Thiderwardes, within litle a while,
Within twelue yeer, and without perill
Gon and come, as men were wont of old
Of Scarborough unto the costes cold.
And nowe so fele shippes this yeere there ware
That moch losse for unfreyght they beare."
This chapter concludes with some remarks upon the importance of Calais, criticising several incidents in the reigns of Edgar, Edward III., and Henry V., and concluding with a most energetic exhortation to all English statesmen to consider the deep national importance of his arguments concerning English commerce, navigation, and the dominion of the sea, upon which he re-asserts that the peace, prosperity, and security of their island essentially depend.
"The ende of battaile is peace sikerly,
And power causeth peace finally.
Keepe then the sea, about in special
Which of England is the town-wall.
As though England were likened to a citie,
And the wall enuiron were the sea.
Kepe then the sea, that is the wall of England:
And then is England kept by Goddes hande;
That as for any thing that is without,
England were at ease, withouten doubt."
England first formally claims dominion of the sea, about A.D. 1416. That the author of these curious metrical rhymes represented the feelings of the age is, in some measure, confirmed by the fact that, towards the close of the reign of Henry V., the Parliament of England, for the first time, asserted their right to the dominion of the sea in all their more important formal documents, or rather to its sovereignty. "The Commons do pray," ran these documents, "that seeing our
- [Footnote: "Loadsman" (the priest), "Loadstar," and "Loads-stone," all agreeing
in their composition with "load," i.e. some leading or guiding influence.]
