A. D. ij99^. 61 r 



conqucff of Hindooftan, a country, which, by the great riches and un-' 

 military temper of its inhabitants, has repeatedly invited, and fldlen a 

 prey to, thofe fcourges of the human race called conquerors. 



1400 — About this time the. fifhery on the coafl of Aberdeen-fhire, 

 which in later ages has been almoft abandoned to the Dutch, was fre- 

 quented by the Englifli. The Scots fitted out a fmall fleet under Sir 

 Robert Logan to drive away or deflroy the Englifli veflels. But Logan's 

 force was apparently infuflticient, for he him felfwa& taken by the vefl!el& 

 belonging to Lynne. [Walfingham , p. 364.] 



The Roman world comprehended now but a few miles beyond the- 

 walls of Conflantinople, the peninfula of Peloponnefus or Morca, and 

 fome trifling fpots and' iflands. Manuel, the unhappy emperor, was 

 driven by the terror of the Turkifli arms to mendicate pecuniary aflift- 

 ance from the defcendents of thofe barbarians., who had ufurped his 

 weftem provinces. From the obfervations of the emperor, or his at- 

 tendants, on the diflferent countries vifited by- them, I feled fuch parti- 

 culars as fliow the ftate of commerce and- manufadures, at lead as they 

 appeared to the Greeks. — The natives of Germany excell in the me- 

 chanic arts, and they boafl; of the invention of gun-powder and canuons. 



Above two hundred free cities in it are governed by their own laws 



France contains many flourifliing cities j of whicb Paris, the royal refid- 

 ence, is pre-eminent in wealth and luxuryi — Flanders is an opulent pro- 

 vince, the ports of which are frequented by merchants of our own fea 

 (the Mediterranean) and the Ocean. — Britain (or rather England) is full 

 of towns and villages. It has no vines and bur little fruit, but it abounds 

 in corn, honey, and wocl, from ivhich the natives make great quantities of 

 cloth. London, the capital, may be preferred to every city of the Wefl 

 for population, opulence, and luxury. It is feated on the River Thames, 

 which, by the advantage of the tide, dayly receives and difpatches trad- 

 ing vefl^els from and to various countries. — Venice * excells all the cities 

 of Italy in the opulence of its citizens and the magnificence of its build- 

 ings. The Venetians fend every year ten triremes \ to the Ionian and 

 jEgaean feas to protedt the- fliips trading to Egypt and Africa againfl: 

 pirates ; and they are relieved by other ten at the end of a year's cruife. 

 Twenty-two veflTels, larger than others, trade to Alexandria, Syria, Ta- 

 nais (or Afof), the Britifli iflands, and Africa, under the care of the 

 fons of the nobles, for fuch is the cuflora, [Laon. Chalcocortdyles, L. ii, 

 pp. 36-50; L. iv,p. 105:.] 



1 40 1, January 1 1"" — King Henry propoflng to go to war, and under- 



* The defcription of Venice is taken from tlie f;ave the claflical rame of ti iiemis or r^n:^:;;. Stella, 



emperoi's vifit to it in the year 1438, and brought the Genoefe chronicler, fays exprefsly that the tri- 



in here for the fake of connexion. remes were the fame vefftls, which in his time were 



f From Sanuto [/>. 57] and many other Itah'an UhtUal/y called galli-.s. 'i'he real triremes were 



culhors it is pretty certain, that the terzaroli (gaU then as much unki;own and forgotten, as if the? 



iies with three men to au oar) were the veffels, to Lad never exifted. 



vhich they, and this Greek writer imitating them. 



4H 2 



