A. D. 1572. ^55 



An act of parliament [14 E/iz. c. 5] intitled, How vagabonds fliall be 

 puniflied, and the poor relieved, diredted, that aflefTments ftiould be 

 made of the parifliioners of every parifh, for the relief of the poor of 

 the fame pariOi. And this was the firft legal and effedual parochial 

 aiTeiTment for the poor in England. 



1573. — There feems to have been much injury done by the Portu- 

 guefe, as well on land as on the feas, to the Englifh about this time : 

 For Queen Elizabeth ifliied a commillion to her high-admiral, iundry 

 lords and gentlemen, and two merchants, to inquire into the fame ; 

 wherein fhe obferves, that the fhips, merchandize, and money of her 

 merchants were feized, and the debts due to them detained, in the do- 

 minions of the king of Portugal, and on the feas by his fleets, under 

 his authority, contrary to the ftrid friendfhip that had fo long fublilled 

 between the two crowns. Therefor, the queen impowers her commif- 

 fioners to inquire into the complaints of her fubjeds, and to take an 

 account of all the Portuguefe property in her dominions, that compen- 

 fation may be made to the fufferers. \Foedera, V. xv, p. 721 .] 



Sir James Ware, in his Annals of Ireland, obferves, under this year, 

 that * the money which the queen had fent to Ireland, from her accef- 

 fion to the crown to this time, amounted to L490,779 : 7 : 67 ;' whereas 

 the whole produce of the revenue of Ireland during all that time, viz. 

 for fifteen years, amounted but to Li 20,000. How happy is the change 

 in thefe refpeds fince thofe times in Ireland ! 



As Burchet's Complete hiftory of the moft remarkable tranfadlions 

 at fea, from the earliefl accounts of time down to the conclufion of 

 Queen Anne's war, is a work which may in general be depended on, he 

 having been fecretary to the board of admiralty for a long feries of 

 years, we fhall here, from his preface, exhibit the entire navy of Queen 

 Elizabeth, as it flood in the year 1573, viz. 



I (hip of 100 guns. 



9 from 88 to 60. 



49 from 58 to 40. . 



Total, 59 fliips of the line of battle, as they might be reckoned in thofe 

 days. 

 58 from 38 to 20. 



29 from 18 to 6. 



Total, 1 46 Ihips. 



Neverthelefs, he fays \p. 20], that the merchant fhips of England 

 were then eileemed the principal part of our maritime power ; ot which, 

 in the 24th year of Queen Elizabeth (1582) there weje reckoned 135, 



U2 



