there is no fish almost to be gotten here for money; but that such as we have, the women of the fisher towns, eight or nine of them, with but one boy or one man with them, bring it in, adventuring to sail sixteen or twenty miles into the sea afishing; and have been sometimes chased home by the Frenchmen. And I myself, being upon occasion on the coast, have seen the fisher boats brought in with women which I think hath not been seen (before)."[1]
In 1546, the French renewed their attempts on Boulogne, and, in order to sever the communications by land with Calais, tried to seize Ambleteuse. But they were disappointed by the vigilance of Lord Lisle and the Earl of Hertford; and a force of nine thousand troops encamped near it for its protection. In the spring there were several naval skirmishes off the place; and in one of these, which occurred on May 18th, eight English men-of-war engaged an equal number of French vessels, and took a galley[2] with one hundred and eighty soldiers and one hundred and forty rowers; but the operations were of no great importance, and they were put an end to by the conclusion of peace on June 7th.[3] In the following year D'Annebaut, Baron de Retz, came over with a large suite and with twelve galleys, to pay a state visit to England. He landed under a salute at Tower Wharf, and, proceeding to the king at Hampton Court on August 24th, solemnly swore in the name of his sovereign to perform the articles of peace.
This was the last naval event of the reign. On January 28th, 1547, Henry VIII. died, leaving the crown to his son Edward VI., who was then little more than nine years of age. On February 17th, Sir Thomas Seymour, who was brother of Edward, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector, and who seems to have been already on excellent terms with the Queen Dowager, Katherine Parr, whom he married a few weeks later, was created Lord Seymour of Sudeley and Lord High Admiral.
Henry VIII. in his last years had cherished a project for the marriage of his son Prince Edward with the Princess Mary, daughter of. James V. of Scotland; and he had succeeded in inducing the Scots Government to enter into an agreement that the marriage should take place. After Edward's accession, the plan was as warmly taken up by the Lord Protector; but the idea of the
