PREFACE.

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spread the ocean; and of that which, descending to a people far less re-mote, the renowned Alfred, with some others among the more powerful ofthe British princes, are said to have possessed.

In respect to that doubt and obscurity which has so long, and so hap-pily divided the minds of commentators and critics, with regard to theform of particularly celebrated ships, there need not be adduced a strongerproof of the very uncertain grounds, on which enquiry is to be pur-sued, than the laboured disquisitions which have taken place, without inany degree ascertaining the point, as to the formation of ships, at a periodno farther distant than that of King Henry the Eighth. Description andprofound representation appear, in almost numberless instances, at variancewith each other. The Harry Grace a Dieu, is of very .different force in theofficial account given of her equipment, from that which the drawingpreserved in the Pepysian library, seems to convey the idea of. Takeniii a strict sense, it can no more be considered as an actual portrait of aship, rudely as vessels might then be constructed, than can the uncouthfigures of vessels, which are so frequently seen on the reverses of an-cient coins, be taken as the actual and correct records of the form ofgallies. Not to speak contemptuously of so curious a document, it canonly be esteemed as the general resemblance of a ship, such as might besketched by the most artless hand, upon mere recollection, and at a veryremote period from actual inspection. Notwithstanding, however, the pre-tended form of some particular parts, totally inconsistent as they are withvisual truth, may, in the miqds of many persons, perhaps, have broughtits accuracy into disrepute, yet, on a comparison with other collateral tes-timony, there seems good reason to suppose, that several of the generalpoints are correct.

It is very evident, that at the period now treated of, there were two dis-tinct fashions in ship-building observed by marine architects, particularlythose of Britain. In the tapestry woven to commemorate in Britain thedestruction of the Spanish Armada, this point, when joined with other

confirming