26. Amyar de Chastes died on the 13th of May, 1603, greatly respected and beloved by his fellow-citizens. He was charged by his government with many important and responsible duties. In 1583, he was sent by Henry III., or rather by Catherine de Médicis, to the Azores with a military force to sustain the claims of Antonio, the Prior of Crato, to the throne of Portugal. He was a warm friend and supporter of Henry IV., and took an active part in the battles of Ivry and Arques. He commanded the French fleet on the coasts of Brittany; and, during the long struggle of this monarch with internal enemies and external foes, he was in frequent communication with the English to secure their co-operation, particularly against the Spanish. He accompanied the Duke de Boullon, the distinguished Huguenot nobleman, to England, to be present and witness the oath of Queen Elizabeth to the treaty made with France. On this occasion he received a valuable jewel as a present from the English queen. He afterwards directed the ceremonies and entertainment of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who was deputed to receive the ratification of the before-mentioned treaty by Henry IV. _Vide Busk's His. Spain and Portugal_, London, 1833, p. 129 _et passim_; _Denis' His. Portugal_, Paris, 1846, p. 296; _Freer's Life of Henry IV._, Vol. I. p. 121, _et passim_; _Memoirs of Sully_, Philadelphia, 1817, Vol. I. p. 204; _Birch's Memoirs Queen Elizabeth_, London, 1754, Vol. II. pp. 121, 145, 151, 154, 155; _Asselini MSS. Chron._, cited by Shaw in _Nar Voyage to West Ind. and Mexico_, Hakluyt Soc., 1859, p. xv. 27. "Au même tems les nouvelles vinrent.... que le Commandeur de Chastes dressoit une grande Armée de Mer en Bretagne."--_Journal de Henri III._ (1586), Paris, 1744, Tom. III. p. 279. 28. Du Pont Gravé was a merchant of St Malo. He had been associated with Chauvin in the Canada trade, and continued to visit the St Lawrence for this purpose almost yearly for thirty years. He was greatly respected by Champlain, and was closely associated with him till 1629. After the English captured Quebec, he appears to have retired, forced to do so by the infirmities of age. 29. Jean Parmentier, of Dieppe, author of the _Discorso d'un gran capitano_ in Ramusio, Vol. III., p. 423, wrote in the year 1539, and he says the Bretons and Normans were in our northern waters thirty-five years before, which would be in 1504. _Vide_ Mr. Parkman's learned note and citations in _Pioneers of France in the New World_, pp. 171, 172. The above is doubtless the authority on which the early writers, such as Pierre Biard, Champlain, and others, make the year 1504 the period when the French voyages for fishing commenced. 30. _Vide Voyage of Iohn Alphonse of Xanctoigne_, Hakluyt, Vol. III., p. 293.