IN THE TIME OF HENRY Till. 251 



wives would go, eight or nine of them in a boat, 

 with but one boj or one man with them, would 

 pursue their occupation, and had pluck enough 

 to sail a-fishing sixteen or twenty miles to sea, 

 and were sometimes chased home by the French- 

 men, but still they were not disheartened. 

 They continued to bring home a great quantity 

 of fish, and thus did their country good service. 

 And here I may mention that, when summer 

 came, and the seas were calm, the great French 

 armament, which I have told you was assembled 

 at Havre, put to sea. A few straggling ships, 

 probably in search of plunder, made a first 

 attempt to effect a landing at Brighton. But 

 what was the consequence ? The beacons on 

 the hills were set on fire ; the inhabitants rose, 

 among whom probably were some of your fore- 

 fathers, and the French soldiers were bravely 

 driven back before they had committed more 

 than a few trifling injuries. You may be de- 

 sirous of knowing what became of the great 

 French armament. After some partial actions 

 with the English fleet, they landed some of their 

 troops on the Isle of Wight, and threatened 

 Portsmouth ; but, not daring to attack that 

 place, they put to sea, and, after some ineffectual 



