Who, me recomforting all that he might,
Told me that that same was the regiment
Of a great shepherdess, that Cynthia hight,
His liege, his lady, and his life's regent.

"If then," quoth I, "a shepherdess she be, Where be the flocks and herds which she doth keep? And where may I the hills and pastures see, On which she useth for to feed her sheep?" "These be the hills," quoth he, "the surges high, On which fair Cynthia her herds doth feed: Her herds be thousand fishes with their fry, Which in the bosom of the billows breed.

Of them the shepherd which hath charge in chief, Is Triton, blowing loud his wreathéd horn, At sound whereof they all for their relief Wend to and fro at evening and at morn.

Those be the shepherds which my Cynthia serve
At sea, beside a thousand more at land:
For land and sea my Cynthia doth deserve
To have in her commandement at hand."

Colin Clout's Come Home Again. 1595.

THE ENGLISH NAVY IN THE TIME OF
ELIZABETH

BY WILLIAM HARRISON

THE navy of England may be divided into three sorts, of which the one serveth for the wars, the other for

burden, and the third for fishermen, which get their living for getting fishing on the sea. How many of the first order are maintained within the realm, it passeth my cunning to express; yet since it may be parted into the navy royal and common fleet, I think good to speak of those that belong unto the prince, and so much the rather, for that their number is certain and well known to very many. Certainly there is no prince in Europe that hath a more beautiful or gallant sort of ships than the Queen's Majesty of England at this present, and those generally are of such exceeding force that two of them, being well appointed and furnished as they ought, will not let to encounter with three or four of those of other countries, and either stave them in or put them to flight, if they may not bring them home.

Neither are the moulds of any foreign barks so conveniently made, to brook so well one sea as another lying upon the shore in any part of the continent as those of England. And therefore the common report that strangers make of our ships amongst themselves is daily confirmed to be true, which is, that for strength, assurance, nimbleness, and swiftness of sailing, there are no vessels in the world to be compared with ours.— Holinshed's Chronicle (Preface, "A Description of England"). 1577.

REASONS AND CONSIDERATIONS

TOUCHING

THE RIGHTFULNESS OF REMOVING OUT
OF ENGLAND INTO THE PARTS OF

AMERICA.

BY ROBERT CUSHMAN

1. What persons may hence remove.

SOME men there are who, of necessity, must here live; as being tied to duties, either to church, commonwealth, household, kindred, etc. But others, and that many, who do no good in none of those callings, nor can do none, as being not able, or not in favour, or as wanting opportunity, and living as outcasts, nobodies, eyesores ; eating but for themselves; teaching but themselves; and doing good to none, either in soul or body; and so pass over days, years, and months; yea, so live and so die.

2. Why they should so remove.

Now, such should lift up their eyes and see whether there be not some other place and country to which they may go, to do good, and have use towards others of that knowledge, wisdom, humanity, reason, strength, skill, faculty, etc., which God hath given them for the service of others, and His own glory.

But some will say, "What right have I to go and live in the heathen's country?"

Letting pass the ancient discoveries, contracts, and agreements which our Englishmen have long since made in those parts, together with the acknowledgment

of the histories and chronicles of other nations; who acknowledge the land of America, from Cape de Florida unto the Gulf of St. Lawrence-which is south and north 300 leagues and upwards, and east and west further than hath yet been discovered-belongs to the king of England. Yet, letting that pass, lest I be thought to meddle further than it concerns me, or further than I have discerning, I will mention such things as are within my reach, knowledge, sight, and practice, since I have laboured in these affairs.

And first, seeing we daily pray for the conversion of the heathens, we must consider whether there be not some ordinary means for us to take to convert them; and the means cannot be used unless we go to them, or they come to us. To us they cannot come: our land is full. To them we may go: their land is empty.

This, then, is a sufficient reason to prove our going thither to live, morally right. Their land is spacious and void, and there are few; and they do but run over the grass, as do also the foxes and wild beasts. They are not industrious, neither have art, science, skill, or faculty to use either the land or the commodities of it, but all spoils, rots, and is marred for want of manuring, gathering, ordering.

It being then, first, a vast and empty chaos; secondly, acknowledged the right of our Sovereign King; thirdly, by a peaceable composition in part possessed of divers of his loving subjects; I see not who can doubt and call in question the righteousness of inhabiting or dwelling there; but that it may be as lawful for such as are not tied upon some special occasion here, to live

there as well as here. Yea, and as the enterprise is weighty and difficult, so the honour is more worthy, to plant a rude wilderness, to enlarge the honour and fame of our dread Sovereign, but chiefly to display the efficacy and power of the Gospel, both in zealous preaching, professing, and wise walking under it, before the faces of these poor, blind infidels. .

The straitness is such, as each man is fair to pluck his means, as it were, out of his neighbour's throat. There is such pressing and oppressing, in town and country, about farms, trades, traffic, etc., so as a man. can hardly set up a trade but he shall pull down two of his neighbours.

The towns abound with young artisans, and the hospitals are full of the ancient ones. The country is replenished with new farmers, and the almhouses are filled with old labourers. Many there are who get their living with bearing burdens; but more are fain to burden the land with their whole bodies. Multitudes get their means of life with prating, and so do numbers more by begging. Neither come these straits upon men always through intemperance, ill husbandry, indiscretion, etc., as some think; but even the most wise, sober, and discreet men go often to the wall when they have done their best. Let us not thus oppress, straiten, and afflict one another; but seeing there is a spacious land, the way to which is through the sea, we will end this difference in a day.— A Relation or Journal of the Beginning and Proceedings of the English Plantation settled at Plymouth in New England. 1622.