I yo A. D. 1581. 



' fian, and Indian merchandize. The laft argofer that came thus from 

 * Venice \7as u'-fortunately loft near the ifle of Wight, with a rich car- 

 ' go and many paflengers, in the year 1587.' 



1582. — The queen's letters to the grand fignior were received with 

 much civihiy, being delivered to him in the year 1582 by her ambaf- 

 fador Hareborn, whom fhe impowered to fettle confuls in the feveral 

 ports, and to eftablifli laws or rules to be obferved by the Englifh trad- 

 ing to Turkey. With the firft fad:ors, the indefatigable Hakluyt [K ii, 

 p. 164.] lent excellent inftrudions ' for inquring into the nature of dy- 

 ing fluffs of Turkey, and into the art of dying ; alfo what fpecies of 

 thofe might be produced in Englaiid, and how beneficial fuch new pro- 

 dudions would have been to us ; which he inftances in that of faffron, 

 firft brought into England by a pilgrim, and alfo woad, originally 

 from Tholoufe in Languedoc ; the damafk-rofe was firft brought in- 

 to England by Dr. Linacre, phyfician to King Henry VII and King 

 Henry VIII ; Turkey fowls about fifty years paft, [viz. about 1522.] 

 the artichoke in King Henry VIlI's time ; and of later times the 

 muflsi-rore, and feveral forts of plums by the Lord Cromwell, out of 

 Italy ; the apricot by King Henry VIIl's French gardener :' (but here is 

 no mention as yet of peaches nor of nedf arines). ' And now within theie 

 four years, (1578) have been brought into England from Vienna in 

 Auftria divers kinds of flowers called tulipas, and thofe and others pro- 

 cured thither a little before from Conftantinople. And it is faid that 

 fince we traded to Zante, (this muft have been but lately) the plant that 

 beareth the coren is alfo brought into this realm ; and although it 

 bring not fruit to perfection, yet it may ferve for pleafure and for 

 fome tife *. Many other things have been brought in that have de- 

 generated by reafon of the cold climate ; fome things brought in have 

 through negligence been loft : and Archbifliop Grindal brought the 

 tamanfk plant from Germany, and many people have received great 

 health by this plant.' On the commencement of the Englifti trade to 

 Turkey, the merchants having occafion to attend the queen and coun- 

 cil, they had there great thanks and commendations for the ftiips they 

 then built of fo great burden, with many encouragements to go forward 

 for the kingdom's lake, (fays the author of the Trade's increafe, who 

 adds, that the ordinary returns of this trade at the beginning were three 

 for one). 



England, by entering into a direct trade to Turkey, procured all the 

 commodities of Greece, Syria, Egypt, Perfia, and India, much cheaper 

 than formerly. And (fays Sir William Monfon) when the Venetians 

 ferved us with thofe rich eaftern wares, by the way of the Red fea, and 



*'T.i:s fliews that it was tier, but jiifl introduced, a.nd not w^il known. 



