714 



A. D. 1490. 



fubjedts agreeable to the rules enaded by themfelves ; and any Englilh- 

 man, refufing to fubmit to their jurifdiftion, fhould be deprived of the 

 privileges granted to theEnglifli in the Danifh dominions. — The execut- 

 or, or next of kin, or failing both, the aldermen or governors, fliould 

 have the cuftody of the effects of EngUfh fubjeds dying in the Danifh 

 territories. — The merchants of England fhould have liberty to fell their 

 cloths without the interference of any Danifh ofhcer ; and they might 

 appoint their agents in Copenhagen, Malmo, and LandlTcrone, who, if 

 they relided a year or more, and paid the local dues, might tranfadl bufi- 

 nefs for abfent merchants, and fell cloths by the piece or in fmaller 



quantities No Englifli merchant (hould be Uable to arrefl for the debt 



or fault of another ; nor fhould his goods be arrefted for crimes or 

 debts charged againfl himfelf, if he gave fufKcient fecurity to Hand trial. 

 — In cafes of wreck the property fhould be carefully preferved for the 

 o\\Tiers, and no perfon fhould be permitted ' in fuch melancholy cafes 

 ' to claim any right to the property on pretence of a damned cuflom, 

 ' or make profit of the calamities of others,' beyond a reaibnable re- 

 ward for labour Every pofTible means fliould be ufed on both fides to 



prevent the depredations of pirates Any infradlions of this treaty 



fhould be punifhed by the fovereign^of the offenders*. [Fcedera V. xii, 



#•3.75.381-] 



April 15'" Florence, under the wife adminiflration of the illuftrious 



merchant, Lorenzo de Medici, was now in the zenith of profperity. The 

 inhabitants, freed from wars and tumults, exerted their adive fpirit 

 in commerce and manufadures. Their Oriental trade by the way of 

 Egypt, was extended and improved by Lorenzo. Their linens and filk 

 .goods were made from materials produced in their own territories, but 

 their woollen manufadures depended on importation from Spain and 

 England. [Ro/coe's Life of Lorenzo, c. 6.] The trade of the later coun- 

 ti-y with Italy had undergone a very important change in the fhort fpace 

 of five years fince King Richard commiflioned the firft conful for the 

 Englifh merchants at Pifa. From that commifhon we learn, tliat they 

 ■propofed to trade in their own or chartered veflels ; and now we find 

 Englifli veflels efi;ablinied in the trade, and the Englifh merchants even 

 extending their ideas to the employment of their veflels in a mere car- 

 rying trade. A treaty of fix years for the regulation of this commerce, 

 fo important to the manufadures of Florence, was now concluded by a 

 dodor of laws and an alderman of London with the delegates of Flor- 

 ence, as follows. — The Englifli might freely relbrt to the territories of 

 Elorence, and carry thither all kinds of merchandize, whether ihe pro- 



• It has been very j.ropcrly remarked by Mr. (except in cafe? of (hipwreck). How prodigious 



Anderfon, that thi-i treaty fiippofes the trade be- an alteration had taken place fince the ages in which 



twecn the two coinitrieo tu be entirely in tiie hands the Danes and Norwegians domineered upon the 



of the Englifli, there being no rcciprceation of Ocean I 

 advantages llipulated for the Danes in England 



