ions who thought
proper to retain them; or they engaged in such schemes of plunder as
were likely to repay their pains and expense. About the same time, the
Roxolani or Russians, became known in history, making their debut in the
character of pirates, ravenous for booty, and hungry for the pillage of
Constantinople--a longing which 900 years have not yet satisfied.
Pouring hundreds of boats down the Borysthenes, the Russian marauders
made four desperate attempts to plunder the city of the Caesars, in less
than two centuries, and appear only to have been repulsed by the
dreadful effects of the celebrated Greek fire.

England, in the mean time, had little to do with piracy; nor had she any
thing worthy the name of a navy; yet Coeur de Lion had given maritime
laws to Europe; her seamen, in point of skill, were esteemed superior to
their contemporaries; and King John enacted that those foreign ships
which refused to lower their flags to that of Britain should, if taken,
be deemed lawful prizes. Under Henry III., though Hugh de Burgh, the
governor of Dover Castle, had defeated a French fleet by casting lime
into the eyes of his antagonists, the naval force was impaired to such a
degree that the Normans and Bretons were too powerful for the Cinque
Ports, and compelled them to seek relief from the other ports of the
kingdom. The taste for depredation had become so general and contagious,
that privateers were now allowed to be fitted out, which equipments
quickly degenerated to the most cruel of pirates. Nay more: on the
disputes which took place between Henry and his Barons, in 1244, the
Cinque Ports, who had shown much indifference to the royal requisitions,
openly espoused the cause of the revolted nobles; and, under the orders
of Simon de Montfort, burnt Portsmouth. From this, forgetful of their
motives for arming, they proceeded to commit various acts of piracy, and
considering nothing but their private interests, extended their violence
not only against the shipping of all countries unfortunate enough to
fall in their way, but even to perpetrate the most unwarrantable ravages
on the property of their own countrymen. Nor was this confined to the
Cinque Port vessels only; the example and the profits were too
stimulating to the restless; and one daring association on the coast of
Lincolnshire seized the Isle of Ely, and made it their receptacle for
the plunder of all the adjacent countries. One William Marshall
fortified the