &c. and flowed them in their vefteils under wood, wheat rye, &c. 
 (whence the exportation of corn appears to have been pretty common) 
 all fuch fmuggling was now prohibited under the penalty of confifca- 
 tion of veflel and cargo, permiflion being ftill granted, as formerly, to 
 carry fuch goods into the Mediterranean*, [c. 19-] 
 
 The merchants of Calais having lately made a pradice of preventing 
 ftrangers from buying the ftaple goods from the importers, that they 
 might get them into their own hands, whereby they made great profits, 
 to the prejudice of both parties, the parliament, in their zeal for the 
 welfare of trade, prohibited them from buying any ftaple goods beyond 
 the fea, on pain of forfeiture. [<r. 20.] 
 
 The exemption, enjoyed by the men of Newcaftle and Berwick, from 
 the obligation of carrying their ftaple goods to Calais, being found pre- 
 
 was now proliibitcd by parliament, it appears to » ' Outre ks eft roitcs do Marrock.' Tiimigli 
 
 have been ftill uW ; for we find the clergy in tlie nulre is written in this ad Inftead of /./7>-, the word 
 
 fallowing year adding their authority to that of nfed in otiiers which liave a fimilar claiife, tliire 
 
 the parliament by a canon enjoining the fupprcf- feems no reafon to believe tliat any place really 
 
 fion of it under the terrible penalty of cxcommuni- beyond (or to ihc/outhward of) the Straits couM 
 
 cation. ItVilLins'' Concilia, p. ^\6.'] be intended.
 
 A. D. 1429; 645 
 
 judicial to the kingdom, and it being alleged that they innported no 
 money (their proceeds being apparently inverted in goods wanted at 
 . home, and yielding a profit upon importation) they were now ordered 
 to carry their goods to Calais, as other fubjecls of England were obliged 
 to do. Perfons conveying llaple goods into Scotland, in order to evade 
 this law, were to be punillied by confifcation of their goods with double 
 value, and a year's imprifonment. [c. 21.] 
 
 Some regulations againft fraudulent pradices in exporting and pack- 
 ing wool, and againfl felling the ends of woollen yarn, called thrums, 
 were now enaded. [cc. 22, 23.] 
 
 It was ufual with foreign merchants to ftipulate with the buyers, that 
 the payments fliould be made in gold, apparently for the convenience 
 of carriage, as the laws fubjeded them to the expenfe and rifk of fmug- 
 gling their money out of the country. The parliament, in order to 
 counteract their purpofe, ordained that no perfon fliould be compelled 
 to pay in gold: and they alio enaded, that no perfon in England fliould- 
 fell any goods to a foreigner, unlefs for ready money, or goods in ex- 
 change immediately delivered, [c. 24.] 
 
 All thefe fetters upon commerce, impofed, as the legiflators fincerely 
 believed, for advancing the profperity of it, were like attempts to pre- 
 vent the rivers from running in their natural courfes. 
 
 1430, March — In Scotland the parliament enadlcd, that no perfons un- 
 der the rank of knights, or having lefs than 200 marks of yearly in- 
 come, fliould wear clothes made of filk or adorned with the finer furs. 
 The fons and heirs of the noble and opulent were allowed to drefs as 
 
 fine as their fathers In cafe of vefl^els being wrecked on the coafl: of 
 
 Scotland, the prefervation of the property for the owners, or the con- 
 fifcation of it to the king, was regulated by the law refpeding wrecks 
 in the country to which they belonged — All proprietors of land within 
 fix miles of the weft and north coafts, except thole who held their land 
 by the fervice of finding velTels, were now ordered to contribute to the 
 building and equipment of gallies for the public fervic, in the propor- 
 tion of one oar of the gallies to every four marks worth of land. [yJcfs 
 Jac.I.cc. 133, 138, 140.] 
 
 July 12*'' — The fuperiority of the Englifli commerce and manufac- 
 tures over thofe of Scotland appears by King James employing two citi- 
 zens of London to ftiip for his own ufe 20 tuns of wine, 12 bows, 4. 
 dozen yards of cloth of different colours and 12 yards of fcarlet, 20 
 yards of red worfted, 8 dozen pewter veflels, 1,200 wooden bowls (or 
 caps) packed in 4 barrels, 3 dozen coverels, a bafin and font, 2 lumnier 
 laddies, i hackney faddle, and i woman's diddle with furniture, 2 
 portmanteaus, 4 yards of motley, 5 yards of morrey, 5 yards ot black 
 cloth of lyre, 12 yards of kerfey, 12 fl<ins of red leather, and fonie trifl- 
 ing articles. Thefe goods, fliipped onboard a velfel belonging to Lou-
 
 646 A. D. 1430. 
 
 don, were fecured by a royal order from being moleiled by Englifh 
 cruifers ; but they were to pay the cuftomary duties *. [Fcedera, V. x, 
 p. 470.] About this time a great cannon, made for King James in 
 Flanders, and called ihe Lionf, was carried to Scotland. [Scoticbron^ V. 
 li,/. 490.] 
 
 May 19'" — ^The king, or rather the council, borrowed ^50,000 for 
 the expenfes of a coronation in France. We find only fifteen cities and 
 towns in the records as lenders, whereof London gave £6,666 : 13 : 47, 
 Briftol £3^3 : 6 : 8, York £162, Coventry /^loo, Sarum £j2, and the 
 others frnaller fums, down to ^,^4. Of the clergy, the bilhop of Win- 
 chefter, cardinal of England, fubfcribed the enormous fum of ^£"9, 950 i/, 
 the prior of S'. John of Jerufalem £333 : 6 : 8 ; and feveral others 
 contributed frnaller furas. Sir John Cornwall was the only lay individ- 
 ual, whofe fubfcription was fo high as £s^°- [Fcedera, V. x, p. 461.] 
 
 July 1 9''' — The fubje^ls of the crown of England were prohibited 
 from attending any market in Brabant, efpecially Antwerp, till proper 
 fteps fhould be taken for the fecurity of their perfons and property. 
 They were alfo ordered to purchafe no linens of Flanders or Hainalt, 
 nor any napery or bokeram made in thofe countries, except according 
 to the regulations made by the four members of Flanders, and lately 
 proclaimed in Ghent, Bruges, and other places in that country. [Fcedera, 
 V. x,/>. 471.] 
 
 November S"" — A truce, to lafl one year from the firfi: of May, was 
 concluded with the king of Callile, wherein mutual freedom of trade 
 was llipulated ; and it was agreed, that any depredations committed on 
 either fide fi^ould be puniflied, and juftice done to the party injured, by 
 the fovereign of the offenders, without a breach of the treaty. It was 
 alfo mutually agreed, in order to prevent piracies, that no armed veffel 
 fhould be allowed to fail out of the ports of either kingdom, till fufla- 
 cient fecurity were given, that fhe fhould commit no hoflilities on the 
 fubje(fls of the allied king, nor carry any prizes whatever into any port, 
 but that from which fhe was fitted out. [Fa'dera, V. x, p. 473.] 
 
 December 1 5'" — A further truce of five years, reckoning from the 
 i" of May 1 43 1, was concluded between England and Scotland, which 
 is moftly occupied with expedients for reflraining the border mar- 
 auders. The merchants, pilgrims, and filkers, of either kingdom were, 
 as in the former truce, not to be feized in the ports of the other, if 
 driven in by flrefs of weather ; and flnpwrccked men were to be allow- 
 ed to pafs to their own home. In cafes of piracy not only the princip- 
 
 * ThoMgh James had been fo profitable a dear coufin the king of the Scots (' cariflimo con- 
 boarder to King Henry's grandfather, his fa- * fanguiiico noftro Jacobo lege Scotorum'). 
 ther, and liimfelf, the compliment, ufually paid to f Grafton fays, this Lion was tlie gun, which 
 foreign princes and prelates, of exempting their burft and killed King Jame« II at the fiegc of 
 goodj from cuftona, was withheld from liis mod Rokfbuvgli.
 
 A. D. 1430. 647 
 
 als, but alfo their receivers and encouragers, were made liable for com- 
 penfation to the perfons injured, or to punifliment. It was agreed, that 
 aggreffions by the fubjeds of either king fliould not occalion a breach 
 of the truce. [Foedera, V. x, p. 482.] Thefe were all the mutual accom- 
 modations afforded to each-other's commerce by the governments of the 
 fifter kingdoms. 
 
 1431 , January 5'" — * King James foon gave a proof of his fincerity by 
 idling apparently beyond the fpirit of the treaty. On the complaint 
 of three Englifh merchants he iflued letters empowering all perfons in 
 authority in the ports of England, Holland, Zeland, and Flanders, to 
 arreft fevcralofhis own fi;bjedts, therein named, accufed by thofe 
 merchants of having, about the end of November 1428, taken two 
 vefTels belonging to them with their cargoes, valued at /!^ 1,500, which 
 they conveyed to fome foreign country in contempt of the former 
 treaty. The king, in his eagernefs to do juftice to the injured perfons, 
 defired, that not only the four principal malefaftors particularized by 
 name, but alfo (if there is no error in tranfcribing or printing) any 
 other merchants or mariners of Scotland, ihould be arrefted at the re- 
 queft of the Englifh claimants. Surely juftice did not require that the 
 innocent fhould fuffer for the guilty. 
 
 At this time Bruges was the ftaple of the Scottifh trade in Flanders, 
 which was found fo beneficial on both fides, that the merchants of Scot- 
 land, authorized by their fovereign, entered into a treaty with the magi- 
 ftrates of Bruges (undoubtedly alfo fandioned by their fovereign the 
 duke of Burgundy) for the continuance of their commercial intercourfe, 
 and for certain privileges to be enjoyed by the Scots at Bruges, during 
 a period of one hundred years f . 
 
 January — The law of the B'** year of Henry VI, which prohibited all 
 fales to foreigners except on the terms of receive and deliver, having 
 produced a ftagnation in the woollen manufadure of England and a 
 deficiency in the cuftoms, the Englifh merchants were now permitted 
 to give credit to foreigners, but not to let it exceed fix months. \^Ad 9 
 Hen. VI, f. 2.] 
 
 1432, May — Many of the Englifh merchants complained, that their 
 merchandize was feized by the king of Denmark, apparently for viol- 
 ating his laws of the flaple. Within a year pafl the merchants of York 
 and Hull had lofl ;)(^5,ooo, and thofe of other ports of England ^{"20,000, 
 by fuch feizures. As no Danifh fubjeds traded to England, no reprifals 
 
 * King James's letter is dated 5'" Januafy 1430 expiration of it in a treaty for renewing it for an- 
 
 (chat is 143 1 reckoning the v'^ of January the be- other term of one hundred years, dated at Bruffels 
 
 gining of the year), and the twenty-fixth of his 24'^ July 153 1. [MS. Bib. Hai-l. ifi-^l V. iii.] 
 
 reign. The twenty-fifth year did not expire till It Is alfo mentioned in feveral letters of the year 
 
 5'' April 1431. But the correfponding date in 1531 (as appears by their contents, for the year 
 
 King Henry's order to his own fubje<as (hows that is omitted in the dale of eveiy one of thcmV 
 
 143 1 is right, andy^ATM printed inftead ol qmnto. prcfervcd in the Cotton library. 
 
 f This treaty is known from the mention of the
 
 648 A. D. 1432. 
 
 could be made within the kingdom : and the king and parUament or- 
 dered, that letters fliould be fent to the king of Denmark, requiring re- 
 ftitution of the property. [yiSls 10 Hen. VI, c. 3.] 
 
 The commons in parliament pi-opofed (or petitioned) that the Hanfe 
 merchants fettled in London fliould be made liable for compenfation to 
 thofe whofe property fhould be feized by the Hanfe merchants in their 
 own countries. But the king would not confent. {Cvtloii's Abridge- 
 ment, p. 604.] 
 
 14^^, July lo'*" — The filverfmiths and gilders of England ftlll retained 
 their luperiority of workmanfliip, as appears by a pretty confiderable 
 number of articles, partly of plain filver, and partly gilded, exported to 
 France and Navarre. [Fa;dera, V. x, p. 553.] 
 
 July — The parliament prohibited the ufual pradice of accounting 
 nine, inftead of eight, bufliels of corn to a quarter They alfo ordain- 
 ed, that no woollen cloth fhould be offered to fale without being mea- 
 fured and fealed by the king's meafurer. They moreover ordained, 
 that only broad cloths fhould be fubjed to the regulations of the feventh 
 of Henry IV, and that the cloths called7?;wVj- might be made only 12 
 elns in length and one in breadth. [AEls 1 1 Hen. VI, cc. 8, 9.] 
 
 November 21" — The citizens of Barcelona claim the honour of hav- 
 ing made ordinances for regulating the important bufinefs of maritime 
 infurance before any other community in Europe. The counfelors and 
 chief men of the city now ordained, that no veflel fhould be infured for 
 more than three quarters of her real afcertained value ; that no merch- 
 andize belonging to foreigners fhould be infured in Barcelona, unlefs 
 it were freighted onboard a veflel belonging to a fubjedl of the king of 
 Aragon. Merchandize belonging to lubjeds of Aragon, freighted in 
 foreign veflels, fhould be infured only to the extent of half the real 
 value : and no merchandize whatever, except corn and wine, fhould be 
 infured for more than three quarters. The words value more or le/s, and 
 the like, fometimes inferted in policies (' feguretats'), were declared un- 
 lawful, and prohibited. If a veflel were not heard of for fix months, 
 fhe fliould be confidered as certainly loft. The infurance-broker's com- 
 miffion fhould not exceed two ihillings on the hundred pounds, to be 
 paid by the party infured ; and no broker, nearly related to, or con- 
 neded by marriage with, either of the contradting parties, fhould be 
 employed to negotiate an infurance. [Ordeu. ap. Capmany, Mei/i. hijl. dc 
 Barcelona, V. ii, p. 3^^.] 
 
 1434 — It may appear ridiculous to introduce religious pilgrimages as 
 fubjeds of commercial hiftory. But as great funis of money were ex- 
 ported and imported by means of thofe fuppol'ed ads of devotion, they 
 feem to merit Ibme notice. A pilgrimage to the Holy land, being an 
 arduous and expcnfive undertaking, was now only performed upon very 
 extraordinarv occafions : but a fummer trip to Compoftclla in Spain
 
 A. D. 1434. 649 
 
 was merely a pleafure fail, efpecially from the fouthern ports of Eng- 
 land. At this time the rage for vifiting the fhrine of S'. James of Com- 
 poflella, which became very prevalent about the year 1428, had got to 
 fuch a height, that permits were granted by the king for carrying lixty- 
 three cargoes of pilgrims, confifting of above three thoufand perfons, 
 with the money neceflary for their charges and their devotional offer- 
 ings ; for the faint was very fond of money. It may be here noted, in 
 order to make an end of this tranfport trade, that, on a new rage for S'. 
 James breaking out again in 1445, the fhip-owners, who apparently 
 found the trade profitable, fitted out larger veflels than formerly, fome 
 of them being capable of carrying 200 pilgrims*. [Faedera,V. y.^pp. 
 386, 396, 401, 407, 567-582 ; V. yi\,pp. 77, 78.] The balance of this 
 commerce of fuperftition is, however, fuppofed to have been in favour 
 of England, owing to the great veneration in which S'. Thomas of Cant- 
 erbury was held by foreigners, whofe offerings at his ftirine, it is be- 
 lieved, amounted to more than all that was carried abroad by the Eng- 
 lifli pilgrims. ThUs it may have fometimes happened, that he, who 
 was a pell to his country while alive, might be of fome fervice to it 
 when dead. But the pecuniary advantage, derived from an exchange 
 of idlers for idlers, was a miieruble compenfation for the perverfion of 
 the purfuits of fo great a number of people from ufeful induftry. 
 
 1435, Jtme 26"' — The law, enacled in Scotland in the year 1424, 
 whereby thofe mines of lead, which were rich in filver, became the pro- 
 perty of the crown, apparently put ftich a check upon the operations of 
 mining, that King James, having occafion for thirty fodders of lead, 
 was obliged to purchafe it in the bifhoprick of Durham. The council 
 ol" England permitted it to be carried either by land or water, on paying 
 the ufual cufloms. [Fa^dera, V. x, />, 615.] 
 
 1436, April 18'" — Though the duke of Burgundy had withdrawn his 
 fupport from King Henry, the people born in his dominions, fettled in 
 England, were not molefled by government f on that account, provid- 
 ed they adled as good fubjecls ; whereupon 1738 aliens, among whom 
 were many born in Holland, Germany, &c. as well as thofe born in 
 Flanders, took the oath of allegiance, and obtained letters of protedion. 
 [Foedera, V. 's.,pp> 6^6, 637.] 
 
 September 8'" — In confequence of the defedion of the duke of Bur- 
 gundy an order had been iffued, that no EngHlhman fliould fail to any 
 foreign country, and particularly Flanders, without a fpecial licence : 
 and the merchants of neutral nations had availed themfelves of the pro- 
 hibition, and imported linen cloth (' pannum lineum'), madder, &.c. 
 
 • In the year 1434 molt of the veffcls carried ancl 60. Mod of the veffels carried two cargoes 
 
 about 60 pilgrims, 'ilie fniallcft cargo was 24 ; in the feafon. 
 
 and the Mary of Southampton was the only vellel f 1" ^^^ ^"^^ tranfport of the fury, excited by 
 
 which carried 100. Only two velTels failed from the dtfectioii of tiie duke, iomc of hij lubjcSs re- 
 
 Londoii in this tianfport trade with cargoes of 80 uding in London were plundered and murdered by 
 
 • the populace. [_ManJlrelci, f. 120.] 
 
 Vol. I. 4 N
 
 650 A, D. 1436. 
 
 But the king's council, determined to cut off all communication or in- 
 tercourfe, forbad all foreigners to import any goods whatever from 
 Flanders. The orders were addrefled to the warden of the Cinque ports, 
 to the fhirrefs of London, and to the mayors and bailifs of Kingftou 
 upon Hull, Southampton, Chichefter, Briflol, Lynne, Orwell, Bofton, 
 Yarmouth, Colchefter, and Pool. 
 
 Odober — The parliament of Scotland enacted, that the exporters of 
 ■yvool fliould give fecurity to bring home, and deliver to the mafter of 
 the mint, three ounces of bullion for every fack of wool, nine ounces 
 for a laft of hides, and three ounces for fuch quantity of any other goods 
 as paid freight equal to a ferplaith *. — No perfon was allowed to purchafe 
 Engliih cloth or other goods from Engliflimen ; and Engliilimen, hav- 
 ing permillion to enter Scotland, v/ere not permitted to carry any goods 
 with them, unlefs fpecified in their fafe-condu6ts. — The Scots were pro- 
 hibited from felling falmon to Engliflimen by previous contract, and' 
 were directed either to fell them in Scotland for prefent payment in 
 gold, or to export them to Flanders, or any other foreign country ex- 
 cept England. — They were alfo prohibited from buying wine in Scot- 
 land imported by the Flemings of the Dam. \_^6is Jac, I, cc. 160, 162, 
 163, 164.] 
 
 William Elphinflon, who is reputed the founder of the commerce of 
 Glafgow, flourifhed in the reign of James I f . His trade is fuppofed to 
 have confifted in exporting pickled falmon. \Gibfoiis Hiji. of Glafgow^ 
 p. 203.] 
 
 1437, January — As the law flood in England, no corn could be ex- 
 ported without a fpecial licence from the king, whereby the prices of 
 corn were fometimes kept rather under their fair value. For relief to 
 the farmers, it was now enacted, that all perfons, without applying for 
 licence, might fhip corn for any country in friendfliip with the king, 
 whenever wheat fhould not exceed 6/?, and barley 3/, per quarter. {Acts 
 15 Hen. VI, c. 2.] 
 
 The Englifh merchants were fo much offended at being prohibited 
 from failing to Iceland, that they got a petition prefented in parliament, 
 praying the abolition of the privileges of the Eafterlings (or Hanfe 
 
 * This law, befiJes die Jmpolicy of preventing of Glafgow, f/5. 115] fays, the next confidcrable 
 
 ilic merchants from bringing home fuch goods as mercliaiit in (rlalgow was Archibald Lyon, who 
 
 tlieir own judgement and intcrcft might direft, re- traded to Poland, France, and Holland, with great 
 
 gulated the delivery of the filver by tlie fcale of fuccefs. The notions of dignity in Scotland, we 
 
 the freight, that is, by weight or meafure, and may well prefume, were then at lead as ftrongly 
 
 not by value. infefled with feudal pride, as they have been in 
 
 f Gibfon dates the commencement of Elphin- later times, and are in fomc degree in the prefent 
 
 (Ion's trade in the year 1420. But that feems too day. It was therefor a proof of great l\croifm in 
 
 early, as he lived till the year 1486, being then Elphinflon and Lyon, both born of honourable 
 
 indeed an aged man, as his fon, the founder of the families afterwards ennobled, that they fnrniountcd 
 
 iMiiverfity of Aberdeen, who was born in 1437, the filly [jrejudicei of education, and dared to be 
 
 was a bifhop fome years before his death. [Craw- iifeful to the community and tliemfclves. 
 furd^s Officers, p. ^'j.'^ Macure, the earlier hiftorian
 
 A. D. 1437- 651 
 
 merchants) in England. But the king would not agree to it. [Cotton's 
 Abridgement, p. 616.] 
 
 March 22" — The commiflloners of King Henry fettled a treaty with 
 thofe of the grand mafler of Pruflia, the cities of Lubeck and Ham- 
 burgh, and the Hanfe towns, whereby the antient privileges were con- 
 firmed on both fides. The merchants of Pruflia and the Hanfe towns 
 were exempted from the jurifdi6lion of the admiral of England, and were 
 indulged with an option of having any caufes, wherein they fliould be 
 concerned, tried with difpatch, and without the buflle and formality of 
 a law-fuit, by two or more judges to be appointed by the king : and a 
 fimilar mode of trial was flipulated for the caufes of Englifh merchants 
 in their countries. There being Hill 19,2747 Englifh nobles unpaid of 
 the fum fettled in the reign of Henry IV as due to the Pruflians, (fee 
 above, p. 623) it was agreed that King Henry fhould pay it off by an- 
 nual inflallments and aflignments of the cuftoms upon their goods. It 
 was flipulated on both fides, that in cafe of any depredation at fea, the 
 inhabitants of the port, from which the piratical vefTel failed, fliould be 
 obliged to make compenfation, agreeable to an ordinance of King Ed- 
 ward, and that fufhcient fecurity to that efFed: fhould be given before 
 any armed vefTel fhould go out of port. \Foedera, V. x,/>. 666.] 
 
 A politico-commercial poem, called the Libell of EngliJJj policie, writ- 
 ten about this time *, gives the following view of the commerce of 
 Europe. 
 
 The exports of Spain confifled of figs, raifins, baflard wine, dates, li- 
 quorice, Seville oil, grain, Caflile foap, wax, iron, wool, wadmole, fkins 
 of goats and kids, fafFron, and quickfilver, which were all fhipped for 
 Bruges, the great Flemifh emporium. Of thefe wool was the chief ar- 
 ticle. In return the Spaniards received fine cloth of Ypres, which is 
 noted as fuperior to that of England, cloth of Curtrike (or Courtray), 
 much fuflian, and linen f . — The Flemings could not make good cloth 
 of the Spanifli wool by itfelf, and were obliged to mix it with the Eng- 
 lifh, which was the chief fupport of their manufacture, and without 
 which, indeed, they could not poflibly carry it on, or fupport their 
 numerous population, their country not producing food fuflicient for 
 one month in the year. 
 
 With Portugal the Englifli had confiderable intercourfe, and ufed to 
 make voyages to it. The commodities were wine, ofay, wax, grain, figs, 
 raifins, honey, cordovan, dates, fait, hides, See. 
 
 • * The poem mentions the precipitate retreat of end of 1436 or in 1457, in wliich year Sigifmund 
 
 the Flemings from Calais, which was in July 1436, died. 
 
 and the lols of Harflew, which Hakluyt has dated \ It is neccffary to remember that Spain at this 
 
 in his margin in 1449. But if he has rightly given time coniained feveral kingdoms, often at war 
 
 the anthor's text, where he fays, the emperor Si- among thcmfclves. The trade here dcfcribed is 
 
 gifmund ' yet rii^neth' (for in the Harlcian manu- apparently that of Caftile. Catalonia pofTcfred 
 
 fcript it 19 written ' reigiied') that lofs of Hardew flourifhing manufaflures in wool, cottor., linen, 
 
 mull be the capture of it by the French in 1432 ; filk, &c. 
 and the poem muft have been written in the kter 
 
 4N2
 
 6^2 A. D. 1437. 
 
 Brctagne exported fait, wine, creft cloth, and canvufs. The Bretons, 
 efpecially thofe of S'. Malo, were much addifted to piracy, and cared 
 very little for the authority of their duke. They ofren plundered the 
 eaft coafls of England, and levied contributions, or ranfoms, from the 
 towns. 
 
 The exports of Scotland confifted of wool, wool-fells and hides. The 
 Scottifh wool, mixed with Englifh, was made into cloth at Popering and 
 Bell, manufaCiuring towns in Flanders. The Scottifli veflcls carried 
 home from Flanders mercery, haberdaihery ware, and even cart-wheels 
 and barrows. 
 
 The exports of Prnjfia were beer, bacon, ofmunds, copper, fleel, bow- 
 flaves, wax, peltry, pitch, tar, boards, flax, thread of Cologne, fuftian, 
 canvafs, card?, buckram, and alfo filver purchafed from Bohemia and 
 Hungary. The returns from Flanders were woollen cloths of all colours. 
 And many of rhe Pruflians ufed to fail to the Bay of Bifcay for fait. 
 
 The Genoefe, in great carracks, imported into England cloth of gold, 
 fiik, black pepper, woad in great plenty, wool, oil, wood-alhes, cotton, 
 roche-alum, and gold for paying their balances. They took in return 
 wool, and woollen cloth of all colours, which they fometimes carried to 
 Flanders, where the chief ftaple of their trade was. 
 
 The Venetians and Florentbics imported into England, in large gallies, 
 all kinds of fpiceries and groceries, fweet wines, apes and other foreign 
 animals, and many trifling articles of luxury. In return they received 
 wool, cloth, and tin. The balance appears to have been in their favour; 
 for the author is much difpleafed, that 
 
 ' Thti bere the gold out of this lond, 
 ' And sowketh the thrifte out of our hond, 
 ' As the waspe sowketh houy of the be'.' 
 The Venetians were alfo dealers in exchange and lending money at in- 
 tcreft, which they found fo profitable, that, when they bought the Eng- 
 lifh wool on credit, they did not mind felling it at Bruges five per cent 
 under the coft, in order to have the comiuand of the money for lending, 
 till it flioidd fall due. They alfo ufed to travel to Cottwold and other 
 parts of England to buy up the wool, cloth, tin, &c. Thereupon the 
 author regrets, that they were not compelled to unload in forty days, 
 and to load in other forty, nor obUged to ad under the controul of an 
 hofl; or landlord-broker, as fcrmcrly, and as the Engiifli at Venice were 
 obliged to do *. 
 
 In the marts or fairs of Bralnut the Engliih (and probably other for- 
 eigners alio) were obliged to fell their cloths, &c. in fourteen days, and 
 make their purchales, eonfifting chiefly of mercery, haberdalhcry, and 
 groceries, in as many'more, on pain of forfeiture. Thole fairs wc re 
 frequented by the Engiifli, French, Dutch (or Germans), Lombards, 
 
 * Qu. Is there any earlier notice, equally authentic, of Englidimcn tradmg to Venice.
 
 A. D. 1437. 6^2 
 
 Genoefe, Catalonians, Spaniards, Scots, and Irifli. The author affirms, 
 that the Englifli bought more m the marts of Brabant, Flanders, arid 
 Zcland, than a!/ other nations. 
 
 Brabant and Zeland exported madder, woad, garlick, onions, and fait 
 fifli. The Hollanders bought the Englifh wool and wool-fells at Calais. 
 In the marts of Brabant were alfo fold the merchandize of Hainault, 
 France, Burgundy, Cologne, and Cambray, which were brought in carts 
 over land. 
 
 The exports of hrland were hides, wool, falmon, hake, herrings, linen, 
 falding, and the fkins of martins, harts, otters, fquirrels, hares, rabbits, 
 llieep, lambs, foxes, and kids. Some gold ore had lately been brought 
 from Ireland to London. The abundant fertility and excellent harbours 
 of Ireland are noted by the author, who laments that the ifland was not 
 made more profitable to England by a complete conqueft. 
 
 The trade to Ice/and for llock-fifli, hitherto almoft confined to Scar- 
 burgh, had for about twelve years pall been taken up in Brifiiol and 
 other ports, and feems at this time to have been overdone, as the vefTels 
 could not obtain full freights. 
 
 The main intent of the author was to exhort his countrymen to main- 
 tain the command of the fea, ' which of England is the towne wall,* 
 and efpecially of the ftrait between Dover and Calais, whereby they might 
 eafily intercept the fliipping of any of the above-mentioned nations, 
 who all made Flanders the ftation of their trade, and thereby compell 
 the Flemings (who at this time were hoftile in confequence of the re- 
 conciliation of their fovereign, the duke of Burgundy, to the king of 
 .France) to fee their own interefl in amity with England*. 
 
 It will not be deemed foreign from our fubjecT: to give the charader 
 of the Englifh noblemen about this time, as drawn by Poggio, an Ital- 
 ian, who refided fonie time in England with the cardinal-biihop of Win- 
 chefter. — ' The nobles of England think themfelvcs above refiding in 
 ' cities. They live retired in the covmtry among Moods and paflures.. 
 ' He who has the greateft revenue is moll refpeded. They attend to 
 ' counti-y bufinefs, and fell their wool and cattle, not thinking it any 
 ' difparagement to engage in rural induftry f .' [Poggii Opera, p. 69.] 
 
 1438, March 10'" — It appears that fome Englifh merchants imported 
 goods from the Mediterranean on their own account ; and at this time 
 there was at leaft one inflance of (hipping tliem in foreign velTels by 
 reafon of the war with Flanders, as we learn from the circumftance of a 
 fraud being committed by the commander of a Venetian carrack, who, 
 inflead of proceeding to England according to contracl:, put into Lifbon, 
 where he contrived to embezzle the goods. {Fasdera, V. x, /. 75 1. J 
 
 * The extraft here given is taken from Hakluyt to agricultnral putfuits, the moft valuable part of 
 
 \_F. i, pp. 1 87-208 J correftc-J ' ir.ufcript n". the charader here delineated, is happily reviving 
 
 401 1 in the Harleian library. in the prelcnt day. 
 
 ^ The attention of the upper r,ini-.,s in England ^
 
 654 -^' ^- I43S. 
 
 March 21" — An agent of the king of Portugal was licenced to fliip 
 fixty facks of Cotfwold \too1, without paying any cujiom, for Florence, in 
 order to procure fluffs of gold and filk for the ufe of that king. [Fad- 
 era, V. \,p. 684.] 
 
 March 31" — Soon after the acceflion of James 11, king of Scotland, 
 the truce between the Britifh kingdoms was prolonged till the i'' of May 
 1447. In addition to the flipulations againfl feizing vefTels driven in- 
 to port, or hindering fliipwrecked men from returning home, it was 
 now agreed, that, if any veffel belonging to either kingdom were car- 
 ried by an enemy into a port of the other kingdom, no fale of the veffel 
 or cargo fhould be permitted without the confent of the original own- 
 ers ; — that no veffel driven into any port fhould be liable to arrefl for 
 any debt of the king, or of any other perfon *, but all creditors fhould 
 have fafe-conduds in order to fue for and recover their debts with law- 
 ful damages and intereft ; — that in cafes of Ihipwreck the property fhould 
 be preferved, and delivered to the owners ; — that goods, landed for the 
 purpofe of repairing a fhip, might be reloaded in the fame or a differ- 
 ent veffel, without paying any cuftoms, except for fuch as might be 
 fold ; — that no wool or wool-fells fliould be carried from the one king- 
 dom to the other, either by land or by water; — velTels of either king- 
 dom, putting into the ports of the other in want of provifions, might 
 fell Ibme goods for that purpofe, without being liable to pay cuftoms 
 for the reft of the cargo. — In cafes of depredation not only the princip- 
 als, but alfo the receivers and encouragers, and even the communities 
 of the towns in which the plundered goods were received, were made 
 liable for compenfation to the fufferers, who might fue for redrefs be- 
 fore the confervators of the truce or the wardens of the marches. — No 
 acts of individuals fhould be allowed to produce an infradion of this 
 truce. \_FiEdera, V. x, p. 688.] 
 
 November 21" — We have already feen feveral unqueftionable proofs 
 of the wool of England being fuperior to that of Spain. A further, 
 and a moft authentic, evidence of its fuperiority appears in a body of 
 laws, drawn up at this time by the municipal magiftrates of Barcelona, 
 for the exprefs purpofe of regulating ibe manufa£lure of cloths mcide of fine 
 EngliJJj wool (' lanes fines de Anglatetrd) and other fine wools. The firfl 
 fedion (exadly like the ordinance in the patent given to the weavei's of 
 London by King Henry II) prohibits the mixture of any other wool 
 with the Englifh. The other fedions, to the number of thirty in all, 
 are entirely filled with precautions for preferving the purity of the wool 
 in fpinning and through the other ftages of the manufodure, and againft 
 debafing the fabric, rules for the infpedioii of the finiflied goods and 
 for afcertaining the quality by known authorized marks. [Capfnany, 
 Mem. hift. de Barcelona, V. ii, Col. dipt. p. 427.] 
 
 • Tin's article fccms intcmlcd to provide a remedy againft tlie fuperabundant zeal for compenfation 
 lately manifeftcd by King James I.
 
 A. D. 1438. 655 
 
 As belonging to the fame fubjed, I will here add, that in March 1441 
 the municipal magiflrates of Barcelona wrote to their agent in Bruges 
 to purchafe four hundred quintals of the finell Englifh wool to be (hip- 
 ped at Sonthampton or London, to endeavour to get it weighed by the 
 London weight, which was above five per cent heavier than that he had 
 formerly bought by, and to buy it ten per cent lower than the lafl: parcel 
 (but how could he do that and get the fineft wool?) and moreover to 
 ftipulate, in order to guard againll deception, that the wool fhould be 
 at the rifle of the feller till landed in Barcelona. \Capmany, V. ii. Col. 
 dipt. p. 241.] The Englifli wool was fometimes fent back to its native 
 countiy in the form of manufadured cloth ; as appears from a record, 
 flill preferved in the archives of Barcelona, which informs us that 250 
 facks of fine Englifh wool, weighing eight arobas (about two hundred- 
 weight) each, imported|by a Barcelona galley returned from England, 
 were diflributed about this time to different manufadhirers, in order to 
 be made into cloth to be fent to England. {Capmany, V. i, Com. p. 144.] 
 
 We thus fee that the Englifh had not yet attained the art of making 
 x.\\Qjiriefi woollen cloths, that Ypres was not the only place which excell- 
 ed England in the manufadure, (fee above, p. 651) and that the fineft 
 cloths of Catalonia were in demand in England, long after Englifh cloths 
 had become a confiderable article of exportation. On the other hand, 
 we find (from Capmany, V. i, Com. p. 242) that fome of the Englifh 
 fabrics, and thofe of Florence, were afterwards thought worthy of imi- 
 tation by the manufaflurers of Barcelona, as fome of thofe of Rheims, 
 Flanders, and even Ireland, were before this time. We ihall foon fee 
 the fubjeds of Aragon, whofe principal errand to England was the pur- 
 chafe of wool, treated with peculiar favour in this country. 
 
 We have already feen that Caftile, the principal kingdom in Spain, 
 obtained a large flock of fine-wooled flieep from England, in the I'eign, 
 and apparently by the ad, of that very king, Edward III, who has gen- 
 erally obtained the praife of being the great preferver of the wool, and 
 founder of the woollen manufactures, of England. In procefs of time, 
 the exportation of wool having never been prohibited by the govern- 
 ment of Spain, that country, by unremitting attention to the royal 
 flock, has acquired the reputation and the eflabliflied market for the 
 fineft wool in Europe : and the Spaniards now receive their own wool 
 from England, made into cloth. What a wonderful change in the ftate 
 of the cominercial intercourfe between the two countries in the fifteenth 
 and eighteenth centuries ! 
 
 1439, February — The crops of corn, efpecially wheat and rye, hav-- 
 ing been very deficient in England, while they were more abundant in 
 the Danifh dominions and the Eaft country, Robert Chapman a merch- 
 ant of York, being furnifhed with a letter from King Henry to the king 
 of Denmark, failed to that country for a cargo of grain. Sir Stephen 
 Browne, mayor of London, alfo imported feveral cargoes of rye from.
 
 656 
 
 A. D. 1439. 
 
 Pruffia, which gave great reUef, [Fcvdera, V. x, p. 717. — Stow's Survey 
 of London, p. 937.] 
 
 November — The parliament, confidering that butter and cheefe could 
 neither bear long keeping nor heavy expenfes, permitted them to be ex- 
 ported, without any fpecial licence, to other places as well as to Calais, 
 [ASls 18 Hen. VI, c. 3.] The parliament mud undoubtedly have thought 
 that fome good efFeds arofe from the fyflem of impofing the hardihips 
 of long keeping and heavy expenfes on wool, hides, tin, &c. 
 
 The parliament now prohibited merchant flrangers from buying and 
 felling with each other in England. They alfo enforced the law oblig- 
 ing them to live under the furvey of hofls, who were to be fufficient 
 Englifhmen, experienced in bufinefs, but not concerned in the branch 
 which their guefls were engaged in, and to be appointed by the ma- 
 giftrates of the towns wherein the flrangers tranfaded their bufinefs. 
 The merchant flrangers were obliged to do all their bufinefs of buying 
 or felling, landing or (hipping, under the infpedion of their hofls, and 
 to make fale, within eight months after their arrival, of all goods im- 
 ported by them, except cloth of gold and of filver, or of filk. They 
 were bound to lay out all the proceeds of their fales in Englifh goods. 
 The hofls were required to lodge in the exchequer twice a-year attefted 
 accounts of all the tranfadions of their guefls in buying and felling ; 
 and they were entitled to two pennies out of every twenty Ihillings of 
 goods bought and fold. [c. 4.] 
 
 An abufe had crept in of meafuring cloths, not by the yard and full 
 inch, but by the yard and full hand, which the buyers alleged to be 
 the meafure of London, and thereby got 2 yards in every cloth of 24 
 yards. It was now enabled, that one inch only fhould be allowed in ad- 
 dition to the yard. [c. 16.] 
 
 The parliament, conlidering that oil and honey were not by law liable 
 to be gauged *, ordered that they fhould be gauged as well as wine, ahd 
 that the buyer lliould have allowance for any deficiency of the flandard 
 meafure of 252 gallons in the tun, and in proportion in the pipe and 
 tertian or tierce, [f. 17.] 
 
 The commons propoi'ed in parliament, that the Italians and others 
 living within the Straits of Morocco fhould not be permitted to import 
 into England imy other merchandize than the produce of their own 
 countries f. They alfo defired, that all fpiceries, fold in the out-ports 
 by merchant flrangers, fhould be as clear garbled as in London. But 
 both propofilions were rejeded by the king. {Cotton^s Abridgement^ p. 626.] 
 
 1440, February 2"* — King Henry addrelTed an expoftulatory letter to 
 
 * If the parliament had looked back to the aif\ one of the inmimciable evils, to which tlic avt of 
 4 Rich. II, c. I, itiey would have feeii, that oil priiitlnfj lias ajiplied a remedy, 
 aiid lioney were already on the lame fooling with f The reader will perceive that a principal part 
 
 wine in rcfpeil to gauging. That overfight was I'f the famous navigation aft was propofed by the 
 
 mcrcliants in the year 1439.
 
 A. D, 1440. 657 
 
 the grand mailer of Pruflla, dating, that in former times no duties were 
 exaded for veflels or cargoes in PrulTia, but of late the merchants of 
 England had been often compelled to pay a duty upon the value of their 
 veflels and cargoes in Dantzik, and been opprefl'ed with other arbitrary 
 exadions, detention of their veflTels, &c. Some Englifli merchants hav- 
 ing complained of being wrongoufly imprifoned and plundered in the 
 towns of Stetin and Coilelyn, the king wrote alfo to the burgomafters, 
 proconfuls, Sec. of the Hanfe towns, demanding redrefs. IFxdera, V. 
 
 ^>PP- 753-755-] 
 
 February 8'" — A more produdtive method of making fait was now in- 
 troduced in England : and, for the advancement of that manufadure, 
 John of Schiedam, a native of Zeland, was encouraged to bring over 
 from Holland and Zeland a number of people, not exceeding fixty, 
 who were taken under the king's protedion. \Fcedera, V. x, />. 761.] 
 
 February 26'" — After the reftridion of the foreign trade of Norway, 
 &c. to the one port of Bergen by the king of Denmark, we find feveral 
 licences granted by King Henry to the two bilhops of Iceland for fend- 
 ing Englifh veflels to that ifland on various pretences *, which feem to 
 have been fchemes of coUufion between the bifliops and the owners of 
 the veflels for carrying on illicit trade, though that was oftenfibly guard- 
 ed againfl: in the licences. However, one now granted to the bifliop of 
 Skalholt authorizes him to load two veflels with 200 quarters of corn, 
 and with other provifions, and cloth, for Iceland, which the king was 
 told, pofl'efled neither cloth, wine, ale, corn, nor fait, and to reload thera 
 with the produce of the ifland. [Foedera, V. x, pp. 645, 659, 682, 711, 
 762.] 
 
 June 1 7'" — .The manufadures and commerce of the Netherlands be- 
 ing almofl ruined by the war with England, the duchefs of Burgundy 
 wrote to King Henry, to whom flie was nearly related f , earneftly en- 
 treating that he would renew the friendly intercourfe, which had fo 
 long fubfiflied between the two countries. Commiflioners were accord- 
 ingly appointed on both fides, and a truce of three years was concluded 
 with the people of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, whereby they were 
 again admitted to commercial intercourfe with all the king's fubjeds on 
 both fides of the fea. The hoftilities committed before the declaration 
 of war were confidered as piracies, and commiflioners were appointed to 
 afcertain the compenfations due on both fides, who found the Flemings 
 indebted to the Englifli on that account 32,000 riders, each of the value 
 of four fliillings of Flemifti money :j: ; and for that fum the four mem- 
 bers of Flanders gave their obligations. \Fcedera, V. ^,pp. 730, 761, 791.] 
 
 * One was, that the new-appointed bilhop of f This aftive pacific princefs was giand-daugh. 
 
 Hola, an Englifhman, was afraid to go fo far, and ter of John duke of Lancaller and filler of Dj.i 
 
 •therefor employed the mailer of an EngUfli veflel Henry, the prince of dil'coverers. 
 to infpeft his biflioprick as deputy bifliop. Both J Tlie Flemifh rider was worth j/j. of EngUlh 
 
 bifliops were conneded with John Wefton a ftoc!> money, as appeals from an aft of the pariament of 
 
 filhmonger in London. Scotlana in the year 1451. 
 
 Vol. I. 4 O
 
 658 A. D. 1440. 
 
 Odober 13'" — In a treaty between King Henry and the duke of Bret- 
 agne a mutual freedom of commercial intercourfe between the fubjects 
 of both was ftipulated : and, in order to guard againfl piratical depred- 
 ations at fea, the commanders of all veflels, fitted out in the ports of 
 either country, were obliged to find fecurity before their departure, that 
 they (hould not commit any depredations on the fubjects of the other, 
 and judges were to be appointed in each port, Who, without the formal- 
 ities of law, fliould do fummary jufl;ice upon the offenders and their 
 feciu-ities, or, failing them, vipon the inhabitants of the place. [Fcsd- 
 era, V. x, p. S03.] Such fecurities for the peaceable condud of veflels 
 upon the fea were now become fo common, that it will henceforth fcarce- 
 ly be neceflliry to mention them. 
 
 Odober 28"" — The duke of Orleans, after a captivity of twenty-five 
 years in England, agreed to pay 100,000 nobles for his ranfom, whei-eof 
 he paid 40,000 in hand, advanced to him by four Florentine .merchants 
 in London. Having reprefented to King Henry, that he never fliould 
 be able to pay up the remaining 60,000, unlefs his vaflals had the liberty 
 of trading to the dominions of England, the king granted licences to a 
 great number of them to import wine, iron, fait, linen cloths (' toilles'), 
 and other merchandize, from any place in the obedience of his adverf- 
 ary of France, in veflels not exceeding 200 tuns burthen nor carrying 
 above 20 men, or in carts, &c. to his dominions on either fide of the 
 water, they paying the ufiaal cufl;oms, &c. \Fcedera, V. '^,pp. 777, 783, 
 812-826.] 
 
 Pliny obferves that paper confers immortality upon the works of man. 
 That beautiful and juft eulogium may with fi:ill more propriety be ap- 
 plied to the art of printing, which befl;ows furer immortality, together 
 with univerial circulation, upon all works worthy of prefervation; which, 
 by retidering books cheap, has brought knowlege within the reach of 
 all mankind, and has done a thoufand times more than the ledures of 
 all the philofophers of antiquity in difpelling the thick mifi: of ignor- 
 ance, diffufing the lights of learning and fcience, and enlarging the 
 powers of the mind. This mofl: valuable art appears to have been in- 
 vented about this time : and the honour of the invention has been very 
 keenly contefted by the partizans of Gutenburg, Fuft, and Laurence. 
 Gutenburg is faid to have printed at StrafiDurg in the year 1440, and 
 afterwards at Mentz, his native city, where he aflimied John Fufl; as a 
 partner. According to others, Fuft was the original inventor. And 
 John Laurence of Harlem is alfo faid to have invented the art fome 
 years before this time *. The firft rude eflliys were made with wooden 
 
 * Gutenburg has tlie moll numerous, and the firft types, ruddy cut In wood, nmong which there 
 moft anticnt, evidences in favour of his priority of are fonic containing whole words, (fo that the 
 invention. In honour of him, the invention has modern logography is no new invention) are dill 
 been commemorated by a jubilee held in the for- prcferved in that city nlong with fomc impreffions 
 tieth year of every fuccccdinjj ccjitury : aud the of the firft printing, which exhibit the imperfec- 
 
 tiOB
 
 A. D. 1440, 659 
 
 blocks containing the whole letters of a page in one piece : and this kind 
 of printing is apparently of very high antiquity among the Chinefe, 
 who ftill ufe no other. Moveable types of lead, tin, &c. were very foon 
 fubflituted : and the various improvements upon the manufadure and 
 management of them in a very iliort time brought printing to a con- 
 liderable degree of perfed:ion. 
 
 1441 — A fui-ious war broke out in the year 1438 between Holland 
 and Zeland on the one fide, and the cities of Lubeck, Hamburgh, Lun- 
 enburg, Wifmar, Rollock, and thofe of the Sound, affilled by the Vene- 
 tians, Spaniards, and Pruflians, on the other ; and the Netherlanders 
 fuffered very much from the frequent captures made by their enemies. 
 In vain the duke of Burgundy endeavoured to accommodate matters by 
 a convention of deputies. The claim of his fubje6ts for compenfation, 
 amounting to 50,000 florins of gold, was haughtily received by the 
 Eflerlings, and the meeting broke up with mutual defiance. The Hol- 
 landers and Zelanders, with the confent of the duke, immediately built 
 a number of ftout fhips (but not equal in fize to thofe of the Efiierlings) 
 at Harlem, Amfi;erdam, Home, Enkhuyfen, Dort, Gouda, Roterdam, 
 Middelburg, Vere, Flufhing, Armuyden, Ziriczee, and fome other towns, 
 and fent them out, well armed and manned, againll their enemies. Thefe 
 cruifers took twenty large hulks, three carracks from Prufila, and a great 
 Venetian carrack loaded with all forts of goods, by which the damages 
 of the Netherlanders were compenfated. At lafi; a truce of ten years, 
 concluded with Lubeck and five other principal cities, terminated, or 
 fufpended, this war of commercial rivalry. IPetit, Chron. de Hollande, 
 
 1442, January 26'" — It was apparently in order to avoid the hard- 
 fhips impofed upon foreign iTierchants by the late law, that Jeronimo 
 Dandulo of Venice and his fon Marino paid forty marks for a licence, 
 whereby the king made them denizens of England, and inverted them 
 with all the privileges of native fubjeds *, and leave to export wool, tin, 
 and cloth, without being obliged to carry them to Calais, paying in that 
 cafe the duties paid by aliens. {Foedera^ V. x\,p. 2.] 
 
 January — The parliament enaded, that denizen merchants, having 
 the king's licence to export wool, wool-fells, and tin, to any other place 
 than the fl;aple at Calais, fliould pay the fame duties, which aliens paid 
 upon fuch goods. {ylSls 20 Hen. VI, c. 4.] 
 
 It had become ufual for the oflEicers of the cufioms to employ, as 
 their clerks or deputies, perfons who were owners of fliips, engaged in 
 trade, occupiers of wharfs and quays, tavern-keepers, brokers, &c. wherc- 
 
 tion of an art in its infancy. \_Schcpjlin, in Mem. priming figures upon blocks, there cau be no doubt, 
 
 de Vacocl. V. xvii, p. 762.] The advocates for thnt it Is at leafb as old as the year 1423. 
 
 Full and Laurence are equally fatisfied in the jijft- * The king fays, they (hall be iiativcj (' ind:- 
 
 nefs of their claims to the honour of the invention. « genx') ; and that word continued for focie time 
 
 The contelt will never be decided. Perhaps each to be ufcd inilead of dAiizen. 
 
 of them invented fome improvcinent. As for 
 
 4O 2
 
 66o A. D. 1442. 
 
 by the regular merchants were hindered in their bufinefs, and many 
 frauds were committed. It was therefor enaded, that no perfon con- 
 cerned in fuch branches of bufinefs fhould have any employment what- 
 ever in the cuftoms. [c 5.] 
 
 It being reprefented, that the worlled goods of Norwich and Norfolk 
 were unfairly made, and had loft their reputation in foreign markets, 
 the parliament diredled that fix wardens fhould be annually chofen to 
 infpe61: the fufficiency and uniformity of the fabric, and the due meafure- 
 of the goods *, and to feize all found defedive f. [c. 10.] 
 
 The legal reftraints put upon the wool trade at Calais were found to 
 have very much reduced the fales, to the great injury of the king's re- 
 venue, of the merchants and mariners of England, and of the country 
 in general. The laws refpedling the bulUon were alfo attended with the 
 bad confequence of producing retaliating laws in other countries, which 
 it is wonderful that the parliament did not forefee. It was now decreed, 
 that merchants might fell their wool at Calais mider the rules of the 
 ftaple, whenever they fhould think proper. But ftill they were ordered 
 to carry a third part of the price to the mint at Calais, to be coined, and: 
 to bring the coined money into England, [c. 12.] 
 
 1443, January iS'*" — King Henry, defirous of conciliating the favour 
 of the king of Aragon, granted all the Aragonefe trading to England 
 an exemption from the late ad: of parliament, obliging merchants to 
 tranfad their bufinefs under the infpedion of hofts. [Fadera, V. xi, 
 p. 18.] 
 
 June 25'" — ^The water formerly brought to London from Tyburn 
 (fee above, p. 389) being found infufficient in the year 1439 ^°^ ^^ ^'^~ 
 creafed population of the city J, the magiftrates obtained from the ab- 
 bat of Weftminfter a perpetual grant of a fountain in the ma, or of 
 Paddington, together with right to break up the ground for laying their 
 pipes, for an annual rent of two pounds of pepper. The king now con^ 
 firmed the abbat's grant, and moreover authorized the magiftrates to 
 break up any public road, and any ground belonging to himfelf or to- 
 any other perfon, to purchafe 200 fodders of lead for their pipes, 8cc. 
 
 * The following were the ttandard meafures of Norwich fluffs, agreeable to the aA. 
 
 Beds of the greateft fize 14 yards largely, by 4 yards. 
 
 Beds of middle fize 12 - 3 
 
 Beds of the finalleft fize 10 largely, 2^ 
 
 Monk's cloths - 12 - I7 
 
 Canon cloths - 5 - ij 
 
 Cloths called cloths 6 - 2 
 
 (In aft 23 Hen. VI, c- 4, they 
 are called canon cloths of the 
 other fizc.) 
 
 Double worlleds 10 - 1 -J largely. 
 
 Half doubles - 6 • ly 
 
 K (.11 worlleds - 30 - t largely. 
 
 I This law was renewed, and declared to be in force for three years by an ad 23 Ihn. Vh c. 4. 
 \ The king's confiimation fays, that the founiaius were dcfeftive and dried up. But they continue 
 Vunniiig to this prcfcnt time.
 
 A. D. 1443- 66 r 
 
 and to prefs plumbers, mafons, and other workmen, ii>to their fervice.- 
 [Foedern, V. xi, pp. 29-33.] 
 
 The Portuguefe, in the progrefs of their difcoveries along the coafl 
 of Africa, having kidnapi:>€d fome of the Moors, Prince Henry this 
 year ordered the commanders of his vefTels to carry them home to their 
 own country. His officers, however, inftead of obeying his humane 
 and judicious order, obUged the friends of the captives to redeem them, 
 and received in exchange ten Negro flaves and a quantity of gold. Thefe 
 two kind of new objeds, thus unexpededly offered to the avidity of the 
 Portuguefe, filenced the murmurs againfl; Prince Henry's fchemes of' 
 difcovery, and immediately filled all Europe with eagernefs to embark, 
 under the flag of the Portuguefe, to whom the pope had very liberally 
 granted all the countries between Cape Bojador and India. A company 
 of merchants at Lagos obtained from the prince a charter for the ex- 
 clufive right of trading with the Moors of the African coaft for a limit- 
 ed time ; and in the following year (1444) a few veffels belonging to 
 this firll Royal African company arrived at a fmall ifland called Nar. But. 
 inflead of trading with the Moors, they made a hoftile attack upon 
 them, flew many, and brought off 155 captives. Prince Henry after- 
 wards built a fort on the little ifland of Arguin for the accommodation 
 of the company; and there they eftabliflied their fadory, to w'hich they 
 fent regular annual fliips with woollen cloth, linen, corn, &c. and fome- 
 fllver. Thefe they exchanged with the Moors, or Arabs, for Negro - 
 flaves (to the number of feven or eight hundred annually about the 
 year 1456) and gold duft. Such was the commencement of the Euro- 
 pean trade on the coafl: of Africa for flaves, who were then all carried . 
 to Portugal. \Faria y Sou/a, V. i, p. 10. — Cada Mo/Id's Voyage, p. 55. — 
 Purchas, B. x, p. 1674.] 
 
 1444, May 28"' — After an age of warfare the ambaflTadors of England j 
 and France concluded a truce to lafl: till the 1" of April 1446, whereby 
 the fubjedts of both kingdoms were allowed reciprocal freedom of trade, . 
 and it was agreed, that their property, being in any town belonging to 
 the oppofite power at the expiration of the truce, fliould be preferved . 
 inviolate. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 59.] 
 
 1445, Odober 21" — Notwithftanding the repeated injundions of 
 councils againfl ecclefiaftical perfons being concerned in trade, many 
 of them were merchants and traders of every denomination ; and, be- 
 ing exempted from moft of the taxes paid by the laity, they underfold 
 and ruined the regular traders, w-ho contributed to fupport them. In 
 order to give fome check to the prepofterous converfion of monafleries , 
 into warehoufes, work-fliops, inns, and tap-houfes, PhiUp duke of Bur- 
 gundy now iflued a placard, wherein he fets forth, that many more con- 
 vents for monks and nuns had been founded within a few years in his 
 territories of Holland and Zeland, than were proportioned to the extent 
 of thofe countries ; that all trades and handicrafts are carried on ir. .
 
 662 A. D. i445» 
 
 them, whereby they accumulate eftates, which remain with them for 
 ever, and all the land in the country mufl: in time come into their 
 hands. He therefor prohibits them from receiving or purchafing any 
 more eftates in his dom.inions, till commiflioners, to be appointed by 
 him, fhall determine in what manner they may hold lands. [Brandt's 
 Hift. of the reformation^ V. i, p. 23 Engl, tranjl. *] This perverfion of the 
 privileges and wealth, obtained from the miftaken piety of princes and 
 devout perfons or the remorfe of opulent criminals, this licenced fmug- 
 gling, was by no means peculiar to the Netherlands : it was common in 
 other countries, and perhaps in none more than in England f . 
 
 1446, Augufl 4"' — A truce between King Henry and the duchefs of 
 Burgundy, adling for her hufband, was followed by another treaty, 
 whereby a free commercial intercourfe was continued till the i" of No- 
 vember 1459 between the king's fubjeds and the merchants of Brabant, 
 Flanders, and Mechlin, whether dealers in wool, hides, provifions, or 
 whatever other merchandize, (except armour, artillery, powder, and 
 other warlike ftores) on paying the cufloms ufual in the ports of each 
 
 country The fifliermen of either country were to have liberty to fifh 
 
 where they pleafed, and, if obliged to take fhelter in the ports of the 
 other, they were to be admitted freely on paying the ufual duties — No 
 privateers were to.be permitted to iffue from the ports of either coun- 
 try to prey upon the fubjecls of the other : neither fliould they be per- 
 mitted to land their plunder in the ports of the contrading powers 
 
 Neutral veflels, bringing provifions or other goods from the Eafl: coun- 
 try to the dominions of either party, fhould not be molefted in any 
 manner. — Veffels of cither coimtry, not fitted for war, being driven by 
 florm or enemies into the ports of the other, fhould be allowed to enter 
 and depart at their pleafure, but not to land any goods without a licence 
 
 * BranJt next gives a book of rates, or table, of the king's own law againft the exportation of 
 
 of the regulated prices of pardons for a variety of wool : but that law was never kept, 
 
 fins, wherein it is obfervable, that the murder of The Cillerciau monks were great wool-merch- 
 
 thc nearell relations is the cheapoil fin in the cata- ants, till their trade was prohibited in 1344. See 
 
 logue. above, p. ^11- 
 
 f In the reign of H=enry I the afebat of S'. Al- The fmuggling fchemca of the two bifliops of 
 
 bans was a f.niniongcr. See ah^ve, p. -^"S.^. In the Iceland have been noticed, p. 657. 
 
 reign of Henry II the bifliop of Ely owned a vef- It is not ncccffary to add to thefe examples a 
 
 fel of the kind called an cfneck ; and In that of long lift of the verj- ufual grants enabling the popes 
 
 Richard I the bifhop of Durham was owner of a and other foreign priefts to export wool and other 
 
 Clip remarkably large. \_Mado%s H'ljl. of the exch. cullomable goods without paying cuftoms. 
 
 <r. 17, 5 3 ; Ni)le en Dial, ilefcacc. L. i, c. 6.] Neither was Scotland without fonie examples of 
 
 A. D. 13 1(^1 — The bllbop of Nidaros (Dron- trading bilhops. 
 
 theim) in Nor.vay traded to England as a mcrch- 1365 — The bidiop of Aberdeen was owner of 
 
 ant. See above, p. 479, note f. a vell'el. See a'cve, f. ^- 1. ■• 
 
 1340— In thr famous battle near the Swyn there 1404 — A rich velfel, which the bidiop of S'. 
 
 was a fuip be!, iiging to the prior of Canterbury. Andrews owned, or was largely interelled in, was 
 
 [Ajito.V Ann. p. 370.] taken by the Englilh. \_MS. Lib. Cott. Vejp. 
 
 In the fame year King Edward III licenced a F vii.] 
 
 cardinal to export fixty facks of wool every year The fuececding biiliop of S'. Anduws builtthe 
 
 of his life, \^Failera, V. v, p. 215] which was a fnicil fliip then in Scotljind, which was called The 
 
 ery good annuity. It was moreover a vioktlon bilhop's barge. [Z.r/7. //. 303, 304.] 
 
 V
 
 ^. A. D. 1446. 663 
 
 from the proper officers. — The Enghfti might make fad their veflels 
 in the ports of Brabant, Flanders, &c. in the manner.pradifed by the 
 French, Hollanders, Zelanders, and Scots; and tlic Flemings, Sic. might 
 do the fame in the Englifli ports. — The veffels of either party were pro- 
 liibited from carrying the property of the enemies of the other. — In 
 cafe of the vefTels of either country being wrecked on the coafts of the 
 other, the property fhould be delivered to the owners on paying reafon- 
 able expenfes The road along the coaft from Calais fliould be renew- 
 ed ; and the merchants were, as in former treaties, forbidden to take 
 dogs with them, or to catch the rabbits on the Downs — The Englifh 
 merchants fhould have inns, or hotels, for themfelves in the cities of 
 Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin, and enjoy all the privileges they en- 
 joyed in former times * Any infradion of the treaty by individuals 
 
 fhould be compenfated by the fovereign, but (hould not produce a rup- 
 ture of the truce. — Laftly, it was agreed, that the four members of Flan- 
 ders fliould bind themfelves to obferve this treaty : and they according- 
 ly did fo in a few days after. [Fa'dera, V. xi, //. 140-146.] 
 
 King Henry granted the mayor of Briftol the privilege of being ex- - 
 empted from the jurifdidion of his admirals and other minifters. [Rot, ■ 
 pat. fee. 24 Hen. VI, m. 23.] 
 
 1447 — It is impoffible to reconcile the various ceras affigned by the 
 writers of the Netherlands to the improved method of curing herrings, 
 invented by William Beukels, or Beukelens, of Biervliet in Flanders, 
 who, by the mofl probable account, died this year. From a variety of 
 notices, difperfed through the preceding part of this work, it is evident 
 that they are miftaken, who reprefent him as the firft who ever cured 
 thofe fifli. The truth feems to be, that he -introduced fome improve- 
 ment in the manner of treating the fifh, or perhaps of preparing the 
 fait, concerning which the information is very obfcuref, which, being . 
 adopted by his countrymen, procured a fuperior reputation to their fifh 
 
 * The return of the Englifh at this time to enjoy ftarch upon it, is the following. — • Ctux de Byer» 
 their former privileges in Antwerp, the chief city of ' vlyet, [no mention of Beukelens] ifle de Flan- 
 Brabant, is related by AVheeler \_Treatife nf com- ' dres, qui premierement fnventerent (pour le 
 merce, p. 1 6] as their firfl arrival in that city, • mieux garder etant fallc) de I'egorger, et lui ofter 
 which he ignorantly fays, conlilled of thatched ' les machoires, qui Ic failoient autrement bien toll 
 huts, contained only four poor and ignorant merch- ' corrompre, ce qu'en langue du pays fe difoit la- 
 ants, and had only fix fmall vcffels for the river, ' ;5f?;, c'ell adire dcmacheler.' \jC'nrontque de Hol- 
 but none fit for going to fea. What he and others lande, life, par Petit, p. 184. — See alfo AlarcianlU 
 fay of the order of the golden fleece, being inftii FlanJria, L. i. — Olai Alagni H'lfl.fept. L. sx, c, 22. 
 tuted by the duke of Burgundy in honour of the — Schaock de hareiigis, § 36. — Dc IFilt's Inlere/l of 
 Englifh wool and cloth, is unfupported, or rather Holland, pp. 49, JO, ling!, tranjl.'] Beukelens 
 is contradifted, by his diploma of the original ere- feems one of thofe charaifters, who, by fome accid- 
 ation of the knights, dated 27'" November 1431, ental circumftances, have obtained higher places 
 which is recited verbatim by Meyer in his Amia'les in the temple of Fame, than their real merits cu- 
 Flandrire^ f. 274. The duke appeai-s to have had titled them to, Sucli a circumftancc was the vifit 
 the fleece of Gideon, the judge of Ilrael, in his eye, of the emperor Charles V and his fiiler to the tomb 
 when chufmg his device. \_Marchanlii Flandria, of Beukelens, where they offered up their prayers 
 f. 285.] for his foul. Goguet moreover fays, that tlic em- 
 
 f The mofl; diftinft account of the procefs that pjror erected a ftatue to hlo). 
 i have been able to find, after beftpwing much re- 4
 
 '664 
 
 A. D. 1447. 
 
 ^t Rome and other foreign markets, where they were dilUnguifhed by 
 the name of Flemijh herrings. The herring trade, together with other 
 branches of Flemifli induilry, pafTed afterwards into the hands of the 
 Hollanders, who have been wonderfully enriched by it. 
 
 According to Galvano, the crew of a Portuguefe fhip reported, that 
 they had been driven by a ftorm to the weftward, and had arrived at an 
 illand, wherein there were feven cities inhabited by people fpeaking 
 Portuguefe, who faid, their anceftors had fled from Spain on the death 
 of King Roderigo (about the year 700), and afked, if Spain was ftill 
 troubled by the Moors. Some land, brought from the illand, produced 
 a good quantity of gold. Galvano adds, that this ifland was fuppofed 
 to be the Antiles, or New Spain*. \Galvano, copied in Furchas, B. x, c. 
 
 1-3 
 
 1448, July 24'" — From King Henry's appointment of commiflioners 
 to fettle all difputes with the grand mafter of Pruflia and the people of 
 the Hanfe towns, and to confirm or renew theantient treaties with them. 
 
 * Thefe feven cities, which afterwards became 
 golden cities, and filled the heads of the Spanifli 
 difcoverers, and alfo that of Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 with golden dreams, perhaps grew out of Zeno's 
 report of a nation poflefling gold and filver, cities 
 and temples, in an unknown weftern part of the 
 world, (probably Mexico, y^^ ahoy e, p. 563) incor- 
 porated with fome obfcure tradition of an antient 
 migration from Spain. That the (lory was not in- 
 vented after the difcovery of the weftern lands by 
 Clniftopher Colon, is evident from a letter written 
 by Paolo (Tofcanelli) a phyfician of Florence, 
 25'° June 1474, to Fernando Martinez, who, at 
 the defire of the king of Portugal, had confulted 
 him on the (horteft courfe by fea to India. He 
 fent him a chart of tne weftern coafts of Europe 
 and Africa from Ireland to Guinea, exhibiting all 
 the known iflands, and alfo containing the coall of 
 India and the fpice iflands in the luejlern part of the 
 chart: and, after a pompo.is defcription of Catai 
 «nd Mango (north and fouth parts of China) he 
 obferved in his letter, that ' from the ifland of An- 
 ' tilia, which you call the ifland af the feven cities ; 
 
 * and of which you have the knowlege, to the 
 
 • mod noble ifland of Cipango, there are ten fpaccs, 
 
 * making 2,500 miles, which ifland abounds with 
 
 • gold, filver, and pretious flones.' — He afterwards 
 fent a copy of the fame letter, and alfo of the chart, 
 to Chrillopher Colon, and added defcriptions and 
 arguments, tending to inflame his ambition of being 
 the firft European to accomplifli a weftern paflage 
 io thofe regions of riches. \_HiJl. de Don Chrijl, 
 ■Colon, par fu hijo Fernando, c. 8.] Tofcanelli was 
 the arlift, who about the year 1460 conllrufltd 
 the celebrated gnomon at Florence, which is ef- 
 ■tcemcd one of the nobleft aftronomical inftrumcnts 
 in the world. 
 
 Somewhat fimilar to Galvano's ftory, but 
 ■^\\\ more improbable, is tjje fol'owing, which I 
 
 have therefor thought proper to place in a note. 
 — In the year 1450 Phranza went as anibaflador 
 from the laft emperor of Conftantinople to the king 
 of Iberia, and was told by Ephrem, a native of 
 that country of about 100 years of age, that he 
 had been carried off when a boy by barbarians, 
 and fold in Perfia to one of a company of merch' 
 ants traveling to India. In India he found an op- 
 portunity of leaving his mailer, and, after long 
 traveling through deferts, at laft arrived at iflands 
 inhabited by people who geneially lived 150 years, 
 and enjoyed a perpetual fpring and harvcli of aro- 
 matici and large nuts. Their country alfo pro- 
 duced the magnet ; the animals in it were of a 
 ftupendous magnitude ; and the fprings of the Nile 
 were in it. (How could the Nile rife in an ifland?) 
 After living among thofe happy people long enough 
 to be mafter of their language, he wiflicd to return 
 home, and was conduced to a place, whence vef- 
 fels from the farther India failed with aromatics. 
 He embarked in one of them, and afterwards found 
 a great Iberian flilp, \y\uch carried him to Portugal, 
 •whence he failed to the Britifli iflands, and from them 
 to Iberia. [Phranxn, L.W'u c. I. J Phranza wrote 
 in the year 1477, [L. iii, c. 30] and therefor this 
 ftory ' is fpurious or ivonderfui.^ \^Gibbon, V. xii, 
 p. 178.] Of Phranza's work we poflefs only a 
 Latin tranflation, made by Pontanns, who lias fup- 
 preffed fuch parts as he thought ufelefs digreflions. 
 Quere, If he has taken the further liberty of in- 
 troducing (ome improvements ? If Ephrem ever was 
 in Britain, he might fail for Gem a, and thence to 
 the Black fea, and fo travel by land to Iberia, which 
 is an in/and country between that fea and the Caf- 
 pian. But that Iberia fliould have any fliips (if in 
 the ftrange confufion llcrian docs not mean Span- 
 ifh^ is as incomprehenlible, a', that a voyage from 
 the Indian ocean to Poilugal fliould be invented 
 by any Iberian or Cicck before the year J 498.
 
 A. D. 1448. 66^ 
 
 it appears, that fome depredations or other enormities had been com- 
 mitted, probably on both fides*. [Foedera, V. x, />. 217.] 
 
 At this time flourifhed Cardinal Cufa, the firft European after Pytha- 
 goras and his dlfciples, who conceived the truth of the fyftem of cof- 
 mography, by which Copernicus, whofe name is attached to it, is im- 
 mortalized. [Nouveau DiB. hiji. art. Nicholas (de Cufa) V. vi.] 
 
 1449, February— Englilh cloths were now prohibited in Brabant, 
 Holland, and Zeland, which being judged contrary to the fubfiiting 
 treaty, and found very diilreffing to the men weavers, fullers, and dyers, 
 and the women webflers, carders, and fpinners, and all others concern- 
 ed in the trade, it was refolved in parliament, that, if the duke of Bur- 
 gundy did not repeal the injurious ordinance, no merchandize of the 
 growth or manufacture of his dominions fliould be admitted in Eng- 
 land. \^AB; 27 Hen. VI, c. i.] 
 
 The parliament remarked, that the revenue ariflng from the ftaple of 
 Calais in the reign of Edward III was above ;;(^68,ooo a-year, and the 
 kingdom was enriched by the trade of the merchants of the ftaple, who 
 were numerous and opulent : but that, by frauds and abufes crept into 
 the trade, and by the great number of licences exempting individuals 
 from the law of the ftaple, the revenue was now funk to /^i2,ooof. 
 Therefor it was enaded, that the mayor, conflables, and merchants, of 
 the ftaple at Calais fhould enjoy all their antient privileges unimpaired, 
 and that no licence to be henceforth granted by the king for carrying 
 wool, wool-fells, or tin, from England, Ireland, or Wales, fhould be of 
 any avail, except for fhipping them for the Mediterranean upon paying 
 alien's duty. There were, however, referved in full force, a licence 
 granted to the nixarquis of Suffolk (grandfon of the famous merchant 
 William de la Pole) for fliipping 2,oco facks of wool of the growth of 
 Norfolk, a licence to the convent of S'. John of Bridlington for fhipping 
 12 farplers containing 30 facks, and licences to three other perfons, all 
 thefe being ftill permitted to carry their wool to the beft market accord- 
 ing to the direction of their own judgements, [c. 2.] 
 
 The law againfl carrying money out of the kingdom had been fre- 
 quently broken by Englifli and foreign merchants importing cargoes of 
 grain. The parliament now directed, that all merchants importing 
 grain fliould give fecurity, that they would faithfully beltow the money 
 arifing from their fales in the purchafe of Engliih goods. \c, 3.] A 
 fcarcity of corn muft immediately have broken this law, 
 
 March 20'" William Canyngs, an eminent merchant of Briftol, like 
 
 the Itahan merchants, fent factors to tranfait his bufmefs in foreign 
 
 * Werdenhagen, in his cavelefs comporuioii call- f The funis paid fji the licences probably made 
 ed a H'ylory of the Haiifcalic i\pnhuis, has magnjfifd up tlie deliciency. 
 ihofe piracies into a gicac and fcrious war. 
 
 V^oi.. I. 4 P
 
 666 A. D. 1449. 
 
 countries, as we learn by two letters of King Henry, addrefled to the 
 grand mafler of Pruflia and the magiflrates of Dantzik, recommending 
 to their good offices two perfons defcribed by the king as fadors of his 
 beloved and honourable merchant, William Canyngs. [^Fcedera, V. xi, 
 pp. 226, 227.] 
 
 April i" — Thepropofed marriage of James II, king of Scotland, with 
 Mary, the daughter of the duke of Gelder, and niece of the duke of 
 Burgundy, with whom, as the more powerful prince, the treaty was ne- 
 gotiated, and alfo, the confideration of the friendly commercial inter- 
 courfe maintained between the Scots and the people of Brabant, Flan- 
 ders, Holland, Zeland, and other territories, all now fubjed to the duke 
 of Burgundy, from the mofl remote ages, produced a treaty of perpetu- 
 al alliance, wherein each prince promifed to compel! aggreflbrs upon the 
 fubjedls of the other, whether by land or fea, to make compenfation to 
 the party injured. [MS. Bib. Hart. 4637, V. \n,ff. 5 b, 11 a.] 
 
 July 17"" — The Engliih merchants and feamen, in defiance of the or- 
 ders of the king of Denmark, frequently reforted to the coafts of Ice- 
 land, Halgaland, and Finmark, in confequence of which fome of them 
 had beenfeized about the year 1447. and were ftill detained asprifoners. 
 The ambaffadors of the kings of England and Denmark, having met at 
 Copenhagen *, now agreed that all injuries on both fides fliould be re- 
 drefled, that the fubjeds of both kings fhould have mutual freedom of 
 navigation, and particularly that the Englifh merchants fliould enjoy 
 their antient liberties and privileges, and pay the antient cuftoms. But 
 they were exprefsly debarred from failing to Iceland, Halgaland, and 
 Finmark, on any pretence whatever, without having a fpecial licence 
 from the king of Denmark ; and it was declared, that the feizure and 
 punifliment of contumacious interlopers fliould not be confidered as a 
 breach of the treaty. In a few days after, the king of Denmark more- 
 over granted the Englifli, trading to or from Pruflia or any part of his 
 own dominions, the privilege of traveling or iailing through his territo- 
 tories, either in Englifli or German veflels. \_F(xdera^ V. xi, pp. 264, 
 
 273-] 
 
 December 2" — John Taverner, a mariner of Kingfton upon Hull, by 
 
 the help of God and fome of the king's fubjeds, had built a flbip as 
 large as a great carrack, or even larger, which he called the Grace Dieu 
 (Grace of God). The king direded that flie fliould be called the Car- 
 rack Grace Dieu ; and he granted Taverner the more folid advantage 
 of taking onboard his carrack wool, tin, lamb-flcins, wool-fells, paflx^larges 
 and other hides raw or tanned, and any other merchandize, the property 
 
 • Beitiiis [/<tr. Germ. L. iii, /. 139] fays, Copenhagen appears by this treaty to Iiave been 
 
 that this city was put on a fooling with tlic other the royal rcfidence, and to li.' vt had fevcral churches, 
 
 towns of U( nmark in refped to municipal privi- in the chaptcr-houfc of one of which, called the 
 
 leges fo late as the year 1443. His information is grcaler church, the BmbalTadors met. 
 fometimes defedive ; and tliis date fccms too late. *
 
 A. D. 1449. 667 
 
 of Engliih or foreign merchants, in the ports of London, Southampton, 
 Kingfton upon Hull, and Sandwich, or in any of them, and carrying 
 them dired to Italy, on paying alien's duty. The king expedcd, thaf 
 he would import bow-flaves, wax, and other foreign produce neceflary 
 for the country, to the great benefit of the revenue and of the nation. 
 [Fiedera, V. \i,p. 258.] The exemption of anEnglifli fubjecT: from the 
 law of the flaple, in confideration of the extraordinary fize of his fhip, is 
 a clear proof, that no fuch veflel had hitherto been built in England. 
 
 1450, November — In confideration of alum to the value of ^^4,000, 
 delivered to King Henry by fome merchants of Genoa, the parliament 
 licenced them to fhip any flaple wares from the fouth part of England, 
 till they (hould be repaid by the amount of the cufl;oms. The king fold 
 the alum for /^8,ooo in ready money to fome merchants, to whom the 
 parliament gave a monopoly by prohibiting all perfons from importing, 
 buying, or felling, any other alum during two years, [Cotton's Abridge^ 
 jiient, p. 647.] 
 
 December 16"" — William Canyngs, merchant in Briflol, already men- 
 tioned, had obtained letters from the king of Denmark, authorizing him 
 to load certain vefl^els with lawful Englifli merchandize for Iceland and 
 Finmark, to take in return fifh and other merchandize, and to make as 
 many voyages as he fliould think proper during a limited term, in order 
 to recover debts due to him in thofe countries. The trade was prohi- 
 bited by an Englifh ad: of parliament : but King Henry, confidering 
 the good fervices rendered to him by Canyngs while mayor of Briflol, 
 gave him leave to employ two fhips, of whatever burthen, during two 
 years, in the trade to Iceland and Finmark, and to export any fpecies of 
 goods not reftrided to the flaple of Calais. [Fa^dera, V. xi, p. 277.] It 
 is known that Canyngs pofl^efled (hips of 400, 500, and even 900 tuns 
 burthen : but it is not likely that he employed them in that northern 
 trade, even though the limited number of vefl'els would tempt him to 
 have them as large as pofllble. Thofe very large (hips probably tranf- 
 ported timber and other bulky articles from the Baltic, where, we may 
 believe, they were purchafed, as the extraordinary notice taken of Ta- 
 verner's great fhip in the year 1449 renders it improbable that they 
 were built in England *. 
 
 According to a roll preferved in the Tower, the king this year bor- 
 
 * Canyngs was five times mayor of Briftol, and fliips mentioned in the text. That the king's dif- 
 
 founded the church of S'. Mary Radcliff on the plealuie was not incnned by piracy, as has been 
 
 outfide of the walls, the moll magnificent paiifh fuppofed, or by any diflionourable deed, is evident 
 
 church in England in the opinion of Camden, from the fait being recorded on his monument. 
 
 \^Brit. p. 173."] From his monument in that His memory has lately been revived, as connected 
 
 church we learn, that King Edward IV, on fome with Rowley, the alleged author of moft of the 
 
 occafion of difpleafure, took from him 2,470 tuns poems publifted by Chatterton, and as author of 
 
 of dipping, among which were the three great fome of them himfeif. 
 
 4 P 2
 
 668 A. D. 1450. 
 
 rowed infinite fums from the merchants of the ftaple and other merch 
 ants *. [Rot. pal. prim. 28 Hen. VI, m. 2.] 
 
 About this time, the Azores, or Weftern iflands, faid to have been 
 previoufly difcovered by fome Flemifli navigators, were occupied by the 
 Portuguefe under the aufpices of the enhghtened prince, Don Henry f. 
 
 1451, Augufl: 14'" — The truce between the two Britifli kingdoms was 
 renewed. The promife not to phmder wrecked vefTels, and to permit 
 veflels in diftrefs to purchafc provifions, was again mutually repeated ; 
 and each fovereign engaged, that the enemies of the other, bringing 
 prizes into his ports, fliould be proliibited from difpofing of their plun- 
 der without the confent of the oi-iginal owners. It was agreed that vef- 
 fels, fhowing by cockets and other fufficient documents that they be- 
 longed to either nation, fhould not be compelled to lower, or take in, 
 their fails, or be any way impeded in their navigation, by any veflels of 
 the other nation. {Fadera, V. xi, /. 293.] Truces, nearly in the fame 
 terms, were repeatedly renewed during the reigns of Henry VI and 
 James 11, which both terminated in the year 1460. 
 
 1452, January 20'" — In a diet, which had been held at Utrecht by 
 commiflioners from King Henry and reprefentatives of the grand maf- 
 ter of Pruflia and the Hanfe towns, the matters in difpute were adjufted 
 in a manner fatisfadory to the king and the grand mailer. But the ci- 
 tizens of Lubeck refufed to abide by the determination of the diet, re- 
 tained a number of Englifh fubjeds in prifon, and even prefcribed to 
 the king rules for the condud of his fubjeds. The other Hanfe towns 
 appear, in complaifance to Lubeck, to have alfo negleded to accept, or 
 ratify, the ads of the diet. The magiftrates of Cologne, however, ap- 
 prehending the difpleafure of King Henry, had written to him requeft- 
 ing the continuance of his favour, and the merchants of the Teutonic 
 gildhall in London importuned him to the fame effed. The king now 
 wrote, in anfwer to the magiftrates, that nothing fhould he wanting on 
 his fide to the faithful prefervation of the antient friendfhip between 
 England and Cologne, and he defired to know, whether the Hanfe towns 
 were to take part with Lubeck in the hoftile condud of that city to- 
 wards England, or to comply with the decrees of the diet. He alfo 
 wrote in the fame manner to the grand mafter, in anfwer to his letters 
 fignifying his approbation of the proceedings of the diet. [Tadcra, V. xi, 
 pp. 504, 305.] 
 
 * Wc afterwards find other loans from the merch- 1460 Martin of Niirenbcrg, under the aufpices of 
 
 ants of the (laple ; for example; lc,ooo marks in tlie duchefs of Burgundy (who thereby proved 
 
 the 31" year of King Henry VI, and £20,000 in hcrfdf a worthy filter of the ilhiftrioua Don Heii- 
 
 his 33" year. [CoZ/cn'j Jhr'ulgemenl, pp. O53, ry of Portugal) occupied Fayal, the principal 
 
 Cjy.J ifland, for the truth of vvhitli he appeals to the re- 
 
 f The difcovery of thofe iflands is varloufly dat- cords of Nurcnberg. Sec alfo Forjier's Difiovrtiet 
 
 td in 1449, I45S> 1460, and 1481. Mr. Otto in the North, p. 2^1 En«l. tratifl. 
 ^^Amer. phihf. tmnj. K ii, p. zGjJ fays, thai 111
 
 A. D. 1452. 669 
 
 November 2^ — King Henry granted a fafe-conducl for four years to 
 rhree fkilful miners, with thirty other perfons, from Bohemia, Hungary, 
 Auflria, and Micia (rather Mifnia or MeifIen),who were to be employ- 
 ed in his mines in England. [Fcedera, V. xi, p. 317.] The mines in 
 thofe countries had been worked many centuries, and the miners were 
 probably the moft expert in Europe, 
 
 1453, March — The parliament granted the king the duties of tunnage 
 and poundage for life. They alfo granted him, during his fubfidy of 
 wool, 23/4 from denizens and ^5 from aliens on every fack, with pro- 
 portional duties on other ftaple wares. And they impofcd an annual 
 tax of 40/ upon every alien merchant keeping houfe in England, and 
 20/ upon thofe who remained only fix weeks in the country, and more- 
 over /^6: 13 : 4 to be paid annually by every alien merchant during the 
 king's life. {Cotton'' s Abridgement, p. 649.] Whether thefe taxes operat- 
 ed as real burthens upon the Englifli confumers and fellers, or were, as 
 intended, a<flually taxes upon the foreigners, depended upon the Eng- 
 lifli merchants being capable, or not, of competing with them. 
 
 May 29'" — The imperial city of Conftantinople was taken by afTauk 
 by Mohamed 11, emperor of the Turks. Conftantine Palseologus, the 
 laft of the many fucceflbrs of the firft Conftantine, who traniplanted the 
 feat of empire to the fhore of the Bofphorus, was found buried under 
 a mountain of his flaughtered fubje6ls : and the Roman empire, after 
 dragging out many centuries in the imbecillity of extreme old age, was 
 finally extinguifhed. Conftantinople was no longer an emporium or- 
 conneding point for the commerce of the eaftern and weftern regions 
 of the world. The Genoefe were obliged to abandon their fettlement 
 at Pera, adjacent to that city ; and they foon after lofl: all their other 
 fadlories or colonies in the JEgaean fea. Their eaftern trade, which had 
 been chiefly fupported by thofe fettlements, declined rapidly ; and the 
 Venetians, almoft without a rival, fupplied the increafmg demand of 
 Europe for the produdions of the Eaft, which they were enabled to ob- 
 tain on the moft advantageous terms by their connedions with the ful-- 
 tan of the Mamelukes. ^ 
 
 - One good confequence of the overthrow of the Greek empire w^as,- , 
 that many men of literature and fcience, and along with them many 
 works of the learned of former ages, were difperfed through the weftern 
 countries of Europe ; and the knowledge diffeminated by their inftruc-- 
 tions, and by their books, which were multiplied, and rendered attain- 
 able by people of moderate wealth, by the late happy invention of 
 printing, wonderfully enlightened Europe, and had great influence in 
 bringing on a ftate of civilization, fovourable to the advancement of 
 commerce, the arts, and the happinefs of mankind. 
 
 Odober 17"* — The city of Bourdeaux was a fecond time taken by the 
 French ; and the Englifli were finally expelled from every part of France, 
 except Calais and its fmall diftrid. Without detr.iding from the wonv
 
 670 A. D. 1453. 
 
 derful effects of the patriotic enthufiafm of the Maid of Orleans, or the 
 military talents of the French generals, an hiftorian of commerce may be 
 permitted to obferve, that this event, happy for France, and infinitely more 
 h:'.ppy for England, was in a confiderable degree owing to the unexampled 
 opulence and p;trriotifm of Jacques Coeur, who, at a time when trade 
 was fcarcely known in France, is faid to have employed three hundred 
 factors * to manage his vaft commerce, which extended to the Turks and 
 Perfians of the Eafl:, and the Saracens of Africa, the moft remote na- 
 tions then known to the merchants of Europe. His exports confilled 
 chiefly of woollen cloths, linens, and paper, then the principal manufac- 
 tures of France ; and his returns were filks, fpiceries, 8z;c. But fome fay, 
 that his dealings were chiefly in gold, filver, and arms f . This illuftri- 
 ous merchant was treafurer (' argentier') to the king of France, and lent 
 him 200,000 crowns, without which he could not have undertaken the 
 redudion of Normandy. Being fent on an embafly to Laufanne, his 
 enemies took the opportunity of his ablence to bring falle charges 
 againfl: him ; and the king, regardlefs of his multiplied fervices and 
 zealous -attachment, abandoned him to their malice. Though nothing 
 could be proved againfl: him in a trial conduced by his enemies with 
 acknowleged unfairnefs, he was condemned (19"' May 1453) to the 
 amende honorable^ to confifcation of all his property, and impriibnment. 
 Having efcaped from confinement by the grateful afliflance of one of his 
 clerks, he recovered fome part of his property which was in foreign 
 countries ; and, being appointed by the pope to command a divifion of 
 his fleet, he died in that fervice at Chio in the year 1456. [Mezeray, V. 
 
 'n,p. 703. — Villaret, T. viii, pp. 237-243 Nouveau Did, h'lfl. V. ii, p. 
 
 704.] 
 
 In the year 1448 the duke of Burgundy exadted a duty of 18 fliil- 
 lings, money of Paris, upon every fack of fait. The citizens of Ghent, 
 tmaccuftomed to arbitrary impofitions, refufed to pay any new taxes. 
 Next year he laid a tax upon wheat, which they alio refufed ; and in 
 J 45 1 they refufed payment of the duty on herrings at Sluys and the duty 
 on wool. The confequence was a very furious war, which proves the 
 great power and refources of the citizens, derived entirely from their 
 ilourifhing manufadures. But the fuperior power of the duke, whofe 
 territories equaled in extent, and exceeded in population and wealth, 
 fome of the kingdoms of Europe, obhged them to fubmit to the con- 
 ditions didated by him (in which the taxes are not mentioned), to pay 
 him a fine of 300,000 riders, and moreover to pay 50,000 riders for the 
 refloration of fome churches dcftroyed iu the war. {hleyeii Ann. Flandr, 
 f. 301-314.] 
 
 * Pn.bably all the tkrkt employed umk-r the came treafurer to tlie kiiip;, his attention would nc- 
 
 faftors, and even the porters ard menial fcrvants cttTarily be turned to the importation of the pre- 
 
 ought to be comprehended in this number. tious n'.ttals and the fupply of arms. 
 
 \ Both accounts inay be true, as, after he bc«
 
 A. D. 1454. 671 
 
 1454, April — The parliament having granted a fubfidy of twelve 
 pennies in the pound of the value of all merchandize exported, whether 
 by denizens, aliens, or merchants of the Hanfe, and railed the duty on 
 wool and wool-fells from 337*4 to 43/4, it was reprefented, that the im- 
 pofitlon of twelve pennies per pound would diminifli the fale of woollen 
 cloth *, and the augmentation of the other duties would lower the value 
 of wool. It was therefor enaded, that the exporters of wool and wool- 
 fells to the ftaple at Calais, or by licence to the Mediterranean, fhould 
 be exempted from paying the additional ten Ihillings. [j^Sis 31 Hen. 
 VI, c. 8.] 
 
 1455, March 15'" — It has already been obferved, that the northern 
 nations built large velTels in the tenth century, when even the Italian 
 ftates !iad probably none equal to them ; and they ftill excelled in the 
 conftrudion of Hups. The king of Sweden at this time owned a trad- 
 ing fhip of near 1,000 tuns burthen, called the King's barge, which he 
 fent to England with a requeft, that fhe might be permitted to trade, 
 and to reload with lawful merchandize, which was granted, provided the 
 due cuftoms were paid. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 364.] 
 
 July — The filk-women of London complained to parliament, that the 
 Lombards and other foreigners, feeking to deprive women of their honefl 
 employments, imported the articles made by them, inflead of bringing 
 unwrought filk as formerly. To prevent the ruin of thofe induftrious 
 women, it was enaded, that during the five enfuing years no perfon 
 whatever fhould import any wrought filk, twined ribands or chains, 
 girdles, or any other article interfering with the manufadures of the 
 filk-women, except girdles of Genoa. \^Acis ;^^ Hen. VI, c. 5. J 
 
 The lords, to whom the guard of the fea had been entrufted, refigned 
 their charge ; and it appears to have been afterwards put into the. hands 
 of the mayor and merchants of the flaple, to whom we find the tunnage 
 and poundage, duties exprefsly appropriated to that objed, ordered to 
 be paidf. [Cation's abridgement, pp. 652, 657. — Rot. pal. prim. ^^ Hen. 
 VI, m. 14.] 
 
 1456, March 5"' — The mifunderflanding with Lubeck feems to have 
 proceeded to an open maritime war, which, at the interceflion of the 
 other Hanfe towns, was now terminated, or fufpended, by a truce of 
 eight years, during which both parties fliould have liberty of com- 
 m^erce, and the differences, it was hoped, might be amicably adjufted X- 
 [Fcedera^ V. xi, p. 374.] 
 
 * I am here obliged to notice an overfight of f I am obliged to omit fome matters concerning 
 Mr. Anderfon, who i'uppofcs this the firft fubiidy the merchants of the ftapk and the merchant-ad- 
 on woollen cloth. I fee no reafon to believe, that venturers, mentioned by Malynes and Wheeler, be- 
 lt was exempted from paying duty on the very firll caufe their afleitions are fometimes found contra- 
 exportation of it : and, not to multiply proofs, I dictoiy to record, and 1 dare not truft to fuch zealous 
 may only refer to the aft of parliament in 1348 ai/W<-fl/fj, when unfupported by better authority, 
 for new (apparently additional) duties on the ex- J Notwithflanding this truce there was an en- 
 portation of woollen cloth, and that of 1353 for gagement between the Lubeckers and the fhips of 
 other duties, whicii were to be paid by Englidi the earl of Warwick in the year 1458. [_Fadera, 
 confnmersias well as exporters. V. xi, />. 415.]
 
 672 A. D. 1456. 
 
 May 31" — Though "King Henry had in former years commiflloned at 
 leaft three pretended philofophers to make the pretious metals, without 
 receiving any return from them in gold and filver, his creduhty was un- 
 fhaken by difappointment ; and he now ilTued a pompous grant in fa- 
 vour of three philofophers, who boafled, that they could tranfubftan- 
 tiate the meaner metals into gold and filver, and could alfo cure all dif- 
 eafes, preferve the hfe of man to the utmoft term with unimpaired 
 powers of body and mind, 8cc. &c. all by means of a mofl pretious me- 
 dicine, called the mother and queen of medicines, the inejlimable glory, thequint- 
 ejfence, the phitofopher s J}one,or the elixir of life. In favour of thofe three 
 ' lovers of truth and haters of deception^ he difpenfed with the law (5 Hen. 
 IV, c. 4) againil multiplying gold and filver, and empowered them to 
 tranfmute other metals into thofe more pretious ones. This extraordi- 
 nary commiffion had the fandlion of parliament, now a common corro- 
 boration of the king's grants. {Fcedera, V. xi, pp. 68, 128, 240, 309, 
 379-] Thefe irapoilors, perhaps impolang even upon themfelves, kept 
 the king's expectations wound up to the highefl: pitch ; and in the fol- 
 lowing year he actually inforined the people, that the happy hour was 
 approaching, when, by means of the Jlone, he (hould be enabled to pay 
 off all his debts in a few years*. [T'ovey^s AngUa fudaica, p. 257.] 
 
 1457, March 2^ — The king of Portugal obtained a licence to Ihip 
 from the port of London 3,000 pounds of tin and 2,000 pounds of 
 lead, paying the due cufloms f . [Foedera, V. xi, p. 387.] 
 
 1458, March — The parliament of Scotland enaded, that gold and fil- 
 ver ware fhould be examined and ftamped by the deacons of the gold- 
 fmiths, or in towns, where there were no deacons, by the principal offi- 
 cers. — They prohibited dyers from buying cloth to fell again, or being 
 drapers. — They alfo decreed, that none but perfons of good credit, and 
 having at lead the value of three ferplaiths of their own property or 
 configned to them, iliould go abroad as merchants. — They alio enad- 
 ed a fumptuary law, prohibiting merchants, unlefs-they were aldermen, 
 bailies, or members of the council of a town, to wear filk, fcarlet, or 
 far of martins. Landed men, having within ^^40 a-year of old extent, 
 were to drefs as merchants. Labourers and hulhandmen were to wear 
 grey or white, and on holidays light-blue, green, or red. Women were 
 directed to drefs in proportion to the condition of their hufbands and 
 fathers. The clergy were alfo prohibited to wear fcarlet or martin's 
 furs, unlefs they were dignitaries of the church. — The parliament alfo 
 ordained, that, as there was but one king and one law, there fliould be 
 but one meafure, agreeable to the flandard kept in Stirling, and that 
 
 * After all ttic proofs King Heniy liad of the f Were tlie mines now cxhauftcd or forgotten, 
 
 ignorance or knavery of tliofe projcdtors, lie con- vvliich produced thofe metals in his own coiin- 
 
 tiiiued to encourage others of the fame clafs to the try, probably before the Britifli mines were 
 
 end of his reign. Nor was liis fuccclior exempt known \ 
 from the fame credulity. See Futleia, F, \i,/>J>. 
 462, 637, &c. ■ 4
 
 A. D. 1458. 673 
 
 meafures of the ftandard fliould alfo be kept in Aberdeen, Perth, and 
 
 Edmburgh Several ads were pafled for improving the agricuhure of 
 
 the country, for prohibiting the capture of fifli in improper feafons and 
 by illegal engines, for deflroying wolves and birds of prey, and for pre- 
 
 ferving the breed of hares and rabbits Laftly, the parliament wifely 
 
 ordered, that copies of their ads Ihould be taken by the fliirrefs and the 
 reprefentatives of burghs, and be duely publiflied throughout the king- 
 dom, that the people might not be ignorant of the laws, by which they 
 vsrere to be governed*. [^£??j- y^ir. //, fc. 73, 74, 75, 78, 82, 91-99, 
 loi, 102.] 
 
 At this time the Scots entered into a friendly treaty with the citizens 
 of Embden, which, like that with Flanders, was to be in force for one 
 hundred years f. [Left. Hiji. Scot. p. 488.] A treaty with a commer- 
 cial city could only regard matters of commerce. 
 
 The attention of the Scottifli government to the interefls of com- 
 merce is further manifefted by a grant of duties upon vefTels for repair- 
 ing the harbour of Dundee, a port advantageoufly fituated at the mouth 
 of the Tay :j:. [Skene de verh.fign. vo. FercoJla.'\ 
 
 About this time George Faulau and John Dalrymple, merchants of 
 Scotland, and undoubtedly eminent in their profeffion, were frequently 
 employed, in conjunction with the clergy, the only men of leaiTiing, 
 and the nobles, in emballies and other public negotiations by King 
 James IT. [Fcedera, V. 'u, pp. 213, 277, 389, 400, 403, 421. — Adsjac, 
 11, cc. 34, 72.] 
 
 Thefe various notices, when added to the zeal for the commerce and 
 improvement of the country appearing in the ads of the parliament of 
 Scotland, infer that the country mufl at this time have enjoyed fome 
 degree of commercial profperity. 
 
 This year all the Genoefe merchants in London were imprlfoned, and 
 condemned to pay 6,000 marks. The reafon affigned was faid to be 
 the injury done to England by plundering a fhip belonging to a merch- 
 ant of Briftol, called Sturmyn, who was trading to various ports of 
 the Levant and other parts of the Eaft, on the pretence that he had 
 growing plants of pepper and other fpices onboard, which he propofed 
 to propagate in England. \Fabyan s Chronycle^ V. ii, f. ccii b.] Eng- 
 
 • Some of the aCls of this parliament arc repe- burgh benorth the Scottifli fca (Firth of Forth), 
 titions of ads of James I, which thence appear not The port duties were, iq/"on every fliip, ^J on 
 
 to have been duely enforced : but that need not every crayer, bufs, barge, and balinger, i/"on every 
 
 fiirprife us, when we fee finiilar repetitions com- fercofl, and 6 pennies on every large boat, as copied 
 
 mon in the afts of the parliament of England, a by Skene from the original record. Farccoft oc- 
 
 country more advanced in civilization. curs as a kind of vefTcl in England, \^Fai!era, F'. 
 
 f This, like the Flanders treaty, is only known xi,/>. 44] and is apparently the fame with fercq/t, 
 
 from its renewal in the year 1537. one or olhci being enoneoully tranfcribed from the 
 
 X Hardyng, a contemporary Englifh traveler in record, 
 Scotland, [_/". 236 b] calls Dundee the principal 
 
 Vol. L 4 Q
 
 674 ■^' ^' '45^* 
 
 lifh voyages to the Levant were as yet very rare ; nor is this one un- 
 queflionably authenticated*. 
 
 1459 — '^^^ merchants of the ftaple, probably finding the ad of par- 
 liament of the year 1449 not fufficient to guard their monopoly at Ca- 
 lais againft the licences, which had been fo prejudicial to their trade, ob- 
 tained from King Henry a promife, that he would grant no more of 
 them. {Rot. pal. prim. 37 Hen. VI, m. 17.] 
 
 1460, February 13'" In a treaty with the Genoefe it was agreed, 
 
 that they Ihould have free admiflion in every part of the king's domin- 
 ions, and leave to export all lawful goods, they having none of the king's 
 
 enemies in their fervice They fhould give no afliftance to the king's 
 
 enemies ^They fhould not carry in their veffels any property of the 
 
 king's enemies ; and, if they had any fuch onboard, they fhould fur- 
 render it to the commanders of his fhips, who would pay them the fti- 
 pulated freight For the fake of form it was agreed, that all thele ad- 
 vantages fhould be reciprocal ; and it was added, that the mifcondud of 
 an individual fhould not break the treaty. {Fader a, V. xi, p. 441.] 
 
 February — Jerom Lynch, goldfmith of London, was appointed maf- 
 ter of the mints of Dublin and Trim in Ireland f , and ordered to coin 
 copper money, which was apparently the firfl of the kind in the Brit- 
 ifh iflands fince the days of the Roman dominion J. {Rot. pat. 39 Hen. 
 Vl^m. 7. — Warai Hibernia, p. 137, ed. 1654.] 
 
 May 9'" It feems that Caen in Normandy was the mofl: convenient 
 
 place known, from which flones proper for the reparation of Weflmin- 
 fler abbay could be got ; and they were imported in a veffel belonging 
 to that foreign port. [Fadera, V. \i., p. /^S^-^ 
 
 1451 — The earliefl notice, I believe, of the manufadure of beer in 
 England, is found in a patent appointing John Devenifh and others to 
 be fupervifors of all the beer-brewers in England, with a fee of half a 
 filver penny for every barrel of beer. {Rot. pat. tert. i Edw. IV, m. 
 16.] 
 
 King Edward granted to the mayor and citizens of London the pack- 
 age of all woollen cloths and fkins within the liberties of the city. {Rot. 
 pat. tert. I Edw. IV, m. 16.] 
 
 That the woollen manufadure of York-fhire was now fomewhat con- 
 fiderable, may be inferred from a grant of the ulnage of woollen cloths 
 in York, Hull, and throughout the fhire, to Lord Montague. {Rot. pat. 
 quart. 1 Edw. IV, m. i.] 
 
 • Fabyan, who relates this (lory of Sturmyn ia, confukring iiow many hands they mud have 
 with fome hcfitptlon, obfcrves, that, of all the na- gone thro>i!;h, was exceedingly improbable, or ra- 
 tions who traded to England, the Gcnoele were thcr iinpolTible. 
 
 the lead concerned in the fpice trade in his time f Drogheda (' Drodath'), Waterfoid, Cork, 
 
 (he was fliirref of London in 1493), ai'l '^at it I^imcrlck, and fome other places in Ireland alfo h:,d 
 
 was therefor improbable that they Ihould have at- mints in the year 1474, and probably now alio. 
 
 tacked Suirmyn from apprchtnfion of fpiccs being \_Rot. [>al. fer. 14 Edw. IV, in. 22.] 
 
 naturalized by him in England. He might have J Tlie Saxon (1 yeas Were made of brafs. ^Nicies, 
 
 ;.dded, that the importation of live plants from Iiid- Di/frt. fp'ijl. p. 182.] 4
 
 A. D. 1463. 675 
 
 T463, March 9"' — King Edward gave the merchants of the Teutonic 
 gildhall in London a confirmation of all the privileges granted by his 
 predeceflbrs ; and he alfo exempted them from all new taxes impofed, 
 or to be impofed, on imports or exports. Thefe privileges they were to 
 enjoy during two years and a half, to be computed from Chriflmafs 
 1462, provided they (hould not attempt to pafs the goods of others as 
 their own, nor commit hoflilities or depredations againft himfelf or his 
 fubjeds. [Fa'dera, V. x'l, p. 498.] 
 
 April 29"" — The parliament, for the defence of the realm, and efpe- 
 cially for the guard of the fea, granted the king for life a fubfidy, called 
 tunnage, o£ ^/ upon every tun of wine imported, and 3/ more upon 
 every tun of fweet wine imported by any foreign meixhants, thofe of 
 the Hanfe not excepted. They alfo granted a poundage duty of twelve 
 pennies on the prime-coft value of all goods exported or imported, to be 
 paid by natives, as well as merchants of the Hanfe and other ftrangers, 
 who fhould, however, pay double poundage on tin. From this duty 
 were excepted woollen cloths, made by Englifli-born fubjeits, wool, 
 wool-fells, hides, and provifions for Calais, exported ; and alfo the flour 
 of all kinds of corn, frefh fifh, animals, and wine, imported. [Aci 3 
 Edw. IF*.] 
 
 June — ^The parliament, confidering that the wool of England was the 
 principal commodity of the kingdom, and defirous of promoting the in- 
 duflry of the people and the profperity of the towns, prohibited foreigners 
 from buying or (hipping any wool, wool-fells, morlings,or Ihorlingsf ,from 
 England or Wales. But thofe produced in Northumberland, Cumberland, 
 Wefl;merland, Durham, and the dillrids of York-fhire called Alverton 
 and Richmond, might befhipped, at the port of Newcaftle only, for any 
 foreign port : and the wool, &c. of the reft of the kingdom might be 
 exported, by denizens only, and only to the ftaple at Calais. The 
 merchants of the ftaple at Calais were directed not to fell any wool or 
 other ftaple goods without receiving immediate payment, whereof one 
 half Ihould be in Englifli money, or bullion, which fhould immediately 
 be coined at the mint in Calais, and in three months be imported into 
 
 England They alfo enaded fines to be levied upon thofe found guilty 
 
 of fraudulent package of wool. — And they ordained, that no Englifh 
 merchant ftiould fhip any goods, outward or homeward, in foreign vef- 
 fels, unlefs fufficient freight could not be found in Englifh ftiipping. 
 l^^ils 3 Edw. IV, c. 1.] 
 
 The importation of corn, except the produce of Wales, Ireland, or 
 
 * This ad does not appear in its proper p'ace the Italians in 1476, wliich will be found in their 
 
 in the cullcftions of the Ilatutes ; nor is it even pi opcr places. 
 
 mentioned in CcttorCs Ahndgement of the records of f McrFiiig, wool taken from the Iliin of a dead 
 
 pirLiment. But it is quoted in an ad 12 Ediv. flieep. 56o//m^, a fell after the the fljecc is fhotn 
 
 IF, c. 3, in the grant of King Henry to the Ge- off. [_Col:s's Di2.'\ 
 nocfe in 1471, and in '.hat of K'ng Ed.vaid to all 
 
 4QJ5
 
 6y6 A. D. 1463. 
 
 the iilands belonging to England, was prohibited, whenever wheat did 
 not exceed 6/'8, rye 4/ and barley ;^/, per quarter. \_c. 2.] 
 
 The male and female artificers of London, and other cities, towns, 
 and villages, of England and Wales, having reprefented that they were 
 grievoiifly injured by the importation of foreign articles of quality infer- 
 ior to thofe made by them *, the parliament prohibited for a time to 
 be limited by the king's pleafure, the importation or fale of woollen 
 caps, woollen cloths, laces, corfes, ribands, fringes of lilk or thread, laces 
 of thread, filk twined, lilk embroidered, laces of gold, tires of filk or 
 gold, faddles, ftirrups, harnefs belonging to faddles, fpurs, bofles of 
 bridles, andirons, gridirons, locks, hammers, pinfons, fire-tongs, drip- 
 ping-pans, dice, tennis-balls, points, purfes, gloves, girdles, harnefs for 
 girdles of iron, latten, fleel, tin, or alkmine, articles made of tawed lea- 
 ther, tawed furs, bufcans (probably buflcins), fhoes, galoches or corks, 
 "Tcnives, daggers, wood-knives, bodkins, fheers for tailors, fciflbrs, raf- 
 ors, fheaths, playing cards f, pins, pattens, pack-needles, any painted 
 ware, forcers, cafkets, rings of copper or of latten gilt, chafing-difhes, 
 hanging candlefticks, chafing bells, facring bells, rings for curtains, 
 ladles, fcummers, counterfeit bafins, ewers, hats, brulhes, cards for 
 wool, and blanch iron wire, commonly called white wire. The manu- 
 factures of Ireland and Wales might be fold in England as freely as be- 
 fore ; and alfo goods taken from enemies, or found in wrecked veflels. 
 The tenants of the precinft of the chapel of S'. Martin le Grand in Lon- 
 don were exempted from the operation of this ad X- [^^s 3 Edw. IV, 
 c. 4] By it we are informed, what articles were then in requeft, and 
 Avhat manufadures were then eftabliflied, in England. 
 
 By the king's patent, granted to the mayor and citizens of London, 
 thetronage (weighing) of wool was transferred from Wellminfter, where 
 Henry VI had eftablifhed fix wool-houfes, to Leadenhall in London §. 
 [Rot, pat. fee. 3 Edzv. 11"^, w. 17. — Stoiv's Survey, pp. 304, 843.] 
 
 Hitherto all people bringing corn, fifli, fait, fuel, onions, &c. to Lon- 
 don by water, had been ordered to land them at Queenhithe : but the 
 trouble and liinderance occafioned by delays in taking up the draw- 
 bridge had induced many of them to rilk the penalty by unloading at 
 Billingfgate. It was now thought expedient to authorize what had 
 
 * The application to parliament gives rcafon to tliem, by means of wooden blocks, the figures of 
 
 fufpeft that the foreign goods were ofyu/mor qual- of faints with infcriptions. Some fnch, executtd 
 
 ity ; and thence the home-r.iade goods rtquirtd fo early as the year 1423, may be regarded as the 
 
 the protcfllon of a monopoly againll tlie foreign firll fpecimens of printing. [_Id^e ^entrale d'uiie 
 
 manufacturer and the Englidi confumcr. Tlie co/kc/lon i!'i/i:impa, />/>. 2 }g-2^o.] 
 quantity ot foreign goods poured into the country J The fame exemption is repeated in all the ails 
 
 aa foon as the prohibition expired (fee below in the containing reftiaints upon trade about this time, 
 
 year 1+83) proves, that they were more accept- fo that S'. Martins tenants were the only free 
 
 able to the confnmers. traders. Stow, in his Si^rvry, gives fomc account 
 
 f Playing cards were invented in Germany be- of the privilcgts claimed by this college or chapel, 
 fore tht end of the fourteenth century. At firft § A pretty ample hillory of Leadtnliall is given 
 
 iifcd only for amufement, they were afterwards by Stow in tnc account of Lime-ftrett ward in hill 
 
 made fubfervicnt to fuperllition by (lamping on Survey of London.
 
 A. D. 1463. 677 
 
 hitherto been done agamft authority ; and a part of the veflels, bringing 
 lalt, wheat, rye, or other corn, from beyond the fea ; or other grains, 
 garlick, onions, herrings, fprats, eels, whiting, plaice, cod, mackerel, 
 &c. were permitted to unload at Billingfgate. But ftill the greater 
 number were to proceed up to Queenhithe. [Stow's Survey, p. 682.] 
 This is apparently the origin of a legal market for fifli at Billingfgate. 
 
 1464, January — King Edward owed ^^32,861 to the company of 
 merchants of the ftaple at Calais, for payment of which he afllgncd them 
 a yearly rate (or inftallment) out of the fubfidies of wool. {Cotton s 
 yibridgement, p. 6']%.'] 
 
 The commencement of the Oriental trade of Florence about the year 
 1425 has been noticed. The Medici, a race of fuccefllve eminent 
 merchants (and the anceftors of many families of fovereign princes) 
 were, it is believed, deeply concerned in that trade. Cofmo de Medici 
 was the greatefl merchant of the age, or equaled only by Jacques Coeur 
 in France. In every part of Europe he had houfes ellablifhed for con- 
 dud;ing his vaft commerce, and his extenfive money concerns, whereby 
 he ferved all Europe with the accommodation of borrowing and remit- 
 ting. Nor were his agents lefs alliduous in collecling for him the trea- 
 fures of antient learning, and the choiceft productions of art, than in 
 procuring the rich merchandize of India ; for this illuftrious merchant, 
 who dedicated his riches to the fervice of mankind, was the mod: mu- 
 nificient, unaffuming, patron of arts, fciences, and literature. He em- 
 ployed his wealth and his literary treafures for the fervice of his coun- 
 try and his friends with fuch effedl, that, when Naples and Venice com- 
 bined againfl: Florence, he deprived them of refources for carrying on 
 the war, merely by calling in the vafl fums due to him in thofe dates ; 
 and by a manufcript of Livy, fent as a prefent to the king of Naples, 
 he conciliated his friendfhip. Nor were the politics of Italy only 
 governed by the conimercial operations of Cofmo : even the diftant 
 kingdom of England was affeded by the power of his pecuniary influ- 
 ence, and the fums, lent by his agents to Edward IV, amounting to 
 120,000 crowns, contributed in a great meafure to fupport him in his 
 conteil with the houfe of Lancafter. This truely-great man died, with 
 the juftly-merited title of father of his country, on the i" of Auguft 
 1464*. 
 
 * For a more complete account of this great cd Uis money at lall. He ailo knew another of 
 
 merchant, and for the authorities, fee Rnfcoe's Life Cofmo's agents, called Portunaiy, who -became 
 
 of Lorcnxo de Metiici, his grandfon. See alfo Gii- fccurity for King Edivard to the duke of Bi'.r- 
 
 l/on, Fi xii, /). 135. — and Coinings, L. \\\, c. 6. gundy for 50,000 crowns, and at another time for 
 
 The later, after noticing the wonderful extent of 24,000. — Coiniiics's hint of the damage fullaincd 
 
 the credit of his commercial boufes, as he himfelf, by delay of payment is fupported by a grant of 
 
 had had occafion to fee them in France and Eng- King Edward, dalcd^o'" November 1466, wheiv- 
 
 land, fays, that, to his knowlege, GnerarJ Quan- by it appears, that ;t'5'i;4= '9 = 'o "f ^1^^ money 
 
 refe, one of Cofmo's agents, was the chief inltrn- lent him by Gerard Camzian (whom Comines calls 
 
 ment in fupporting Edward IV by fuinifliing kim Qu^anvcfe) Hill remained due; for payment of 
 
 at a time above i2c,ooo croivns, not much to the which Edward permitted liim to berd, cbck, and 
 
 advantage of his principal, wt.o, however, recover- cli;an, any wool whatfoever, and export it, or any 
 
 oth- 
 
 er
 
 678 A. D. 1465. 
 
 1465, January— The parliament, obferving that many frauds had 
 crept into the manuflidure of cloths, by reafon of which their reputa- 
 tion in foreign countries was much impaired, and foreign cloths were 
 even imported into England, ena£ted, that every whole cloth, when 
 properly finifhed for fale, fliould meafure 24 yards in length, and 2 
 yards, or at leafl 7 quarters, in breadth within the lifts : if longer, the 
 buyer fhould pay for the extra meafure. Straits, properly finifhed, 
 fhould meafure 12 yards in length and i yard in breadth; kerfeys, 18 
 yards in length and i-'y, or at leaft 1 yard, in breadth. Half pieces of 
 each in proportion, and all meafured with an allowance of an inch to 
 every yard in the length. The makers were prohibited from putting 
 lamb's wool, flocks, or cork *, in any cloth. Cloth might be made, 
 however, all of lamb's wool : and cork might be ufed in dying cloth or 
 wool woaded, or cloth perfe6lly boiled and maddered. They required, 
 that cloths fliould be perfedly uniform in their fabric from end to end, 
 and they ordained, that cloths of unequal fabric, and thofe of irregular 
 lengths, fliould be diftinguifhed by leaden feals, different from thofe put 
 upon goods of flandard dimenfion and quality. — Another abufe, com- 
 plained of, was, that the manufacturers compelled their carders, fpin- 
 ne^s, and other work-people to take ' a great part of their wages in 
 ' pins, girdles, and other unprofitable wares,' and alio delivered wool to 
 them by exceflive weight ; wherefor it was now ordained, that they fliould 
 pay their labourers in money only, and ufe jufl weights. — The parlia- 
 ment alfo now declared, that all foreign-made cloth, found in England 
 after the i" of Auguft 1465, fliould be forfeited to the king, except 
 cloths made in Ireland or Wales, or taken from enemies upon the fea 
 without fraud or collufion. \^J£is 4 Edw. IV^ c. i.] 
 
 In order to abolifh the trade of fmuggling wool, which was openly 
 fliipped off in defiance of the law by day-light, as well as fecretly by 
 night, it was enacted, that it fliould be exi^orted at no other ports or 
 creeks, than Pool, Southampton, Chichefter, Sandwich, London, Ipf- 
 wich, Bofton, Hull, and Lynne, at all which ports colledfors of the cuf- 
 toms were ftationed, and beams and weights provided ; and alio that it 
 fliould be fliipped only in gallies and carracks, except what was to go to 
 the Mediterranean. The cuftom-houfe officer at Calais was direded to 
 give every merchant a certificate of the wool landed by him there,
 
 A. D, 1465. 679 
 
 which the merchant was required to lodge in the exchequer, as a proof 
 that he had not carried it to any other port. [c. 2.] 
 
 In confequence of the licence of fhipping the north-country wools at 
 Newcaftle, thofe of the counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham, 
 were frequently carried to that port, and (hipped as the produce of the 
 northern counties ; which pradlice was now prohibited under a heavy 
 penalty, [c. 3.] 
 
 In favour of the woollen manufadurers it wasenadled, that they alone 
 fhould have a right to make contracts for wool before it was fhorn. All 
 other perfons were prohibited from making any fuch contrads in the 
 counties of Berks, Oxford, Gloucefter, Salop, Hereford, Worcefter, 
 Wilts, Somerfet, Dorfet, Hants, Eflex, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, 
 Kent, Surrey, and Suflex. [c. 4.] 
 
 The duke of Burgundy had publilhed another ordinance, never to be 
 repeated, ordering all woollen cloth and woollen yarn made in England 
 to be baniflied out of his dominions, in confequence of which it was 
 apprehended, that the weavers, fullers, dyers, fpinners, carders, and 
 winders of yarn, in England would be thrown idle. The parliament, 
 in retaliation, prohibited the importation of any produce or manufac- 
 ture of the duke's territories, except provifions, in England, Wales, or 
 Ireland, till he fhould repeal his ordinance. In the meantime, the 
 merchants, pofTefling fuch goods, were ordered to take no advantage of 
 the fcarclty by raifing the price. The merchants of the Teutonic gild- 
 hall were not bound by the prohibitions of this ad. [r. 5.] Therefor 
 the non-importation ad was in fad a charter of monopoly to them ; . 
 and the duke's fubjeds would feel no inconvenience from it. 
 
 The foreign merchants were fo much embarralTed in finding fecurity 
 tor their faithfully inverting the proceeds of their cargoes inEnglilh goods, 
 or perhaps fo unwilling to comply with the law, that many of them 
 gave up trading to England. In order to mitigate the hardfhip, the 
 officers of the cuftoms were direded to require no other fecurity of the 
 merchants than their own. [c. 6.] 
 
 For the encouragement of the homers, efpecially thofe of London, 
 it was enaded, that no horns fhould be exported, except what might be 
 to fpare after fupplying their demand, provided the homers fhould take 
 no advantage of this ad to lower the price of horns*. [<r. 8.] 
 
 Odober 13'" — In a treaty of alliance between England and Denmark, 
 the merchants on both fides were allowed free accefs to the ports of each 
 country : but flill the Englifh were excluded from failing to the coafts 
 of Iceland, Halgaland, and Finmark ; nor was their being driven upon. 
 
 * In tliofc days fpoons and other utenfils made tain: for Richard Benyngton was thought wor- 
 
 of horn were more in ufe than now. It is alfo thy of honourable ccmmcnioration by the hillorian 
 
 certain that horn plates then anfwered many of Croy land for hberally bellowing jf 40 for glazipjf 
 
 of the purpofes, for which window glais is now a window in that abbay. [^Ifijl. Croyl.np. CiiL,p. 
 
 employed. That glazed windows were by no 536.] Though the window may have been large, 
 
 means common at this time, appears pretty cer- fo great a funi fhows that glafs was very dear.
 
 68o A. D. H^5* 
 
 them by ftrefs of weather to be admitted as a pretence for trading. 
 [Fcedera, V. xi, p. 551.] So anxioufly did the king of Denmark feek to 
 preferve the fifhery, apparently the only obied: of attradion to thofe 
 hyperborean regions, to his own fubjedts. Walter Cony and Henry 
 Bermycham, merchants of Lynne, were two of the ambafTadors appointed 
 to negotiate this treaty, they being, it may be prefumed, well acquainted 
 with fuch commercial matters as might fall under difcuflion. 
 
 1466, April 30"" — A treaty between King Edward and the duke of 
 Bretagne ftipulated for the fubjeds of both princes a mutual liberty of 
 trade in merchandize not prohibited. [Fcedera, V. xi,^. 567.] 
 
 Auguft: 6'" — King Edward, delirous of fortifying himfelf againft the 
 rival houle of Lancafter by the friendlhip of the fovereigns on the con- 
 tinent, entered into treaties of offenfive and defenfive alliance with as 
 many of them as poflible. Some negotiations (whereof, I apprehend, no 
 record remains) had taken place between him and the king of Caftile 
 before October 1464; and now he concluded a perpetual alliance with 
 that prince, wherein it was agreed, that the merchants of either king- 
 dom might freely buy and fell any merchandize whatfoever in the other, 
 and fhould be treated in all refpeds as well as the natives of the country. 
 \Toedera V. xi, pp. 534, 569, 572, 583.] This treaty, though not of 
 itfelf very important in commercial hiflory, merits notice, becaufe the 
 eagernefs for cultivating the friendfhip of Spain, which produced it, 
 probably alfo occafioned an exportation of the fheep of Cotefwold in 
 Gloucefter-fhire to Spain about this time, which, though afferted by 
 annalifts who lived not very long after, has been ridiculed by fome late 
 writers, only becaufe they thought it unlikely. It is enough to fay, 
 that the feveral unqueftionable exportations of Englifh fheep, already 
 related and to be related in this work, fufficiently warrant the belief of 
 the exportation faid to have taken place at this time *. 
 
 Odober — The parliament of Scotland authorized a committee of 
 
 * Harrifon in his Defcriptlon of Britain, prefixed ' into Spaiiie, who having licence but for a few, 
 
 to Holinjhed, [/. IC9 a ed. 1577] complains of the ' fliipped vciie manie.' — Holln/bcd in his Chronicle 
 
 praAice of exporting flicep in his own days. Thefe • [/>. 1317, ed. 1577] relates the exportation thus, 
 
 are his words.—' So much are our wooUes to be ' — Kyng Edwarde concluded an ametie and 
 
 ' preferred before thoft of other places, that, if Ja- ' league with Hcnryc king of Caftile and John 
 
 ' fon had knowiie tlie value of them that are brcdde ' king of Aragon, at the concluding whereof hee 
 
 • and to he had in Englande, he woulde never ' granted licence for certayne Cottefolde fheepe to 
 
 • have gone to Colchos to loukc for any there. * be tranfportcd into the countrey of Spaync (as 
 'What foolcs then arc our countrymen, in that 'people report) whych have there lo niuhiplyed 
 ' they feeke to bercve themftlves of this commo- ' and increafed, that it hath turned the commoditie 
 ' ditie by pradlizing dayly liowc to transferre the ' of England much to the SpanilI.e prcjfite'. — 
 'fame to other n.!tions, in carying over their Stow [^;m./». 6i;6(i^. 1600] ncaily repeats Holin, 
 
 • rammes and ewes to breede an increafe among fhed's words ; as does alfo Speed, f/". 854, ed. 
 •them.' In the edition of ij86 [/>. zai] he 1632] who adds, tliat clotlis made from the woo! 
 adds, ' — The 11 rft example hereof was given un- of the dcfcendents of the flieep now carried to 
 ' dcr Edward the fourtli, who not underftanding Spain, v.erc (in his own time) a great hinderance 
 ' the boluine of the fute of fundrlc traitorous to the Englifli merchants adventuring to the Le- 
 « merchants, that fought a prefcnt gaine with the vant feas. — 'J'hc other authors, whom 1 have ex- 
 ' perpetuall liinderance of their countric, licenced amined for this fait, are filent upon it. 
 
 ' ihcm to caric over, ce/teine numbers of them
 
 A. D. 1466. 68 1 
 
 their own body to ratify, or annull, as they might think expedient, the 
 ftatutes advifed in the feflion of burghs (or court of the four burghs) 
 for the good of merchants and the advantage of the kingdom. — They 
 repeated the unavailmg law againfl carrying money out of the country ; 
 and, thinking nothing elfe fo valuable, they ordered all merchants to 
 bring two ounces of pure filver to the mint for every fack of wool ex- 
 ported by them, and in proportion for fkins (apparently wool-fells) and 
 hides. — They ordered copper coins to be made, whereof four fliould 
 be equal to a penny, and alfo another kind of fmall money, to the 
 amount of only £300, with a mixture of filver in it. No perfon was 
 obliged to receive more than twelve pennies in the pound of thofe in- 
 ferior kinds of money ^The coinage of the mixed, or black, pennies 
 
 was abolifhed in the following year *. [Ads Jew. Ill, cc. 2, 10, 11, 
 12, 22.] 
 
 1467, January — ^The Scottifh parliament pafTed feveral a<fls, all intend- 
 ed for the advancement, but mofl of them probably operating for the 
 
 obftrudlion, of commerce They ordained, that none but burgelTes, or 
 
 their fadors living in their families, fhould go abroad as merchants. 
 But prelates and other clergymen, lords, and barons, might export their 
 own goods, and import what they had occafion for, by the agency of 
 their fervantsf. — Handicraft tradefmen were particularly debarred from 
 failing as merchants, or ufing merchandize, without obtaining fpecial 
 leave, and renouncing their former employment without diflimulation. 
 — The fmalleft quantity of goods, in property or truft, qualifying a per- 
 fon to fail as a merchant, was now fixed at half a laft. — They ordained, 
 that no fhip fhould be freighted without a charter party, wherein fhould 
 be exprefTed, among other conditions, that difputes between the mafler 
 and merchants fhould be fubmitted to the jurifdidlion of the town to 
 which they were bound, that goods fhould not be crufhed or damaged 
 by unreafonable flowing ; if the mafler carried any goods upon deck, 
 he fhould have no freight for them, and in cafe of their being thrown 
 overboard or lofl, the goods in the hold fhould not be Uable to pay 
 average for them ; and the mafler fhould receive no drink-money. 
 VefTels carrying lefs than five lafls fhould pay the freight of half a fack, 
 
 * Ruddiman, on the autliority of Buclianan, in trade and were even owners of veffels, as appears 
 
 inclines to believe, that copper money was coined by a receipt (dated S May 1475) for 100 marks 
 
 by fome of the earlier kings of Scothnd. \_Praf. EngUfh money paid by King Edward's agent, 
 
 adDlpl. Srotit, pp. 66, 67, 71.] But Buchanan's Lye, for a (hip loaded with merchandize, belong- 
 
 afTertion, if unfupported by other vouchers, is no ing to Sir John Colquhoun^ the clxamberlain of 
 
 fufficient authority (as has repeatedly been proved Scotland, which had been taken by Lord Gray, 
 
 by Ruddiman himfelf in his valuable notes on that {^Rymer's ur.puhlijhcd records, Ediu. IV, Vol. ii, p. 
 
 author, and as I have alfo had occafion to remark 589.] Unlefs the compenfation was ver)- inade- 
 
 in anoihcr work) efpeciallv, as he confounds the quale indeed, tlic veiTel and cargo mu.fl have been 
 
 copper money with the m'ixed or black money, very trifling, merely for the _lerv:ce of his own 
 
 There were fcarcely any innovations, in which the houfehold. In this age the kmgs alio interfered 
 
 Scots preceded the Engh(h. iu trade, as will appear afterwards. 
 
 + Some of the Scottifh bcTons were concerned 
 
 Vol. I. 4 R
 
 \ 
 
 682 A. D. 1467. 
 
 and thofe of a greater burthen the freight of a fack, to the chaplain of 
 the nation in the country failed to, and on their return home fhould 
 
 pay the freight of a tun to the church of the port of delivery VefTels 
 
 were prohibited from failing to any foreign country between the 28"' 
 of Odober and the 2" of February. — The merchants of Scotland were 
 now prohibited from failing to the Swyn, the Sluys, the Dam, or Bruges, 
 and were required to remove their property from thofe places before 
 the i'' of Auguft enfuing, and thenceforth to have no intercourfe with 
 them, l^i-ls yac. Ill, cc. 14-19.] The interruption of trade with 
 thefe towns was an infraction of the hundred-years treaty, owing to 
 fome caufe of difpleafure, which the hiftorians of the age have not in- 
 formed us of. 
 
 July — In England alfo the attention of the parliament this year was 
 chiefly turned to trade. — Notwithftanding the act for enforcing uniform- 
 ity of fabric and quantity in the worfted-ftuff manufadures of Nor- 
 ^ wich and the adjacent country, pafled in the 2o'^ and repeated in the 
 9 23^, year of Henry VI, there were now frefti complaints of the delin- 
 quency of the manufadurers of thofe goods ; whereupon a new ad was 
 made, which was little more than a repetition of the former ones. \^Acls 
 7 Ldw. IV, c. I .] 
 
 The clothiers in the hundreds of Lifton, Taviftock, and Rowburgh, 
 in Devon-fhire were permitted to mix flocks with their wool, they 
 having reprefented, that, on account of the grofliiefs and fl:ubbornnefs 
 of the wool in that diftrid, no cloth could be made without fuch a mix- 
 ture, [c. 2.] 
 
 The exportation of woollen yarn and unfuUed cloth, whereby the 
 ^ king lofl; the cuft;oms payable upon finiflied cloths, and the people a part 
 of their employment, was prohibited, [c. 3.] 
 
 Augufl: 29'" — King James allowed the merchants of Scotland to fail 
 
 to Middleburg, but not to eftablifli their trade in that city as a flaple, 
 
 as he intended to fend commiflioners to negotiate privileges for them in 
 
 whatever place fhould be found moft advantageous for a flaple. — They 
 
 , were alfo at liberty to fail to Rochelle, Bourdeaux, and the other ports 
 
 ■> of France. [A£ts Jac. Ill, cc. 20, 21.] 
 
 Odober — The parliament of Scotland, after having lowered their 
 money of account by making a nominal rife upon their own and all 
 foreign coins current in the kingdom, or, in their own language, making 
 their money equivalent to the currency in Flanders, next obliged all 
 debtors to make payment in the full value originally contraded for. In 
 a few months the parliament obferved, that that change anfwered no 
 good purpofe, that the pennyworth rofe with the penny, and that land- 
 lords were defrauded of the fourth or fifth part of their rents * ; and 
 
 • However obvious thcfe confcqucriccs miglit days. V>\.\\. iuch ignonnct oi the nature and caufes 
 bt to the eye of rcafon, none of the nations of of the tucahh of nat'iom in tliofe ages need not fur- 
 Eurcpc fecm to have liad any idea of ihtiii in thofe prife us, when, cvrn in the prefent cnhghtcned age, 
 
 we
 
 A. D. 1467. - ♦^ 683 V 
 
 therefor they reduced mofl: of the foreign coins current in Scotland to a 
 fmaller numerical value than they had lately fet upon them (January 
 1468). [Jcis Jac. Ill, cc. 22, 23, 29, and fee alfo 58.] 
 
 November 24''' — The Englifli and the people of the Netherlands feel- 
 ing the bad effeds of turning the trade of the two countries into a cir- ,, 
 cuitous channel, the commercial intercourfe between them was now re- 
 vived, and regulated by a new treaty between King Edward and the ^% 
 duke of Burgundy, which was to be in force thirty years. The fubjeds 
 of both princes, whether dealers in wool, hides, or provifions, or other 
 articles, were to have free accefs by land or water with liberty to buy 
 and fell all kinds of merchandize, except warlike ftores, on paying the 
 duties, eftablifhed when commerce formerly had free courfe between ^,_- 
 
 the two countries Each prince, in cafe of fcarcity, might prohibit the 
 
 exportation of provifions. — The fifhermen on both fides might freely 
 
 fifh in any part of the fea, without needing formal licences or fafe-con- 
 
 duds, and, if driven by neceffity into any port on the oppofite coafl, 
 
 they fhould be kindly treated, provided they paid the cuftomary dues, 
 
 committed no fraud, and did no damage. — No corfairs fhould be allowed 
 
 to fail from the ports of either prince to prey upon the fubjeds of the , 
 
 other : neither fhould they be allowed to fell, or even to land, their plun- •# * 
 
 der in any harbour, and the officers of any place, permitting fuch fale ^ 
 
 or landing, fhould be bound to make compenfation to the party injured. 
 
 Neutral veflels, carrying provifions or other merchandize from the ^ 
 
 Eaft-country to the territories of either prince, fhould not be molefted *^ 
 by the fubjeds of the other. — Merchant vefTels, driven into port by 
 florms or enemies, fhould be kindly treated, but fliould not land any 
 merchandize without permiffion. — Mariners flionld be allowed in the 
 ports to fafien their veflels to the fhore. — The fubjeds of either prince 
 fhould not carry the property of the enemies of the other — VefTels •% 
 
 ftranded or wrecked on either fhore, wherein a human creature, or even ' 
 a dog, cat, or cock, remained alive, fhould be preferved with their car- 
 goes as fafely as poffible, and reftored to the owners for a reafonable 
 falvage. — The road from Calais to Gravelings fhould be kept up ; the 
 Englifh fliould have inns or hotels, with all their former privileges, in 
 the towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Mechlin ; and the merchants of 
 thofe countries fhould have the like in England — The treaty fliould not 
 be infringed for the adlion of any individual. — Laftly, the four members 
 of Flanders fliould bind themlelves to preferve the treaty inviolate on 
 their part. \Fcedera^ V. xi, p. 591.] 
 
 1468, June — The clothiers in Norfolk and Suffolk having got into a 
 pradice of making their cloths, called fet cloths, very deficient in length, 
 
 we fee (andyi'f/) the race of depretiation, though piofpciity. But the very fame men do not blulh 
 
 by different means, proceeding with a moll Jeftruc- to alk, and receive, an augmentation of emolu- 
 
 tlve career, and men, who affume the charaflcr of ments, drawn from the necelTities oftiiofe who arc 
 
 pliilofophical pohticians, holding up that very de- finking under the depretiation, to fliield themfelves 
 
 pretiation as a triumphant evidence of national from the baneful effefts of their boafted profperitv- 
 
 4R2 
 
 •'^
 
 684 
 
 « » 
 
 A. p. 1468. 
 
 *«» 
 
 breadth, and fub fiance, the parliament enacled, that evei-y broad fet 
 cloth, properly finifhed for fale, fhould meafure 28 yards and 28 inches 
 by the fold in length, and 7 quarters in breadth within the lifts in all 
 parts, and fliould weigh at leafl 38 pounds ; and flrait fet cloths, duely 
 finifhed, fliould meafure half as much in length and breadth, and weigh 
 at leall 94- pounds. AW fet cloths were to be infpeded and fealed by 
 the king's aulneger with the feals of the fubfidy and aulnage. [Jets 
 8 Edzv.IV,c. I.] 
 
 In confideration of ;iC3350CO due by the king to the company of the 
 flaplers at Calais, he aihgned to them for eight years the fublidies of the 
 port, and all his other revenues in Calais, for payment, they allowing 
 out of them the pay of the foldiers and maintenance of the works *. 
 [Cotton^s Abridgement, p. 68 1 .] 
 
 An account was prefented to parliament of the money exchanged in 
 the Tower by the keeper of the king's exchange in three years, whereof 
 the following is an abftract. 
 
 Years 
 ending 
 29'" Sept 
 
 ember. 
 
 1466 
 1467 
 1463 
 
 .Old 
 nobles. 
 
 I3;,S7 
 60,15 
 33,400 
 
 Emption for 
 die king's 
 farm at \d 
 acli, 
 
 574 9 7 
 200 13 7 
 
 SILVER. 
 
 Troye 
 pounds 
 weight, 
 
 3,845 
 
 Emption at 
 iT'/p'pound 
 weight, 
 
 72 
 183 
 
 Emption, 
 
 1 
 19 
 
 10; 646 11 
 
 384 13 
 
 whereof 
 
 paid to 
 
 the king, 
 
 and remain- 
 ed to tiie 
 keeper. 
 
 400 
 200 
 
 246 
 
 184 
 
 >• 
 
 [Cot toft's Alridgement^ p. 685.] 
 
 July z^ — A treaty for commercial intercourfe with Bretagne for 
 thirty years was now fettled, almofl upon the lame terms as that with 
 the duke of Burgundy, except that the trade was allowed to be more 
 general and free ; wool, cloths, linens, wines, fruits, hides, provifions, 
 and alfo harnefs, armour, artillery, horfes and other animals, and all 
 f)ther merchandize whatever, were lawful. Plymouth, Dartmouth, Win- 
 chclfea within the chain and its little harbour, and Calais, were except- 
 ed from the general liberty granted to the merchants of Bretagne of 
 making fafl their veiTels in the harbours, and having hotels or inns in 
 the towns, of England ; the duke of Bretagne having an equal right to 
 except any of his towns from the fimilar liberty to be granted to the 
 Englifh merchants. [Fasdern, V. xi, />. 618.] 
 
 September 8"" — The purchafeof the vaflal kingdom of Mann and the 
 Weftern iflands by Alexander III king of Scotland in the year 1266 has 
 been related. The flipulated annual payment of 1 00 marks, perhaps 
 as too trifling to merit attention on cither fide, liad been allowed to run 
 in arrear for twenty-fix years. In confequence of the advice of Charles, 
 the late king of France, a very amicable fettlement was now effected be- 
 
 * This loan, aiid lliat of 1464, fbow that the f^xofioo for payment of a part of iiis fillci's por- 
 
 nicrchants of the ftaplc were very rich (/^33,ooo tioii to the duke of Burgundy : and on many other 
 
 being Hill a great fum) and that the king knew occafions King Edward reforted to them for pe- 
 
 t.hey were. In the following year he borrowed euniary alTiftance. [<7i)//o;;, />^. 683, 692,. Sec]
 
 A. D. 1468. 
 
 685 
 
 tween the parties concerned. Chrifliern king of Denmark, who, as fuc- 
 ceflor to the kings of Norway, had the right to the annual, gave his 
 daughter in marriage to King James, with a portion of 60,000 florins, 
 together with a fall difcharge of the arrears of the annual, and alfo of 
 all demands on that account in time coming. Of the fum llipulated, 
 he engaged to pay down 10,000 florins before his daughter's departure 
 for Scotland, and to give a niortgage of the fovereignty of the Orkney 
 iflands, which fliould remain fubjecfi: to the crown of Scotland, till he 
 fliouid pay the remaining 50,000. When the time appointed for the em- 
 barkation of the princefs arrived, Chrifl:iern, being much harafled with 
 war, could only pay 2,000 florins; and therefor (20''' May 1496) he offered 
 a further niortgage of the iflands of Hialtland, or Shetland, till he fliould 
 find it convenient to redeem them by paying 8,000 florins. None of 
 the money was ever paid ; and all the iflands, fcattered in the Northern 
 ocem in the vicinity of Scotland, remain to this day attached to that 
 kingdom. [T'orfai Orcades, pp. i 85 c'/'y^-^y.] 
 
 December — The arrival of one hundred and fifty veflels at once was 
 beheld by the inhabitants of Slays with wonder and delight : for very 
 feldom fo many arrived at once *. [Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 347 a.] 
 
 1470, March 23'' — A proclamation of King Edward, offering a land- 
 ed eftate of ;(^ioo a year, or, in the option of the receiver, £^1,000 iu 
 ready money, as a reward for apprehending the duke of Clarence or the 
 earl of Warwick, [F^i/if/-^, r. xi,/". 654] has been adduced as a proof, 
 that land was ufually worth only ten years' purchafe. But it is only a 
 proof, that Edward was rich in lands from the very numerous forfeitures, 
 and poor in money, as appears from his conflant borrowing. Neither 
 was forfeited land, in thofe days of fudden revolutions, a very fecure or 
 eligible property f . 
 
 December 24'*^ — Several merchants and mariners of the north coafl 
 of Spain fought redrefs for vefTels and cai'goes, which, they declared up- 
 on oath, were piratically taken from them by the people of Sandwich, 
 Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Fowey. The veflels and their cargoes were 
 valued by them as follows %. 
 
 a ship of 100 tuns, value ^107 10 O; total of vessel and cargo £bQ5 
 
 a ship 70 - 100 0-'" 
 
 a carvel 40 - 70 O O - 
 
 a ship 120 - 110 O O ditto, 
 
 a carvel 110 - 140 O O ditto, 
 
 a carvel 110 - 150 O O ditto, 
 
 a carvel 120 - 180 O O ditto. 
 
 ditto, ditto 
 
 ditto, ditto 
 
 ditto, and freight 
 
 ditto, ditto 
 
 ditto 
 
 ditto, ditto 
 
 350 
 250 
 300 
 380 
 2,500 
 450 
 
 • This arrival has been related by fiicceeding J The fums here ftated are taken from the coni- 
 
 writers as a common occurrence, and as a proof of plaint of the merchants addrcfTed to the king : but 
 
 the vaft commerce of Bruges, of which Sluys was 
 the fea-port. We thus fee, what miiiaken infer- 
 ences may be drawn from an erroneous llatement 
 of a fimple faft. 
 
 \ We have already feen (p. 448) a life-rent, 
 not a property, in lands valued at ten years' pur- 
 chafe in Scotland in the thirteenth century. 
 
 the particulars, fworn to in the court, give totalt 
 fomewhat different, and in gcnctnl amounting to 
 greater Turns. The wool was valued at f^ per 
 facie of I -J quintal, the iron at ^^4 per tuu, tlic 
 wines at ,^4 to ^^5 per tun.
 
 686 A. D. 1470. 
 
 The cargoes confifted of iron, wine, wool (440 facks), raifins, liquor- 
 ice, fpicery, incenfe, oi-anges, marfac, and 4 facks of cheefe intend- 
 ed for prefents. The mofl valuable veffel with wool, iron, 8cc. was 
 bound for Flanders, and all the reft for England. [^F^dera, V. y^-'i, pp. 
 671, 672.] We do not fee, what was decided by the court. But the 
 merchants of the northern ports of Spain declined trading to England, 
 as appears by an invitation held out by Edward IV in the year 1471, 
 afluring them, that they had nothing to fear in his kingdom. 
 
 December 29"' — King Henry VI, being reftored for a few months, 
 gave the merchants of Cologne, who, with other merchants of Germany, 
 pofTefTed the Teutonic gildhall in London, a grant fimilar to that, given 
 in the year 1463 to the merchants of the Hanfe in general, by his an- 
 tagonift Edward IV : but this was to the merchants of Cologne only *, 
 and was to laft for five years, inftead of two and a half, the term grant- 
 ed by Edward. [^Foedera, V. xi,^. 678.] 
 
 During the Ihort fecond reign of King Henry, the earl of Warwick, 
 who then governed the king and the kingdom, fent an army over to 
 Calais to act againft the duke of Burgundy and the exiled king Edward 
 
 IV. But the Englifh merchants of the ftaple, whofe greateft fale for 
 woo] was to the clothiers of the duke's provinces of Flanders and Hol- 
 land, knowing the ruinous confequences to their trade to be exped:ed 
 from a war in the Netherlands, found means to divert the earl from his 
 purpofe. \Comines, L. iii, c. 6.] 
 
 1 47 1, February 16''' — King Henry entered into a treaty, or truce, 
 with the king of France, which, being merely calculated for his own 
 perfonal fafety, an objeft which left him no leifure to attend to any 
 other confideration, contains very little relating to commerce. As an 
 article of courfe, the merchants and all other fubjeds of both kings were 
 to have freedom of going into either kingdom on the bufinefs of merch- 
 andize, fiOiing, or any other occafion. [Foedera, V. \i, p. 683.] 
 
 February ^a** — He alfo granted the Genoefe an exemption from the 
 additional duties laid upon foreign merchants by an ad: paffed by him- 
 felf as well as by another of the third year of King Edward. [Fadera, 
 
 V. xi, p. 696.] But a few weeks terminated his life and reign, and their 
 privileges. 
 
 Auguft — The parliament of Scotland thought it expedient, for the 
 benefit of the kingdom, and in confideration of the great riches which 
 might be acquired from other countries, that certain lords fpiritual and 
 temporal, and burghs, fliould build large ftjips, buflcs, and pink-boats, 
 and furnifii them with nets and other apparatus proper for fifliing f. 
 iJias Jac. Ill, c. 60.] 
 
 • Cologne courted the friendfliip of England contain, as fuppofing it already generally known. 
 
 in the year 1452, when Lubeck was holtile, and It is from a fubleqiicnt aft (c. 133) that we learn, 
 
 *the other Hanfe towns were not friendly. • ■ that the filhery was intended to be on the well 
 
 •J- The very brief afta of the Seottidi parliament coa(l, and for catching and curing herrings and 
 
 fonietimes fupprcfs a part of what they ought to other filh.
 
 A, D, 1071, 687 
 
 November 9'' — King Edward, mindful of the friendfliip fhown to 
 him in his exile by Peter Bhidelyn, lord of the town of Middleburg in 
 Flanders, granted for ever to all the traders (' mercatores') of that town, 
 though not alTociated in the Teutonic Hanfe, as well thofe working at 
 the mechanic trade called battery, as thofe engaged in other trades, an 
 exemption from all duties and imports on their wares throughout all 
 England, with all the liberties and privileges which had been enjoyed by 
 the people of Dynant, before it was deftroyed *. [F^dern, V. x\,p. 729.] 
 
 December 22'' — He alfo granted for ever to Henry of Borfel, lord of 
 Vere in Zeland, and to the inhabitants of that town, liberty to import 
 their merchandize and export thofe of England, ftaple goods excepted, 
 paying only three pennies per pound on the exports, except cloths on 
 which they fhould pay twelve pennies for the piece of 28 yards, and for 
 ingrained cloths the fame duty paid by the Eflerlings ; and he affured 
 ihem, that no other or higher cuftoms Ihouldever be demanded of tiiem. 
 This grant was made on the condition, that his own fubjeds fhould be 
 exempted in the port of Vere from all duties already impofed, or after- 
 wards to be impofed. [Fcedcra, V. xi, p. 730.] 
 
 This year the merchants of Lubeck, Roflock, Wifmar, Stralfund, 
 Dantzik, Koningfberg, Riga (' Rigla'), Revel, and all the other Hanfe 
 towns of Germany, Pruflia, and Livonia, bound themfelves, under the 
 penalty of forfeiting all their rights and privileges, to make Bruges the 
 fole flaple for all their goods, and to fliip them all onboard certain vef- 
 fels, fufficiently armed for beating off pirates, which fliould be regular- 
 ly ilationed at Hamburgh and Sluys for the accommodation of the trade. 
 On the other hand the citizens of Bruges engaged, that the cuftoms 
 (' portoria') fhould be lowered, that brokers or others employed by the 
 merchants fhould alk no exorbitant recompenfe, and that the due 
 depth and other accommodations of their port of Sluys fhould be pre- 
 ferved. ^Meye/i Ann. Flandrice^f. 354 a.] 
 
 1472, February 12'" — King Edward licenced his fifler, the duchefs of 
 Burgundy, to berd, clack f, and clean, fifty facks of wool, and export 
 them in any veflels whatever to the Mediterranean fea, without paying 
 any cuftoms, or being obliged to import bullion on account of them. 
 This adive trading princefs obtained frequent repetitions of fuch grants ; 
 and as fhe never paid any cufloms and was not obliged to bring bullion 
 to the mint, her traffic, which by herfelf or her proxies v/as very extenf- 
 ive, mull have been very injurious to the fair traders. [^Fadera, V. xi,. 
 p. 735 Rymer's MS. records, pajjlm^ 
 
 * Of the privileges of Dynant in England, I duke of Burgundy in 1466. \Com\nes, L. ii,J>. 74. 
 
 fuppofe, we have no further memorial extant. In — Meyeri Ann. F'andr.f. 337 b.] 
 1359 feme merchants of that town had a fafe-con- f To duel 'wool is to cut off the fheep's mark 
 
 duft from Edward III. \_Rot. pat. ^rim. ■s,^ Ediu. to make it lighter. [Cr.Us's D'i3.~\ Berding, I 
 
 ///, m. 10.] It was famous for pots, pans, and pi-efume, is alfo an operation of forting and rtjccl- 
 
 other articles made of copper, which were called ing the inferior parts ; fo the duchcfs's wool was., 
 
 Djnanilrie. It was a new town, founded by the all of prime quality. 
 fame Peter BJadelya, and it was deftroyed by the *j«
 
 688 ^ A. D. 1472. 
 
 Odober — The parliament obliged the foreign merchants to import 
 four fufficlent bow-ftaves along with every tun weight of goods imported 
 by them. \_A6is 12 Edzv. IV, c. 2.] 
 
 In order to put a flop to the pradtice of fmuggllng cloth of gold, cloth 
 of filver, bawdekyns, velvet, damafk, fatin, farcenet, tarteron *, cham- 
 elets, and other fluffs of filk and gold, and of filk, whereby the fubfidies, 
 voted in the year 1463 for the guard of the fea, were rendered inade- 
 quate, and the law obliging foreigners to invefl the proceeds of their 
 fales in Englifh merchandize was evaded, the parliament ordained, that 
 all fuch goods, now being in England, or hereafter to be imported, 
 fhould be fealed and countcrfealed by the colledor and comptroller of 
 the fubfidies of tunnage and poundage in the port of delivery, before 
 they could be expofed to fale, on penalty of forfeiture f. — Precautions 
 were alfo taken againfl: another praftlce of fhipping fine cloths as coarfe 
 ones, owing to the negligence of the officers of the cufloms, who were 
 now ordered to examine the contents of every package, [r. 3.] 
 
 The parliament, finding that wool of other parts of the country was 
 flill fmuggled to the Netherlands under colour of the permifHon to fhip 
 the wool of the northern fhires from Newcaflle to any foreign country,^ 
 now ordained, that thofe northern wools ihipped at Newcaflle fhould go 
 to Calais or New Middleburg in Flanders, and to no other place, and 
 that all other wool, wool-fells, morlings, and fliorlings, exported, except 
 thofe fhipped in gallies and carracks for the Mediterranean, fhould be 
 carried to'Calais only, on pain of felony, [c. 5.] 
 
 1473, June 20'" — Though the bifliops of Durham had for many ages 
 enjoyed the privilege of coining flerllngs, or pennies, the prefent bifhop 
 did not think himielf fully authorized to coin halfpennies without ob- 
 taining the king's fpecial permifHon, which was granted. [Foedera, V. 
 xi,/.. 783.] 
 
 1474, March 31" — WilHam Caxton, a mercer of London, being a 
 man of great ingenuity and unwearied application, and having refided 
 about thirty years on the continent as agent for the company of mercers 
 of London, and in the year 1464 as one of the ambalTadors fent by 
 King Edward to the duke of Burgundy, found means to make himfelf 
 mafler of the new art of printing. He actually undertook to print a 
 Hijlory ofT'roy, tranflated by himfelf from the French, which he finifhed 
 at Cologne in the year 1471. In the following year he returned to 
 England with fome copies of his book, and fet up aprefs in the almonry 
 of Weftminfler abbay, where he now produced the Game at Chefs^ the 
 firfl book printed in England. ' From this time to his death, A. D. 
 ' 1491, he applied with fo much ardour to tranflating and printing, that, 
 ' though he was an old man, he publiflied about fifty books, fome of 
 
 • Was this tlie checquered fluff, now called f Formerly the penalty had been only double 
 inrtan, and thought peculiar to the Highlands of payment of the fublidy. 
 S Ltland i
 
 A. D. 1474. 689 
 
 ' them large volumes, and many of them tranflated by himfelf. How 
 ' produdive is incefHint labour, and how worthy are fuch men as Cax- 
 ' ton of a place in the hiftory of their country*.' 
 
 Several foreigners, probably brought over as workmen by Caxton, 
 and alfo Thomas Hunt and fome other JLnglifhmen, fucceeded him in 
 the bufinefs of printing in England, which profpered fo well in their 
 hands that we fhall foon fee printed books an article of exportation. 
 [Middletoti's Origin of printing in Engl and. "^ 
 
 There is no certainty of any eftablifliment of a printing prefs in Scot- 
 land before the year 1507, when Walter Chepman, a merchant of Edin- 
 burgh, obtained the king's patent for himfelf and Andrew My liar to 
 carry on the bufinefs of printing f . 
 
 May — The Scottifh parliament, ftill anxious to fill the country with 
 money, and thinking they could command it to flow in, direded the 
 officers of the cufloms to make the merchants give fecurity, that they 
 fliould bring to the mint two ounces of filver for every ferplaith, four 
 ounces for a lafl of hides, two ounces for a lafl; of falmon, and propor- 
 tional quantities for cloth or other goods, before they fhould give them 
 cockets for their exportation. \_Acis Jac. Ill, c. Q\t^.'\ 
 
 Odober — In the parliament of England the adl 12 Edw. IV, c, 5, 
 againfl fmuggling wool was renewed : and, inflead of Middleburg, the 
 town of Byrwick in Brabant was declared the only place, befides Calais, 
 to which the northern wools might be fhipped from Newcaftle, a power 
 being however vefted in the king to name any other port inftead of 
 Byrwick, upon giving three months notice. \^AB,s 14 Edw. IV, c. 3.] 
 
 December 19'" — King Edward acknowleged himfelf indebted to the 
 merchants of Guipufcoa in Spain in the fum of 1 1 ,000 crowns, as a com- 
 penfation for damages done to them by the Engli{h :• and he alfigned 
 to them half the cuftoms payable on goods imported and exported by' 
 the merchants of Spain, till the debt fliould be difcharged at the rate of 
 ^/4 fterling for every crown. {Fosdera, V. xi, p. 841.] 
 
 1475, February 3'' — A large fliip built by James Kennedy bilhop of 
 S'. Andrews, called the Salvator, and alfo, by way of eminence, the 
 Bifhop's barge, as being the finefl vefl^el hitherto built in Scotland J, was 
 wrecked in March 1473 at Bamburgh, where the cargo was plundered, 
 
 * The two laft fentences are taken verbatim f The original patent was difcovcred a few years 
 
 from Doftor Henry, H'ljl. V. x,/>. 203. — See alfo ago by Mr. William Rubcrtfon of the Regifter 
 
 Ameses Hift. of printing, p. 2 AlitUletort^s Origin of office, who made the fearch in order to gratify Mr. 
 
 printing in England. — jljlk's Origin of ivritlng, p. Chalmers : and the later, by mentioning, it in his 
 
 222 There was a book printed at Oxford by Life of RudJiman, p. 80, has given the knowlege 
 
 Corfelis, a foreigner, dated mcccclxviii : but Doc- of it to the public. 
 
 tor Middleton, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Aftle, who J So the great fliip belonging to the king of 
 
 have bellowed much attention upon the fubjeft of Sweden {fee p. 671) was called the King's barge. 
 
 printing, are of opinion that an x mud have dropt 
 
 out, and that mcccclxxviii is the real date of the 
 
 book printed by Corfelis. 
 
 Vol. I. 48
 
 690 A. D. 1475. 
 
 and the men made prifoners, by the people of the country *. In the 
 year 1474 the parhament of Scotland had ordered that redrefs fhould be 
 demanded from the king of England ; and it was now finally fettled by 
 a payment of 500 marks fterling made at Edinburgh by Lye, King Ed- 
 ward's agent, to the bilhop of Aberdeen, as a compofition to be divided 
 among the merchants concerned. \_Acls Jac. Ill, c. 62. — Fcedera, V. xi, 
 pp. 789, 820, 850. — Lejl. H'ljh Scot. pp. 303, 304.] It is not improbable 
 that the interefl of the Scottilh merchants was in fome degree facrificed 
 to a marriage treaty now going on between the two kings. 
 
 February 28* — However defirable the management of the trade of 
 the country by foreign merchants may have been in the early ages, 
 when, if there had not been a trade of that kind, there would have been 
 none, the Englifh merchants of this age, who owned many good vefTels, 
 could not contentedly behold the merchants of the Hanfe invefled with 
 privileges equal, in fome cafes fuperior, to thofe enjoyed by themfelves, 
 which, together with their extenfive connections upon the continent, 
 their mutual fupport, and other lefs jiiftifiable means, enabled them 
 generally to command the market. The reciprocal ill will, arifing from 
 fuch a (late of affairs, had during many years paft produced frequent 
 difputes and many captures of vefTels and other ads of open hoftility on 
 both fides. Neither was the policy of King Edward, who, in his feveral 
 renewals of the privileges of the Hanfe merchants, gave them very fhort 
 terms, fometimes only one year f, calculated to give fatisfadion, either 
 to them, or to his own fubjedls. 
 
 The citizens of Lubeck, who had formerly dillinguiflied themfelves 
 beyond their confederates by a fpirit of hoftility to England, had in 
 April 1473 fent deputies to a general aflembly of the reprefentatives of 
 the Hanfe towns held at Bruges, with inftrudions to ratify the articles 
 agreed upon with King Edward's commiflioners. After feveral adjourn- 
 ments, three commiflioners from the king, with the reprefentatives of 
 Lubeck, and two or three from each of the cities of Bremen, Hamburgh, 
 Dortmund, Munfter, Dantzik, Daventer, Campen, and Bruges, the fe- 
 cretary of the merchants of the Hanfe in London, and the fecretary of 
 thofe in Bergen in Norway, met at Utrecht in order to fettle the terms 
 of a permanent amicable intercourfe, and now concluded a treaty, in. 
 fubftance as follows All hoftilities fhould ceafe, and a free inter- 
 courfe by land and water fli<jukl be reftored All fuits for compenf- 
 
 ation on either fide fliould be dropt, and all injuries be buried in ob- 
 livion : no claims fhould be made upon vefTels or other property by 
 
 • The people of Northumberland and Durham f Some ofUic grants are in tlie Patent rolls of 
 mud have been much addidicd to phindering vef- Edward IV, tert. I, m. l8 ; />/■;'(«. 9, ;«. 12 ; prinu 
 ftls : we find a coirplaint of the fame kind brought 12, ;«. 6 ; fee. 14, m. 16. 
 againft Lord JLumley and his valhils of Hartltpi;ol 
 by the citizcRs of Lubeck. [Fuv/ivv;, V. xii,/. 38.J
 
 A, D, 1475. %i 
 
 thofe from whom they had been taken, nor the captains of (hips * or 
 others be Hable to arreft for any by-paft quarrels. — This general am- 
 nefty (hould be confirmed by ihe king and parliament f of England ; 
 and all obligations entered into by the Hanfe merchants in England for 
 compenfation of damages iliould be cancelled. — The merchants of P^ng- 
 land might trade to Prullia and other places of the Hanfe as freely as in 
 former times, and fhould be charged with no cuftoms or exactions but 
 what had been a hundred years eftabliihed ; and the merchants of the 
 Hanfe {hould enjoy all the privileges in England granted by any of the 
 kings to their predecefFors. — The king and parliament of England, and 
 the Hanfe confederacy, by letters under the feal of the city of Lubeck, 
 fhould certify, that no pretence of forfeiture of privileges on account of 
 the late hoftilities fliould be advanced on either fide. — In civil or crim- 
 inal caufes, wherein the Hanfe merchants might be concerned in Eng- 
 land, the king fliould appoint two or more judges, who, without the form- 
 alities of law, fliould do fpeedy juftice between the parties, the merch- 
 ants and mariners of the Hanfe being entirely exempted from the jurif- 
 didion of the admiralty and other courts ; and fimilar provifion fliould 
 be made for the eafy and fpeedy difpenfation of juflice in the Hanfe 
 countries. — As part of the recompenfe, found due by the Englifli to 
 the Hanfards, the king fhould convey to them the abfolute property of 
 the court-yard called the Staelhoef or Steelyard % with the buildings ad- 
 hering to it, extending to x.\\t 'Teutonic gildhall in London, and alio a 
 court-yard called the Staelhoef O): Steelyard in Boflon, and a proper houfe 
 for their accommodation, near the water, in Lynne §, they becoming 
 bound to bear all the burthens for pious purpofes, to which the Stael- 
 hoef was made liable by antient foundation, or thebequefts of the faith- 
 ful II, and having full power to pull down and rebuild, as they might 
 
 * ' Capitanei navi'um.' — This is the firft time I their tenements in Windgoofe lane in London, 
 
 find the commanders of vefiels called cafilain.t in and for their place in Lynne, appear in i?o/. Aij;. . 
 
 any Englilh record. For an example of it in a Ij Ed'w IV, print, m. 6, andylf. m. 12. 
 Barcelona record of the year 1331 fee above p. || The Steelyard (Staelhoef) and the Teutonic 
 
 507. gildhall have been fuppofed by Hakhiyt and otlierj 
 
 \ The precaution of demanding the fanftion to be different names of the fame building ; and 
 
 of parliament, which occurs feveral times in this thence the appellation of merchants of the Steelyard 
 
 treaty, fliows that foreigners did not now think has been ufed as fynonymous with merchants of the 
 
 the king's patent of itfelf a fufficicnt fecurity. Teutonic gildhall and merchants of the Hanfe, but 
 
 + Kilian, in his Etymologicum Tcutonscie fingiia, improperly till after this time, as appears from this 
 
 explains 5'tof/-/6o/" to be the place where dyed cloths treaty. — Stow [_Sur-vcy, p. 433, ed. i6iS"]favs, 
 
 are fealed with thc^acZ/oc/ (feal of lead). Quere, that a great houfe called the Sleet-hoife, near the 
 
 if the Englifli word iteelyard be not rather a cor- Teutonic gildhall, (though he feems to confound 
 
 rupt tranilation of the iame name tlian any way them a few paragraphs higher) was given to the 
 
 connefted with fteel ? — Kilian finiflie^ his work in city as a fund for deeds of piety, and that it was 
 
 1598. confirmed to the merchants of the Teutonic gild- 
 
 § In the tranfaftions of the year 141 2 we find hall by the king and parliament in the ij"" vear of 
 
 the merchants of the Hanfe fettled at IJofton, and Edward IV for a rent of £-jo : 3 : 4, payable to 
 
 apparently at Lynne. Quere, if the rich merchants the city. But no parliament of that year appears 
 
 plundered at Bollon in 1288, whofe opulence was in the ilatute books, nor in Cotton's Abridgement 
 
 undoubtedly much exaggerated, were of the of the records of parliament, nor in Stow's own 
 
 Hanfe ?— The grants to the Hanfe merchants for Annals. There was, indeed, in that year an ex- 
 
 4 S 2 
 
 e.mpliucation
 
 692 A. D. 1475. 
 
 find convenient. — After difcuffing the claims for pillages of fhips and 
 cargoes and other outrages committed on both fides, the fum of ^15,000 
 ilerling was tound due, as a balance of compenfation, from the Englifh 
 to the Handirds, befides the above-mentioned houfes : but in confidera- 
 tion of the protcdion againft fuits for by-paft grievances aflured to thenx 
 by the king, they agreed to reduce the fum to ;^r 0,000, and to receive 
 the payment in the cuftoms faUing due on their fublequent imports and 
 exports*. — If any city fliould be difmembered from the afiociation of 
 the Hanfe, the king, upon receiving due imimation, fhould put the 
 merchants of that city upon a footing with other foreigners, till he 
 fhould be duely certified that they were re-admitted into the aflx)ciation. 
 — The city of London iliould be bound by the prefent treaty in tranf- 
 adlions with the Hanfe merchants, whofe antient privileges ftiould not 
 be impaired by any later grants m^ade to the city;, and the Hanfe 
 merchants fhould ftill have the keeping of Bifhopfgate, as formerly. — 
 The king fhould oblige the public weighers and meafurers to do juftice 
 between the buyers and fellers ; and he fhould prevent vexatious delays- 
 at the cufiom-houfe, and the repeated opening of the packages contain- 
 ing federatures and other pretious furs and merchandize, (after being 
 fealed, as having paid the cuftoms) at Canterbury, Rochefter, Gravef- 
 end, and elfewhere, and fhould abolifh theexadlion of prince-money and 
 
 fome other unlawful charges Wrecked vefl'els fliould be preferved for 
 
 their owners on the ufual conditions. — The king fhould make dihgent 
 proviiion againft defeats in the length or breadth of cloths, or in the 
 
 quality of the wool The merchants of the Hanfe, after giving fecurity 
 
 to abide the law in fuch cafes as their property ufed to be arrell:ed for, 
 fhould have perfed liberty of felling their goods as they pleafed, and of 
 retailing Rhenifh wine, according to antient ufuage : neither fhould the 
 mayor of London claim a portion of their fait, as he ufed to do. [Fced- 
 ero,V.\i,pp. 544, 645, 739, 765, 779, 780, ']g2-— Cotton s Jlbridgcvicnt, 
 p. 692.] 
 
 June 6''' — The commercial and political dignity of the family of Me- 
 dici was now fupported by Lorenzo the Magnificent, the grandibn of 
 Gofmo. King Edward, who was perpetually in w.ant of money, had 
 now borrowed ;^5, 000 from him and his brother Giuliano, together 
 with Thomas Portunary, and others, filled merchants of Florence, pro- 
 bably agents of the Medici, for which, as ufual, he gave an affignment 
 
 cmplification of an aft of llie 1 2"' parliameiil of • This mode of payment was even introduced 
 
 Edv.aid IV, cDiiii riling the mcrcliants of tlie in the king's ^private tranfailions. In 14S2 lie 
 
 Hanfe in JL.onilon, [/fa/, frnt. [rim. ly Edw. IV- bought jewels from fome merchants of Genoa, 
 
 mm. 16, 17] which ii> pi-rhap; what Stow alludes wlio were to receive iheir payment in the fame 
 
 to: and the fum, mentioned by Kim as rent, was way. {Rymer'i Unpublijheil record:, Edzv. IF, Vol. 
 
 apparently a conipofition for tho pious payments ill, no. 102.] He died foon after, and it depcnd- 
 
 to be made out of the tcnantnts, for which the ed on the pleafiue of his fuccelFors, whether the 
 
 magiftratts of Loudon were trulUcs. Gcnocfe wtrc paid or not.
 
 A. D. 1475. % 
 
 ■opon the cufloms to fall due *. [Fa^dera, V. xii, pp. 7, 9.] Though mc 
 poflefs ample notices of Lorenzo's munificence in patronizing the arts 
 and literalurc, and of his political negotiations, in all which his fame 
 has even tranfcendcd that of his grandfather, yet very little knowlege of 
 his commercial tranfadions has been tranfmitted by the writers of the 
 age: and v^^e are indebted to our own public records for fome of the 
 mod important of them that are known to us f . 
 
 This year Caffa, the chief fettlement of the Genoefe in the Black fea, 
 was taken by the Turks %. The trade of the Genoefe, already declining, 
 was reduced very low by the lofs of all their eaftern poflelTlons ; and 
 their llate being alfo convulfed by internal difcord, they were obliged 
 to court the proteftion, or fubrnit to the dominion, of their more 
 
 powerful neighbours. \Uberti Folietce Hi/i. Gen. f. 243 b Be Guigues, 
 
 Hyi. des Hitnnei^ V. iii,y>. 378.] 
 
 1476, July I a"' — King Edward flavoured all the merchants of Italy 
 with an exemption from moft of the additional duties, impofcd upon 
 the perfons and the trade of foreigners by the ads of 31 Henry VI and 
 3 Edward IV, reducing the duty pay^able by them on wool from 66/8 
 to 53/4, and that on tin from 2/ to 1/3 §. \Fiymer''s MS. records, Edw. 
 
 lV,Vol.n[,p.SS'^ 
 
 November 6'" — We have feen the citizens of Cologne in friendOiip 
 
 with England, when all the other members of the Hanfe afTociation 
 were hoftile, or at leafl: unfriendly : and they alone enjoyed the privi- 
 leges of the Hanfe in England, though for very iliort terms, fubjed to 
 the trouble and expenfe of frequent renewals ||. In confequence of that 
 difiindion they had either withdrawn themfelves, or been expelled, 
 from the confederacy. But now that all the Hanfe towns were in friend- 
 fhip with England, Cologne was again received into the alTociation ; 
 and, agreeable to the treaty, due notice of the re-admiflion was fent to 
 King Edward by the magiftrates of Lubeck irv the name of the whole 
 Teutonic Hanfe ^. [Fo'dera, V. xii, p. 36.] 
 
 At this time, and perhaps long before, the Hanfe towns were divided 
 into four regions or clafles, according to the following arrangement. 
 
 Lubeck, by general confent, was placed at the head of the whole con- 
 federacy, and inverted with authority to convoke affemblies of the- 
 
 * The grjnt is nearl)' a copy of thofe formerly ticiilarly by Edward IV in Dectm'oer 1482, and 
 
 given to Cain/ian, an agent ot" Cofmo de Medici, by Richard III in January 1485. [Fcedfrdy V. 
 
 abridged in the note in p. 677. xii, ^. 255. J 
 
 f We Ihall afterwards fee a proof of the great || Their privileges were generally for only one 
 
 and ixlenlive credit of the bank known by the year, agreeable to the rule followed by King Ed- 
 
 fam' y name of Medici, at the head of v.hich Lor- ward. {Rot. pat. Etizu. IF, prim. I 1 , m. 13 ; fee. 
 
 enz.o undoubtedly was. 12, w. 11; prim 14, mm. 10, 14, 16.] 
 
 X The inhabitants of Kubefchah, a village f^ Bertius [AVr. Gtrm. Z,. iii,/». 25] dates this re- 
 
 among the mountains of Derbend, who call them- admiffion of Cologne (which he inadvertently fup. 
 
 felves Franks, are fuppofed to be defcendcd from pofcs the original accelfion of that city to the con- 
 
 the Genoefe of Caffa. * federacy) in the year mcccclxxxi, whercio lxxxi 
 
 J This indulgence was repeatedly renewed, pitr- is evidently a mlllake for lxxvi.
 
 6^4 ■^- ^' 147^' 
 
 neighbouring cities, and there the archives of the Hanfe are preferved. 
 To this city, as the more immediate head of the firft divifion, there were 
 annexed 
 
 Hamburgh, Lunenburg, Gripswald, 
 
 Rostock, Stettin, Colberg, 
 
 Wismar, Anclam, Stargard, and 
 
 Stralsund, Golnaw, Stolpe^ 
 
 Cologne was the chief city of the second region, in which were comprehended 
 Wesel, Hervorden, - Venlo, 
 
 Duesburg, Paderborn, Elburg, 
 
 Emmerich, Lemgow, Harderwick, 
 
 Warburg, Bilefeld, Daventer, 
 
 Unna_, Lipstadt, Campen, 
 
 Ham, Coesfeld, Swolle, 
 
 Munster, Nimeguen Groningen, 
 
 Osnaburg, Zutphen, Bolswert, 
 
 Dortmund, Rui-emond, and 
 
 Soest, Arnheim, Stavern. 
 
 Brunswick, the capital of the third region, had under its jurisdiction 
 Magdeburg, Hildesheim, Stade, 
 
 Goslar, Hanover, Bremen, 
 
 Einbeck, Ulsa, Hamelen, and 
 
 Gottingen, Buxtehude, Minden. 
 
 Dantzik, the chief city of Prussia, was at the head of the fourth region^ 
 consisting of 
 
 Koningsberg, Brunsberg, • and also sundry towns in 
 
 Colmar, Riga? Slavonia. 
 
 Thorn, Dorpt, 
 
 Elbing, Reval, 
 
 There were alfo fome cities, whofe right to the privileges of the 
 Hanfeatic aflbciation was controverted, viz. 
 
 Stendale, Breslaw, Halberstadt, 
 
 Soltvvedale, Cracow, Helmstadt, 
 
 Berlin, Hall, Ryla, 
 
 Brandenburg, Aschersleben, Nordheim, and 
 
 Frankfort on the Oder, Quedlinburg, Dinant*. 
 
 The four chief fadories of the Hanfe merchants were eftablifhed at 
 NovoGROD in Ruflia, London in England, probably the moft antient as 
 well as the moft important of the whole, Bruges in Flanders, and Bergen 
 in Norway. All the merchants of every one of the Hanfe towns had a 
 right to trade to thofe fadories, and to enjoy all the privileges obtained 
 from the fovereigns of the countries, conforming to the regulations en- 
 aded for the general good of the whole confederacy f . 
 
 * Dinant was at tliis time in ruins, l)ut after, many, which is fomclimcs followed by Werdoii- 
 
 wards revived. Wtrdcnliagen extends the num- hagen, the profcfTed hidorian of the Hanfe rc- 
 
 ber of cities of this dcfcription to forty-four, among publics. But, though accuracy and unquellionable 
 
 which arc Lifbon and Stockholm. authenticity might be expcitcil from the records 
 
 •j- Thefe lills and other notices are taken from preferved at Lubeek, fuch is, uolwithflanding, the 
 
 Bcrtius, who w rote a book upon the cities of Get. uncertainty of Hanfeatic hillory, that of the lifts 
 
 4. &'"""■
 
 A. D. 1476. 695 
 
 This year, or perhaps a little earlier, Louis XT king of France efta- 
 blifhed ports for the fpeedy conveyance of letters ; an inftitution ap- 
 parently unknown in that country ever fince it became independent of 
 the Roman dominion. But thole ports were not intended for the ac- 
 commodation of merchants, or the public, but only for the king's own 
 fervice. {Comines, L.v,c. 10.] 
 
 1477, Augaft — The duke of Burgundy, unwilling that his fubjeds 
 fhould fuffer by the lofs of any of their commercial connexions, had 
 written to Scotland, exprefling his wilh for a renewal of the alliance en- 
 tered into by that kingdom with his predeceflors. The parliament of 
 Scotland, in return, ordered an embalfy to be fent to the duke at the 
 expenfe of the burghs, in order to renew the alliance, endeavour to ob- 
 tain fome additional privileges for the merchants, and aOc redrefs for 
 damages fuftained. \ABs, Jac. Ill, c. 90.] 
 
 Provifions being very fcarcc in Scotland, and the fupply depending 
 chiefly upon importation, the foreign merchants, importing corn and 
 other lawful merchandize, were alTured, that they fliould find an honour- - 
 able reception and fxvourable treatment, and that they rtiould not be 
 haraffed with new impafitions and arreftments, which, it was acknow- 
 leged, had lately prevented them from continuing the trade ; that, as 
 foon as their cargo was entered at the tolbooth (curtom-houfe),-the king 
 and the lords of the council ftiould be firft ferved, at the price fixed with 
 the merchants, and the remainder fl:iould be fold to the pubUc with 
 perfedl freedom, [c. 91.] 
 
 The Scottifli curers of ialmon having diminirtied their barrels, where^ 
 by the reputation of the article in foreign countries was impaired, they 
 were ftridly enjoined to ufe no barrels fmaller than the old affife of Ham- 
 burgh *. [f. 95.] 
 
 T478, January — Tli^re had been many abufes committed in the courts 
 of piepoudres held at the fairs in England, chiefly by the avarice and 
 injuftice of the ftewards, bailifs, and others, whole province it was to 
 hold the courts and adminifler impartial juftice in all cafes arifing dur- 
 ing the continuance, and within the jurifdidion, of the fairs, but who 
 took cognizance of contrafts and trefpafles unconnected with the fairs, 
 and frequently having no foundation in truth. Thefe enormities pre- 
 
 given by Bertius, Werdenhagen, John Cliiveriiis 1206, that fcventy-two cities were then compre- 
 
 fwho copies from Huitfield's Chronicle, a book I hcnded in the Hanfe confederacy. [_Rffp- Germ. 
 
 have not been able to find) and the writer of an V. ii, />/>. 366, 370.] But that charter, dated be- 
 
 elfay on the Hanfeatic confederacy in the fecond fore Henry was born, is evidently fpurious. Wc 
 
 volume of the Refpublica Gennanus, no two agree in have already feen, that Henry's charter to the 
 
 the names or numbers of the towns. The laft- merchants of the Teutonic gildhall is dated in 
 
 mentioned author (who got his materials from 1259. — Where is any charter of 1206 to be feen ? 
 Henry Suderman, ambaflador from the Hanfe con-. * The meafure is explained in an adl of a fub- 
 
 federacy to Holland, England, and various parts fcquent parliament [t. 131] to be fourteen gallons, 
 
 of the empire between the years 1550 and 1590) By the regulation of meafures enadcd in the reign 
 
 fays, that it clearly appears from the charter of of James I, [c. 80] the gallon meafure contained . 
 
 iienry Hiking of England, dated in ihe year 32S ounces of clear river water.
 
 696 A. D. 1478. 
 
 vented merchants from attending the fairs, whereby the people of tlie 
 country were deprived of the convenience of purchafing goods, and the 
 lords of the fairs loft their cuftomary profits. It was therefor enaded, 
 that in fuch cafes the plaintiffs fhould fwear, that their caufes originated 
 in the time of the fair and within the jurifdidion of it. [^6?j- 17 Zdw. 
 IV, r. 2.] 
 
 Tile-makers were required to have their tiles fufficicntly wrought, 
 well whited and anealed, and of ftandard dimenfions. \c. 4.] 
 
 March 5'" — King Edward renewed the antient friendfhip and free 
 coinmercial intercourfe with Frifeland, which had been interrupted. 
 \F(£dera, V. xii, p. 51.] 
 
 May 3'^ — Tn this age it was cuftomary for fovereigns to be concerned 
 •in merchandize. We have feen a great ftiip, belonging to the king of 
 Sweden, in England in the year 1455. The king of Naples had a galeafle 
 now in Southampton, the commander of which obtained King Edward's 
 protedion for himfelf and his veflel from arreft for any debt or tranf- 
 greflion. The king of Scotland was owner of at leaft one veflel, a carvel, 
 which was taken at Cadfant in Flanders by a veflel belonging to the 
 duke of Gloucefter, for which King Edward ordered his ambaflador 
 Lye to promife reparation. But King Edward went beyond all the con- 
 temporai-y fovereigns in commercial tranfactions : he owned feveral 
 veflels *, ' and, like a man whofe living depended upon his merchandize, 
 ' exported the fineft wool, cloth, tin, and the other commodities of the 
 ' kingdom, to Italy and Greece, and imported their produce in return, 
 ' by the agency of fa<5lors, or fupercargoes.' {See above, p. 671. — Feed- 
 era, V. xii, p. 59. — MS. Cott. Vejp. C. xvi,^ 119, 120. — H'ljh Croyl. p. 
 559.] But the trade of thefe royal merchants, when they carried it to 
 a great extent, as King Edward adually did, muft have been very op- 
 preflive and ruinous to the real merchants, who could not pollibly com- 
 pere with rivals, who paid no cuftoms, and had the national force to 
 aflift and protedl their trading fpeculations. 
 
 June 1"— Agreeable to the treaty between England and the Hanfe 
 towns, notice was given, under the feal of Lubeck, that the citizens of 
 Colberg had defired to withdraw from the confederacy. \Fcedera^ V. xii, 
 pp. 60, 91.] 
 
 July 1 2'" — The treaty of thirty years, entered into with the duke of 
 Burgundy in 1467, was now renewed, and declared perpetual. In ad- 
 dition to the articles of the former treaty, it was ftipulated, that the 
 merchants of England fliould be at liberty to carry the gold or filver, 
 acquired by them in countries not fubjed to Burgundy, through the 
 
 * He took from William Canyngs of BriRol be fitted out for an invafion of Scotland, it is 
 
 2,4.70 tuns of (hipping, as already obfcrvcd in a doubtful, whether they had been all employed in 
 
 note under the year 1450. A lilt of fix vefTels, tr ide, or were built on purpofe for war, as tliofe 
 
 called //;^ king's Jliifis, appears in the year 148 1, now called L'ln^^s Jliifis are. 
 :^FcecLra, V. xii, />. 139.] 13ut ai they were to «
 
 A. D. 1478. 697 
 
 Eurgundian territories, and the fubjedts of Burgundy fliould have fimilar 
 liberty in England : — that the court-mafter of the Englifh merchants 
 fhould not prefume to fix the prices to be paid for goods at the fairs of 
 Antwerp or any other place in the dominions of Burgundy, or to make 
 ordinances againfl buying from the inhabitants of any town or any in- 
 dividual, or againfl buying till near the end of the fair, by which the 
 fellers, tired out with attendance, had formerly been obliged to let their 
 goods go at an under-value ; neither fhould they ufe different weights in 
 buying and felling, as they had formerly done : — in cafe of any Englifli 
 merchant being injured by a Netherlander, no other Netherland merch- 
 ant fliould be liable to be arrefted or injured on that account. [^Foedera^ 
 V. xii, /». 67.] 
 
 At the fame time the commiflioners made many regulations, refpedl- 
 ing the recovery of debts, and againfl frauds in the package, fliipping, 
 and fale of wool. \Foedera, V. yX\, p. 76.] 
 
 Odlober 22* — King Edward followed the example of his predecelTor in 
 infringing the adl of parliament refpeding the flaple of Bergen, and the 
 treaty with Denmark, which had recently been renewed, as appears by 
 two licences to Robert and Thomas Alcock, authorizing each of them 
 to employ a fhip of 240 tuns in carrying goods, not belonging to the 
 flaple, to Iceland, and trading for fifh or any other commodities of that 
 ifland, during a year. \Fcedera^ V. -^n, pp. 57, 94.] 
 
 1479, February 14"' — In the year 1475 King Edward landed with an 
 army in France, having previoufly promifed to give fome provinces of 
 that kingdom to the duke of Burgundy for his alllftance in the conquefl 
 of it. But ' Lewis the XI, being a very wife prince and philofopher 
 * above the common fort *,' diverted the threatened calamity from his 
 kingdom, without the effufion of any blood but that of the grape, by 
 agreeing to give Edward a prefent payment of 75,000 ecus (fcutes or 
 crowns), 50,000 more as a ranfom for Margaret the widow of King 
 Henry VI, and an annual penfion of 50,000 for life f . Neither was he 
 fparing of entertainments, prefents, and penfions, to Edward's counfelors, 
 nor negledful of his foldiers, whom he gratified by a prefent of 300 
 cart-loads of wine. The king of France paid the annuity very regular- 
 ly for feveral years, and now even entered into a new treaty, whereby 
 he bound his fuccefTors to continue the fame payment during one hun- 
 dred years after the deceafe of himfelf or Edward, whichever of them 
 
 • Thefe are the words of Rymer in his dedic- Old ecu of France 042 Englilh. 
 
 ation of the eleventh volume of the Fccdcra to new ecu of the fun o 4 3 1 
 Quecn Anne. great groat o o 4-J- 
 
 f The following rates of currency for the coins \_FaJera, V. xii,/>. 115.] 
 of England, as fettled by the commiflioners of the There were two commiflions in 1474 and 1478 
 
 two countries in January 14S0 may be ufeful for for fettling the ratiis of the money of England and 
 
 uiiderllanding fome of the tranfaAions of the age. that of the Burgundian dominions. But the fet- 
 
 Englifh rofe noble [,'},$ o French money. tlements do not appear. ^Rymcr's MS. record:, 
 
 angel 234 Ediu. IV, fal. ii, no. 117; Vol. iii, tta. zS.j 
 
 filver groat 026 
 
 Vol. L 4 T
 
 698 A. D. 1479. 
 
 fhould die firft. What conneds this Angular tranfadion with commercial 
 hiftory, is the proof it furniflies of the great reputation of the com- 
 mercial houfe of Medici, it being exprefsly ftipulated in the treaty, that 
 the king of France fhould engage the partners of the bank of Medici to 
 become bound for the faithful and regular performance of the agree- 
 ment on the part of himfelf and his heirs *. [Feeder a^ V. xi, pp. 804 
 etfeqq; V. xii, p. \o\.'\ In the year 1487 a houfe of the Medici in 
 Naples, apparently a branch of this bank, paid a bill drawn by Mar- 
 chioni, a Florentine in Portugal, to Covillan, the Portuguefe traveler 
 and difcoverer of India. {Purchas^ B. vii, c. 5, § 15.] 
 
 1480, September 16"" — Whatever doubt there may be refpeding the 
 fheep fent from England to Spain in the reign of Edward IV, there can 
 be no doubt that that prince now gave permiffion to his fifter, the duchefs 
 dowager of Burgundy, and her afligns, to tranfport one thoufand oxen f 
 and two thoufand rams out of the kingdom every year, as long as Jloe fhould 
 Mve, without even paying any cuftom. [Fcedera, V. xii, />. 137.] Thus 
 it plainly appears, that Edward III and Edward IV had little or no ap- 
 prehenfion of any bad confequence from the breed of Englifli flieep 
 being naturalized on the continent : and it may be believed, that neither 
 the duchefs, who well underflood, and keenly purfued, her own intereft, 
 nor the fagacious Netherlanders ading under her affignment, allowed 
 the grant to lie dormant during the reigns of her two brothers. Her 
 enemy Henry VII, we may be alTured, would put an end to her ex- 
 portation as foon as he got the power. 
 
 148 1, February 15'" — A war with Scotland brought into adion the 
 greatefl royal navy, hitherto known to have exifted in England fince the 
 Norman conquefl;, as appears by orders addreffed to eleven naval com- 
 manders to prefs mariners for manning their vefTels, fix of which are 
 diflinguifhed as king's fhips. [Fcedera, V. x'l, p. 139.] 
 
 It was in this war that King Edward introduced an eflabliihmcnt of 
 riders with pofl horfes, to be changed at every twenty miles, who, by 
 handing letters from one to another, in two days forwarded them two 
 hundred miles, apparently the farthefl extent of the eflablifliment J, 
 [Hi/l. Croyl. ap. Gale, p. 571.] This improved mode of conveyance, like 
 that in France from which it was copied, had no connedion with com- 
 merce or public accommodation, unlefs it may be confidered as the firft 
 rudiments of an eftablifliment, which, when properly extended, might 
 
 • The Medici were to give their hond to King hiftorians of the Medici, and, if I miftake not, of 
 
 Edward within eighteen months. But as he very all otlier liiftoriaiis. 
 
 foon after made an alliance with Biirgnridy againlt f ' Mille bovcs.' This latin word comprehends 
 
 Vrance, it is probable that the bond was never bulls and cows aa well as oxen, 
 executed. The ftipulation in this treaty, fo il- J We find an order of the Scottith parliament 
 
 hiflr;itlve of the commercial fplendour of the houfe in April 1481 for expediting couriers to every part 
 
 of Medici, has cfcapcd the attention of Valoii, of the kingdom ; but it does not e>;prefs, wlicthcr 
 
 Bruni, Tenhove, Rofcoe, Noble, and Clayton, the they had the changes of horks, without which rapid 
 
 4 conveyance is impradicable.
 
 A. D. 1481, 699 
 
 become one of the greateft and moft eflential accommodations, that ever 
 was given to commercial and friendly intercourfe. 
 
 The Portuguefe flill profecuting their difcoveries along the wefl coaft 
 of Africa, which too often degenerated into voyages of piracy and flave- 
 hunting, this year built the fort of S'. George de la Mina in 5" north la- 
 titude : and foon after the king of Portugal aflumed the title of lord of 
 Guinea. \Barros, Dec. i, L. iii, c. i. — Foedern^ V. xii,/>. 380.] 
 
 1482, January — The parliament ordained the following ftandard mea- 
 fures and regulations for fifh cured for fale. — Salmon to be packed in 
 
 butts of 84 gallons, barrels of 42, and half barrels of 21 Herrings in 
 
 barrels of 32 gallons, half barrels, and firkins (quarters) in proportion. 
 — Eels in barrels of 42 gallons, half barrels and firkins in proportion. — 
 Merchantable falmon were to meafure 26 inches at leaft from the bone 
 of the fin to the third joint in the tail, and to be fplit open and freed 
 from the bone as low as the navel. Grils (fmall falmon) were to be 
 packed by themfelves ; and thokes (broken-bellied falmon) were not to 
 be packed with fizeable or found filh. — The herrings in a barrel were 
 required to be all caught at one time, faked at one time, and to be as 
 good, and as well packed, in the middle of the cafk as at the ends. — 
 No gall-beaten, ftarved, or pulled, eels, or red eels, were to be packed 
 with good eels. — The magiftrates of towns were required to appoint fuf- 
 ficient infpedors to examine the quality and meafure of filh. {Ads 22 
 Edw. ly, (T. 2.] 
 
 The ad prohibiting the importation of feveral kinds of filk goods be- 
 ing no longer in force, fuch an inundation of corfes, ribands, laces, call 
 filk, and Coleyn filk, poured into the country, that all the Englifh mak- 
 ers of fuch goods, men as well as women, were thrown idle ; a clear 
 proof that the Englifh goods were fi:ill of inferior quality. The parlia- 
 ment, in confideration of their diftrefs, prohibited the importation of 
 all fuch goods for four years, [c. 3.] 
 
 Machinery was fo far improved in England, that hats, bonnets, and 
 caps, were thickened and fulled by mills. This abridgement of labour 
 gave fuch an alarm to thofe engaged in the old method of thickening 
 them by the a£lion of the hands and feet *, that they petitioned parlia- 
 ment to prohibit the uie of the mills, which, they alleged, deprived 
 them of employment, and broke the fabric of the hats, &c. The par- 
 liament indulged them fo far as to forbid the ufe of the mills for two 
 years, [c. 5.] This is, I believe, the firfl; known inftance of an oppof- 
 ition to the improvement of manufadures by machinery in England, 
 which has regularly ever fince rifen up againfi; the introdudioii of every 
 fucceeding improvement tending to make goods cheaper by abridging 
 labour. Upon the fame principle corn ought not to be ground by water 
 
 * Apparently the fame method, which is de- female maiuifactiirers of tlie Wcftcrn iflands and 
 fcribed by Mattin about a century ago, and by Highlands of Scotland. 
 Pennant in our own days, as Hill prafitifed by the 
 
 4 T 2
 
 yoo A. D. 1482. 
 
 or wind mills, but only by hand mills, corn fields ought to be dug rather 
 than ploughed, heavy loads ought to be carried by men rather than 
 drawn by horfes in carts or waggons, and all canals ought to be de- 
 ft royed. 
 
 March 9"" — King Edward entered into a treaty with the inhabitants 
 of Guipufcoa in Spain * (they having the confent of their fovereigns 
 Ferdinand and Ifabella) wherein, befides mutual freedom of trade, and 
 fecurity to be given for the friendly condu6l of vellels on both fides be- 
 fore their failing, it was fi:ipulated, that, in cafe of letters of reprifat 
 being ifilied by the kings of England or Spain, the Guipufcoans fiiould 
 not be injured by the Englifh cruifers, and they Ihould permit no 
 Spanifh letters of reprilal againfi: the Englifti to be put in force in their 
 province. {^Fcedern, V. xii,^. 148.] 
 
 Augufl 4''' — When King Edward was preparing for an invafion of 
 France in the year 1474, he concluded a treaty with James king of Scot- 
 land for a marriage of their infant children ; and fo defirous was he of 
 being on friendly terms with that prince, that he agreed to pay his 
 daughter's portion by infl:allments to commence immediately, and ac- 
 tually made feveral payments. It was, however, ftipulated, that, if the 
 marriage fiiould not be accompliftied, the money advanced fiiould be 
 reftored. Anew fyftem of politics having induced Edward to break with 
 Scotland, the provoft, fellowfliip of merchants, and community, of Edin- 
 burgh f , in confequence of his declaration, that he did not chufe to com- 
 plete the marriage, now bound themfelves and all their property, at 
 home or abroad, for the return of the money. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 824; 
 F'. xii, pp. 161, 165, 167.] It was probably this large and patriotic pay- 
 ment made by the citizens, that induced the contemporary hiftorian of 
 Croyland [ap. Go/e,p. S^2'\ to call Edinburgh a very opulent town. But, 
 though the merchants were evidently engaged in foreign trade, and had 
 property configned in foreign countries, its opulence was probably much 
 inferior to that of fome of the maritime villages (or burghs of barony) 
 at no great diftance from it in the prefent day. From this time, however, 
 Edinburgh continued to improve with a flow, but gradual progrefs till 
 the year 1603, when it loft the advantages flowing from the preience of 
 the fovereign. 
 
 September 1 2''' — King Edward confirmed the exifting treaty, or truce, 
 with tlie king of Portugal. The Portuguefe ambafiadors requefled him 
 to prohibit John Tintam and William Fabian, who were fitting out fliips, 
 at the defire of the Spanifli duke of Medina Sidonia, for the coaft of 
 Guinea, from proceeding on the voyage, as their fovereign, the lord of 
 
 • Wc have nlready fecn an inftancc In the year Edinburgh is called firov^ as at prefent, and not 
 
 1351 of the people of the north coaft of Spain tn- alderman as in the lailier ages, liht: felloii'Jhifi of 
 
 tcring into a treaty for themfelves. mcrclianls is now called the merchant company. 
 
 f In the obligation, &c. the chief magiftrate of
 
 A. D. 14S2. 701 
 
 that country, referved the trade of it for his own fubjecls : and he grant- 
 ed all they required of him *. 
 
 December — The parliament of Scotland ordered, that no corrupted 
 or mixed wine fhould be imported or fold in the kingdom ; and they 
 prohibited all mixture of wine or beer, imder pain of death. \_^cis 
 jfac. Illy c. 89 f . j This aft merits notice chiefly as containing, perhaps, 
 the earliefl: extant notice of beer in Scotland. 
 
 1483, April a^'"^ — The only matter worth notice, any waj'' connected 
 with commerce, which occurs in the very fliort reign of Edward V, is 
 a renewal for one year to Robert Alcock, merchant of Kingflon upon 
 Hull, of the permiflion to trade to Iceland with a Hiip, which he is now 
 allowed to have as large as 250 tuns 4. \Foedera, V. xii, p. 180.] 
 
 1484, January — In the only parliament of King Richard III grievous 
 complaints were made of the many frauds introduced in the clothing 
 trade. What they were, will appear from the following regulations and 
 prohibitions. — Whole cloths were now to meafure only 24 yards in length 
 by the fold, and to be two yards broad. Half cloths to be of the fame 
 breadth, and run from 12 to 16 yards. The 15uyer to allow for any 
 meafure above 24 yards in whole cloths, or 12 in half cloths §, Cloths 
 c-sWtdiJlreits, 1 2 yards long and i yard broad. Kerfeys, 1 8 yards long, 
 i-j-'j- yard broad. One inch was to be given in addition to every yard : 
 the cloths were to meafure the required breadth within the lifts, and to 
 have the fame breadth and goodnefs throughout the whole piece. Cloths 
 not made according to law were to be cut afunder, and the owner of 
 them was to be fined. Seals of lead, ftamped on one fide with the arms 
 of England, and on the other with the arms of the town or name of 
 the county wherein the cloth was made, fhould be affixed to every cloth 
 by aulnegers of fufficient fkill and reputation. No cloths fhould be of- 
 fered to fale, or be exported, without being fully watered ; and no cloth 
 fliould be drawn in length or breadth after being fully watered ||. No 
 flocks or other deceitful material fhould be put in cloth ; neither fhould 
 chalk be put upon white cloths or kerfeys. No cloth fhould be fheared 
 or cancelled before being fully watered. Tenters for flretching cloths 
 fhould not be fet up within houfes, but in open places. The pradice of 
 exporting picked wool to the Meditei'ranean and leaving the locks and . 
 
 * This tranfaction, of which I fee no traces in others, pafFcd in December 1482, are publiflied 
 
 any acccfliblc Eiiglidi record, is tranfcrlbed from by Miiiray, but do not appear in the edition of 
 
 the Poitugiiefe hilhm'an Garcias de Reltnde by 1566. 
 
 Hakluyt. \_Vuiagcs, V. ii, part il, f. 2.] Accord- j; It is probable that AJcock had got annual re- - 
 
 ing to Doflor Campbell, [Po/. Survey, V. ii, p. newals ever fmce 1478. 
 
 626] fome fay, that Tiiitam and Fabian actually § Surely it would have been much better to fay, 
 
 accomplilhed the voyage, and were great gainers that the cloth (hould be fold at fo much a-yard. 
 by it. But, though he is generally very copious || The complainers alleged, that it was common 
 
 ju quotations, he has not given us the name of any to draw a cloth of 24 yards out to 30, and from 
 
 one narrator of that voyage. 7 quarters to 8 in the breadth. 
 
 f As numbered by Murray. This a£l and two 4
 
 702 A. D. 1484. 
 
 other refufe at home, being found prejudicial to the finer branches of 
 the manufadare, was prohibited ; and the exporters were obliged to 
 take the whole fleece as it was clipped. No orchel or cork of the kind 
 called jarecork fhould be ufed in dying woollen cloths ; but woaded wool 
 and cloth made of wool only, if they were perfedly boiled and mad- 
 dered, might be dyed with Englifh cork. The pradice of faflening 
 ruflies upon the lift, in order to make cloth dyed in the piece appear. as 
 if dyed in the wool, was prohibited. To all thefe prohibitions fuitable 
 
 penalties were attached From the operation of the ad: the parliament 
 
 exempted cloths called ray^ and cloths made in Winchefter and Salifbury 
 ufually joined with ray ; cloths called vervife,ploiikef.s, turkins, or cekftrines, 
 with broad lifts; packing tvhites ; veffes ; cogzvare ; wotjleds ; floretices 
 with cremil lifts, broad lifts, or fmall lifts; bajiards ; kendals ; dtXidfrife 
 ware*. [ABs i Ric. Ill, c. 8.] 
 
 The merchants of Italy, including the Catalans f, were accufed of 
 keeping houfes, warehoufes, and cellars, in London and other places, in 
 which they packed and mixed their goods, and kept them till they got 
 great prices for them ;' they fold by retail ; they bought Engllfti com- 
 modities, and fold them again in England ; and they fent part of the 
 money arifing from their fales to their own country by exchange ; they 
 received other foreigners to lodge in their houfes, and made fecret bar- 
 gains with them ; they bought up wool, and fold part of it again to the 
 king's fubjeds, and employed people to make part of it into cloth on 
 their account ; foreign artificers with their families reforted to London 
 and other parts of England in greater numbers than formerly, and they 
 engaged in the manufadure of cloth and other eafy handicraft occupa- 
 tions, and alfo in the bufinefs of importing foreign goods and felling 
 them by retail in fairs and markets ; but they declined the more labor- 
 ious occupations of ploughing and carting:}: ; they employed none but 
 their own country people as workmen and fervants, whereby the king's 
 fubjeds were driven into idlenefs, beggary, and vice ; and, after making 
 fortunes in England, they retired to other countries to enjoy them — In 
 order to remedy thofe evils, the parliament enaded, that all Italian 
 merchants, including Catalans, not being denizens, ftiould fell the goods 
 they had now in England, and inveft the whole proceeds, their reafon- 
 able expenfes excepted, in Englifli commodities, before the 1'' of May 
 1485 ; all goods arriving after Eafter 1484 fliould be fold within eight 
 
 » Tlicre was an ordinance for ilic lengtl\ and the people bordering on the Mediterranean under 
 
 breadth of clotlis during the fliort rci;rn of Ed- the name of Itah'ans. 
 
 ward V, IRymer's MS. rnords, Eihv. V"\, which % To forci;rners England is indebted for the de- 
 was probably the foundation of this adt. The grce of perfection, whicli the boallcd woollen ma- 
 enumcration of names in it, now moftiy obfolete, nufafture has attained. Several protedions for 
 will not be thought ufelefs by thofe who with to foreign woollen nianufacliirers had been given by 
 trace the progrefs of the manufaftnre, and may Edward IV. Surely, if ploughmen or carters had 
 afford fomc allillancc to antiquarian refearch. come from the continent, there would liave been 
 
 \ The Engliflj ia thofe days ufed to include all as much rcafon for an outcry againlt them.
 
 A. D. 1484, 703 
 
 months after their arrival, and all goods unfold at the end of eight 
 months Ihould be carried abroad within two months more, unlefs pre- 
 vented by the weather, on pain of forfeiture *. They were allowed to 
 remove the goods imported by them from one place to another within 
 the eight months. They might take their own countrymen to lodge 
 with them, but no others. They were prohibited from felling woollen 
 cloth in England, and from employing people to convert wool into cloth 
 for their account; and they were enjoined to carry all the cloth and wool 
 bought by them to countries within the Mediterranean. Foreigners were 
 alfo prohibited from exerciling any handicraft occupation in England, 
 except as fervants to Englifh mafters ; and they were particularly debar- 
 red from having any concern in the clothing trade. Foreign artificers or 
 handicraftfmen were obliged to fell their wares by wholefale only, and 
 only in xhe place of their refidence ; and they were not to have any ap- 
 prentices or fervants but natives of England, except their own children f. 
 — A dawning attention to the interefl of literature fuggeftcd an exempt- 
 ion from the rigour of this ad: in favour of the importers of books 
 written or printed, and the writers, illuminers, and printers of books. 
 
 The prohibition of the importation of many foreign articles, firft en- 
 adled in the year 1463, and continued for four years in 1482, was now 
 extended to ten years. And, at the requefl of the girdlers, point-mak- 
 ers, pinners, purfer&5 glovers, cutlers, blade-fmiths, blackfmiths, fpur- 
 ricrs, gold-beaters, painters, fadlers, lorimers J, founders, card-makers, 
 hurers :{:, wire-mongers, weavers, horners, bottle-makers, and copper- 
 fmiths, the parliament prohibited the importation of all kinds of girdles, 
 points, laces, leather purfes, pouches, pins, gloves, knives, hangers, tail- 
 ors' fheers, fciilbrs, andirons, cobbards, tongs, fire-forks, gridirons, flock 
 locks, keys, hinges and garnets, fpurs, painted glafl^es, painted papers, 
 painted forcers, painted images, painted cloths, beaten gold or beaten 
 filver wrought in papers for painters, faddles, faddle-trees, horfe-harnefs, 
 boots, bits, flirrups, buckles, chains, latten nails with iron fhanks, turnets, 
 flanding candleflicks, hanging candlellicks, holy-water flopps §, chafing- 
 diflies, hanging lavers, curtain rings, cards for wool (thofe of Rouen ex- 
 cepted), clafps for gowns, buckles for fhoes, broches, bells (thofe for 
 hawks excepted), tin and leaden fpoons, wire of latten and iron, candle- 
 
 * Eight, or probably ratber in reality ten, or But it is obfcurely expirffbd ; and the prohibition 
 
 even twelve, months, when compared witli forty was perhaps rellridled to thofe who fliould arrive 
 
 days, the time formerly limited, may be reckoned after Eafter 1484. 
 
 a liberal allowance. The time, now fliortened, docs J± Lorimers, makers of bits, fpurs, &c. I know 
 not feem to have been enjoyed by any law, but not, what kind of trade hurers followed, unlefs 
 only in virtue of that filent repeal, which permits they were workers in hair.' //are is hair in North- 
 laws of evident abfurdity to fink quietly into ob- country dialeft. \^Co/es's D':3.2 
 livion. § Probably rather_/?o.v^,-, deep vefielswit!ilia3dL:s> 
 
 f This fentencc is contradii^Vory to a preceding for carrying liquids, 
 one, which allows no foreign liaudiciaflfmtn at all.
 
 704 A. D. 1484. 
 
 flicks, grates, horns for lanterns, or any article pertaining to any of the 
 crafts above mentioned, [cc. 10, 12.] 
 
 The bowyers alfo complained of a ' feditious confederacy of the Lom- 
 ' bards,' who had raifed bow-ftaves from 40/" to ^S a hundred, and 
 obliged them to take the good and bad together without garbling. It 
 was therefor enacted, that no Venetian or other merchant fliould be per- 
 mitted to import merchandize without bringing ten good bow-flaves for 
 every butt of mahnfey or tyre, and that bow-ftaves fliould be garbled, 
 and fold only to natives of the king's dominions, [r. 11.] 
 
 It was reprefented in parliament, that till about the year 1450 malm- 
 fey wine (apparently in confequence of a glutted importation) ufed to 
 be fold from 50/to 53_/4 per butt, running from 126 to 140 gallons, the 
 payment being made, two thirds in cloth, and one third in money ; but 
 now, by thefidtiliy of the fellers who were r. ade denizens, the importa- 
 tion was fo proportioned to the demand, that the butt, running only 
 •about io8 gallons, fold for £^ : 6 : 8, paid all in money. The parliament 
 (without interfering with the price) enaded, that no malmfey fhould be 
 imported in butts fmaller than 1 26 gallons, nor any wine or oil in cafks 
 fmaller than the ftandard meafures * ; and in cafe of defedive meafure 
 they only obliged the feller to allow for it to the buyer. They alfo re- 
 newed the law for gauging all calks of wine or oil imported, before they 
 fhould be fold. [c. 13.] 
 
 Of fifteen adls, paffed in the only parliament alTembled in the reign 
 of Richard III, there were feven f for the regulation of commerce and 
 manufadlures, of the condition of which they exhibit a pretty good 
 view, and alfo of the fituation of foreigners trading to, or refiding in, 
 England, which, though to us it appears hampered with ungenerous, 
 impolitic, or unavailing, reftridions, was much ameliorated in compari- 
 fon of what it had formerly been. 
 
 All the laws of England prior to this fellion of parliament were writ- 
 ten in barbarous Latin or French, and laterly moft of them in a jargon 
 compounded of Englifh and French, but all unintelligible to the great 
 bulk of the people, whofe lives and properties were to be difpofed of by 
 them. This parliament firft gave the people of England laws in their 
 own language ; and ever fince mongrel Latin and French have been dif- 
 carded from the acts of parliament. Richard's ads were alfo the firft 
 that were printed. 
 
 February 21" — King Richard gave the magiftrates of Kingfton upon 
 Hull permiflion to export and import all kinds of goods, wool and wool- 
 fells excepted, and out of the cuftoms of them to retain £60 annually 
 for twenty years, to be applied for the fupport of the harbour and other 
 public expenditure of the town. [Fadcra, V. xii, p. 213.] 
 
 * They arc particularized in the aiS^, and are already inferted from the aiV 2 Ilcn. VI, c. 1 1. 
 
 •^ One of ih«m \c. 6J was a perpetuation of the law of Edward IV refpefting courts of piepoudre.
 
 A. D. 1484. 705 
 
 February — The parliament of Scotland prohibited for two years the 
 exportation of tallow, and hides, faked, dried, or barked. [J6Is Jac. 
 Ill, c. 115.] 
 
 Martin Beheni of Nurenberg, after having redded about twenty years 
 in his ifland of Fayal, one of the Azores, is faid to have this year ap- 
 plied to John II king of Portugal for the means of undertaking extenf- 
 ive difcoveries. Having obtained fome veflels, he dilcovered Brazil, 
 and ranged along the coafl as far as the ftrait fince known by the name 
 of Magalhanes, or Magellan. But this difcovery is not fo well authen- 
 ticated as we could wifh fo important an event to be *. 
 
 The fame Martin, in conjunction with Rodrigo and Jofeph, two JewiOi 
 phyficians in the fervice of king John, firll: applied the aftrolabe, hither- 
 to ufed only by aftronomers f , to obfervations of the fun's altitude at 
 fea, and compofed tables of declination for afcertaining the latitude. \Pur~ 
 chas''s Filgrimes^ B. ii, § 3.] Before thefe improvements were introduced 
 in navigation, feamen mufl have had very little confidence in their con- 
 jeEiures of their polition. 
 
 1485, June 4"" — As fome Englifli merchants intended to trade to for- 
 eign countries, and efpecially Italy, with their own or chartered veflels 
 and their merchandize. King Richard, obferving from the pradice of 
 other nations the advantage of having a magiftrate appointed for fettling 
 difputes among them, and alfo underflanding that the city of Pifa was 
 moll convenient for the refidence of the Englifli merchants, he, at the 
 requeft of the merchants trading,. or intending to trade, to Pifa and the 
 adjacent countries, appointed Lorenzo Strozzi, a merchant of Florence, 
 to be conful of the Englifli merchants in thole countries, and delegated 
 to him the power of hearing, aiid fummarily determining, all difputes 
 between Englifli fubjedis in thofe parts, and doing all other things per- 
 taining to the office of a conful, with a right to receive one and a quar- 
 te^per cent on all the fales and purchafes of the EngUfli in the city and 
 port of Pifa."|:. [Ftxdera^ V. xii, p. 270.] This was pretty certainly the 
 
 * Mr. Otto [Amer. Phil. tranfaS. V. ii, />. 26S] 400 miles from north to fouth, all on the north 
 
 fays, that this difcovery is authenticated by Mar- fide of the equator, which is probably drawn from 
 
 tin's own letters dated in i486, which are preferv- fancy for the fabulous Atlantis of antiquity, but 
 
 cd in the archives of Nurenberg, and alfo by the could never have been drawn by a man who had 
 
 delineation of a terreftrial globe condrufted by ranged along the coaft of South America as tar as 
 
 himfelf in 149*, and ftill preferred in the library the Straits of Magalhanes. 
 
 of Nurenberg. Dodtor Robertfon, the hiftorian f Chaucer, the father of Englifh poetry, in 
 
 of America, denies the difcovery. If genuine the year 1391 nddreifed an effay on the aftrolabie 
 
 Touchers of the truth of it ilill remain at Nuien- to little Louis his fon. 
 
 berg, it is furely very unworthy of the literary in- J According to Rofcoe \_Life of Lorenzo tie 
 
 dufti-)' of Germany to allow them to lie In obfcurity Media, c. 10] a Lorenzo Strozzi, probably the 
 
 and concealment. — Quere, has not Mr. Otto mif- fame perfon, wau alive after the year 1538, and 
 
 taken the delineation of the Nurenberg globe ? wrote the Life of his brother Filippo Strozzi, 
 
 In the engraved copy of it, the only lands de- which is publillied along with Beneihlto VarchCs 
 
 hneated in the ocean, which has the Azores and Hi/lory of Fhtencc. — Henry VII, dcfirous of un. 
 
 the Canary iflands on the eaft fide of it, and Ci- doing whatever was done by his ptedecefTor, ap- 
 
 pangu (Japan) and the Indian iflands on the well pointed another Florentine merchant, called Chrill- 
 
 lidc, are a fniall idand, called Antilia, with the opher Spene, to be conful at Pifa. \_Fad:ra, F. 
 
 famous feven cities in it, and a lurser one, of about xii, /. 314-'' 
 
 Vol. I. ^ ' 4U
 
 7o6 A. D. 1485. 
 
 firft appointment of a conful for the merchants of England in any of 
 the countries within the Mediterranean : and the cuflom of appointing 
 foreign merchants to be confuls for the Enghfh in thofe countries con- 
 tinued for a confiderable lime, and continues in fome inflances to the 
 prefent day. 
 
 Soon after the invention of the art of printing the induflry of Venice 
 made it an objed of connnercial advantage, fo that, in every part of 
 Europe, thofe who could read had books imported from Venice. And 
 in England alfo, the bufinefs of printing, though fo lately introduced, 
 appears to have been already fo well eftabliflied, that books from the 
 Englifli preffes now began to be articles of exportation *. 
 
 November — The firfl parliament of King Henry VII, obferving, that 
 in the reign of Edward IV a great number of foreign merchants had 
 obtained letters and ads of denization, whereby they were put upon a 
 footing with the native fubjeds in the payment of cuftoms, and alfo that 
 they frequently entered the merchandize of other foreigners in their 
 own names, and thereby defrauded the revenue, enaded, that all for- 
 eigners made denizens fliould pay the full duties payable by foreign 
 merchants. [y^Sis i Hen. VII, c. 2.} 
 
 Confidering the danger to be apprehended from a decay of the navy, 
 and the feamen being unemployed, they enaded a law, the very reverfc 
 of that of Edward III in the year 1368, which entirely excluded Eng- 
 liflimen from the carrying trade; for now no perfon was allowed to buy 
 or fell any wine of the growth of Guienne or Gafcoigne, in England, 
 Ireland, Wales, Calais, or Berwick, unlefs it were imported in a veffel 
 belonging to England, Ireland, or Wales, and navigated principally by 
 natives of England, Wales, Ireland, or Calais. — This law, being ap- 
 parently intended as an experiment, was to be in force only till the next 
 parliament, {c. 8.] 
 
 The prohibition of the importation of a variety of foreign articles, en- 
 aded in the year 1482 was confirmed, and twenty years added to it, the 
 addition of ten years by the ad of Richard III being fet afide, as the 
 ad of an ufurper. [c. 9.] 
 
 The Italian merchants, availing themfelves of the king's difpofition to 
 undo the ads of his predeceffor, obtained a repeal of the 9"* ad of 
 Richard. But the fines, incurred by tranl'greilions of it, were ftill to be 
 paid to the king. \c. 10.] 
 
 i486, January ly'** — King Henry very foon after his accefTion ifllied 
 orders to all his fubjeds to receive the merchants of France in a friendly 
 manner, without requiring the produdion of fofe-conduds or licences. 
 
 * This Information concerning the progrefs of I485> wherein there are the following lines : 
 the art of prinling in England is derived from the ' Cclatos, Vcncti, nobis tranfniittcre libros 
 
 loloplion at the end of a Latin tranflation of the ' Ceditc, nos alt'is vend'tmus, O Vcncti.' 
 
 F.p'iJlUs oj P/ja/aris, printed at Oxford in the year \_Mid<llelon t Origin ef printing in Englanil, p. 10. ]
 
 A. D. i486. 707 
 
 And now a more formal truce of three years (not a peace) was conclud- 
 ed, whereby all grievous exadions, impofed upon commerce in the lafl 
 two-and-twenty years, were abolilhed in both kingdoms, except the local 
 duties of towns, &c. [Fasdera, V. xii, p. 281.] 
 
 July ■^ — A truce of three years was alfo concluded between England 
 and Scotland, in which the feizure of perfons and merchandize (hip- 
 wrecked was more particularly guarded againfl than formerly, the pre- 
 fervation of the property being, however, now made to depend on the 
 lurvival of a human creature, and not on that of a cat, dog, or cock, 
 which, it may be believed, were never allowed to live to the prejudice 
 of depredators. The other articles were nearly the fame as in former 
 truces between the two kingdoms. \Foedera, V. xii, p. 285.] 
 
 July 22'' — Henry was particularly defirous of cultivating the friend- 
 fhip of the duke of Bretagne, and therefor renewed the truce with him, 
 with nearly the fame conditions refpeding commerce, which were in 
 the former treaty of the year 1468 ; the towns of S'. Malo, Brefl, and 
 Tonque, being now excepted from the general liberty granted to the 
 Englifli of having hotels in the towns of Bretagne, as, on the other hand, 
 thofe towns in England, which the king fhould name by his letters, were 
 to be excepted from the fimilar liberty enjoyed by the Bretons in Eng- 
 land. [Foedera^ V. xii,/>. 303.] 
 
 1487, Odober — A difpute between fome citizens of Cologne and fome 
 fubjeds of Scotland had been decided by the king of Scotland and his 
 council. The foreigners were diffatisfied, and obtained from the em- 
 peror a letter of marque againfl; the Scots, which was now fufpended 
 (probably upon the king's interpofition) till Eafter 1488. In the mean- 
 time the Scottifh parliament ordained, that a clergyman and two bur- 
 gefles fliould go, at the general expenfe of the burghs., to the emperor's 
 court with an authentic copy of the fentence, in order to fhow that juf- 
 tice had been done to the Gologners, and to obtain a revocation of the 
 letter of marque. \^Acis Jac. Ill, c. 126.] 
 
 The reprefentatives of the burghs of Scotland, ading as a feparate 
 body, or committee, requeflied, and obtained, a ratification of the ads 
 for the qualifications of merchants, for regulating charter parties, the 
 meafure of falmon barrels, the profecution ot the herring fifliery in the 
 weft fea, &c. \cc. 127-131, 133-] 
 
 They alfo ordained, that commiflaries (reprefentatives) from all the 
 burghs fhould affemble at Inverkiething on the 26''' of July every year, 
 in order to confider the iuterefl of merchandize and the burghs, and to 
 make regulations for their general welfare *. \^c. 1^2.] 
 
 November — Kix;g Henry, in his deteflation of avarice, with the aflent 
 of the parliament, prohibited and annulled ' all dampnable bargayns 
 
 * This is apparently tlie origin of the convention of the royal burghs of Scotland, which is flill kept 
 up. I do not hnd, when the convention removed from Inverkiething to Edinburgi. 
 
 4U2
 
 7o8 A. D. 1487. 
 
 ' grounded in ufury,' hov/ever difguifed under the name of new chevyf- 
 ance, dry exchange, &c. by which the lender was to have more or lefs * 
 • for the ufe of his money, and impofed a fine of ^100 on the offenders, 
 befides committing to the church the corredion of their fouls. \_A6is 3 
 Hen. VII, c. s] 
 
 The magiflrates of London, in order to oblige the people to refort to 
 the city for all their purchafes, had made an ordinance, that no citizen 
 fhould carry goods for fiile to any fair or market out of the city. The 
 affortment of goods in London appears to have been fo commanding, 
 that thofe interefted in the fairs of Salifbury, Briflol, Oxford, Cambridge, 
 Nottingham, Ely, Coventry, and other places, and alfo tlie people of 
 the country in general, were alarmed, and reprefented to parliament the 
 deflrudion of the fairs, and the great hardfliip of being obliged to travel 
 to London to procure chalices, books, veftments, and other church or- 
 naments, and alfo viduals for the time of Lent, linen cloth, woollen 
 cloth, brafs, pewter, bedding, ofmond, iron, flax, wax, and other ne- 
 celTaries. The London ordinance was annulled ; and the citizens were 
 permitted to go with their goods to the fairs and markets in every part 
 of England, [c. 9.] In this aft we have a good pidlure of the inland- 
 trade of England. 
 
 The fhearmen, fullers, and others concerned in the clothing trade, 
 reprefented, that the acl of 7 Edward III, againfl exporting woollen yarn 
 and unfulled cloth, had not provided againfl cloth being exported with- 
 out being rowed and fhorn. For the encouragement of thofe trades, 
 the parliament enaded, that no cloths fliouldbe carried out of the coun- 
 try till they were barbed, rowed, and fliorn, except thofe called itjfes, 
 rnys. Jailing cloths, and others fold at or under 40/; \c. 1 1.] 
 
 At this time the commercial intercourfe between Florence and Egypt, 
 which began in the time of Cofmo de Medici, was greatly extended and 
 improved under the direction, and by the example, of his grandfon Lor- 
 enzo. So highly was this illuflrious merchant eiteemed by the fultan of 
 Egypt, that he fent an embaffy to him (a mark of refped: very feldoni 
 beftowed by Mohamedan princes on the moft powerful Chriflian fover- 
 eigns) vvith magnificent prefents, among which were a fine bay horfe, 
 probably an Arabian, baliam, civet, lignum aloes, large vales of por- 
 celain*, fine cotton cloths of various kinds, and other rich Oriental ma- 
 nufidtures. {Rofcoe's Life of Lorenzo, V. ii, p. 60 ; and otiginal letter in 
 V.m,p.2']\.] 
 
 John II king of Portugal, who was very defirous of completing the 
 difcovery of the route to India, had already fent two agents to obtain 
 information refpefting the nature of the trade of that country, who went 
 no farther than Jerufalem, having there difcovered that their want of the 
 
 * Porcelain was far from being common, or even ler of the maritime laws of Barcelona among the 
 generally known, in E'Jropc in this age, though it imports from Egypt. \_C:i{^n:any, Man. hift. de 
 is one of the articles enumerated in the 44'" chap- liurcckna, V- i, Cm. />. 44.]
 
 f •» 
 
 A. D. 1487. 709 
 
 ^ Arabic language rendered their further progrefs impradicable. This 
 year he fent Pero de Covillan and Alfonfo de Paiva, who were both 
 maftersof the Arabic, with inftrudions to travel to the country of Prefte 
 laani (or Prefter John), to learn whether his dominions extended to the 
 fea, and where the pepper, cinnamon, and other fpices, which were 
 brought to Venice, were produced. Along with their inftruclions, and 
 . ,^ money and bills for their fubfiflence, they received a chart drawn by the 
 ^ king's bcft geographers, who laid, they had found fome memorial of a 
 '^ paflage between the eaftern and the weftern feas. Having bought a cargo 
 
 of honey at Rhodes, they proceeded in the charafter of merchants to 
 Alexandria, and thence by Cairo, the defert, and the Red fea, to Aden 
 in Arabia, where they feparated : Paiva crofTed over to Ethiopia, and 
 Covillan failed for Cananor, and thence to Calicut, where he faw ginger 
 and pepper growing, and learned that cloves and cinnamon were brought 
 from countries flill more remote. He then returned by Goa and Ormuz 
 to the Red fea, and thence foiled in company with fome Moorifli merch- 
 ants on the Ethiopian fea, which he found reprefented in his chart, as 
 far as Sofala, where he learned, ' that the coaft might be failed ail-along 
 • toward the weft,' and heard of the Ifland of the Moon, 900 miles m 
 length. Having now acquired more knowlege of India and the eaftern 
 feas than any European of that age, he returned to Cairo, where he 
 heard that Paiva was dead, and found two Jews, fent to him v/ith letters 
 from the king. One of them he fent back to the king with an account 
 of what he had difcovered, and his opinion, that the iliips, which trad- 
 ed to Guinea, by keeping along the coaft might get to Sofala and thence 
 to Calicut, for there was a clear fea. With the other Jew he returned to 
 Ormuz, and thence back to Aden, which was ftill, us in ancient times, 
 the center of commercial intercourfe. There he difpatched the Jew 
 home to Portugal, and bent his own courfe to the court of Prefte lanni, 
 where he was well treated and enriched, but never permitted to leave 
 
 the country till the year 1520. [Barros, Dec. i, L. iii, c. 5 Purchas, 
 
 B. vii, />. 1 091 ; B. X, p. 1675.] 
 
 In the meantime, before the arrival of Covillan's very encouraging 
 information, Bartholomew Diaz, one of the many Portuguefe com- 
 manders, who, during almoft a century, had been endeavouring to reach 
 the fouthern extremity of Africa in the hope of finding an open naviga- 
 tion to the Oriental regions, returned (December 1487) from a voyage 
 in which he had made a ftretch along 1050 miles of the coaft, and act- 
 ually paffed the fouthern extremity of the continent, to which, from 
 the ftormy weather he met with when off it, he gave the name of Cal'2 
 Tonnentofo (or Stormy cape) : but the king, underftanding that the land 
 beyond it trended to the eaftward, and full of hope that the greateft dif- 
 ficulty in the route to India was now furmounted, changed the name to 
 the more aufpicious one of Caho de Boa E/p:ranfa (Cape of Good Hope),
 
 7IO A, D. 1487. 
 
 by which it has ever fince been called. [Barros, Dec, i, L. iii, c. 4.— 
 Purchas, B. ii,/. 7.] 
 
 1488 — While the Portuguefe were endeavouring to get to India by 
 an eaflern route, Chriflopher Colon (or Columbus) a Genoefe navigator, 
 whofe nautical knowlege was much enlarged by refiding amone the 
 Portuguefe, was induced by Ptolemy's geography, wherein the eaftern 
 parts of Afia are extended fo far into the oppofite hemifphere as to leave 
 only about one third of the circumference of the globe between them 
 and the weft parts of Europe, by the difcoveries of Marco Polo, and 
 accounts of land accidentally feen by feveral navigators in the Weflem 
 ocean, to believe that the eafieft accefs to India, mufi; be by failing to 
 the weflward *. Strongly imprefled with this idea, he applied for the 
 means of accompliftiing his difcovery to the king of Portugal, who, he 
 might well fuppofe, would gladly encourage a project for attaining his 
 grand objed, the trade of India, by a fhorter route than that which had 
 fo long baffled all the endeavours of his predeceflbrs. But the Portu- 
 guefe court very vmgeneroufly and unfairly kept him in fufpenfe till the 
 return of a carvel, which they fecretly fent out to make the difcovery 
 fuggefted by him ; and then, as their own vefFel had found no land, they 
 refufed to pay any attention to his fcheme. It is to the credit of Eng- 
 land, that Colon next turned his thoughts to that country, to which he 
 fent his brother Bartholomew, while he himfelf made application at the 
 court of Ferdinand and Ifabella, the fovercigns of Spain. In his paflage 
 to England Bartholomew was taken by pirates, plundered of his all, 
 and made a flave. Having at lafl efcaped from them, he arrived in 
 England, but in no condition to obtain accefs to the royal prefence. 
 Thus circumftanced he applied himfelf to drawing fea charts for a live- 
 lihood, and, as foon as he got himfelf decently clothed, he prefented a 
 map of the world to the king, and laid before him his brother's fcheme. 
 King Henry was fo far pleafed with the propofal, that he defned him to 
 bring his brother to England. But fo much time had been loft, that 
 when Bartholomew got to Paris in his way to Spain, he was informed 
 that his brother had failed upon his voyage, and was returned, having 
 accompliftied the difcovery, not of India or the fpice iflands, but of the 
 iflands of the Weft-Indies, \_HiJl. de Don Cbrijl. Colon por fu hijo Fer- 
 nando, cc. 6-9, II, 60.] 
 
 The capture of Bartholomew Colon by pirates thus turned out, under 
 the direction of Providence, the means of preferving the Engliih from 
 lofing their induftry and commercial fpirit in the mines of Mexico and 
 Peru. 
 
 • Tlic iifiial belief, tl.at Colon fct out with a geoginpliy, received from Plolcmy nnd oilier nil- 
 
 view to difcovcr a tunv corilinn:!, in not warranted tient iiutliors, fcarecly left lliffielejit Ipacc iur fiicli 
 
 hy any good iiiilorian, and is in dircft oppofition a continent as America in tlie lea between tlie tail 
 
 to the Hlftciry of his life by his own fon, whole pait of Afia and the wcfl parts of Europe and 
 
 authority muli certainly be preferred. His ideas of Africu.
 
 A. D. 1488; 711 
 
 February 18'" — The firft parliament of Henry VII had granted him 
 the duties of tannage and poundage with the extra duties payable by 
 foreigners, as ufual in the preceding reigns. The merchants of Venice, 
 Genoa, Florence, and Luca, now obtained from him an abatement for 
 the fpace of three years ; and the whole duties of every kind payable 
 by them were fixed at ^T) : 6 : 8 for every fack of wool, and if^ for 
 every twenty -fhil lings worth of tin. [Fadera,V. xii, p. 335.] 
 
 Odober — The firft parHament of James IV king of Scotland, in a fet 
 of new regulations for money, flated the obligation upon the merchants 
 exporting Scottifh commodities to import bullion as follows, viz. for 
 each ferplaith of wool, each laft of falmon, or each four hundred cloth*, 
 four ounces of fine filver ; for each laft of herrings (now apparently an 
 export of fome confequence) two ounces ; and for other goods paying 
 cuftom, in pi-oportion. \_Ads Jac. IV, e. 10.] 
 
 They reftrided the arrival of veflels, whether Scottilh or foreign, to 
 the free burghs, whereof Dunbarton, Irwin, Wigton, Kirkcudbright, 
 and Renfrew, (all on the weft fide of the country) are mentioned, appar- 
 ently as the moft confiderable. Foreigners were, prohibited from buy- 
 ing fifti, till they were faked and barreled, and from having any deal- 
 ings at the remote ifland of Lewis, or any place whatever except at the 
 free burghs, [r. 11.] 
 
 The navy of Scotland at this time confifted of two vefTels, the Flow- 
 er and the Yellow carvel. They were adapted chiefly for war, being 
 well provided with guns, crofs-bows, lime-pots, fire-balls, two-handed 
 fwords, and alfo with good feamen under the command of Sir Andrew 
 Wood, a brave and experienced officer : but I cannot venture to affirm, 
 whether they belonged to the public, or were Wood's own private pro- 
 perty. [Buchanani Hj/i. L. xiii, cc. i, 3, 6. — Yitfcottie, pp. 145, 155, ed. 
 1778.] During the reign of James IV feveral warlike fliips were added 
 to the Scottifti navy, one of them particularly remarkable, as being 
 longer than any other veflel that has been built from the time of Ptole- 
 my Philopator to the prefent day. 
 
 1 489, January — The parliament of England undertook to regulate 
 the prices of feveral articles, which, they conceived, were exorbitant. 
 Drapers and tailors were not allowed to take for the fineft broad cloth 
 of fcarlet or other in-grain colours above 16/' per yard, or for cloths of 
 the beft quality of plain colours, or ruftTets, above i i/f . The hatters 
 and cap-makers were accufed of charging ■^f or 3/4 for hats which coft 
 them only 1/4, and from 3/" to 5/ for cap«r which coft them only 1/4. 
 They were now ordered to fell the beft hats at 1/8, the beft caps at 2yB, 
 and thofe of inferior quality as they could agree. \_Ai5ts 4 Hen. VII, cc. 
 8,9.] 
 
 * The aft does not exprefs, whether this was a ence of prices in the prefent day is owing to the 
 
 kindof cloth fo called, or 400 pieces, or 400 yards, great abundance of cocliineal now brought from 
 
 f The in-grain colours were thus about 46 per America, 
 
 cent higher than the others. The fmaller differ- »
 
 712 A, D, 1489. 
 
 It is very certain, that the greatefl part of the foreign trade of Eng- 
 land had hitherto been carried on by foreign merchants in foreign vef- 
 fels, though fonie faint and tranfient indications of a fenfe of the dan- 
 ger and impoHcy of refigning the moft valuable interefts, and the befl 
 means of the defence, of the country into the hands of ftrangers had 
 fometimes appeared. The parliament, now confidering, ' that where 
 * great minifhing and decay hath been no we of late tyme of the navye 
 ' of this realme of Englande, and ydelnes of the maryners of the 
 ' fame, by the whiche this noble realme within ihorte procefs of 
 ' tyme, without reformation be had therin fhall not be of abylytye ne 
 ' of ftrengthe and power to defend itfelfe,' enaded, that no wines of 
 Guienne or Gafcoigne, nor woad of Tholoufe, fliould be imported into 
 England, Ireland, Wales, Calais, or Berwick, unlefs in vefTels belong- 
 ing to the king or fome of his fubjeds of thofe territories, and navigat- 
 ed by feamen of whom the greater part fhould be natives of the fame 
 territories. They alfo prohibited the king's fubjefts from ihipping goods 
 in England or Wales onboard any veflel owned by a foreigner, unlefs 
 when fufficient freight could not be found in Englifh vefTels. Foreign 
 veffels, loaded with wine or woad, if driven into Englifh ports by florm 
 or enemies, were allowed to fell as much as would pay for neceflliry pro- 
 vifions or repairs, and no more. [c. 10.] 
 
 The adl [4 Edzv. IV, c. 4] againfl; foreftalling contrads for wool pro- 
 duced in the counties of Berks, Oxford, &c. was continued for ten years 
 longer, [c. 11.] 
 
 The parliament, confidering the defolation of the country, the de- 
 flrudion of houfes and towns, and the idlenefs of the people, occafioned 
 by turning corn lands into pafture, fome towns, wherein formerly two 
 hundred perfons earned their livelihood, being now occupied by two or 
 three herdfmen *, enaded, that all houfes, having twenty or more acres 
 of land in tillage annexed to them, fliould be kept up by the proprie- 
 tors, whether they leafed the land to farmers, or cultivated it for their 
 own account, on pain of forfeiting half the rent to the king or other 
 over-lord. [r. 19.] Though the parliament afcribed the exceffive pre- 
 diledion for paflurage to the avarice of the land-holders, it was more 
 probably a neceflary confequence of the depopulation of the country 
 by the civil wars between the rival families of York and Lancafter fol- 
 lowing immediately after that occafioned by the repeated invafions of 
 France, the proprietors being compelled by want of hands to feed flieep 
 upon the fields which ufed to be cultivated by their predial fervants, as 
 the fteady demand for wool prefented the only means of obtaining any 
 emolument from their eilutes : and moreover, in thofe calamitous times, 
 living ftock, which could eafily be conveyed out of the reach of an ene- 
 
 * Many of the greater towns were alfo fo much granted in the reign of Edward IV, as appears by 
 decayed as to need parliamentary aids to preferve Coll(/»'s jlbi'ul^emcnt of the records. 
 them from utter drfulation, whicli were frequently
 
 A. D. 1489. 713 
 
 my, was a much more defirable property than corn, which, whether in 
 the field, the flack-yard, or the barn, was doomed to inevitable deflruc- 
 tion or pillage. 
 
 The embroiderers having complained to parliament that the pound 
 packets of the gold thread of Venice, Florence, and Genoa, contained 
 only about feven threads inflead of twelve, that the thread was of unequal 
 thicknels, and colour, and the price was raifed from 3374 to £^, to the 
 great prejudice of them and alfo of the buyers of ' broudered warke,' 
 it was enaded, that gold thread, deficient in weight, or of unequal qual- 
 ity, fliould be forfeited, [c. 22.] 
 
 February — In the fcarcity of Scottifh commercial treaties we muft be 
 content with obferving, that the parliament of Scotland ordained, that 
 ambafladors (hould repair to France, Denmark, and Sweden : and that 
 their inftrudions direded them to endeavour to obtain friendfliip, liber- 
 ties, and freedoms for the good of the kingdom and the courfe of merch- 
 andize. [ASis Jac. IV, c. 22.] In confequence of one of thofe embaC- 
 fies fome commercial privileges were obtained in the Danifli dominions. 
 [LeJ.IIi/i.p.319.] 
 
 1490, January 20'" — A treaty between England and Denmark had 
 been made in the year 1489 at Weftminfter, A more ample one was 
 now concluded at Copenhagen by a doctor of laws, a herald, and two 
 merchants of Lynne, for England, with the minifters of the king of 
 Denmark. Befides the ufual freedom of trade on both fides, it was 
 agreed, that the merchants and fifliermen of England might freely re- 
 pair to Iceland for the purpofe of merchandizing or filhing, they paying 
 the cuftomary dues in the ports, and acknowleging the fovereignty of 
 the king of Denmark by applying at the end of every feven years for re- 
 newals of their licences. They might purchafe frefh fi{h of all kinds, 
 and fait them, at Sconen, Seland, Dragor, and other ufual places in the 
 kingdom of Denmark, on paying the due cuftoms. Englifh veflels, 
 obliged by ftrefs of weather ' to go through the Baltic fea, that is, 
 * through the Belts,' on giving fccurity at Nyburg for the toll payable 
 on pafling at the Ore-found, ihould be no way molefled for infringing 
 the law or cuftom of Denmark. It was agreed, that before veflels fail- 
 ed, fufficient fecurity fliould be given (as now ufual) for their peaceable 
 demeanour at fea, unlefs they were licenced by either of the kings, who 
 fliould thereby become liable to redrefs any ads of piracy committed 
 
 by them The Englifli, whether buying, felling, or fiftiing,in the Dan- 
 
 ifli dominions, fliould enjoy as much liberty as any other foreigners. 
 They fliould alfo freely enjoy for ever the property of the lands and ten- 
 ements acquired by them in Bergen in Norway, Lunden, and Land- 
 flcrone in Sconen, Dragor in Seland, and Loyfa in Sweden, or afiierwards 
 to be acquired in any part of the Danifli dominions. They fliould have 
 perfed liberty at Bergen and other places to eled their governors or ald- 
 ermen, who fliould have the power of adminifl:ering juflice to Englifli 
 
 Vol. I. 4 X
 
 714 
 
 A. D. 1490. 
 
 fubjedts agreeable to the rules enaded by themfelves ; and any Englilh- 
 man, refufing to fubmit to their jurifdiftion, fhould be deprived of the 
 privileges granted to theEnglifli in the Danifh dominions. — The execut- 
 or, or next of kin, or failing both, the aldermen or governors, fliould 
 have the cuftody of the effects of EngUfh fubjeds dying in the Danifh 
 territories. — The merchants of England fhould have liberty to fell their 
 cloths without the interference of any Danifh ofhcer ; and they might 
 appoint their agents in Copenhagen, Malmo, and LandlTcrone, who, if 
 they relided a year or more, and paid the local dues, might tranfadl bufi- 
 nefs for abfent merchants, and fell cloths by the piece or in fmaller 
 
 quantities No Englifli merchant (hould be Uable to arrefl for the debt 
 
 or fault of another ; nor fhould his goods be arrefted for crimes or 
 debts charged againfl himfelf, if he gave fufKcient fecurity to Hand trial. 
 — In cafes of wreck the property fhould be carefully preferved for the 
 o\\Tiers, and no perfon fhould be permitted ' in fuch melancholy cafes 
 ' to claim any right to the property on pretence of a damned cuflom, 
 ' or make profit of the calamities of others,' beyond a reaibnable re- 
 ward for labour Every pofTible means fliould be ufed on both fides to 
 
 prevent the depredations of pirates Any infradlions of this treaty 
 
 fhould be punifhed by the fovereign^of the offenders*. [Fcedera V. xii, 
 
 #•3.75.381-] 
 
 April 15'" Florence, under the wife adminiflration of the illuftrious 
 
 merchant, Lorenzo de Medici, was now in the zenith of profperity. The 
 inhabitants, freed from wars and tumults, exerted their adive fpirit 
 in commerce and manufadures. Their Oriental trade by the way of 
 Egypt, was extended and improved by Lorenzo. Their linens and filk 
 .goods were made from materials produced in their own territories, but 
 their woollen manufadures depended on importation from Spain and 
 England. [Ro/coe's Life of Lorenzo, c. 6.] The trade of the later coun- 
 ti-y with Italy had undergone a very important change in the fhort fpace 
 of five years fince King Richard commiflioned the firft conful for the 
 Englifh merchants at Pifa. From that commifhon we learn, tliat they 
 ■propofed to trade in their own or chartered veflels ; and now we find 
 Englifli veflels efi;ablinied in the trade, and the Englifh merchants even 
 extending their ideas to the employment of their veflels in a mere car- 
 rying trade. A treaty of fix years for the regulation of this commerce, 
 fo important to the manufadures of Florence, was now concluded by a 
 dodor of laws and an alderman of London with the delegates of Flor- 
 ence, as follows. — The Englifli might freely relbrt to the territories of 
 Elorence, and carry thither all kinds of merchandize, whether ihe pro- 
 
 • It has been very j.ropcrly remarked by Mr. (except in cafe? of (hipwreck). How prodigious 
 
 Anderfon, that thi-i treaty fiippofes the trade be- an alteration had taken place fince the ages in which 
 
 twecn the two coinitrieo tu be entirely in tiie hands the Danes and Norwegians domineered upon the 
 
 of the Englifli, there being no rcciprceation of Ocean I 
 advantages llipulated for the Danes in England
 
 A. D. 1490. 715 
 
 duce of England or of other countries, not even excepting countries 
 which might be at war with Florence, and might there buy and fell, 
 with the Florentines or any other people, all goods not already prohibit- 
 ed, and might carry prohibited goods through the Florentine territories 
 to any other country whatever, whether friendly or hoflile to Florence. 
 — The Florentines agreed, not to admit any wool produced in the Eng- 
 lifli dominions, if imported in any other than vefTels belonging to fub- 
 jeds of England, the Englifli on the other hand engaging to carry every 
 year to Pifa, the appointed ftaple port, as much wool as ufed to be im- 
 ported annually, on an average of former years, to all the dates of Italy, 
 except Venice, unlefs circumftances, of which the king fliould be judge, 
 fhould render it impradicable. — The Englifh merchants fhould have li- 
 berty to hire or acquire houfes for their refidence in Pifa, and fhould 
 there enjoy all the privileges enjoyed by the citizens of Pifa or thofe of 
 Florence : they fhould alfo be exempted from feveral municipal bur- 
 thens, and even from many duties upon merchandize, in all parts of the 
 flate, except Florence, they being only liable to pay the excife and other 
 duties upon wine, corn, and other food, and not even upon thofe when 
 bought for fhip's ftores. — The Englifh in Pifa fhould have a right to 
 form themfelves into a corporate body, with governors and other officers, 
 funds, &c. agreeable to their own regulations : and the magiftrates of 
 Florence engaged to give them either a fuitable edifice, or a piece of 
 
 ground for ereding one, proper for their joint accommodation It was 
 
 agreed, that in all matters concerning the fubjeds of England only, they 
 fhould be independent of the jurifdidion of the city ; in controverfies 
 between them and any others, the podefla of Pifa, in conjundion with 
 the chief magiflrate of the Englifh, fhould determine ; and in criminal 
 cafes, the Englifh fhould be amenable to the juflice of the country. — 
 The Florentines promifed to endeavour to procure for the Englifli a full 
 participation of the benefits of any commercial treaty they might af- 
 terwards engage in. — The king of England engaged to allow no foreign- 
 ers to export wool from any part of his dominions *, except the 
 Venetians, who fhould be allowed in each voyage to England to carry 
 away 600 facks in their gallies, and no more, merely for the ufe of the' 
 
 city and territory of Venice ^If the Englifh fhould at any time fail in 
 
 carrying the agreed quantity of wool to Pifa, the Florentines fhould be 
 at liberty to receive it, either from the Englifli or from others, as be- 
 fore — It was finally ftipulated, that the wool fliould be faithfully clean- 
 ed and packed, as in former times. [Fcedcra, V. xa, p. 389.] Though 
 by this treaty the Florentines were to have all the Englifh wool that 
 went to Italy, except the quantity allotted to Venice, at their own dif- 
 pofal, the advantages allowed by them to the Englifli fliow a fpirit of li- 
 berality, much beyond the ufual tenor of the treaties of the age. 
 
 * Surely it was not iatendcd, that fortigiiers fliould be prevented from buying wool in the ftaple 
 at Calais. 
 
 4X2
 
 yi6 A. D. 1490. 
 
 The Englifli merchants engaged in the trade to Italy, of which Pifa 
 was the ftaple, appear to have been a regulated company, like the 
 merchants of the ftaple, and perhaps the merchant adventurers : but how 
 long they exifted as fuch, I fuppofe, is utterly unknown *. 
 
 1491, May — Notwith {landing the treaty fo formally concluded with 
 the Hanfe confederacy in the year 1475, the jealoufies and coUilions, 
 which became more frequent, as the Englifh came more and more into 
 the fituation of rivals in trade, had again broken out in hoftilities, cap- 
 tures, and flaughters. A meeting of deputies from both fides was now 
 held at Antwerp in order to adjuft pretenfions and compenfate damages. 
 But the aflembly broke up without coming to any accommodation. 
 [Fcedera, V. xii,/>. 441.. — Werdenhagen, V. n, part iv, c. 10.] 
 
 October — King Henry, intending to invade his antient enemies of 
 France, granted feveral exemptions from the oppreffive burthens of the 
 feudal conftitution to thofe who fhould accompany him, particularly a 
 right to alienate their honours, caftles, manors, lands, and other heredi- 
 tary pofTeflions, by licence from the king, without paying any fine or 
 fee. [Ads 7 Hen. VII, cc. 2, 3.] Thefe, and fome other ads of fimilar 
 tendency, laid the foundation of a moil important change in the cir- 
 cumftances of all the people in the kingdom. The great nobles being 
 permitted, as a favour, to iquander away their enormous eftates, gradu- 
 ally declined from that dangerous fuperiority, which had made them 
 the terror of the kings, and the opprefTors of the people, ever fince the 
 Norman conqueft : and an opportunity was offered to the fuccefsful 
 merchant and manufacturer to acquire the refpedtability and influence 
 annexed to the property of land ; a kind of property more particularly 
 defirable in an age, wherein the greateft and moll opulent imlanded 
 merchant was eftecmed inferior to the fmalleft land-holder. 
 
 The Venetians, for the maintenance of their own maritime power, 
 having impofed a new duty of four golden ducats (iS/flerling) on every 
 butt of malmfey fhippcd at Candia onboard Englilh veflels, an equaliz- 
 ing additional duty of 18/ was impofed by parliament on every butt im- 
 ported into England by any foreign merchant, to continue as long as 
 the Venetians Ihould perfift in demanding their new duty. It was more- 
 over ordained, that no malmfey fliould be fold above ^^4 per butt of 
 126 gallons with abatement for any deficient mealuref. [c. 8.] 
 
 1492, March 1" — King Henry gave two French merchants a licence to 
 import wines, woollen and linen cloths made in France or elfcwhere, and 
 any other merchandize, excepting wine of Gafcoygne and woad, in a veiTcl 
 of 140 tuns and 64 men ; and to export tin and other merchandize, not 
 
 • Though the public have been formerly ftunned -f This aft begins wilh felting forth the great 
 
 With the fierce contefts of thofe two companies, 'trade of I'ltiglilh (hips to Candui time out of miniL 
 
 vie hear nothing at all of the company of mejehaiiis But we know not liow to tnilt to tlic chronology 
 
 trading to Italy. of fuch icpiefentatioiis.
 
 A. D. 149a. 717 
 
 belonging to the ftaple of Calais *, to any country whatever, repeating 
 the voyage as often they pleafed during the year, and duely paying the 
 cuftoms, &c. [Fa^dera, P^. xii, />. 471.] 
 
 The Chriftian provinces of Spain, almofl: entirely united by the mar- 
 riage of Ferdinand king of Aragon with Ilixbella queen of Caftile, which 
 took place in the year 1469, had for fome time been in a very flourifh- 
 ing condition. About ten thoufand people were employed in the ma- 
 nufadures of filk and wool in Toledo. In Catalonia, before the union 
 of the kingdoms of Caftile and Aragon (an event fatal to the commer- 
 cial profperity of that province) many of the towns were filled with in- 
 duflrious and fkilful manufadlurers in wool, cotton, flax, filk, leather, tin, 
 copper, iron, fl;eel, filver, &c. The fliip-carpenters of Barcelona built 
 vefifels, not only for their own countrymen, but alfo for other nations. 
 All thefe branches of induftry, together with the produce of a fertile 
 foil diligently cultivated, fupplied the materials of an extenfive commerce 
 with every port of the Mediterranean fea,and alfo to Portugal, the weft 
 coaft of France, Flanders, and England. [Schott. Script. Hifp. V. ii, pp. 
 308, 844. — Capmany, Mem. hiJI. de Barcelona, pnffim\.'] But all the Chrift- 
 ians of Spain were furpafl^ed by the Saracens of Granada in the cultiv- 
 ation of their lands, the excellence of their manufadures, particularly 
 thofe of filk, (which, as already obferved, were in a flourifhing condi- 
 tion in Almeria before any of the Chriftian flates to the weftward of 
 Greece pofi!efi"ed a fingle filk-worm) the extent of their commerce, their 
 riches and magnificence :j:. That kingdom was finally fubdued in the 
 beginning of January 1492 by Ferdinand, who by the treaty fecured to 
 the Saracens the free exercife of their religion with the ufe of their 
 mofques, their own laws, and their property of every kind, including 
 even their arms, except cannon. Ferdinand has generally obtained the 
 charadler of a wife king : but, with fubmiffion to the wifdom of thofe 
 who have given him that charafter, it may be obferved, that he had 
 now an opportunity, by a prudent and conciliatory treatment of his new 
 fubjeds, to render his kingdom the firft manufaduring and commercial 
 country in Europe, and that his condud was quite the reverfe. Urged 
 by bigotry and infatuation, he had already efiablifhed the horrible tri- 
 bunal of the inquifition, of itfelf fufficient to deftroy all fpirit of in- 
 duftry and enterprife ; and, not fatisfied with fo great a facrifice of the 
 inherent rights of the human mind on the altar of fuperftition, he com- 
 
 • The king's complaifance to the French merch- Don Antonio de Capmany, I have to acknow. 
 
 ants made him forget that tin was a principal arti- lege the kindnefs of Sir John Talbot Dillon in 
 
 cle of the ftaple, and admit not only French-made favouring me with the ufe of his copy, perhaps the 
 
 woollen cloths, but even thofe of other countries only one in Great Britain : nor fhould I even have 
 
 imported by French merchants: and yet he is faiJ known of the work, but by his mention of it in 
 
 to have underftood, and afted upon, the principles his valuable Hiftory of Peter the CrueL 
 of the aft of navigation. | The magnificence of their buildings appears 
 
 ■f- For this and the preceding quotations from in the remains of ibem ftill cxifting. 
 the important colkiStion of records, publiflied by 3
 
 7i8 
 
 A. D. 1492. 
 
 manded (March 1492) all the Jews in Spain to become Chriftians or 
 to leave the kingdom in four months; and 170,000 famiUes*, all induf- 
 trious and valuable members of fociety, by whom a great part of the 
 trade of the country was conduced, were driven out to enrich other 
 countries with their arts and induftry, and as much of their property as 
 they could fave. With refped to the Saracens, or Moors, inftead of 
 imitating the wife and liberal condud of the anceftors of thofe people, 
 who, when they conquered Spain, permitted their Chriftian fubjecls to 
 enjoy their religion and laws, or that of the Chriftian conqueror of Si- 
 cily, who gave the Saracen inhabitants the fame indulgence, or paying 
 any regard to his own treaty, Ferdinand the C'atholic f refolved to com- 
 pell all his new fubjeds to become Chriflians X- Many of them pro- 
 fefled the Chriftian religion, while they retained their own : but thofe 
 hypocrites were foon exterminated by the burning zeal of the holy fa- 
 thers of the inquifition. Others, by far the greateft number of them, 
 were either murdered, or plundered and driven out of the country. 
 Moft of the exiles took refuge among their brethren on the oppofite 
 coaft of Africa, and, in revenge for the miferies inflided on them by 
 the Spaniards, refolved to carry on a perpetual predatory war againft 
 their opprefTors. But their war of juft reprifals has been perverted by 
 their defcendents into indifcriminate piracy againft every nation pro- 
 fcffing the Chriftian religion, excepting only thofe, who by bribes, or fu- 
 perior naval power, allure or compell them to refped their flags : and 
 thus it happens, that a private merchant in the United ftates of Ameri- 
 ca, a country not known to exift when Granada was conquered, is ruin- 
 ed in confequence of that event. By thefe depopulations with the fub- 
 fequent drains to the colonies, by blind and furious bigotry, and the 
 lazy pride introduced by the acquifition of the American mines, Spain, 
 from the time of entering upon pofl'eflion of the greateft opportunities 
 of improvement, has been falling back in civiUzation, induftry, and com- 
 merce, while all the other countries in Europe were rapidly advancing: 
 a memorable and dreadful example of the fatal confequences of pcrfe- 
 cution for religious opinions. [See Maria?ia, LI. xxv, xxvi, xxvii.] 
 
 It has been obferved that the commerce of the Venetians acquired 
 a very great extenfion by the depreflion of their rivals, the Genoefe, 
 upon the eftablifliment of the Turkiih empire in Europe. The wealth 
 of Europe, and, along with it, the tafte for the fpiceries, jewels, pearls, 
 and other rich produdions and manufadures of the Eaft, continued to 
 increafc. Thofe articles of luxury were almoft entirely fupplied by the 
 
 • Tills is tlie mod rrodcrati; eiUuiatc. Some 
 authors make tlie mirr.ber much greater. 
 
 f He WHS the fitd hiiig of .Sjjain who liaj tliat 
 title, which was tloiihtlcls givtu to him as a reward 
 for his zeal .igainll heretics. 
 
 X Tliis couvtrfioH did not begiu till the year 
 
 1499 ; but I have iiitrodiicfd it here fur the fake 
 of coMiicftioii. Tlie archhilhops of Toledo and 
 Granada were the cliief advilcr;, and executors of 
 this j)crfecutioii, which, as Mariana ackiiowlegcs, 
 was ihc fource of all the fubfecuieut troubles.
 
 A. D 1492. 719 
 
 Venetians, whofe veflels viflted every port of the Mediterranean, and 
 every coafl of Europe, and whofe maritime commerce was probably 
 greater than that of all the reft of Europe taken together. In Venice 
 the rich manufadlures of filk, cloth of gold and filver, veflels of gold 
 and filver, and glafs, were carried to the higheft degree of perfedion. 
 Tiie Venetian navy was fufficiently powerful to reprefs the piracies of 
 the Turkifli and Barbary corfairs. The government was beneficent : 
 the people were numerous, opulent, and happy. Such was the com- 
 mercial Iplendour and profperity now enjoyed by Venice, from which 
 ihe was foon to decline, without apoflibility of recovery, in confequence 
 of events, which no errors in commercial policy produced, and no hum- 
 an prudence could poffibly avert. 
 
 liND OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
 
 -X-\
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 MAR d tSSi 
 
 
 
 DEC ^^556 
 
 ijITEBLIBRAHY LOASS 
 
 FEB 2 8 1966 
 
 TWO WtEKS FROM 
 DATE OF RECEIPT 
 
 
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