French Ships, And Vnder The Commaund Of Captaine Henry Pay.

Then haue you, pag. 130, [Footnote:

Of original edition.] the franke and bountifull Charter granted by king Edward the first, vpon the foresayd Cinque portes: & next thereunto a Roll of the mightie fleet of seuen hundred ships which K. Edward the third had with him vnto the siege of Caleis: out of which Roll (before I proceed any further) let me giue you a double obseruation. First that these ships, according to the number of the mariners which were in all 14151. persons, seeme to haue bene of great burthen; and secondly, that Yarmouth an hauen towne in Northfolke (which I much wonder at) set foorth almost twise as many ships and mariners, as either the king did at his owne costs and charges, or as any one citie or towne in England besides. Howbeit Tho. Walsingham maketh plaine and euident mention of a farre greater Fleete of the same king; namely, of 1100. shippes lying before Sandwich, being all of them sufficiently well furnished. Moreouer the Reader may behold, pag. 205, [Footnote: Of original edition.] a notable testimonie of the mightie ships of that valiant prince king Henry the 5. who (when after his great victory at Agincourt the Frenchmen to recouer Harflew had hired certain Spanish and Italian ships and forces, & had vnited their owne strength vnto them) sent his brother Iohn Duke of Bedford to encounter them, who bidding them battell got the victory, taking some of their ships and, sinking others, and putting the residue to dishonorable flight. Likewise comming the next yeere with stronger powers, and being then also ouercome, they were glad to conclude a perpetuall league with K. Henry: & propter eorum naues (saieth mine Author) that is for the resistance of their ships, the sayd king caused such huge ships to be built, quales non erant in mundo, as the like were not to be found in the whole world besides.

But to leaue our ancient shipping, and descend vnto later times, I thinke that neuer was any nation blessed of IEHOVAH, with a more glorious and wonderfull victory vpon the Seas, then our vanquishing of the dreadfull Spanish Armada, 1588. But why should I presume to call it our vanquishing; when as the greatest part of them escaped vs, and were onely by Gods out-stretched arme ouerwhelmed in the Seas, dashed in pieces against the Rockes, and made fearefull spectacles and examples of his iudgements vnto all Christendome. An excellent discourse whereof, as likewise of the honourable expedition vnder two of the most noble and valiant peeres of this Realme, I meane the renoumed Erle of Essex, and the right honorable the lord Charles Howard, lord high Admirall of England, made 1596. vnto the strong citie of Cadiz, I haue set downe as a double epiphonema to conclude this my first volume withall. Both of which, albeit they ought of right to haue bene placed among the Southerne voyages of our nation, yet partly to satisfie the importunitie of some of my special friends, and partly, not longer to depriue the diligent Reader of two such woorthy and long expected discourses, I haue made bold to straine a litle curtesie with that methode which I first propounded vnto my selfe.

And here had I almost forgotten to put the Reader in mind of that learned and Philosophical treatise of the true state of Iseland, and so consequently of the Northren Seas & regions lying that way, wherein a great number of none of the meanest Historiographers and Cosmographers of later times, as namely, Munster, Gemma Frisius, Zieglerus, Krantzius, Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Magnus, Peucerus and others, are by euident arguments conuinced of manifold errors, that is to say, as touching the true situation and Northerly latitude of that Island, and of the distance thereof from other places, touching the length of dayes in Sommer and of nights in Winter, of the temperature of the land and sea, of the time and maner of the congealing, continuance, and thawing of the Ice in those Seas, of the first Discouerie and inhabiting of that Island, of the first planting of Christianitie there, as likewise of the continuall flaming of mountains, strange qualities of fountaines, of hel-mouth, and of purgatorie which those authors haue fondly written and imagined to be there. All which treatise ought to be the more acceptable, first in that it hath brought sound trueth with it, and secondly, in that it commeth from that farre Northren climate which most men would suppose could not affoord any one so learned a Patrone for it selfe.

And thus (friendly Reader) thou seest the briefe summe and scope of all my labours for the common-wealths sake, and thy sake, bestowed vpon this first Volume: which if thou shall as thankefully accept, as I haue willingly and freely imparted with thee, I shall bee the better encouraged speedily to acquaint thee with those rare, delightfull and profitable histories, which I purpose (God willing) to publish concerning the Southerne and Westerne parts of the World.

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[Greek: EIS APODAEMIAS BRETTANON PONAEMA RIKARDOU TOU HAKLYITOU,

Hygon ho Brochthonos.

Ossoi gaian echousi Brotoi henos ekpephyasi hos allaela horan ethnesi charma physei. Hos de thaliplagktos metekiathen ethnea pleista, hoikoi mimnazous axiagastos ephy. Exocha Brettanoi d', alloin schisthentes erantai, idmenai allothroun phyla polysperea. Indous hesperious kai eoous, Aithiopas te kai Moschous, kai pant eschatounta genae. Touton d' oia malista, klyta, klytos Haklyutos graphen ariphradeos, mnaem aei essomenon.]

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In nauales RICHARDI HAKLUYTI Commentarios.

Anglia magnarum foecunda puerpera rerum, siue solum spectes nobile, siue salum; Qua quantum sumptis se nobilitauent armis, siue domi gessit pralia, siue foris; Multorum celebrant matura volumina: tanta Insula materiem paruula laudis alit. At se in quot, qualesque, & quando effuderit oras, qua fidit ignotum peruia classis iter, Solius Hakluyti decus est, pradiuite penna ostendisse suis ciuibus ausa mari Quacunque idcirco celeri gens Anglica naui, Oceani tristes spernere docta minas, A primi generisque & gentis origine gessit, qua via per fluctus vlla pattre potest, Siue decus laudemque secuta, vt & hostibus alas demeret, atque suis lata pararet opes: Hoc opus Hakluyti; cui debet patria multum, cui multum, patria quisquis amicus erit Qui re namque magis se nostra Britannta iactat, quam quod sit prater catera classe potens? Quam prius obsessam tenebris sic liberat, vt nunc quisque sciat quam sit nobile classis opus. Quam si Dadalice vtemur surgemus in altum, sin autem Icarice, quod voret, aquor habet. RICH.

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