etagne against the king of
France. At the battle of St. Aubin the Bretons were routed, and the
islanders, whom hatred or contempt of the French probably impelled
to a more obstinate resistance, perished to a man: this unfortunate
event plunged the whole island into mourning; and in order to
recruit the diminished population, an act of parliament forbad any
single inhabitant from holding farms above the annual rent of ten
marks.

On the 18th of July, 1545, a large French fleet appearing off the
Isle of Wight, the English squadron which lay at Spithead, though
greatly inferior in force, stood out to meet them: but the
admiral's ship _Mary Rose_ sinking with most of her crew, the
others retreated into the Solent Channel; while the French landed
several parties of troops, and after some sharp fighting, repulsed
the islanders who had collected to oppose them; it was next
proposed in a council of war to fortify and keep possession of the
island, but this being considered impracticable by any number of
men that could then be spared from the ships, they proceeded to
pillage and burn the villages, till the inhabitants, being
reinforced, attacked and drove them off with the loss of many men,
and one of their principal officers. King Henry VIII, in order to
prevent a repetition of such mischievous visits, erected several
forts and blockhouses for the protection of the coast; and though
the rapid advance of the British naval power still more effectually
guarded it from the danger of foreign invasions, the islanders for
many years afterwards neglected no precautions for their own
defence: a train of field-pieces was provided among the different
parishes, and the militia, in 1625, numbered 2000 men.

In the division between king Charles I and the parliament, the
islanders at first manifested some zeal in the royal cause; yet as
soon as hostilities commenced at Portsmouth, the Newport militia
expelled the weak garrison of Carisbrooke Castle, which, with the
other forts, were delivered to the parliamentary troops; and on the
arrival of the Earl of Pembroke, the gentlemen and principal
farmers assembled at Cowes, and tendered him their best services.
The inhabitants having thus taken a decisive step in closing with
the prevailing power, remained undisturbed s