HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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Oa the commencement of tfie crusades, the Danes entered into the causewith the same degree of enthusiasm that appeared to actuate all the rest ofChristendom. “ The powerful succour,” says Mr. Gibbon, “ of Flanders,Frise, and Denmark, filled near an hundred vessels ; and the northern warriorswere distinguished in the field by a lofty stature, and a ponderous battle-axe.”Nor were they renowned only for their military prowess and exploits, since ina note subjoined by the same author is the following extract:—“ Northmanni,et Gothi, et aeteri populi insularum quas inter occidentem et septentrionemsitae sunt gcntes bellicosae corporis proceri mortis intrepidae bipennibus armatae,nayibus rotundis quae Ysnachi* dicuntur advectae.” “ The Normans (meaningthe Norwegians, or any other people inhabiting the northern districts) theGoths, videlicet the Danes, and other nations dwelling in the islands situatedbetween the west and north, are of warlike disposition, of lofty stature, andgreat intrepidity, armed with double edged battle-axes, or halberts; they navigateround , that is to say, ships infinitely shorter in proportion to their length thangallies, which were called Ysnachnc.” The latter part of this information isextremely consequential, as it points out very concisely what is quaintly termedthe character of the vessels then in use among the northern nations, which, ashas been before remarked, varied in form from the gallies of the southern lati-tudes, from the certainty of their being better calculated than the latter toendure the shocks of those more tempestuous seas, which they were destinedto pass through.

A statement of the revenue of this country, as it stood soon after the com-mencement of the thirteenth century, exceeds all credibility, though said tohave been faithfully extracted from the parchment register of Nicholas Bilde,who acted in the capacity of steward, or treasurer, to Valdemar the Second.If the account there given is to be believed correct, the revenue of Denmarkamounted at that time to no less a sum annually than twenty-three millionsseven hundred and thirty thousand pounds : a considerable part was applied tothe maintenance of a powerful navy, which, according to Witfrild, a writer ofthat time, comprised no less than fourteen hundred ships of different rates anddimensions, each carrying on an average one hundred and twenty-one soldiers ;a fleet which, as well in numbers, as in the size of the vessels individually com-posing it, might be considered almost vying with the hyperbolical represen-tations of romance, and the account of it to be occasioned by the over-strained prejudice of an heated mind, anxious to augment in belief the power

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