Note 209 — Chapter XV · THE GIPSY AND THE WEST-SAXON.

It is surprising, in looking over the musters of ships in the reigns of Edward II. and Edward III., to see how few Northern ports are mentioned. The importance, too, of the South-coast ports, which were sometimes summoned by themselves, arose not only from the reasons in the text, but from being close to the country with which we were in a state of chronic warfare. See, too, the State Papers, vol. i., p. 812, 813, where the levies of the fleets in 1545, against D’Annebault, with the names of each vessel and its port, are given; as also p. 827, where the neighbouring coast of Dorset is described as deserted, in consequence of the sailors flocking to the King’s service. I think that I have somewhere seen that our sailors were once rated as English, Irish, Scotch, and the “West Country,” the latter standing the highest.