EARL OF NOTTINGHAM.

371

appointed him lord high steward at his coronation, sent him ambassador to Spain, and chose him for one of the commissioners to treat of an union between England and Scotland. The last honour which fell to his lot was that of conveying the elector palatine and his bride, the princess Elizabeth, to Flushing. At the age of eighty-three he resigned his post, retaining, by special patent, the precedence which it had given him ; and, in his eighty-seventh year, dying in peace at HalingHouse, in Surrey, was buried in the family vault under the chancel of Ryegate church. His office had been "of great profit, prizes being so frequent in that age; but great," says Fuller," his necessary, and vast his voluntary, expenses; keeping seven standing houses at the same time: so that the wonder is not great if he died not very wealthy."

NOTES.

Artillery, p. 58.

THE following orders respecting stone bullets, and the carriage of artillery, were issued in the year 1418.

Super factura lapidum pro gunnis, de intendendo.

Rex dilectis sibi, Johanni Louthe, clerico operationum Ordinationis nostræ, et Johanne Benet, de Madeston, Mason, salutem.

Sciatis quod assignavimus vos ad tot cimentarios et laboratores, quot necessarii fuerint pro facturâ septem millium lapidum, pro gunnis de diversis sortibus, una cum sufficiente stuffurâ lapidum pro eisdem, tam infra quarreras de Madestonhithe quam alibi, ubi melius videritis pro proficuo nostro expedire, arestandum et capiendum.

Et præfatos cimentarios in operibus nostris prædictis, ad vadia nostra, ponendum et in eisdem detenendum, quousque lapides prædicti plenarie facti fuerint et constructi.

Necnon ad tot carectas, batellas, et naves, uná cum marinariis et laboratoribus, quot pro cariagio, batillagio, seu frectagio lapidum prædictorum necessariæ fuerint, de locis ubi prædicti lapides facti fuerint, infra regnum nostrum Angliæ seu versus partes transmarinas transmittendorum similiter capiendum et providendum.

De omnimoda stuffura pro gunnis memoratis. Rex dilecto sibi Johanni Louthe, clerico operationum Ordinationis nostræ, salutem.

Scias quod assignavimus te ad tot carpenterios, junours, fabros, carbonarios, ac alios artifices et laboratores uná cum sufficiente stuffurâ de maeremio, salice, popiller, carbonibus maritimis et salicis, et de ferro, quot pro fractura trescentorum pavys grossorum pro gunnis, quaterviginti blokk, et septem millium tampons pro eisdem ; quinquaginta jugorum de ligno pro bobus infra trahendis, centum cathenarum pro eisdem, duodecim carectarum grossarum pro gunnis grossis supracariandis, viginti piparum de pulvere de carbonibus salicis necessaria fuerint.

Arestandum, providendum, et capiendum, et in eisdem operibus nostris ponendum et expendendum.

Ac etiam ad centum boves, trescentos et viginte equos, pro carectis prædictis una cum trescentis colariis de corio, reparatis, cum hamis de ligno, ac stuffurâ rationabili de pipis rigeboundes, bellebondes, et shotyng-ledders, de corio, pro reparatione trescentorum parium trays pro equis et carectis, quadringentes tribulis, trescentis pekoys, duobus barellis de calibe, ac aliis rebus quibuscumque, pro Ordinatione prædictá necessariis.

Necnon ad tot carectas, batellos, et naves, una cum marinariis et laboratoribus similiter capiendum et providendum, quot pro cariagio, batillagio, seu frectagio rerum prædictarum, de locis ubi providebuntur, infra regnum nostrum Angliæ, seu versus partes transmarinas, transmittendarum, similiter capiendum et providendum. Rymer, ix. 542, 543.

The Great Harry, p. 179.

"The masts were five in number*, -a usage which continued in the first-rates, without alteration, till nearly the end of the reign of Charles I.: they were without division, in conformity with those which had been in unimproved use from the earliest ages. This inconvenience it was very soon found indispensibly necessary to remedy, by the introduction of several joints, or top masts, which could be lowered in case of need, -an improvement that tended to the safety of the vessel, which might very frequently, but for that prudent precaution have been much endangered by the violence of the wind. The rigging was simple, and, at first, somewhat inadequate even to those humble wants of our ancestors, which a comparison with the present state of naval tactics fairly permits us to call them; but the defects were gradually remedied, as experience progressively pointed them out. The ornaments consisted of a multitude of small flags, disposed almost at random on different parts of the deck or gunwale of the vessel, and of one at the head of each mast. The standard of England was hoisted on that which occupied the centre of the vessel; enormous pendants, or streamers, were added, though an ornament which must have been very often extremely inconvenient. This mode of decoration was evidently borrowed and transferred from the galley, in which class of vessels it

*Four of them upright, forming a right angle, or nearly so, with the keel; and one fixed obliquely, which has, in later times, received the name of the boltsprit.

NOTES.

375 has been continued, with little or no striking variation, even to the present moment.

"The general appearance of the vessels, as given in the original drawing, have a wonderful resemblance to what we may, without any great stretch of imagination, suppose the master ship-builder to the emperor of China would construct, if ordered to prepare, as well from his own best experience, as according to his own ideas, a vessel of that given magnitude and force.

"It must have been extremely narrow, and so high built, especially abaft, in proportion to the length, as to be in danger of oversetting with even a slight shock of the sea, or being compelled to steer otherwise than directly from the wind; hut it must not be forgotten, that the navigators of that time were not prepared for any other course. Their vessels were totally unfurnished with such sails as might have enabled them to haul close upon it, even had the formation of the hulls permitted it; they had, therefore, nothing to fear from the consequence of the measure, which they were unable to carry into execution. The principles of ship-building, and the grand proportions to be observed in all the chief dimensions, had been, as it were, traditionally handed down through a series of years, so that it would have been deemed the height of scepticism to have doubted the propriety of them in any one particular. Like the galleys of ancient Rome, they were extremely long, narrow, and lofty; very unstable, and of course perpetually exposed to a frequency of accidents, which, without our knowledge of the cause, would be now almost incredible, as we know them never to have ventured out of their ports, except in the summer months, and when the wind blew perfectly favourable to their intended course.

"The rest of the ships which composed the English royal navy at this time, were of far inferior force, the largest not being of more than 300 tons burthen, and their number extremely limited, so that they amounted to no more than seven or eight vessels, some of which were mere pinnaces." —Charnock's Hist. of Marine Architecture, ii. 30, 31.

Sir Edward Howard, p. 181.

1512. Indenture between the King and his trusty and well beloved Sir Edward Howard, Knt. for his body, then appointed admiral chief and general captain of the army, now set to the sea for the salve guard and sure passage of the King's subjects, frends, allies, and confederates.