Note 1376 — THE COMMONWEALTH 1649-1660
Reading edition
Add. MSS., 9306, ff. 130, 160; 1655-7. Until about this period ‘the Straits’ was the general term for the whole of the Mediterranean; ‘the Straits’ mouth,’ and ‘the bottom of the Straits’ respectively describing the western and eastern portions. The increase of commerce now necessitated more specific descriptions of locality.