versary should charge me with having insulted him, by asserting, that he had not kept his word, and he offers single combat, in order to terminate the difference, it appears to me, Sire, that, by accepting the challenge, we should neglect the most essential point, which is, the verification of what I have said, and he denies. In this case, we both depart from the rules of justice," because the decision of such an affair does not appertain to arms. It is the verity of promises, which we have mutually made to each other in writing, that can alone be decided before the tribunal of sages and of chevaliers. Such an enquiry comes not within the jurisdiction of arms; one cannot have recourse to them, but in respect to obscure and secret matters, known only to the two parties them selves, and which it is impossible in any other manner to prove. In this latter case, God alone,” adds he, in the true spirit of that age," who is the sole judge, will discover the truth and the right, by giving the victory to the just. But when promises have been ascertained; when there are witnesses worthy of belief; writings that are incontestable, and by which the whole may be verified and decided; I think, Sire, that I should do wrong to come to the last extremity with my adversary, until it has been decided in a just and proper manner, which of us is in the right. "Another very important reflection, Sire, is worthy the attention of your Majesty. It is, that the more a man is elevated in respect to rank, the more ought be to be firm and invariable in his promises, whether they be oral or written. It follows from this, that the Prince, who has failed in his engagements, is infinitely less estimable, than he who has never departed from them. Now, it is considered as a principle, that a man ought never to combat with any one who is not his equal in all points; how can I then fight with an adversary capable of failing in respect to his promise? This failure is accounted so degrading amongst the lowest classes of the people, that it is regarded even by them as shameful. "Perhaps, Sire, the custom of single combat might be tolerated among simple chevaliers, such as myself; and I am inclined to think, that the same laws of ho nour which bind us also include princes, however great, or however powerful, they may be; I believe, however, that in the present case there is an exception. In fine, Sire, would it not be singular, that an offence so great, and so notorious, in the eyes of all Europe, could only ob tain reparation by means of a challenge from the King of France, in which he defies your person? What will this produce? Your Majesty's example wil operate as a law within your own states; offences of every kind will be avenged by force of arms, and this custom, by which justice is aimed at, will occasion the sa crifice of the blood of your subjects. "I submit these reflections to the con sideration of your Majesty, because they are directly connected with the present question. I beseech you to believe, that if I considered any thing as more con formable to truth, I would most readily communicate it, with all that frankness and fidelity which characterize the grandees of your empire. "May God preserve the life of your Catholic and Imperial Majesty, so long as Christianity shall have occasion for it.-From the most humble and the most faithful of your Majesty's subjects, "THE DUKE DE L'INFANTADO." Reply of the Emperor. "MY COUSIN, "I have received your letter, dated the 28th of this month. I thank you; I am much pleased with all that you have communicated, in which I recog nize your usual affection and attachment to me. "When the reply to the King of France shall have been determined upon, after due deliberation and consultation, I shall communicate to you the resolu tion taken on my part, persuaded as I am, that you, as a good and faithful subject, will take a lively interest in whatsoever concerns me. "I, THE KING." On Friday, the 19th of June, the Em peror again caused his council to be as sembled, and received the opinion of the members in writing, as had been required. These being read aloud by his Secretary, Don Juan Aleman, it was evident, all tended to prove, that it was not befitting for his Majesty to receive the challenge, as such a proceeding would he contrary to the laws. Notwithstand ing this, on the 30th, he admitted the King at Arms of France to an audience, and received from bim the safe conduct on the part of his master, which bad been demanded. In the afternoon of the same day, as he had determined on his departure next morning, his Imperial Majesty dictated a reply to the challenge, beginning as follows: "We, Charles V. by the Grace of God, Emperor of Germany, King of Spain, and of the Indies, to you, Francis, by the Grace of God, King of France, and not Lord of Genoa, as you entitle yourself, because that seignory appertains to us alone," &c. He then states, that he had sent Nicolao Ferrenet, Lord of Gramela, formerly his ambassador in France, with an answer to his challenge," which amounts to this, that you have lied, and do lie in your throat, every time you deny that the good faith of our offers, our word, and our conventions, have been better kept than yours; and we affirm, and sustain, and repeat, that you are wanting in point of honour, by not accomplishing the promises which you made while our prisoner of war, as it appears evident, first by your signature, as well as that of your anbassador; and secondly, by the nonaccomplishment of the said treaty. And we further maintain, that no man of credit, without being accounted a dupe, can rely on the accomplishment of either your word or promise." After this, the Emperor states, that he had caused the articles of the capitulation of Madrid, together with the King of France's letters on the same subject, to be printed and circulated over all Europe; and that, although the recent defiance comes from a person not his equal, “yet," it is added, "we accept your challenge, and we pledge our royal word, that we will not fail to appear in the field of battle, indicated by you, at the hour, and with the arms which you may choose; because this privilege appertains directly to him who challenges, and not to him who is challenged. And we further promise, and swear, not to make use of secret arms, or of any other apparel but those which you may suggest; we also agree not to quit the field of battle, until you have confessed our truth, or have fallen under the efforts of our person, as we firmly expect from God, and the justice of our cause. Given at Morizon, June 30, 1528. Emperor of the Romans, and King of Spain. Messire Nicolas Ferrenet, Lord of Gramela, was dispatched next day, with this letter to the court of France, and met M. de Rafans on the frontiers, who expected him there, on the part of the king. He afterwards repaired to the city of Lyons, where he was told by the governor, that he had orders to prevent him from repairing to the court, unless the Emperor should first designate the field of battle. At the end of fifty days, however, he received a message, by which it was intimated, that he might repair to Paris with his letters.On his arrival there, he lodged at the house of M. de la Malt, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who caused him to be treated with all imaginable attention. This minister, as well as several other persons, endeavoured to learn from Ferrenet, if the Emperor had pointed out the field of battle; but he was the more upon his guard, as he had received intelligence from the Spanish ambassador (le Sieur de la Robeleta), that there would be an attempt to procure delay, as the King of France was negociating with the Pope, to interpose his authority, in order to accommodate the differences between the Monarchs. Two whole months passed away without the herald being able to obtain an audience; and when it was at length conceded, he was introduced into an apartment, where but few persons were assembled. After waiting some time, Francis entered, and, without permitting him to speak a word, addressed him as follows: "You will come here again, when the Emperor, your master, shall have named the field of battle» Sire," replied the herald, "I bring to your Majesty the letters of the Emperor, my master, but I know not what they contain; and I supplicate your Majesty not to insist upon any thing I am not entrusted with." "Very well," adds the King, "so long as you do not inform me, in the name of the Emperor, your master, that these letters bring me the assurance of a field of battle, I cannot receive them."On saying this his Majesty retired. Eight days after the King of France sent for the herald again, and assured him in a public audience, that the Holy Father, whom he onught to obey, had demanded, that the differences existing be tween himself and the Emperor should be terminated in a friendly manner, and that, in consequence, he might return to his Imperial Majesty with the dispatches he had brought. Thus terminated the proceedings relative to the challenge, which had fixed the attention of the whole Christian world; and be who had given it was the first to solicit the interfcrence of an ecclesiastical prince, to bring about an accommodation with his rival, "Memoire "Mémoire Historique sur l'Antiquité de la Pêche de la Baleine, par les Nations Européennes." An Historical Memoir, relative to the Antiquity of the Whale Fishery, by S. B. J. Noel, of Rouen. England has never been as yet able to carry the herring fishery either to that degree of perfection or prosperity, which it formerly attained in Holiand. It is otherwise, however, in respect to that important branch of commerce, which forms the subject of the present work, and it naturally follows, that every thing concerning it, cannot fail to be read with avidity, as it is a theme both curious and interesting. The Basques and Biscayans, to most writers, have been supposed the first fishermen, who dared to pursue, to attack, and to overcome, the whale, in its own element. So early as 1575, they exposed themselves to all the perils of distant navigation, and proceeded to the high latitudes in the vicinity of the pole. There they combated with the cetaceous tribes, and carried on a mortal war against them, amidst the immense masses of floating ice, and in those deep and extensive seas which these enormous animals inhabit. In 1611, the English determined to follow their example; aud accordingly, some vessels were fitted out during the same year at the port of Hull, and sent northward; when, in 1612, the Dutch as usual demanded, to participate in the risques and the advantages of these perilous expeditions. It accordingly appears to be the common opinion, that first the Basques and Biscayans, and then the English and Dutch, in succession, engaged in these distant, dangerous, and profitable, expeditions, But a more critical research into the antiquity of the northern fisheries, will be sufficient, according to our author, to rectify this assertion, by proving, that the origin of the whale fishery may be traced up to a more distant epoch, that of the pinth century, at least. tacked in a tempestuous element, and at a great distance from land. "One of my authorities consists in the Periplus of Other, and is extracted froin the account presented to Alfred the Great, king of England, of the distant voyages undertaken by himself in person, in order to obtain information, to what extent the coast of Finmarck was inhabited. This navigator, after observing that the men live there, during the sum mer in fishing, and during the winter by the chace; declares that he occupied the space of three days only in repairing to the northern station, frequented by the whale-fishers. Biarmos, who was his companion during the expedition, also assures us, that he himself had often accompanied other Norwegians in pursuit of whales; that they were sometimes forty, and sometimes fifty ells in length, and that he and five others killed no fewer than sixty of these, during the space of two days. It is also evident, from ano ther passage of the Periplus, that the peuple of Norway sometimes fed on this fish. "Thorfin, one of those Scandinavian adventurers, who undoubtedly discovered the northern parts of America, many ages before the expedition of Columbus, having embarked for the Weinlund, which has since been supposed to be the country known as the coast of Labrador, had the good fortune to see a whale driven on shore by the tide. Ile and the persons who accom panied him, immediately dispatched and lived on it for a considerable time after. A Danish work, supposed with great probability, to have been written towards the middle of the twelfth century, and at any rate, of a date anterior to that which has been assigned to the first fishing expeditions of the Basques, announces that the Icelanders, about the same time, also set out in pursuit of the whales, which they killed on the coast, and that they feasted on them. In short, Langehek here takes not to affirm that the whale fishery (haval fungst) was common m the most northern countries of Europe soon after the ninth century. * Da ves he sva feor nord, &c. Olth, & I shall not here stop," says he, "to inquire respecting the whale fishery men. tioned by Oppian, in his Treatise de Piscatu, as I imagine, that he alluded to the catching of animals of a smaller bulk. I prefer, therefore, to fix the ninth century Wulfst Perip. Langebek, Rer. Dan. Hist. as the true epoch, because it restores to the fishermen of the North the priority in respect to those hardy enterprizes, which ensure to a feeble being like man, armed only with a simple harpoon, at once the capture and the possession of > monstrous animal, which must be at. med. Ævi. Ú. 108-109. + Idem II. 111. Snorre Sturlessons Heims Kringla. Ozar. TRYG. § Kongs Sunyg-sio. 101. || LANGESIX, Rer. Dan. Hist. Rad II. 108. •• 'Whether whalest taken at Merry, a grant which was confirmed to that church, by an act of Philip, King of France, in 1319. It does not follow indeed, from the text, that the whale was caught at sea; but there is every reason to suppose, that the Normans, familiarized in the North with these hardy enterprizes, did not hesitate to renew them in the Channel with a superiority, for which they were indebted to both habit and cou rage. "Whether the Normans, during the different successive invasions of France, introduced among us the method of harpooning whales, or whether this process was known to and practised here anterior to those incursions, I pretend not to decide; but certain it is, that mention is made of a fishery for these cetace ous animals on our coast, in the book entitled "La Livre de la Translation et des Miracles de Saint Vaast," under the date of 875. A Life of St. Arnould, Bishop of Soissons, in the eleventh century, While national industry, thus directmakes particular mention of the hared by an uncommon portion of intrepi poon, on the occasion of a miracle effected on the part of the holy personage. Certain Flemish fishermen having wounded a very large whale, with arrows and Jances, his capture,we are told, was deemed certain, when all of a sudden, acquiring new strength and vigour, he exerted himself with such activity, that he was on the point of escaping. In this critical posture of affairs, adds the writer of this legendary tale, the whole resource of the fishermen consisted in the invocation of the holy bishop, to whom they promised part of the fish in question, provided he assisted them in securing him, The pious prelate accepted the offering, and at that very moinent the whale calmly permitted himself to be bound, and was immediately brought on shore by ropes, without any further resist ance. "The labours of our ancient monks, have not been entirely lost, so far as the history of those ages is a subject of consideration. Their charters and other papers have become the depositaries of all the little science which had been acquired during former times; and it is from a knowledge of such rude periods, that we are enabled to trace the progress of the arts. We accordingly learn, that the whales, at the epoch to which we now allude, were accustomed to visit even the coasts of Normandy, as well as the shores of Flanders. I have also discovered, that in the eleventh century, a donation was made to the Abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen, by William the Conqueror, of the tithe of whales, either taken at, or carried to Dive.* "In a bull issued by Pope Eugenius III. dated in 1145, besides, I find a donation in favour of the church of Coutances, of the tithe of the tongues of dity, subjugated to the wants of man those living masses, which balanced themselves like so many mountains amidst the seas; our neighbours the English did not remain indifferent spectators. It is evident, however, that there are but few historical monuments now existing, which describe their first efforts, if we except an act of Edward II. by which it isdecreed, that all the whales that may run on shore, on the coast of England, shall appertain to the king. The greater part are of a still more recent date. Another act, referred to by Dugdale§ confers A.D. 1415, on the church of Rochester, the tithe of all the whales, which may arrive on the shores of that bishoprick; but whether stranded fish, or such as had been taken in the open sea, were alluded to, I cannot determine. According to Fleta, the tithe consisted in the head, and the tail, of which the king had the former, and the queen the latter portion. I am fully persuaded, that on searching the records of those times, many similar donations will be found to have been recorded. "I have already observed, that in the north, the people fed on this immense animal; and it may be now added, that the same thing occurred with respect to ourselves, Legrand d' Aussi, who has written a much esteemed work, entitled “Sur la Vie privée des François," quotes a manuscript of the thirteenth century, in which mention is made of the balcigne, as a sea fish, which was then eaten. He also cites a fable entitled Bataille de Charnage et de Curême, in which the whale is men • Decimam Divæde balenis et de sale, &c. id. III. 4. Gall. Christ. XI. Instrum. 59, Cour. Auglo-Norm. 132. tioned as one of the soldiers, whom the latter opposes to his rival.* Several parts of this fish, more especially the tongue, were sold in the markets of Bayonne, of Cibourre, and of Bearig; it was considered as a very delicate repast; whence I conclude, it was distributed fresh, and that whales were then taken at a little distance from the coasts of Bayonne, in the same manner as was practised in Normandy. In fine, I find that in 1315, Edward II. King of England, and Duke of Aquitaine, entered into an engagement with Yolande de Solier, lady of Belin, in which he expressly reserves to himself, a right to all such whales as shall happen to be stranded on the maritime coasts of Bisquarosse, and of Sart.† Edward III. wishing to indemnify Pierre de Puyanne for the expense he had been at, to equip the fleet at Bayonne, of which he was Admiral, conferred in 1338, all the customs appertaining to him, at Bearig, viz. six pounds sterling for every whale, taken and brought to that port. It will necessary follow, that the annual capture of these fish must have been considerable in order that the seignorial dues should amount to a sum sufficient to pay for the equipment of an armament. This circumstance alone is calculated to convey an idea of the importance of the fishery in the gulf of Gascony, towards the middle of the fourteenth centúry. "We have now arrived at that period, when the Basques acted a considerable part in this branch of maritime industry; and although the fishermen of the North had preceded them, yet the career of the former was attended with such decisive advantages, that they were then considered as the best mariners in Europe. It cannot be denied, that the glory of first attacking the whale at a distance from the coast appertains wholly to them, Accordingly, the inhabitants of Cape Berton, and of Plech or Viel-Boucaut, the Basques of Bêarig, of Gattari, of St. Jean de Luz, Cibourre, and other whale fishers on the coast of Guyenne, who harpooned in the high seas, were all declared to be exempt from dues of every description, by the laws of Oleron. "So far as it was customary to present to the church, out of pure devotion, the tongues of the whales, as being the best II. 66 68. + Rymer, Acta Pub. III. 514, 515. 1 Rymer Act. Pub. V. 46. parts of those animals, such offering must be considered purely voluntary. It was therefore, in consequence of an usurpation of right, that the Kings of England demanded those seignorial dues, of which I have just spoken; for the Basques, towards the middle of the twelfth century, in the days of Eleanor of Guyenne, did not pay any such, unless, perhaps, in respect to stranded fish. "It appears from all the manuscripts now extant, that the whales did not remain in the gulf of Gascony, during the whole year; and that they only frequent ed that bay between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes. Accordingly, it was merely a coasting fishery which the Basques at first carried on; but being encouraged by success, they advanced boldly to the contest, and navigating the intervening seas, thus anticipated part of the voyage, which those immense animals must otherwise have undertaken. Thence, a number of authors have been led to assert, that near a century before the expedition of Columbus, the Basques had already discovered Newfoundland, and Canada; the seas adjacent to which, abounded with whales, and other large fish. The number taken yearly by them, was indeed so great, that, accords ing to Rondelet, the fishermen on the coast of Bayonne made use of the bones for the purpose of constructing fences in their gardens. It has been already stated, that this commodity was com mouly sold in the markets, in the same manner as beef and mutton; in fact, it was eaten at the best tables; and Charles Etienne, in particular observes, that in lent, the poor derived their principal nourishment from it. This inust have continued during a very long period, as Rondelet cites the fact, in 1554. "According to some opinions, re specting the first distant expeditions of the Basques, these occurred so early as 1575; but if we are to give credit to others, it was not until 1617 that they took place. We are told, that certain fishermen, assisted by the merchants of Bourdeaux, equipped several ships for the North sea, and sailed to Greenland, and even to Spitsbergen; but, that the English and Dutch treated them with cruelty and injustice, prohibiting then in particular from landing to prepare their oil. These obstacles did not prevent the Basques however from fishing in the high scas, although they refrained from touching on any part of the cvasta At length Seccoa, Cibourie, and St. Jean de Las |