PREFACE TO THE 



penned. And for these two rare jewels, as likewise i 



for many other extraordinary courtesies, I must here | 



acknowledge my selfe most deepely bounden unto the j 



right reverend, grave, and learned Prelate, my very j 



good lord the Bishop of Chichester, and L. high j 



Almner unto her Majestic ; by whose friendship and \ 



meanes I had free accesse unto the right honor, my L. | 



Lumley his stately library, and was permitted to copy j 

 out of ancient manuscripts, these two journals and some 



others also. ' 



After these Friers (though not in the next place) i 



foloweth a testimonie of Gerardus Mercator, and another \ 



of M. Dee, concerning one Nicholas de Linna an j 



English Franciscan Frier. i 



Then succeedeth the long journey of Henry Earle ; 



of Derbie, and afterward king of England into Prussia ; 



& Lithuania, with a briefe remembrance of his valiant ! 



exploits against the Infidels there ; as namely, that with I 



the help of certaine his Associates, he vanquished the ^ 



king of Letto his armie, put the sayd king to flight, \ 



tooke and slew divers of his captains, advanced his I 



English colours upon the wall of Vilna, & made the ■ 



citie it selfe to yeeld. Then mention is made also of ' 



Tho. of Woodstock his travel into Pruis, and of his ■ 



returne home. And lastly, our old English father \ 



Ennius, I meane, the learned, wittie, and profound | 



Geffrey Chaucer, under the person of his knight, doeth I 



full judicially and like a cunning Cosmographer, make ■ 



report of the long voiages and woorthy exploits of our i 



English Nobles, Knights, & Gentlemen, to the Northren, i 



and to other partes of the world in his dayes. j 



Neither have we comprehended in this Volume, i 



onely our Trades and Voiages both new and old ; but i 

 also have scattered here and there (as the circumstance 

 of times would give us leave) certaine fragments con- 

 cerning the beginnings, antiquities, and grouth of the 



classical and warrelike shipping of this Island : as namely, ■ 

 first of the great navie of that victorious Saxon prince 



liv ' 



