B. Rasuræ cornu cervi,

Carnis viperarum cum cordibus & hepatibus, Florum boraginis, buglossæ, roris-marini, cal-、 endulæ, vetonicæ, coronaria rubræ, rorissolis, rosarum rubrarum, et sambuci, Herbarum scordii, cardui benedicti, melissæ, dictamni cratici, menthæ, majoranæ, betonicæ,

Granorum kermes recenter in rob redactorum, cubebarum, cardamomi majoris, baccarum juniperi, maceris, nucis myristica, caryophyllorum, croci,

Cinnamomi acutissimi, corticis ligni sassafras, flavedinis malorum citriorum & aurantiorum,

uncias VI.

singulorum

unciam 14.

Lignorum aloes et sassafras, uniuscujusque, Radicum angelicæ, valerianæ, carlinæ, fraxinellæ seu dictamni albi, serpentariæ virginianæ, zedoariæ, termentillæ, bistortæ, aristolochia longa, rotunda et cavæ, gentianæ et imperatoriæ, Omnia incisa et grosso modo contusa, in vase idoneo posita, cum spiritu vini rectificato extrahantur secundum artem. Tincturæ filtratæ in extractum mediante, in mariæ balneo, distillatione evaporentur. Magma expressum comburatur; cineres reverberati per aquam elixivientur, unde sal purum lege artis paretur, quod extracto misceatur. His ita peractis, huic extracto adde, ut artis est, pulyerem sequentem cæteraque ingredientia.

R. Lapidum bezoardicorum orientalium et oc

cidentalium verorum, uniuscujusque, Magisterii solubilis perlarum orientalium, Magisterii solubilis corellorum rubrorum, Boli orientalis, terræ sigillatæ veræ, unicornu mineralis, cornu cervi philosophicè præparati et cornu cervi calcinati,

unciam 4.

uncias 11.

uncias 111.

singulorum unciam I.

Ambrægriseæ electissimæ in essentiam redacta, unciam 1. Moschi orientalis optimi essentificati,

Croci solis cum tinctura antimonii basilii valentini parati,

drachmam 14.

drachmas 11.

Sacchari candisati albi subtilissime pulverisati, libras 11. Ex his omnibus mixtis et ex arte unitis fiat confectio vere regia, quæ ad usum reservetur in pixidibus apprime elausis.

N°. XVI.

TO PRINCE

A LETTER FROM SIR WALTER RALEGH,
HENRY, TOUCHING THE MODEL OF A SHIP.

[See Dr. BIRCH's Works of RALEGH, II, 359.]

• Most excellent Prince,

• If the ship your highness intends to build, be bigger than the Victory, then her beams which are laid overthwart from side to side will not serve again, and many other of her timbers, and other stuff, will not serve; whereas, if she be a size less, the timber of the old ship will serve well to the building of a new. If she be bigger, she will be of less use, go very deep to water, and of mighty charge, our channels decaying every year, less nimble, less manageable, and seldom to be used.

Grande navio grande fatica, saith the Spaniard. A ship of 600 tons will carry as good ordnance as a ship of 1200 tons, and where the greater hath double her ordnance, the less will turn her broadside twice before the great ship can wind once, and so no advantage in that overplus of guns. The lesser will go over clear, where the greater shall stick and perish; the lesser will come and go, leave or take, and is yare, whereas the greater is slow, unmanable, and ever full of encumber.

In a well-conditioned ship, these things are chiefly required ;-1, That she be strong built; 11, Swift in sail ; 111, Stout sided; Iv, That her ports be so laid as that she may carry out her guns all weathers; v, That she hull and try well; vi, That she stay well, when boarding, or turning on a wind is required.

To make her strong consisteth in the care and truth of the workmen; to make her swift is to give her a large run or way forward, and so afterward, done by art and just proportion, and that in laying out her bows before, and quarters behind, the shipwright be sure that she neither sink nor hang into the water, but lie clear and above it, wherein shipwrights do often fail, and then is the speed in sailing utterly spoiled. That she be stout sided, the same is provided by a long bearing floor, and by sharing off from above water to the lower edge of the ports, which done, then will she carry out her ordnance all weathers. To make her to hull and try well, which is called a good sea ship, there are two things principally to be regarded, the one that she have a good draught of water, the other that she be not overcharged; and this is seldom done in the king's ships, and therefore we are forced to lie, or try in them with our main course and mizen, which with a deep keel and standing streak she would perform.

The extreme length of a ship makes her unapt to stay, especially if she be floaty, and want sharpness of way for ward. And it is most true, that such over-long ships, are fitter for the narrow seas in summer, than for the ocean, or

Long voyages; and therefore, 100 feet by the keel, and 35 feet broad, is a good proportion for a great ship. It is to be noted, that all ships sharp before, not having a long floor, will fall rough into the sea from a billow, and take in water over head and ears; and the same quality have all narrow-quartered ships to sink after the tail. The high charging of ships, is that that brings many ill qualities, it makes them extreme leeward, makes them sink deep into the seas, makes them labour sore in foul weather, and oftimes overset. Safety is more to be respected than shows, or niceness for ease; in seajourneys both cannot well stand together, and therefore the most necessary is to be chosen.

Two decks and an half is enough, and no building at all above that, but a low master's cabin. Our masters and mariners will say, that the ships will bear more well enough; and true it is, if none but ordinary mariners served in them. But men of better sort, unused to such a life, cannot so well endure the rolling and tumbling from side to side, where the seas are never so little grown, which comes by high charging. Beside those high-cabin works aloft, are very dangerous in fight, to tear men with their splinters. Above all other things, have care that the great guns be four foot clear above water when all lading is in, or else these best pieces are idle at sea. For if the ports lie lower, and be open, it is dangerous; and by that default was a goodly ship, and many gallant gentlemen lost, in the days of Henry VIII, before the isle of Wight, in a ship called by the name of Mary Rose.'

N°. XVII.

ORDERS TO BE OBSERVED BY THE COMMANDERS OF THE FLEET AND LAND COMPANIES, UNDER THE CHARGE AND CONDUCT OF SIR WALTER RALEGH, KNIGHT, BOUND FOR THE SOUTH PARTS OF AMERICA, OR ELSEWHERE. GIVEN AT PLYMOUTH, IN DEVON, MAY 3, 1617.

(See News of Sir Walter Ralegh, 4to, 1618, p. 19, and Birch's Works of Ralegh, I, xcvii.)

First, Because no action nor enterprise can prosper (be it by sea or land) without the favour and assistance of Almighty God, the Lord and strength of hosts and armies, you shall not fail to cause divine service to be read in your ship morning and evening, in the morning before dinner, and at night before supper; or at least (if there be interruption by foul weather) once the day, praising God every night with singing of a psalm at the setting of the watch.

Secondly, you shall take especial care that God be not blasphemed in your ship, but that after admonition given, if the offenders do not refrain themselves, you shall cause them of the better sort to be fined out of their adventures, by which course, if no amendment be found, you shall acquaint mẹ withal. For if it be threatened in the Scriptures, that the curse shall not depart from the house of the swearer, much less from the ship of the swearer.

Thirdly, no man shall refuse to obey his officer in all that he is commanded, for the benefit of the journey; no man (bẹ