A number of minor poems also deserve mention. There is, for instance, John Kirkham’s _Commendation of Martin Frobisher_ (printed in Halliwell p. 45), another by Thomas Ellis (_Ballads from Manuscript_, ii. 282), and there are others by Thomas Churchyard (Collier, _Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers’ Company_, ii. 47, 51). Better known is George Peele’s _Farewell to the most famous Generals Sir John Norvis and Sir Francis Drake, Knights_, which refers to their expedition to Portugal in 1589 (Peel’s _Works_, ed. Bullen, ii. 233). One might mention also Donne’s two poems _The Storm_ and _The Calm_, both expressly said to refer to ‘The Island voyage with the Earl of Essex,’ _i.e._ the expedition to the Azores in 1597 (Donne’s _Works_, ed. Grosart, ii. 3-10). Last of all, and best, there is Drayton’s _Ode to the Virginia Voyage_ (Poems, 1627, p. 295). The surprising thing is not the paucity of literary references to the exploits of the Elizabethan seamen, which were generally, if inadequately, commemorated, but the limited number of songs and ballads on the subject which have reached us. The popular literature of the period was very extensive in amount and very diverse in character. The registers of the Stationers’ Company for the reign of Elizabeth contain very numerous entries of ballads which deal with the incidents of the day or with aspects of the life of the time. Few of them, comparatively, deal with sailors or seafaring matters, and of those many have perished. There was a famous ballad entitled _Row well, ye mariners_, registered in 1566, which was sufficiently popular to be ‘moralised’ two or three times over--that is, converted into a spiritual song of an allegorical nature (Collier, _Extracts from the Registers of the Stationers’ Company_, i. 130, 161, 175). The words are lost, though the tune has survived (_Old English Popular Music_ by W. Chappell, ed. 1893, i. 127). Lost, too, are _The Sailor’s New Tantara_, published in 1584, a ballad _In Praise of the Queen’s Ships_ (beginning ‘O the Elizabeth Jonas’) published in 1586, _The Sailor’s Joy_, published in 1595, and _A true Sailor’s Song against Spanish Pride_ that appeared in 1590 (Arber, _Registers of the Stationers’ Company_, iii. 200, 210, 254, 317). Of the ballads which described life at sea several can be traced. One on ‘the perilous pains of poor mariners’ was licensed on October 13, 1579, and another on March 10, 1582, concerning ‘the danger of sailors and their troubles, turmoil, and pain’ (Arber, ii. 164, 187). One of these is perhaps the _Ballad of Sea Fardingers Describing Evil Fortune_ (Halliwell, p. 16; Stone, p. 6; Masefield, p. 145), or possibly that beginning, ‘I rue to see the raging of the seas’ (Halliwell, p. 79; Stone, p. 8; Collier, ii. 159). Fate has happily preserved a single damaged copy of the comedy called _Common Conditions_, printed probably about 1576, containing a song sung by pirates, which is printed on p. 17 of the present volume.