In the introduction to that period of his naval history which deals with the reign of the young prince, who thus, at the age of little more than fourteen, was called to the throne, Nicolas[1] says :--
"The name of Edward the Third is more identified with the naval glory of England than that of any other of her sovereigns, for though the sagacious Alfred and the chivalrous Richard commanded fleets and defeated the enemy at sea, Edward gained in his own person two signal victories, fighting on one occasion until his ship actually sank under him, and was rewarded by his subjects with the proudest title ever conferred upon a British monarch, 'King of the Sea.' But while the history of one part of Edward's reign is the brightest in our early annals, his exploits were followed by events which teach a lesson to this country of the highest value, and which was, perhaps, never more important than at this time,[2] when a great nation is her avowed rival on the ocean, with a long series of disasters to avenge.
"Like the Nile, Camperdown, and Trafalgar, the battles of Sluis and L'Espagnols sur Mer led the English to imagine that they.were always to command the sea, and, notwithstanding the repeated warnings of the Commons in Parliament, the navy was so entirely neglected, that France and Spain obtained, and for many years preserved, the maritime superiority. Defeats, if not disgrace, almost a total destruction of commerce, and, far worse, constant invasions of our shores, attended by rapine, bloodshed, and all other atrocities, were the consequences of this fatal error, which established, however, the momentous truth, that the honour, safety, greatness, and prosperity of England depend upon her navy."
The words of Nicolas are as trim now as they were in 1847, when he published them, except that to-day, instead of one great rival, England has several formidable competitors. It is the duty of Englishmen to see to it that the sequel of their nineteenth-century naval glories shall not be as disastrous as that of their fourteenth-century ones.
Until 1330, the real power was not in Edward's hands, but in those of Mortimer, the queen, and Henry of Lancaster. In May, 1327, each of the northern ports was directed to supply one or two ships for service against the Scots, who, under Robert Bruce, were preparing an invasion on a large scale. These ships were placed
