A. D. 1571 cheap as at prefent. Thus, in the fifteenth volume, p. 694, of the Fœdera, the falary of the mafter gunner of the city of Carlifle was but one fhilling per day, or eighteen pounds five fhillings yearly; wheat being then at eight fhillings per quarter; fo that his falary would then go as far as feventy-three pounds or more, in our times. Although it must be allowed, that the Czar, or Great Duke of Ruffia, John Bafilowitz, or Vazilowitz, was properly the firft of the Ruffian Princes who raised his country from obfcurity, by the great conquefts he made of large provinces; conquering Plefcow and Great Novogrod from the Lithuanians, as well as the two Tartar kingdoms of Cafan and Aftracan, &c. Yet his favage fiercenefs and cruelties raised such hatred against him, that his nobles, though Chriftians, were provoked fo far, as to call in the Khan of Crim Tartary, a Mahometan, in or nearly about this fame year 1571, who not only ravaged a great part of Ruffia, but burned down the capital city of Moscow, (in which city, according to Puffendorf, there were then one hundred and eighty thoufand houfes, though almoft all of timber) by which cruel event, the English company loft above one hundred thousand roubles, the whole of which the Czar promised to make good to them, but did not keep his word. In the fame year, Mr. Anthony Jenkinfon, who had before made three voyages to Ruffia, was appointed ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to this Grand-Duke, John Bafilowitz; but at his arrival, he found the Czar had fufpended the Company's privileges, through the bad conduct of fome of their fervants, the envy of fome irregular English traders, and the misreprefentations of the Ruffian ambassador returned from England, who could not bring Queen Elizabeth into all his master's views. The company had alfo many loffes, by fhipwrecks, by the Polish pirates at fea, and by bad debts, &c. and were now, in other refpects, in a bad fituation: yet Jenkinson had fo much address, as to obtain a restoration of their privileges from the Czar, and fatisfaction for fome part of their loffes, although the greatest part was never made good to them. 1572 Ever since the year 1553, the English had, at various times, traded to the coaft of Guinea, notwithstanding the claim of the Portuguese court to an exclufive right to that coaft, as the first discoverers. They had, for that reafon, frequently disturbed the English and other nations in their trade for gold duft, Guinea grains, and ivory; yet, in the year 1572, the Portuguese, finding they could not hold all that coaft folely to themfelves, made a treaty of peace with England, by which all former disputes were adjusted, and freedom of trade thither was ftipulated with England. In p. 711, of the fifteenth volume of the Foedera, we have Queen Elizabeth's yearly falary to William Herne, her ferjeant-painter, which was but ten pounds, being the fame as it had been to several of his predeceffors therein named. In p. 715, of the fame volume, we fee that Queen's manumiffion of a villain, or the making a freeman of a man born in her manor and lordship of Taunton Dean, in Somersetshire; being the fame in form as that mentioned under the year 1514. The Hanfeatic Society, relying on the many privileges and immunities they enjoyed or claimed engaged in a fresh quarrel with the neighbouring Princes, on the following occafion. It seems that, in the preceding year, the city of Lubeck having concluded a peace at Stetin with John King of Sweden, after a war of eight years; one of the articles thereof was, that the Lubeckers might freely trade with Livonian Narva, then in the hands of Ruffia; yet now the VOL. II. Swedish S A. D. 1572 Swedish monarch, finding himself more powerful, under the pretext of his war with Ruffia, prohibited the Lubeckers, &c. from reforting to Narva, and even feized on their fhips trading thither. Hereupon, the Hans-towns held, this year, a grand affembly of their deputies, for deliberating on this and other points. Thuanus, in lib. 51. of his octavo edition at Francfort, in 1614, fays, "That fome of the points they agreed on related to their internal go"vernment; but that other refolutions related to foreign ftates and princes, moft part of which "laft proved of no effect." Which fhews that the Hanfeatics were, at this time greatly declining in power and influence. According to Meteranus, in lib. 3. Queen Elizabeth, for the quieting of her fubjects uneafinefs, because of the feizure of their effects, in the year 1568, in the Netherlands, concluded a treaty of commerce with King Charles IX. of France at Blois, wherein, he fays, the English obtained ample privileges for the vent of their merchandize. But this author adds, that the horrid maffacre of the French Proteftants at Paris, &c. perpetrated on St. Bartholomew's day, this year, rendered this treaty ineffectual, by reafon of the terror it struck into the English merchants. The Admiral Coligny, and the rest of the Proteftants, were decoyed to Paris, under pretence of the nuptials of the then King of Navarre, and were moft inhumanly butchered. The French Papifts gloried fo greatly therein, that medals were ftruck in its commemoration, of which Father Daniel has exhibited a print in his French history. That treaty is not in the Fœdera, but is printed in the fecond volume of the General Collection of Treaties, &c. in English, printed in octavo, fecond edition, 1732. Thereby, (article 24.) the English were to be allowed in France a magazine or storehouse, for repofiting the English cloth, wool, &c. as they were accustomed to have at Antwerp, Bergen-op-zoom, and Bruges; and alfo (article 25.) a place for affembling themfelves, in order to chufe their governors and other officers, &c. The Queen being, at this time, on bad terms both with Spain and the Emperor, (the latter partly on account of the Hans-towns) thofe two articles feem to have been chiefly framed for bringing Spain and the Emperor to be more favourable to the English commerce; for, in the fixteenth article, the French King ftipulates, that in cafe any Prince fhall hereafter molest the English in their trade and merchandize in the Netherlands, or in Germany or Pruffia, then the French King fhall interpofe for their relief: and by the feventeenth article, he fhall, in case of refusal and delay, arrest the perfons and goods of the merchants of such Prince, being in his territories, until the English and Irish fo arrefted be restored. And in article 20. the Queen obliges herself to perform the fame fervices for the fubjects of the French King in fimilar cafes. Yet fome think that neither of thofe monarchs were fincere in this treaty; Charles's aim being to hoodwink Elizabeth whilst he was perpetrating that horrid maffacre; and that the object of Elizabeth, by this treaty, was to render Spain and the Emperor more tractable. From Hakluyt's second volume we learn, that, in this year, 1572, there refided at Conftantinople confuls from the French, Venetians, Genocfe, and Florentines, but none from England; the trade into the Levant having, it seems, been quite difcontinued from the year 1553 to the year 1575. The fame indefatigable Hakluyt gives the public an Englishman's Letter to him from New Spain, fignifying, I. That seven years before this time, the Spaniards first found out the voyage from Acapulco to the Philippine ifles. A. D. 1572 1573 II. That the city of Mexico contained fifty thoufand families, fix thoufand of which were Spaniards. III. That the city of Tlafcala contained fixteen thoufand families, at or near which laftnamed place all the cochineal grows. IV. That the best filver mines were north of the city of Mexico. V. And that the refining of filver with quickfilver was then but a late discovery, it having before been done with lead. By an expired act of Parliament of the fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth, cap. 5. entitled, How Vagabonds fhall be punished, and the Poor relieved, all that related to the honeft poor therein was, "That affeffments fhould be made of the parishioners of every parish, for the relief of the poor of the fame parish." And this was the firft legal and effectual parochial affeffment for the poor in England. In the fifteenth volume, p. 717, of the Foedera, we find, that in the year 1573, Queen Elizabeth created the Earl of Shrewsbury Earl Marshal of England during life, with a falary of only twenty pounds per annum. Yet, from the flendernefs of the ftated nominal falaries. of this and other great officers, having large perquifites, no certain inferences can be drawn for forming a juft judgment either of the rate of living, or of the fcarcity of money. In the fame volume, p. 721, there feems to have been much injury done by the Portuguese, as well on land as on the feas, to the English about this time: for, in this very year, Queen. Elizabeth iffued a commiffion to her high-admiral, and feveral lords, gentlemen, and merchants, to enquire into the fame. Againft whom, that is, the Portuguefe, the herein observes, that there had been, for a long time, loud complaints; and that the thips, merchandize, and money of her merchants were feized, and the debts due to them detained, in the dominions of her dear brother Sebaftian, King of Portugal, and on the feas by his fleets, under his authority, contrary to the strict friendship that has fo long fubfifted between the two crowns. Wherefore, the Queen impowers the faid commiffioners to enquire into the effects of that King's fubjects detained by her fubjects. Under this fame year alfo, Sir James Ware, in his Annals of Ireland, has the following remarkable note, concerning the burthen which Ireland was then to England, by reafon of the very unfettled ftate of the former, viz. "The money which the Queen had fent to Ireland "fince her acceffion to the crown to this time, being computed, came to four hundred and "ninety thousand feven hundred and feventy-nine pounds feven fhillings and fix-pence halfpenny; whereas, the whole produce of the revenue of Ireland, during all that time," (viz. for fifteen years)" amounted but to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds." How happy is the change, in thefe refpects, fince thofe times, in Ireland! In this fame year, 1573, Don John of Auftria reduced the city of Tunis, in Barbary, to the obedience of Spain, from which it had revolted. Nevertheless, in the following year, the Turks, with a powerful army, retook Tunis, and also poffeffed themselves of the Goletta, which Spain has never fince been able to repoffefs. As Mr. Burchet's Complete Hiftory of the most remarkable Tranfactions at Sea, from the earliest Accounts of Time down to the Conclufion of Queen Anne's War, is a work which may, in general be reafonably depended on, he having been fecretary to the board of admiralty for a long series of years, we fhall here, from his preface, exhibit the entire navy of Queen Elizabeth, as it ftood in the year 1573, viz. 1574 Total, 59 fhips of the line of battle, as they might be reckoned in those days. Nevertheless, the faid author, in the ninth chapter of his firft book, p. 20 and 21, fays, "That the merchant-fhips of England were then efteemed the principal part of our maritime "power; of which, in the twenty-fourth year of Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1582, there "were reckoned one hundred and thirty-five, many of them of five hundred tons each; and "in the beginning of King James the Firft's reign, it was computed there were four hundred, "but these not of so great burthen. As to the fhips of war belonging to the crown in the "time of Queen Elizabeth, their number was thirteen; to which eleven were added by King "James I." So that even King James I. had but twenty-four fhips of his own: and all, or most of the above-named number of one hundred and forty-fix fhips, called Queen Elizabeth's naval power, confifted of merchant-ships, occafionally hired by her, excepting the thirteen ships which were her own; and it is highly probable, that the ten largest ships in the above lift, compofed a part of the thirteen. In a treatise in Sir Robert Cotton's Remains, p. 196, published in 1651, being an effay firft written in 1609, he obferves, "That in the year 1573, there was brought in an immea"furable use of luxurious commodities in England, as wines, fpices, filk, and fine linen: "for, of the latter fort, of above ten groats the ell, there is above three hundred and fixty "thousand pounds yearly spent, which is half the value of our woollen cloths exported; and ma"keth the state to buy more than they do fell whereas a good father of a family ought to be vendacem, a feller, not emacem, a buyer." Camden, in his History of Queen Elizabeth, under the year 1574, fays, the people (by which he meant the rich) wore filks glittering with gold and filver, either embroidered or laced; which, it seems, the Queen in vain endeavoured by her proclamation to restrain, and to oblige people to conform to a prescribed rule. Feafting alfo was much in fashion at this time; alfo great improvements were made in buildings, and more noblemen's and gentlemen's country-feats were re-edified, in greater beauty and largenefs than had ever before been known. "And certainly," fays he, "to the great ornament "of the kingdom, though to the decay of hospitality." All which, however, when rightly confidered, was no other than the natural effects of our increafing riches and commerce. "The Proteftants in France," fays Mr. Burchet, in his Naval History, "were become fo "powerful in a numerous fhipping, that in the year 1573, they committed fpoil, without “distinction, on all they met, and plundered several English ships. Whereupon Queen "Elizabeth fent out Holftock, comptroller of the navy, with a fquadron; who retook feve"ral English fhips, feized on fome of those cruizers, and dispersed the rest," Bondage was not as yet quite worn out in England; as we find in vol. xv. p. 731, of the Fœdera; where, in the year 1574, we fee Queen Elizabeth's commiffion to her Lord Treasurer Burleigh, and Sir William Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer," for enquiring into the "lands, A. D. 1574 "lands, tenements, and other goods, of all her bond-men and bond-women in the counties "of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Gloucester, viz. fuch as were by blood (i. e. birth) “in a flavish condition, by being born in any of her manors; and to compound with all or any fuch bond-men or bond-women in those four counties, for their manumiffion or free"dom; and for their enjoying their said lands, tenements, and goods, as freemen." By this commiffion, probably, confiderable fums of money were raised for that Queen's ufe; the commonalty continually growing richer by the gradual increase of the national commerce. The Chronicon Preciofum gives us an account of so great a dearth at London, that wheat rofe to two pounds fixteen fhillings per quarter, and beef at Lammas to one pound ten fhillings per ftone yet after harveft, wheat fell to one pounds four fhillings per quarter, that is, three fhillings per bufhel; which was ftill dear for the time. Poland, fays Baron Holberg, was, in 1574, bleft with her best monarch, Stephen Bathori, Prince of Tranfylvania; who not only made many excellent laws, but by keeping a body of horse continually stationed on the frontiers of Tartary, proved the means of bringing the Ukraine to be cultivated, after having lain fo long untilled, and almost unpeopled, on account of the frequent incurfions of the Tartars; in confequence of which wife measures, that country began thence to be adorned with cities and towns. That wife King likewife humanized the Coffacks, till then a barbarous people. It was in the reign of the Sultan Amurath III. who reigned between 1574 and 1595, that Crim Tartary was first reduced to be tributary to the Turks; which conqueft has very often been made of great fervice to the Sultans against the neighbouring nations of Ruffia, Poland, and Hungary. 1575 We have before observed, under the year 1548, that the Emperor Charles V. for political ends, had allowed a large rate of intereft on the great fums he had borrowed of the republic of Genoa, which was alfo for fome time continued by his fon, King Philip II. and thofe loans further increased on the fecurity of the revenues of Spain, and of Spanish America; and although, upon King Philip's afterward reducing the rate of intereft on thofe debts to Genoa, he had given affurances that the reduced interest should afterward be punctually paid, yet we find, that at feveral times after, and particularly in the year 1575, King Philip again put a stop to the payment of their arrears of intereft, at a time when divifions ran high at Genoa, between the old and new nobility. The interruptions of regular payment, were said to have been made purely for keeping the state of Genoa in a greater dependence upon Spain; though it be certain also that King Philip's neceffities, occafioned by his boundless views and immense expence, were a principal cause of them. On occafion of the present stoppage of the interest, that Monarch directed a revifal of his accounts with the Genoefe for fifteen years backward, which greatly alarmed them; as, according to their hiftorian De Mailly, vol. ii. b. 12. "They “had taken such advantage of that Prince's neceffities, as to have made eleven, twelve, and "fometimes eighteen per cent. intereft on their loans; fo that the ancient nobles alone had "drawn annually from Spain a revenue of fifteen millions of gold." And this review of the court of Spain, is faid to have produced a further reduction of intereft on thofe debt due to Genoa. Notwithstanding what is faid under the year 1553, it is plain that hitherto the English were not fully acquainted with the whale-fifhery: for, in the first volume of Hakluyt's Voyages, London, printed in 1598, p. 413-14, we have the "requeft of an honest merchant, by letter "to a friend of his, to be advised and directed in the courfe of killing the whale." This was in the year 1575. The answer, in fubftance, was, That there should be a ship of two hunddred |