THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE 



tooke no light impression in the royall brest of that | 



most renowmed and victorious prince King Henry the i 



eight of famous memory ; who for the increase of | 



knowledge in his Sea-men, with princely liberalitie '. 

 erected three severall Guilds or brotherhoods, the one 



at Deptford here upon the Thames, the other at King- ' 

 ston upon Hull, and the third at Newcastle upon Tine : 



which last was established in the 28. yeere of his j 



reigne. The chiefe motives which induced his princely I 



wisedome hereunto, himselfe expresseth in maner fol- ; 



lowing. Ut magistri, marinarii, gubernatores, & alii | 



ofiiciarii navium, juventutem suam in exercitatione j 



gubernationis navium transigentes, mutilati, aut aliquo i 



alio casu in paupertatem collapsi, aliquod relevamen j 



ad eorum sustentationem habeant, quo non solum illi ! 



reficiantur, verumetiam alii juvenes moveantur & in- ' 



stigentur ad eandem artem exercendam, ratione cujus, ^ 



doctiores & aptiores fiant navibus & aliis vasis nostris & i 



aliorum quorumcunque in Mare gubernandis & manu- j 



tenendis, tam pacis, quam belli tempore, cum opus ' 



postulet, &c. To descend a litle lower, king Edward , 



the sixt that prince of peerelesse hope, with the advise I 



of his sage and prudent Counsaile, before he entred \ 



into the Northeasterne discovery, advanced the worthy ; 



and excellent Sebastian Cabota to be grand Pilot of | 



England, allowing him a most bountifull pension of : 



i66.1i. vi.s. viii.d. by the yeere during his life, as \ 



appeareth in his Letters Patents which are to be scene ; 



in the third part of my worke. And if God had 1 



granted him longer life, I doubt not but as he delt : 



most royally in establishing that office of Pilote Major ' 



(which not long after to the great hinderance of this \ 



Common wealth was miserably turned to other private ■ 



uses) so his princely Majestie would have shewed him- ■ 



selfe no nigard in erecting, in imitation of Spaine, : 



the like profitable Lecture of the Art of Navigation. | 



And surely when I considered of late the memorable ; 



bountie of sir Thomas Gresham, who being but a I 



xxxvi 



