HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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similar to that which had, in preceding ages, progressively raised theii* predecessors,the Venetians, and the Genoese, into consequence, was set up as a line of cOnduct never to be departed from ; nor can there remain a doubt, but had themeans of these newly liberated slaves, snatched, as they were, from a state ofmisery by the fostering hand of England, been equal to their wishes, they ( wotlldhave conscientiously endeavoured to engross to themselves the Commerce of thewhole world; nay, they would have striven, to their utmost, in the hope off effect-ing the ruin of any state which should have dared to oppose their project, eventhough that state had been their very protectress. Their grandeur, their power,their wealth, were at present, however, in embryo : it remained for the supine-ness of one descendant of the House of Stuart, and the civil feuds which dis-tracted Great Britain under another, to allow this serpent sufficient time toarrive at its proper maturity.

The Hans Towns, of which Lubec was the chief, were far more moderateand reasonable in their views. They may rather be compared to a personsatisfied with a comfortable maintenance, honestly acquired by his own labour,than to one grasping (as was too apparent in the conduct of the Dutch) at theacquisition of wealth by the oppression or ruin of another. Though rich, theywere not quarrelsome ; and contented with having their ships employed andpaid by almost every state and country in Europe: they were not ungrateful■enough to sting * the hands of those from whom they derived their consequence.Their vessels, occasionally hired by different states for the purposes of war, andfor the succGur of one country against another, were sometimes spectators andparties in a contest, but never appeared either as principals or allies in theirpublic character, except, indeed, in one or two private and trivial disputes,among the most formidable of which was one which took place with theircompetitors, the Dutch, about the year 1532.

* Though their conduct, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, cannot be defended, it certainly never roseto that climax of infamy which the Dutch attained in the reign of King James the First. I he HansTowns laid under no particular obligations to England : They had been extremely ill used during someof the preceding reigns : They remonstrated to Elizabeth ; and though her conduct was perfectly fair,yet the human mind does not easily get rid of the supposition, and ideal existence of a grievance, whenthe impression is once fixed. This happening to be the case, they rather clandestinely endeavouredto obtain satisfaction for one injury, by inflicting another of the same nature. Elizabeth, however,seized one of their fleets in the river of Lisbon, and the dispute ended

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