h the people, in the succeeding year, he
arrived in England, rich in his lading, more in honour.

In the year 1613 the Muscovy Company sent out seven stout ships to catch
whales. They were followed by several Dutch, Flemish, and French ships,
and half-a-dozen English interlopers. The Company's ships gathering
into a body, ordered the others, in the name of the King of England, to
depart from the coast, the fishery of which he had appropriated to his
own subjects. The Dutch sending a taunting answer, the English replied
with their cannon, compelling their rivals to take their departure, and
the English private ships to fish for them. With this help, they made a
good return.

In 1614 the celebrated pirate Sir Andrew Barton, with two ships, laid
the coasts of England and Scotland under contribution. Two ships of
war, under the command of Sir William Monson and Sir Francis Howard,
were sent out to effect their capture. One of them was taken off
Sinclair Castle, the seat of the Earl of Caithness. Sir Andrew for long
managed to keep at a distance from his pursuers, having friends in
various places, especially in Ireland, who gave him assistance. Among
others was a certain Mr Cormat, who treacherously betrayed the Scotch
pirate into the hands of Sir William Monson. His ship was captured, and
he, with two or three of his officers, executed.

Considerable progress at this period was made in the science of
navigation. In the year 1624 Mr Gunter, professor of astronomy at
Gresham College, Cambridge, published his scale of logarithms, sines,
etcetera, and invented the scale which has since gone by his name.

No darker stain rests on the memory of James than that of his judicial
murder of Sir Walter Raleigh. Influenced by his evil councillors, the
pusillanimous king offered up the gallant seaman as a sacrifice to the
revengeful Spaniards, or rather to their ambassador, Gondomar. Cheerful
to the last, the noble Raleigh bade farewell to all around him; then,
taking the axe, he felt along upon the edge, and smiling, said to the
sheriff, "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all
diseases." On being asked which way he would lay himself, he placed his
head on the block, observing, "So that the heart be right, it is no
matter which way the head lieth."

Some lines written on Sir Walter's death thus finish:--

"I saw in every stander-by
Pale death; life only in thine eye.
The legacy thou gavest us th