ways proof againft arrows from Welsh or English bows. And fuch violent ftrokes were given with maces and clubs of iron, as no helmets could refift. Befides the heavy cavalry, there was a fort of light-horfe, that only wore an habergean and fkull-cap of that metal. Some of the infantry had alfo skull-caps and jaquettes of mail, with targets of wood, or light breaft-plates. It was cuftomary for knights to bear their coats of arms painted, either upon the rims, or in the middle of their fhields; and their helmets were adorned with different crefts, which, together with the arms, remained to their families. Some good authors have afcribed the origin of this cuftom, from whence the modern fcience of heraldry was derived, to the inftitution of tilts and tournaments, in the tenth century but others date it from the crufade under Godfrey of Bouillon, when the confufion arifing from fo great a number of noblemen of different nations ferving together, made them invent thefe diftinctions. A late ingenious French writer has very juftly obferved, that wearing fuch enfigns on their fields, and appropriat. ing them to diftinguifh particular families, could not have been the general practice in Europe, till after the death of William the Conqueror: for, if it had, his fon Robert must have known him by his Armour, and could not have ignorantly thrown him to the ground, as hath been related in the book prefixed to this hiftory.

Tilts and tournaments, we are told, were first introduced into Germany by the Emperor Henry, furnamed the Fowler, who

died in the year nine hundred and thirty fix; and who, among other ordinances relating to thofe fports, forbad the admitting of any perfon to jouft, who could not prove a nobility of four defcents. Soon afterwards they were brought into England by King Edgar; and, in the following century, were establifhed all over France. Geoffry de Preuilly, a baron of Anjou, is mentioned, in fome of the hiftories or chronicles of that age, as the firft who introduced them into that kingdom: but Father Daniel rather thinks, that he only drew up a code of laws, by which they were regulated: and that thofe regulations had been fettled by the king and the nobility in their affemblies.

Thefe entertainments are juftly called, by fome of our ancient hiftorians, military exercifes and preludes of war. For they were of very great ufe to inftruct the nobility in all the methods of fighting which prevailed at that time, but especially in the dextrous management of their horfes and lances. They alfo kept up a martial difpofition, and an eager emulation for military glory, in time of peace. But, as they were frequently attended with accidents fatal to the lives of the combatants, Pope Innocent the Second and Eugenius the Third made canons against them, by which all who fhould die in them were denied Chriftian burial. Yet, notwithstanding the feverity of this prohibition, they continued in France; and a few of them were held under King Stephen in England: but Henry the Second, from the humanity of bis nature; or, perhaps, to fhew his refpect for the authority of the

church,

church, where the intereft of the ftate did not abfolutely oppofe it, moft ftrictly forbad them. His fons revived the practice of them, efpecially his fucceffor, Richard; whofe ardour for them was violent; because no perfon excelled in them more than himfelf: nor did they entirely ceafe in Eng land till the latter end of the fixteenth century: for, in the year fifteen hundred and feventy-two, among other pomps for the enter tainment of the duke of Anjou, Queen Elizabeth held a tourna ment in the tilt-yard at London, where Sir Philip Sidney won the prize and caroufals, another mode of them, but not fo dangerous, continued in ufe under James and Charles the first. It must be like wife remarked, that altho' tour naments were prohibited by King Henry the fecond, the exer. cifes practifed there, and the emulation excited by them, were not intermitted during the courfe of his reign. A contemporary writer informs us, in giving an account of the city of London, that, on every Sunday in Lent, the fons of the citizens fallied forth in troops from the gates, mount ed on war-horses, and armed with fhields and lances, or, inflead of lances, with javelins, the iron of which was taken off, in order to exercife themselves in a reprefentation and image of war, by mockfights, and other acts of military contention. He adds too, that many courtiers, from the neighbouring palace, and young gentlemen of noble families, who had not yet been knighted, came to combat with them, on thefe occafions. It cannot be doubted,

that thofe noblemen, who had been honoured with knighthood, had proper places of exercife, for keeping up their skill in horfemanfhip, and the dexterity they had acquired in the management of their arms. The abovementioned author fays further, that, on every holiday, throughout the whole fummer, it was ufual for the young citizens to go out into the fields, and practife archery, wrestling, throwing of ftones and miffile weapons, with other fuch martial fports. And, during the festival of Eafter, they reprefented a kind of naval fight on the river Thames!

The most particular and authentic account I have met with of the navies in thofe days, and alfo of the manner of fighting at fea, is in the before-cited history of Geoffry de Vinefauf. From his defcription it appears, that the hips of war were all gallies; but he fays, that in his time they had generally no more than two rows of oars: and he adds, that the veffel, which the Romans called Liburna, was then named a galley; being long, narrow, and lowbuilt. To the prow was affixed a piece of wood, commonly then called a fpur, but by the ancients, a roftrum; which was defigned to ftrike and pierce the fhips of the enemy: but there were alfo leffer gallies, with only one tier of oars: which being shorter, and therefore moved with greater facility, were fitter for throwing wild-fire, and made ufe of to that purpose. The fame writer has related all the circumftances of a fea-fight, which the Chriftians, who were going to the fiege of Ptolemais, had with the Turks, on that coaft. He

tells us, that when the fleets were advancing to engage, that of the Chriftians was drawn up, not in a ftrait line of battle, but in a crefcent or half-moon; to the intent that, if the enemy hould attempt to break in, they might be inclofed in that curve, and confequently overpowered. In the front of the half-moon (that is, at the two ends of the curve) the Chriftians placed their ftrongest galleys, that they might attack with more alacrity, and better repel the attacks of the enemy. On the upper deck of each galley the foldiers belonging to it were drawn up in a circle, with their bucklers clofely joined; and on the lower deck the rowers fat all together, fo that those who were to fight, and were placed above for that purpofe, might have the more room. The action began, on both fides, with a difcharge of their miffile weapons: then the Chriftians rowed forwards, as fwiftly as they could, and fhocked the enemy's galleys with the fpurs or beaks of theirs: after which they came to close fighting; the oppofite oars were mixed and entangled together; they fixed the galleys to each other by grappling irons thrown out on both fides; and fired the planks with a kind of burning oil, commonly called Greek wild-fire. The account which the fame hiftorian gives of that wild-fire is worth tranfcribing. His words are thefe: "With a pernicious french and livid "flames it confumes even flint and "irm: nor can it be extinguished

"

by water: but by Sprinkling fand upon it the violence of it may be "abated; and vinegar poured upon 4 it will put it out.”

We know of none fech at prefent. The compofition was fir difcovered by Callinicus, an architect, who came from Syria to Conftantinople; and the Greek emperors, for fome time, kept the fecret to themfelves. Conftantine Porphyrogenitus, in his treatife on the adminiftration of the empire, which he dedicated to his fon, advifes that prince to answer the barbarians, who should defire him to give them any of the Greek fire, that he was not allowed to part with it, because an angel, who gave it to Conftantine the Great, com manded him to refuse it to all other nations. While this advice was adhered to, the wild-fire proved of great ufe to the defence of the empire; feveral fleets, which came to invade Conftantinople, having been burnt and destroyed by it: but it appears, by the paffage abovequoted, that in the twelfth century the fecret was known to many other nations, and even to the Mahometans. I find also that it was ufed in the attack and defence of towns and castles.

The Saxon chronicle tells us, that King Alfred, to oppofe the invafions of the Danes, ordered a number of fhips, or rather galleys, to be built upon a new model, different from thofe which were ufed by that nation, or by the Frifons; being higher than any of theirs, and almost twice as long; better failors, more fteady, and more proper for war. Of thefe fome had fixty oars, and others more. Experience fhewed that they were fuperior to any of thofe fhips, with which the northern corfairs had infefted the coafts of England, till this admirable prince, whofe genius

and

and application to whatever might conduce to the benefit of the public inftructed his fubjects in all kinds of ufeful knowledge, made this improvement in the naval architecture of the Anglo-Saxons. His fon, and grandfons, after the wife example he had fet them, kept up very strong fleets, which not only protected, but enlarged their dominions. And (if we may be lieve the accounts of fome ancient historians) his great grandfon Edgar raifed the maritime force of England to fuch a degree, as can. not be paralleled in the hiftory of any other nation. They tell us, that this monarch had three feve ral fleets, each of twelve hundred fail, and all ftout fhips, which were ftationed to guard the different coafts of his kingdom; and that every year he cruifed in each of thefe fquadrons, foas to make, with in that time, the whole tour of the inland. If thefe ships had been built upon the fame model as Alfred's, the number of rowers aboard of them, allowing but one to each oar, would have exceeded two hundred thousand, befides the mariners that were neceffary to manage the fails, -and foldiers for battle. But fuppofing that three in four of them were of a much fmaller fize, and carried no more than four and twenty men each, which was the lowest compliment of any that we read of in those days, the number is ftill greater than England, not united either with Scotland or Wales, could poffibly furnish, to be kept, as it is faid these were, in conftant employment. I am there. fore furprifed that Mr. Selden, in one of his most important and elaborate works, fhould feem to have given credit to this account, which

certainly is exaggerated very far beyond the truth: though it is pro bable that king Edgar had a much fronger fleet, and more conftantly maintained on all the coafts of his kingdom, than most of his prede. ceffors; becaufe we find that he enjoyed a fettled peace, through the whole courfe of his reign, unmolefted by any of the people of the North, or other foreign ftates. Yet he had not been dead above fix or feven years, when the naval power of the English was fo ftrange. ly reduced, or fo ill managed, that a Danish fquadron of feven Thips was able to infult fome parts of their coaft, and to plunder their town of Southampton. Nor did the lofs and dishonour which the nation had fuftained by this defcent, excite them to restore, or better regulate, their maritime forces. For, ten years afterwards, Ethelred, or rather those who had the direction of public bufinefs, during the tender years of that prince, could find no means of delivering the kingdom from these invaders, but by giving them money; for the raifing of which a new tax, called danegeld, was impofed on the people.

The natural effect of this timid measure was to draw on other invafions. They accordingly hap pened; and more compofitions of the fame nature were exacted, each new payment being higher than the foregoing: fo that from ten thoufand they came to eight and forty thousand pounds; a great fum in thofe days! One vigorous effort was indeed made by Ethelred, in the year one thousand and eight, to free himself and his people from this infamous tribute, by a general tax on all the land of the kingdom, for the fitting out of a T 3

fleet,

fleet, which might effectually guard it against the Danes. Every three hundred and ten hides of land was charged to furnish a galley of three rows of oars, and every eight hides to provide a coat of mail and a helmet; which armour was for the foldiers, defigned to be employed as marines, aboard of the fleet. This was done with the advice and confent of the parliament, or witena gemote: and the Saxon chronicle tells us, that the number of fhips built and equipt the next year, by means of this impofition, was greater than any that the Englifh nation had ever furnished under any former king. Mr. Selden obferves, that, according to a computation made in Camden's Bri- tannia, from rolls of that age, the number of hides of land in England did not exceed two hundred and forty three thoufand fix hun. dred; which makes the number of fhips obtained by this hidage feven hundred and eighty-five. This apparently was a fleet fufficient to have maintained the fovereignty of our feas against any other nation. Yer, by violent tempefts and wicked treachery, it was foon deftroyed; and the wretched expedient of compounding with the Danes was again taken up; which at laft proceeded fo far, that, in the year one thousand and twelve, the Englifh nobility, after paying the tribute (though too late to prevent the enemy from over-running and fubduing a great part of the kingdom) hired a fquadron of Danith fhips to guard their coafts against the attack of other corfairs. All England being foon afterwards fubjected to Canute, that prince, in the year one thoufand and eighteen, difmiffed all his Danifh flect, ex

cept forty fhips, which he retained to fecure his new-acquired dominions: bur, in the year one thou. fand and twenty-eight, he carried with him to Norway fifty-five fhips of war, which his Englifh thanes provided for him, and by which he was enabled to conquer that kingdom. His fon and fucceffor, Harold Hare foot,who reigned only four years, laid a tax upon the English, to maintain conftantly in his fervice fixteen fhips of war, allowing eight marks to each rower, according to the establishment fettled by Canute. His brother, Hardicanute, increased that number to fixty-two, with the fame allowance to each rower; for the defraying of which there was paid, in the fecond year of that king, twenty-one thousand and ninety-nine pounds: but prefently afterwards he reduc ed the number of fhips to thirtytwo, and the charge to eleven thou. fand and forty-eight pounds. In truth, it was not neceffary that thefe Danish princes fhould keep any great naval forces for the defence of this ifland; as they themfelves had the dominion of thofe northern countries, from whence the former invafions and defcents had been made: and as no other power, then exifting, could pretend to difpute with them the empire of the ocean.

Hiftorians relate that Earl Godwin, to appease the anger of his fovereign, Hardicanute, for the fhare he had in the death of Alfred, that prince's brother, prefented him with a fhip, the beak of which was of gold, and which carried eighty foldiers, of whom every one had on each arm a golden bracelet, that weighed fixteen ounces; on his head an iron helmet, gilt with

gold,