Nicol,s says: "No monarch of England ever took greater

interest in her nrvy than Henry the Fifth. He not only corem;reded large ships to be built, but personally inspected their progress; and though he was not, as has been said, its founder, he gave more powerful vessels to the oyal Navy than it ever before possessed, with the determination to acquire the dominion of the sea. His efforts to restore and improve the English turvy were amply rewarded; for while the most celebrated event of his reign rivalled Poitiers and Crecy, the battle of Agincourt was, like those other glorious victories, followed by encounters on the ocean in which British valour was displayed in the usmrl manner, and was at-tended by the usual success."

Much of this is true; but it should be recollected that although Henry V. undoubtedly inproved the navy, he made few implove- ments in the manner in which the navy wtrs managed, and that the weapon, which, in his hands produced such brilliant results, was fashioned ;rnd wielded at terrible expense to the connnerce of the country. The Xavy l{oyM was still small. The bulk of the fighting fleet was composed, as in previous ages, of vessels taken, almost by actu;;l force, froin the merchtmts, and frequently collected long before they could be employed, and retained long after they were needed. In lter dkvs, when the Navy oyal had hecome large el.iough for the duties of national defence at sea, trade was able to flourish, even t the height of ,% sanguinary war; but, under the Lancastrians, war and trade could not be adequately carried on together, seeing that the material required for the latter was also required for the foaner. Henry's naval glories, therefore, were frightfully costly ones.

At about the time of Henry's accession, n interesting inter- national dispute arose. ertain merchants of Dartmouth and other ports, owners of eight ships, represented to Parliament that their vessels had been impressed at Bordeaux by the Duke of Clarence, Lieutenant of Guienne, to bring troops to England, under the command of Sir Johu Colillc, who was "governor and captain" of the squadron. Off Belle Isle, they fell in with two Prussiau hulks, laden with wine froin La Rochelle. Anxious to discover whether the hulks and their cargoes belonged to the enemy, Colville sent a boat to examine their bills of lading, and to inform the masters that if they had encmy's property on board, they must

Nicolas, ii. 402.