HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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The same scale of preparation being again continued in the ensuing year, aship called the Sovereign of the Seas was completed out of the fund just men-tioned, and surpassed as well in force as tonnage any that had been constructedin Britain before that time.

The following is the Conclusion of a very scarce little Piece, inscribed toCharles I. by Thomas Hey wood, and entitled, “ A true Description ofhis Majesty's royal Ship , built this Year , 1637, at Woolwich , in Kent , tothe great Glory of the English Nation., and not to be paralleled in the wholeChristian World to which is prefixed a Portrait of the Ship. Thefirst forty pages consist of useless observations on the Navigation ofthe early Ages, and abound with those quaint flourishes which werecommon at the time it was written.—For the tediousness, and otherfaults of this extract, the exactness of the description will be a sufficientapology.

Upon the beak head sitteth royall king Edgar on horseback, trampling uponseven kings : now what hee was, and who they were, I shall briefly relate untoyou, rendring withall a full satisfactory reason to any unpartiall reader whythey are there, and in that manner placed.

Upon the stemine head there is a Cupid, or a child resembling him, bestriding"and bridling a lyon, which importeth, that sufference may curbe insolence, andinnocence restraine violence, which alludeth to the great mercy of the king,whose type is a proper embleme of that great Majesty, whose mercy is aboveall his workes. On the bulk head right forward stand six severall statues insundry postures, their figures representing Consilium, that is, Counsell; Cura,that is, Care; Conamen, that is, Industry ; and unanimous endeavours in onecompartement r Counsel! holding in her hand a closed or folded scrole, Carea sea compasse, Conamen, or Industry, a lint stock fired. Upon the other, tocorrespond with the former, Vis, which implyeth Force, or Strength, handinga sword ; VIrtus, or Virtue, a sphearicall globe ; and Victoria, or Victory, awreath of lawrell. The moral is, that in all high enterprizes there ought to befirst, Counsell to undertake, then Care to manage, and Industry to performe ;and in the next place, where there is ability and strength to oppose, and vertueto direct, Victory consequently is alwayes at hand ready to crowne the under-taking. Upon the hances of the waste are foure figures, with their severallproperties : Jupiter riding upon his eagle, with his trisulk, from which hee

darteth