Stuart dynasty

92 THE STUART DYNASTY.
received lessons in navigation during the trips along
the coast and to the Isles, which were from time to
time indulged in for the purpose of gaining famili-
arity with the harbourage and general character of
the sea-board.*
In the ' Pitscottie Chronicle' (pp. 257, 258) will be
found an interesting account of the great leviathan
vessel of those days, the Michael, which James IV.
constructed at this period of his reign. She is said
to have been 240 feet long, the hull of oak 10 feet
thick. " When this ship," says the chronicler,
" passed to the sea and was lying in the road, the
King caused shot ane canon at her, to essay if she
was wight, but the canon deered (injured) her not."
Truly the counterpart of some modern trial at
Portsmouth or Plymouth of the strength and invul-
nerability of a modern ironclad.
Nor did the vigour and energy of James IY. stop
at naval preparations ; for there remained no portion
of his dominions wherein a wrongdoer could feel
sure that his sovereign might not appear and in
person demand an account of the talents committed
to him ; the consequence being that property had
not ever been so secure across the Border as at
this moment, when the geographical discoveries of
the Portuguese, and the rapid introduction of the
printing-press in Europe threatened to change the
world altogether. Anxious to see Scotland in the
van when progress such as this was in question,
James IY. was never called on to make up his mind
* Tytler's 'History of Scotland,' edition 1841, vol. iv. p. 317.