aspects of naval life, that no excuse is necessary for printing here an extract from a volume which was published at Edinburgh in 1801, and which is entitled 'The Complaynt of Scotland.' The work was written by an unknown author in 1548; and it takes the form of a satire directed against those responsible, or supposed to be responsible, for the misfortunes of the northern kingdom. In the first part, the author laments his country's woes, and considers the causes of them; in the second, as if endeavouring to escape from the sadness of his reflections, he gives a vivid description of a number of characteristic scenes. Among these (page 61) is the following naval picture[1]:—
VESSELS, XIVTH CENTURY.
(Frontispiece to "L'Arte del Navegar." Venice, 1555.)
"Than I sat doune to see the flouying of the fame; quhar that I leukyt fart furth on the salt flude. There I beheld ane galiasse gayly grathit for the veyr, lyand fast at ane ankir, and her salis in
- ↑ The following is a fairly close translation, so far as the above extract appears to be translatable. In the original, some inconsistencies of spelling and obvious inaccuracies are corrected. In the translation, obscure passages are left in italics:—
"Then I sat down to see the flowing of the foam; where I looked far forth on the salt flood. There I beheld a galliass gaily caparisoned for the war, lying fast at an
