SOUTHAMPTON. 



J)refiive leflbn. They had hailed him as one whofe royal 

 mandate all nature muft obey. To put this fuppofed omni- 

 potence to the tell, and to reprove the flattery, he, de- 

 fcending the beach, commanded, fays the hiftorian, a chair 

 to be fet for him ; in which having feated himfelf, he faid 

 to the flovifing tide, " Thou art under my dominion, and 

 the ground on vsrhich I fit is mine ; nor did ever any difobey 

 my commands with impunity : therefore, I command thee 

 not to wet the clotiies or feet of me, thy lord and malter." 

 But the rude waves, continues the hiftorian, prefeiitlv came 

 up to his royal feet, and dafhed over him ; when, fpringing 

 back, he exclaimed, " Let all the inhabitants of the world 

 know, that the power of monarchs is a vain and empty 

 thing ; and that no one deferves the name of king, but He, 

 whofe will, by an eternal decree, the heavens, the earth, and 

 the fea, do obey." Nor would he ever after fuffer the 

 crown to be put on his head, but caufed it to be placed on 

 the great crucilix at Wincheller. And it is worthy of re- 

 mark, that all the coins or Canute fcem to give fanftion to 

 this ftory ; as they either reprefent him as wearing a mitre, 

 or a cap, or a triangular covering, fimilar to that on the 

 coins of St. Edward. See Canute. 



Several circumltauces prove, that this town had attained 

 confiderable importance before the Norman invalion ; 

 though it appears to have fuffered greatly from the ravages 

 of earl Toltan. Henry I. is fuppofed to have made it a 

 borough by charter ; as the " burgefies of Southampton" 

 are mentioned in his grants to the canons of the priory of 

 St. Dionyfius, which he had founded. Many privileges 

 were granted to the burgefies by king John, who exempted 

 them from toll, paffage, and pontage, by fea and land, in 

 fairs and in markets, througho'.it all his dominions ; as well 

 on this fide the fea as beyond. By the fame charter he 

 granted them the port of Portfmouth, in ferm ; tor which, 

 together with the ferm of Southampton, they were to pay 

 200/. yearly. The agreement to pay this fum fufficiently 

 indicates the opulence and flourifhing Hate of the town at 

 that period ; which appears to have arifen principally from 

 the wine trade: and, fo early as 1215, the merchants of 

 Southampton are recorded to have imported more wine than 

 any others in England, thofe of London excepted. White 

 or fweet wines were then moftly in ufe, and thefe were 

 chiefly imported from Genoa and Venice, by aliens ; who 

 were reftrifted to this port by a duty payable to South- 

 ampton, even if the wine was landed elfewhere. 



In the reign of Henry III. the barons of the Cinque 

 Ports became very troublefome to the merchants of South- 

 ampton, by frequently attaching their perfons, and feizing 

 their goods, under pretended reference to ancient grants. 

 The king, being appealed to on this fubjcft, iffucd a writ, 

 dated May 14, 1252, commanding the barons to deiilt "^rom 

 their outrages ; and four years afterwards he invelled the 

 burgefies with new privileges, by a very ample charter, 

 dated at Briflol, July 14, 1256. It appears that South- 

 ampton firft fent members to parliament in the 23d of 

 Edward I. Confiderable trade was now carried on betvveeni 

 this port and France; and the detention, at St. Valery and 

 Barfleur, of fome flii])3 belonging to Southampton, was in 

 great meafure the cauie of the war between this country and 

 France, toward tlie conclufion of the 13th century. 



The trade of this town continued very flourifhing till the 

 rupture with France in 1338, on account of the rcfufal of 

 the ftatc^- of that kingdom to acknowledge the claims of 

 Edward III. to its tiirone. The fame year the mayor and 

 bailiff were commanded, by writ, to caufe all their fliips, 

 of 40 tons burthen and upwards, to be vidluallcd, and fur- 

 niflied with men at arms, ready to defend the land, in cafe 



of invafion. Thefe preparations, however, were made tod 

 late. The French, with their allies, the Spaniards and 

 Genoefe, landed in Oftober, from a fleet of jo gallies ; 

 and, having flain all who oppofed them, entered and plunl 

 dered the town, and afterwards deflroyed the greater part 

 of it by fire. Many of the principal inhabitants were, at the 

 fame time, mhumanly put to death. The invaders did not, 

 however, effeft this devaftation with impunity : feveral dif- 

 tinguiflied perfonages of their own party were flain, and, 

 among them, the fon of the king of Sicily. This fatil 

 event interrupted the growing profpcrity of Southampton ; 

 as many of the merchants were totally ruined, and others 

 afterwards removed to places lefs expofed to invafion. In 

 the following year an aift was pafl'ed for rebuilding and 

 fl:rongly fortifying the town ; and the king, in a new char- 

 ter, confirmed all the grants made by his predeceffors, and 

 inverted the inhabitants with additional immunities. 



In the reign of Richard II. a plan was propofed, by a 

 rich Genoefe merchant, for rendering Southampton one of 

 the principal ports of Europe ; but the jealoufy of fome 

 London merchants is faid to have defeated the defign, and 

 to have caufed the aflalTination of the projeftor. 



In July, 1345, the army, which afterwards fo memorably 

 diftinguilhed itfelf on Crefly's plains, was embarked at this 

 port. That gallant army of Britons alfo, which gained im- 

 mortal fame at the battle of Agincourt, under Heury V., in 

 1415, was affembled and embarked at Southampton ; and it 

 was here that the foul confpiracy againit the life of that mo- 

 narch was timely difcovcred and puniihed. The principal 

 confpirators were Richard, carl of Cambridge, grandfather 

 of king Edward IV., lord Scrope of Malliain, and fir 

 Thomas Grey of Northumberland. They were brought to 

 trial, condemned, and executed in this town. Lord Scrope, 

 who had been a particular favourite of the king, was hanged, 

 drawn, and quartered : the others were beheaded ; and their 

 bodies were interred in the chapel of the Domus-Dei, or 

 God's Houfe ; as is recorded by an infcription on a ftone, 

 erefted by a predeceffor of the prefent carl of Delaware. 

 Hillorians differ widely refpeAing the motive to this plot. 

 Some fay, that the projeft was fuggetled by the court of 

 France ; which, terrified at the preparations of Henry, had 

 engaged thefe three noblemen, fur the bribe of a million of 

 livres, to murder the king at Southampton ; an account 

 wliich Shakfpeare feems to have credited. See his play of 

 Henry V. aft ii. fc. 2. 



" See you, my princes and my noble peers," &c. 



With greater probability, however, others appear to think 

 that the confpiracy was formed originally by the earl ot 

 Cambridge, fecond fon of the duke of York ; who, having 

 efpoufed the filler of the carl of March, had /ealoufly em- 

 braced the interefls of that family, and engaged lord Scrope 

 and fir Tliomas Grey to fecond his views. See Holingflied's 

 Ciironicle. 



The trade of Southampton mull have been in a very 

 flourifliing flate in the reign of Henry VI. ; or we can 

 hardly fuppofe that fb great a man as the lord mayor cf 

 London, and keeper of queen Margaret's wardrobe, fir 

 Thomas Cooke, would have borne the otTice of cullomer 

 of this port. 



Ill the reign of Edward IV., when the feuds between 

 the houfes of York and Lancafler raged with thoir utnioll 

 violence, fcarcely a day clapfed which was not marked with 

 fome holliliticj of the oppofite parties. That divifion of 

 fentiments, with refpeft to the two contenders for the 

 crown, which pervaded almofl all England, liibfilUd at 

 Southampton ; and at lall raged with luch fury, that a 



fierce 



