A. D. 1508. 31 



ped the Venetians of all that they poITefTed on the continent of Italy ;. 

 yet, with all their power, they were not able to conquer the noble ca- 

 pital city of Venice. And, in fine, the pope being brought (or bought) 

 over, and the reft of the confederacy disjointed, the republic foon re- 

 covered much of her former territories : To the pope, however, they 

 were fain to leave Ravenna ; to Spain, the five towns which the republic 

 had till now pofl^efied in Calabria ; and to the emperor, Triefte and 

 Friuli. 



Aubart, a Frenchman, fir ft failed up the great river of St. Laurence 

 to the country of Canada, from whence he brought home to France 

 fome of the Indian natives. 



Although the marriage agreed on between Mary, the daughter of 

 king Henry VII of England, and Charles, grandfon of the emperor 

 Maximilian, did not take place ; yet it is fomev\'hat curious to fee the 

 formality of thofe times for fecuring the lady's dowery, and her mar- 

 riage portion of 250,000 gold crowns : For many lords were folemnly 

 bound for the fame, as were alfo the following cities and towns on Maxi- 

 milian's part, viz. Bruflels, Antwerp, Bruges, Ypres, Courtray, Nieu- 

 port, Dort, Leyden, Amfterdam, Middleburg, Zirickzee, and Mechlin; 

 and on the part of Henry, the cities and towns of London, Coventry, 

 Norwich, Chefter, Worcefter, Exeter, York, Briftol, Southampton, Bof- 

 ton, Hull, and Newcaftle uponTyne*. [Foedcra^ V. xiii, />. 173.] 



From the Foedera [/'-''. xiii, ^. 216] we learn what king Henry VII 

 made by his office of change, exchange, and rechange (cambii, excambii, 

 et recambii) of money, paid by all perfons going, or fending money, to 

 foreign parts, and from thence back to England. Henry now grants 

 this office to Peter Corfy, a Florentine, for one year, who, by the king's 

 authority, was to take 3a' for the exchange and rechange of every gold 

 ducat. For this office Corfy was yearly to pay the king L. 250 Sterling. 

 The record calls this office ' the cuftody' \^et appruamentum, polfibly writ- 

 ten by miftake inftead of aperimncntum, or opening] ' of the increafe of 

 the change, exchange, and rechange.' 



Sir Robert Cotton \_Ranains,p. 197.] fpeaking of the antiquity and ufe 

 of this cambium regis, or office of exchange, in a curious and judicious 

 treatife, intitled, ' The manner and means how the kings of England 

 have from time to time fupported and repaired their eftates,' written in 

 the year 1609, lays, ' It is as ancient as before the time of king Henry 

 III, and continued in ufe till the middle of king Henry VIII's reign, 

 the profits of it being now (in 1609) engrofTed among a few goldlmiths, 

 and would yield above L. 10,000 yearly to the crown, would he ered it 



• We thereby alfo ieani, which were then thofe days, the faith of trading communities was 

 clieemed the moft importmit cities and towns in the held at kail equal to tiiat of foveicigns. M. 



domiuiujs of the coatrafting princes ; and that in 



