to give chace, the next ship, if the chacing ship have a boat at her stern,. sha I take her up. If any make a ship to strike, he shall not enter her till the admiral come up.. The musketteers divided into certain quarters of the ship, shall not deliver their shot but at such distances as their commander shall direct them. You shall take a special care for the keeping of the ship clean between the decks, to have your ordnance in order, and not cloyed with trunks and chests. Let those that have provision of victuals deliver it to the steward; and every man put his apparel in canvas cloakbags, except some few chests which do not pester the ship. Every one that useth any weapon of fire, be it musket or other piece, shall keep it clean, and if he be not able to amend it, being out of order, he shall presently acquaint his officer therewith, who shall command the armourer to amend it. No man shall keep any feasting or drinking between meals, nor drink any healths on the ship's provision. Every captain, by his purser, steward, or other officer, shall take a weekly account how the victuals waste. The steward shall not deliver any candles to any private man, or to any pri vate use. Whosoever shall steal from his fellows either apparel or anything else, shall be punished as a thief; or if any one steal any victuals, either by breaking into the hold, or otherwise, he shall receive the punishment of a thief and the murderer of his fellows. There is no man shall strike any officer, be he captain, lieutenant, ensign, serjeant, corporal of the field, a quarter-master, nor the master of any ship, master's mate, boatswain, or quarter-master; I say, no man shall offer any violence to any of these, but the supreme officer to the inferior, in time of service, upon pain of death. No private man shall strike one another, upon pain of receiving such punishment as a martial court shall think him worthy of. No man shall play at cards or dice, either for his apparel or arms, upon pain of being disarmed, and made a swabber. And whoever shall shew himself a coward upon any landing or otherwise, he shall be disarmed, and made a labourer and carrier of victuals for the rest. No man shall land any men in any foreign parts, without order from the general, the serjeant-major, or other chief officer, upon pain of death: and wheresoever we shall have cause to land, no man shall force any woman, be she Christian or Heathen, upon pain of death. And shall take espe you cial cial care, when God shall suffer us to land in the Indies, not to eat any fruits unknown; such fruits as you do not find eaten by birds on the tree, or beasts under the tree, you shall avoid. You shall not sleep on the ground, nor cat any new flesh till it be salted two or thee hours, which otherwise will breed a most dangerous flux; so will the eating of over-fat hogs or turkies. You shall also have a great care that you swim not in any rivers but where you see the Indians swim, because most of the rivers are full of alligators. You shall not take any thing from any Indian by force, for from thenceforth we shall never be relieved; but you must use them with all courtesy. And for trading or exchanging with them, it must be done by one or two of every ship for all the rest, and the price to be directed by the cape-merchant, for otherwise all our commodities will be of small price, and greatly to our hindrance. For other orders on the land, we will establish them (when God shall send us thither) by general consent. In the meantime I will value every man's honour according to their degree and valour, and taking care for the service of God, and prosperity of our enterprize. When the admiral shall hang out a flag or ensign on the mizen shrouds, you shall know it to be a flag of counsel to come aboard." No. XV. Proclamatio, concernens WALTERUM RALEGH, Militem, & Viagium suum ad GUIANAM. (From RYMER's Fœdera, Vol. XVII. p. 92.) "WHEREAS we gave licence to Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, and others of our subjects with him, to undertake a voyage to the country of Guiana, where they pretended great hopes and probabilities to make discovery of certain gold mines for the lawful enriching of themselves and these our kingdoms, wherein we did, by express limitation and caution, restrain and forbid them, and every of them, from attempting any act of hostility, wrong, or violence, whatsoever, upon any of the territories, states, or subjects of any foreign princes with whom we are in amity, and more peculiarly of 12 those those of our dear brother the King of Spain, in respect of his dominions and interests in that continent, all which notwithstanding, we are since informed by a common fame, that they or some of them, have by an hostile invasion of the town of St. Thome, being under the obedience of our said. dear brother the King of Spain, and by killing of divers of the inhabitants thereof, his subjects, and after by sacking and burning of the said town, as much as in them for their own parts lay, maliciously broken and infringed the peace and amity which hath been so happily established and so long inviolably continued between us and the subjects of both our crowns; we have therefore held it fit, as appertaining nearly to our royal justice and honour, eftsoons to make a public declaration of our own utter mislike and detestation of the said insolences and excesses (if any such have been by any of our subjects committed;) and, for the better detection and clearing of the very truth of the said common fame, we do hereby straightly charge and require all our subjects whatsoever, that have any particular understanding and notice thereof, upon their duty and allegiance which they owe us, immediately after publication of this our pleasure, to repair unto some of our privy-council, and to discover and make, known unto them their whole knowledge and understanding concerning the same, under pain of our high displeasure and indignation, that we may thereupon proceed in our princely justice, to the exemplary punishment and cohersion of all such as be convicted and found guilty of so scandalous and enormous out rages. Witness ourself at Westminster the eleventh day of June. Per ipsum Regem.” No. XVI No. XVI De Warranto Speciali pro Decollatione WALTERI RALEGH, Militis, A. D. 1618 (From RYMER's Foedera, Vol. XVII. p. 115.) "JAMES, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To our right trusty and well-beloved counsellor, Francis Lord Verulam, our chancellor of England, greeting; Whereas Sir Walter Ralegh, knight, late of the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, in the county of Middlesex, with others, hath been indicted of divers high treasons by him committed against us, and thereupon hath been tried and found guilty of the same, before our dear cousin and counsellor, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk, then chamberlain of our household, Charles, late Earl of Devon, Henry Lord Howard, Robert Lord Cecil, of Essingdon, then our principal secretary, And other our justices of oyer and terminer, at our city of Winchester, in our county of Southampton, concerning treasons and other offences. lately assigned; which said Sir Walter Ralegh was, for the same his treasons, by them adjudged to be drawn, hanged, and quartered, according to the laws and customs of this our realm of England in that case provided; which said commission, with the said judgment, indictment, and the trial and proceedings thereupon, were returned and do remain in our said court of pleas, before us to be holden: and although the said Sir Walter Ralegh be adjudged to die as aforesaid; yet We, minding to dispense with that manner of execution of judginent, do, therefore, by these presents, pardon, remit, and release the said Sir Walter Ralegh of and from such execution of his judgment to be drawn, hanged, and quartered as abovesaid, and instead thereof, our pleasure is, to have the head only of the said Sir Walter Ralegh cut-off, at or within our palace of Westminster, in or upon some fit and convenient place or scaffold to be provided in that behalf, and and that in such sort and order as in such cases have been heretofore done; the said judgment to be drawn, hanged, and quartered, or any law, or other thing or matter whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. Willing, charging, and hereby expressly commanding you our said chancellor, that upon receipt hereof you do forthwith direct, under our great seal of England, two several writs, one to the lieutenant of our Tower of London, or his deputy there, for the delivery of the said Sir Walter Ralegh to the sheriff of Middlesex, at or within our said palace of Westminster aforesaid, and another writ to the said sheriff of Middlesex, for the receiving the said Sir Walter Ralegh of and from the hands of our said lieutenant or his deputy, and for the executing of him there, at some fit and convenient place to be there by our said sheriff erected and provided for that purpose, in such manner and form as in such cases hath heretofore been done; and these presents shall be your warrant and discharge for the same, against us, our heirs, and successors for ever. Witness Ourself at Westminster, the 28th day of October. Per Breve de Privato Sigillo." No. XVII. Mr. THOMAS LORKIN to Sir THOMAS PUCKERING, Bart. (See the HARLEIAN Collection). " SIR, T LONDON, Nov. 3, 1618, "My last letters intimated a warrant that was form for Sir Walter Ralegh's dispatch. These will relate to you his end. Upon Wednesday, therefore, he was brought to Westminster, to recieve sentence anew from the lord chief-justice, to comply with certain formalities, as I hear, in law, for that those who pronounced it were dead. Being presented at the bar, he demanded for what offence he was proceeded against. Answer was made it was His Majesty's pleasure to take his |