EDWARD VERE, Earl of Oxford, was in high fame for his poetical talents in the reign of Elizabeth. We have inserted a sonnet of his, which is quoted with great encomiums for its "excellencie and wit," in Puttenham's Arte of Eng. Poesie,* and found entire in the Garland of Goodwill.

Edward, who was the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, of the family of Vere, succeeded his father in his title and honours in 1562, and died an aged man in 1604.

XII. SIR ANDREW BARTON.

THE father of Sir Andrew Barton having suffered by sea from the Portuguese, he had obtained letters of marque for his two sons to make reprisals upon the subjects of Portugal. It is extremely probable that the court of Scotland granted these letters with no very honest intention. The council board of England, at which the Earl of Surrey held the chief place, was daily pestered with complaints from the sailors and merchants, that Barton, who was called Sir Andrew Barton, under pretence of searching for Portuguese goods, interrupted the English navigation. Henry's situation at that time rendered him backward from breaking with Scotland, so that their complaints were but coldly received. The Earl of Surrey,* however, could not smother his indignation, but gallantly declared at the council board, that while he had an estate that could furnish out a ship, or a son that was capable of commanding the narrow seas should not be infested.

one,

"Sir Andrew Barton, who commanded the two Scotch ships, had the reputation of being one of the ablest sea officers of his time. By his depredations, he had amassed great wealth, and his ships were very richly laden. Henry, notwithstanding his situation, could not refuse the generous offer made by the Earl of Surrey. Two ships were immediately fitted out, and put to sea with letters of marque, under his two sons, Sir Thomas + and Sir Edward Howard. After encountering a great deal of foul weather, Sir Thomas came up with the Lion, which was commanded by Sir Andrew Barton in person; and Sir Edward came up with the Union, Barton's other ship [called by Hall the Bark of Scotland]. The engagement which ensued was extremely obstinate on both sides, but at last the fortune of the Howards prevailed. Sir Andrew was killed fighting bravely, and encouraging his men with his whistle, to hold out to the last; and the two Scotch ships, with their crews, were carried into the river Thames [Aug. 2, 1511].

"This exploit had the more merit, as the two English commanders were in a manner volunteers in the service, by their father's order. But it seems to have laid the foundation of Sir Edward's fortune; for, on the 7th of April 1512, the king constituted him (according to Dugdale) Admiral of England, Wales, etc.

"King James 'insisted' upon satisfaction for the death of Barton, and capture of his ship; though' Henry had generously dismissed the crews, and even agreed that the parties accused might appear in his courts of admiralty by their attornies, to vindicate themselves." This affair was in a great measure the cause of the battle of Flodden, in which James IV. lost his life.

In the following ballad will be found perhaps some few deviations from the truth of history, to atone for which it has probably recorded many lesser facts which history hath not condescended to relate. I take many of the little circumstances of the story to be real, because I find one of the most unlikely to be not very remote from the truth. In Part ii. v. 156, it is said that England had before "but two ships

* Thomas Howard, afterwards created Duke of Norfolk,

† Called by old historians Lord Howard, afterwards created Earl of Surrey in his father's lifetime. He was father of the poet Earl of Surrey.

of war." Now the Great Harry had been built only seven years before, viz. in 1504, which "was properly speaking the first ship in the English navy. Before this period, when the prince wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient but hiring ships from the merchants."-HUME.

This ballad appears to have been written in the reign of Elizabeth.

Men call him sir Andrew Barton, knight? | And if you chance his shipp to borde,

Then ever he sighed, and sayd alas!
With a grieved mind, and well away!
But over-well I knowe that wight,

I was his prisoner yesterday.

As I was sayling uppon the sea,

A Burdeaux voyage for to fare; To his hach-borde he clasped me,

And robd me of all my merchant ware: And mickle debts, God wot, I owe,

And every man will have his owne ; And I am nowe to London bounde,

Of our gracious king to beg a boone.

That shall not need, lord Howard sais;
Lett me but once that robber see,
For every penny tane thee froe

It shall be doubled shillings three.

This counsel I must give withall,
Let no man to his topcastle goe

To strive to let his beams downe fall.

*It should seem from hence, that before our marine artillery was brought to its present naval perfection, some commanders had recourse to instruments or machines, similar in use, though perhaps unlike in construction, to the heavy dolphins made of lead cr iron used by the ancient Greeks, which they suspended from beams or yards fastened to the mast, and which they precipitately let fall on the enemy's ships, in order to sink them by beating holes through the bottoms of their undecked Triremes, or otherwise damaging them. These are mentioned by Thucydides, lib. vii. p. 256, ed. 1564, folio, and are more fully explained in Schefferi de Militiâ Navali, lib ii. cap. 5, p. 136, ed. 1653, 4to.