[179] In the early MS. copy presented to the Queen the 400 vessels were to be from 100 to 200 tons, costing £400 each, and the crew was to consist of a master, nine mariners, and thirty “rogues and lustie vagabonds” obtained in the same forcible way.

[180] This place, frequently mentioned in old works and papers referring to the fisheries, was Vardö, or Vardöhuus, at the mouth of the Varangerfjord, Finmarken, on the north-east coast of Norway, or, as it was often described, Lapland. The king of Denmark had a castle on the island, and dues had to be paid for liberty to fish. A number of English vessels went there in spring, returning towards the end of summer.

[181] In France at this time, according to other records, Flemish herrings brought £25 per last; Yarmouth, £10; Irish, £18; “coast” herrings and Scotch, £11.

[182] The Pollitique Platt is earnest and even religious in tone, and it is obvious that the author spent much time in collecting the information and elaborating his scheme, which in all sincerity was meant for the good of his country. Even after three centuries one learns with regret (from his letter preserved at Hatfield) that he had to petition the Privy Council, “for his relief and maintenance in these his now declining years” (1596), to cause every innkeeper, &c., to purchase from him, for sixpence, and put up publicly, a printed table, or “breviate,” describing the “benefits that growe to this Realme by the Observance of Fish-Daies.”

[183] Better known by its running title, The Brytish Monarchie. It is a very rare work, only 100 copies having been printed. The author’s own copy is in the British Museum.

[184] P.7.

[185] Sir John Constable’s case. Moore, Hist. Foreshore, 225, from Hargrave MSS., 15, fol. 95d. In the case for the crown the claim to the sea is very briefly put: “Car quant est floud est parcel del mere que est solement en le Roign et nemy en ascun subject; car est pur passage pur chescun, mes owner de ceo nul si non le Roign.” Anderson, Les Reports du Treserudite, i. 86. (ed. 1664). In a MS. in the Cottonian collection (Galba, C. 11, “Acta inter Angliam et Belgium, 1564-1567”) it is said the jurisdiction of the Prince in the adjoining sea extends for a distance of 100 miles unless (1) in seas lying between the territories of two princes which contain less than a hundred miles, in which case it extends to the mid-line—usq’ ad mediũ eiusdem maris extenditur; (2) where another prince has a right to the whole sea. The authorities referred to are Bartolus, Angelus, Paulus de Castro, and Joan de Platea.

[186] Op. cit., 21.

[187] Two MS. copies exist, one bound up with Dee’s copy of the General and Rare Memorials in the British Museum, which was sent to Dyer with the MS., the other in Harleian MSS. 249, fol. 95. The latter, which is a draft, is addressed “To my very honorable frende Syr Edward Dyer, Knight,” and a note inscribed on it says, “Written by Dr John Dee, out of whose library I bought it after his death Ao Do 1625, S.D.” The title on both MSS. is ΘΑΛΑΤΤΟΚΑΡΤΙΑ ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗ: Miscelanea quædam extemporanea de Imperii Britannici Iurisdictione in Mari; and both are dated 8th September 1597.

[188] Lat. 49° 6´ N., long. 2° 49´ W.