[_A Salutation, &c._] The _Sovereign_, _Sovereign of the Seas_, or _Royal Sovereign_ (I am not sure what name she bore during the Rebellion) is one of the famous _literary_ ships of the English Navy. She was built in 1637 at Woolwich by Phineas and Peter Pett out of a whole year's ship-money; and if the means for raising her cost (£80,000) were unpopular, a great deal of pride was taken in the ship herself. Thomas Heywood wrote an account of her which has been frequently quoted. See, for instance, Mr. David Hannay's _Short History of the Royal Navy_, i. 172, 173. She was of 1637 tons burthen; was pierced for 98 great guns with many smaller murdering-pieces and chasers; and was most elaborately decorated, with carved stern, galleries, black and gold angels, trophies and emblems of all sorts--besides a baker's dozen of allegorical, mythological, and historical statues of personages from Cupid to King Edgar on horseback, as figureheads and elsewhere. She fought all through the Dutch wars; escaped the disgraceful disaster in the Medway; distinguished herself at La Hogue, where a great part is assigned to her by some accounts in chasing Tourville's _Soleil Royal_ ashore; and was burnt by accident, not long after, at Chatham in 1696--her sixtieth year.] [Line: 11 The 'radiant brow' is of course the gilded figurehead group. There was no actual 'Peace' among the allegories, but the Cupid, a 'child bridling a lion', might perhaps stand for her.] [Line: 18 'Tire' is of course 'tier': the _Sovereign_ was a three-decker. Professor Skeat approves the spelling, which occurs in Milton and elsewhere. But some would have a special word 'tire', not for the _row_ but the actual 'fire' or 'shooting' (_tir_) of the guns--which would do well enough here.] [Lines: 19-22 King's own age would, after the event, have instanced this as an example of Fate granting prayers to the letter yet evading them in the spirit. The _Sovereign_ did escape wind and wave, sand and rock, as well as the enemy, but only to perish otherwise.] [Line: 24 'Sheets' in plural in Hannah's MS. Another in the Ashmolean collection 'clo[a]th[e]s'--a good naval technicality.] [Lines: 27-34 Referring to the _Mare Clausum_ dispute and the English insistence on the lowering of foreign flags.] _An Epitaph on his most honoured friend, Richard, Earl of Dorset._ [Died March 28, 1624.]