and wind-mills going," and platforms erected round about the great central pillar for the musicians, and "for pageants to be played when the king of England and the emperor should be at their banquet. But in the morning of the same day the wind began to rise, and at night blew off the canvass, and all the elements, with the stars, sun, moon, and clouds; and the wind blew out above 1000 torches and other lights of wax, that were prepared to give light to the banquet; and all the kings' seats that were made with great riches, besides all other things, were all dashed and lost."* If the eyes of Henry VIII. and his ambitious favourite had been opened, they might have seen typified in such an edifice, and such a catastrophe, the instability and the issue of their own projects. 66 When Wolsey had alienated the king from his French A. D. connection, and was secretly negotiating an alliance with 1521. the emperor, it was part of Henry's plans that they should jointly provide for the destruction of the French navy, a great and high enterprise," the king thought this," if it might suddenly be made against the French king, and thus by wisdom and good policy be brought to pass;" but he did not intend that it should proceed otherwise than by their common assent; and the emperor was not likely to employ any part of his forces in attempting an object in which his own interests were so much less concerned than those of his ally. Before any open breach had appeared between England and France, the French captured a Spanish vessel, with English property on board, in the mouth of the Thames; presumptuous attemptate in his stream, which it was said the king took very displeasantly, and could in no wise be contented therewith, unless satisfaction were made to his honour to all parties, he being the more moved because the French had before, in like manner, misordered themselves in his ports. The French would *Holinshed, 654. 656. 66 a + State Papers, published under the authority of his majesty's commis A. D. at that time willingly have avoided a war with England ; they promised full restitution, with damages and interest; but when such restitution had been awarded, after long suit in the French courts, and sentence given in favour of the demandants by due course of law, the English ministers complained that the parties were ordered to quit France on pain of their lives, with this sentence alone and no money." They complained also that French men-of-war, as well as pirates, spoiled the king's subjects of their goods at sea, and cruelly handled them, and put them in danger of their lives.* It was then neither war nor peace with France, —a state of things as favourable for the freebooter as it was injurious to the peaceable merchant. Six ships, therefore, under Christopher Coo, an expert seaman, were sent to protect the king's subjects against French, Scotch, and other rovers. A Scottish sea-rover, who seems to have been no unworthy successor of sir Andrew Barton, was captured, after a long fight, by John Arundel, an esquire of Cornwall, and presented to the king, and detained a long time prisoner in the Tower. A squadron of five ships was sent to Scotland, and entered the Forth, meaning to attack the vessels that lay in the havens there. The Scotch ran them aground; the English followed in boats, landed, burnt the vessels, and carried off some prisoners, whom they brought to London. Charles V. was, at this time, about to remove from 1522. his dominions in the Low Countries to Spain; he proposed to make England in his way, and keep Easter there; and therefore applied to Henry to put his navy in readiness for the defence of the narrow seas, and the security of his passage from Calais to Dover, according to the treaty; and also to send convenient ships for the transport of himself and his train. The notice was very short one reason which made it inconvenient was "the unreadiness of the navy, not being victualled with fish meet for Lent," which, it was said, "could not be * Holinshed, 675-677. Hall, 629, 630. † State Papers, 36. 42. 56. 59. 61. SURREY, HIGH ADMIRAL. 191 had;" another was, that if the emperor came at the time which he appointed, it was foreseen that he and the king “would be enforced to labour in Palm Sunday week; which was not convenient," said Wolsey, "" for princes, nor for meaner personages, but rather to be occupied in prayer and contemplation." He thought the emperor's hasty movement was intended to accelerate the king's declaration against France, which Henry was not bound to make till Charles should be in England. Wolsey's reasons were approved, and the visit was deferred for six weeks. The cardinal being less skilled in nautical affairs than in the intrigues of diplomacy, had proposed that the Peter Pomegranate and the Mary Gonson should be despatched for the emperor; but the king was of opinion, that these ships were "of too great portage for those straits, and could not, by reason of their bigness, approach either to the one coast or to the ather. The great galley†and two row-barges, he thought, were better fitted for the business, and sufficient for it."+ The earl of Surrey, then high admiral of England, put to sea, "with all the king's navy," giving out that his only object was the safeguard of the emperor; but, having landed him in Spain, he made, according to his * This ship was of 400 tons' burden. Four years later, Wolsey writes thus concerning this ship to sir Thomas More. "It is somewhat to my marvel that the king's highness maketh_difficulty for the lending of the Peter Pumgarnet to the ambassador of France, considering the manifold good deserts of the said ambassador, and the great profit and commodity that shall arise unto his grace thereby. It is not to be suspected that she may be used against the king's highness in any hostility, considering that the sureties shall be bound as well for that point, as for her redelivery at the year's end, and that there is more likeness of stricter conjunction with France, than of any breach. And whereas your letter purporteth that the king may have 500 marks for the loan of the said ship, besides the advan tage of his customs of his own subjects: thereto it is to be considered, that the customs of the strangers amounteth far above the customs of his own subjects; for, for 100l. paid by the Englishmen, the stranger payeth 9002 Besides this, I suppose if the king have, for the loan of her, 500 marks, his grace must, at his own cost and charge, new rigg, trim, and tackle her, which, percase, would surmount the sum of the said 500 marks; whereas the ambassador offereth to do the same at his own proper expense.".. State Papers, 174. + In a report of this year's date, the great galley is said to be of port age 800 tons. Charnock (ii. 108.) observes, that its name never occurs in any other place. He had not seen Dr. Sampson's letter (now printed in the State Papers); and I suspect that the amount of tonnage in the report, as he has stated it, must either have been miswritten or misread. 1. 66 instructions, for the coast of Bretagne; commanded "the wisest masters and mariners" to buoy the haven of Morlaix, and moored his whole fleet in that haven the next night. All men were then commanded "to harness," and to advance their standards; and all soldiers to give their attendance to their captain; fourteen falcons were landed, and drawn forth by strength of men; and Surrey, at the head of about 7000 soldiers, marched towards the town in good order of battle, with banners displayed. July The alarm soon spread, and "the gentlemen of the country showed themselves pricking; but when they heard the guns, they fled," says the chronicler, as if they had never used war.' Morlaix was five long miles from the landing place; the inhabitants had closed their gates, and "laid ordnance where was most jeopardy;" and the contest was carried on by the archers on one side, and the arbalasters on the other; but the master gunner, Christopher Morrice, who had brought three falcons against one of the gates, and saw that it was well defended with haebusses, cried, "Have at the wicket, and in the smoke of the guns let us enter!" A well-aimed shot struck the lock, the wicket flew open, and through the smoke the assailants entered, put the defendants to flight, and opened the great gate for their companions. When the Bretons on the walls saw that the town was entered, they fled, each as he could. Surrey displayed his banner in the market-place, and called to him certain squires, whom, for their hardiness and noble courage, he made knights. As the gentlemen suffered the soldiers to do what they would, they fell to pillaging the chests and warehouses of the merchants, for the town was very rich, and "specially in linen cloth." When they had "taken their pleasure of the town, and laden themselves with as much, for a truth, or more, than they could bear away, the lord admiral commanded the trumpets to blow, and all men to set fire to all parts of the town, the holy places excepted; the fair market-place," says Hall, was set on fire, and the suburbs burnt ardently." They were 66 SIR WILLIAM FITZWILLIAM. 193 then ordered to their standards; burnt houses and vil lages as they withdrew; lay that night ashore, as if braving the enemy; and the next day, with honour (such honour as such an exploit may be thought to deserve), they took to their ships, with little or no loss. They burnt some sixteen vessels in the haven; then proceeded to St. Pol de Leon, anchored before it, and, when they attempted to land, found the Bretons too strong for them, so that all they could do there was to burn one ship of 200 tons and some smaller craft. The whole fleet next sailed into Brest haven, where the boats landed, and set some houses on fire near the castle. This wasteful war Surrey continued for more than a fortnight, till he was recalled to the Isle of Wight. "The king commended him greatly for his pains and hardiness, and praised his guard, especially fifty of them who abstained from pilfering, and never went from the lord captain." Soon after the imperial visit, a Spanish fleet had arrived at Portsmouth: the force consisted of 4000 men embarked in sixteen ships, well equipped, and "with five months and a half of wages.' Meantime the French had not been remiss in their preparations : it was known from some prisoners, whom the Rye-men had taken at the commencement of hostilities, that they had eighteen or nineteen ships ready to sail from Havre de Grace (then called the New Haven) and from Dieppe, with the intention either of attacking Jersey, or Guernsey, or of landing 2000 adventurers in Scotland. It was proposed that the Spanish admiral, Lestano, should send some part of his fleet to sea, to form a junction with the English vice-admiral, sir William Fitzwilliam, and perform some great exploit upon the expedition on its voyage northward. But the Spaniards were slow in their proceedings; and when Fitzwilliam, some two months afterwards, was about to make an attempt against the enemy's force in Boulogne, his fleet suffered so greatly in a storm that few or none of the ships could be refitted for any service that year, either for * Hall, 644. Holinshed, 678. |