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MEMOIR

SEBASTIAN

A REYIEW

THE HISTORY OF MARITIME DISCOVERY.
ILLUSTRATED B^ DOCUMENTS FROM THE ROLLS,

{NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.

•

PUBLISHED BY CAREY AND LEA.
1831.

. ..A

Philadelphia :

Printed by James Kay, Jun. & Co.
No. 4, Minor Street.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION ........ 1

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

The highest Northern Latitude reached by Cabot — Authorities collected by
Hakluyt — Attempt to explain their supposed discrepance . 7

CHAP. H.

The subject continued — Gomara ...... 20

CHAP. HI.

Cabot penetrated into Hudson's Bay ... .26

CHAP. IV.

First Work of Hakluyt— Maps and Discourses left by Sebastian Cabot at his
death ready for Publication . . . . . .37

CHAP. V.
Comparative Agency of John and Sebastian Cabot . . .41.

CHAP. VI.

First point seen by Cabot — Not Newfoundland . . . .51

CHAP. VH.

Cabot did not confer the name Prima Vista .... 57

CHAP. VHI.

Richard Eden's " Decades of the New World" — Cabot's own statement as to
the Pkce of his Birth ....... 61

CHAP. IX.

Patents of 5th March, 1496, and 3rd February, 149 8 — The latter now first
published from the Rolls — Total misconception heretofore as to its Terms 70

CHAP. X.

Name of the English Ship which first reached the Continent of America —
How far Cabot proceeded to the Southward along the Coast — Subsequent
Voyage of 1498 .... ... 78

IV CONTENTS.

CHAP. XI.

Voyage to Maracaibo, in 1499 . . . . . .90

CHAP. xn.

Correspondence between Ferdinand of Spain and Lord Willoughby de
Broke — Cabot enters the service of Spain 13th September, 1512— Revi-
sion of Maps and Charts in 1515 — Appointed a Member of the Council of
the Indies — Projected Expedition to the North under his Command to
Sail in March, 1516 — Death of Ferdinand in January, 1516 — Intrigues —
Cabot returns to England ...... 96

CHAP. XIII.

Cabot's Voyage of 1517 from England in search of the North- West Passage 102

CHAP. XIV.

Hakluyt's error with regard to the Voyage of 1517 . . .108

CHAP. XV.
Voyage of 1517, the one referred to by Cabot in his Letter to Ramusio . 115

CHAP. XVI.

Cabot appointed, in 1518, Pilot-Major of Spain — Summoned to attend the
Congress at Badajos in 1524 — Projected Expedition under his Command
to the Moluccas . .... 118

CHAP. XVII.

Jealousy of the contemplated Expedition on the part of Portugal — Mission
of Diego Garcia, a Portuguese ...... 123

CHAP. XVIII.

Interference with the arrangements for the Voyage — Mendez appointed
second in Command contrary to the wishes of Cabot — :De Uojas — The
Sealed Orders— Prejudices of the Spanish Historians— Expedition sails 129

CHAP. XIX.

Complaints in the Squadron— Pretended Causes of Dissatisfaction— Mutiny
—Quelled by the Energy of Cabot— Happy Results— His conduct justi-
fied to the Emperor — Ridiculous charges suggested by Diego Garcia . 134

CHAP. XX.

Cabot enters the La Plata— Necessity for caution— His Predecessor as Pilot-
Major killed in attempting to explore that River— Carries the Island of
St Gabriel— His progress to St Salvador where a Fort is erected— Its
position — Loss in taking possession ... 143

CHAP. XXI.

Cabot proceeds up the Parana— Erects another Fort, called Santus Spiritus,
and afterwards Fort Cabot— Its Position— Continues to ascend— Curiosity
of the Natives as to the Expedition— Passes the Mouth of the Parana-
Enters the Paraguay— Sanguinary Battle thirty-four leagues up that River
—Three Hundred of the Natives killed, with a loss to Cabot of Twenty-
fire of his Party— Maintains his Position— Garcia enters the River— In-

CONTENTS. V

terview with Cabot — Mistakes of Charlevoix, &c. — Cabot returns to the

Fort Santus Spiritus ... .150

CHAP. XXII

Report to Charles V. — Its Contents — Prospect which it held out — Peru con-
templated in Cabot's original Plan of 1524 — Specimens found by him of the
precious metals obtained thence by the Guaranis — Emperor resolves on a
great Expedition — His pecuniary embarrassments — Pizarro offers to make
the Conquest of Peru at his own Expense — Reflections — the Name Rio de
La Plata not conferred by Cabot — Misrepresentation on this and other
points ......... 156

CHAP. XXIII.

Cabot's residence in the La Plata — Subjection of remote tribes — Claims of
Spain rested on this Expedition — Treaty with the Guaranis — Detailed Re-
port to the Emperor as to the productions, &c. of the country — Misconduct
of the followers of Garcia — Leads to a general attack from the Natives —
Return to Spain .... ... 163

CHAP. XXIV.

Employment of Cabot after his return — Resumes his functions as Pilot-Major
— Makes several voyages — Fame for bravery and skill — Visit of a learned
Italian— Cabot's allusion to Columbus . . . . .167

CHAP. XXV.

Perversion of facts and dates by Harris and Pinkerton — Cabot's return to Eng-
land— Probable inducements — Erroneous reason assigned by Mr Barrow —
Charles'V. makes a demand on the King of England for his return — Refused
— Pension to Cabot— Duties confided to him — More extensive than those
belonging to the office of Pilot-Major ... . 171

CHAP. XXVI.

Public explanation by Cabot to Edward VI. of the phenomena of the Varia-
tion of the Needle — Statement of Livio Sanuto— Point of No Variation fixed
by Cabot— Adopted afterwards by Mercator for his Great Meridian— Refer-
ence to Cabot's Map— Early testimonials— Allusion to the English discove-
ries in the edition of Ptolemy published at Rome in 1508 — Fournier — Atten-
tion to note the Variation by the seamen of Cabot's school — His theory, if a
narrow one, would have been thus exposed . 175

CHAP. XXVII.

Mistake of Purchas, Pinkerton, Dr Henry in his History of Great Britain,
Campbell in the Lives of the Admirals, and other winters, as to the Knight-
ing of John or Sebastian Cabot .... • 179

CHAP. XXVIII.

Stagnation of trade in England — Cabot consulted by the Merchants — Urges
the enterprise which resulted in the trade to Russia— Preliminary difficulties
— Struggle with the Stilyard— That Monopoly broken down— Earnestness
of Edward VI. on the subject— His munificent donation to Cabot after the
result was declared ....-•

yi CONTENTS.

CHAP. XXIX.

Preparations for the Expedition-Precautions as to Timber-Sheathing of the
vessels now first resorted to in England-Examination of two Tartars-
Chief command given to Sir Hugh Willoughby-Richard Chancellor-
Stephen Bur^ugh-WilliamBurrough-Arthur Pet-This Expedition con-
founded with another by Strype and Campbell
CHAP. XXX.
Instructions prepared by Cabot for Sir Hugh Willoughby . • 190

CHAP. XXXI.

The Expedition drops down to Greenwich— Salutes— Animating scene— Pro-
ceeds to sea— Vessels separated— Fate of Sir Hugh Willoughby— Chanc
lor reaches Wardhouse— Earnestly dissuaded from proceeding further—
His gallant resolution— Confidence of the Crew in him— Reaches Archangel
— Excellent effect of observing Cabot's Instructions as to deportment to-
wards the Natives — Success of Chancellor

CHAP. XXXH.

Charter to the Company of Merchant Adventurers— Sebastian Cabot named
Governor for Life— Grant of Privileges by the Emperor of Russia to Sebas-
tian Cabot and others— An Ambassador from the Emperor embarks with
Richard Chancellor— Shipwreck— Chancellor perishes— Reception and en-
tertainment of the Ambassador in London . 197

CHAP. XXXIII.

View of the Trade opened with Russia from the Letters of the Company to
the Agents — Prices of English manufactured goods — Articles obtained in
return— Extensive establishment of Englishmen at Moscow when that city
was destroyed by the Tartars .... . 200

CHAP. XXXIV.

The Charter of Incorporation — Recites preparations actually made for voyages
to the North-East, and North- West— How frustrated— Whale Fishery —
Newfoundland Fishery — The Ambassador of the Sophy of Persia at Moscow
— His information to the Emperor of Russia about England — Followed up
by a Messenger to Persia from England with a Letter proposing commercial
intercourse ........ 208

CHAP. XXXV.

The Search-thrift despatched to the North in 1556, under Stephen Burrough—
Cabot's entertainment at Gravesend — Influence of the death of Edward VI.
on his personal fortunes— Reviving hopes of the Stilyard Merchants— their
insolent reference to the Queen in a memorial addressed to Philip — The
latter reaches London 20th May, 1557— New arrangements as to Cabot's
Pension 29th May, 1557— William Worthington in possession of his papers
— Account of fllat person — Manner in which the Maps and Discourses have
probably disappeared— Cabot's Illness— Affecting Account of his Last Mo-
ments, by the Friend who attended him . . 213

CONTENTS.

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.

Review of the History of Maritime Discovery, so far as may be necessary to
exhibit the pervading influence of Cabot— Patent of 19th March 1501, now '
first published from the Rolls, to three Merchants of Bristol, and three Por-
tuguese — Natives brought to England and exhibited at Court — Erroneous
reference of this incident to Cabot — Hakluyt's perversion — Second Patent
9th December, 1502 — Dr Robertson's misconceptions — Probable reasons
for the abandonment of the enterprise ..... 221

CHAP. II.

First visit of Columbus to Terra Firma on his third voyage — Apprised before
leaving Spain of Cabot's Discovery of the Continent — Projected Expedition
to the North from Spain ...... 231

CHAP. UI.

Expedition from Portugal — Cortereal — The work entitled Paesi novamente
ritrovati, &.c. — Letters of the Venetian Ambassador at Lisbon eleven days
after the return of Courtereal — Reference to the previous voyage of Cabot
—Trinkets found amongst the Natives— French translation of the Paesi,
&c. in 1516 ....... - 233

CHAP. IV.

The region visited by Cortereal — Statements of the three Portuguese Histori-
rians, Damiano Goes, Osorius, and Galvano — Of Gomara, Herrera, and Fumee
—Edition of Ptolemy, published at Basle, 1540— The name Labrador, i. e.
Labourer .... .... 241

CHAP. V.

Circumstances which have led to errors as to the voyage of Cortereal — The
Portuguese Maps — Isle of Demons — The fraud of Madrignanon in the Itine.
rarium Portugallensium — Mr Barrow's Chronological History of Voyages,
&c. — Dr Lardner's* Cyclopedia — The Edinburgh Cabinet Library . 245

CHAP. VI.

Diffusive mischief of the Itinerarium Portugallensium — Grynaeus — Meusel —
Fleurieu— Humboldt, &c. . . 352

CHAP. VII.

Project of Cortes in 1524. ... . 258

CHAP. VIII.

Voyage of Stephen Gomez in the service of Spain . . 261

CHAP. IX.

Expedition from England in 1527 — Erroneous statement that one of the vess-
els was named Dominus P'bbiscum — Their names, The Samson and 7%e
Mary of Guilford—Leitevs from the Expedition dated at Newfoundland,
addressed to Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey— The Italian Navigator, Juan
Verrazani, accompanies the Expedition and is killed by the Natives— Loss

yiJi CONTENTS.

• of the Samson— The Mary of Guilford visits Brazil, Porto Rico, &c.— Ar-
rives in England October 1 527— Robert Thome of Bristol— His letter could
not have led to this Expedition

CHAP. X.

Voyage from England in 1536

CHAP. XL

Expedition of Cortereal in 1574, and retrospect to a pretended voyage by a
person of the same name in 1464 . • .

CHAP. XII.
Frobisher ... • • 285

CHAP. XIII.
Hudson 295

APPENDIX.

(A.)
Fabyan's Chronicle— Allusion to Cabot . • 299

(B.)
English Expedition said to have been found by Hojeda at Caquibacoa . 301

(C.)

Was Cabot appointed Grand Pilot ? . . . . 305

(D.)

Letters Patent now first published, dated 19th March 1501, from Henry VII.
to Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, John Thomas, of Bristol, and John
Fernandus, Francis Fernandus, and John Gunsolus, Portuguese . . 306

(E.)

Possible origin of the misconception as to the name Dominus vobiscum erro-
neously associated with the voyage of 1527 from England— Forster's mis-
take as to iVbrumiega— Error as to the period at which Newfoundland was
first frequented for Fishing ... .... 315

(F-)
Portrait of Sebastian Cabot by Holbein ..... 317

(G.)

Error in attributing to Cabot the work entitled "Navigatione nelleparte Set-
tentrionale," published at Venice in 1583 . .320

INTRODUCTION.

THE following pages lay claim tofthe share of merit
that may be due to a spirit of diligent research which
took nothing at second hand where an original writer,
or document, could be consulted, and would not be
turned aside, by any authority, from the anxious pur-
suit, and resolute vindication, of the Truth. They are
offered, therefore, with the confidence inspired by a
consciousness of good faith. Yet the author is suffi-
ciently aware that the public has nothing to do with the
integrity of his purpose, or the patient industry with
which it has been followed up, except so far as a valua-
ble result may have been achieved.

What is now submitted made part, originally, of a
much more extensive plan. But there was found, at
every turn, so much to clear up, and the materials for
rectification so multiplied, that it seemed impossible to
treat the subject satisfactorily without giving to it, in
connexion with any other, a cumbrous and dispropor-
tioned air. To hazard assertions, and to venture on
the requisite plainness of criticism, without producing
4the evidence which justified a departure from received
opinions could have effected no good purpose, and would
have justly incurred the charge of presumption. Error

was too deeply intrenched to permit a hope of dislodging
it, unless through the regular, though tedious, forms of
investment.

The author is very sensible of the dry and argumenta-
tive manner here imparted to topics which have usually
been viewed, and treated, as susceptible of the highest
embellishment. He can only hope that others may
catch a feeling, such as gained on himself at every step,
which, in the disentanglement of facts, rejects impa-
tiently, rather than^solicits, whatever does not conduce
directly to the result. The mind seems to demand, with
sternness, that this labour shall first be gone through,
as the eye requires a solid foundation, and an assured
elevation, before it can rest with complacency on the
decorative acanthus.

Amidst a great deal of undeniably fine writing on the
subject with which the present volume is connected, it
would seem to have secured to itself less than any other
of patient and anxious labour. The task of setting
facts right has been regarded as an unworthy drudgery,
while an ambitious effort is witnessed to throw* them
before the public eye in all the fantastic shapes* and
deceptive colouring, of error. Gibbon remarks of Tille-
mont,that his inimitable Accuracy "almost assumes the
character of Genius." Many writers of the present day
seem to have constantly in view the tendency of the
public mind to a classification of powers, and to dread
lest any remarkable display of the quality in question,
might be artfully seized on as characteristic, and thus
prejudice their claims to the highest honours of au-
fnorship.

A new and urgent motive may be sn^rstoil for en-

deavouriDg to clear up, as speedily as possible, the con-
fusion which has hence been suffered to gather round
the best established facts, and left their recognition or
denial at the mercy of chance or caprice. While a
salutary jealousy of extensive Combinations, in the
Political World, distinguishes the present age, there has
been organised in that of Letters, almost unobserved in
this country, a confederacy which has gradually drawn
to itself, and skilfully consolidated, a power that may
now be pronounced truly formidable. It has already
begun to speak out plainly the language of dictation.
The great literary achievement of modern France —
the "Biographie Universelle" — is at length brought to a
close, completing by the fifty-second volume its triumph
over the alphabet. It is a work destined, unquestion-
ably, to exercise an important influence over the Rights
of the Dead of all Nations. When it stated that the
list of contributors contains the names of more than
three hundred writers of the highest literary eminence
in France, from the year 1810, when the first volume
appeared, to the present time, that every article is
accompanied by the name of the author to whom it
had been assigned in reference to his habitual studies,
and that not a line appeared without having been pre-
viously submitted to several contributors in succession,
it must be obvious that the character of such a work is
matter of deep and universal interest.

A Supplement is announced, in which notice will
be taken of any inaccuracy, after which doubt and
. controversy must cease.

" Les assertions ou les faits qu'on n'y pas rectifies ou dementis devront par
ce moyen etre regarde's comme k peu-pres incontestables et sans replique."

Thus The Dead, of the most remote age, are sum-
moned to appear before this tribunal, and a charge is to be
taken for confessed, unless an "Answer be put in before
the period (which yet is left indefinite) when the Sup-
plement shall go to press. We may smile at this sally
of self-importance, but ought not to forget that the au-
thority of these volumes, whether for good or evil, will
unquestionably be extensive and commanding. Facts,
and with them reputation, cannot, it is true, be irre-
vocably stereotyped; yet a perilous circulation may
be given to the erroneous version, and a work which
will influence, directly or indirectly, a majority of those
whose opinions constitute fame, it were idle to treat
with contempt, and unjust not to attempt to rectify,
where its statements disparage a national benefactor.

It must be conceded that an omission of names can-
not fairly be Jaid to the charge of the Biographic Uni-
verselle. The stream of time has .been dragged with
humane perseverance, and many who, it was supposed,
had sunk to rise no more, are made to reappear at the
surface. As to the more important question, how far,
there are manifested, in general, extent and accuracy of
knowledge, and skill in its display, it might be unjust
to offer an opinion without going into much greater
detail than is here practicable. But it is quite fair to
assert that the many shameful marks of haste, heedless-
ness and gross ignorance which it falls within the' pre-
sent limited inquiry to expose—and more particularly
in bibliography which is the subject of especial vaunt
—may suffice to show how idle must be considered its
claim to infallibility, even after the appearance of the
Supplement. In the article devoted to the subject of

the present Memoir, the generous conclusion is an-
nounced, after a tissue of errors, that although no evi-
dence exists to establish the scene of his discoveries, yet
they ought not to be deemed altogether fabulous, as some
historians would represent ("comme fabuleuses ainsi
que quelques historiens ont etc tentes de le penser").
An effort is now made finally to secure his fame from
the effects of either carelessness or malevolence.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

THE HIGHEST NORTHERN LATITUDE REACHED BY CABOT AUTHORITIES

COLLECTED BY HAKLUYT ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN THEIR SUPPOSED

DISCREPANCE.

WITH a view to greater clearness, it is proposed to attempt,
in the first instance, the settlement of certain points around
which confusion has been suffered to gather, and which, de-
manding only a careful examination of authorities, may be
advantageously considered apart from the narrative. •

The first question — as one affecting materially the claim of
Cabot to the character of an intrepid navigator — is as to the
point to which he urged his way in the north, a fact with re-
gard to which statements exist seemingly quite irreconcilable.

The volumes of Hakluyt, usually regarded as of the high-
est authority, are supposed to present, on this subject, a chaos
which, so far from lending assistance to clear up difficulties,
rather dims, and threatens every moment to extinguish, the
feeble light supplied from other quarters. In the " Chrono-
logical History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions, &e. by
John Barrow, F. R. S.," it is said (p. 32), "there is no
possible way of reconciling the various accounts collected by
Hakluyt, and which amount to no less a number than six, but
by supposing John Cabot to have made one voyage at least

previous to the date of the patent, and some tin,
that and the date of the return of Columbus." The hypo-
thesis thus declared to be indispensable is directly at variance
with the terms of the original patent, and with the language
of every original writer ; and an effort will, therefore, now be
made to show, that the confusion complained of, does not exist
in the materials for forming an opinion, but arises from the
hasty and superficial manner in which they have been con-
sidered.

Taking up the accounts in the order in which they stand,
they maybe thus stated (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 6).

1. "An extract from the map of Sebastian Cabot, cut by
Clement Adams, concerning his discovery of the West Indies,
which is to be seen in his majesty's privy gallery, at West-
minster, and in many other ancient merchants' houses." No-
thing is said in this as to the latitude reached.

2. "A discourse of Sebastian Cabot," &c., wherein the
narrator asserts, that he heard the pope's legate say, that he
had heard Cabot state, that he sailed only to the 56° of lati-
tude, and then turned about.

3. A passage in the preface to the third volume of Ramusio's
Collection of Voyages. In this, the author says that in a

•vritten communication to him Sebastian Cabot stated that he
reached the latitude of 67° and a half.

4. Part of the sixth chapter of the third decade of Peter
Martyr d'Angleria, in which nothing is said of the latitude
reached, but the fact is stated, that he proceeded so far north,
that it was "in manner continually day-light."

5. The statement of Francis Lopez Gomara, who, accord-
ing to Hakluyt, represents Cabot to have " sailed beyond the
Cape of Labrador, until he found himself in 58° and better."
Cabot is here also said to have found "the days very long, in
a manner -vithout any night, and for that short night that they
had, it was very clear."

6. An extract from Robert Fabyan's Annals, and from a
letter of Robert Thorn of Bristol, containing nothing as to
the point under consideration.

Thus it is apparent that the discrepance exists on a com-
parison of the second, third and fifth items.

Postponing Gomara for the present, we pause on the two
passages of Ramusio which are supposed to embody contra-
dictory statements.

It is obvious that if the present were an inquiry in a court
of justice affecting the reputation or property of a living per-
son, the evidence which limits Cabot to 56° would be at once
rejected as incompetent. The alleged communication from
him is exposed, in its transmission, not only to all the chances
of misconception on the part of the pope's legate, but admit-
ting that personage to have truly understood, accurately re-
membered, and faithfully reported what he heard, we are again
exposed to a similar series of errors on the part of our inform-
ant, who furnishes it to us at second hand. But the dead
have not the benefits of the rules of evidence ; and we must,
therefore, look to the circumstances which affect its credi-
bility. It appears thus in Hakluyt: —

" A discourse of Sebastian Cabot touching his discovery of part of the West India
out of England in the time of king- Henry the Seventh, used to Galeacius Bu-
trigarius, the pope's legate in Spaine, and reported by the sayd legate in this
sort:

"Doe you not understand, sayd he (speaking to certaine gentlemen of Venice),
how to passe to India toward the North-west, as did of late a citizen of Venice,
so valiant a man, and so well practised in all things pertaining to navigations,
and the science of cosmographie, that at this present he hath not his like in
Spaine, insomuch that for his vertues he is preferred above all other pilots that
saile to the West Indies, who may not passe thither without his license, and is
therefore called Piloto Mayor, that is, the grand pilot ? And when we sayd that
we knew him not, he proceeded, saying, that being certaine yeres in the city of
Sivil, and desirous to have some knowledge of the navigations of the Spanyards,
it was tolde him that there was in the city a valiant man, a Venetian borne, named
Sebastian Cabot, who had the charge of those things, being an expert man in that
science, and one that coulde make cardes for the sea with his owne hand, and
that by this report, seeking his acquaintance, he found him a very gentle person,
who entertained him friendly, and shewed him mapy things, and among other a
large mappe of the world, with certaine particuler navigations, as well of the
Portugals as of the Spanyards, and that he spake further unto him to this effect:
"When my father departed from Venice, many yesres since, to dwell in Eng-
land, to follow the trade of marchandises, hee tooke mee with him to the citie of
London, while I was very yong, yet having neverthelesse some knowledge of let-
ters of humanitie, and of the sphere. And when my father died in that time

when newcs were brought that Don Christopher Colonus -Genoese had discovered
the coasts of India, whereof was great talke in all the court of king Henry the
Seventh, who then raigned, insomuch that all men with great admiration affirmed
it to be a thing more divine than humane, to saile by the West into the East, where
spices growe, by a way that was neuer knowen before, by this fame and report
there increased in my heart a great flame of desire to attempt some notable thing.
And understanding by reason of the sphere, that if I should saile by way of the
North-west, I should by a shorter tract come into India, I thereupon caused the
king to be advertised of my devise, who immediately commanded two caravels to
bee furnished with all things appertaining to the voyage, which was as farre as I
remember in the yeere 1496, in the beginning of sommer. I began therefore to
saile toward the North-west, not thinking to finde any other lande than that of
Cathay, and from thence to turn toward India,- but after certaine dayes I found
that the land ranne towards the north, which was to mee a great displeasure. Nev-
erthelesse, say ling along by 'the coast to see if I coulde finde any gulfe that turned,
I found the land still continent to the 56 degree under our pole. And seeing that
there the coast turned toward the East, despairing to finde the passage, I turned
backe againe, und sailed downe by the coast of that land toward the equinoctiall
(ever with intent to finde the said passage to India), and came to that part of this
firme lande which is now called Florida, where my victuals failing, I departed
from thence and returned into England, where I found great tumults among the
people, and preparation for warres in Scotland; by reason whereof there was no
more consideration had to this voyage.

" Whereupon I went into Spaine to the Catholique King, and Queene Elizabeth,
which being advertised what I had done, entertained me, and at their charges fur-
nished certaine ships, wherewith they caused me to saile to discover the coastes of
Brasile, where I found an exceeding great and large river, named at this present
Riodela Plata, that is, the river of silver, into the which I sailed and followed it
into the firme land, more then six score leagues, finding it every where very faire,
and inhabited with infinite people, which with admiration came running dayly to
our ships. Into this river runne so many other rivers, that it is in maner incre-
dible.

"After this I made many other voyages, which I nowe pretermit, and waxing
olde, I give myself, to rest from such travels, because there are nowe many yong
and lustie pilots and mariners of good experience, by whose forwardnesse I doe
rejoyce in the fruit of my labours, and rest with the charge of this office, as you
see."

In giving this conversation to his readers, Hakluyt pro-
fesses to have derived it from the second volume of Ramusio,
and subsequent compilers have assumed the accuracy of the
reference. It seems, for the first time, to have occurred to
the writers of the " Biographic Universelle," to look into the
original, and they declare that no such passage is to be there
found!

"Hakluyt dans sa collection nous a transmis la piece ou 1'on trouve le plus de
leteuls sur la navigation ct la x ic de Sebastian Cabot. II dit 1'avoir tiree du second

volume de la collection de Ramusio; mais nous Vy avom cherchte en vain. Cette
.piece est attribute a Galearius Btitrigarius l^gat du pape en Espagne qui dit tenir
les particularites qti'elle contient d'un habitant de Cadiz lequel avait eu plusieurs
conversations avec Sebastian." " Ramusio, connu par son exactitude n'a donne
aucun extrait des navigations de Sebastian Cabot; Use contente de citer dans la
preface de son 3e volume un passage d'une Lettre qu'il avoit regue de lui.

A striking proof here occurs of the facility with which
errors are fallen into in reporting even the written expressions
of another when memo'ry is relied on. The Collator ateurs
of the Biographic Universelle are supposed to have just
turned from the page of Hakluyt, and yet, in this brief state-
ment, mark the changes ! Butrigarius has no longer the con-
versation with Cabot, but gets his information at second hand,
and this, too, from an inhabitant of Cadiz ; thus utterly con-
founding both place and person, and making, also, the com-
munication to have been the result of " many" conversations
held with Cabot by this new member of the dramatis personx,
the " habitant de Cadiz." All this too, from those who bit-
terly denounce their predecessors for carelessness and inac-
curacy !

But we have a yet more serious complaint to urge. When
the charge is preferred against Hakluyt, of having made a
fraudulent citation, we may be permitted to say, with some
plainness, that after the lofty eulogium passed on Ramusio, by
the associates of the Biographic Universelle, not only inci-
dentally here, but in the article subsequently devoted to him,
it is to the last degree discreditable, that a mere mistake of
reference to the proper Volume, should have so completely
baffled their knowledge of the work. Nor is the mention of
Cabot confined, as they suppose, to the preface of the third
volume : it occurs in five different places, as will be hereafter
shown.

The passage immediately in question will be found not in
the second but in \hejirst volume of Ramusio. It is part of
the interesting article entitled, " Discorso notabile sopra varii
viaggi per liquali sono state condotte fino a tempi nostri le
spetiarie," beginning at fol. 414. D. of the edition of 1554,
and referred to in the index of all the editions under the titles

" Plata" and " Florida." Before proceeding to note the cir-
cumstances under which this conversation took place, it is
proper to correct some of the errors of the translation found
in Hakluyt.

And first, surprise must have been felt at the manner in
which Cabot speaks as to the date of his own celebrated-
voyage. The " so farre as I remember" seems to indicate a
strange indifference on the subject. The expression has
passed into Purchas (vol. iii. p. 808), and all the subsequent
authorities. In Harris?s account (Voyages, vol. ii. p. 190),
adopted by Pinkerton (vol. xii. p. 158), it is said, "The
next voyage made for discovery was by Sebastian Cabot, the
son of John ; concerning which, all our writers have fallen
into great mistakes, for want of comparing the several accounts
we have of this voyage, and making proper allowances for the
manner in which they were written, since I cannot find there
was ever any distinct and clear account of this voyage pub-
lished, though it was of so great consequence. On the con-
trary, I believe that Cabot himself kept no journal of it by
him, since in a letter he wrote on this subject, he speaks
doubtfully of the very year in which it was undertaken."
The same unlucky phrase continues down to Barrow (p. 33),
and to a work published during the present year (Lardner's
Cyclopaedia, History of Maritime Discovery, vol. ii. p. 137).
North West Foxe (p. 16) had changed it to what seemed, to
that critical personage, more correct, " as neere as I can re-
member."

Now there is not a syllable in the original to justify any
such expression.

" Feci intender questo mio pensiero alia Maesta del Re ii
qual fu molto contento et mi armo due caravelle di tutto cio
c.he era dibisogno et fu del 1496 nel principio della state."

It will not be understood, that we consider Cabot to
have named the year 1496; but it is only important here
to negative an expression which seems to argue such a
looseness of feeling as to this memorable incident. *

It may not be without interest to show the source of
Hakluyt's error.

The first English writer on this subject is RICHARD EDEN,
who published, in 1555, a black-letter volume, of which a
good deal will be said hereafter, entitled, " Decades of the
New World, &c.77 It consists of a translation of the three
first Books of Peter Martyr d7Angleria, to which he has
subjoined extracts from various other works of an early date
on kindred subjects; and amongst the rest, this passage of
Ramusio is given (fol. 251), as found in " The Italian Hys-
tories of Navigations.77 Eden was, as appears from his
book, a personal friend of Cabot; and when he came to the
round assertion as to the date, 1496, which he knew to be
incorrect, he qualified it by introducing (fol. 255) the words
in question.

It is the less excusable for Hakluyt and the rest, to have
blindly adopted such an interpolation, as there were other
translations within reach, in which a correct and elegant
version is given of the passage. The " Biographic Univer-
selle'7 considers Hakluyt as first bringing it forward, but the
whole is found in the celebrated Collection of De Bry, pub-
lished ten years before. At the end of the second part of
the Grand Voyages, is a cento of authorities on the sub-
ject of the discovery of America, in which the passage from
Ramusio is correctly given. It is needless to say, that the
"as farreas I remember77 finds no place; "anno igitur!496,
in principio veris ex Anglia solvi.77

Bare justice to Ramusio demands a reference to another
passage in which the English translators have made him utter
nonsense. The reader must have been struck with the ab-
surd commencement of the passage in Hakluyt — " Do you
not understand how to pass to India towards the North-
West, as did, of late, a citizen of Venice, &c.;77 after which,
we are informed that this citizen of Venice abandoned the
effort at 56° " despairing to find the passage !77 Ramusio
must not be charged with this blunder, for the original is,
(< Et fatto alquanti di pauso voltatosi verso di noi disse, Non

sapete a questo proposito (Pandare a trovar FIndie per il
vento di maestro quel che fece gia un vostro cittadino," (" and
making somewhat of a pause, he turned to us and said —
Do you not know, on this project of going to India by the
N. W., what did formerly your fellow-citizen, &c.") not
at all asserting the success of the enterprise, but only that
it was suggested by the subject of the previous conversa-
tion. A correct translation is found in De Bry: — "Anig-
noratis inquit (erat autem sermo institutus de investiganda
orientali India qua Thracias ventus flat) quid egerit civis
quidam vester, &e."

A more material error remains to be pointed out. The speaker
in Ramusio says, that finding himself some years ago in the
City of Seville, and desiring, &c. (" che ritrovandosi gia
alcuni anni nella Citta di Siviglia, et desirando, &c."); but
on the page of Hakluyt this becomes, e( being certain years
in the City of Seville, and desiring, &c." The Latin ver-
sion in De Bry is correct, " Quern ante aliquot annos irivisi
cum essem Hispali." The importance of the error is ap-
parent. As truly translated the words confess the great
lapse of time since the conversation, and of course the liability
to error, while the erroneous version conveys only the idea
of multiplied opportunities of communication, and a con-
sequent assurance of accuracy. The same form of express-
ion occurs in another part of the paragraph, and the meaning
is so obvious, that it has not been possible to misunderstand
it. When the Legate represents Cabot as stating that his
father left Venice many years before the conversation, and
went to settle in London to carry on the business of mer-
chandise, the original runs thus, " parti to suo padre da
Venetia gia molti anno et andato a stare in Inghiltera a far
mercantie." Again, in that passage, in the third volume,
which is properly translated, " as many years past it was
written unto me by Sebastian Cabot," the original is, « come
mi fu scritto gia molti anno sono."

Having thus ascertained what is, in reality, the statement
of Ramusio, we proceed to consider the circumstances under

which the conversation took place. It occurs, as has been seen,
in the course of a Treatise on the trade in Spices. After
expatiating on the history of that trade, arid the revolution
caused by the discovery of the passage round the Cape of
Good Hope, Ramusio says (Edit, of 1554, torn. iii. fol. 413
A.), that he cannot forbear to add a report of a conver-
sation which he had heard at the house of his excellent
friend Hieronimus Fracastor. He then proceeds to give
the discourse, which is a very long one, on the subject of
Cosmography, the conjectures of the ancients as to a Western
World, and the discoveries which had taken place *in the
speaker's own time. It is only incidentally that Cabot's name
is introduced, and with regard to the whole, Ramusio makes
this candid prefatory remark, " Which conversation I do
not pretend to be able to relate circumstantially as I heard
it, for that would require a talent, and a memory beyond
mine; nevertheless, I will strive briefly, and as it were
by heads, to give what I am able to recpllect" — (" II qual
ragionamento non mi basta 1'animo di poter scriver cosi par-
ticolarmente com' ie le udi, perche visaria dibisogno altro in-
gegno et altra memoria che non e la mia; pur mi sforzero
sommariamente et come per Capi di recitar quel che io me
potro ricordare.")

Now what is there to oppose to a report coming to us
by a route so circuitous, and expressed at last in a manner
thus hesitating ? The positive and explicit information con-
veyed in Cabot's own letter. Nor does Ramusio confine him-
self to the statement contained in the Preface to his third
volume, for in the same volume (fol. 417), is a discourse on
the Northern Regions of the New World; in which, speaking
of the Baccalaos, he says, that this region was intimately
known to Sebastian Cabot, " II quale a spese del Re Henrico
VII., d' Inghiltera, scorse tutta la detta costa fino a gradi
67°. ("Who at the cost of Henry VII., king of England,
proceeded along the whole of the said coast, as far as 67°.")
It is plain, therefore, that the communication from Cabot had
completely satisfied the mind of Ramusio, when we find

him in this separate treatise assuming the fact asserted in the
letter as conclusively settled.

This last consideration is strengthened by another cir-
cumstance. The passage in the third volume which refers
to Cabot's letter, and which Hakluyt quotes as from the
" Preface," is, in fact, part of a Discourse addressed to
Hieronimus Fracastor, the very personage at whose house
the conversation had taken place. Ramusio, in conveying
the deliberate statement of Cabot, whose correspondent he had
intermediately become, and whom he designates as " huomo
di grande esperienza et raro nelP arte del navigare et nella
scienza di cosmografia," does not think it necessary, even
to advert to his own former representation. He is not
found balancing, for a moment, between this written and
direct information, and what he had before stated from a
casual conversation with a third person, which had rested,
for some time, insecurely, in his own confessedly bad
memory, aside from the peril to which it had been sub-
jected, before reaching him, of misconception on the part,
of Butrigarius, or of his forgetfulness during the years
which elapsed between the interview with Cabot and the in-
cidental allusion to what had passed on that occasion.

A comparison of the two passages shows further that no
great importance was attached to the latitude reached;
for in the latter, Ramusio is found to drop the half degree.
It furnishes, too, an additional item of evidence, as to
the scrupulous accuracy with which the language of the
Letter is reported. In giving us that, he is exact even
to the minutes ; but when his eye is taken from the letter, and
he is disengaged from the responsibility of a direct quotation,
he slides into round numbers.

When we add, that in every fact capable of being brought
to the test, the statement of the conversation is erroneous, and
that the limited latitude is inconsistent with the continued
day-light— a circumstance more likely to be remembered
than a matter of figures— what can be more absurd, than, at
the present day, to dwell on that which Ramusio himself, two

hundred and seventy-five years ago, is plainly seen to aban-
don? Yet such has been the course pursued by every writer
on the subject, and the only difference discoverable is in the
shades of perversion.

To the account of the voyage to Hudson's Bay, by the
Dobbs and California, drawn up by Henry Ellis, Esq., is pre-
fixed a sketch of the previous attempts in pursuit of a North-
West passage. After Ramusio's statement that Cabot reached
the latitude of 67° and-a-half, the writer complacently adds,
(p. 6)-

" There is an error in the latitude often degrees? but, however, it is plain from
this account that the voyage was made for the discovery of a North-West passage,
which was the reason I produced it. But in a letter written by Sebastian Cabot
himself to the Pope's Legate in Spain (!) he gives a still clearer account of this mat-
ter, for therein he says, that it was from the consideration of the structure of the
globe, the design was formed of sailing to the Indies by a North-West course. He
observes further, that falling in with land unexpectedly (for he thought to have
met with none till he had reached the coasts of Tartary), he sailed along the coast
to the height of 56 degrees, and finding the land there run eastward, he quitted
the attempt, and sailed southward."

Forster remarks (Northern Voyages, p. 267), "some say
he went to 67° 30' N. lat.; others reckon his most southerly
track to have been to 58° N. lat. He himself informs us,
that he reached only to 56° N. lat."

Mr Barrow (Chronological History of Voyages, &c. p. 33)
says, "If there be any truth in the report made to the pope's
legate in Spain, and printed in the collection of Ramusio,"
" it would appear by this document," &c. He then gives
the conversation, not as " printed in the collection of Ramu-
sio," for Mr Barrow could not have looked into that but

with all the absurd perversions of Hakluyt — and then, in offi-
cial language, confers the title of " a Report/' " a Document,"
on an unguarded error into which Ramusio had been be-
trayed, and which that honest personage hastened to correct!

The same absurd phraseology, with its train of errors, is

copied into Dr Lardner's Cyclopaedia (History of Maritime

and Inland Discovery, vol. ii. p. 137). Foxe, who made a

voyage into Hudson's Bay, in the reign of Charles I., says

(p. 13), » As concerning Sebastian Cabot, I cannot find that
he was any further northward than 58°, and so returned along
the land of America to the South, but for more certainty!
hear his own relation to Galeatius Butrigarius, the pope's
legate in Spain." After the " as neare as I can remember,"
&c. Foxe gravely adds, «Thus much from himself."

In the " Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery,
by William Stevenson, Esq.," which forms the eighteenth
volume of Kerr's Collection of Voyages, published in 1824,
it is said (p. 353), "The course he steered, and the limits of
his voyage are, however, liable to uncertainty. He himself
informs us that he reached only 56° N. lat., and that the
coast of America at that part tended to the east ; but there
is no coast of North America that answers to this description.
According to other accounts he reached 67° and-a-half N.
lat., but," &c. " It is most probable he did not reach fur-
ther than Newfoundland."

It is impossible not to feel indignant at such statements
from those who vie with each other in complaints of all pre-
ceding writers.

Though a matter of little moment, it may be noted that
the conjecture is erroneous which connects the pope's legate,
Galeatius Butrigarius, with the conversation at the house of
Fracastor. Ramusio does not mention any name; withhold-
ing it, as he says, from motives of delicacy. The interview
with Cabot at Seville, took place many years after his return,
in 1531, from the La Plata; and the speaker, whoever he
may have been, represents himself to have been led to make
the call by a desire to " have some knowledge of the naviga-
tions of the Spaniards." Now, Galeatius Butrigarius, more
than twenty years before this visit could have been made, is
found on terms of intimacy with Peter Martyr (dec. 2. cap.
1), and not only well informed on the subject, but urging the
historian to pursue his narrative, and the ensuing Decade is
addressed, in consequence, to the Pope. It seems impossi-
ble that the legate so long afterwards — fifteen years, at least,
subsequently to the publication of Peter Martyr's volume,

•

describing the enterprise of Cabot — should have been actu-
ated by this vague impulse of curiosity^ and have been in-
debted for a knowledge of the discoverer <of Baccalaos to the
reports current at Seville during this his apparently first
visit.

CHAP. II.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED GOMARA.

OF the passage in Gomara, Hakluyt presents the following
version : —

" The testimonie of Francis Lopez de Gomara, a Spaniard, in the fourth chapter
of the second booke of his generall history of the West Indies, concerning the
first discoverie of a great part of the West Indies, to wit, from 58 to 38 degrees
of latitude, by Sebastian Cabota out of England.

" He which brought most certaine newes of the countrey and people of Sac-
calaos, (saith Gomara, was Sebastian Cabote, a Venetian, which rigged up two
ships at the cost of king Henry the Seventh of England, having great desire to
traffique for the spices as the Portugals did. He carried with him three hundred
men, and tooke the way towards Island from beyond the Cape of Labrador, until
he found himselfe in 58 degrees and better. He made relation, that in the moneth
of July it was so cold, and the ice so great, that hee durst not passe any further:
that the dayes were very long in a maner without any night, and for that short
night that they had, it was very cleare. Cabot feeling the cold, turned towards the
West, refreshing himselfe at Baccalaos; and afterwards he sailed along the coast
unto 38 degrees, and from thence he shaped his course to returne into England."

There is to be noted here another of Hakluyt's loose and
suspicious references. The Spanish work is not divided into
"books," and the passage quoted occurs in the first part.
This is said, after consulting the Saragossa edition of 1552 —
that of Medina del Campo, 1553— that of Antwerp, 1554—
and the reprint of the work in Barcia's " Historiadores Pri-
mitivos" in 1749. A ready conjecture presents itself as to
the source of Hakluyt's error. The work of Gomara was, at
an early period, translated into French, by Fumee, in whose
version, published in 1578, the matter is distributed into
" Books," and the passage in question really becomes, accord-
ing to his arrangement, the fourth chapter of the second
Book. That Hakluyt was ignorant of the Spanish language,
may be inferred from the circumstance, that when he has

occasion (vol. iii. p. 499) to quote Oviedo, he gives us not
the original but an Italian version of it by Ramusio. He was
at Paris shortly after the appearance of Fumee's Translation,
and remained there for some time, as is stated in the dedica-
tion of his first volume to Lord Charles Howard. We shall
see, presently, how far he has been misled by relying on
that translation. The following is Gomara's own language — •

"Qui en mas noticia traxo desta tierra fue Sebastian Gaboto Veneciano. El
qual armo dos navios en Inglaterra do tratava desde pequeno, a costa del Rev En-
rique Septimo, que desseava contratar en la especiera como hazia el Key d'Portu-
gal. Otros disen que a su costa, y' que prometio al rey Enrique de ir por el norte
al Catayo y traer de alia especias en menos tiempo que Portugueses por el Sur.
Y va tambien por saber que tierra eran las Indias para poblar. Llevo trezientos
hombres y camino la buelta de Islandia sobre cabo del Labrador, hasta se poner en
cinquenta y ocho grados. Aunque el dize mucho mas contando como avia por el
mes de Julio tanto frio y pedagos de yelo que no oso passar mas adelante, y que
los dios eran grandissimos y quasi sin noche y las noches muy claras. Es cierte
que a sesenta grados son los dias de diez y ocho horas, Diendo pues Gabota la
frialdad y estraneza dela tierra, dio la buelta hazia poniente y rehaziendose en los
Baccalaos corrio la costa hasta treynta y ochos grados y tornose de alii a Inglaterra."

" Sebastian Cabot was the first that brought any knowledge of this land. For
being in England in the days of king Henry the Seventh, he furnished two ships
at his own charges, or as some say, at the king's, whom he persuaded that a
passage might be found to Cathay by the North Seas, and that spices might be
brought from thence sooner by that way than by the viage the Portugales use by
the sea of Sur. He went also to know what manner of landes those Indies were
to inhabit. He had with him 300 men, and directed his course by the tract of
island upon the Cape of Labrador, at fifty-eight degrees, affirming that in the
month of July there was such cold and heaps of ice that he durst pass no further;
also, that the days were very long, and in manner without night, and the nights
very clear. Certain it is, that at the three score degrees, the longest day is of
eighteen hours. Hut considering the cold and the strangeness of the unknown
land, he turned his course from thence to the west, following the coast unto the
thirty-eight degree, from whence he returned to England." (Eden's Translation,
see Decades, fol. 318.)

The unwarrantable liberties taken by Hakluyt will appear
at a glance. He drops, entirely, the passage of Gomara as
to the length of the day in the latitude of 60°, though it
stands in the middle of the paragraph. Again, Gomara states
the contradictory assertions which he found, as to whether
the expedition was fitted out at the cost of Henry VII. or of
an individual. In Hakluyt's day this was deemed a matter of
great importance; for in the passages in the third volume

which relate to the North- West passage, and the colonization
of America, considerable stress is laid, with a view to repel
the pretensions of Spain, on the direct agency of the king of
England. Hakluyt, therefore, boldly strikes out the words
which show that Gomara had arrived at no conclusion on the
point; and by this mutilation exhibits an unqualified aver-
ment that the whole was at the cost of Henry VII. No
English reader would hesitate to cite the Spanish author, as
candidly conceding that the enterprise was a national one, at
the king's expense ; and Mr Sharon Turner, in his " History
of England during the Middle Ages," asserting anxiously the
merits of Henry VII., declares (vol. iv. of second ed. p. 163,
note 54), with a reference to Hakluyt, tf Gomara also men-
tions that the ships were rigged at Henry's costs." Hakluyf
wants here even the apology of having been misled by Fu-
mee, as the French writer, and Richard Eden, fairly state
the matter in the alternative.

As to the course pursued by Cabot, Hakluyt has strangely
misunderstood the author. The words of Gomara are —
"Llevo trezientos hombres y camino la buelta de Islandia y
hasta se poner en cinquanta y ochos grados." The prede-
cessors of Hakluyt in the work of translation were so nume-
rous, as to leave him without apology for mistake. Richard
Eden says, "He had with him three hundred men, and di-
rected his course by the tract of Island (Iceland), upon the
Cape of Labrador, at 58°." In the Italian translation of Au-
gustin de Cravaliz, published at Rome in 1556, it is rendered
" ' Meno seco trecento huomini et navico alia volta d'Islanda
sopra Capo del Lavoratore finchesi trovo in cinquanta otto
gradi;' and in a reprint at Venice, in 1576, <Meno seco tre-
cento huomini et camino la volta de Islandia sopra del Capo
del Lavoratore et fino a mettersi in cinquanta otto gradi.' "

That Cabot really took the route of Iceland is very pro-
bable. A steady and advantageous commerce had for many
years been carried on between Bristol and Iceland, and is
referred to in the quaint old poem, " The Policie of keeping
the Sea," reprinted in Hakluyt, (vol. i. p. 201)

" Of Island to write is little nede,
Save of Stockfish: yet, forsooth indeed,
Out of Bristowe, and costes many one,
Men have practised by needle, and by stone
Thitherwards," &c.

Seven years before, a treaty had been made with the king of
Denmark, securing that privilege. (Selden's MareClausum,
lib. 2. c. 32.) The theory in reference to which Cabot had
projected the voyage would lead him as far North as possible,
and it would be a natural precaution to break the dreary con-
tinuity at sea, which had exercised so depressing an influence
on the sailors of Columbus, by touching at a point so far on
his way and yet so familiarly known. Hudson, it may be re-
marked, took the same route.

We turn now to the translation of Fumee ; " II mena avec
soy trois cens hommes et print la route e?' Island au dessus
du Cap de Labeur, jusques a ce qui il se trouva a 58 degrez
et par dela. II racomptoit," &c. Acquainted as we are
with the original, it seems difficult to mistake even the French
version. Hakluyt, however, had no such previous know-
ledge, and he confesses (Dedication to Sir Walter Raleigh,
vol. iii. p. 201) that he was not a perfect master even of
the French language. Obliged thus to grope after a mean-
ing, his version is as follows, (vol. iii. p. 9) — " He carried
with him 300 men, and took the way towards Island from be-
yond the Cape of Labrador, (!) until he found himself in 58o
and better. He made relation," &c. The timid servility
with which Hakluyt strove to follow Fumee is apparent even
in the structure of the sentences, for it is improbable that two
independent versions of Gomara would concur in such a dis-
tribution of the original matter.

It is difficult to understand how Hakluyt could consent to
put forth such palpable nonsense. He is evidently quite
aware that the word " Island" in the French could mean
nothing but Iceland; and, indeed, it is the designation which
he himself uniformly employs, particularly at p. 550, &c. of
his first volume, where is given at great length — " The true
state of Island," being a translation from a Latin work, en-

titled, " Brevis Commentarius de Islandia." Yet with this
knowledge, and with all the means of a correct version, he re-
presents Cabot as first reaching America and then proceeding
onward to Iceland.

The version of Hakluyt is adopted by every subsequent
English writer except LEDIARD, who, in his Naval History,
seems to have paused over language seemingly so enigmatical.
Not perceiving that a proper name was intended, he asked
himself, in vexation, what " Island" could possibly be meant.
Besides, the expression was ungrammatical, for it is not said
"an Island," or " the Island,'' but simply, " towards Island."
He therefore ventures on an amendment (p. 88) — e< He took
the way towards the Islands, (!) from beyond the Cape of
Labrador, till he was beyond 58°." Having made grammar of
the passage, he leaves the reader to make sense of it.

Wearisome as the examination may be, we have not yet
reached the principal error of Hakluyt in reference to this
short passage. It will be noted that the Spanish writer,
after saying that Cabot reached the lat. of 58°, adds, "aunque
el dize mucho mas contando como avia por el mes de Julio
tante frio," &c. (" although he says much further, relating,
how he had in the middle of July, such cold," &c.) Here, too,
Hakluyt might have taken advantage of previous translations.
In the Italian version of 1576, it is, " finchesi trovo in 58
gradi benche egli dice di piu et narrava come, " &c.; and in
that of 1556, " et fino a mettersi in 58 gradi anchor che lui
dice molto piu \\ quale diceva." Hakluyt, however, relying
on Fumee — « jusques a ce qu'il ce trouva a 58 degrez
et par dela," renders the passage " un^il he found himself in
58° and better" Thus the Spanish writer, who had peremp-
torily fixed the limit of 58°, is made, without qualification, to
carry Cabot to an indefinite extent beyond it *

The true version of the passage, not only renders it harm-
less, but an auxiliary in establishing the truth. ThatGomara

• Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals, changes Hakluyt's phrase into
" somewhat more than fifty -eight degrees," for which he .quotes Gomara.

should speak slightingly of Cabot was to be expected. His
work was published in 1552, not long after our Navigator
had quitted the service of Spain, and is dedicated to the Em-
peror Charles V., whose overtures for the return of Cabot,
had been, as will be seen hereafter, rejected. Of the dis-
coveries of Cabot, none, he says, were made for Spain
(" ninguno fue por nuestros Reyes"), and we shall have
repeated occasion to expose his disparaging comments on
every incident of Cabot's life while in the service of that
country. He is of little authority, it may be remarked, even
with his own countrymen, and is most notorious for having,
from a paltry jealousy of foreigners, revived and given cur-
rency to the idle tale that Columbus was guided in his great
enterprise by the charts of a pilot who died in his house. We
know, from Peter Martyr (Dec. 3. cap. 6), that, as early as
1515, the Spaniards were jealous of the reputation of Cabot,
then in their service ; and Gomara, writing immediately after
the deep offence which had been given by the abandonment
of the service of Spain, and the slight of the emperor-'s appli-
cation, was disposed to yield an eager welcome to every false-
hood. With regard to an account, then, from such a quarter,
we would attach importance to it only from the presumed ac-
quiescence of Cabot in the representation of a contemporary.
Now, so far is this from the fact, the very passage, as at
length redeemed from a perversion no less absurd than flagi-
tious, furnishes, in itself, a triumphant proof, that the writer's
assertion is in direct conflict with that of the Navigator.
The importance of this argument is increased by the con-
sideration that Gomara's work was published tvyo years before
Ramusio's third volume in the preface to which appears the
extract from Cabot's letter. This shows that other means of
information, and probably Cabot's map amongst the rest, were
before Gomara. All that we care to know, under such cir-
cumstances, is the real statement of Cabot ; and in answer to
that inquiry we have the clear and precise language of his
letter to Ramusio.
D

CHAP. III.

CABOT PENETRATED INTO HUDSON S BAY.

ON quitting the authorities which have so long been sup-
posed to involve irreconcilable contradictions, the only re-
maining difficulty is that of selection from the numerous tes-
timonials which offer, as to the real extent of the voyage. A
few are referred to which speak in general terms of the lati-
tude reached, before proceeding to such as describe particu-
larly the course pursued.

In De Bry (Grand Voyages, iv. p. 69), is the following
passage : —

" Sebastianus Gabottus, sumptibus Regis Anglise, Henrici
VII., per septentrionalem plagam ad Cataium penetrare voluit.
Ille primus Cuspidem Baccalaos detexit (quam hodie Britones
et Nortmanni, nautse la coste des Molues hoc est Asselorum
marinorum oram appellant) atque etiam ulterius usque ad 67
gradum versus polum articum."*

Belle-forest, in his Cosmographie Universelle, which ap-
peared at Paris, in 1576 (torn. ii. p. 2175), makes the same
statement.

In the treatise of Chauveton, "Du Nouveau Monde," pub-
lished at Geneva, in 1579, he says (p. 141), " Sebastian Ga-
botto, entreprit aux despens de Henry VII., Rex d'Angle-
terre, de cercher quelque passage pour aller en Catay par la
Tramontane. Cestuy la descouvrit la pointe de Baccalaos,
(que les mariniers de Bretaigne, et de Normandie appellent

" Sebastian Cabot attempted, at the expense of Henry VIL, King of England
o find a way by the north to Cataia. He first discovered the point of Baccalaos,
which the Breton and Norman sailors now call the Coast of Codfish; and, proceed-
ing yet further he reached the latitude of sixty-seven degrees towards the Arctic
Pole."

La Coste des Molues) et plus haut jusqu'a soixante sept
<%rez du Pole."

There is a volume entitled, " A Prayse and Reporte of
Martyne Frobisher's voyage* to Meta Incognita, by Thomas
Churchyard," published at London, in 1578 (in Library of
British Museum, title Churchyard] , wherein it is said, " I
find that Gabotta was the first, in king Henry VII.'s days,
that discovered this frozen land or seas from sixty-seven
towards the North, and from thence towards the South,
along the coast of America to 36 degrees and a half," &c.

Herrera, (dec. i. lib. 6. cap. 16) in rejecting the fraction,
adopts the higher number, and states Cabot to have reach-
ed 68°.

We proceed now to establish the proposition which stands
at the head of this chapter, but must first disclaim for it a
character of novelty, since in Anderson's History of Commerce,
(vol. i. p. 549), is found the following passage : —

" How weak then are the pretensions of France to the prior discovery of North
America, by alleging that one John Veraazan, a Florentine, employed by their
King, Francis I., was the first discoverer of those coasts, when that king did not
come to the crown till about nineteen years after our Cabot's discovery of the
whole coast of North America, from sixty-eight degrees north, down to the south
end of Florida? So that, from beyond Hudson's Bay (into which Bay, also, Cabot
then sailed, and gave English names to several places therein) southward to Florida,
the whole compass of North America, on the Eastern coast thereof, does, by all
the right that prior discovery can give, belong to the Crown of Great Britain: ex-
cepting, however, what our monarchs have, by subsequent treaties with other Eu-
ropean powers, given up or ceded."

The same assertion appears in the work as subsequently
enlarged into Macpherson's Annals of Commerce (vol. ii.
p. 12).

The statement is sufficiently pointed ; and it is not imposs-
ible, that Anderson, who wrote seventy years ago, and whose
employments probably placed within his reach many curious
documents connected with the early efforts to discover a
North- West passage -to India, may have seen one of Cabot's
maps. As he is silent with regard to the source of his in-
formation, it is necessary to seek elsewhere for evidence on
the subject.

A conspicuous place is, on many accounts, due to the testi-
mony of Lord Bacon. Every student of English History is
aware of the labour and research he expended on the History
of Henry VII. He himself, in one of his letters, speaking
of a subsequent tract, says, " I find Sir Robert Cotton, who
poured forth what he had in my other work, somewhat dainty
of his materials in this." We turn, then, with eagerness, to
his statement as to Sebastian Cabot.

" He sailed, as he affirmed at his return, and made a card
thereof, very far westward, with a quarter of the north on the
north side of Terra de Labrador, until he came to the lati-
tude of sixty-seven degrees and a half, finding the seas still
open."

It would be idle to accompany this statement with any
thing more than a request that a map of that region may be
looked at in connexion with it.

The tract of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the North- West
passage, was originally published in 1576. It is reprinted,
with mutilations which will be mentioned hereafter, in Hak-
luyt. Referring, for the present, to the latter work, we find
at page 16 of the third volume, the following passage:

" Furthermore, Sebastian Cabot, by his personal experience and travel, hath
set forth and described this passage in his Charts, which are yet to be seen in the
Queen's Majesty's Privy Gallery at Whitehall, who was sent to make this discovery
by King Henry the VII., and entered the same fret, affirming that he sailed very far
westward with a quarter of the north on the north side of Terra de Labrador, the
llth of June, until he came to the septentrional latitude of sixty-seven degrees and
a-half, and finding the sea still open, said that he might and would have gone to
Cataia, if the mutiny of the master and mariners had not been."

In the "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" of the celebrated
geographer Ortelius, will be found a map designated as "Ame-
rica sive Novi Orbis descriptio ;" in which he depicts, with
an accuracy that cannot be attributed to accident, the form of
Hudson's Bay, and a channel leading from its northern ex-
tremity towards the pole. The publication preceded not
only Hudson but Frobisher ; and Ortelius tells us that he had
Cabot's map before him. Prefixed to his work is a list,
alphabetically arranged (according to the Christian names), of

29 :^

the authors of whose labours he was possessed, and amongst
them is expressly mentioned Sebastian Cabot. The mp was
ef the World, " Universal em Tab ulam quam impressam seneis
formis vidimus.

The statement of the Portuguese writer Galvano, trans-
lated by Hakluyt, is curious, and though there is reason in
many places to apprehend interpolation by Hakluyt, yet the
epithet Deseado is plainly retained from the Portuguese ; sig-
nifying the desired or sought for. It is unquestionable that
this account, though not perfectly clear, represents Cabot's
extreme northern labour to have been the examination of a
bay and a river ; and from the name conferred, we may sup-
pose, that they were deemed to be immediately connected
with the anxious object of pursuit. On the map of Ortelius,
the channel running from the northern part of the bay has
really the appearance of a river. After reaching the Ame-
rican coast, the expedition is said, by Galvano, to have gone
" straight northwards till they came into 60° of latitude,
where the day is eighteen hours long, and the night is very
clear and bright. There tiiey found the aire colde, and great
islands of ice, but no grouna in an hundred fathoms sounding;
and so from thence, finding the land to turn eastwards, they
trended along by it, discovering all the bay and river named
Deseado, to see if it passed on the other side. Then they
sailed back againe, till they came to 38° toward the equinoc-
tial line, and from thence returned into England." (p. 33.)

A writer whose labours enjoyed in their day no little cele-
brity, and may be regarded, even now, as not unworthy of
the rank they hold in the estimation of his countrymen, is the
noble Venetian, Livio Sanuto, whose posthumous " Geogra-
fia," appeared at Venice, in 1588. The work, of which
there is a copy in the library of the British Museum, owes
its chief interest, at present, to certain incidental speculations
on matters connected with Naval Science, of which the author
was deeply enamoured. Repeated allusions occur to the map
of " il chiarissimo Sebastiano Caboto." Having heard,
moreover, from his friend Guido Gianeti de Fano, at one time

ambassador at London, that Sebastian Cabot had publicly ex-
plained to the King of England the subject of the Variation of
the Needle, Sanuto became extremely anxious, in reference to
a long meditated project of his own, to ascertain where Cabot
had fixed a point of no variation. The ambassador could
not answer the eager inquiry, but wrote, at the instance of
Sanuto, to a friend in England, Bartholomew Compagni, to
obtain the information from Cabot. It was procured accord-
ingly, and is given by Sanuto (PrimaParte, lib.i. fol. 2), with
some curious corollaries of his own. The subject belongs
to a different part of our inquiry, and is adverted to here
only to show the author's anxious desire for accurate and
comprehensive information, and the additional value thereby
imparted to the passage (Prima Parte, lib. ii. fol. 17), in which
he gives an account of Cabot's voyage corresponding minutely
with that which Sir Humphrey Gilbert derived from the map
hung up in Queen Elizabeth's Gallery.*

Some items of circumstantial evidence maybe adverted to:
Zeigler, in his work on the Northern Regions, speaking of
the voyage of Cabot, and the statement of his falling in with
so much ice, remarks (Argent ed*of 1532. fol. 92. b.)—

' ' Id testatur quod non per mare vastum, sed propinquis littoribus in sinus
formam comprehensum navigarit, quando ob eadem caussam sinus Gothanus
concrescat quoniam strictus est, et fluviorum plurium et magnorum ostia
salsam naturam in parva copia superant. Inter autem Norduegiam et Islandiam
non concrescit ex diversa causa, quoniam vis dulcium aquarum illic superatur £
vastitate naturae salsx." This testifieth that he had sailed not by the main sea, but
in places near unto the land, comprehending and embracing the sea in form of a
gulph ; whereas for the same cause the Gulph of Gothland is frozen, because it is
straight and narrow, in the which, also, the little quantity of salt water is over-
come by the abundance of fresh water, of many and great rivers that fall into the
gulph. But between Norway and Iceland the sea is not frozen, for the contrary
cause, forasmuch as the power of fresh water is there overcome of the abundance
of the salt water." (Eden's Decades, fol. 268. )

* " E quivi a punto tra quest! dui extremi delle due Continent! giunto che fu il
chiarissimo Sebastiano Caboto in gradi sessenta sette e mezo navigando allora per la
quarta di Maestro verso Ponente ivi chiaro vide essere il mare aperto e spatiosiss-
ima senza veruno impedimento. Onde giudico fermamente potersi di la navigare
al Cataio Orientale il che ancho haverche a mano a mano fatto se la malignata del
Padrone e de i marinari sollevati non lo havessero fatto ritornari a dietro. "

Eden says, in a marginal note, " Cabot told me that this
ice is of fresh water and not of the sea."

Great perplexity has been caused by the statement that the
expedition under Cabot found the coast incline to the North-
East. He himself informs us that he reached only to 56° N.
lat., and that the coast in that part tended to the East. This
seems hardly probable, for the coast of Labrador tends neither
at 56° nor at 58° to the East." (Forster, p. 267. ) So Nava-
rette (torn. iii. p. 41) thinks that Ramusio's statement cannot
be correct, because the latitude mentioned would carry the
vessel to Greenland.

It is to be remembered, that the language of Cabot sug-
gests that at the immediate point of arrest he was cheered by
the prospect of success. We are led, then, to infer that the
sanguine adventurer was, for some reason, inspired with fresh
confidence in which his associates refused to participate; and
that, terrified by the perils they had encountered, their dis-
satisfaction came to a head when they found a new career of
peril suggested by what they deemed the delusive hopes of
their youthful commander. Let us look into the subject with
the aid which these suggestions afford. Bylot, who, after
penetrating into Hudson's Bay, proceeded up its Northern
channel on the west side, as far as 65° and-a-half, represented
the coast as tending to the North-east. The Quarterly Review
(vol. xvi. p. 168), in an article urging a new expedition in
search of the North-\Vest passage, refuses its belief to this
statement. We turn, then, to Captain Parry's Narrative of
his Second Voyage. It is apparent from an inspection of the
map that the course pointed out by Cabot, for passing through
the Strait, would conduct a navigator, without fail, to Winter
Island. Now, from the very outset of Captain Parry's course
from that point, we find him engaged in a struggle with the
North-Eastern tendency of the coast. On the 13th of July
he was off Barrow's River, which is in lat. 67° 18' 45"; and
having visited the falls of that river, his narrative is thus con-
tinued:—

" \Ve found, uii our return, that a 1'rcsli souths iiich hud been blow-

ing for several liours, had driven the ice to some distance from the land; so that at
four, P.M., as soon as the flood tide had slackened, we cast off and made all poss-
ible sail to the northward, steering for a headland, remarkable for having- a patch
of land towards the sea insular in sailing along shore. As we approached this
headland, which I named after my friend Mr Edward Leycester Penrhyn, the
prospect became more and more enlivening; for the sea was found to be naviga-
ble in a degree very seldom experienced in these regions, and the land trending1
two or three points to the westward of north, gave us reason to hope we should
now be enabled to take a decided and final turn in that anxiously desired direction."

Another remark is suggested by Captain Parry's Narrative.
Every one who has had occasion to consider human testimony,
or to task his own powers of recollection, must have observed
how tenaciously circumstances remain which had affected the
imagination, even after names and dates are entirely forgot-
ten. The statement of Peter Martyr exhibits a trophy of
this kind. He recalls what his friend Cabot had said of the
influence of the sun on the shore along which he was toiling
amidst mountains of ice ; " vastas repererit glaciales moles
pelago natantes et lucem fere perpetuam tellure tamen libera
gelu liquefacto" (Decades, iii. lib. 6), a passage which Hakluyt
(vol. iii. p. 8), borrowing Eden's version, renders, "he found
monstrous heaps of ice swimming on the sea, and in manner
continual day-light; yet saw he the land in that tract free
from ice, which had been molten by the heat of the sun."
Where do we look for this almost continual day-light, and
this opportunity of noticing the appearance of the land? In
that very channel, we would say, leading North from Hud-
son's Bay, where Captain Parry, later in the summer, whilst
between 67° and 68°, and threatened every moment with de-
struction, thus records his own impressions (p. 261): « Very
little snow was now lying upon the ground, and numerous
streams of water rushing down the hills and sparkling in the
beams of the morning sun, relieved in some measure the me-
lancholy stillness which otherwise reigned on this desolate
shore."

There has been held in reserve the piece of evidence
which goes most into detail.

In the third volume of Hakluyt (p. 25), is found a Tract,

by Richard Willes, gentleman, on the North- West passage. It
was originally published in an edition, that Willes put forth
in 1577, of Richard Eden's Decades, and forms part of an
article therein, which Hakluyt has strangely mangled, ad-
dressed to Lady Warwick, daughter of the Earl of Bedford.
It was drawn up, as we shall have occasion to show, for the
use of Sir Martin Frobisher. In this tract Willes combats
the various arguments urged at that time against the practi-
cability of the enterprise; and his statement of one of the
objections advanced, furnishes an all important glimpse at the
map of Cabot. In the following passage (3 Hakluyt, p. 25),
the enemies of the enterprise are supposed to say: —

" Well^ grant the West Indies not to continue continent unto the Pole. Grant
there be a passage between these two lands; let the gulf lie nearer us than com-
monly in Cardes we find it, namely, between 61 and 64 degrees north, as Gemma
Frisius, in his maps and globes, imagineth it, and so left by our countryman, Se-
bastian Cabot, in his Table, which the Earl of Bedford hath at Cheynies,-* let the
way be void of all difficulties, yet, &c. &c."

And, again, Willes, speaking in his own. person, says (3
Hakluyt, p. 26): —

" For that Caboto was not only a skilful seaman but a long traveller, and such a
one as entered personally that straight, sent by King Henry VII. to make this afore-
said discovery as in his own Discourse of Navigation you may read in his Card, drawn
with his own hand, that the mouth of the North Western Straight lieth near the 318
meridian, between 61 and 64 degrees in the elevation, continuing the same breadth
about ten degrees West, where it openeth southerly more and more."

It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that, until a
comparatively recent period, longitude was measured, univer-
sally from Ferro, once supposed to be the most western part
of the World; and that the computation of degrees from that
point proceeded first over the old World, and thus made its
journey of 360 degrees. Adding together, then, the 42 de-
grees which complete the circuit, and the distance between
Ferro and Greenwich, we have within a few minutes, 60°
west from Greenwich as the longitude named; and if we note

* On application in the proper quarter, it has been ascertained that this Docu-
ment cannot, after diligent search, be found.

on a modern map, where that degree of longitude crosses
Labrador, it will be seen how little allowance is necessary for
the "about 318," which Willes, somewhat vaguely, states as
the commencement of the strait. He probably judged by
the eye of that fact, and of the distance at which the strait
began to "open southerly.7'

A pause was, designedly, made in the midst of Willes's
statement in order to separate what refers to Cabot's Map
from his own speculations. The paragraph quoted concludes
thus :-r-

" Where it openeth southerly more and more until it come
under the tropic of Cancer, and so runneth into Mar del Sur, at
the least 18 degrees more in breadth there, than it was where
it first began; otherwise, I could as well imagine this passage
to be more unlikely than the voyage to Moscovia, and more
impossible than it, for the far situation and continuance
thereof in the frosty clime."

That Cabot represented the strait as continuing in the de-
gree mentioned, or as presenting a southern route, is incredi-
ble, because we know that he was finally arrested at 67 de-
grees and-a-half whilst struggling onward. But the object
of Willes was to meet the objection of those who contended
that even supposing a passage could be found so far to the
North yet the perils of the navigation must render it useless
for the purposes of commerce. He represents them as say-
ing (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 25):

"If any such passage be, it lieth subject unto ice and snow for the most part of
the year. Before the sun hath warmed the air and dissolved the ice each one well
knoweth that there can be no sailing. The ice once broken, through the con-
tinual abode the sun maketh a certain season in those parts, how shall it be possi-
ble for so weak a vessel, as a ship is, to hold out amid whole islands, as it were,
of ice continually beating on each side, and at the mouth of that gulf issuing
down furiously from the North, &c."

Willes, therefore, artfully concedes, as has been seen, the
force of the objection, but attempts to elude it by adverting
to the form of the Bay, and arguing that the break to the
South held out the prospect of a safer route. In this effort
he derived important assistance from the maps of Gemma

Frisius and Tramezine, both of which are yet extant, and
really do make the strait expand to the South, and fall into
the Pacific precisely in the manner he describes. He, there-
fore, couples the delineation of Cabot, from actual observa-
tion, with the conjectures of others, and draws certain infer-
ences, " if the Gardes of Cabota and Gemmi Frisius, and that
which Tramezine imprinted be true" (3 Hakluyt, p. 28).
There is no difficulty, as has been said, in making the separa-
tion, when we advert to the fact that Cabot was actually at
67 degrees and-a-half, when the alarm of his associates com-
pelled him to turn back.

The representation of Cabot may, in point of accuracy, be
advantageously contrasted with that of more recent maps.
Thus, on the one found in Purchas (vol. iii. p. 852), the
318th degree of longitude passes through nearly the middle
of the "Fretum Hudson." In the "Voyages from Asia to
America, for completing the discoveries of the North- West
Coast of America," published at London, in 1764, with a
translation of S. Muller's Tract, as to the Russian discoveries,
there is a map by " Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Ma-
jesty," taken from that published by the Royal Academy of
Sciences at St Petersburg. The old mode of computation
is observed, and the 318th degree of longitude does not touch
Labrador, but passes to the eastward of it.

Such is the evidence which exists to establish the fact ass-
umed as the title of this chapter. There remains one obvi-
ous and striking consideration. Had Cabot been disposed to
fabricate a tale to excite the wonder of his contemporaries,
not only were the means of detection abundant, but he as-
suredly, would not have limited himself to 67 degrees and-
a-half. To a people familiar with the navigation to Iceland,
Norway, &c., there was nothing marvellous in his represen-
tation ; nay, Zeigler, as we have seen, will not believe that
great mountains of ice could have been encountered in that
latitude. It is only by knowing the navigation of the Strait,

and Bay, and northern channel, that we can appreciate the
difficulties he had to overcome, and the dauntless intrepidity
that found a new impulse in perils before which his terrified
companions gave way.

CHAP. IV.

FIRST WORK OF HAKLUYT MAPS AND DISCOURSES LEFT BY SEBASTIAN

CABOT AT HIS DEATH READY FOR PUBLICATION.

AN early work of Hakluyt, to which frequent reference
will be made, contains a great deal of curious information,
not to be found elsewhere, and is exceedingly important as a
check on his subsequent volumes. It furnishes, moreover,
honourable evidence of the zeal with which he sought to ad-
vance, on every occasion, the interests of navigation and dis-
covery. The following is its title : —

" Divers voyages touching the discoverie of America and
the Islands adjacent unto the same, made first of all by an
Englishman, and afterwards by the Frenchmen and Britons :
and certain notes of advertisements, for observations necessary
for such as shall hereafter make the like attempt, with two
mappes annexed hereunto, for the plainer understanding of
the whole matter. Imprinted at London, for Thomas Wood-
cock, dwelling in Paule's Churchyard, at the signe of the
Black Beare, 1582."

A reference will be found to it in the margin of p. 174.
vol. iii. of Hakluyt's larger work. Dr Didbin, in his Library
Companion (2d ed. p. 392), says, "I know of no other copy
than that in the collection of my neighbour, Henry Jadis,
Esq. , who would brave all intervening perils between Indus
and the Pole, to possess himself of any rarity connected with
Hakluyt."* There is a copy in the Library of the British

* It may be inferred that we are not quite such enthusiasts as the gentleman
referred to; those who are will find amongst the Harleian MSS. (No. 288, Art. Ill)
a very curious autograph letter from Hakluyt, dated Paris, July 1588, relative to
an overture from France.

Museum, arranged, however, in the Catalogue, not to the
title, Hakluyt, but "America." It is dedicated to "The
Right Worshipful, and most vertuous Gentleman, Master
Philip Sydney, Esq." Zouch, in his Life of Sir Philip Syd-
ney (p. 317), thus refers to it: " Every reader conversant in
the annals of our naval transactions, will cheerfully acknow-
ledge the merit of Richard Hakluyt," &c. " His incompa-
rable industry was remunerated with every possible encour-
agement, by Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Philip Sydney.
To the latter, as a most generous promoter of all ingenious
and useful knowledge, he inscribed his first collection of voy-
ages and discoveries, printed in 1582."

In a passage to the dedication he adverts to the English
title to America: —

" I have here, right worshipful, in this hastie work, first
put downe the Title which we have to that part of America,
which is from Florida to 67 degrees northward, by the letters
patent, granted to John Cabote and his three sons, Lewis, Se-
bastian, and Santius, with Sebastian's own certificate to Bap-
tista Ramusio, of his discovery of America."

One Tract preserved in this volume, and which does not
appear in the work as afterwards enlarged, is of great curio-
sity. It is a translation, published originally in 1563, of the
detailed report made to Admiral Coligny by Ribault, who
commanded the French expedition in 1562, to Florida, with
a view to a settlement, and who actually planted in that year
a French colony in what is now the state of South Carolina.
Subsequently to the publication of this volume, Hakluyt was
instrumental in causing to be published at Paris, in 1587, the
volume of Basanier containing the Narrative of Laudonniere,
who was second in command under Ribault. A comprehen-
sive view is there given of all the voyages, and Hakluyt,
therefore, in his larger work, omits the interesting report
made by the chief of the expedition.

It is not a little remarkable, in reference to an incident so
memorable, that the work of Ribault seems to be quite un-
known in France. The "Biographic Uriiverselle" (title Ri-

bault) has a long article which manifests an entire ignorance
of its existence, and is, indeed, written in a very careless
manner. Thus, it is stated, that Ribault, after reaching Flo-
rida, proceeded northward along the coast, and landed at the
mouth of a river wliere he placed a Pillar with the Arms of
France, and that to the next river he gave the name of May.
This is not only contrary to Ribault's account, but to that of
Laudonniere (Basanier's Paris ed. of 1587, fol. 8. also, 3
Hakluyt, p. 308), and to the theory of the Biographic Uni-
verselle itself which identifies the May with the present St
John. The mistake throws into confusion what in the origi-
nal cannot be mistaken. It was on the river where he planted
the Pillar that the name of May was conferred. Ribault, in
this Tract, referring to the several navigators who had visited
America, speaks of the " very famous" Sebastian Cabot, "an
excellent pilot, sent thither by King Henry VII., in the year
1498." Hakluyt speaks of it as " translated by one Thomas
Hackit," and remarks, " The Treatise of John Ribault is a
thing that hath been already printed, but not novve to be had
unless I had caused it to be -printed againe." The work,
however, as originally published by Hackit, in London, in
1563, is in the Library of the British Museum (title in Cata-
logue, Ribault). It is more excusable in the French Biogra-
pher of Ribault, not to know of an important Memoir pre-
pared by him, and which is found in the Lansdowne Manu-
scripts, on the policy of preserving peace with England, and
of delivering up to her certain ports of France. It was,
doubtless, prepared under the eye of Coligny, and transmit-
ted by him to show the views of his party; and has an inti-
mate connexion with the history of France at that period.

Passing, however, at present, from various items of this
curious volume, to which occasion will be taken hereafter to
refer, there is to be noticed a passage of the deepest interest
in reference to the subject of this memoir. Great surprise
has been expressed that Cabot should have left no account of
his voyages, as this circumstance has even been urged against
him as a matter of reproach. " Sebastian, with all his know-

ledge, and in the course of a long life, never committed to
writing any narrative of the voyage to North America. The
curious on the Continent, however, drew from him in conver-
sation various particulars which gave a general idea," &c.
(Historical account of North America, &c., by Hugh Mur-
ray, Esq., vol. i. p. 66.) Let us see how far the reproach
on Cabot may be retorted on his country. In this work of
1582, after citing the patent granted by Henry VII. and the
testimony of Ramusio, Hakluyt says : —

" This much concerning Sebastian Cabote's discoverie may suffice for a present
taste, but shortly, God willing-, shall come out in print ALL HIS OWN MAPPES
and DISCOURSES drawne and written by himselfe, which are in the custodie of
the worshipful Master William "\Vorthington, one of her Majesty's Pensioners,
who (because SO WORTHIE MONUMENTS should not be buried in perpetual
oblivion) is very willing- to suffer them to be overseene, and published in as good
order as may be to the encouragement and benefite of our countrymen."

It may be sufficient here to say of William Worthington,
that he is joined with Sebastian Cabot? in the pension given
by Philip and Mary, on the 29 May 1557 (Rymer, vol. xv.
p. 466). The probable fate of the Maps and Discourses will
be considered on reaching the painful part of Cabot's personal
history which belongs to this association.

CHAP. V.

COMPARATIVE AGENCY OF JOHN AND SEBASTIAN CABOT.

IT has been seen, that by all the early writers, heretofore
cited, who speak of the discoveries effected under the aus-
pices of Henry VII., Sebastian Cabot is exclusively named.
An inclination has, in consequence, sprung up at a more
remote period to dwell on the circumstances which seem to
indicate that injustice had been done to the^iHlfier ; and the
alleged testimony of Robert Fabyan, the venerable annalist,
is particularly relied on.

The feeling which prompts this effort to vindicate the pre-
tensions of the father is entitled to respect; and certainly there
can exist, at this late day, no other wish on the subject than to
reach the truth. It is proposed, therefore, to look with this
spirit into the various items of evidence which are supposed
to establish the prevailing personal agency of John Cabot.
They may be ranked thus :

1 . The alleged statement of Robert Fabyan.

2. The language of more recent writers as to the character
of the father.

3. The appearance of his name on the map cut by Clement
Adams, and also in the patents.

As to the first, the authority usually referred to is found
in Hakluyt (vol. 3. p. 9) —

"A note of Sebastian Cabot's first discoverie of part of the Indies taken out
of the latter part of Robert Fabian's Chronicle, not hitherto printed, which is in
the custodie of M. John Stow, a diligent preserver of antiquities."

" In the 13 yeere of K. Henry the 7 (by means of one John Cabot, a Venetian,
which made himselfe very expert and cunning in knowledge of the circuit of the
world, and islands of the same, as by a sea card and other demonstrations rea-
sonable he shewed), the king caused to man and victuall a ship at Bristow to search

for an island, which he said he knew well was rich, and replenished with great
commodities: which shippe thus manned and victualled at the King's costs, divers
marchants of London ventured in her small stocks, being in her, as chief patron,
the said Venetian. And in the company of the said ship sailed, also, out of Bris-
tow, three or foure small ships, fraught with sleight and grosse marchandizes, as
course cloth, caps, laces, points, and other trifles, and so departed from Bristow in
the beginning of May, of whom in this Maior's time returned no tidings."

There is added, by Hakluyt, a note of three savages
brought from the newly-discovered region, " mentioned by
the foresaid, Robert Fabian."

It may be remarked, in the first place, that the history of
this " latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle," well de-
serves the attention of antiquaries. Both Stow, in his Annals,
subsequently published, and after him, Speed (p. 744), and
Purchas (voLlfep. 808), speak of the exhibition, in 1502, of
savages brought from the Newfoundland, and cite Fabyan, as
authority for what is not to be found in his work as we now
have it.* Assuming, however, as we may safely do, that
Stow was possessed of a manuscript which he had reason to
believe the work of a contemporary, the question remains as
to its^precise language. The passage in Hakluyt would evi-
dently appear to be not an exact transcript from such a work.
The expression, " of whom in this Mayor's time returned no
tidings," is not in the manner of a Chronicler making a note
of incidents as they occurred, but is very natural in a person
looking over the materials in his possession for information on
a particular point, and reporting to another the result of that
examination. It is probable, therefore, that Hakluyt had
asked Stow what light he could throw on the expeditions in
the time of Henry VII., and that we have here the answer
given to the inquiry. From what has already been seen, it
may be conceived that Hakluyt would not hesitate to run his
pen through whatever struck him as irreconcilable with the
leading facts in his possession. The wealthy Prebendary
would approach with no great reverence the labours of poor
Stow, who having abandoned his business as a tailor, for the

* See Appendix (A).

unrequited labours of an antiquary, was reduced to such dis-
tress, that, through the royal munificence, a special license
was granted to him to beg at the church doors. If, there-
fore, Hakluyt found the son's name introduced, he would not
hesitate to make it give way to what he deemed the better
evidence supplied by the record. Fortunately, however, we
are not left to mere conjecture. In 1605 appeared S tow's
own " Annals." The simplicity and good faith of this writer
are so well known, as well as his intense reverence for what-
ever bore the stamp of antiquity, that we have no fear of his
having committed what in his eyes would have been sacrilege,
by changing one syllable of the original. Let it be remem-
bered, then, that Hakluyt relies exclusively on what he ob-
tained from Stow ; and in reading the following passage from
the Annals, we find what, doubtless, passed into Hakluyt's
hands before it was subjected to his perilous correction. It
occurs at p. 804 of the edition of 1605, and at p. 483 of that
of 1631 . « ' This year one Sebastian Gaboto, a Genoa7 s sonne
borne in Bristol, professing himself to be expert in the know-
ledge of the circuit of the world and islands of the same, as
by his charts and other reasonable demonstrations he shewed,
caused the king to man and victual a ship," &c. The rest cor-
responds with the passage in Hakluyt, but there is not added,
" of whom in this Mayor's time," &c.; thus confirming the
conjecture as to the meaning of those words in the memoran-
dum given to Hakluyt. Under the year 1502 we find the
passage as to the exhibition of the savages, beginning, " This
year were brought unto the king three men taken in the
Newfoundland by Sebastian Gaboto) before named, in anno
1498." As authority for this last fact, he cites Robert Fa-
byan. Thus we have the best evidence that the contemporary
writer, whoever he may have been, made not the slightest
allusion to the father. Bacon, Speed, Thuanus, &c., all fur-
nish the same statement.

The very phrase, " a Genoa's son," employed to designate
Sebastian Cabot, may be considered as the not unnatural mis-

take of a contemporary, referring as it does to the country
of Columbus, with whose fame all Europe was ringing from
side to side.

It happens that we can trace the progress of Hakluyt7 s
perversion. The communication from Stow first appears -in
the " Divers Voyages to America," &c. published in 1582.
When given at that early period, as derived from " Mr John
Stow, citizen," Hakluyt merely changes the words " a Genoa's
son," into " a Venetian," without giving any name. He had
not then heard of the patent of February 3, 1498, naming
John Cabot exclusively, for the only document he quotes is
the original patent of March 1496, in which both father and
son are mentioned, and which describes the father as a Vene-
tian. He struck out, therefore, only what he then knew to
be incorrect. Subsequently, he received information of the
second patent in favour of John Cabot, and in his enlarged
work he not only furnishes a reference to that patent, but
makes a further alteration of what he had received from Stow.
Instead of " a Venetian," as in 1582, when he had the memo-
randum first before him, it becomes « one John Cabot, a Ve-
netian,77 thus effecting, at the two stages of alteration, a com-
plete change of what he had received, and yet for the state-
ment as thus finally made, Fabian and Stow continue to be
cited !

Hakluyt has, incautiously, suffered to lie about the evidence
of his guilty deed, which should have been carefully buried.
Thus there is retained the original title of the passage — " A
note of Sebastian Cabot's first discovery of part of the Indies,
taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan7s Chronicle, not
hitherto printed, which is in the custody of Mr John Stow, a
diligent preserver of Antiquities.77 Now it is highly proba-
ble that all this, with the exception of the compliment, was
the explanatory memorandum at the head of Stow's commu-
nication. It is incredible that Hakluyt himself should prefix
it to a passage which does not contain the slightest allusion to
Sebastian Cabot. Thus we see that in indicating to the

•

printer the alterations in the new edition, the pen of Hakluyt,
busied with amendment at the critical point, has spared, inad-
vertently, what betrays him by its incongruity with that which
remains, and, like the titles of many acts of parliament, serves
to show the successful struggle for amendment after the origi-
nal draught.

As to the second paragraph, about the exhibition of the
three savages, Hakluyt's conduct ;has been equally unjusti-
fiable, but an exposure of it belongs to a different part of the
subject.

Thus it is established by the testimony of the contempo-
rary Annalist, that it was on a young man — the son of the rich
merchant from Italy — that the public eye was turned in refer-
ence to the projected schemes of discovery.

The explanation that has been given furnishes at the same
time an answer to the second ground adverted to in support
of the father's pretensions — the encomiums bestowed on him
by respectable writers. Singular as it may appear, they
have all arisen out of the misconception as to Fabyan's mean-
ing. Beyond this supposed allusion, there is not the slight-
ent evidence that the father was a seaman, or had the least
claim to nautical skill or the kindred sciences. We hear only
of his going " to dwell in England to follow the trade of mer-
chandise." Yet out of Hakluyt's perversion, mark how each
successive writer has delighted to draw the materials for eu-
logy on this old gentleman.

" Thus it appears, from the best authority that can be de-
sired, that of a contemporary writer, this discovery was made
by Sir John Cabot, the father of Sebastian." (Campbell's
Lives of The Admirals.) " Sir John Cabot was the original
discoverer, of which honour he ought not to be despoiled,
even by his son." (Ib.) The same language is found in
JVPPherson's Annals of Commerce (vol. ii. p. 13. note), and
in Chalmers Political Annals of The Colonies (p. 8, 9),
though it happens, singularly enough, that in correcting the
supposed error, this last writer not only mistakes the name of

the annalist (making him to be John Fabyan), but cites a
work which does not contain the slightest allusion to these
enterprises.

" He was, it seems, a man perfectly skilled in all the sci-
ences requisite to form an accomplished seaman or a general
trader!" (Campbell's Lives of the Admirals.)

" The father was a man of science, and had paid particular
.attention to the doctrine of the spheres. His studies, &c.
He seems to have applied to Henry VII., who accordingly
empowered him to sail," &c. (vol. xviii. Kerr's Voyages, p.
353. Essay by W. Stevenson, Esq.).

" John Caboto, a citizen of Venice, a skilful Pilot and in-
trepid Navigator." (Barrow, p. 32.)

" Henry VII., disappointed in his hopes of forming an en-
gagement with Columbus, gladly extended his protection to
the Venetian, John Gavotta or Cabot, whose reputation as a
skilful pilot was little inferior to that of the celebrated Geno-
ese." (Dr Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Maritime and In-
land Discovery, vol. ii. p. 136.)

We come now to the assertion, that on the map " hung up
in the Queen's Privy Gallery," the discoveries indicated, are
referred to the joint agency of the father and son. And here,
the first consideration is, of course, as to the evidence that
such a representation was made.

The map itself has disappeared, and we approach the state-
ment of Hakluyt with a conviction that he would not hesitate,
for a moment, to interpolate the name of John Cabot, if he
thought that, thereby, was secured a better correspondence
with the language of the original patent. No additional con-
fidence is derived from Purchas, who copies all Hakluyt's
perversions, and even repeats the citation of Fabyan, as found
in Hakluyt's last work, though Stow's Annals had interme-
diately appeared,-and the discrepance between Hakluyt's first
and last work ought to have put him on his guard.

Sir Humphrey Gilbert makes not the slightest allusion to
the father.

" Furthermore, Sebastian Caboto, by his personal expe-
rience and travel, hath set forth and described this passage in
his charts, which are yet to be seen in the Queen Majesty's
Privy Gallery at Whitehall, who was sent to make this dis-
covery by king Henry VII."

It would certainly require less audacity to associate here
the name of the father, as it is found in the patent, than to
do that of which Hakluyt has already been convicted. Ri-
chard Willes, who, in the treatise already cited, and which is
given in Hakluyt, addresses Lady Warwick "from the
court," and speaks familiarly of Sebastian Cabot's map, makes
no allusion to the father.

There is a treatise on " Western planting" copied into
Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 165), as " written by Sir George Peck-
ham, Knt., the chief adventurer and furtherer of Sir Hum-
phrey Gilbert's voyage ;" in which, speaking of the English
title to America, he says (p. 173), "In the time of the Queen's
grandfather of worthy memory, king Henry VII., Letters
Patent were, by his Majesty, granted to John Cabota, an
Italian, to Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius, his three sons, to
discover remote, barbarous and heathen countries ; which dis-
covery was afterwards executed to the use of the Crown of
England, in the said king's time, by Sebastian and Sancius,
his sons, who were born here in England." Thus, with a
full knowledge of the introduction of the name of the father
and the eldest brother into the Patent, Sir George seems to
negative the idea that they took any part in the execution of
the enterprise. Yet it must be admitted that this piece of
evidence, strong as it seems, is weakened by noticing the
statements coupled with it. He continues (p. 173), "In
true testimony whereof, there is a fair haven in Newfound-
land, knowen and called unto this day by the name of Sancius
Haven, which proveth that they first discovered upon that
coast, from the height of 63 unto the cape of Florida, as ap-
peareth in the Decades." The reference here is to the De-
cades of Peter Martyr, which certainly do not bear out the
conclusion. The writer probably determined the question of

latitude by observing that Cabot, according to Willes, fixed
the mouth of the Strait between 61° and 64°; and as to the
Haven, the allusion is probably to Placentia Bay, or as it is
written on the old maps of Newfoundland, Plasancius, a title
which, as found in the mouths of seamen, might readily sug-
gest to the ear the name of the youngest patentee.

There is one account that mentions John Cabot, but it was
written subsequently to the publication, by Hakluyt, in 1582,
of the patent containing the father's name, which would, of
itself, suggest the association. It is the narrative, by Haies,
of the Expedition of 1583 (see Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 144),
which we cite on the possibility that it may do no more than
an act of justice, and because it serves to show how uniformly
the claims of England in America have been rested on the
discoveries in the time of Henry VII.

" The first discovery of these coasts (never heard of before), was well begun
by John Cabot the father, and Sebastian his son, an Englishman born, &c. all
which they brought and annexed unto the crown of England." "For not long
after that Christopher Columbus had discovered the Islands and Continent of the
West Indies for Spain, John and Sebastian Cabot made discovery also of the rest
from Florida Northwards, to the behoof of England." " The French did but re-
view that before discovered by the English Nation, usurping upon our right."
" Then seeing the English nation only hath right unto these countries of America,
from the Cape of Florida Northward, by the privilege of first discovery, unto which
Cabot was authorised by regal authority, and set forth by the expense of our late
famous King Henry VII. , which right, also, seemeth strongly defended on our be-
half by the bountiful hand of Almighty God, notwithstanding the enterprises of
other nations, it may greatly encourage us upon so just ground as is our right," &c.

The fact that the father is named in the Patent does not
furnish conclusive evidence that he embarked in either of the
expeditions. The original grant conveys to him and his three
sons, "and to the heirs of them and their Deputies," full power
to proceed in search of regions before unknown, and the exclu-
sive privilege of trading. Now it has never been supposed
that all the sons engaged in the voyage, and yet the presump-
tion is just as strong with regard to each of them as to the
father, and even more so if we look to the appropriate sea-
son of life for perilous adventure. The truth seems to be
this: — as it is probable that all the means of the family were

embarked in this enterprise, it was no unnatural precaution
that the patent should be coextensive in its provisions. It
created them a trading corporation with certain privileges,
and it might as well be contended, for a similar reason, that
the Marquis of Winchester, the Earl of Arundel, and the
other patentees of the Muscovy Company (1 Hakluyt, p. 268)
actually sailed in the north-eastern voyages. The second
patent is to the father alone. If we seek a reason for this de-
parture from the original arrangement, it may be conjectured
that some of the sons chose to give a different direction to a
parental advance and their personal exertions, and that the
head of the family thought fit to retain, subject to his own
discretionary disposal, the proposed investment of his remain-
ing capital. It is said* that one of the sons settled at Ve-
nice, and the other at Genoa. The recital of the discovery
by tlte Father would, of course, be stated, under the circum-
stances, as the consideration of the second patent in his
favour.

Another reason for the introduction of the father's name,
concurrently at first with his son's, and afterwards exclu-
sively, may perhaps be found in the very character of the
King, whose own pecuniary interests were involved in the
result. He might be anxious thus to secure the responsibility
of the wealthy Venetian for the faithful execution of the terms
of the patent, and finally think it better to have him solely
named, rather than commit powers, on their face assignable,
to young men who had no stake in the country, and who were
not likely to make it even a fixed place of residence.

On the whole, there may at least be a doubt whether the
father really accompanied the expedition. Unquestionably,
the great argument derived from the pretended language of
a contemporary annalist is not only withdrawn, but thrown
into the opposite scale.

Supposing, however, John Cabot to have been on board,

* Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, vol. i. p. 510, on the authority of MS. re-
marks on Hakluyt.

we must, in inquiring what were his functions, carefully put
aside the thousand absurdities which have had their origin in
misconception as to the person intended by Fabyan; and re-
member, that we have not a tittle of evidence as to his cha-
racter or past pursuits, except, as has been remarked, that he
came to London " to follow the trade of merchandise." All
that is said about his knowledge of the sphere — his perfect
acquaintance with the sciences, &c., is merely an amplifica-
tion of the remarks of Fabyan, as to Sebastian Cabot. If,
then, he went at all, it was in all probability merely for the
purpose of turning to account his mercantile skill and saga-
city in the projected traffic which formed one of the objects
of the expedition. There is nothing to control, in the slight-
est degree, the idea which presses on us from so many quar-
ters, that the project had .its origin with the son, and that its
great object was to verify his simple, but bold proposition,
that by pushing to the north a shorter route might be opened
to the treasures of Cataya.

If the youth of Sebastian Cabot be objected to, as render-
ing his employment by Henry improbable, we must remem-
ber that the project was suggested to the English monarch at
a period peculiarly auspicious to its reception. He had just
missed the opportunity of employing Columbus, and with it
the treasures of the New World. Instead of cold and cheer-
less distrust, there was a reaction in the public mind, with a
sanguine flow of confidence towards novel speculations and
daring enterprises. When, therefore, one-fifth of the clear
gain was secured to the king, by the engagement of the wealthy
Venetian, Henry yielded a ready ear to the bold theory and
sanguine promises of the accomplished and enthusiastic young
navigator.

CHAP. VI.

FIRST POINT SEEN BY CABOT — 'NOT NEWFOUNDLAND.

THE part of America first seen and named by Cabot, is gene-
rally considered to have been the present Newfoundland.
This, however, will be far from clear if we look closely into
the subject.

The evidence usually referred to as establishing the fact
consists of an " extract taken out of the map of Sebastian
Cabot, cut by Clement Adams," quoted by Hakluyt and Pur-
chas.

This would seem to have been a broad sheet, on which an
attempt was made to exhibit the substance of Cabot's state-
ment as to the country he had discovered. From the stress
laid by Hakluyt and Purchas upon the Extract, hung up in
the privy gallery at Whitehall,* we may infer that they had
never seen the original map. It would seem to have been
executed after Cabot's death, and without any communication
with him, for it offers conjectures as to his reasons for giving
names to particular places which probably would not have
been hazarded with the means so readily at hand, during his
life, of attaining certainty on such points. The explanation
was in Latin, and is thus given by Hakluyt, with a translation
(vol. iii. p. 6) —

Anno Domini 1497, Joannes Cabotus Venetus, et Sebastianus illius filius earn
terrain fecerunt perviam, quam nullus prius adire ausus fuit, die 24 Junii, circiter
horam quintam bene mane. Hanc autem appellavit Terram primum visam,
credo quod ex man in earn partem primum oculo3 injecerat. Namque ex ad-
verso sita est insula, earn appellavit insulam Divi Joannis, hac opinor ratione,

* The disappearance of this curious document may probably be referred, either
to the sales which took place after the death of Charles I. , or to the fire in the
reign of William III.

quod aperta fuit eo qui die est sacer Diuo Joanni Baptists: Hujus incolie pelles
animalium exuviasque ferarum pro indumentis habent, casque tanti faciunt, quanti
nos vestes preciosissimas. Cum bellum gerunt, utuntur arcu, sagittas, hastis,
spiculis, clavis ligneis et fundis. Tellus sterilis est, neque ullos fructus aflfert,
ex quo fit, ut ursus albo colore, et cervis inusitatx apud nos magnitudinis
referta sit: piscibus abundat, iisque sane magnis, quales sunt lupi marini et quos
salmones vulgus appellat; soleze autem reperiuntur tarn longae, ut ulna mensuram
excedant. Imprimis autem magna est copia corum piscium, quos vulgari sermone
vocant Bacallaos. Gignuntur in ea insula accipitres ita nigri, ut corvorum simi-
litudinem mirum in modum exprimant, perdices autem et aquilse sunt nigri
coloris."

The same in English.

" In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and his sonne Sebas-
tian (with an English fleet set out from Bristoll), discovered that land which no
man before that time had attempted, on the 24th of June, about five of the clocke
early in the morning. This land he called Prima vista, that is to say, first scene;
because, as I suppose, it was that part whereof they had the first sight from sea.
That island which lieth out before the land he called the Island of St John upon this
occasion, as I thinke, because it was discovered upon the day of John the Baptist,
The inhabitants of this island use to weare beasts' skinnes, and have them in as
great estimation as we have our finest garments. In their warres they use bowes,
arrowes, pikes, darts, woodden clubs, and slings. The soil is barren in some
places, and yeeldeth little fruit, but it is full of white bears, and stagges far greater
than ours. It yeeldeth plenty of fish, and those very great as scales, and those
which we commonly call salmons: there are soles, also, above a yard in length,
but especially there is great abundance of that kind of fish which the savages
call baccalaos. In the same island also there breed hauks, but they are so black
that they are very like to ravens, as also their partridges and eagles, which are
in like sort blacke."

As usual, it is necessary here, in the first place, to notice
the passages in which Hakluyt has acted unfaithfully to the
text. He was under an impression that Cabot first visited
Newfoundland, and in this same volume that region is spoken
of in very flattering terms, and its colonization earnestly re-
commended. At p. 153, we hear of Newfoundland — « ' There
is nothing which our East and Northerly countries of Europe
do yield, but the like also may be made in them as plentifully
by time and industry, namely, rosin, flax, hemp, corn, and
many more, all which the countries will afford, and the soil is
apt to yield.77 " The soil along the coast is not deep of earth,
bringing forth abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for
cattle. Roses, passing sweet,77 &c. In the letter of Parme-
nius from Newfoundland (p. 162), the passage beginning

"But what shall I say, my good Hakluyt," &c., conveys a
similar representation.

Mark now the liberties taken by Hakluyt. Cabot, in the
Extract, is made to say, that the country called " Terra pri-
mum visa" was absolutely sterile — c< tellus sterilis est." This
Hakluyt renders " the soil is barren in some places;'17 and
when Cabot says, "neque ullos fructus affert," the translator
has it, " and yieldeth little fruit ;" thus perverting, without
hesitation, the original, which is yet audaciously placed be-
neath our eyes !

While on the subject of these efforts to obscure a document
so little satisfactory in itself, reference "may be made to ano-
ther, of a date subsequent to the time of Hakluyt, but which
has had an extensive influence on modern accounts. The
country discovered is designated in the Latin, as " Terra pri-
mum visa," and distinguished from the "Insufa," or Island
of St John, standing opposite to it. Hakluyt preserves the
distinction, but in the well known book of Captain Luke Foxe,
who professes to transfer to his pages the several testimonials
on the subject of Cabot's discoveries so as to present them to
his readers in a cheap form, the passage is thus put (p. 15) —

" In the year of grace 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and
Sebastian his son, with an English fleet from Bristol, discov-
ered that Island, which before that time no man," &c. ' With
a view to economy of space, Foxe omits to copy Hakluyt's
statement, that the " Extract" spoken of was hung up " in
the Queen's Privy Gallery," and from this omission a hasty
reader is led to infer that he speaks of a map in his own
possession. Here was a fine trap for those who came after
him ; and the following passage from M'Pherson's Annals of
Commerce (vol. ii. p. 13, note), may show how successful it
proved. " Foxe quotes the following inscription engraven
near Newfoundland, in a map, published by Sebastian, the
son of John Cabot — ( A.D. 1497, John Cabot, a Venetian, and
Sebastian, his son, with an English fleet, set sail from Bristol,
discovered that Island, which before that time no man had

attempted.' " Thus we have — Foxe in possession of Ca-
bot's map — on that map, "Newfoundland" marked — and,
on the map, published by Sebastian Cabot, an inscription
near Newfoundland, to the purport mentioned. It will
be asked, with surprise, whether Foxe, culpable as he is,
affords no greater countenance to M'Pherson. Positively
not. So far from pretending to have any original documents,
he says expressly, in his address to the reader, " It will be
objected that many of these abstracts are taken out of other
books, and that those are the voyages of other men. I an-
swer, it is true that most of them are, for what are all those
of Mr Hakluyt and Mr Purchas, but the collections and pre-
servations of other mens' labours," &c. " I have abstracted
those works of my predecessors, yet I have interlaced my own
experience !" &c. Chalmers adopts, like M'Pherson, the
perversion of Foxe.

We are bound, therefore, to look closely to the original
language of this document, which is itself, unfortunately, a
mere abstract ; and in endeavouring to ascertain the country
intended, we naturally pause on the very expressions which
have been perverted, in order to accommodate them to the
modern hypothesis. The unqualified language as to the ster-
ility of the region, is certainly more applicable to Labrador
than Newfoundland, and the distinction taken between the
<l Terra" and the " Insula," is calculated to strengthen the
presumption that the former was intended.

As to the animals of this " Terra primum visa," we are
told, it is "full of white bears, and deer larger than ours" —
(" ursis albo colors et cervis inusitatse apud nos magnitudinis
referta"}. Now the haunts of the white bear are on the
coast of Labrador, and they do not come so far South as New-
foundland in numbers to warrant such a description. The
account, too, given by Peter Martyr, of the manner in which
these bears catch the fish, which is their favourite food, strik-
ingly recalls the lively description of similar scenes by Mr
Cartwright, in his "Journal, during a residence of nearly

sixteen years on the coast of Labrador." It is remarkable,
that most English writers have been rather reluctant to copy
Cabot's representation on this point, supposing it inapplicable
to Newfoundland, where, though white bears may be occa-
sionally seen, they are not " native here and to the manner
born."

The introduction of an Island, "St John," into the "Ex-
tract," has contributed to mislead, the reader naturally refer-
ring it to the one of that name in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
If we recollect, however, that the Terra primum visa was dis-
covered on the 24th June, and the island on the same day (St
John's day), it will seem improbable that Cabot, on the very
day of discovery, could have penetrated so far. The de-
scription, also, is inapplicable, "quse ex adverse sita est In-
sula" — " that island which lieth out before the land." We
must remark, further, that the present St John was so named
by Carrier, in 1534 (3 Hakluyt, p. 204), he having been
employed from the 10th May, when he reached. Newfound-
land, to 24th June, in making a circuit of the Gulf which he
entered through the strait of Belle Isle. But the most im-
portant, and conclusive piece of testimony, is furnished by
Ortelius, who had the map of Cabot before him, and who
places an island of St John in the latitude of 56° immediately
on the coast of Labrador. This is, doubtless, the one so de-
signated by Cabot.

Thus, without calling to our aid the terms of the second
patent to Cabot, which recites the discovery of a land and
islands on the first voyage, we reach the conclusion, that the
main discovery — the "Terra," as distinguished from the
" Insula" — could not have been the present island of New-
foundland.

There is little difficulty in tracing the history of this epithet.
The whole of the northern region is designated, on the old
maps, as Terra Nova, or New Land, and it has the appellation
of "Newland," in the statute 33 Henry VIII. cap. ii.*

* Ruffhead's Statutes at Iarg;e, vo\\\. p.,304v

Robert Throne of Bristol, in 1527, speaking (Hakluyt, vol.
i. p. 214) of the North-West passage, says, " and if they will
take this course after they be past the Pole towards the West,
they should go in the back of the Newfoundland which of late
was discovered by your Grace's subjects, until they come to
the back side and South Seas of the Indies Occidental;" and
again (p. 219), "if between our Newfoundlands^ or Norway,
or Island, the seas toward the North be navigable, we should
go to these Islands a shorter way by more than 2000 leagues."
On the same page, he mentions the circumstance of his father
having been one of the " discoverers of Newfoundland ;"— - at
p. 216, refers to " the land that we found, which is called
here (in Spain) Terra de Labrador," — and in another part of
the same document speaks of " the Newfound island that we
discovered."

The term, then, was employed, in the first instance, as a
designation of all the English discoveries in the North. That
it should afterwards settle down upon an inconsiderable por-
tion, and come to be familiarly so applied, will not appear
surprising if we recollect, that for almost a century the whole
region was known only as a fishing station, and regarded as
an appendage to the Grand Bank, and that the island was used,
exclusively, in connexion with such pursuits. When long
established, these designations are beyond the reach of con-
siderations of taste or propriety. Thus, the term West Indies,
once covering the whole of America, is now limited to groups
of islands on its eastern side, even after a Continent and the
Pacific Ocean are known to be interposed between them and
that India in a supposed connexion with which the name had
its origin. Parks and Squares may be laid out and named
at will, but the familiar appellation of a thronged place of
business will not yield even to an Act of Parliament; "ex-
pellas furca tamen usque recurret."

CHAP. VII.

CABOT DID NOT CONFER THE NAME « PRIMA VISTA."

THE question as to the name Prima Vista stands apart from
that which has just been dismissed, and is in itself sufficiently
curious.

It is to be remembered, that the description, in Latin, is
not only the highest but the only authority on the subject,
and that Hakluyt had no better materials for conjecture than
we now possess. From this document we gather that John
and Sebastian Cabot,

" Earn ten-am fecerunt perviam quam nullus prius adire ausus fuit die 24 Junii
circiter horam quintam bene mane. Hanc autem appellavit Terram primum visam
credo quod ex mari in earn partem primum oculos injecerat."

A passage thus translated by Hakluyt —

" They discovered that land which no man before that time had attempted, on
the 24th June, about five of the clock, early in the morning. This land he called
Prima Vista, that is to say, first seen, because as I suppose it was that part whereof
they had the first sight from sea."

It is plain, that the original map could have furnished no
clue to the motive for conferring the appellation, because the
suggestion of the person who prepared the " Extract," is
offered, confessedly, as a conjecture. We know only that
there was something on the map which led him to consider
the region as designated, " Terra primum visa." This bare
statement will show how utterly gratuitous is Hakluyt's as-
sumption, that the name given was Prima Vista; for it is
obviously impossible to determine, whether it was in Latin,
Italian, or English.

If the name Prima Vista, or Terra primum Visa, or First
Sight, was conferred, why is nothing said of it in the various
conversations of Sebastian Cabot ? We hear continually of
H

id maps, bi

Baccalaos, and find that name on all the old maps, but not a
word of the other, which yet is represented as the designa-
tion applied to the more important item of discovery — to the
"terra,77 as distinguished from the "insula.'7

The origin of the misconception is suspected to have been
this : The Map of the New World which accompanies the
copy of Hakluyt7s work, in the King7s Library, has the fol-
lowing inscription on the present Labrador, " This land was
discovered by John et Sebastian Cabote, for Kinge Henry
VII., 1497.77 Now, the "Extract77 which we are consider-
ing, says, that John and Sebastian Cabot first discovered the
land "which no man before that time had attempted'7 (" quam
nullus prius adire ausus fuit77). These expressions are, of
course, intended to convey an assertion found on the original
map, of which it professes to give an abstract — an assertion
equivalent, doubtless, to the language quoted from the map
in Hakluyt. How would such an inscription run? Probably,
thus: " Terra primum visa Joanne Caboto et Sebastiano
illius filio die, 24 Junio, 1497, circiter horam quintam berie
mane.77 To us who have just been called on to expose the
absurd mistakes committed by men of the highest reputation
for learning and sagacity, is it incredible, that the artist who
prepared the broad sheet, should have hastily supposed the
initial words to be intended as a designation of the country
discovered—- particularly, when in the Law, we have to seek
at every turn a similar explanation of such titles, as Scire-
facias, Mandamus, Quo Warranto, &c. &c.?

Such a designation might even have got into use without
necessarily involving misconception. There is a tendency,
in the absence of a convenient epithet, to seize, even absurdly,
on the leading words of a description, particularly when
couched in a foreign language. Thus the earliest collection
of voyages to the New World is entitled, " Paesi novamente
retrovati et Novo Mondo da Alberico Vespucio Florentino
intitulato." It is usually quoted as the "Paesi novamente
retrovati,77 and a bookseller, therefore, when asked for " Land

lately discovered," exhibits a thin quarto volume, published
at Vicenza, in 1507. The same is the case with the " Novus
Orbis," the "Fcedera," &c.

Another consideration may be mentioned. The island
which "stands out from the land" was discovered on the 24th
June, and named from that circumstance. One would suppose
this to have been first encountered; and if so, the designation
of " First Sight/7 would hardly be given to a point subse-
quently seen on the same day. Not only were the chances
in its favour from its position, but we cannot presume that
Cabot would have quitted immediately his main discovery,
had that been first recognized, and stood out to sea to examine
a small island, or that he would have dedicated to the Saint
the inferior, and later, discovery of the day.

We repeat, all that is known on the subject is the appear-
ance of the three Latin words in question on the original map.
The rest is mere conjecture ; first, of the artist, as to the
meaning of the words, and then, of Hakluyt, yet wilder, that
" Terra primum visa," must have been a translation of some-
thing in Italian. This solution explains why there is no
reference to any such title in the conversations of Cabot, or in
Ortelius who had the map of that navigator before him.

It is not improbable, that Hakluyt was assisted to his con-
clusion by the prominence given on the early maps of New-
foundland to a name conferred by the Portuguese. Though
he has not put into words the reflection which silently passed
through his mind, it becomes perceptible in others who have
adopted his hypothesis. Thus, for example, we recognise
•its vague influence on Forster (p. 267), who supposes "that
Sebastian Cabot had the first sight of Newfoundland off Cape
Bonavista."

The subject seems, indeed, on every side, the sport of rash
and even puerile conceits. Dr Robertson tells us (Hist, of
America, book ix.), (( after sailing for some weeks due West,
and nearly on the parallel of the port from which he took his
departure, he discovered a large Island, which he called

60 p

Prima Vista, and his sailors, Newfoundland! — and in a few
days, he descried a smaller Isle, to which he gave the name
of St John." Thus is presented, gratuitously, to the im-
agination, a sort of contest about names, between the com-
mander of the expedition and the plain-spoken Englishmen
under his command.

CHAP. VIII.

RICHARD EDEN'S "DECADES OF THE NEW WORLD" — CABOT'S STATEMENT
AS TO THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH.

As reference has already been made, more than once, to the
volume of Eden, and there will be occasion to draw further
on its statements, a few remarks may not be out of place as to
the claims which that rare and curious work presents to credit
and respect. In selecting from the various tributes to its
merits, that of Hakluyt, it is difficult to forbear a somewhat
trite reflection on the fortuitous circumstances which influence
the fate of books, as frequently as they are arbiters of fame
and success in the pursuits of active life. Eden has, in our
view, far stronger claims to consideration as an author, and to
the grateful recollection of his countrymen, than the writer
whose testimony it is proposed to adduce in his favour. He
preceded the other half-a-century, and was, indeed, the first
Englishman who undertook to present, in a collective form,
the astonishing results of that spirit of maritime enterprise
which had been everywhere awakened by the discovery of
America. Nor was he a mere compiler. We are indebted
to him for several original voyages of great curiosity and
value. He is not exempt, as has been seen, from error,
but in point of learning, accuracy, and integrity, is certainly
superior to Hakluyt; yet it is undoubted, that while the name
of the former, like that of Vespucci, has become indelibly
associated with the new World, his predecessor is very little
known. Hakluyt has contrived to transfer, adroitly, to his
volumes, the labours of others, and to give to them an aspect
artfully attractive to those for whom they were intended.
The very title — " Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Dis-

arine, howt

coveries of the English Nation," is alluring, however inap-
propriate to the contents such an exclusive designation may
be found ; and as the size and typographical execution of the
work conspire to render the enterprise a very creditable one,
for the early era of its appearance, the national complacency
has rallied round it as a trophy, with a sort of enthusiasm.
" It redounds," says Oldys, " as much to the glory of the
English nation as any book that ever was published in it ;" and
Dr Dibdin, in the passage of his Library Companion, begin-
ning, "All hail to theej Richard Hakluyt!" employs, in his
way, a still higher strain of panegyric. For a decayed gen-
tleman, then, like Eden, it may not be wise to slight a pat-
ronising glance of recognition from one who stands so pros-
perously in the world's favour.

To establish him, therefore, in the high confidence of most
readers, it will be sufficient to find Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 498)
quoting a passage from " that learned and painefull writer,
Richard Eden ;" and again (vol. i, p. 242) adverting to the
sanction which Eden gives to the account of Chancellor's voy-
age. In the second volume (part ii. p. 10) other passages are
copied from Eden's work. The extract from Peter Martyr
d'Angleria, relative to Sebastian Cabot, given in the third
vftlume (p. 8), is taken, without acknowledgement, from Eden's
Translation (fol. 118, 119). As to the "Discourse" relative
to the same navigator, given in Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 6), he
takes fromvEden (fol. 255), every thing but the erroneous
reference to#he second volume of Ramusio, which is a blun-
der of his own, into which also he has led his copyist Pur-
chas. The voyages to Guinea, found in Eden (fol. 343), are
original, and were drawn up, as he says, " that sum memorie
thereof might remayne to our posteritie, if eyther iniquitie
of tyme, consumynge all things, or ignorance creepynge in by
barbarousnesse, and contempte of knowledge, should hereafter
bury in oblivion so woorthy attemptes." Hakluyt, in making
the transfer to his work (vol. ii. part'ii. p. 9), retains the
introductory expressions, without the slightest acknowledge-

ment, so that our gratitude is directed to him, for having pre-
served an account of these voyages, and for the patriotic zeal
which prompted the undertaking. This is the more calcu-
lated to mislead, as, immediately after these voyages, credit
is given to Eden (p. 10), for a description of Africa; and the
reader, noting a temper apparently so fair and candid, at once
pronounces original whatever is not expressly referred to
others. There is a voyage in Hakluyt (vol. ii. part ii. p. 14),
designated at the head of the page, as that of " M. John
Lok," and the writer says, "my chief intent hath been to
show the course of the same, according to the observation and
ordinary custom of the Mariners ; and as I received it at the
hands of an expert Pilot, beingone of the chief in this voyage."
No one, unacquainted with Eden, would suppose, that this is
copied, verbatim, from his volume (fol. 349). So, in refer-
ence to the unfortunate Portuguese, Pinteado, who sailed
from Portsmouth, when we find in Hakluyt (vol. ii. part ii.
p. 14), "all these aforesaid writings I saw under seal in the
house of my friend, Nicholas Liete, with whom Pinteado left
them," there is no intimation that he is merely repeating the
language of Eden (fol. 349). Again, in Eden (fol. 357), is a
curious account, which Chancellor gave him, of a waterspout,
by which Cabot had been placed in imminent peril. This
also is found in Hakluyt (vol. ii. part ii. p. 21), without ac-
knowledgement, and wears there the appearance of a direct
communication to himself.

Somewhat less than one-half of Eden's work is occupied
with an English version of Peter Martyr. Then come trans-
lations from the most rare and curious accounts of voyages and
travels, Oviedo, Gomara, Ramusio, Pigafeta, Americus Ves-
putius, Munster, Bastaldus, Ziglerus, Cardanus, Paulus Jovius,
Sigismondus Liberus, Vannuccius Biringuczius. Amongst
the articles most worthy of attention, may be mentioned those
on metals and the working of mines in ancient and modern
times (fol. 326 to 342), on the prices of precious stones and
spices, and the trade in spices (fol. 233, 244), on Russia

64 %i

(fol. 249 to 263), and on the manners and customs of the Tar-
tars (fol. 299, &c.).

The circumstances which first inspired the author with a
resolution to prepare the work, are told with much simplicity.
He was a spectator of the public entry into London of Philip
and Mary. As the splendid pageant swept by, in all its
pomp, pride, and circumstance, amidst the tumultuous accla-
mations of the populace, the array of functionaries civil and
military, and the deafening bursts of martial music, he de-
scribes himself as almost lifted out of self-command by the
excitement of the scene, and at the crisis when the royal pair
actually passed near him as ready to break out into some wild
sally of enthusiasm. Restrained, happily, from this piece of
indiscretion, he resolved to set about some work which he
might, in due season, exhibit as the offspring of his teeming
loyalty, and humbly crave for it the royal blessing.*

Of the success of the work, on its appearance, we know
nothing ; but it seems to have struggled with many difficul-
. ties in its progress to the light, and of these not the least
mortifying to Eden must have been the disheartening timidity
of his publishers. It were injustice not to render a passing
tribute of gratitude to the liberality of one of them, " Mas-
ter Toy," without, however, attempting to lift the veil which
a gentle and generous temper has thrown over the infirmity
of his associates. Eden's pecuniary disinterestedness, his

earnest hope that his labours might be useful to others, and

• "Cum in primo vestro ingressu in hanc celeberriman Londini urbem (illus-
trissimi Principes) cernerem quanto omnium applausu. populi concursu, ac civium
frequentia, quanto insuper spectaculorum nitore, nobilium virorum splendore,
equorum multitudine, tubarum clangore, coeterisque magnificis pompis ac tri-
umphis, pro dignitate vestra accept! estis dum omnes quod sui est officii facere
satagebant, ubi in tanta hominum turba vix unus reperitatur qui non aliquid agendo
adventum vestrum gratulabatur, ccepi et ego quoque aliorum exemplo (proprius
pracsertim ad me accedentibus Celsitudinibus vestris) tanto animi ardore ad ali-
quid agendum accendi ne solus in tanta hominum corona otiosus viderer quod vix
me continebam quin in aliquam extemparariam orationem temere erupuissem, nisi et
prssentiz vestrac majestas et mea me obscuritas a tarn audaci facinore deteruissent.
Verum cum postea penitius de hac re mecum cogitassem, &c."

his honest anxiety for merited reputation, serve to heighten
our indignation at the manner in which he has been unde-
servedly supplanted and thrust from the public view.

" The partners at whose charge this booke is prynted, although the coppy,
whereof they have wrought a long space have cost them nought, doo not, neverthe-
less, cease, dayly, to caule uppon me to make an end and proceede no further ;
affirmynge that the booke will bee of so great a pryce, and not every man's mo-
ney ; fearying rather theyr losse and hynderance than carefull to be beneficial to
other, as is now in manner the trade of all men, which ordinarie respecte of pri-
vate commoditie hath at thys time so lyttle moved me, I take God to witness that for
my paynes and travayles taken herein, such as they bee, I may uppon just occasion
thynke myself a looser manye wayes, except such men of good inclination as shall
take pleasure and feele sum commoditie in the knowledge of these thinges shall
tbynke me woorthy theyr goode worde, wherewith I shall repute myselfe and my
travayles so abundantly satisfyed, that I shall repute other men's gains a recom-
pense for my losses" (fol. 303). Again, "and to have sayde thus much of these
vyages it may suffice ; for (as I have sayd before), wheras the partners at whose
charges thys booke is prynted, wolde long since have me proceaded no further, I
had not thought to have wrytten any thynge of these viages [to Guinea], but that
the liberalitie of Master Toy encouraged me to attempt the same, whiche I speake
not to the reproache of other in whom I thynke there lacked no good wyll, but
that they thought the booke would be too chargeable" (fol. 360).

Compare the modest and ingenuous language of this excel-
lent personage with that of the well-fed and boastful Hakluyt,
who, in the dedication of his translation of Galvano to Sir
Robert Cecil, says, "And for ought I can see, there had no
great matter yet come to light if Myselfe had not undertaken
that heavie burden, being never therein entertained to any
• purpose, unflW I had recourse unto yourself, of whose spe-
cial favour and bountiful patronage I have been often much
encouraged, &c. &e."

But the work is rendered yet more precious by in formation
scattered through it, derived from the great seamen of that
day with whom the author's turn of mind led him to associate,
Sebastian Cabot he seems to have known familiarly, and one
chapter (fol. 249) has, for part of its title, " lykewyse of the
vyages of that woorthy owlde man Sebastian Cabote, yet
livynge in England, and at this present the governor of the
Company of the Marchantes of Cathay, in the citie of Lon-
don."

In one of his marginal notes (fol. 268) he gives us Cabot's
statement to him, that the icebergs were of fresh, and not of
salt water; and again in the marginal note (fol. 255), we have
what Cabot said as to the quantity of grain raised by him in
the La Plata, corrected afterwards at fol. 317. Speaking of
the voyage to the North-East projected 'by Cabot, in which
Richard Chancellor, as pilot major, accompanied Sir Hugh
Wilbughby, and succeeded, after the death of his gallant but
unfortunate commander, in opening the trade to Russia, Eden
says (fol. 256), "And whereas I have before made mention
howe Moscovia was in our time discovered by Richard Chan-
cellor, in his viage toward Cathay, by the direction and in-
formation of the sayde master Sebastian, who longe before had
this secreaie in his mynde, I shall notneede here, &c." The
account of Cabot's escape from the waterspout (fol. 357) has
been already adverted to.

We may note here, that Forster, in his "Voyage and'Dis-
coveries in the North" (p. 269), gravely considers, and almost
sanctions, a doubt of the French writer Bergeron whether
the Sebastian Cabot so conspicuous in the reign of Edward
VI. could have been the same who discovered the continent
of America. It may serve to show the very slight prepara-
tion with which many works of reputation on these subjects
have been got up, that in the course of the argument no re-
ference is made to Eden, who conveys from tne lips of the
"good owlde man" himself, interesting particulars of his
earlier voyages! So, also, in a more recent work,* the fol-
lowing expressions are-found (p. 361), "We must now return
to the period of the first attempt to find out a North-East
passage to India. A society of merchants had been formed
in London for this purpose. Sebastian Cabot, cither the son
or the grandson of John Cabot, and who held the situation
of grand pilot of England, under Edward VI., was chosen
governor of this society!'7

* Historical Sketcli of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce
from the earliest records to the beginning- of the nineteenth century. By William
Stevenson, Esq., forming- vol. xviii. of Kerr's Collection of Voyages, &c.

Another of Eden's personal friends seems to have been
Richard Chancellor. At fol. 284, we find that celebrated
mariner giving an account of the ingenuity of the Russians in
the construction of their buildings ; and at fol. 298, a further
account of that people. He tells Eden (ib.) of an ambassador
whom he saw there from the " province of Sibier,7' who gave
him some curious information about the " Great Chan." He
met also with the Ambassador of the Kinge of Persia, called
the Great Sophie/7 who was not only civil, but very useful to
him.

But it is time to turn to the more immediate object of this
chapter — the birth-place of Cabot.

In order to comprehend the full value of the information
supplied by Eden, it may be well to show, in the first place,
how the matter has been treated by others.

(< Sebastian Cabote is, by many of our writers, affirmed to
be an Englishman, born at Bristol, but the Italians as posi-
tively claim him for their countryman, and say he was born
at Venice, which, to speak impartially, I believe to be the
truth, for he says himself, that when hts father was invited
over to England, he brought him with him, though he was
then very young'7 (Harris's Collection of Voyages, vol. ii.
p. 191). These expressions are copied, verbatim, by Pinker-
ton (Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. xii. p. 160).
In the history of Navigation, prefixed to Churchill's Collec-
tion of Voyages (vol. i. p. 39), said to have been drawn up
by Locke, and found in his works (vol. x. Lond. ed. of 1823,
p. 428), reference is made to " Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian,
but residing in England." Purchas says of him (vol. iii. Pil-
grims, p. 901), "He was an Englishman by breeding, borne
a Venetian, but spending most part of his life in England,
and English employments.77 Even when he states (vol. iii. p.
807), that on the " Effigies77 of Sebastian Cabot hung up in
the Royal Gallery, that personage is called an Englishman, he
adds — " for his English breeding, condition, affection and
advancement, termed an Englishman/'7 and referring, on ano-

ther occasion to the same document, says, " He was born at
Venice, and serving Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward
VI., was accounted English. Galpano says* he was born at
Bristol.'7 By Galpano, he means the Portuguese writer Gal-
vano, or Galvam, in whose work, translated by Hakluyt, that
statement is made (p. 66), as it is also by Herrera (Dec. i.
lib. ix. cap. 13), whom Purchas himself quotes (vol. iv.
p. 177 to that point.

In defiance of the contemporary "Effigies/7 and of these
foreign authorities, most modern writers, Hume, Forster,
Charlevoid, &c. have been led astray. The Quarterly Review
(vol. xvi. p. 154, note] informs us that Henry VII. engaged
' i the Cabots of Venice in the discovery of Newfoundland;"
and Mr Barrow, in his " Chronological History of Voyages,
&c.77 (p. 36—7), speaks of the credit due to England, for
having "so wisely and honourably enrolled this deserving
foreigner in the list of her citizens.77

Now it will scarcely be credited, that we have in Eden, a
positive statement on the subject, from the lips of Sebastian
Cabot himself. The following marginal note will be found
at fol. 255 — " SEBASTIAN CABOTE TOULD ME that he was
borne in Brystowe, and that at iiii. yeare ould he was carried
with his father to Venice, and so returned agayne into Eng-
land with his father after certayne years, whereby he was
thought to have fom'born in Venice.77 Thus, then, was the
question conclusively settled 275 years ago ! It is needless to
repeat what has been already said, in another place, as to the
slight credit due to the report of the conversation relied on
by Harris, Pinkerton, and the rest, for there is, in fact, no
discrepance to be reconciled. Cabot there states the circum-
stances which more immediately preceded the commission
from Henry VII. ; and the occasion did not lead to any detail
of his own earlier history. Should Sir Edward Parry be
recalled to embark on a new voyage of discovery, he might
very naturally advert, hereafter, to the period of his return,
and would scarcely deem it necessary to add that he had been

in the country before. For the future, then, it is to be hoped
that no perverse efforts will be made to obscure the claim of
England to this Great Seaman. He owed to her his birth,
and th£ language and associations of childhood. He returned
thither while yet a boy ("'pene infans" is the expression of
Peter Martyr), and grew up there to manhood, when he was
commissioned to go in quest of new regions, wherein he "set
up the banner" of England. Under this banner, he was the
first European who reached the shores of the American Con-
tinent. He ended, as he had begun, his career in the service
of his native country, infusing into her Marine a spirit of lofty
enterprise — a high moral tone — a system of mild, but inflexible
discipline, of which the results were, not long after, so con-
spicuously displayed. Finally, he is seen to open new sources
of commerce, of which the influence may be distinctly traced
on her present greatness and prosperity. Surely it is as
absurd as it is unnatural, to deny to such a man the claim
which he seems to have anxiously preferred, and which has
been placed on record under his direct sanction.

CHAP. IX.

THE PATENTS OF 5TH MARCH, 1496, AND 3RD FEBRUARY, 1498.

BEFORE proceeding to a close examination of the documents
which establish the real history of these voyages, it may be
well to advert to the reckless manner in which facts have been
made to yield to any hypothesis which a short-sighted view
has suggested as indispensable.

The following passage is found in Harris' Voyages (ed. of
1744 — 8, vol. ii. p. 190), and in Pinkerton's Collection (vol.
xii. p. 158).

"But the year before. that patent was granted, viz. in 1494, John Cabot, with
his son Sebastian, had sailed from Bristol upon discovery, and had actually seen
the Continent of Newfoundland, to which they gave the name of Prima Vista, or
first seen. And on the 24th June, in the same year, he went ashore on an Island
which, because it was discovered on that day, he called St John's ,• and of this
Island he reported, very truly, that the soil was barren, that it yielded little, and
that the people wear bearskin clothes, and were armed with bows, arrows, pikes,
darts, wooden clubs, and slings ; but that the coast abounded with fish, and upon
this report of his, the before-mentioned patent (of 5th March 1495) was slanted."

Mr Barrow also says (p. 32),

" There is no possible way of reconciling the various accounts collected by
Hakluyt, and which amount to no less a number than six, but by supposing John
Cabot to have made one voyage; at least, previous to the date of the patent, and
some time between that and the date of the return of Columbus, either in 1494
or 1495."

It must by this time be apparent, that the hypothesis thus
started, is not only uncalled for, but would contradict every
authentic account which has come down to us.

It is altogether irreconcilable with that very document
which stands foremost of the « six/7 on the pages' of Hakluyt
— the extract from the map cut by Clement Adams, and hung
up in the Privy Gallery— for it is there declared expressly,

that at five o'clock in the morning, of the 24th June, 1497,
was discovered that land, which no man before that time had
attempted to approach .(" quam nullus prius adire ausus
fuit"). What possible motive can be imagined, on the part of
Cabot, for disguising the fact of a discovery made so long
before? The supposition is as absurd,' as it is gratuitous.
How, again, does it agree with the statement of Sebastian
Cabot, that on the voyage made under the royal authority, he
was surprised by the sight of land, "not thinking to find any
other land than that of . Cathay ?" This is one of the " six"
accounts which it is proposed to reconcile by assuming a dis-
covery of the same region* three years before !

The first patent bears date the 5th March, in the eleventh
year of the reign of Henry VII. It is found in Rymer
(Fcedera, vol. xii. p. 595), who correctly refers it to 5th
March, 1496, the computation of this monarch's reign being
from August, 1485. Hakluyt states it to be of 1495 (vol. iii.
p. 5), looking, as we may infer, not to the Historical, but to
the Legal or Civil year, which commenced, prior to 1752, on
the 25th March.

The patent is in favour of John Cabot and his three sons,
Lewis, Sebastian, and Sancius ; and authorises them, their
heirs, or deputies) to " sail to all parts, countries, and seas of
the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners
and ensigns, with five ships of what burthen or quantity soever
they be, and as many mariners or men as they will have with
them in the said ships, upon their own proper costs and
charges, to seek out, discover, and find whatsoever isles,
countries, regions, or provinces of the heathen and infidels,
whatsoever they be, and in what part of the world soever they
be, which before this time have been unknown to all Chris-
tians" It is plain, that a previous discovery, so far from
being assigned as the ground for the patent, as Harris, Pink-
erton, &c. assert, is negatived by its very terms. The patent
would be inapplicable to any region previously visited by either
of the Cabots, and confer no right. Assuming, what is obvi-

ously absurd, that the discovery could' have been made without
becoming at once universally known, yet the patentees must
have been aware that they exposed themselves, at any moment
when the fact should come out, to have the grant vacated on
the ground of a deceptive concealment.

The patentees are authorised to set up the Royal banner,
i( in every village, town, castle, isle, or main land, by them
newly found," and to subdue, occupy, and possess all such
regions, and to exercise jurisdiction over them in the name
of the King of England. One-fifth of the clear profit of the
enterprise is reserved to the King, and it is stipulated that the
vessels shall return to the port of Bristol. The privilege of
exclusive resort and traffic is secured to the patentees.

The Second Patent is dated the third of February, in the
thirteenth year of the- reign of Henry VII., corresponding
with third February 1498. The only evidence heretofore
published on the subject, is contained in a brief memorandum
found in Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 6), who, we are persuaded,
never saw the original. The person, also, who gave him the
information of its existence, probably did not go beyond a list
of the titles of instruments of that description kept for con-
venient reference. The memorandum of Hakluyt is as fol-
lows : —

"The King, upon the third day of February, in the thir-
teenth year of his reign, gave license to John Caboto to take
six English ships in any haven or havens of the realm of Eng-
land, being of the burden of two hundred tons or under,
with all necessary furniture, and to take also into the said
ships, all such masters, mariners and subjects of the King as
willingly would go with him," &c.

Such being the whole of the information supplied, it is no
wonder, that the most erroneous conjectures have been started.
Dr Robertson (History of America, book -ix.) adopts the
dates of Hakluyt. " This Commission (the first) was granted
on March 5th, 1495, in less than two years after the return of
Columbus from America. But Cabot (for that is the name he
assumed in England, and by which he is best known) did not

set out on his voyage for two years." Dr Robertson makes no
express reference to the second commission, and having fol-
lowed Hakluyt in referring that of the eleventh Henry VII.
to 1495, he doubtless regarded the order of the thirteenth
year of Henry VII. as merely a final permission for the de-
parture of the expedition, made out in 1497 on the eve of its
sailing.

In "The Naval History of England in all its Branches,"
by Lediard, it is said (p. 85) after giving the first patent —

" Hakluyt, from whom I have taken this commission, places
in the margin, A. D. 1495. But, according to Rymer's Fcede-
ra, it was dated March 5, 1496. To the ship granted by the
king, of which, however, this commission makes no mention,
some merchants of London added three more, laden with such
slight commodities as were thought proper for commerce
with barbarous people. By an extract from a record of the
rolls, it appears, that though Cabot's commission was signed
in March, 1495, or 1496, he did not go to sea on this expedi-
tion till the beginning of the year 1497. This record is in
the following words." He then gives Hakluyt's notice of
the patent of February 3, 1498.

The same notion that the second patent preceded discovery
has found its way across the Atlantic, but with an observance
of the historical computation as to dates. Thus, in the valua-
ble Introduction to Marshall's Life of Washington, the first
patent is correctly referred to March 5, 1496; and it is said,
" The Expedition contemplated at the date of the commission
appears not then to have been made, but in May (1498) Ca-
bot, with his second son," &c.

Forster (p. 266) says, "In the 13th year of this king's
reign, John Cabot obtained permission to sail with six ships of
200 tons burthen and under, on new discoveries. He did not
sail, however, till the beginning of May, 1497 (!) and then,
by his own account, had but two ships fitted out and stocked
with provisions at the king's expense, &c."

In Harris's Voyages, &c. (Ed. of 1744— 8, vol. ii. p. 190),
K

74*

and in Pinkerton (vol. xii. p. 158), after stating, not conjec-
turally, but as an unquestionable fact, that the first voyage
was in 1494, it is added,

" The next voyage made for discovery was by Sebastian Cabot, the son of John,
concerning- which all our writers have fallen into great mistakes, for want of com-
paring the several accounts we have of this voyage, and making proper allow-
ances for the manner in which they were written ; since I cannot find there was
ever any distinct and clear account of this voyage published, though it was of so
great consequence. On the contrary, I believe that Cabot himself kept no jour-
nal of it by him ; since, in a letter he wrote on this subject, he speaks doubtfully
of the very year in which it was undertaken, though, from the circumstances he
relates, that may be very certainly fixed. On the 3d of February, in the 13th
year of the reign of King Henry VII. a new grant was made to John Cabot, by
which he had leave given him to take ships out of any of the Ports of England,
of the burthen of 200 tons, to sail upon discoveries ; but before this could be
effected, John Cabot died, and Sebastian, his son, applied himself to the king,
proposing to discover a North-West Passage, as he himself tells us ; and for this
purpose, he had a ship manned and victualled at the king's expense, at Bristol,
and three or four other ships were fitted out, at the expense of some merchants
of that city, particularly Mr Thorne, and Mr Hugh Elliot. But whereas Sebastian
Cabot himself says that he made this voyage in the summer of 1496, he must be
mistaken ; and he very well might, speaking from his memory only : and to prove
this, I need only observe, that this date will not at all agree, even with his own
account of the voyage ; for he says expressly, it was undertaken after his father's
death, who, as we have shown, was alive in the February following ; so that it was
the summer of the year 1497 in which he made this voyage, and what he after-
wards relates of his return proves this likewise."

It is scarcely necessary to remark, that aside from all other
considerations, the whole of their statement is in direct colli-
sion with the fact, that the discovery of the 24th June, 1497,
is referred, on evidence which these writers do not undertake
to question, to the joint agency of father and son. That,
therefore, which should decisively control speculation, is
blindly sacrificed to an effort to get over some minor difficul-
ties which, in reality, have their origin only in the kindred
misconceptions of preceding compilers.

All this obscurity will now disappear. After a tedious
search there has been found, at the Rolls Chapel, the original
patent of 3d February, 1498. The following is an exact
copy:

" Memorandum quod tertio die Februarii anno regni Regis Henrici Septinn xiii-

ista Billa delibata fuit Domino Cancellario Angliae apud Westmonasterium exe-
quenda.

" To the Kinge.

" Please it your Highnesse of your most noble and habundaunt grace to
graunte to John Kabotto, Venecian, your gracious Lettres Patents in due
fburme to be made accordyng to the tenor hereafter ensuyng, and he shall
continually praye to God for the preservacion of your moste Noble and
Roiall astate longe to endure,

"Rex.

"To all men to whom theis Presenteis shall come send Gretyng: Knowe
ye that We of our Grace especial!, and for dyvers causis us movying, We
Have geven and graunten, and by theis Presentis geve and graunte to our
welbelored John Kabotto, Venecian, sufficiente auctorite and power, that
he, by him his Deputie or Deputies sufficient, may take at his pleasure VI
Englisshe Shippes in any Porte or Fortes or other place within this our
Realme of England or obeisance, so that and if the said Shippes be of the «cjj
bourdeyn of CC. tonnes or under, with their apparail requisite and neces-
sarie for the safe conduct of the said Shippes, and them convey and lede to
the Londe and Isles of latefounde by the seid John in cure name and by our
commaundemente. Paying for theym and every of theym as and if we
should in or for our owen cause paye and noon otherwise. And that the
said John, by hym his Deputie or Deputies sufficiente, maye take and re-
ceyve into the said Shippes, and every of theym all such maisters, mary-
ners, Pages, and other subjects as of their owen free wille woll goo and
passe with him in the same Shippes to the seid Londe or Iks, withoute anye
impedymente, lett or perturbance of any of our officers or ministres or sub-
jects whatsoever they be by theym to the seyd John, his Deputie, or Depu-
ties, and all other our seid subjects or any of theym passinge with the seyd
John in the said Shippes to the seid Londe or lies to be doon, or suffer to
be doon or attempted. Geving in commaundement to all and every our
officers, ministres and subjects seying or herying thies our Lettres Patents,
without any ferther commaundement by Us to theym or any of theym to be
geven to perfourme and socour the said John, his Deputie and all our said
Subjects so passyng with hym according to the tenor of theis our Lettres
Patentis. Any Statute, Acte, or Ordennance to the contrarye made or to
be made in any wise notwithstanding."

Surely the importance of this document cannot be exagge-
rated. It establishes conclusively, and for ever, that the
American continent was first discovered by an expedition
commissioned to " set up the banner" of England. It were

idle to offer an argument to connect this recital of 3d Feb-
ruary, 1498, with the discovery of the 24th June, 1497, noted
on the old map hung up at Whitehall. Will it not be deemed
almost incredible that the very Document in the Records of
England, which recites the great discovery, and plainly con-
templates a scheme of colonization, should, up to this moment,
have been treated by her own writers as the one which first
gave the permission to go forth and explore ?

Nay, this very instrument has been used as an argument
against the pretensions of England ; for it has been asked by
foreigners who have made the computation, and seen through
the mistake of Pinkerton and the rest, why the patent of 3d
February, 1498, took no notice of discoveries pretended to
have been made the year before. The question is now tri-
umphantly answered.

The importance of negativing a notion that the English
discoveries- were subsequent to the patent of the 13th Henry
VII., will strikingly appear, on reference to the claim of
Jlmericus Fespucius. The truth, as now established, places
beyond all question — even crediting the doubtful assertions of
Vespucius — the priority of Cabot's discovery over that of the
lucky Florentine. The map in Queen Elizabeth's gallery
made no false boast in declaring that on the 24th June 1497,
the English expedition discovered that land " quam nullus
prius adire ausus fuit."*

* The manner in which the precious Document referred to, and others of a
similar kind, are kept, cannot be adverted to without an expression of regret.
They are thrown loosely together, without reference even to the appropriate year,
and are unnoticed in any Index or Calendar. It required a search of more than
two weeks to find this patent of 3d February 1498, although the year and day of
its date were furnished at the outset. Another document which appears in the
present volume— the patent of Henry VII. to three Portuguese and others, dated
19 March, 1501, authorising them to follow up the discoveries of Cabot— has never
before been published. This also was discovered, after a long search, not even
folded up, but lying with one-half of the written part exposed, and, in conse-
quence, so soiled and discoloured that it was with the greatest difficulty it could
be decyphered, and some words finally eluded the most anxious scrutiny. And

this of two documents indispensable to the history of Maritime Discovery, and for
the want of which, the account of these voyages has been completely unintelli-
gible ! An extraordinary compensation is claimed at the Rolls Chapel on account
of the trouble attending a search amidst such a confused mass. For finding the
documents, two guineas were demanded in addition to the cost of copies. The
applicant is informed, that the charge must be paid, whether the document be dis-
covered or not; so that the officer has no motive to continue perseveringly the
irksome pursuit.

CHAP. X.

NAME OF CABOT'S SHIP — HOW FAR HE PROCEEDED ALONG THE COAST TO
THE SOUTHWARD — SUBSEQUENT VOYAGE OF 1498.

THE name of the vessel which first touched the shores of the
American continent is not without interest. The Matthew,
of Bristol, had that proud distinction. A respectable writer*
furnishes the following passage from an ancient Bristol manu-
script in his possession : —

"In the year 1497, the 24th June, on St John's day, was
Newfoundland found by Bristol men, in a ship called The
Matthew."

The question how far Cabot, on quitting the north, proceed-
ed along the coast of the Continent, has been the subject of
contradictory statements. By some his progress is limited to
a latitude corresponding with that of the straits of Gibraltar,
while others insist on carrying him to the extreme point of the
Atlantic sea coast. We can hardly be at a loss to decide,
when it is recollected that while there is no direct authority
for the latter opinion, and it is one which would readily be
adopted, in mistake, from the vague use, originally, of the
title Florida, the former has the direct sanction of Peter
Martyr (Dec. iii. cap. vi.).

" Tetenditque tantum ad merediem, littore sese incurvante, ut Herculei freti
latitudinis/erc gradus equarit ; ad occidentemque profectus tantum est ut Cubam
Insulam a laeva longitudine graduum pene parem habuerit." " He was thereby
brought so far into the South, by reason of the land bending so much to the south-

* " The History and Antiquities of the City of Bristol, compiled from original
Records and authentic Manuscripts in public offices or private hands. By William
Barrett. Bristol, 1789," p. 172. The same fact is stated in The History of Bris-
tol by JohnCorry and the Rev. John Evans, vol. i. p. 213. (In King's Library,
title in Catalogue Carry.)

ward, that it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea Fretum Herculeum
having the North Pole elevate in a manner in the same degree. He sailed likewise
in this tract so far towards the West, that he had the Island of Cuba on his left
hand in manner, in the same degree of longitude." (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 9.)

Gomara, more definitely but perhaps only Determining by
conjecture the circumstantial statement of Peter Martyr,
names, as has been seen, 38°. Hakluyt, in the dedication of
his second volume to Sir Robert Cecil, boasts of the universal
acknowledgement, even by foreigners, "that all that mighty
tract of land, from 67 degrees northward, to the latitude almost
of Florida, was first discovered out of England, by the com-
mandment of King Henry VII. ;" and agaia, in a marginal
note of his third. volume (p. 9), he states that Cabot dis-
covered " the northern parts of that land, and from thence
as far almost as Florida."

Peter Martyr informs us that a failure of provisions at this
point compelled an abandonment of the further pursuit of the
coast, and a return to England.

It has been preferred to settle the question before quitting
the first voyage, because the progress to the southward may
have taken place on that occasion, as a discovery of both
"Londc and Isles" is recited in the second patent. Should
a further development of the subject lead to an opinion that
this incident, mentioned first by Peter Martyr, belongs to
another voyage which that writer more probably had in view,
there will be no difficulty in adjusting it hereafter to its
proper place. *

* One piece of evidence has lately been brought to light from which it may be
inferred that Cabot returned to England immediately after the discovery of the
24th June, 1497. In the account of the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VII., is
the following entry :— " 10th August, 1407. To hym that found the New Isle, 101."

The document referred to, which forms one of the Additional MSS. in the
British Museum, is in the hand-writing of Craven Orde, Esq., formerly one of the
Secondaries of the office of the King's Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer,
and has recently been given to the public by Harris Nicolas, Esq., in his valuable
Excerpta Historica. Mr N. remarks, J'The originals, doubtless, form part of the
muniments of the King's Remembrancer's Office, and though the great exertions
which have been made to collate these extracts with them received every assistance
from the Kind's Remembrancer and the other officers, they failed- because these

The interesting inquiry now arises as to subsequent voyages,
made after the death of John Cabot which is supposed to have
taken place shortly after the date of the second patent of 3rd
February, 1498.

It cannot be supposed, for a moment, that Sebastian Cabot
would lightly abandon what had been so hardly won. He was
named in the original patent ; and a right under the discovery
vested in him, aside from his claim as the son of John Cabot.
A large sum had been expended on the first voyage, and was
now represented solely by the title to the newly discovered
region. He must have been strangely insensible to his in-
terests, as well as suddenly deficient in enterprise, to turn
away, without further effort, from a pursuit which had thus
far been crowned with the most flattering success.

The first item of evidence on the subject, is that supplied
hy Stow. Under the year 1498, and in the Mayoralty of
William Purchas, there occurs, in the Annals, the following
statement : —

" This yeere, one Sebastian Gaboto, a Genoas sonne, borne in
Bristow, professing himselfe to be expert in knowledge of the
circuit of the world and islands of the same, as by his charts and
other reasonable demonstrations he shewed, caused the King
to man, and victuall a ship at Bristow to search for an island,
which he knew to be replenished with rich commodities : in
the ship divers merchants of London adventured small stocks,
and in the company of this ship, sailed also out of Bristow,
three or foure small shippes fraught with sleight and grosse
wares, as coarse cloth, caps, laces, points, and such other."

It has already been proved, in another place, that this was
the statement made by Stow to Hakluyt, and that the substi-

MSS. are presumed to be in some of the numerous bags that are lying unarranged
in Westminster Hall, an examination of which could only be effected at a sacrifice
of time and expense, which no private individual can incur." Since the publica-
tion, it has been ascertained that a portion of what is supposed to be the original
is in the possession of Sir Thomas Phillips, having been purchased by him at a sale
of the effects of Mr Orde. Unfortunately, it does not go further back than the
year 1502.

tution, by the latter, of the name of John Cabot took place
afterwards, at two successive stages of alteration. The fact
clearly appeared, by a reference to Hakluyt's earlier volume
of 1582, arid by the name of Sebastian Cabot, which yet
lingers incautiously in the enlarged work at the head of Stow's
communication, even after a change in the body of it. We
have then before us, here, the honest result of S tow's re-
searches.

There can be no mistake as to the period to which he would
refer this incident; for the mayoralty of Purchas, is mentioned
in the communication to Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 9). When,
too, under the year 1502, he speaks of the exhibition of sav-
ages, reference is made to what he had before stated as oc-
curring in the time of that Mayor. Speed (747) so under-
stands him and Purchas (Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 808).

It appears, by the list of these functionaries found in the
various Chroniclers, that the mayoralty of Purchas extended
from 28 October, 1497 to 28 October, 1498. Unless then we
suppose a mistake to have been committed, the voyage alluded
to was subsequent to that of the original discovery.

A matter so simple as this has not escaped mis-statement.
Thus, in M'Pherson's Annals of Commerce (vol. ii. p. 13,
note), it is said, "We may depend on the contemporary
testimony of Alderman Fabyan, who says that he sailed in
the beginning of May in the mayoralty of John Tate, that is
1497, but returned in the subsequent mayoralty of William
Purchas." Here is as much error as could be condensed into
one sentence. Fabyan does not place the expedition in the
mayoralty of Tate, but in that of Purchas, and we are told,
that no tidings were heard of the expedition during that
Mayor's time, viz. as late as October, .1498. It is, indeed,
a singular fact that writers who on most topics are dull, com-
mon-place, and safe — who might be trusted, one would think,
in poetry itself, without peril to their matter-of-fact character
— instantly become imaginative on touching any part of Ca-
bot's history.

t«

In connexion with the statement of Stow, it may be men-
tioned that both Peter Martyr and the person, said to be
Galeatius Butrigarius, who held the conversation with Cabot,
at Seville, speak of a voyage from England subsequent to the
fathers death. Peter Martyr, in the passage usually cited
on the subject, says nothing of dates, but writing afterwards
in 1524, (Decade vii. cap. ii.) he refers to Cabot's voyage, as
having taken place "twenty-six years since," that is, in 1498.
To these statements, another is to be added, though it in-
creases, perhaps, rather the number than the weight of
authorities.

The first article in the third volume of Ramusio is a Sum-
mary of The Spanish Discoveries in the New World, drawn
professedly from Peter Martyr, and entitled " Sommario
della Historia dell7 Indie Occidental! cavato dalli libri scritti
dal Sig. Don Pietro Martire." It was first published an-
onymously, at Venice, in a separate form, in the year 1543,*
and is quite unworthy of the place which it now occupies.
The arrangement of Peter Martyr is entirely disregarded,
and no reference is given to the original, by which any of
the statements may be verified or disproved. Under the
pretended sanction, too, of Peter Martyr, the writer has in-
troduced many unfounded, and even absurd, assertions of his
own. Thus the statement given in the original of the manner
in which the bears catch fish, and which is confirmed by late
accounts,! this writer has spun outj into a minute and ridicu-
lous description. It is here stated that Cabot reached only
55°, an assertion which the Biographic TJniverselle (art. Cabot)
copies and cites as from Peter Martyr, when there is nothing of
the kind in the original. In repeating the expression of Peter
Martyr, about the death of the father, this writer says — "after
whose death, finding himself very rich and of great ambition,

* Haym's "Bibliotheca Italiana o sia notizia de Libro rari Italian!," p. 131.
t See Cartwright's Labrador.

t Ramusio,. torn. iii. fol. 35, in Index « Eacalai," " fiebastiano Gabotto," and
"orso ."

he resolved," &c. ("dapoila morte del quaie trovandosi
richissimo et di grande animo deliberosi/' &c. ). But, without
laying any stress on such a statement, there is sufficient with-
out it to supply an important auxiliary argument to that de-
rived from the chroniclers.*

One circumstance is to he particularly noted. The second
patent does not look to further discoveries, but merely au-
thorises the patentee to revisit the Region already found, and
to take thither such of the king's subjects as might be inclined
to accompany him or his deputies.

According to Stow, the "Genoa's son" effected his object
with the king, by a representation as to an Island "which he
knew to be replenished with rich commodities," or as it is
expressed in Hakluyt, " which he said he knew wellw&s rich
and replenished with great commodities." Thus the lan-
guage of the patent and of the chronicles is in consonance as to
the purpose of the voyage of 1498. It no longer had reference,
exclusively, to the search for a North- West Passage. The
place of destination was some known definite point, which was
supposed to offer an advantageous opening for traffic.

The argument to be fairly drawn from this coincidence is
placed in a very striking point of view, by referring to writers
who approached the statement of the chronicles under the
misconception that the reference was to the original expedi-
tion of 1497. Campbell, in The Lives of the Admirals

* It is obvious that the Will of John Cabot might throw much lig-ht on this
subject. If, as is probable, he died at Bristol, it would be proved at Worcester.
On application at the Bishop's Registry, the acting Registrar, Mr Clifton, writes
thus : " The indices of Wills proved, and letters of administration granted do
not extend farther back than the year 1600. Previous to this period, these doc-
uments are tied up in linen bags without muck form or order,- so that a search for
the Will of John Cabot, or Gabot, or Kabot would be attended with very considerable
trouble and expense, whilst the chance of discovering it would be uncertain."
Aside from Historical purposes, it would be curious to see an instrument, dated
some months before the time when Columbus (in August, 1498) first saw the
Continent of America, which, probably, makes a disposition of the testator's
interest in the tract of land lying between the present Hudson's Strait and Florida.

(article, Sir John Cubol), adopts Hakluyl's substitution ul
John Cabot's name, and thus speaks of the patent of 3rd Feb-
ruary, 1498.

"In consequence of this license, the King1 at his own expense caused a ship to
be equipped at Bristol : to this the merchants of that city, and of London, added
three or four small vessels, freighted with proper commodities, which fleet sailed
in the spring of the year 1497- Our old Chronicle writers, particularly Fabian,
tell us of a very rich island which John Cabot promised to discover ; but in this
they seem to mistake the mutter for went of thoroughly understanding the suljed of
which they were, writing. John Cabot was too a wise man to pretend to know,
before he saw it, what country he should discover, whether island or continent ;
but what he proposed was to find a North- V Vest passage to the Indies."

How does this patent of 3rd February 1498 scatter light
around in every direction ! After slumbering at the Rolls
for upwards of three centuries, it reappears to vindicate, tri-
umphantly, the fair fame of its venerable contemporaries thus
flippantly assailed !

The same difficulty in reconciling the language of the ancient
chronicles with the supposed allusion to the voyage of 1497,
has led Harris* (ed. of 1744—8, vol. ii. p. 190) and Pinkerton
(vol. xii. p. 158) to the positive assertion that John Cabot
made a voyage as early as 1494, and that " upon this report
of his,*' the first patent was granted. Mr Barrow also (p. 32)
is, from the same cause, driven to the assertion that it is im-
possible to understand the various accounts " but by supposing
John Cabot to have made one voyage at least previous to the
date of the patent/' It has been before shown, that such a
supposition is not only inconsistent with every authentic state-
ment, but at variance with the terms of the first patent itself.
We now see that it is as unnecessary as it is unwarranted.

The plain distinction between the two voyages clears up

* It is but just to remark, that though the volume here referred to bears the
name of Harris, and is so copied and cited by Pinkerton, yet the passages in
question make no part of the original work. Daines Barrington, Esq. in his
" Possibility of approaching the North Pole," Sec. (ed. of 1818, p. 15), states, that
the supplemental matter was furnished by Dr Campbell. No method is used to
distinguish the original from what is interpolated ; and Pinkerton was, probably,
thus misled.

an incidental difficulty. Many writers have been perplexed
by finding that while some accounts speak of the enterprise
as wholly at the expense of the Cabots, others represent the
King to have had an interest in it. The reason is now obvious.
The first vague exploratory voyage was at the expense of the
individuals, to verify the speculations of Sebastian Cabot.
The patent of 5th March, 1496, says expressly, that the en-
terprise is to be " at their own proper cost and charge. 7?
But when a specific discovery had been made, and the atten-
tion of the capitalists of London was drawn to the subject,
the wary king himself yielded to the sanguine representations
of the discoverers, and became a partner in the concern.
This fact is very clearly established by the following entries
in the Account of his Privy-Purse Expenses : —

" 22d March, 1498. To Lanslot Thirkill, of London, upon a prest,* for hi3^
shippe going- towards the New Ilande, 201."

" Delivered to Launcelot Thirkill, going towards the New Isle, in prest, 20/."

" April 1, 1498. To Thomas Bradley, and Lancelot Thirkill, going to the New
Isle, SO/."

"To John Carter, going to the Newe Isle, in rewarde, 21."

At this point the subject attracted the attention of a Chron-
icler living in London. It is not unnatural that he should
suppose the region discovered to be an island, and that the
same expression should be used by the Keeper of the Privy
Purse, and others, whose minds had not then embraced the
idea of a new Continent. The Chronicler speaks of documents
submitted to the inspection of the king, and of the nature of
which he evidently knew only by vague report. The King
himself, however, who had listened to the statements of "the
Genoas son/7 and saw his map, who heard of the mighty rivers
which were found issuing into the sea, knew from these
" charts and other reasonable demonstrations,77 that here must
be something more than an island, and we find, accordingly,
in the patent of 3rd February, 1498, reference made to *' the
Londc and Isles,'7 discovered.

In the wav of loan or advance.

To doubt, then, that a voyage took place in 1498, under
Sebastian Cabot, violates every probability, is against strong
collateral testimony, and rejects contemptuously the direct
and positive averment of the ancient Chroniclers, at the very
moment when we warm with indignation at the attempt of a
shallow and presumptuous ignorance to depreciate them.

What was the result of the voyage? This is a question of
more difficulty.

Peter Martyr and Gomara mention, as has been seen, that
Sebastian Cabot had with him three hundred men. It is diffi-
cult to believe that such a number could have been taken in
reference to a mere commercial enterprise, and absurd to con-
nect them with the first exploratory voyage. The language,
too, of the second patent seems to suggest that a se.ttlement was
intended, the royal permission to depart extending to " all
such masters, mariners, pages and other subjects, as of their
own free will) will go and pass with him in the same ships,
to the said Londe or Isles.77

On a point so interesting as this, we may repeat here the
language of Gomara. After mentioning that Sebastian Cabot
was the first who brought intelligence of the Baccalaos, he
proceeds : —

" El qual armo dos navios en Inglaterra do tratava desde pequeno a costa del
Rey Enrique Septimo, quo desseava contratar en la especieria, como hazia el rey
d' Portugal. Otros disen que a su costa. Y que prometio al rey Enrique de yr
por el norte al Catayo y traer de alia especias en menos tiempo que Portuguese,
por el sur. Y va tambien^ar saber que tierra eran las Indicts para poblar. Llevo
trezientos hombres y cammo la buelta de Isladia sobre cabo del Labrador. Y
hasta se poner en cinquenta y ocho grados. Aunque el dize mucho mas contando
como avia por el mes de Julio tato frio y pedagos de yelo que no oso passar mas
adelante. Y que los dios eran grandissimos y quasi sin noche y las noches muy
claras. Es cierte que a sesenta grados son los dies de diez y ocho horas. Diedo
pues Gaboto la frialdad, y estraneza dela tierra, dio la vuelta hazia poniente y reha-
ziendo se en los Baccalaos corrio la costa hasta treienta y ochos grados y torno se de
alii a Inglaterra." " Sebastian Cabot was the fyrst that browght any knowleage
of this lande. For beinge in Englande in the clayes of Kyng Henry the Seventh,
he furnysshed twoo shippes at his owne charges, or (as sum say) at the Kynges,
whome he persuaded that a passage might be founde to Cathay by the North Seas,
and that spices might be bi-ought from thense soncr by that way, then by the
vyage the Portu gales vse by the sea of Sur. He ivent also to knmvc what maner

of landes those Indies were to inhabiie. He had ivitk hym three hundreth nun, and
directed his course by the tracte of Islande vppon the cape of Labrador at Iviii.
degrees: affirmynge that in the monethe of July there was such could and heapes
of ise that he durst passe no further: also that the dayes were very longe and in
maner without nyght, and the nyghtes very clear. Certayne it is, that the Ix.
degrees, the longest day is of sviii. houres. But consyderynge the coulde and
the straungeness of the unknowen lande, he turned his course from thense to the
West, folowynge the coast of the lande of Baccalos vnto the xxxviii. degrees,
from whense he returned to Englande." (Eden's Decades, fol. 318.)

From these expressions it is plain that it was understood to
have been part of the design to make the experiment of colo-
nization.

Connected with this part of the subject is a curious pass-
age in an old work by Thevet, the French Cosmographer.
This writer is, deservedly, held in little estimation, his work
being disfigured by the plainest marks of haste, as well as I**
the most absurd credulity. The only circumstance whicft
could induce us to attach importance to his statement is, the
allusion to conversations with Cartier, who, in 1534, visited
the St Lawrence. Thevet not only refers to that navigator
incidentally here, but in his subsequent larger work, enti-
tled Cosmo graphic Universelle, speaks of Cartier repeatedly,
as his intimate friend, and mentions (Paris Ed. of 1575, torn,
ii. fol. 1014) having spent five months with him at St Malo.
The work now particularly alluded to is entitled " Singulari-
tez de la France Antarctique," published at Paris, in 1558,
in which, speaking of the Baccalaos, there occurs (ch. 74,
fol. 148) the following passage: —

"Elle fut decouverte premierement par Sebastian Babate Anglois lequel per-
suada au Roy d' Angleterre Henry Septiesme qu'il iroit aisement par la au pais
de Catay vers le Nort et que par ce moyen trouveroit espiceries et autres choses
aussi bien que le Roy de Portugal auxlndes, joint qu'il se proposoit aller au Peru
et Arnerique pour peupler le pais de nouveaus habitans et dresser la' une Nouvelle
Angleterre, ce qu'il n' executa; vray est qu'il mist liicn trois cens hommes en terrc,
du coste d'Irlande auNort on le f mid fist mourir presque toute sa compagnie encore
que ce fust au moys de Juillet. Depuis Jaques Quartier (ainsi que luy mesme m'
a recite) fist deux fois le voyage en ce pays la, c'est a scavoir 1' an mil cinq cens
trente cinq."

"It was first discovered by Sebastian Babate, an Englishman, who persuaded
Henry VIT, King of England, that he could go easily this way by the North to

Cathay, and that he would thus obtain spices and other articles from the Indies
equally as well as the King of Portugal, added to which he proposed to go to Peru
and America to people the country with new inhabitants, and to establish there a
New England which he did not accomplish; true it is he put three hundred men
ashore from the coast of Ireland towards the North where the cold destroyed nearly
the whole company, though it was then the month of July. Afterwards Jaques
Cartier (as he himself has told me) made two voyages to that country in 1534 and
1535."

The greater part of this is evidently a mere perversion of
what appears in Gomara, changing the name of the commander
to Babate, and Iceland to Ireland ; and that which follows
may be a random addition suggested by the reference in Go-
mara to one of the objects of Cabot's expedition, and to the
reasons which compelled him to turn back.

On the other hand, while it seems somewhat harsh to im-
pute to the author a reckless falsehood, it is possible that he
may have derived his information from Cartier, who would be
very likely to know of any such early attempt at settlement.
The vet seems, evidently, to turn from the book, whose influ-
ence is discernible on the general cast of the paragraph, in
order to make a statement of his own, and instead of the
general language of Gomara, to substitute specific assertions.

If, then, we can rely on what he says, it seems clear not
only that Cabot proposed colonization, but that he actually
put a body of men on shore with that view. It will be noted,
on referring to the language of Gomara, in the original, that
he represents Cabot when returning from his extreme northern
point to have stopped at Baccalaos for refreshment ("y reha-
ziendo se en los Baccalaos77), and afterwards to have proceeded
South to 38°. It may be, then, that before the renewed
search for a Passage, which would seem to have continued an
object of pursuit, he left a party to examine the country;
who, on his return, dispirited by the dreariness of the region
and perhaps by mortality, insisted on being taken off.

The statement of Thevet was held in reserve, that its loose
and careless air might not seem to be imparted to that which
has a fixed and authentic character. Up to a certain point

—the sailing of the expedition of 1498, under Sebastian Ca-
bot, and its apparent objects — we have the clearest evidence.
The next step we may hesitate, perhaps from excessive cau-
tion, to take, lest the support proffered by Thevet be illu-
sive.

As we are indebted to Peter Martyr and Gomara for the
length of the run along the coast to the Southward, it proba-
bly now took place, their reference evidently being, through-
out, to the present voyage. It was on this occasion, doubt-
less, that three hundred men were taken out, so that the
supposition is perhaps strengthened by noticing that Peter
Martyr represents the expedition to have been arrested in
the South by a failure of provisions.

One incident is deceptively connected by Hakluyt with
this voyage. Stow speaks of an exhibition of savages in
the year 1502 ; but Hakluyt, who derivT~~this fact from him,
has altered the date from the seventeenth to the fourteenth
year of Henry VII. As he relies altogether on Stow's com-
munication, it might be sufficient to point to that Annalist's
own statement. The incident belongs to a voyage by differ-
ent persons, on reaching which it will be shown, that in the
original work of Hakluyt, of 1582, he correctly refers the
exhibition to the seventeenth year, but afterwards changed
the date, in order to accommodate it, in point of time, to the
voyage of Cabot with which he erroneously connected it.

CHAP. XI.

VOYAGE TO MARACAIBO IN 1499.

As it is certain that Sebastian Cabot did not enter the service
Spain until the 13th of September 1512, we are obliged to
look anxiously round, in every direction, for information as to
his employment during the intermediate period. It is imposs-
ible to believe that he could have passed in inactivity the
period of life best adapted for enterprise and adventure, and
to which he at the same time brought maturity of judgment
and abundant experience. Yet the Records, so far as made
public, furnish no evidence on the subject, for though commiss-
ions were granted, as we shall have occasion hereafter to show,
by Henry VII., in 1501 and 1502, to Portuguese adventurers,
with a view to discovery, yet the name of Cabot is sought for
in vain.

Amidst this darkness of the horizon, there gleams up happily,
in one quarter, a light which enables us to recognise objects
with surprising clearness.

A valuable work has recently been published by the Rev.
Mr Seyer, entitled, " Memoirs Historical and Topographical
of Bristol and its Neighbourhood, from the earliest period
down to the present time." At p. 208, of vol. ii., it is stated
that some of the ancient Calendars of Bristol, under the year
1499, have the following entry : —

" This yeare, Sebastian Cabot borne in Bristoll, proifered
his service to King Henry for discovering new countries ;
which had noe greate or favorable entertainment of the king,
but he with no extraordinary preparation sett forth from Bris-
toll, and made greate discoveries.7'

We might be inclined, perhaps, to attach no great impor-
tance to this statement and to view it as referring, with a
mistake of date, to one of the Northern voyages, but that late
disclosures absolutely compel us to seek some such clue to facts,
which, without its aid, are altogether inexplicable.

In the recent work of Don Martin Navarette, who has
spread out the treasures of the Spanish Archives, he remarks
(torn. iii. p. 41 ), " Lo cierto es que Hojeda en su primer viage
hallo a ciertas Ingleses por las immediaciones de Caquibacoa"
— " what is certain is, that Hojeda in his first voyage, found
certain Englishmen in the neighbourhood of Caquibacoa").

These expressions occur in that part of the work where the
author adverts to the commissions which the English Records
show to have been granted by Henry VII., and to his inability
to refer to any other quarter the remarkable fact of the
meeting. Such a connexion, however, is deceptive, because
the earliest of these commissions bears date the 19th March
1501.

Hojeda sailed from Spain on the 20th of May 1499 (Na-
varette, torn. iii. p. 4), and was only one year absent.

The mere fact that Cabot is known not to have entered a
foreign service until long after this period, would siT'
satisfy us that he was the only man who could have been the
leader of such an enterprise from England, particularly as we
find that when, two years afterwards, an expedition was pro-
jected, three Portuguese were called in and placed at its head.
The Bristol manuscript seems to put the matter beyond doubt.

The expressions, also, there employed imply a slight of
the subject on the part of the King, and probably embody a
complaint uttered at the time. The voyage of 1498 had not, we
may suspect, proved so productive as was anticipated, and the
interest felt the year before now languished. Some complaint
of this kind is discoverable in the conversation of Cabot at
Seville, reported by Ramusio, though the neglect is certainly
referred, in that report, to an erroneous period.

When we remember that Cabot, the year before, was stop-

ped by the failure of provisions while proceeding Southward,
he might naturally be expected to resume his progress along
the coast on the first occasion, and he would thus be conduct-
ed to the spot where Hojeda found him. It is probable,
therefore, that impatient of inactivity, and despairing of aid
from the Crown, he threw himself into such a vessel as his
private means enabled him to equip, and, as the Bristol man-
uscript expresses it, "with no extraordinary preparation set
forth from Bristol and made great discoveries."

It may have been while he followed the bent of his genius
in this desultory manner, that the spirit of enterprise awaken-
ed again in England, and his absence may account for the
non-appearance of his name in the subsequent patents.

A less agreeable conjecture is suggested by the character
of Henry VII. That shrewd and penurious monarch may
have been influenced by the same feeling which induced
Ferdinand of Spain to rid himself of Columbus, whose high
estimate of what he had effected was found to mingle, incon-
veniently, with all his proposals for following up the Great
Discovery. Henry may have preferred to listen to those
with whom a bargain might be made solely in reference to
prospective services. Avarice, a disease to which he was
constitutionally subject and of which the symptoms became
every year more apparent, had now reached his moral sense.
Bacon, who wrote his History under the eye of James, a
lineal descendant and professed admirer of that monarch, could
not disguise the evidence of the infamous devices to which
Henry resorted for the purpose of extorting money from his
own subjects. Speaking of his escape from the difficulties
which at one time beset him, and particularly from the long
and vexatious feuds with Scotland, it is remarked —

"Wherefore nature, which many times is happily contained and refrained by
some bands of fortune, began to take place in the King ; carrying, as with a strong
tiJe, his affections and thoughts unto the gathering and heaping up of treasure.
And as kings do more easily find instruments for their will and humour, than for
their service and honour, he had gotten for his purpose, or beyond his purpose,
two instruments, Empson and Dudley, whom the people esteemed as his horse-

leeches and shearers, bold men and careless of fame, and that took toll of their
master's grist.

"Then did they also use to intliral an ; ts' land:, with tenures

'in capite,' by finding false offices, and thereby to work upon Uiem for wardships,
liveries, primer seisins, and alienations, being the fruits of those tenures, refusing,
upon divers pretexts and delays, to admit men to traverse those false offices ac-
cording to the law. Nay, the King's wards, after they had accomplished their full
age, could not be suffered to have livery of their lands, without paying excessive
fines, far exceeding all reasonable rates. They did also vex men with informa-
tions of intrusion upon scarce colourable titles.

" When men were outlawed in personal actions, they would not permit them to
purchase their charters of pardon, except they paid great and intolerable sums ;
standing upon the strict point of law, which upon outlawries giveth forfeiture of
goods ; nay, contrary to all law and colour, they maintained the king ought to
have the half of men's lands and rents, during the space of two full years, for a
pain in case of outlawry.

" And to show further the king's extreme diligence, I do remember to have
seen long since a book of accompt of Empson's, that had the king's hand almost
to every leaf, by way of signing, and was in some places postilled in the margin
with the king's hand likewise, where was this remembrance : —

" 'Item, Received of such a one five marks, for a pardon to be procured ; and if
the pardon do not pass, the money to be repaid : except the party be some other
ways satisfied.'

"And over against this 'memorandum' of the king's own hand,
" « Otherwise satisfied.' "

"Which I do the rather mention, because it shews in the king a nearness, but
yet with a kind of justness. So these little sands and grains of gold and silver, as
it seemeth, helped not a little to make up the great heap and bank."

It is remarkable that the First Patent is to the father and
the three sons, "and to the heirs of them, and each of them
and their deputies ;" and it is expressly provided that the
regions discovered by them, " may not of any other of our
subjects be frequented or visited, without the licence of the
aforesaid John and his sons, and their deputies, under pain
of forfeiture as well of the ships' as of all and singular the goods
of all them that shall presume to sail to those places so found."
Under this grant, the "Londe and Isles" were discovered,
and, of course, a right of exclusive resort to these regions,
vested in the father and sons for an indefinite period. The
patent of 3rd February, 1498, on the other hand, is very
cautiously worded. The power given is to the father alone,
described as a Venetian, and to his deputies without any words
of inheritance. The whole merit of the discovery is, perhaps

craftily, represented as embodied in the old man. The privi-
lege given expired, in strictness, with John Cabot ; and Se-
bastian, by having incautiously accepted and acted under such
an instrument, might be held to recognise it as the consum-
mation of all that had been previously done, and as a waiver
of the terms of the first patent.

The Portuguese patentees of 19th March 1501, consent
to receive the privilege of exclusive resort for only ten years ;
and it is provided that they shall not be interfered with, by
virtue of any previous grant to a foreigner (" extraneus")
under the great seal (" virtute aut colore alicujus concessionis
nostrae sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per antea factae"). It is
true the pen is drawn through this passage in the original
Roll ; but attention had evidently been drawn, in an adverse
temper, to a claim that might be set up under the previous
grant. It was, perhaps, thought better not to aim an ungra-
cious, and superfluous blow at what had already expired.
The clause is retained which secures the new patentees against
molestation from any of the king's subjects, and this provision
was considered as applying to the surviving sons who, in the
original patent, are not, like the father, called Venetians, but
were probably all born in England.

It is not, however, certain that Henry intended to super-
sede the claims of Cabot, so far as respected discoveries ac-
tually made. The general authority to the three Portuguese
is as to lands "before unknown to all Christians;" and the
reservation may mean more than a caution to respect the
rights of foreign nations. The patent of 19th March 1501
gives a wider range for discovery than even the original one
to the Cabots. It authorises discoveries to the South; ad
omnes partes, regiones et fines maris Orientalis, Occidentalis,
Jim trails, Borealis et Septentrionalis." The two marked
words occur in this patent, and also in that of 9th December
1502, but are not found in that of 5th March, 1496.

However all this may be, the meagre evidence referred to

is all that remains to fill up fifteen years of Cabot's life sub-
sequent to the first discovery.

One fact is too remarkable not to claim especial notice.
Amerigo Vespucci accompanied Hojeda, and it is now agreed
that this was the first occasion on which he crossed the Atlan-
tic. Sebastian Cabot was found prosecuting his Third Voyage
from England.* Yet, while the name of one overspreads the
New World, no bay, cape, or headland recalls the memory of
the other. While the falsehoods of one have been diffused
with triumphant success, England has suffered to moulder in
obscurity, in one of the lanes of the Metropolis, the very
Record which establishes the discovery effected by her Great
Seaman fourteen months before Columbus beheld the Conti-
nent, and two years before the lucky Florentine had been
West of the Canaries.

* See Appendix (B.)-

CHAP. XII.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN FERDINAND OF SPAIN AND LORD WILLOUGH-
BY DE BROKE — OABOT ENTERS THE SERVICE OF SPAIN 13TH SEPTEM-
BER, 1512 REVISION OF MAPS AND CHARTS, IN 1515 APPOINTED A

MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INDIES PROJECTED EXPEDITION TO

THE NORTH UNDER HIS COMMAND, TO SAIL IN MARCH 1516 DEATH

OF FERDINAND IN JANUARY, 1516 — INTRIGUES CABOT RETURNS TO

ENGLAND.

THE disappearance of Cabot's Maps and Discourses, which
were, so long after his death, in the custody of William Wor-
thington, ready for publication, cannot but painfully recur to
us in contemplating the long period during which we are ab-
solutely without materials for even conjecturing the manner
in which he was employed. These documents would, of
course, have supplied abundant information ; but in their
absence we are compelled to pass abruptly to the new theatre
on which he was called to perform a conspicuous part.

Singular as it may appear with regard to a fact so well set-
tled, as the period at which he quitted his native country
and entered the service of Spain, there exist on this point
statements quite irreconcilable with each other, and yet
equally unfounded. In the Conversation given by Ramusio,
and with which the name of Butrigarius has been subse-
quently connected, Cabot is made to say that the troubles in
England led him to seek employment in Spain where he was
very graciously received by Ferdinand and Isabella. The
queen died in 1504 ; and many English writers, relying on the
Conversation, have assumed that Cabot entered a foreign ser-
vice immediately after his return from the original discovery.
Others say, that he first went abroad after the expedition
from England in 1517. This assertion is found in the Biogra-

phia Britannica, Pinkerton, Rees, Aikin, Chalmers, Camp-
bell's Lives of the Admirals., &c. The Biographic Univer-
selle postpones his departure to 1526.

We are told by Peter Martyr (Decade iii. cap. vi.), that
Cabot did not leave England until after the death of Henry
VII., which occurred in 1509. The venerable Historian of
the Indies is right, and we thus find completed the circle of
errors in that deceptive Conversation. Herrera, the writer
of the highest authority on these subjects — Historiographer
of the King of Spain, and enjoying familiar access to every
document, stated, more than two centuries ago, that Cabot
received his appointment from the King of Spain on the 13th
September 1512, and even furnished the particulars of the
negotiation.

It may readily be conceived that the wily Ferdinand would
be anxious to withdraw, if possible, from the service of a
youthful monarch, full of enterprise and ambition, and with
the accumulated treasures of his thrifty father, a Navigator
who had opened to England the glorious career of discovery.
He had little reason to- hope that Henry would pay greater
deference than his father to the Papal Bull. Vespucci, too,
who had filled in Spain the office of Pilot- Major, was just
dead, as appears by a provision for his widow (Navarette,
torn. iii. p. 305), on the 28th March, 1512. The period
was favourable to Ferdinand's purpose. Henry had, already,
consented to mingle rashly in the dissensions of the Conti-
nent, which finally dissipated the hoards of his father and
the resources of his kingdom ; and in this very year, an army
was despatched from England, in vessels provided by Spain,
to co-operate with his crafty father-in-law. It is now that Her-
rera (Dec. i. lib. ix. cap. xiii.) speaks of the king's anxiety
to discover the long sought strait, his views on Baccalaos, and
his wish to gather round him all the ablest Cosmographers of
the time. We are expressly told that these motives induced
him.

" A traer a su servicio a Sebastian Gaboto, Ingles, por tenir noticia que era
esperto hombre de Mar y para esto escrivio a Milort U.libi Capitan General del
Key de Ingleterra que se le embiasse y esto fiie a treze de Septembre deste anno
Sebastian Gaboto vino a Castilla y el Key le dio titulo da su Capitan, y buenas
gages, y quedo en su servicio y le mando rcsidir en Sevilla, para lo que se le or-
denasse.*"

There is no difficulty in recognising, through the disguise
of the Spanish orthography, the name of Lord Willoughby.
That nobleman is found at the head of a Commission for levy-
ing troops, dated 29th March, 1511 (Rymer, vol. xiii. p.
297), and immediately followed by a letter from Ferdinand
to Henry, dated Seville, 20th April, 1511, relative to the
proposed co-operation. Lord Willoughby landed at Plai-
sance with the English army from the Spanish vessels on the
8th June, 1512 (Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 20).

Surprise will doubtless be felt, that any misconception
should exist as to a fact so clearly established. But Herrera
is known in this country only through a wretched translation,
made about a century ago by a " Captain John Stevens,'7 re-
plete with errors, and in which many passages of the greatest
interest are entirely omitted. Amongst the rest, not a sylla-
ble of what has just been quoted is found in it. Unfortunately,
too, for the credit of those who cite Herrera, this translator
has changed the order of Decades, Books, and Chapters, and
yet given no notice that he had taken such a liberty. The
reader, therefore, who attempts to verify the references of
most English authors, will find them agreeing very well with
the book of Stevens, but furnishing no clew to the passages
of the original.

The Correspondence referred to by Herrera between Fer-
dinand and Lord Willoughby, would seem to have been

* "To draw into his service Sebastian Cabot, an Englishman, having heard of
his ability as a seaman; and with this view he wrote to Lord Uliby, Captain-Gene-
ral of the King of England, to send him over, and it was on the 13th of Septem-
ber of this year (1512) that Cabot came to Spain. The King gave.him the title
of his Captain, and a liberal allowance, and retained him in his service, directing
that he should reside nt Seville to await orders."

extant about a century ago, if we may judge from the lan-
guage used in the "Ensaio Cronologico Para La Historia
General De Florida,7' published at Madrid in 1723. This
work, though it appeared under the name of Cardenas, is
understood to have been the production of Andre Goncalez
Barcia, Auditor of the supreme council of War of the King
of Spain. In the Introduction, the author, after conjecturing
the motives which led Cabot to abandon England without re-
luctance, remarks —

"Y aunque conserve siempre la Fama de Cosmografo, no
se hico caso de el, en Inglaterra, hasta que el Rei de Espana,
por el rnes de Septembre de 1512, entendiendo de Algunas
Cosmografos que avia algun estrecho a la parte de la Tierra
de los Baccalaos y otro a occidente, escrivio a Milord Ulibi,
Capitan General de Inglaterra, le embiase a Gaboto, lo qual
egecuto luego, como cosa que le importaba poco."*

The readiness with which Lord Willoughby yielded to the
request of the Spanish monarch, and his making light of the
favour conferred, would seem to be facts that could only be
gathered from the Correspondence itself. We may presume
it to be not now in existence, or documents so curious would
doubtless have been published by Navarette.

No specific duties were, in the first instance, assigned to
Cabot; but his value was quickly discerned and appreciated.
We find him, in 1515, mentioned (Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. i.
cap. xii.) in connexion with an object, about which the King
was very solicitous — a general revision of Maps and Charts;
and in that year, Peter Martyr (Dec. iii. cap. vi.) speaks of
him as holding the dignified and important station of a Mem-
ber of the Council of the Indies. The same writer informs us

• " And though he maintained always his reputation as cosmographer, yet no
account was made of him in England; and, at length, the King of Spain, in the
middle of September 1512, understanding from cosmqgraphers that there was a
Strait in some part of the land of Baccalaos, communicating with another in the
West, wrote to Lord Vlibi, Captain-General of England, to send Cabot to him,
which he did forthwith as a thing of littk moment."

100

that an expedition had been projected to sail in March 1516,
under the command of Cabot, in search of the North- West
Passage.

• "Familiarem habeo domi Cabotum ipsum et contubernalem interdum Fbcatus
namque ex Britannia a Rege nostro Catholico post Henrici Majoris Sritannise Regis
mortem concurialis noster est expectatque Indies ut navigia sibi parentur quibus
arcanum hoc nature latens jam tandem detegatur. Martio mense annl futuri
MDXVI. puto ad explorandum discessurum. Qua: succedent tua Sancitas per
me intelliget modo vivere detur. Ex Castellanis non desunt qui Cabotum primum
fuisse Baccalorum repertorem negant, tantumque ad Occidentem tetendisse
minime assentiuntur.*"

This passage, while it proves that his talents had been re-
cognised and rewarded by the king, and that his personal
character had endeared him to the historian, also shows that
there already existed against the successful stranger, the same
malignant jealousy to which Columbus fell a victim. Unfor-
tunately for Cabot, Ferdinand died on the 23rd of January,
1516. This circumstance would seem to have put an end to
the contemplated expedition, and it is probable that in the
scenes which immediately followed, full scope was given to
that feeling of dislike and pretended distrust, which had not
dared to exhibit itself, in any marked manner, during the
king's life. Charles V., occupied elsewhere, did not reach
Spain for a considerable time. The original publication of
the three first Decades of Peter Martyr has a Dedication to
him, dated October 1516, in which the youthful sovereign is
entreated to enter at once on a consideration of the wonders of
that New World with which the work is occupied — " Come

• " Cabot is my very friend whom I use familiarly, and delight to have him
sometimes keepe me companie in my own house. For being calledout of England
by the commandment of the Catholic King of Castile, after the death of King
Henry of England the Seventh of that name, he was made one of our Council and
assistance as touching the affairs of the New Indies, looking daily for ships to be
furnished for him to discover this hid secret of nature. This voyage is appointed
to be begun in March in the year next following, being the year of Christ 1516.
What shall succeed, your Holiness shall be advertised by my letters if God grant
me life. Some of the Spaniards deny that Cabot was the first finder of Baccalaos,
and affirm that he went not so far westward." Eden's translation, Decades,
fol. 119.

101

therefore most Nobje Prince, elected of God, and enjoy that
high Estate not yet fully understood," &c. During what
may be called the interregnum, a scene of the most odious
intrigue was exhibited.

" All the great qualities of Chievres, the Prime Minister, and favourite of the
young King, were sullied with an ignoble and sordid avarice. The accession of
his master to the Crown of Spain, opened a new and copious source for the grati-
fication of this passion. During the time of Charles's residence in Flanders, the
whole tribe of pretenders to office or to favour, resorted thither. They soon
discovered that without the patronage of Chievres, it was vain to hope for pre-
ferment ; nor did they want sagacity to find out the proper method of securing
him. Vast sums of money were drawn out of Spain. Every thing was venal and
disposed of to the highest bidder. After the. example of Chievres, the inferior
Flemish. Ministers engaged in this traffic, .which became as general and avowed as
it was infamous.*"

A curious illustration of the truth of these representations
is found amongst the papers lately published by Navarette.-
A letter occurs (torn. iii. p. 307), from Charles to Bishop
Fonseca, dated Brussels 18th November 1516, which states
a representation by Andres de St Martin, that on the death
of Amerigo Vespucci, about five years before, the late king
had intended to confer on the said St Martin the office of
Pilot-Major, but that owing to accidental circumstances this
intention was frustrated, and Juan Dias de Solis appointed.
The latter being now dead, St Martin had preferred a claim
to the appointment. Charles commands Fonseca to inquire
into the facts, and also into the capacity and fitness of the ap-
plicant. We may conceive that, at such a period, the pros-
pect was a cheerless one for Cabot, previously regarded, as
has been seen, with obloquy. It is of evil omen, also, to find
in authority the intriguer Fonseca, who has obtained an in-
famous notoriety as the enemy of Columbus against whom his
most successful weapon was the Spanish jealousy of foreigners.
Finding himself slighted, Cabot returned to England.

* Robertson's Charles V. Book I.

102

CHAP. XIII.

CABOT'S VOYAGE OF 1517 FROM ENGLAND IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH-
WEST PASSAGE.

THE enterprising and intrepid spirit of our Navigator would
seem to have found immediate employment, and he is again
on the Ocean. He was aided, doubtless, -by being able to
point to his own name in Letters Patent, granted so long be-
fore by the father of the reigning monarch, whose provisions
could not, in justice, be considered as extinct.

For a knowledge of this expedition, we are indebted, prin-
cipally, to Richard Eden, that friend of Cabot, to whom a
tribute of gratitude has been heretofore paid. He published
in 1553 a work* bearing this title —

"A treatyse of the Newe India/with other new founde landes and Ilandes, as
well Eastwarde as Westwarde, as they are known and found in these cure dayes
after the description of Sebastian Munster, in his booke of Universal Cosmogra-
phie ; wherein the diligent reader may see the good successe and rewarde of noble
and honest enterprizes, by the which not only worldly ryches are obtayned, but
also God is glorified, and the Christian fayth enlarged. Translated out of Latin
into English, by Rycharde Eden. Praeter spem sub spe. Imprinted at London,
inLombarde street, by Edward Sutton, 1553."

The volume is dedicated to the Duke of Northumberland.
The checks are so many and powerful on a departure from
truth, even aside from the character of the writer, as to relieve
us from any apprehension of mis-statement. Cabot then re-
sided in England, occupying a conspicuous station. The
passage about to be quoted contains a reproach on a sea-
officer, of the time of Henry VIII., and it is not likely that
such expressions would be addressed to one who had been

* In the Library of the British Museum, title in catalogue, Munster.

103

Lord High Admiral in that reign, unless the facts were no-
torious and indisputable, particularly while many of those
engaged in the expedition were living. The following is the
language of the Dedication —

" Which manly courage (like unto that which hath been seen and proved in your
Grace, as well in forene realmes as also in this our country) if it had not been
wanting in other in these our dayes at such time as our sovereigne Lord of noble
memory, King Henry the Eighth, about the same [eighth] yere of his raygne,
furnished and set forth certen shippes under the governaunce of Sebastian Cabot yet
living, and one Sir Thomas Perte, whose faynt heart was the cause that that viage
toke none effect, if (I say) such manly courage whereof we have spoken had not
at that tyme bene wanting, it myghte happelye have come to passe that thatriche
treasurye called Perularia (which is now in Spayne, in the citie of Civile and so
named, for that in it is kepte the infinite ryches brought thither from the newe-
foundland of Peru myght longe since have bene in the Tower of London, to the
Kinges great honoure and welth of this his realme."

With this passage Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 498) properly con-
nects the language employed by Robert Thorne in 1527, in
a letter addressed to Henry VIII. The object of Thorne
(Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 212) was to urge a search for the passage in
the North, and he suggests three routes — the North -Eastern,
afterwards attempted by Willoughby — the North-Western —
and, finally, a course directly over the Pole, giving a prefer-
ence, so far as may be inferred from order in suggestion, to the
first —

" Yet these dangers or darkness hath not letted the Spaniards and Portuguese
and others, to discover many unknown realms to their great peril. Which con-
sidered" (and that your Graces subjects may have the same light) it will seem
your Graces subjects to be without activity or courage, in leaving to do this
glorious and noble enterprise. For they being past this little way which they
named so dangerous, (which may be two or three leagues before they come
to the Pole, and as much more after they pass the Pole) it is clear, that from
thenceforth the seas and lands are as temperate as in these parts, and that
then it may be at the will and pleasure of the mariners, to choose whether they
will sail by the coasts that be cold, temperate or hot. For they being past the
Pole, it is plain they may decline to what part they list.

" If they will go toward the Orient, they shall enjoy the regions of all the Tar-
tarians that extend toward the midday, and from thence they may go and proceed
to the land of the Chinese, and from thence to the land of Cathaio Oriental, which
is, of all the main land, most Oriental that can be reckoned from our habitation.
And if, from thence, they do continue their navigation, following the coasts that
return toward the Occident, they shall fall in with Malaca, and so with all the In-

104

dies which we call Oriental, and following the way, may return hither by the Cape
of Buona Speransa; and thus they shall compass the whole world. And if they
will take their course after they be past the Pole, toward the Occident, they shall
go in the backside of the Newfoundland, and which of late was discovered by your
Grace's servants, until they came to the backside and south seas of the Indies Oc-
cidental. And so continuing their voyage, they may return through the strait of
Magellan to this country, and so they compass also the world by'that way; and if
they go this third way, and after they be past the Pole, go right toward the Pole
antarctic, and then decline towards the lands and islands situated between the
Tropics, and under the Equinoctial, without doubt they shall find there the rich-
est lands and islands of the World of Gold, precious stones, balmes, spices, and
other things tliat we here esteem most which come out of strange countries, and
may return the same way.

" By this it appeareth, your Grace hath not only a great advantage o€ the riches,
but also your subjects shall not travel halfe of the way that others do, which go
round about as aforesaid."

He remarks again ?

"To which places there is left one way to discover, which is into the North;
for that of the four parts of the world, it seemeth three parts are discovered by
other princes. For out of Spaine they have discovered all the Indies and seas
Occidental, and out of Portugal all the Indies and seas Oriental: so that by this
part of the Orient and Occident, they have compassed the world. For the one
of them departing toward the Orient, and the other toward the Occident, met
again in the course or way of the midst of the day, and so then was discovered a
great part of the same seas and coasts by the Spaniards. So that now rest to be
discovered the said North parts, the which it seemeth to me is only your charge
and duty. Because the situation of this your realm is thereunto nearest and apt-
est of all others; and also for that you have already taken it in hand. And in mine
opinion it will not seem well to leave so great and profitable an enterprise, seeing
it may so easily and with so little cost, labor, and danger, be followed and ob- "
tained, though heretofore your Grace hath made thereof a proofs, and found not
the commodity thereby as you trusted, at this time it shall be no impedient. For
there may be now provided remedies for things, thea lacked, and the inconve-
niences and lets removed, that then were cause that your Grace's desire took no
full effect, which is, the courses to be changed, and followed the aforesaid new
courses. And concerning- the mariners, ships, and provisions, an order may be
devised and taken meet and convenient, much better than hitherto. By reason
whereof, and by God's grace, no doubt your purpose shall take effect. Surely
the cost herein will be nothing, in comparison to the great profit. The labour is
much less, yea nothing at all, where so great honour and glory is hoped for; and
considering well the courses, truly the danger and way is shorter to. us, than to
.Spain or Portugal, as by evident reasons appeareth.1'

It would seem impossible to doubt that the writer here puts
distinctly to Henry, as the two grounds for looking to the
North, the advantageous position of his own dominions in

105

reference to a passage in that quarter, and the fact that his
former experiment had taken that direction.

Hakluyt approached the subject under a misconception,
the source of which will presently be pointed out, that Cabot
had gone to the South on this occasion, and supposes that he
finds a confirmation of it in that part of the passage quoted
from Thome, which speaks of a change of the courses. Not
only, however, is this assumption against the evidence from
other quarters, but Thome's own words repel it. He had
just suggested a passage by the North, and then eagerly anti-
cipates and answers the objections which might be urged, and
it naturally occurs to him as the most forcible of these, that
the king had already made a proof in that quarter without
success. Could he have apprehended such an objection to
his project from a failure in the South? To suppose that he
wished to combat the presumption against the existence of a
strait arising from ill success there, will appear ridiculous, if
we note that the passage in the South had been, in point of
fact, discovered by Magellan, and is actually referred to by
Thome as affording a convenient route for the return voyage.

The words on which Hakluyt would lay this undue stress
have ample operation when, aside from the various courses
for attempting a North-West passage, here were two others
suggested, and a seeming preference given to that by the
North-East. Captain Parry took many different " courses"
with a more limited object in view.

In the reference made by Thorne to the Newfoundland,
" which of late was discovered by your Grace7 s subjects,"
he evidently treats as an original discovery that further ad-
vance to the North, which we may presume to have been
made on this occasion. The same person, in his letter to Dr
Ley (1 Hakluyt, p. 219), speaking of the passage by the
North, remarks, that he, probably, derived the " inclination
or desire of this discovery" from his father, who, " with ano-
ther merchant of Bristow, named Hugh Eliot, were the dis-
coverers of the Newfoundlands." Now, we have seen his
0

106

previous application of the epithet, which is, in truth, most
appropriate to the latest discovery. Couple this with another
fact. The name of Thome does not occur in any of the
patents. Of the two to which we shall have occasion here-
after to advert, subsequent to those of the Cabots, one is
dated 19th March, 1501, and is in favour of certain Portu-
guese, who are associated with three merchants of Bristol,
Richard Ward, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas. This
is now, for the first time, published from the Rolls in the pre-
sent volume. The last patent bears date 9th December,
1502, and is found in Rymer (vol. xiii. p. 37). The names
of Ward and Thomas are dropped, and Hugh Eliot is asso-
ciated with Ashehurst and the Portuguese. Thus the name
with which Thorne connects that of his father does not ap-
pear until this late period. We have no doubt that when,
after an interval of fifteen years, the reappearance of Cabot
called attention to this patent, which had lain dormant, Thorne
acquired from Ashehurst or his representatives the interest
of that person. Robert Thorne, the son, speaks of the two
associates, " my father, who, with another merchant of Bris-
tow, named Hugh Eliot," a language well agreeing with the
explanation suggested.

It appears from the epitaph of Robert Thorne (Stow's Sur-
vey of London, and Fuller's Worthies), that he was born in
1492, a circumstance that may assist in enabling us to sup-
pose his father at a not very advanced age in 1516.

A striking instance of the inaccuracy of Purchas, occurs
in his statement of the expression used by Thorne. He says
(Pilgrims, vol. iv. p. 1812), " Robert Thorne, in a book to
Doctor Leigh, writeth, that his father, with another mer-
chant of Bristol, Hugh Eliot, were the first discoverers of the
Newfoundlands." Had Thorne really said "first, ".he must
have intended deception ; but no such word is found either
in the letter itself (Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 219), or in Hakluyt's
subsequent reference to it (vol. iii. p. 10). The absence of
the very epithet which Purchas deemed it necessary to inter-

107

polate, in order to suit his own notion of what was meant,
forms a strong argument to prove, what is sufficiently clear
from the context, that Thome alludes to the recent discovery
made by the subjects of Henry VIII.

It may be repeated, then, that in his speculations on the
North- West Passage, Thorne says, (( And if they will take
their course after they be past the Pole toward the West,
they shall go on the back side of the Newfoundland which
of late was discovered by your Grace's subjects, until they
come to the back side and South seas of the Indies Occident-
al." Thus by advancing resolutely in the route before taken
in the North by " his Grace's subjects," the Western side of
the American Continent would be attained. Now it is re-
markable, that in speaking of the effort made under the aus-
pices of Hugh Eliot and his father, he says to Dr Ley (Hak-
luyt, vol. i. p. 219), "of which there is no doubt (as now
plainly appeareth), if the mariners would then have been
ruled and followed their pilot's mind the lands of the West
Indies (from whence all the gold cometh] had been ours, for
all is one coast as by the card appeareth and is aforesaid."
Thus we find that the frustration of the object is imputed to
those who refused to follow their pilot's wishes, and that the
golden visions of Thorne are those belonging to a successful
prosecution of the North- Western Discovery. Is it possible
to hesitate about connecting this with the language of Eden as
to the faint-heartedness of Sir Thomas Pert, and the general
opinion, in 1553, that owing to that faint-heartedness the trea-
sures of Peru were at Seville instead of the Tower of Lon-
don?

The manner in which Hakluyt and subsequent writers have
been betrayed into error with regard to this expedition re-
mains to be considered.

108

CHAP. XIV.

HAKLUYT'S ERROR WITH REGARD TO THE VOYAGE OF 1517.

HAKLUYT was under an impression that there should be taken
in connexion with this voyage a passage in the Spanish histo-
rian Oviedo, of which he found a translation in Ramusio. It
is but just that he should be fully heard on this point —

« Moreover it seemeth that Gonsalvo de Oviedo, a famous Spanish writer,
alludeth unto the sayde voyage in the beginning of the 13th chapter of the 19th
booke of his generall and natural historic of the West Indies, agreeing very well
with the time about which Richard Eden writeth that the foresaid voyage was be-
gun. The author's wordes are these, 'as I finde them translated into Italian by that
excellent and famous man Baptista Ramusius."*

After giving the Italian version, Hakluyt proceeds —

"This extract importeth thus much in English, to wit: 'That in the yeere
1517, an English rover, under the colour of travelling to discover, came with a
great shippe unto the parts of Brasill, on the coaste of the firme lande, and from
thence he crossed over unto this Hand of Hispaniola, and arrived neere unto the
mouth of the haven of the citie of S. Domingo, and sent his shipboate full of men
on shore, and demanded leave to enter into this haven, saying that he came with
merchandise to traffique. But at that very instant the governour of the castle,
Francis de Tapia, causedatire of ordinance to be shot from the castle at the ship,
for she bare in directly with the haven. When the Englishmen sawe this, they
withdrew themselves out, and those that were in the shipboate, got themselves,
with all speede, on ship-board. And in trueth the warden of the castle committed
an oversight: for if the shippe had entred into the haven, the men thereof could not
have come on lande without leave both of the citie and of the castle. Therefore
the people of the ship seeing how they were received, sayled toward the Hand
of S. John, and entering into the port of S. Germaine, the English men parled
with those of the towne, requiring victuals and things needefull to furnish their
ship, and complained of the inhabitants of the city of S. Domingo, saying that
they came not to doe any harme, but to trade and traffique for their money and
merchandise. In this place they had certaine victuals, and for recompense they
gave and paid them with certain vessels of wrought tinne and other things. And

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 499.

109

afterward they departed toward Europe, where it is thought they arrived not; for
we never heard any more newes of them."*

Herrera has an account of the visit somewhat more at
large (Dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.), and refers to the statement of
Gines Navarro, the captain of a caravel of St Domingo, who
happening to be at St John when the English vessel arrived
at that Island, went off to her, supposing her to be of his own
country. According to him, the ship was of two hundred and
fifty tons burthen, and had on board sixty men. She was
accompanied by a pinnace having two guns in her bows, with
twenty-five men armed with crossbows and wearing corslets.
The commander of the ship offered to show his instructions
from the king of England ("la instruccion que llevaba de el
Rei de Inglaterra"), and requested Navarro to proceed in
company with his own vessel to show the way to St Domingo.
The English were plentifully supplied with provisions, and
had a great quantity of woollen and linen goods with other
merchandise, for the purpose of traffic. They effected at St
John's a barter of some tin, and proceeding afterwards to St
Domingo, sent a boat ashore with a message that their object
was trade, and remained off the island for two days. The
commander of the fort sent to the authorities for instructions
.how to act, and not receiving a timely answer fired, on his
own responsibility, at the strangers, on which they recalled
their boat and went round to the Island of St John, and after
remaining some time carrying on a barter with the inhabitants
of the town of St Germain, disappeared.

The account which, according to Navarro, they gave of
themselves, was this: —

" They said that they were Englishmen, and that the ship was from England,
and that she and her consort had been equipped to go and seek the land of the
Great Cham, that they had been separated in a tempest, and that the ship pur-
suing her course had been in a frozen sea, and found great islands of ice, and that
taking a different course, they came into a warm sea, which boiled like water in a
kettle, and lest it might open the seams of the vessel they proceeded to examine

* Ib.

110

the Baccalaos, where they found fifty sail of vessels, Spanish, French, and Portu-
guese, engaged in fishing; that going on shore to communicate with the natives,
the pilot, a native of Piedmont, was killed; that they proceeded afterwards along
the coast to the river Chicora, and crossed over thence to the island of St John.
Asking them what they sought in these islands, they said that they wished to ex-
plore in order to make report to the King of England, and to procure a load of
the Brasil wood."

Such was the report of Navarro. The officer commanding
the fort was arrested, because by his precipitate conduct the
opportunity was lost of ascertaining who were the intruders,
and what their object. On the facts being reported to the
emperor, he viewed them with great uneasiness, and " wished
that in the Island of St Domingo they had proceeded in a
different manner, and either by force or stratagem got pos-
session of the vessel. He was struck with the inconveniences
likely to result from English vessels frequenting those parts,
and gave strict orders that on their again appearing, measures
should be adopted for taking them and making an example of
them."

These circumstances are adverted to, for the purpose of
showing the attention which was excited by this visit, and the
anxious examination, doubtless, undergone by Navarro who
had communicated with the strangers. When Herrera was
ordered by Philip II. to prepare his History, there were sub-
mitted to him documents of every description, even the most
minute (Decade vi. lib. iii. cap. 19) . His statement, then,
which goes thus into detail, was, probably, derived from the
Examination, and it establishes a representation, that the
Englishmen spoke of the Baccalaos as a point at which they
had touched on their return from a struggle with the perils
of the navigation further North.

There is found in Purchas (Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 855), a
" Description of the West Indies," by Herrera, being the
introduction to the history, with a remark, " This author hath
written eight Decades of the Spanish Acts in the West Indies,
which give great light to those parts, but would be too long
for this work." The influence of the passage just quoted is

Ill

curiously visible in Purchas. On reading it, he saw, at once,
that the statement of Navarro had reference to the visit
spoken of by Oviedo, and it therefore passed into his mind
that the expedition proceeded, in the first instance, to the
North. When he had occasion, however, to advert to the
circumstance afterwards, he evidently could not recollect
whence he had derived the impression, or there would have
been found a reference to Herrera in his ambitious margin,
instead of the vague assertion: "Afterwards the same Sir
Sebastian Cabot was sent, A.D. 1516, by king Henry the VIII.,
together with Sir Thomas Pert, Vice- Admiral of England,
which after coasting this Continent the second time, as I
have read, discovered the Coast of Brasil, and returned from
thence to St Domingo and Porto Rico" (vol. iv. p. 1812).

A peculiar anxiety is felt with regard to this voyage, be-
cause it bears directly on our estimate of Cabot's character.
He had taken up, with all the ardour which belongs to the
conceptions of a man of his stamp, the opinion that a North-
West passage was practicable, and we are grieved as well as
surprised, to find him apparently faltering in the pursuit.
We know from Peter Martyr, his undiminished confidence in
1515, and cannot understand why, immediately afterwards, he
should be found in a confused, rambling voyage to the South,
instead of following up his great purpose.

The examination thus far has assumed that the date given
by Ramusio, in his translation of Oviedo, and adopted by Hak-
luyt, is correct. It now remains to show that there has been
an entire misconception on this point, and that Hakluyt has
paid the deserved penalty of his folly in quoting a Spanish
book from an Italian translation.

The reference is correctly given to book xix. cap. xiii. of
Oviedo ; but on turning to the passage, he is found to repre-
sent the visit of the English ship as occurring not in 1517,
but in 1527. There are in the library of the British Mu-
seum the edition of his work published at Seville in 1535,
and the next edition, corrected by the author, published at

112

Salamanca, in 1547. In the king's library there is a copy
of the latter edition. The date given in both editions is
MDXXVII. It may be very idle to attempt to fortify the state-
ment of a writer of the highest credit, and who resided in
St Domingo at the very period in question; but the fact may
be mentioned that his narrative had not only carried him up
to this period but beyond it, for in a preceding chapter (the
vii.) of the same book, he speaks of an incident which oc-
curred in September, 1530.

As the reliance of Hakluyt is exclusively on the "famous
Spanish writer Oviedo," it might be sufficient to shift to its
proper side of the scale the weight which has been thus mis-
placed. The point, however, is one of interest, in reference
to the subsequent voyage from England, in 1527, and we may
draw to the rectification the testimony of Herrera.

That writer, it is true, affixes no date to the visit, and
while considering, at an early period, the condition of the
colonies, he adverts to this as one of the circumstances which
had led to complaint and uneasiness. This sort of grouping
is always dangerous in the hands of an ambitious and florid
historian, anxious to be relieved from a chronological detail of
isolated facts, and to treat them in combination, and in their
supposed influence on results. He has, while considering an
early incident, taken up this and others which, though pos-
terior in point of time, yet preceded the measures of pre-
caution, of which they, in succession, indicated the necessity.
The question is placed beyond doubt by another occurrence
almost contemporary. Oviedo, in the same chapter which
refers to the visit of the English vessel, adds, that about a
year afterwards ("desde a poco tiempo o en el siguiente an-
no"), a French corsair made its appearance at Cuba, guided
by a villainous Spaniard, named Diego Ingenio (" guiado
por un mal Espagnol llamado Diego Ingenio"J. This inci-
dent is mentioned by Herrera, under the year 1529, and he
states it to have taken place in the middle of October of that
year (Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. vi. chap. xii.). His next chap-

113

ter (xiii.) is occupied with the precautions taken for the secu-
rity of the Indies, and they are expressly referred to the visit
of the English and French Ships.* Thus is obtained a de-
cided, though superfluous, confirmation of the accuracy of
Oviedo.

So soon as we are assured of his real statement, the im-
probability that this visit could have been on the part of Ca-
bot's expedition occurs with irresistible force.

Is it at all likely that one who had just quitted the service
of Spain, and who knew the jealous system of exclusion adopted
with regard to her American possessions, would be found en-
gaged in a silly and confused attempt to carry on a commerce
in that quarter? Again, is it not probable that Navarro
would have recognized one whom we may presume to have
been familiarly known to the seamen of that day ? Would a
man, moreover, who had been one of the captains of the King
of Spain, and afterwards a member of the council of the Indies,
have been anxious to open a communication with the author-
ities of St Domingo ? Cabot would have known not only that
the application Was idle, but that it would subject him to the
most odious reproaches, for endeavouring to turn against Spain
the knowledge acquired by having so. recently held a confi-
dential post in her service.

This last consideration, indeed, suggests a pleasing reflec-
tion that his fame may be successfully relieved from the sus-
picion of having, even at a moment of pique, consented to
engage in such an enterprise. The pure and lofty character to
which all the incidents of his life lay claim, renders us unwil-
ling to credit what could not but be deemed derogatory. His
vindication has already, it is hoped, been made out; and
when we come, in its proper place, to a voyage from England,
in 1527, under totally different auspices, there will be seen

* '•' Con occasion de la nave Inglesa que havia llegada al Puerto de la Ciudad
de Santo Domingo de la Isla Espanola, i de los Franceses de que se ha tratado en
el capitulo precedente, el Obispo de Santo Domingo, Presidente del Audencia
hif o una Junta de todos las Estados de la Isla, adonde se confirio lo que se debia
hacer," &c.

114

the happy application of what Oviedo correctly refers to that
year. By keeping separate the clews which Hakluyt has
crossed and entangled, there will be attained, in each case, a
point from which a survey may be made with the greatest
clearness and assurance of accuracy.

115
CHAP. XV.

VOYAGE OF 1517 THE ONE REFERRED TO BY CABOT IN HIS LETTER TO
RAMUSIO.

IT being, then, certain that the expedition of 1517 had for
its object the North- West Passage, was it on the llth June
1517, that Cabot attained the point mentioned in his letter to
Ramusio ? The day of the month is given, not only in that let-
ter but again by Sir Humphrey Gilbert (iii. Hakluyt, p. 16),
from Cabot's map. Many circumstances of corroboration press
on us. When Eden speaks, in magnificent phrase, of the
opportunity lost to England of taking the lead of Spain, his
language is naturally referable, as has been said, to the frus-
tration of that great effort to find a way to Cataya which
Cabot had already essayed, and which Peter Martyr, in 1515,
expressly tells us he was on the eve of again undertaking.
In the letter to Ramusio, Cabot declares that when arrested at
67° and-a-half by the timidity of his associates, he was san-
guine of success, and that if not overruled he both could and
would have gone to Cataya. Does not Eden, then, merely sup-
ply the name of the principal object of this reproach ? Let
us refer again to the language of Thorne, which applies, we
know, to the expedition of 1517 (i. Hakluyt, p. 219), " Of
the which there is no doubt, as now plainly appeareth, if the
mariners would then have been ruled and followed their pilot's
mind, the lands of the West-Indies, from whence all the gold
cometh, had been ours." Can it be doubted that these sev-
eral passages all point to the same incident ?

In the work of Peter Martyr, written before this last voy-
age, no allusion is found to a mutiny in the North, but he
mentions expressly that in the South the expedition was stop-

116

ped by a failure of provisions. While conveying such minute
information he would hardly have failed to advert to a fact so
remarkable in itself, and bearing moreover so directly on the
question of the supposed practicability of the enterprise.

On the occasion alluded to, the lat. of 67° and-a-half had
been attained on the llth June. This could not have been
in 1497, because land was first seen on the 24th of June of that
year. With regard to the expedition of 1498, which Peter
Martyr and Gomara are supposed more particularly to refer
to, the month of July is named as that in which the great
struggle with the ice occurred. Did not Cabot, then, in-
structed by experience, sail from England earlier in the year
than on the former occasions? In order to be within the
eighth year of Henry VIII. mentioned by Eden, he must have
got off before the 22nd of April, if he sailed in 1517.

The advance on this occasion was so far beyond what had
been made on former voyages, that Thorne does not hesitate
to give to the region newly visited the designation of New-
foundland ; and it was then probably that Cabot t( sailed into
Hudson's Bay and gave English names to sundry places there-
in."*

No date is mentioned by Ramusio for the voyage alluded to
in Cabot's letter, though from his speaking of that Navigator
as having made discoveries in the time of Henry VII., the
reader might be led to refer it to that early period. One ex-
pression is remarkable. After stating Cabot's long- continued
course West with a quarter of the North, and his reaching
67° and-a-half, Ramusio says that he would have gone further
but for the "malignita del padrone et de marinari sollevati"
(the refusal of the master and the mutinous mariners). We
can hardly err in referring this allusion to Sir Thomas Pert,
" whose faint heart," according to Eden, "was the cause that
the voyage took none effect. "

* Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. i. p. 549. M'Pherson'3 Annals of Com-
merce, vol. ii. p. 12.

117

It only remains to express a hope that as the errors with
regard to this voyage had become so firmly fixed, and their
rectification was so important to the fame of Cabot, the pre-
ceding tedious detail will be excused. Dr Robertson, who it
appears by the list of authorities prefixed to his History of
America knew of Oviedo only through the Italian translation,
thus speaks of the memorable expedition :

" Some merchants of Bristol having fitted out two ships for
the southern regions of America, committed the conduct of
them to Sebastian Cabot, who had quitted the service of Spain.
He visited the coasts of Brazil, and touched at the islands of
Hispaniola and Porto Rico," &c. (Book ix. ) And in a work
of the present year (Lardner's Cyclopaedia, Maritime and In-
land Discovery, vol. ii. p. 138), it is said, " Sebastian Cabot
sailed in 1516 with Sir John Pert to Porto Rico, and after-
wards returned to Spain."

118

CHAP. XVI.

CABOT APPOINTED, IN 1518, PILOT-MAJOR OF SPAIN SUMMONED TO AT-
TEND THE CONGRESS AT BADAJOS IN 1524— PROJECTED EXPEDITION
UNDER HIS COMMAND TO THE MOLUCCAS.

THE result of the expedition of 1517, however it may have
added in England to the fame of Cabot for ardent enterprise
and dauntless intrepidity, was not such as to lead immediately
to a renewed effort. There had been a failure ; and a second
expedition might be frustrated by similar causes. The mer-
chants who were engaged in it had probably sustained a heavy
loss, and the king was at that time full of anxious speculations
about the affairs of the Continent. The horrible Sweating-
Sickness, too, which, from July to December 1517, spread
death and dismay not only through the court and the city,
but over the whole kingdom, suspending even the ordinary
operations of commerce, left no time to think of the prosecu-
tion of a distant and precarious enterprise. It is probable,
therefore, that Cabot might have languished in inactivity but
for the new and more auspicious aspect of affairs in Spain.

If the youthful successor of Ferdinand had looked into the
volume dedicated to him by Peter Martyr, containing a faith-
ful and copious account of that splendid empire in the west
to which he had succeeded, he could not fail to be struck
with the memorable enterprise of Cabot, and the estimate of
his character by that honest chronicler. The records, too,
would show the pains which had been taken to secure his
services, and the posts of honour and confidence to which he
had been rapidly advanced. It would doubtless be asked,
what had been the issue of that expedition under his com-
mand, which it appeared was to sail in March 1516. Coup-

119

ling its abandonment with what he found stated of the jealous
denial of that Navigator's merits by the Spaniards, the sa-
gacity of Charles could hardly fail to detect the secret causes
of Cabot's disappearance.

Immediate measures in the way of atonement would seem
to have been taken. In 1518 Cabot was named Pilot-Major
of Spain.*

The appointment is noted in the general arrangement and
scheme of reformation of that year, but we find it announced
again in 1520, (Dec. ii. lib. ix. cap. vii.) with the instruc-
tions of the emperor that no pilot should proceed to the Indies
without previous examination and approval by him. f Possi-
bly, therefore, the final arrangement was not concluded until
the visit of Charles V. to England in the latter year. It would
seem that there was no intermediate Pilot Major between
Juan de Solis and Cabot, for in a Royal order of 16th No-
vember 1523, relative to a charge in the time of De Solis, on
the salary of the office (Navarette, torn. iii. p. 308), Cabot
is spoken of as his successor.

The functions of this office, though of great importance and
responsibility, supply, of course, but few incidents for record.
We might expect to find the project of the North- West pass-
age revived, but many considerations were opposed to it.
The same reasons which suggested the passage in the North
as so desirable to England, on account of her local position,
would disincline Spain from the search ; and we accordingly
find, that the only feeble efforts in reference to it were those
of Cortez and Gomez on the southern coast of North America.
All eyes were directed to the South. Peter Martyr is even
impatient that attention should be turned towards Florida
where Ayllon had landed in 1523, and made a tedious report
as to its productions. " What need have we of these things

* Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. iii. cap. vii. Ensaio Chronologico para la Florida, In-
troduccion-

fDiose titulo Piloto Major a Sebastian Gaboto con orden que ningun Piloto
pasase a las Indias sin ser primero por el examinado i aprobado.

120

which are common with all the people of Europe? To the
South ! To the South! They that seek riches must not go
to the cold and frozen North" (Dec. viii. cap. x.). The
hopes of adventurers were directed to the Moluccas, through
the passage which Magellan had been fortunate enough to find
in 53°, through toils and perils so much less than those which
had been encountered in vain in the North. The next men-
tion we find of Cabot, is a reference to his opinion (Herrera,
Dec. iii. lib. iv. cap. xx.), as to the existence of many islands
worthy of being explored, in the same region with the Mo-
luccas. Seeing that the spirit of enterprise had taken this
direction, he seems to have looked to it as affording a chance
of more active employment than his present office. An in-
cident soon brought him conspicuously forward in connexion
with this region.

Portugal had interposed an earnest representation that the
Moluccas fell within the limits assigned to her under the Pa-
pal Bull, and she remonstrated, in the strongest terms, against
any attempt on the part of Spain to carry on a commerce
in that quarter.* The emperor decided, therefore, that a
solemn conference should be held, at which the subject might
be fully discussed and an opportunity afforded to Portugal of
stating her pretensions. The son of Columbus, Ferdinand,
was also present, f

In attendance on this remarkable assemblage, were the men
most famed for their nautical knowledge and experience ; not
as members, but for the purpose of reference as occasion might
arise. At the head of a list of these, we find the name of
Cabot. $ The conference was held at Badajos, in April 1524,
and on the 31st May the decision was solemnly proclaimed,
declaring that the Moluccas were situate, by at least 20°,
within the Spanish limits. The Portuguese retired in disgust,
and rumours immediately reached Spain, that the young king
of Portugal was preparing a great fleet to maintain his pre-

* Peter Martyr, Dec. vi. cap. bt. f Peter Martyr, Dec. vi. cap. x.

* Gomara, cap. c.; Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. vi. cap. vi. ; Eden, Decades, fol. 241.

121

tensions by force and to take and destroy any vessels which
might be found presuming to urge a commerce in that quarter.* *

Immediately after the decision, a company was formed at
Seville to prosecute the trade which had received so high and
solemn a sanction, ahd Cabot was solicited to take the com-
mand. f One of the parties to the association was Robert
Thome of Bristol, then resident in Spain, who with his part-
ner was led into the adventure, " principally," as he says,
" for that two English friends of mine, which are somewhat
learned in cosmographie, should go in the same ships to bring
me certain relation of the country, and to be expert in the
navigation of those seas.J Itf September, 1524, Cabot re-
ceived from the council of the Indies permission to engage in
the enterprise, and he proceeded to give bond to the Com-
pany for the faithful execution of his trust. § His original
request was, that four ships properly armed and equipped
should be provided at the expense of the Treasury, while tjjg
Company on its part should supply the requisite funds for the
commercial objects. || The agreement with the emperor was
executed at Madrid on 4th March, 1525, IT and stipulated that,
a squadron of, at least, three vessels of not less than one hun-
dred tons should be furnished, and one hundred and fifty
men.** The title of Captain General was conferred on Ca-
bot. The emperor was to receive from the Company four
thousand ducats and a share of the profits.

It was proposed, instead of pushing directly across the Pa-

li * Peter Martyr, Dec. vi. cap. x.

f Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

t Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 215. We may conjecture one of these to have been Jorge
Sarlo (George Barlow), who, with another, brought to Spain Cabot's Despatch
from the La Plata (Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.).

§ Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vi.

a ib.

f Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

*" Peter Martyr, Dec. vii-cap. vi. Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii. Gomara
says two hundred and fifty, but his assertion has no weight against the concurring
testimony of the two Historians cited, one a member of the Council, and the other
referring to official documents.

. Q

122

cific, after penetrating through the Strait, as, Magellan had
'done, to proceed deliberately and explod|jpn every side, par-
ticularly the western coast of the Continent.*

The 'arrangement at first was, that the expedition should
sail in August, 1525;f but it was delayed by circumstances te
which it may be proper now to advert as bearing on its ulti-
mate fate.

* Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vi-
t Ib.

;

123

CHAP. XVII.

in r

JEALOUSY OF THE CONTEMPLATED EXPEDITION ON THE TART OF PORTU-
GAL MISSION OF DIEGO GARCIA, A pbRTUGUESqUJ

Ix order to understand fully the circumstances which con-
spired to throw vexatious obstacles in the way of the expe-
dition, and in the end to defeat its main object, we must go
back fi| the voyage of Magellan that first opened to Spain a
direct communication with those regions of which Portugal
had before monopolised the lucrative commerce.

No sooner did the project 'of that intrepid navigator Be-
come known in Portugal than the utmost alarm was excited.
Remonstrances were addressed to the government of Spain ;
threats and entreaties were alternately used to terrify or to
soothe the navigator himself, and assassination was openly
spoken of as not unmerited by so nefarious a purpose. Find;
ing these efforts vain, a tone of bitter derision was adopted.

The Portuguese said, that the king of Castile was incurring
an idle expense, inasmuch as Magellan was an empty boaster,
without the least solidity of character, who would never ac-
complish what he had undertaken."*

Had Magellan perished a month earlier than he did, tlpse
contemptuous sneers would have passed into history as de-
scriptive of his real character. There is every reason to be-
lieve, that he fell a victim to the treachery infused into the
expedition ; and the pilot, Estevan Gomez, who openly urged
retreat after a considerable progress had been made in the

* Decian los Portugueses que el Rei deuastilla perderia el gasto porque Her-
nandOjde Magallancs era hombre hablador, i de poca substancia, i que no saldria
con Id que prometia." Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. iv. cap. x.

124 JP-

Strait, was, we know/ a Portuguese.* The conduct of the
Portuguese authorities to the surviving vessels was marked by
cruelty and rapacity; and even the gentle spirit of Peter
Martyr breathes indignation. Official notice-was received
that the ship Trinity had been captured and plundered
the Portuguese, and that this had been followed up by their
going to the Moluccas, taking possession of them, and seizing
property "of every description.

"The Pilots and King's servants who are safely returned, say that both robbe-
ries and pillage exceed the value of two hundred thousand ducats, but Christo-
phorus de Haro especially, the General director of this aromatical negociation,
under the name of Factor, confirmeth the same. Our senate yieldeth great credit
to this man. He gave me the names of all (tie five ships that accompanied the
Victory, and of all the Mariners, and mean Officers whatsoever. Arid incur
senate assembled he showed why he assigned that value of the booty or prey,
because he particularly declared how much spices the Trinity brought.

"It may be doubted what Caesar will do in such a case. I think he will dissem-
ble^lhe matter for awhile, by reason of the renewed affinity, yet though they
were twins of one birth, it were hard to suffer this injurious loss to pass unpun-
I ished."f

In reference to the voyage of Cabot, the? alarm of the Por-
guese would seem to have been yet more serious ; for they
saw in it not a doubtful experiment, but a well concerted com-
mercial enterprise. The emperor was besieged with impor-
tunities ; the King of Portugal representing that it would be
" the utter destruction of his poor kingdom," to have his mo-
nopoly of this trade invaded. $ The honest historian is per-
suaded^ that though a tie of consanguinity existed between
the two monarchs by their common descent from Ferdinand
and Isabella, and though the Emperor had given his sister
Catherine, " a most delicate young lady of seventeen," in mar-
riage to the King of Portugal, a step "so injurious to the
kingdom of Castile, the chief sinews of his powe'r," as the
arrest of the expedition, would not be taken. §> So far as

* Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. ix. cfp. xv. Purchas, vol. i. B. i. ch. ii.
f Peter Martyr, Dec. viii. cap. x.
j Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap! vii.
^ § Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vii.

125

endearing domestic ties could influence such a matter, the
apprehension here^fmplied was to be yet further increased.
A negotiation was going on for the Emperor's marriage to
Isabella, the sisjfeer of the King of Portugal, and the ceremony
took place in March, 1526. The dowry received was nine
hundred thousand crowns, and rumours, in the course of the
treaty, were current that one of the articles of the double
alliance stipulated an abandonment of the Moluccas. Passing
onward with the subject, it may be stated that early in 1529
the emperor relieved himself from all difficulty by mortga-
ging the Moluccas to the King of Portugal for three hundred
and fifty thousand ducats, with the right of exclusive trade
until redemption.* This step- .excited the utmost disgust in
Spain, and it was openly said that he had better have mort-
gaged Estremadura itself. He would listen, however, to no
representations on the subject. A proposition having been
made to pay off the mortgage money, on condition that the
applicants should have six years enjoyment of the trade, the
Emperor, then in Flanders, not only rejected the offer, but
sent a message of rebuke to the council for having entertained
it. Aside from private feelings, he doubtless, as a politician,
thought it unwise to put in peril an alliance so intimate and
assured for any commercial purpose, unconnected with the
schemes of ambition by which he was engrossed.

Matters, however, had not reached this crisis before Cabot
sailed ; and the intense anxiety of Portugal could, therefore,
look only to the indirect efforts at frustration, for which the
intimate relations of the two countries might afford opportu-
nities.

In all the accounts of Cabot's enterprise given by the Span-
ish historians, reference is found to an expedition under the
command of a Portuguese,! named Diego Garcia, which left
Spain shortly after Cabot; touched at the Canaries, as he had

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. v. cap. x.
| Herrera, Dec. Hi. lib. x. cap. i.

126 — I" % ,

done; found its way to the La Plata; fix^it|elf in his neigh-
bourhood ; and, finally, by the misconduTOif 'certain persons
connected with it, brought on a general and overwhelming
attack on Cabot, from the natives, who had previously, by$fe
mixture of boldness and good management, been brought into
alliance with him. Charlevoix (Histoire dii Paraguay, torn,
i. p. 28) supposes that Garcia was employed avowedly by
Portugal; but according to Herrcra (Dec. iii. lib.^x. cap. i.j, v
the expedition was fitted out by the Count D. Fernando de
Andrada and others, for the La Plata, and consisted of a ship
of one hundred tons, a pinnace, and one brigantine, with the
frame of another to be put together as occa£i0n might require.
One great object was to searck'for Juan de Cartagena, and the
'French priest whom Magellan had put onfshore. Garcia left
Cape Finisterre on the 5th of August, 1 526, ..and touching at
the Canaries (where Cabot had been) took in supplies and
sailed thence the 1st of September.

These plain matters of fact have been recently mis-stated,
In Dr Lardher's Cyclopaedia (History of Maritime and Inland
discovery, vol. ii. p. 89), it is said, " Diego Garcia was sent
with a single ship to the river of Solis ; but as he lingered on
his ivay at the Canary Islands, he was anticipated in his dis-
coveries by Sebastian Cabot. That celebrated Navigator had
sailed from Spain a few months later than Garcia," £c.
Cabot sailed in April 1526. The fact is important, 'because
had he left Spain under the circumstances stated, he could
not have been ignorant of the claim of Garcia, under a grant,
as is alleged, from the emperor, and his going to the same
quarter would have been both fraudulent and absurd. His
manifest ignorance on the subject corroborates the suspicion
that, on finding the intrigues to arrest Cabot ineffectual, this
expedition, under the command of the Portuguese, was hastily
got up to watch his movements, and probably to act in con-
cert with the disaffected, with an understanding as to certain
points of rendezvous in case the mutineers should gain the
iiastery. ft is important, to note that in Peter Martyr, whose

127

work embraces the early part of 1526,* no reference is made
to any projected expedition to the quarter for which, as it is
now said, Garcia was destined.

At Decade iv. lih. i. cap. i. Herrera resumes his abstract
of Garcia's report. That personage is now off the coast of
Brasil. He touched at the Bay of St Vincent, and there
found a Portuguese of the degree of Bachelor, from whom he
received refreshments, and whose son- in- law agreed to accom-
^B^y him to the La Plata. In running down the coast he
touched at the island of Patos (now St Catherine) in 27°,
where Cabot had beef|J>efore him, and, as. Garcia asserts, had
behaved in a very shameful manner, carrvins; off the sons of

several chiefs who had treated him with great kindness. Pro-
ceeding up tli^La-Plata, Garcia found the ships which Cabot,
on ascending the river, had left under the charge of an offi-
cer. He resolved to follow in his brigantine , and here we
are let intjkhe character of this personage. While at St
' -Vincent, he had hired, to his host the Bachelor, the ship of a
hundred tons, to carry eight hundred slaves to Portugal ; and
" to colour," says Herrera, " his covetousness, he said, that
he had protested to the Count Don Fernando de Andrada, that
the vessel was useless, being much too large for the naviga-
tion and discovery of the La Plata.";); Thus, with the blind-
ness of an absurd prejudice, has the author consented to
spread upon his pages all the malignant invective of this man
against Cabot — to make it a part of the History of the Indies
— and yet he winds up; at last, by telling us of Garcia's fraud,
and of the falsehood by which it was sought to be disguised !
The Portuguese, in order to break the force of indignation
against himself, evidently laboured to turn the resentment of
his employers on Cabot, by whom they supposed their views

* He speaks of the marriage of the Emperor with the sister of the King1 of
Portugal, which tookj^ce in March, 1;>

f " Para dar colofc'iresta codicia, dixo que havia protestado al Conde Don Fer-
nando de Andrada que no le diese esta nave pdrque era mui grande e inutil para
la navegacion i descubrimiento del Rio de la Plata." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i.
cap. i.

128

to have been thwarted. One reflection is obvious. If this
man could be seduced from his duty by the Portuguese
Bachelor, we may presume that the agents of Portugal had
no great difficulty in negotiating with him and inducing him
to give his voyage a turn to suit their purposes. Even sup-
posing his employers, then, honest and sincere, we have no
assurance that he did not act from sinister motives. We shall
meet Garcia again in the La Plata.

There is another circumstance, somewhat posterior in point
of time, but which serves to show the anxious expedients to
which Portugal did not disdain to resort, even at the expense
of its dignity. A Portuguese, named Acpsta, returned with
Cabot from Brazil, and immediately afterwards the king of
Portugal was detected in an unworthy correspondence with
him.* It is remarkable, also, that the complaints of the mu-
tineers whom Cabot put ashore were brought to Spain by a
Portuguese vessel. f

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. x. cap. vi.
| Ib. Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.

129

CHAP. XVIII.

INTERFERENCE WITH THE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE VOYAGE MENDEZ

APPOINTED SECOND IN COMMAND CONTRARY TO THE WISHES OF CABOT
DE ROJAS THE SEALED ORDERS — PREJUDICES OF THE SPANISH HIS-
TORIANS EXPEDITION SAILS.

Ix a letter dated November, 1525, Peter. Martyr* speaks of
the expedition as at length about to sail. It was doomed,
however, to yet farther delays ; and even in matters of detail
the presence of an evil spirit is but too obvious.

Three ships were provided by the Emperor, to which a
small caravel was added by an individual. f The principal
authority over the arrangements would seem to have been ex-
ercised by certain agents or deputies (disputados) named by
the freighters. They controlled Cabot, in every particular ;
and it is obvious, therefore, that the fate of the expedition
lay in their integrity or corruptibility. The whole sum which
the company had at stake is stated to have been only ten thou-
sand ducats.

The leading subject of difference between Cabot and these
persons, as appears by the meagre accounts left to us, was as
to the person who should fill the office of Lieutenant-General.
Cabot was anxious for the appointment of his friend De Rufis;
but the choice of the agents fell on Martin Mendez who had
been in one of Magellan's ships as Treasurer (contador), a sit-
uation bearing, it may be presumed, an analogy to the present
office of Purser. They are said to have made the selection on

* Decade viii. cap. ix.

t Such is the account of Herrera, confirmed by Robert Thome. Writers who
make a different statement (Charlevoix, for example, in his Histoire du Paraguay
torn. i. p. 25) have been misled by looking- to the original requisition of Cabot
instead of the limited force finally placed under his command.

130

account of their differences with Cabot.* These disputes
rose to such a height that the Emperor was urged to appoint
another commander. When it is stated that this same Martin
Mendez was one of those expelled from the squadron, for mu-
tiny, by Cabot who afterwards justified himself to the Empe-
ror for having done so, we not only see the irksome position
in which he was placed, but will, probably, deem the efforts
to get rid of him the highest compliment to his energy and
incorruptibility. A hollow compromise was at length effected
by a provision, on paper, that Mendez should take part in
nothing which was not expressly committed to him by Cabot,
and never act except in the absence or disability of the chief. -f
Thus, with regard to an officer to whom the commander
should be able to look, at every turn, for confidential counsel
and cordial co-operation, the utmost that Cabot could procure
was a stipulation that he should preserve a sullen indifference,
and not be actively mischievous.

A number of young men of family, animated by the love of
adventure, joined the Expedition, and amongst them three
brothers of Balboa.

There are two personages destined to act, with Mendez, a
conspicuous part, and who may therefore be here mentioned.
The first was Miguel de Rodas, a sort of supernumerary, to
whom no particular post was assigned, but who is stated to
have been a man of great valour and nautical experience, and
to have enjoyed the favour of the emperor. J The other was
Francisco de Rojas, captain of one of the ships, the Trinidad.
Though a slight difference is perceptible in the names, they
would seem to have been brothers, for, at a subsequent period, §
in speaking of the leading conspirators, these two are describ-

* " Los disputados de los armadores par diferendas que con el General avion tenido
quisieron que fuesse Martin Mendez y no Miguel de Runs a quien pretendia llevap
eneste cargo Sebastian Gaboto." Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

f"Que no se occupasse sino en las cosas que el General le cometiese, y estando
ausente o impedido, y no de otra manera porque le llevaba contra su voluntad. "
Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

$ Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

§ Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i.

131

ed, with a yet further variation, as " los dos hermanos Roxas
i Martin Mendez" ("the two brothers Roxas and Martin
Mendez"),

The most extraordinary part,- however, of the arrangement,
consisted of the Sealed Orders, of which a copy was given to
each vessel.* We are not informed at what time they were
to be opened, but from the nature of their contents we may
infer that it was to be done immediately on getting to sea, and
from the sequel we may infer how idle would have been any
inj unction of forbearance. Provision was therein made for the
death of Cabot, and eleven persons were named on whom, in
succession, the command in chiet' was to devolve. Should this
list be exhausted, a choice was to be made by general vote
throughout the squadron, and in case of an equality of suf-
frages the candidates were to decide between themselves by
casting lots ! At the head of the list are found the three in-
dividuals just mentioned. It is remarkable that Gregario
Caro, the captain of one of the ships and who is afterwards
found in command of the fort in the La Plata when Cabot as-
cended further up the river, stands last on this list, after all
the treasurers and accountants. This person is subsequently
statedf to have been a nephew of the Bishop of Canaria, and
seems to have acted throughout with integrity.

It would be difficult to imagine a scheme better calculated
to nourish disaffection. Each individual of note found a pro-
vision by which he might be brought into the chief command,
and was invited to calculate the chances of its reaching him
through the successive disappearance of his predecessors on
the list ; and the crews, while under the pressure of severe
discipline, not only saw a hope of bettering their condition by
a change, but at each step approached nearer to the clause
which placed the supreme power in their own gift. A con-
tingency thus provided for they knew must have been deemed,
at home, within the range of possible occurrences, and they

* Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii,
fib. Dec iv. lib. i. cap. i.

132

would have little disposition to let the precaution be found a
superfluous one.

While there exist so many causes for misunderstanding
Cabot's conduct, and motives for misrepresenting it, the wri-
ter, unfortunately, whose statements have since been adopted
almost without question, prepared his history under circum-
stances little inclining him to impartiality. The Decades of
Peter Martyr terminate before the sailing of the expedition,
and the venerable author complains, at the close, of the in-
firmities which then pressed on him in his seventieth year.
The next work — that of Gomara — appeared in 1552, shortly
after Cabot had abandoned the service of Spain, and returned
to his native country. Charles V., in 1549, had made a for-
mal, but ineffectual, demand on Edward VI. for his return.*
That Gomara had his eye on him in this new and invidious
position is evident^ because in speaking of the conference at
Badajos he incidentally mentions Cabot as one of the few sur-
vivors of those who had been present on that occasion (cap.
C.). In a work, therefore, dedicated to the Emperor, we are
not to look for a vindication of our navigator from the calum-
nies which might be current to his disadvantage; and we find,
accordingly, every allusion to him deeply tinctured with pre-
judice. The mutineers, of whom a severe example was made,
had enjoyed a high reputation at home, and were doubtless
able to raise a clamorous party. Those who fitted out the
expedition of Garcia, were led to regard Cabot invidiously,
and when it is added that the mercantile loss of his.own em-
ployers would unavoidably lead, on the part of some, to re-
proachful criticism, however unmerited, wre see. at once that
his reputation lay at the mercy of a writer ready and eager to
embody the suggestions of disappointment or malevolence.

But our patience is exhausted by the long detention of the
expedition. It sailed at length in the beginning of April,
1526,.t

• Strype's Memorials of the Reformation, vol. ii, p. 190.

t Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. Herrera, Dec. Hi. lib. ix. cap. iii. Robert Thome
(1 Hakluyt, p. 215). There has been a general misconception on this point in

133

English compilations, attributable, probably, to the wretched version of Herrera
by Stevens, which names April 1525 (Stevens' Translation, vol. iii. p. 380), in
defiance of the work it professes to translate. The same mistake is found in
Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, and the source of the author's error becomes
manifest by his incautious citation of Herrera. The reference given is totally in-
applicable to the original work, but corresponds exactly with the new and arbi-
trary distribution of Decades, books, and chapters by Stevens. In most recent
works the date is mis-stated, amongst the rest by Mr Southey (History of Brasil,
p. 52), and by the Quarterly Review (vol. iv. p. 459). The former writer, speak-
ing of this voyage in 1526, infers from Cabot's being called Pilot-Major, that
Americus Vespucius who had held that office was "probably" then dead (p. 52),
a singular remark, as it is well known that Vespucius died fifteen years before.
He was succeeded, as we have seen, by Juan Dias de Solis. Cabot's appoint-
ment as Pilot-Major in 1518, his attendance at Badajos, &.C., are altogether un-
noticed in the pretended translation of Stevens !

134

CHAP. XIX.

COMPLAINTS IN THE SQUADRON PRETENDED CAUSES OF DISSATISFACTION

MUTINY QUELLED BY THE ENERGY OF CABOT HAPPY RESULTS

HIS CONDUCT JUSTIFIED TO THE EMPEROR RIDICULOUS CHARGES SUG-
GESTED BY THE PORTUGUESE, DIEGO GARCIA.

WE look for an explosion as the vessels quit the shore. It
would seem, however, that the train was prepared to burn
more slowly. The Squadron is seen to move on steadily and
in silence, but beneath the fair and smiling canvass we know
there is dark treachery.

In attempting to pierce the obscurity which veils the scenes
that follow, and to place ourselves by the side of Cabot, we
have unfortunately to rely on those whose very purpose is
disparagement. Yet to that quarter we do not fear to turn,
and have at least an assurance that we shall find whatever the
most malignant industry could collect.

Something is said by Herrera as to a scarcity of provi-
sions, owing, as far as he will speak out, to their injudicious
distribution amongst the vessels. Now it is quite inconceiv-
able that in an expedition prepared for the circumnavigation
of the globe there should have been found this deficiency on
the coast of Brasil, and the fact, moreover, would be disgrace-
ful to the commanders of the other vessels, and to the" agents
at home. It is obvious that While nothing is more unlikely
than such improvidence on the part of Cabot, it would be easy
for disaffected officers to circulate amongst the men complaints
of scarcity, and thus refer the odium of a limited allowance
to the Commander-in-Chief.

We hear, also, that he did not take sufficient pains to soothe
the angry feelings which had been excited at Seville.* Then

'.The whole p9«5«qg-e has th^t air of vpgrieness so characteristic of falsehood.

135

it seems that dissatisfaction arose not from any thing occurring
during the voyage, but from continued brooding over antece-
dent griefs. Doubtless, Martin Mendez, of whose imiitness
Cabot had made a representation, and against whose mischiev-
ous intermeddling he had been forced to obtain a stipulation,
was in no very complacent mood, even if we put out of view
the probability of his having been tampered with by the Por-
tuguese. The complaint, too, that Cabot did not sufficiently
exert himself to make others forget the late angry discussions,
comes from the very persons who broke out into open mutiny,
and whose statements, embittered by a recollection of the se-
vere punishment inflicted on them, compose our evidence.
It might be superfluous to add a word to this explanation, yet
the remark cannot be forborne, that if there be one trait in
the character of Cabot more clearly established than another,
it is the remarkable gentleness of his deportment; and in every
reference to him, by those who had enjoyed a personal inter-
course, there breaks forth some endearing form of expression
that marks affectionate attachment.

But pretexts will never be wanting where a mutinous tem-
per exists. The squadron was running down the coast of
Brasil when it seems to have been thought necessary to bring
matters to a crisis. Murmurs became general and vehement.
The Lieutenant-General Mendez, De Rojas, and De Rodas
were louder than the rest in blaming the government of Ca-
bot.* In a word, relying on the clamour they had raised, it
is plain that these men now broke out into open insolence, pre-
suming that disaffection would thus reach its height, and a
new arrangement take place conformably to the indication of
the Sealed Orders.

The situation of Cabot would to one of ordinary stamp have

"Porque le falt<5 la victualla porser mal repartida y como por las diferencias de
Sevilla, iban algunos animos mal satisfechos y el tuvo poco cuydado en sossegarlos
nacieron murrnuraciones y atrevimientos en el armada." Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix.
cap. iii.

* " Teniente de General, Martin Mendez, al Capitan Francisco de Rojas y' a
Miguel de Rodas porque demas que les tenia mala voluntad, con libertad repre-
hendian su govierno." Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii. )

136

been appalling. The three persons highest in authority, and
to whom he ought to have been able to look for support at such
a crisi^ had artfully, and in concert, fomented discontent,
and were now ready to place themselves at its head. He was
in the midst of those who disliked and undervalued him as a
foreigner. There were but two of his own countrymen on
board. De Rojas, he might anticipate, had made sure of his
own crew of the Trinidad, and De Rodas, a man of varied'
service and high reputation, was likely to rally round him the
confidence and enthusiasm of the spirited young cavaliers,
volunteers in the expedition. Cabot had performed no mem-
orable service for Spain. There now comes over us, too,
almost with dismay, what before had scarcely excited atten-
tion. The Spaniards, Peter Martyr said, denied that Cabot
had achieved what he pretended, even in the service of Eng-
land. Such an insinuation could not have escaped the eager
malevolence of those now around him. Here then was ex-
ercised, harshly and haughtily, over Castilians, an authority
yielded, incautiously, to the adroit falsehoods of the English
adventurer !

But Cabot belonged to that rare class of men whose powers
unfold at trying moments. There seems to belong to com-
mand on the Ocean a peculiar energy, the offspring of incess-
ant peril and of that very insolation which throws the brave
man on himself, and leads him to muse habitually over all the
exigences that may, on a sudden, task to the uttermost his
fortitude or his intrepidity. Cabot saw that his only safety
lay in extreme boldness. He was no longer, as with Sir
Thomas Pert, a mere guide in the career of discovery. A
high responsibility was on him. He knew that by a daring
exercise of that rightful authority, to which habit lends a moral
influence, men may be awed into passive instruments, who,
but the moment before, meditated fierce mutiny. His deter-
mination was instantly made, and well justified that reputation
for dauntless resolution borne back to Spain and to England
from this expedition. He seized De Rojas — took him out of
his ship the Trinidad— and placing him with Mendez and de

137

Rodas in a boat, ordered the three to be put on shore. The
scene was one of deep humiliation ; and these men long after-
wards are found dwelling with bitterness on the indignity, in
their memorial to the Emperor.* The effect was instant.
Discord vanished with this knot of conspirators. During the
five years of service through which the expedition passed, full
as they were of toil, privation, and peril, we hear not the
slightest murmur ; on the contrary, every thing indicates the
most harmonious action and the most devoted fidelity.

Curiosity runs eagerly forward to learn the view taken by
the Emperor of this high-handed measure. It can only be
inferred from circumstances, for there is no account of any
formal trial. That a thorough investigation took place cannot
be doubted. Miguel de Rodas had been in the Victory, the
ship of Magellan's squadron which effected the circumnavi-
gation of the globe, had received from the Emperor a large
pension for life, and a device for his Coat of Arms, commemo-
rative of that achievement.! Martin Mendez had been in
the same ship, and the device prepared for him is of a yet
more flattering description.^ It was doubtless found, with-
out going into the question of Portuguese bribery, that their
accidental association with so memorable an enterprise, had
given to them a reputation quite beyond their merit, and that
these very marks of distinction, and a certain feeling as vete-
rans, had led to an insolent assumption which rendered it in-
dispensable for Cabot to vindicate the ascendancy due to his
station and to his genius. By a Portuguese vessel the three
mutineers gave notice of their situation, and complained in
the bitterest terms of the conduct of Cabot. § The Emperor
sent orders to have them conveyed to Spain in order that
justice might be done. Hernando Calderon and Jorge Barlo
despatched by Cabot, afterwards reached Toledo, and made re-

* "Con tanta afrenta suia." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.
f Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. iv. cap. xiv.
i Ibid.

§ Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.
S

138

port of all that had taken place. The emperor yielded to the
solicitations of Cabot for succour and permission to colonise the
country (Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.), and the merchant
adventurers declining to co operate in what had ceased to be
a mercantile speculation, the Emperor undertook to bear the
whole expense himself (Dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. xi.). As we
never hear of any censure on Cabot, and know that he after-
wards resumed his high and honourable office in Spain; and
that when, long after, he went to England, the Emperor ear-
nestly solicited his return, we cannot doubt that his vindica-
tion was complete.

A singular proof here occurs of the disingenuousness of
the Spanish historians. It is manifest, that Cabot could not
have escaped the sharpest rebuke, and punishment, without
making out a clear justification of his conduct ; yet, while not
a syllable is given of his statement, which must, from the
result, have triumphed, all the disparaging suggestions that
malignity could invent, and the falsehood of which must have
•been established at the time, are eagerly detailed. There
can only be wrung from Gomara a cold acknowledgement that
the voyage was frustrated, i( not so much, as some say, by his
fault, as by that of his associates.77*

It might be superfluous, under such circumstances, to ex-
amine these allegations, yet they are on their face so improba-
ble, that we may safely advert to them, even in the absence
of Cabot's Defence.

It is asserted, that at the island of Patos (the present St
Catherine's), where he was treated with the utmost kindness
by the inhabitants, and took in refreshments, he basely seized
the sons of some of the principal chiefs and carried them
forcibly away. This story is taken from the report of the
Portuguese, Diego Garcia, who, although denounced for fraud
on his own employers, is considered a good witness against
Cabot. He represents himself to have subsequently visited

* " No tanto, a lo que algunos dicen, por su culpa como por la de su gente."
Gomara, cap. Ixxxix.

139

the island, and to have been very graciously received, not-
withstanding the recent outrage. This last circumstance is
not the least of the improbabilities involved in his tale, for
putting that out of view, as well as the polluted source from
which the charge proceeds, let us consider its claims to
credit. The seizure is represented to have taken place not
on the return, but on the outward voyage. What, then, was
the object of so wanton a piece of cruelty? But further, the
orders of the Council of the Indies were peremptory that no
violence should be used. Peter Martyr (Dec. viii. cap. x.),
speaking of the expedition of Gomez in 1524, adverts with
indignation to his having brought away a number of natives,
and expressly states it to be in violation of the standing orders
of the Council. Now, Cabot had been, as early as 1515, a
member of that Council, was familiar with the orders, and
instrumental in framing them. He was in Spain when Go-
mez returned, and knew of the indignation excited by the
abduction. Is it at all likely, then, that he would subject
himself to a similar rebuke without any conceivable motive?
It is remarkable, that in Cabot's own instructions to Sir Hugh
Willoughby, long afterwards, we recognise the analogy to
those of the Council of the Indies, for while he enjoins every
effort, by gentleness, to get a thorough knowledge of the
natives, he expressly forbids the use of " violence or force"
(§. 23 of Instructions, Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 228).

We must advert again, **more particularly, to the indigna-
tion which, in 1524, Peter Martyr expresses at the conduct
of Gomez.

" Contrary to the laws made by us, that no violence should
be offered to any nation, he freighted his ship with people of
both sexes taken from certain innocent half-naked nations, who
contented themselves with hovels instead of houses. "*

It is with this historian that Cabot is found on terms of inti-

* " Contra Leges a nobis dictatas ne quis ulli gentium vim afferat, ab innoc-
cutibus quibusdam seminudis populis magalibus pro domibus contentis," &c.
(Dec. viii. cap. x.)

140

macy more than ten years before, and the good old man speaks
of him as one of a congenial temper, or as Eden and Hakluyt
have it, " Cabot is my very friend whom I use familiarly and
delight to have him sometimes keep me company in my own
house.77 At the moment of his penning the denunciation of
Gomez, Cabot was his associate with the ripened friendship of
the intermediate years. Yet Mr Southey (History of Brazil,
p. 52) has not only consented to echo the calumny of a vile
Portuguese convicted of fraud and falsehood, but adds this
coarse and cruel invective — " Cabot touched at an island on
the coast called Ilha dos Patos, or Duck Island, and there took
in supplies ; requiting the good will which the natives had
manifested with the usual villainy of an old discoverer, by
forcibly carrying away four of them." And the same writer
(ib.) denounces, as "an act of cruelty,77 the energetic pro-
ceeding by which Cabot quelled the mutiny, and probably
saved his own life.

Another item of criticism is derived from the report of the
same Portuguese, Diego Garcia. He sailed from the Cana-
ries on the first September, and before he reaches the Cape
de Verd Islands a boast is uttered of his superior skill in the
choice of a route. So earnest is the wish to make this im-
pression, that we are again told he proceeded from the Cape
de Verds "for Cape St Augustine [on the coast of Brazil],
which he places in eight degrees ten minutes of Southern
latitude, and this route, on account' of the great currents from
the rivers of Guinea, which drive the ships to the North-
West, is perilous, and Sebastian Cabot did not know how to
take advantage of it (as has been already said), because though
he was a great Cosmographer, he was not so great a Sea-
man."*

* " Fue en demunda del Cabo de San Augustin, que este Piloto pone en ocho
Grados, i unsesmo de Grado de la Vandadel Sur, de la otraparte de la Equinoc-
tial. Y este Camino, por la grandes corrientes que salen de los Rios de Guinea,
que baten los Navios a la Vanda del Norueste es peligroso ni le supo tomar Se-
bastian Gaboto (como se ha dicho) porque aunque era gran Cosmografo, no era tan
gran Marinero." Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. x- cap. i.

141

Now first as to the facts. Garcia's criticism seems to be
that Cabot stood across the Atlantic before he got as far South
as the Cape de Verd Islands. That this very, point had been
the subject of anxious deliberation we learn from Peter Mar-
tyr, (Dec. vii. cap. vi.) " Cabot will set off in the next month
of August, 1525. He departs no earlier, because things ne-
cessary for an enterprise of such importance cannot be pre-
pared, nor by the course of the heavens ought he to begin his
voyage before that time ; as he has to direct his course towards
the Equinoctial when the sun," &c.*

It might be supposed, perhaps, that the vexatious delays
had caused some change of the route originally projected ;
but so far is this from the fact, Herrera tells us expressly —

" After many difficulties Sebastian Cabot departed in the
beginning of April of this year (1526), &c. He sailed to the
Canaries and the Cape de Verd Islands, and thence to Cape St
Augustine,77 &c.f

Thus he took the very route in which Garcia followed!
Even supposing Herrera to be mistaken, and to have describ-
ed the course originally resolved on at Seville, instead of that
which Cabot actually pursued, the latter would only be found,
in avoiding the Cape de Verds, opening a path which is more
generally followed in modern times. Take it either way, the
impudence and absurdity of the cavil are palpable. Yet note
the manner in which an English writer of reputation has
caught it up.$

" Cabot7s conduct in this voyage did not give satisfaction,
and was thought unequal to the high reputation he had ac-

* "Est Cabotus, Augusto mense proximo anni MDXXV. discessurus, nee citius
quidem quia nee prius queunt ad rem tantum necessaria parari nee per coelorum
cursus debet prius illud iter inchoari ; oportet quippe tune versus Equinoctium
vela dirig-ere quando Sol," &c.

t "Despues de muchas dificultades partio Sebastian Gaboto a los primeros de
Abrit de este afio (1526), 8tc. Fue navegando a las Canarias y a las Islas de Cabo
Verde, y despues al Cabo de San Agustin." Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii.

if " A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific
Ocean, &c. By James Uurney, Captain in the Royal Navy," vol. i. p. 162.

142

quired. The Spanish writers say of him (!), that he was a
better cosmographer than a mariner or commander."

Wearied as the reader may be, we must advert to anoth
sneer of this Portuguese. In ascending the La Plata, Cabot
proceeded with deliberation, examining carefully the country,
and opening a communication with the different tribes on its
banks. This was of course a work of time as well as of labour
and peril. When Garcia arrived, he proceeded hastily up
the river, and boasts that "in 26 days he advanced as far as
Sebastian Cabot had done in many months."* The folly of
this idle vaunt has not deterred Herrera from making it a part
of the History of the Indies ; and it has found a ready place
with English writers.

We might, indeed, be almost led to believe in a concerted
plan, on the part of his countrymen, to defame this great nav-
igator, were not the causes of misconception obvious. To
some the perfidious translation of Stevens has proved a snare,
and the few who proceeded further have been led, by an im-
perfect knowledge of the language, to catch at certain leading
words and phrases, readily intelligible, and thus to present
them apart from the context, which, in the original, renders
the calumny harmless and even ridiculous.

* Hen-era, D£C. iv. lib . i. cap. i.

143

CHAP. XX.

CABOT ENTERS THE LA PLATA NECESSITY FOR CAUTION — HIS PREDE-
CESSOR AS PILOT-MAJOR KILLED IN ATTEMPTING TO EXPLORE THAT

RIVER CARRIES THE ISLAND OF ST GABRIEL HIS PROGRESS TO ST

SALVADOR WHERE A FORT IS ERECTED ITS POSITION LOSS IN TAKING

POSSESSION.

CABOT was left in the neighbourhood of the La Plata at the
moment when, by a determined effort, he "shook to air" the
mutiny that sought to fasten on him.

It is plain, that after expelling the three individuals who,
in the event of his death, were named, in succession, to the
command in chief, he would not have been justified in pro-
ceeding, with the squadron which the Emperor had confided
to him, on the long and perilous voyage originally contem-
plated. He determined, therefore, to put into the La Plata
and send advice of what had occurred. His predecessor in
the office of Pilot-Major, Diego de Solis, had been slain in
attempting to explore this river; Cabot now resolved to renew
the experiment.

An additional reason for postponing, until further orders,
the prosecution of the enterprise was the loss, by shipwreck,
of one of the vessels. This fact is mentioned by Richard
Eden (Decades, fol. 316), who has a chapter on the region
of the La Plata in which he adverts to the expedition, in
terms* that bespeak the reports conveyed to England, prob-
ably, by Robert Thome, then at Seville, and his two friends
who were engaged in it. He states the loss of the vessel, and

* "The Emperoure's Majestie and Kynge of Spayne Charles the fifte, sente
forthe Sebastian Cabot (a man of great courage and skylfull in Cosmographie, and
of no lesse experience as concernynge the starres and the sea) with command-
ment," 8tc.

144

that "the men that saved their lyves by swymmynge were
receaved into the other shyppes."

It is the more necessary to understand the considerations by
which Cabot was influenced, as in a recent work (Dr Lard-
ner's Cyclops&dia, History of Maritime and Inland Discovery,
vol. ii. p. 89), the following strange assertion is found amidst
a tissue of errors: "On touching at the mouth of the river
in which Solis had lost his life, Cabot found two Spaniards
who had deserted from that Commander, besides fifteen other
stragglers from subsequent expeditions. All these men con-
curred in representing the country up the river as singularly
rich in the precious metals, and easily persuaded Cabot to
proceed in that direction !" Not the slightest allusion is made
to the mutiny, or to the loss of one of the vessels. Thus, an
Officer in command of the Emperor's squadron with specific
orders, and under bond, moreover, to the merchants of Se-
ville, is represented as abandoning his duty and becoming an
easy dupe to the idle stories of some runaways!

At this point we have again to deplore the loss of Cabot's
Maps. One of them described his course up the La Plata,
and would seem to have been made public, for Eden (Decades,
fol. 316) says, " From the mouth of the river, Cabot sayled
up the same into the lande for the space of three hundreth
and fiftie leagues, as he wryteth in his own Carde" This
statement is the more important, as the extent of his progress
has been singularly misrepresented.

In the Conversation reported by Ramusio, and usually con-
nected with the name of Butrigarius the Pope's legate, Ca-
bot is made to say that he sailed up the La Plata more than six
hundred leagues.* This is the passage, it may be remember-
ed, which the Biographic Universelle could not find in Ra-
musio. Eden correctly translates it (Decades, fol. 255), but
Hakluyt, who adopts his version with anxious servility up to
this point, has "more than six score leagues !" (vol. iii. p. 7)
thus furnishing a new proof of his utter faithlessness. The

* " Et andai all' insu per quello jn'u de secento leghe." Ramusio, torn. i. fol. 415.

145

exaggeration of the original, as honestly given by Eden, pre-
pares us for Ramusio's remark, to which reference has already
been made, that he could not pretend to trust his memory
about the exact terms of the Conversation. Hakluyt, by an
arbitrary and absurd reduction, not only obscures this pre-
sumptive evidence of general error, but leads us to infer — as
such matters are usually over-rated— that, in point of fact,
Cabot did not proceed so far. It will appear, presently, that
there was no exaggeration- in the statement of the "Card."

The career on which Cabot was now entering demanded
circumspection as well as courage. De Solis with a party of
fifty men had bfeen fiercely assailed and cut off, the bodies of
himself and his companions devoured by the ferocious natives,
and the survivors of the expedition, who witnessed the scene
from the ships, had left the river in dismay, and returned to
Spain with the horrid news.* In accompanying Cabot we
take Herrera as our principal guide (Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap.
iii.). Running boldly up the river, which is to this day the
dread of navigators, he reached a small island about half a
league from the Northern shore, nearly opposite the present
Buenos Ayres, and gave to it the name of Gabriel, which it
yet bears. It is a short distance from Martin Garcia's island,
so called after the Pilot of De Solis who was buried there
(Eden's Decades, fol. 316). The natives had collected and
made a very formidable show of resistance, but Cabot, ac-
cording to Eden, "without respect of peril, thought best to
expugneitbyone meanesor other, wherein his boldness tooke
good effecte as oftentymes chaunceth in great affayres" (Eden,
fol. 316).

At this island Cabot left his ships, and proceeding seven
leagues further in boats, reached a river to which he gave the
name of St Salvador. As it offered a safe and commodious
harbour, he returned and brought up the ships, but was

* Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. i. cap. vii. Peter Martyr, Dec. iii. cap.-x. Gomartj*
cap. Ixxxix. " Lo mataron; i comieron con todes las Espanoles que saco, i aun
quebraron el batel. Los otros que de los Navios miraban, alcaron anclas i vclas,
sin osar tomar venganca de la muerte de su Capitan."

146

obliged to lighten them at the entrance of the river. Here
he erected a Fort.

It is obvious, on looking at a map of this reign^and com-
paring it with the statement of Hen-era, that tne river spo-
ken of might be either the Uruguay, which, on the right,
takes a* northern direction, or one or the various streams into
which the Parana is broken by the islands at its mouth. Ca-
bot would hardly follow the Uruguay, because it evidently
struck into Brasil, and, at a much higher point of ascent, he
is found avoiding, expressly for that reason, a great river on
the right hand. In speaking of the position occupied by his
ships he states it,¥ according ' to Herrera, to be on the Brasil,
meaning the northern side of the river, a mode of designa-
tion, which, supposing him, as we reasonably may, to have
been aware of the general course of the great stream discov-
ered by De Solis, would not Distinguish atiy position up the
Uruguay, both sides of which were equally 'within that re-
gion, according to the distribution with reference to which
he spoke. But the position of St Salvador is conclusively
settled by information from another quarter. In Hakluyt
(vol. iii. p. 729), is "a Ruttier for The River Plate." The
pilot who prepared it gives the various methods of striking
the mouths of the Parana in proceeding from the island of
Martin Garcia. A caution is interposed — " and if you fall
into the mouth of the river which is called the Uruay you
must leave it on the fight hand ." He adds that all the mouths
of the Parana, which are five in number, have their eastern
termination infested with shoals for an extent of more than
two leagues. Describing one of the routes more particularly,
Ae says, " From the isle of Martin Garcia unto St Salvador,
is nine or ten leagues. This is an island which standeth two
leagues within the first mouth, ivhere Sebastian Caboto took
possession." The pilot, it will be seen, gives the name of
St Salvador, not to the river, but to a port. Cabot himself
does the same, for in describing the assault finally made on the
upper fort by the natives, he speaks <jf a similar attack on

147

the port of St Salvador, where the ships lay.* It seems
certain, then, that the first position fortified by Cabot was in
the most northern mouth of the Parana, on an island about
two league?! from where it reaches the La Plata. On the map
of Louis Stanislaus d"Arcy de la Rochette,f this most north-
ern avenue is divided inte two parts, the upper of which is
designated as " Rio Paca," and the lower, that issues into the
La Plata, as " Rio Naranjos." St Salvador was, of course,
situated on the latter, or perhaps on the stream next in ord^er
to the south, which also communicates with the Rio Paca and
thus forms with the Rio Naranjos a considerable delta. In a
Memoir drawn up by Lopez Vaz, a Portuguese, and taken
with the author by the fleet sent forth in 1586 by the Earl q£
Cumberland, the for.t where Cabot left his ships is said to be
then standing. Its distance from the sea is, however, mis-
stated either by him or the translator (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p.

It is desirable to fix this first point of occupation, not only as
a matter curious in itself, but because Cfoarlevoix (Histoire du
Paraguay, torn. i. p. 27), with his usual wild inaccuracy,
would throw the whole subject into confusion. He repre-
" sents Cabot to have finally left the ships at the island of St
Gabriel, and proceeded in boats up the Uruguay, by mistake,
and he imagines two reasons why such a blunder was commit-
ted. He does not even allow the Uruguay to have been the

* "Lomesmo hizieron de la poblkcio^que avian hecho en el puerto que
Hainan de S. Salvador adonde estaban los navios" (Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii.
cap. xi.).

f " Colombia prima or South America, in which it has been attempted to de-
lineate the extent of ouwknowledge of that continent, extracted chiefly from the
original manuscript Maps of His Excellency, the late Chevalier Pinto; likewise
from those of Joao Joaquim da Rocha, Joao da Costa Ferreira, El Padre Fran-
cisco Manuel Sobreviela, &c. And from the most authentic edited accounts of
those countries. Digested and constructed by the late eminent and learned Geo-
grapher, Louis Stanislas D'Arcy de la Rochette. London, published by William
Faden, Geographer to His Majesty and to His Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales, June 4th, 1807-" This Map is in the Topographical Department of the
King's Library, British Museum.

148

St Salvador, but makes it one of the tributaries of that river
a considerable distance up the stream.

In order to avoid the tedious interruption of the narrative,
one other probable misconception was not adverted to at the
moment. It has been assumed, with Herrera, that Cabot left
his vessels at the island of St Gabriel, and proceeded thence
in boats. More probably, however, the island of Martin
Garcia was the one intended. Eden says expressly (fol. 316),
that De Solis was killed in attempting to take possession of the
island of Martin Garcia, ai»d that it was the same'afterwards
carried by Cabot. We must bear in mind that Herrera is
giving, somewhat loftily and reluctantly, the details of an expe-
dition to which he attache.s little importancevand he might not
care for minute accuracy. He saw the name of Gabriel confer-
red by Cabot, and did not choose, perhaps, to occupy the page
of his History with describing the further progress of six
leagues before the ships were quitted. The account of Eden,
who approached the subject in a ^different temper, is confirmed
by other considerations. The island is spoken of by Herrera
as one standing by itself. Now the St Gabriel is a group $f
small islets, correctly stated in the " Ruttier" to be five in num-
ber. But still more conclusively : Cabot's report, «s given by
Herrera, states that seven leagues from the island at which
he left his ships, he came to the mouth of a river, which he
called St Salvador, and to which he afterwards brought up
his ships. Now the " Ruttier" spSaks of the position at St
Salvador, as nine leagues in all from the island of Martin
Garcia, two of which being up the St Salvador, there is, of
course, an exact correspondence. The St Gabriel group, on
the contrary, is correctly stated in the " Ruttier" to lie six
leagues lower down than the island of Martin Garcia. While
the statement of Eden produces greater harmony in the ac-
counts, the position of the fort is not contingent on success
in this reconciliation, but seems conclusively settled by the
language of the "Ruttier."

149

An incident is mentioned by Gomara,* but without the
* attendant circumstances, as occurring at this point, from which
it would appear that theaposition was not gained without
resistance. The natives killed and carried off two Spaniards
but declared,, in a spirit of fierce derision, that they would
not eat them, as they were soldiers, of whose flesh they had
already had a specimen in De Solis and his followers!

* Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. "En el puerto de San Salvador que es otro Rio quar-
enta leguas arriba, que entra en el de la Plata, le mataron los Indios dos Espanoles
i no los quisieron comer diciendo que eran Soldados que ia los havian probado en
Solis i sus companeros." * *„

150

CHAP. XXI.

CABOT PROCEEDS UP THE PARANA— ERECTS ANOTHER FORT CALLED SAN-
TUS SPIRITUS, AND AFTERWARDS FORT CABOT ITS POSITION CON-
TINUES TO ASCEND— CURIOSITY OF THE NATIVES AS TO THE EXPEDITION
PASSES THE MOUTH OF THE PARANA ENTERS THE PARAGUAY SAN-
GUINARY BATTLE THIRTY-FOUR LEAGUES UP THAT RIVER— THREE
HUNDRED OF THE NATIVES klLLED, WITH A LOSS TO CABOT OF TWENTY-

FIVE*OF HIS PARTY MAINTAINS HIS POSITION GARCIA ENTERS THE

RIVER INTERVIEW WITH CABOT MISTAKES OF CHARLEjVOIX, &C.

CABOT RETURNS TO THE FORT lt SANTUS SPmiTUS.".'

HAVING completed the Fort, and taken every precaution for
the safety of the ships at St Salvador, "Cabot resolved to as-
cend the Parana. Leaving, therefore, a party under the
command of Antonio de Grajeda, he proceeded in the boats
and a caravel cut downrfor the purpose. The point at which7
he next paused and built a second Fort, is not a matter of doubt.
It was on the south bank of the Parana, near a river called
by the natives Zarcaranna or Carcaranna. This name was
subsequently changed by the Spaniards into Terceiro. On
the map of De la Rochette, already referred to, and also on
that of Juan de la Cruz Canoy Olmedilla,* it is designated at the
early stages ^s Terceiro, but lower down, gathering strength,
it re-assumes the aboriginal title. The Fort stood not immedi-
ately on the bank of this river but some miles further up the

* " Mapa Geografica de America Meridional dispuesto y gravado por de Juan
de la Cruz Canoy Olmedilla, Geogfo. Pensa°- de S. M. Individuo de la Rl. Academia
de Sn. Fernando, y de la Sociedad Eascongada de los Amigos del Pais ; teniendo
presentes varios mapas y noticias originales cori arreglo d observaciones astrono-
micas Ano de 1775. Este Mapa de los Dominios Espanoles y Portugueses en
America Meredional, es una copia literal y exacta de un Mapa Espanol mui raro ;
compuesto y gravado en Madrid, &no 1775, de orden del Key Espana, por Dn- Juan
de la Cruz Cano y Omedilla, Geofo- Pedo- de S. M. C. Londres, Publicardo por
Guillermo Faden, Geografo del Rey, y del Principe de Gales, Enero 1. de 1799."

151

4-»

Parana, as appeal's by the earliest maps, and by the small but
admirable one of D'Anville, in vol. xxi. of the " Letters, Edi-
fiantes et curieuses."* On the great map of De la Rochette
its position is marked with much precision. There is laid
down the " Cart Tload" from Buenos Ayres to Sante Fe,
which passes through El Rosariowb& S. Miguel; then comes
"el Rincon de Caboto, Fort destroyed ;" then Calcachi, and,
a little beyond this last, the river Monge. The same repre-
sentation is made, substantially, by Juan de la Cruz Canay
Olmedilla. The only remark of Cabot with regard to the na-
tives of this quarter which Herrera repeats is, that they were
intelligent (" gente de buena razon").

He left in this fort a garrison under the command of Gre-
gorio Caro, who had commanded the Maria del Espinar, one
of the ships of the squadron, and proceeded in person further
up the river. His force must now have been inconsiderable,
consisting, as it did, originally, of only one hundred anjl fifty
men, increased perhaps by the gentlemen volunteers. Be-
side! the loss of three principal officers, and inevitable mortal-
ity, he had weakened his numbers by leaving garrisons in
two forts. Yet his plan was, undoubtedly, a prudent one of
thus forming points on which .he could fall back, in case of
disaster, and break the force and rapidity of a rush towards
the vessels. Herrera furnishes no account of his intermediate
movements until he reaches the Parana. The incidents whidh
occurred during that long and interesting route are therefore
unknown, except from a slight glimpse given in the conver-
sation reported in Ramusio. In ascending the river, Cabot is
there represented as " fyndynge it every where verye fayre
and inhabited with infinite people which with admyration
came runnynge dayly to oure shyppes."t

* "Lettres Edifiantes et curieuses ecrites des Missions Etrangers par quelques
Missionairea de la Campagnie de Jesus." The work is in the King's Library,
British Museum (title in Catalogue Epistolx).

•\ Richard Eden's Decades, fol. 255. The original in Ramusio, torn. 5. fol. 415.
"Trovandolo sempre bellissimo et habitato da infiniti popoli che per maraviglia
correvano a vedermi."

152

On reaching the junction of the Parana and Paraguay, he
saw that the direction of the former was to Brasil, and, there-
fore, leaving it on his right he ascended thirty -four leagues up
the other.

The region on which he was now entering presented a new
aspect. For the first time, the natives were found engaged
in the cultivation of the soil, and, with the feeling that springs
from exclusive property, they regarded the strangers with
jealousy. The tribes in this quarter are marked, both on the
old and the recent maps, as distinguished for ferocity and as
the deadliest enemies of the Spaniards and Portuguese. A
collision soon took place. Three of Cabot's men having, in-
cautiously, strayed from the main body to gather the fruit of
the palm tree, were seized by the natives. ^ There followed
a fierce and very sanguinary battle. Three hundred of the
natives were killed, and Cabot lost twenty-five of his party.*
He would seem to have maintained his position, for, among
the incidents occurring below, to which it is time to turn, we
find the commander of the lower fort apprised, by letter, of
what had taken place.

The Portuguese Diego Garcia now re-appears in the nar-
rative of Herrera. That personage, who had left Spain in
August 1526, after touching at the Canaries and Cape de
Verds proceeded to the coast of Brasil, and is found in January
1527f at the Abrolhos shoals. He visits the Bay of All Saints,
the Island of Patos (now St Catherine), all places at which
Cabot had touched, and finally the La Plata. We are now
without dates, except that in ascending the river Good Friday
is mentioned as the day of his departure from Santus Spiri-
tus.J Of his previous history nothing is known, except from
the anecdote told by Herrera of the fraud on his employers in
hiring the principal vessel to the slave-dealer at Cape Vincent.
We might charitably conclude that he was looking for Juan

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap.
t Ib., Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i.
tlb., Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i.

153

de Cartagena and the French priest ; but, unfortunately for
his fair fame, those persons were put on shore by Magellan,
at Port St Julien, in Patagonia., some fifteen degrees to the
southward of the La Plata. •

He found the ships of Cabot at St Salvador, as we left
them, under the charge of Antonio de Grajeda, whose anx-
ious vigilance was increased by a letter just received from
Cabot, announcing the bloody affair above, and probably sent
down with the wounded. Grajeda, seeing strangers approach,
supposed that they were the mutineers whom Cabot had put
on shore, the two brothers Roxas and Martin Mendez.* Un-
der this impression, he manned his boats, and proceeded in
force against them. At the moment of collision, Diego Gar-
cia caused himself to be recognized, and the parties returned
amicably together to St Salvador. Garcia here sent away his
ship to fulfil the contract about the slaves, and brought his
remaining small vessels to St Salvador, which was found, on
examination, to offer the most secure harbour. Proceeding up
the river with two brigantines and sixty men, he reached the
Fort of Santus Spiritus, and required the commander, Gre-
gorio Caro, to surrender it, as the right of discovery belonged
not to Cabot, but to himself, under the orders of the Empe-
ror. The answer of Caro was, that he held the Fort in the
name of the Emperor and of Sebastian Cabot ; but that he
was willing to render it useful, in any way, to the new-comers.
He begged, as a favour, of Garcia, that if, on ascending the
river, he found that any of the Spaniards had been taken, he
would use his efforts to ransom them, " because, although he
knew that Cabot had defeated the Indians, yet it was imposs-
ible but that some must have been taken. "f It is plain, from

* Here occurs the expression from which it is inferred, that the two mutineers
whose names are so nearly alike were brothers, " vieron dos naos de Sebastian
Gaboto cuio Teniente era Anton de Grajeda que salio con ciertos Canoas i un
Batel armados pensando que eran los dos Hermanos Roxas i Martin Mendez, que
iban contra el porque Sebastian Gaboto, por inquietos, los havia clexado en una
isla desterrados entre los Indios." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i.

•J- " Porque aunque sabia que Sebastian Gaboto havia desbaratado los Indios era
imposible que no huviesen peligrado algunos." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i.

154

these expressions, that Cabot was known to have made good
his stand. Caro personally pledged himself to the repayment'
of whatever Garcia might find it necessary to advance in the
way of ransom; and he begged, if Cabot had fallen, that Gar-
cia would not leave them in that country.*

On arriving at the junction of the Parana and Paraguay,
Garcia, instead of proceeding to support Cabot, turned into
the former river, about which he makes a report that Her-
rera declines to insert, as Nunez Cabeca de Vaca had subse-
quently examined it with greater care. At length, he reached
the Port of Santa .Ana, the name given by Cabot to his last
position. Herrera, although not accurate as to distances, de-
termines the place of meeting, by stating it to have been
where the Indians had killed twenty-five Spaniards ; and hav-
ing his own authority for fixing that point thirty-four leagues
up the Paraguay, we may suppose that Cabot, after chastising
the natives, had come to a good understanding with them.
He'was employed, as we shall hereafter have reason to con-
clude, in diligently collecting information about the region
from which had been brought the precious metals that he saw
in this quarter.

Of the circumstances attending the interview at Santa Ana
nothing is known ; but Garcia, doubtless, repeated the remon-
strance which he had addressed to the commander of the fort.

It was not in the character of Cabot, or consistent with his
standing in Spain, to struggle for lawless, or even doubtful,
power, and he descended the river in company with Garcia.

In the absence of any evidence as to these points, imagina-
tion has been drawn upon. Charlevoix, as has been already
stated, supposes Garcia to have been sent into the La Plata
by the Captain- General of Brasil, thus betraying an entire
ignorance of the precise statement of Herrera, and of the fact
that there was no such officer as he speaks of, until many

* "Que si hallase muerto a Sebastian Gaboto le rogaba que no los dexasse
alii." Ib.

155

years after. To suit this main fiction, he fabricates a series of
collateral incidents equally unfounded and ridiculous.*

* " Gabot vit arriver a son Camp un Capitaine Portugais nomine Diegue Gar-
cias lequelavoit etc envoie par le Capitaine General de Bresil pour reconnoitre le
pais et en prendre possession au nom de la Couronne de Portugal mais qui n'avoit
pas assez de monde pour executer sa Commission malgre les Espagnols, qu'il ne
s'etoit pas attendu de trouver en si grande nombre sur les bords du Paraguay.
Gabot deson cote fit reflexion qu'il nepourroit jamais empecher les Portugais de se
rendre maitres du pays si ils y revenoient avec des forces superieures que la prox-
imite du Bresel leur donnoit le moien d'y faire, entrer en peu de terns; sur quoi il
prit le parti de faire quelques presens a Gar das pour I' engager a le suivre au Fart
du S. Esprit. II y reussit!" &c. &c.

156

CHAP. XXII.

CABOT'S REPORT TO CHARLES v. — ITS PRESUMED CONTENTS— PROSPECT

WHICH IT HELD OUT PERU CONTEMPLATED IN HIS ORIGINAL PLAN OF

1524 SPECIMENS FOUND BY CABOT OF THE PRECIOUS METALS OBTAINED

THENCE BY THE GUARATs'IS EMPEROR RESOLVES ON A GREAT EXPEDI-

TION HIS PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS PIZARRO OFFERS TO MAKE

THE CONQUEST OF PERU AT HIS OWN EXPENSE — REFLECTIONS THE

NAME RIO DE LA PLATA NOT CONFERRED BY CABOT MISREPRESENTA-
TION ON THIS AND OTHER POINTS.

ON returning to the Fort of Santus Spiritus, Cabot made ar-
rangements to convey to the Emperor intelligence of his dis-
coveries. He prepared, also, a comprehensive statement of
the incidents which had occurred since he left Seville, and of
the circumstances which compelled him to abandon the expe-
dition originally contemplated. This report is referred to
by Herrera 5* b*ut while all the calumnies of Cabot's enemies
are repeated, he furnishes, as has been before remarked, no
part of the vindication which must have been conclusive.
This document is probably yet in existen'ce amongst the ar-
chives of Spain.

The bearers of the communication were Hernando Calderon,
and an individual designated by Herrera in one place as Jorge
Barlo, and in another as Jorge Barloque, conjectured to have
been one of the two English gentlemen, friends of Thorne,
who accompanied the expedition, and whose name, probably
George Barlow, has undergone a slighter transformation than
might have been anticipated.

Of the hopes and prospects which this communication held
out we are ignorant ; and only know that the Emperor re-

* Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. i.

157

solved to fit out a great expedition, but that the execution of
his intention was unfortunately too long delayed.

It may well be imagined that the expectations of Cabot had
been raised to a high pitch, and that he eagerly solicited per-
mission and means to follow up the enterprise. He had reach-
ed the waters which, rising in Potosi, fall into the Paraguay,
and had, doubtless, ascertained the quarter to which the na-
tives were indebted for those ornaments of the precious metals
which he saw about their persons. Even from the fort on
the Parana, the obstacles between him and Peru present no
very formidable difficulty to the modern traveller. That he
had his eye on that empire, the riches of which Pizarro was
enabled, a few years afterwards, to reach by a different route,
may be inferred from the care with which he is found collect-
ing information, and the obvious facilities which they disclose.
In an abstract given by Herrera of Cabot's final report to the
emperor, there occur the following passages: —

"The principal tribe of Indians in that region are the Guaranis, a people war-
like, treacherous, and arrogant, who give the appellation of slaves to all who
speak a different language." " In the time of Guaynacapa, King of Peru, father
of Atabilipa, these people made an irruption into his dominions, which extend
more than five hundred leagues, and reached Peru, and after a most destructive
progress, returned home in triumph," Sec. "Cabot negotiated a peace with this
tribe! By friendly intercourse he came to learn many secrets of the country, and
procured from them gold and silver which they had brought from Peru," &c.*

It had been a part j[?f Cabot's original plan, as stated by
Peter Martyr, to visit the western coast of America ; " Hav-
ing passed the winding Strait of Magellan, he is to direct
his course to the right hand in the rear of our supposed Con-
tinent/*' " He will scour along all the South side of our sup-

* "La relacion que hico al Rey fue que la mas principal generacion de Indios
de aquella tierra son los Guaranis, gente guerrera, traydora y sobervia, y que
llaman esclavos a todos los que no son de su lengua." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii.
cap. xi. "En tiempo de Guaynacapa, Rey de el Peru, Padre de Atabilipa, salieron
grandes companias y caminando por todos las tierras de su nacion, que se es-
tenden mas de quinientas leguas llegaron a tierra del Peru y despues de aver
hecho grandes destruyciones se bolvieron vitoriosos a su naturaleca." — Ib. "Y
haviendo hecho Sebastian Goboto la Paz con esta generacion, &c. con el amitad
destos supo muchos secretes de la tierra y huvo de ellos oro y plata de la que
traian del Peru."

158

posed Continent, and arrive at the Colonies of Panama and
Nata erected on those shores, the bounds of the Golden Cas-
tile, and whosoever at that time shall be governor of that pro-
vince called Golden Castile is to give us intelligence of his suc-
cess."* Cabot now found himself within striking distance of
these regions, and the intelligence received quickened his
eagerness to reach them. The intervening obstacles were
nothing to his restless activity and indomitable spirit, and
the opposition to be encountered not worth a thought when he
knew that a war- party of the savages, whom his own little band
had so severely chastised, were able to overrun the Empire of
Peru and carry off its treasures.

But however well disposed the Emperor might be to .yield
a ready belief to the representations of Cabot, the means were
absolutely wanting to furnish the promised aid. The only
key to this part of the history of Charles V. , is a recollection
of his struggles with pecuniary embarrassment. The soldiers
of Bourbon had mutinied for want of pay, and were brought
back to duty only by the great personal exertions and influ-
ence of their chief, and by the hope of plunder ; and even
after the sack of Rome, they refused to quit that city until
the arrears due to them should be discharged, " a condition,"
says Dr Robertson,f "which they knew to be impossible."
During the very year in which Cabot's messengers arrived,
the Cortes had refused the grant of money solicited by the
Emperor. $ We have already had occasion to advert to the
mortgage of the Moluccas to Portugal in 1529, as security for
a loan, to the infinite chagrin of his Castilian subjects. Pi-
zarro had the advantage of being able to employ personal im-
portunity, and he asked no money. On 26th July 1528, the
Emperor yielded to that adventurer a grant of the entire range
of coast, which it had been part of Cabot's plan of 1524 to
visit. At his own expense Pizarro engaged to raise a large
force, " and to provide the ships, arms, and warlike stores
requisite, towards subjecting to the Crown of Castile the

* Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vi.
f Life of Charles V., book v.

159

country of which the government was allotted to him."* He
proceeded at once to the task, though it was not until Feb-
ruary 1531 that he was enabled to set out from Panama on his
successful, but infamous, career.

It were idle to indulge the imagination, in speculating on
the probable result had the expedition to Peru been conduct-
ed by Cabot. With all the better qualities of Pizarro, it is
certain that the very elevation of his moral character must
have stood in the way of that rapid desolation, and fierce ex-
action, which have made the downfall of the Peruvian Em-
pire a subject of vulgar admiration. In- following Pizarro,
the heart sickens at a tissue of cruelty, fraud, treachery, and
cold-blooded murder, unrelieved even by the presence of
great danger ; for after the resistance at the island of Puna,
which detained him for six months, no serious obstacles were
encountered. Even the Guaranis, who had achieved an easy
conquest over the ' imwarlike Peruvians, in the preceding
reign, were guiltless of the atrocities which marked his pro-
gress. Of one thing we may be certain. Had the conquest
fallen to the lot of Cabot, the blackest page of the History of
Spanish America would have been spared. The murder of
the Inca, to gratify the pique of an illiterate! ruffian, forms one
of the most horrid images of History. It was no less impolitic
than atrocious, and roused the indignation even of the des-

* Robertson's History of America, book vi.

•j- " Among all the European Arts, what he admired most was that of reading
and writing ; and he long deliberated with himself, whether he should regard it as
a natural or acquired talent. In order to determine this, he desired one of the
soldiers who guarded him, to write the name of God on the nail of his thumb.
This he showed successively to several Spaniards, asking its meaning; and to his
amazement, they all, without hesitation, returned the same answer. At length
Pizarro entered ; and on presenting it to him, he blushed, and with some confu-
sion was obliged to acknowledge his ignorance. From that moment, Atahualpa
considered him as a mean person, less instructed than his own soldiers; and he had
not address enough to conceal the sentiments with which this discovery inspired
him. To be the object of a barbarian's scorn not only mortified the pride of Pi-
zarro, but excited such resentment in his breast, as added force to all the other
considerations which prompted him to put the Inca to death." (Robertson's Hist-
America.

160

peradoes who accompanied Pizarro. The career of Cabot
who, at the Council Board of the Indies, had been a party to
the order forbidding even the abduction of a Native, could
not have been stained by crimes which make us turn with
horror from the guilty splendour of the page that records them.
Reverting to the Despatch of Cabot to the Emperor, it re-
mains to notice a charge against him of having conferred the
name of Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, with a view to
colour his failure, and to encourage deceptive hopes. Now
Gomara, who wrote half a century before Herrera, tells us
expressly that this designation was given by the original dis-
coverer, De Solis (cap. Ixxxix.).

" Topo con un grandissimo Rio que los Naturales Hainan Paranaguaca, que
quiere decir Rio como Mar o Agua grande; vido en el muestra de Plata, inombrolo
de ella." ("He fell in with an immense river which the natives called Paran-
aguaca, that is to say, a river like the sea or great water ; he saw in it specimens of
silver, and named it from that circumstance."')

Thus in a work dedicated to the Emperor, we find the
origin of that name which Cabot is represented to have fraud-
ulently conferred so long afterwards for the purpose of mis-
leading him!

The same statement is made by Lopez Vaz (Hakluyt, vol.
iii. p. 788), " The first Spaniard that entered this river and
inhabited the same, was called Solis, who passed up a hundred
leagues into it, and called it by the name of Rio de La Plata,
that is to say. The River of Silver"

Herrera gives a somewhat different account. In the chap-
ter* devoted to Garcia's expedition, he says after speaking of
the precious metals obtained by Cabot,

" Tambien Diego Garcia huvo alguna cantidad de Plata de los Indies, desde
donde se llamo este Rio de la Plata porque fue la primera que se traxo a Castilla
de las Indies, i era de la que los Indies Guaranis traian en planchas i otras piecas
grandes de las Provincias del Peru."*

* Hen-era, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i. " Diego Garcia also obtained some portion of
silver from the Indians, whence it was called Rio de La Plata, or River of Silver,
because this was the first of that metal brought to Spain from the Indies, and it
was part of that which the Guaranis Indians obtained in plates and other large
pieces from the Provinces of Peru."

161

Let us, then, for a moment, suppose Gomara and Lopez
Vaz in error 5 and further, that the title was not a device of
Garcia who was struggling to connect himself ostentatiously with
this region — who boasts of his superior activity in exploring
it — and with whose name, previously rendered infamous, Her-
rera more immediately associates the appellation. After all
these concessions it would then appear that the epithet was one
popularly applied (like Brazil, the Spice Islands, the Sugar
Islands, &c.), from the article — the Silver of Potosi — which
had been brought thence and attracted general attention and
interest. There is not the least reason to suppose that it was
conferred by Cabot, or that he concealed the quarter whence
the treasure came — a fact which Herrera is found correctly
stating from his -Report, That document was doubtless full and
explicit ; giving a prominent place to the hopes which had
been excited, but with a statement, also, of the great fertility
of the country, its healthy climate, and general advantages for
colonization, aside from the avenue it offered to those regions
of the precious metals embraced in the plan of 1524.

But while of the Spanish writers, evil-disposed as they are
to Cabot, no one has ventured to put forth any such charge
of deception, his own countrymen have exhibited an eager
anxiety to fasten on him the odious accusation. Two speci-
mens may suffice : —

"Cabot, in the mean time, contrived to send home to the Emperor an account
of his proceedings; and as he had found among the savages of the interior some
ornaments of gold and silver, which he easily obtained in exchange for various
trinkets, he took advantage of this slender circumstance to represent the country as
abounding in those metals; and in conformity with his description, he gave the
river the name of La Plata."*

" Juan Dias de Solis had discovered a prodigious river to which he gave his
own name, and where he was killed and eaten by an ambush of savages. In 1525,
[this error has already been exposed] Cabot, following the tract of Magalhaens,
arrived at the same stream, and explored it as high as the Paraguay. A little gold
and silver, which had been obtained from the natives, raised his opinion of the

* Dr Lardner's Cyclopxdia, History of Maritime and Inland Discovery, vol. ii.
p. 89.

162

importance of the country; the river was named Rio cle la Plata, and many an ad-
venturer was lured to his destruction by this deceptive title."*

It is scarcely necessary to add that the statement that Ca-
bot was <( sent to the coast of Brasil, where he made the
important discovery of the Rio de la Plata,"f advances for
him an unfounded claim. Some difference of opinion exists
as to the time of the discovery by De Solis. Herrera, in the
" Description de las Indias Occidentales" (cap. xxiv.), pre-
fixed to his History, says, "Juan Diaz de Solis descubrio el
Rio de la Plata ano de 1515 i Sebastian Gaboto Ingles iendo
con armada por orden del Emperador," &c. ("Juan Diaz
de Solis discovered the Rio de la Plata, and Sebastian Cabot,
an Englishman, proceeding afterwards with a squadron by
order of the Emperor," &c.). According to some accounts,
the discovery of De Solis took place a few years before the
date here mentioned ; but no doubt exists as to the fact of an
antecedent visit by him. It is not necessary to inquire here
into the yet earlier claims of others.

• Quarterly Review, vol. iv. p. 459.

f Historical Account of Discoveries, &c. by Hugh Murray, Esq. (Vol.. i. p. 65).
The same idle assertion is made by Mr Barrow, in the Chronological History of
Voyages, &c. p. 35.

CHAP. XXIII.

CABOT'S RESIDENCE IN THE LA PLATA — SUBJECTION OF REMOTE TRIBES

CLAIMS OF SPAIN RESTED ON THIS EXPEDITION TREATY WITH THE

GUARANIS DETAILED REPORT TO THE EMPEROR AS TO THE PRODUC-
TIONS, ETC. OF THE COUNTRY MISCONDUCT OF THE FOLLOWERS OF

GARCIA LEADS TO A GENERAL ATTACK FROM THE NATIVES RETURN

TO SPAIN.

CABOT'S residence in the La Plata, though measured tedi-
ously by hope deferred, and finally blasted, was not passed
inactively. iThe small force which remained, after one of
the vessels had been despatched to Europe, might be supposed
insufficient to enable him to maintain his position ; yet it is
certain that his operations were of a very bold and adventur-
ous character. He seems to have pushed his researches as
far as could be done without quitting the waters which ena-
bled him to be promptly advised of the arrival of the expected
reinforcement.

Of these operations we are left to gather the extent rather
from circumstances than any direct information afforded by
the Spanish historians. In a Memoir prepared by the Court
of Spain, to resist the pretensions of Portugal in this quar-
ter, it is made the leading argument, after an enumeration of
a vast number of tribes, that Sebastian Cabot erected forts in
the country, administered justice there in civil and criminal
cases, and reduced all these nations under the obedience of the
Emperor.*

It is impossible not to be struck by the reflection which

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. xi. " Que Sebastian Gaboto avia edificado en
aquellas tierras fortalezas y exercitado justicia civil y criminal y traido a la obedi-
encia Real todas las sobredichas generaciones."

164

this passage suggests, as to what may almost be termed the
ubiquity of this adventurous and indefatigable seaman in the
new world. While England has rested her claim at one ex-
tremity of it, and Spain at the other, on the personal agency of
the same Native of Bristol, we have an assurance that he was
found at the intermediate point, with a party of Englishmen,
on the first visit of the individual whose name now over-
spreads the whole.

Some of the tribes referred to are named in the following
passage of Herrera —

" The Guaranis occupy the islands. The principal nations are the Charruas
and the Quirondis. On a river on the left-hand are the Carcaras, and yet further
up the Trimbus, the Curundas and Camis. Yet higher are the Quilbasas, Cal-
chines and Chanas, who are savages. After these come the Mecaretas and the Me-
penes, who continue for an extent of 100 leagues. Beyond these are twenty-seven
nations of different appellations, and languages and customs almost dissimilar, the
names of which are omitted for fear of being tedious (" Q,ue por no dar molestia se
dexan de nombrar"*).

The incursion of the Guaranis into Peru, has been adverted
to. On their- return, some of the fierce invaders lingered on
the way and permanently occupied the mountains, whence
they annoyed the Charcas, their mode of warfare being to
make night attacks, and after sweeping every thing before
them to retire to their fastnesses quite secure from pursuit.
The Nation subjected to these vexatious attacks is found to
occupy the same position on the modern maps.

As no supplies were received from Spain, subsistence must
have been drawn from the labours of the party. Expe-
riments were made on the fertility of the soil and the results
carefully noted. f Cabot's final report to the Emperor de-
scribed, with great minuteness, the various productions of that
region, and spoke also of the wonderful increase of the hogs,
horses, &c. brought out from Spain, f This Memoir would
be, even at the present day, highly curious and interesting.

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. xi.

f Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. Eden, fol. 255, and again, fol. 317.

| A brief abstract is found in Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. xi.

165

It is, doubtless, preserved in Spain, and there was probably a
copy of it amongst the papers left with Worthington.

In the midst of his labours the same evil spirit which had
pursued him to the La Plata was preparing a final blow. The
Portuguese, Diego Garcia, would seem to have quitted the
country immediately, with the specimens he had obtained of
the precious metals, but he left behind a party of his follow-
ers. These men were guilty of some act which roused the
wildest resentment of the Guaranis, with whom Cabot had
made a treaty. It is expressly declared that the latter had
no concern with the cause of exasperation,* but the ven-
geance of this fierce and sanguinary people made no distinc-
tion, and it was determined to sacrifice every white man in
the country. Secret meetings were held, and a plan of action
deliberately concerted.

A little before day-break the whole nation burst upon the
feeble garrison of Santus Spiritus. It was carried, and the
other position, at St Salvador, furiously assaulted. We have
no particulars, but knoAV that Cabot must have repelled the
shock, for he was enabled to prepare for sea and to put on
board the requisite supplies. This done, he quitted the ill-
omened region.

Amongst the wild tales which have passed into traditions
of the La Plata, one would represent Cabot to have fallen in
the course of the sanguinary conflicts with the natives. This
misconception is embodied in the "Argentina y Conquista
Del Rio de la Plata," a poem on its early history, written by
Don Martin de el Barco, and which finds a place in the His-
toriadores Primitives (vol. iii.) —

"Lamuerte, pues, de aqueste ia sabida

El gran Carlos embia al buen Gaboto

Con una flata al gusto proveida

Como hombre que lo entiende i que es piloto;

Entro en elParanna, i ia sabida

La mas fuerga del Rio ha sido roto

* Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. xi. "For algunas occasiones que dieron los
soldados que fueroncon Diego Garcia en que Sebastian Gaboto netuvo culpa."

166

Del Guarani, dejando fabricada

La Torre de Gaboto bien nombrada

Algunos de los suios se escaparon

De aquel Rio Timbuz do fue la guerra

A Sant Salvador Rio se bajaron

A do la demas gente estaba en tierra

A nuestra dulce Espana se tornaron, &c."*

• Another story, but too obviously false to screen the writer from the charge of
fabrication, is found in Techo, and embellished by Charlevoix (Histoire du Para-
guay, Tom. i. p. 29). It represents Cabot to have left behind a force of one hun-
dred and twenty men, under the command of Nuno de Lara; and a series of roman-
tic adventures is framed out of the attachment of a savage chieftain to the wife of
HurtadOj one of the principal officers of the garrison!

167

CHAP. XXIV.

EMPLOYMENT OF CABOT AFTER HIS RETURN— RESUMES HIS FUNCTIONS AS

PILOT-MAJOR MAKES SEVERAL VOYAGES HIS HIGH REPUTATION

VISIT OF A LEARNED ITALIAN CABOT'S ALLUSION TO COLUMBUS.

CABOT must now, in 1531, have begun to feel the influence
of advancing years, of which thirty-five had passed since the
date of that patent from Henry VII. under which he made
the great discovery in the north. The interval had been re-
plete with toil, anxiety and peril. Yet though he resumed,
as we shall see, the functions of Pilot-Major, an unbroken
spirit of enterprise drew him afterwards, repeatedly, on the
Ocean. We turn now to the only evidence which remains,
scanty as it is, of the occupations of this part of his life.

Enough has been already said of the circumstances which
prove that the defence submitted to the Emperor must have
been completely successful. The Conversation in Ramusio,
heretofore so often referred to, now offers its testimony as to
the general opinion in Spain, of his conduct during the event-
ful period through which he has just been conducted.

The reputation brought from the La Plata could not have
been equivocal, for in the scenes through which Cabot had
passed, the most latent particle of fear or indecision must have
started fatally into notice. The survivors of the expedition
had seen Danger assume before him every terrifying form.
In command of Spaniards he stood alone — an obnoxious stran-
ger— in a fierce mutiny headed by brave and popular Spanish
officers. He had been seen amidst sanguinary encounters,
hand to hand, with hordes of ferocious savages, and extrica-
ting himself, on one occasion, only by a slaughter of more
than three times the number of his own force. And finally,

168

in the face of the blood-thirsty Guaranis, breaking furiously
against his defences, he had calmly completed his arrange-
ments and brought off all his people in safety. As the sail
was spread, and they found themselves once more on the
ocean, the overwrought anxieties of his companions would
seem to have melted into gratitude to their brave and ever-
faithful commander. In the last look at that scene, for years,
of toil and peril, how many incidents thronged before them
all associated memorably with Him who now stood on the deck
guiding them back to their country ! And the feelings of at-
tachment and admiration with which they bade adieu to the
La Plata, found an eager expression, as we shall see, in the
earliest report, at home, of their eventful story.

In reverting to the Conversation in Ramusio, which discloses
the popular fame that henceforward attached itself to Cabot,
we must not be accused of inconsistency for deeming it worthy
of credit. The errors established heretofore were those in
matter of detail, with regard to which the memory might
well be unfaithful. The speaker is now to tell of the cir-
cumstances that led to the interview, and of general remarks
better calculated to make a vivid impression.

As this is the Conversation which the Biographic Univer-
selle could not find in Ramusio, we may be the more minute
in our quotations.

The learned speaker, after a long discussion on the subject
of Cosmography, turns to the subject of the North- West
Passage, and asks Fracastor and Ramusio if they had not
heard of Sebastian Cabot, " so valiant a man and so well prac-
tised in all things pertaining to navigation and the science of
cosmography, that at this present he hath not his like in
Spain, insomuch that for his virtues he is preferred above all
other pilots that sail to the West Indies, who may not pass
thither without his license, and is therefore called Piloto-
Mayor, that is, the Grand Pilot."*

* Eden's Decades, fol. 255. Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 6. The original in Ramusio
(torn. i. fol. 414 D. Ed. of 1554), "Cosi valente et pratico delle cose pertinent!

169

Receiving a reply in the negative, he proceeds to state,
that finding himself at Seville, and being anxious to learn
something of the maritime discoveries of the Spaniards, the
public voice directed him to Sebastian Cabot as a very valiant
man, ("un gran valent huomo") then living in that city, who
had the charge of those things ("che havea 1' carico di
quelle"). A wish seized him to see Cabot (" subito volsi
essere col detto"). He called, and we are now, for the first
time, brought into a direct personal interview with this cele-
brated man.

"I found him a most gentle and courteous person, who treated me with great
kindness and shewed me a great many things ; amongst the rest a great Map of the
world, on which the several voyages of the Portuguese and Spaniards were laid
down."*

The conversation then turned on the voyage from England
in the time of Henry VII. and the subsequent events in the
La Plata. Speaking of his return from the latter expedition,
Cabot says —

"After this I made many other voyages, which I now pretermit, and growing
old I give myself to rest from such labours, because there are now many young
and vigorous seamen of good experience, by whose forwardness I do rejoice in
the fruit of my labours, and rest with the charge of this office as you see."f

It is delightful to notice the manner in which he refers to
Columbus. No paltry effort is made to despoil that great man
of any portion of his fame. He speaks of the effect which the
news produced in England ; " All men with great admiration
affirmed it to be a thing more divine than human. "$ The

alia Navigatione et all Cosmographia che in Spagna al presente non v'e suo pari
et la sua virtu 1'ha fatto preporre a tutti li Pilotti che navigano all' Indie Occi-
dental!, che senza sua licenza non possono far quel essercitio et per questo lo chi-
amano Pilotto Maggiore."

* "Lo trovai una gentilissima persona et cortese che mi fece gran carezze et
mostrommi molte cose et fra 1'altre un Mapamondo grande colle navigationi par-
ticolari, si di Portaghesi, come di Castigliani."

f " Feci poi molte altre navigationi le quali pretermetto et trovandomi alia fine
vecchio volsi riposare essendosi allevati tanti pratichi etvalenti marinari giovanni
et hora me ne sto con questo carico che voi sapete, godendo il frutto delle mie
fatiche."

* Eden's Decades, fol. 255. The original " dicendosi che era stata cosa pin
tosto divina che humana, &c." Ramusio, torn. i. fol. 415.

170

influence on his own ardent temperament is well described,
"by this fame and report there increased in my heart a great
flame of desire to attempt some notable thing.*" While such
expressions would rebuke an attempt to connect his name with
the disparagement of Columbus, they heighten the gratifica-
tion with which we recognise his claim to the place that a
foreign poet of no contemptible merit—the companion of Sir
Humphrey Gilbert in his voyage to the North, and writing
from that region — has assigned to him : —

Hanc tibi jamdudum primi invenere Britanni
Turn cum magnanimus nostra in regione Cabotus
Proximtts a magno ostendit sua vela Columbo.^

* " Mi nacque un desiderio grandz, anzi un ardor nel core di voler far anchora io
qualche cosa segnalata, We." Ib.
f Budeius — in Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 143.

171

CHAP. XXV.

PERVERSION OF FACTS AND DATES BY HARRIS AND PINKERTON CABOT*S

RETURN TO ENGLAND PROBABLE INDUCEMENTS ERRONEOUS REASON-
ASSIGNED BY MR BARROW CHARLES V. MAKES A DEMAND ON THE KING

OF ENGLAND FOR HIS RETURN REFUSED PENSION TO CABOT DUTIES

CONFIDED TO HIM MORE EXTENSIVE THAN THOSE BELONGING TO THE

OFFICE OF PILOT-MAJOR—INSTANCES.

OF the manner in which the order and nature of Cabot's ser-
vices have been misrepresented by English writers, some idea
may be formed from the following passage of Harris trans-
planted into Pinkerton's Collection of Voyages (vol. xii.
p. 160).

" Sebastian Cabot was employed by their Catholic Majesties, Ferdinand and Isa-
bella, [Isabella having been dead twenty-two years, and Ferdinand ten years before
he sailed] on a voyage ^br the discovery of the coast of Brasil (!) in which he had
much better success than Americus Vespucius, who missed the river of Plate, whereas
Cabot found it, and sailed up 360 miles [Hakluyt's six score leagues], which gave
him such a character at the Court of their Catholic Majesties, that on his return
[in 1531] he was declared piloto maggiore or grand pilot of Spain, and resided
several years at Seville with that character, and had the examination and appro-
bation of all the pilots intrusted by that government. Yet after some years, He
thought fit to return into England, and was employed by King Henry VIII. in
conjunction with Sir Thomas Pert, who was Vice-Admiral of England, and built a
fine house near Blackvvall, called Poplar, which name still remains, though the
house is long ago decayed. This voyage of his was in 1516, [fifteen years before
the return from the La Plata !] on board a ship of 250 tons with another of the
like size." (Mistaken reference to the English Expedition of 1527.)

The motives which really induced Cabot to abandon a sit-
uation of high honour and emolument in Spain, as well as the
exact period of his return to England, we have no means of
determining. It is plain, from what will presently appear,
that he had experienced no mortifying slight of his services,
or attempt to withdraw the ample provision for his support.
We are permitted, therefore, to believe that he was drawn
to England by an attachment, strengthening with the decline

172

of life, to his native soil and the scene of his early associations
and attachments. The ties were not slight or likely to decay.
Born in Bristol and returning from Venice whilst yet a boy,
he had grown up in England to manhood, and it was not until
sixteen years after the date of the first memorable patent that
he entered the service of Spain, from which again he with-
drew in 1516.

A reasonable presumption must, however, be distinguished
from rash and absurd assertion. Mr Barrow supposes (Chro-
nological History of Voyages, p. 36), that Cabot returned on
the invitation of Robert Thorne of Bristol. Unfortunately
for this hypothesis it appears* that Thorne died in 1532, six-
teen years before the period at which Cabot quitted Spain.

The same writer remarks (p. 36), "His return to England
was in the year 1548, when Henry VIII. was on the throne."
Surely Mr Barrow cannot seriously think that, at this late
day, his bare word will be taken against all the historians and
chroniclers who declared that Henry VIII. died in January
1547f.

At his return Cabot settled in Bristol,! without the least
anticipation, in all probability, of the new and brilliant career
on which he was shortly to enter, fifty-three years after the
date of his first commission from Henry VII.

Whatever may have been the motives of the Emperor for
consenting to the departure of the Pilot-Major, he would seem
to have become very soon alarmed at the inconvenience that
might result from his new position. The youth who then filled
the throne of England had already given such evidence of
capacity as to excite the attention of Europe ; and anticipa-
tions were universally expressed of the memorable part he
was destined to perform. Naval affairs had seized his atten-
tion as a sort of passion. Even when a child (( he knew all

• Fuller's Worthies, Somersetshire ; and Stow's Survey of London.

t This^ blunder is gravely copied into Dr Lardner's Cyclopaedia,. History of
Maritime'and Inland Discovery, vol. ii. p. 138, together with Mr Barrow's asser-
tion, that the pension of £166. 13s. 4rf. was equal to Jive hundred Marks !

if Strype's Historical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 190.

173

the harbours and ports both of his own dominions and of France
and Scotland, and how much water they had, and what was
the way of coming into them.77* The Emperor saw how per-
ilous it was that a youthful monarch, with these predisposi-
tions, should have within reach the greatest seaman of the age,
with all the accumulated treasures of a protracted life of ac-
tivity and observation. A formal and urgent demand, there-
fore, was made by the Spanish ambassador, that " Sebastian
Cabote, Grand Pilot of the Emperor's Indies, then in Eng-
land,'7 might be sent over to Spain " as a very necessary man
for the Emperor, whose servant he was, and had a Pension of
him."t Strype, after quoting from the documents before him,
dryly adds, " Notwithstanding, I suspect that Cabot still abode
in England, at Bristol, (for there he lived) having two or
three years after set on foot a famous voyage hence, as we shall
mention in due place." It is a pleasing reflection, adverted
to before and which may here be repeated, that Cabot was
never found attempting to employ, to the annoyance of Spain,
the minute local knowledge of her possessions, of which his
confidential station in that country must have made him master.
The Public Records now supply us with dates. On the
6th January, in the second year of Edward VI., a pension
was granted to him of two hundred and fifty marks (166/.
13s. 4c?.). Hakluyt (vol. iii. $. 10) seems irresolute as to the
year, according the ordinary computation; for, at the close of
the grant, in the original Latin, he declares it to be 1549, and
at the end of his own translation, 1548. The former- is un-
doubtedly correct, and so stated by Rymer (vol. xv. p. 181 ).
The pension is recited to be " In consideratione boni et ac-
ceptabilis servitii nobis per dilectum servientem nostrum Se-
bastianum Cabotum impensi atque impendendi" (in consider-
ation of the good and acceptable service done and to be done
unto us by our beloved servant Sebastian Cabot).

The precise nature of the duties imposed on him does not

* Iturnet's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 225.
| Strype's Historical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 190.

174

appear. It is usually stated, and amongst others by Hakluy t,
that the office of Grand Pilot of England was now created,
and Cabot appointed to fill it; but this is very questionable.*
Certain it is that his. functions were far more varied and ex-
tensive than those implied in such a title. He would seem to
have exercised a general supervision over the maritime con-
cerns of the country, under the eye of the King and *the
Council, and to have been called upon whenever there was
occasion for nautical skill and experience. One curious in-
stance occurs of the manner in which the wishes of individuals
were made to yield to his opinion of what was required by the
exigences of the public service. We find (Hakluyt, vol. ii.
part ii. p. 8) one James Alday offering as an explanation of
his not having gone as master on a proposed voyage to the
Levant, that he was stayed

" By the prince's letters which my master Sebastian Gabota
had obtained for that purpose to my great grief."

He is called upon (Hakluyt, vol. hi. p. 719) to be pre-
sent at the examination of a French pilot who haft long fre-
quented the coast of Brasil, and there is reason to believe that
the minute instructions for the navigation of the La Plata
(ib. p. 728) are from himself.

* See Appendix (C.)-

175

CHAP. XXVI.

PUBLIC EXPLANATION BY CABOT TO EDWARD VI. OF THE PHENOMENA OF

THE VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE STATEMENT OF LIVIO SANUTO

POINT OF " NO VARIATION" FIXED BY CABOT — ADOPTED AFTERWARDS

«^#PY MERCATOR FOR HIS tflRST MERIDIAN REFERENCE TO CABOT's MAP

i— EARLY TESTIMONIALS ALLUSION TO THE ENGLISH DISCOVERIES IN

THE EDITION OF PTOLEMY PUBLISHED AT ROME IN 1508 — FOURNIER

ATTENTION TO NOTE THE VARIATION BY THE SEAMEN OF CABOT*S

SCHOOL HIS THEORY, IF A NARROW ONE, WOULD HAVE BEEN THUS

EXPOSED.

ALLUSION was made, on a former occasion, to the fact stated
by the noble Venetian, Livio Sanuto, that Cabot had explained
to the King of England the whole subject of the variation of
the needle. ' There is reason to suppose, from what we know
of Sanuto's life, that the incident to which he alludes must
have occurred at the period now reached. His statement*
is that maay years before the period at which he wrote,
his friend Guido Gianeti de Fano informed him that Sebastian
Cabot was the first discoverer of this secret of nature which
he explained to the King of England, near whom the said
Gianeti at that time resided, and was held, as Sanuto under-
stood from others, in the highest esteem. Cabot also showed
the extent of the variation, and that it was different in dif-
ferent places.f

Sanuto being engaged in the construction of an instrument
in reference to the longitude, it became with him a matter of
eager interest to ascertain a point of no variation.

* The Geographia is in the Library of the British Museum, title in Catalogue
" Sanuto." It was published at Venice, 1588, after the author's death.

t " Fu di tal secreto il riconoscitore, qual egli paleso poi al serenissimo He d'
Inghilterra, pressoal quale (come poi daaltri intesi) esso Gianetti all* hora honor-
atissimo si ritrovaa ; et egli dimostro insieme, quanta fusse questa distanza, e che
non appareva in tiascun luogo la medesima." Lib. rim fol. 2.

176

« Conversing on this subject with Gianeti, he undertook to
obtain for me, through a gentleman named Bartholomew Com-
pagni, then in England, this information which he himself had
not gathered.7'*

The person thus addressed sent word of what he had learn-
ed from Cabot, and Sanuto remarks that he had, subsequently,
further assurance of the accuracy of the report thus made to
him. He saw a chart of navigation, executed by hand with
the greatest care, and carefully compared with one by Cabot
himself, in which the position of this meridian was seen to be
one hundred and ten miles to the west of the island of Flores,
one of the Azores. f

It is scarcely necessary to add that the First Meridian on
the maps of Mercator, running through the most western point
of the Azores, was adopted with reference to the supposed
coincidence in that quarter of the true and magnetic poles.

In the course of the same memoir, Sanuto refers repeatedly
to the Map, and adverts to the observations as to the vari-
ation of the compass made by Cabot at the Equator. The
disappearance of this Document becomes at every turn a mat-
ter equally of astonishment and regret. Aside from the mass
of papers left with Worthington, we have not only seen that
the published map was hung up in the Gallery at Whitehall,
but have actually traced a copy to Ortelius, to the Earl of Bed-
ford, and now to Sanuto.

The assertion is found in almost all the old writers that Ca-
bot was the first who noticed the variation. He was, at least,
the first who gave to it an earnest attention, marked its degrees
in various parts of the world, and attempted to frame a theory
on the subject. His earliest transatlantic voyage carried him

• " Ragionatone io di questo col detto Gianneti, fece egli, che da un gentil'
huomo nominate Bartolomeo Compag-ni, che in Inghilterre si tratteneva, s'intese
cio, ch' egli dal detto Caboto ne seppe."

\ " Et a quello ancora, che io dapoi vidi con gli occhi miei in una carta da
navigare diligentissima fatta a mano, e tutta ritratta a punto da una propria del detto
Caboto ; nella quale si riconosce il luogo del detto Meridiano esser per miglia
cento e dieci lontano verso Occidente dalla Isola detto Fiori di quelle pur delli
Azori." r' «^H

177

to the very quarter where it is exhibited in a manner so sud-
den and striking, that modern navigators seem to concur in
placing there one of the magnetic poles. The La Plata, too,
is another theatre of its most startling appearance ; and Ca-
bot's long residence in that region must have secured his de-
liberate attention to the subject with the advantage of thirty
years of intermediate observation and reflection.

There is a curious piece of evidence to show how early the
Northern region discovered by Cabot was associated with the
alarm which this phenomenon must, in the first instance, have
excited.

On the great Map of the World which accompanies the
edition of Ptolemy published at Rome in 1508, is the follow-
ing inscription, commencing far beyond Terra Nova and the
Insula Bacalaurus — "Hie, compassus naVium non tenet, nee
naves quse ferrum tenent revertere valent."*

It is impossible to doubt that the reference is to the well-
known effect produced there on the compass. Beneventus, who
prepared the supplemental matter for this edition of Ptolemy,
professes to have a knowledge of the discoveries made by
Columbus, by the Portuguese, and by the English ("Columbi
et Lusitanorum atque Britannorum quos Anglos nunc dici-
mus").

Founder ^ in his old, but yet highly-esteemed, Treatise on
Hydrography, (Liv. xi. cap. x.) says, it was understood that
Sebastian Cabot had noted with great exactness the variation
in the places he had discovered on the Northern Coasts of
America. f

As to Cabot's theory on the subject of the Variation, we
are unable, in the absence of his Maps and Discourses, to oifer
even a conjecture. His exposition to the king would evi-
dently seem to have been something more than a mere state-
ment of isolated facts, and from the general recollection of

* " Here the ship's-compass loses its property, and no vessel with iron oh board
is able to getaway."

t " Que Cabot remarqua/orf exactement les declinaisons que 1'aymant faisoit en
divers endroits des costes Septentrionales de 1'Amerique qu'il decouvrit."

178

the Venetian ambassador that he represented it as different in
different places, it may be inferred that he did not treat it
as absolutely regulated by mere distance from a particular me-
ridian. There is another satisfactory reason for believing that
he could not have placed it on any narrow ground. The Sea-
men brought up in his school, and sailing under his instruc-
tions, were particularly attentive to note the variation. Thus
Stephen Burrough reports to us, (Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 290, &c.)
within a short space, the degrees of it at three different points ;
and, where this was habitually done, an error of the great nau-
tical Oracle — if we suppose one to have cheated his long ex-
perience and profound observation — would have been speedily
detected and exposed.

179

CHAP. XXVII.

MISTAKE OF PURCHAS, PINKERTON, DR HENRT IN HIS HISTORY OF GREAT
BRITAIN, CAMPBELL IN THE LIVES OF THE ADMIRALS, AND OTHER WRI-
TERS, AS TO THE " KNIGHTING" OF JOHN OR SEBASTIAN CABOT.

THE present may be a fit occasion to notice an absurd
misconception on the part of many authors of reputation,
some of whom represent Sebastian Cabot to have received
the honour of knighthood, while others confer it on the
father.

Purchas (vol. iv. p. 1812), in his "English just Title to
Virginia," refers to a Portrait of Sebastian Cabot which he
had seen hung up in the King's Palace at Whitehall with this
inscription^ <•' Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli, filii Joannis Caboti
militis aurati, &c." Here was a fair opening for controversy.
Does the description " militis aurati" apply to the father or
to the son? The same difficulty occurs, with a curious coin-
cidence in the epithets, as that which Quinctilian (Inst. Orat.
lib. vii. cap. 9) mentions, with regard to the Will of a Roman,
who directed that there should be put up " statuam auream
hastam tenentem," and the puzzle was whether the statue or
the spear was of gold. After the unpardonable blunders
which it has been necessary to expose, we may look with some
complacency on the pursuit of this perplexing matter.

Purchas assumes that the words apply to the son, and ac-
cordingly we have " Sir Sebastian Cabot" running through
his volumes. In a copy of verses addressed to (t his friend
Captain John Smith," and prefixed to the account of Virginia
by the latter, Purchas exclaims —

"Hail, Sir Sebastian! England's Northern Pole,
Virginia's finder!"

and in a marginal note it is added, " America, named of Ame-

180

ricus Vesputius which discovered less than Colon or Sir Se-
bastian Cabot, and the Continent later. Colon first found the
Isles 1492; the Continent 1498, above% year after Cabot had
done it. He was set forth by Henry VII . , and after by Henry
VIII. knighted, and made Grand Pilot of England by Edward
VI." Captain Smith himself repeats all this—" Sebastian
Cabot discovered much more than these all, for he sailed to
about 40° South of the line, and to 67° towards the North,
for which King Henry VIII. knighted him and made him
Grand Pilot of England." In the general Index to Pinker-
ton's Collection of Voyages and Travels, the eye is caught,
under the title Cabot, with the alluring reference " anec-
dotes of," and on turning to the place (vol. xiii. p. 4), the
same statements are found. Now the difficulties are insur-
mountable as to Sebastian Cabot. In the last renewal of his
pension in the reign of Mary (Rymer, vol. xv. p. 427 and
466), he is styled " Armiger," which shows that he had not,
even up to that period, been knighted. In the Cotton MSS.
(Claudius, C. iii.) is a paper, giving " the names %nd arms of
such as have been advanced to the order of knighthood in the
reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary and
Elizabeth," in which no notice is taken of him.

The point being thus clear with regard to the son, other
writers have assumed as a matter of course, that the distinc-
tion must have been conferred on John Cabot. Accordingly,
Campbell (Lives of the Admirals, art. Sir John Cabot] says
of the father, " he then returned with a good cargo and three
savages on board to England, where it seems he was knighted
for this exploit, since, on the map of his discoveries drawn
by his son Sebastian, and cut by Clement Adams, which
hung in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall, there was this inscrip-
tion under the author's picture — Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli
filii lo. Caboti Venetian! Militis aurati." Thus Campbell
derives his fact from Purchas, but draws a different inference
from that writer. According to him, too, the knighting must
have been, not by Henry VIII. as Purchas and Captain Smith
have it, for there is reason to believe that the senior Cabot

181

died before the commencement of that reign, but by Henry
VII., particularly as it took place on Cabot's return, and the
monarch last named lived thirteen years after the " exploit."
Campbell, therefore, has a " Memoir of Sir John Cabot," and
speaks again, with enthusiasm, of that " celebrated Venetian,
Sir John Cabot."

This version has been the more generally adopted, and
amongst the rest by Dr Henry (History of Great Britain, vol.
vi. p. 618), who informs us, on the authority of Campbell,
that "John Cabot was graciously received and knighted on
his return." The same statement is made in the Biographia
Britannica, &c.

To the utter confusion of all these grave authorities, a mo-
merit's consideration will show, that the words relied on do in
themselves prove that knighthood had not been conferred.
It is scarcely necessary to follow up this suggestion, by stating
that in reference to one who had received that honour, they
would have been not " Militis aurati,"but " Equitis aurati."
Though the term miles is sometimes applied, in old docu-
ments, even to Peers, yet, as a popular designation, the lan-
guage of the inscription negatives the idea of knighthood. In
the very works immediately 'Connected with the subject of
the present volume, the appropriate phrase perpetually oc-
curs. Thus " Eques auratus" is used to designate Sir Hum-
phrey Gilbert (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 137), Sir Hugh Willoughby
(ib. p. 142), Sir Martin Frobisher (ib. p. 142), Sir Fran-
cis Drake (ib. p. 143). In the dedication of Lok's translation
of Peter Martyr, it is in like mtfhner used, and we see it, at
this moment, on the " effigies" of Sir Walter Raleigh pre-
fixed to the first edition of his History of the World. It will
probably be deemed very superfluous to refer to Selden's
Titles of Honour (p. 830), for a confirmation of what has
been stated.

The weight of censure must fall on Purchas, who was ori-
ginally guilty of the blunder. The others assumed the fact
of the ' knighting, and only exercised their ingenuity in de-
ciding whether the honour was conferred on the Father or
the Son.

182

CHAP. XXVIII.

STAGNATION OF TRADE IN ENGLAND CABOT CONSULTED BY THE MER-
CHANTS URGES THE ENTERPRISE WHICH RESULTED IN THE TRADE TO

RUSSIA PRELIMINARY DIFFICULTIES STRUGGLE WITH THE STILYARD

THAT MONOPOLY BROKEN DOWN EARNESTNESS OF EDWARD VI. ON

THE SUBJECT HIS MUNIFICENT DONATION TO CABOT AFTER THE RE-
SULT WAS DECLARED.

IT is only from detached notes, such a*s those already referred
to, and which meet the eye as it were by accident, that we
can now form an idea of the diffusive nature of Cabot's ser-
vices. One Great Enterprise, however, stands by itself, and
was destined to exercise an important .influence on the com-
merce and naval greatness of England.

An opportunity was afforded to Cabot of putting in execu-
tion a plan "which he long before had had in his mind,"*
by its happening, incidentally, to fall in with the purposes of
the London merchants. The period was one of great com-
mercial stagnation in England.

" Our merchants perceived the commodities and wares of England to be in small
request about us and near unto us, and that those merchandises which strangers,
in the time and memory of our ancestors, did earnestly seek and desire, were
now neglected and the price thereof abated, although they be carried to their
own parts."!

In this season of despondency Cabot was consulted, and the
suggestions which he made were adopted :

" Sebastian Caboto, a man in those days very renowned, happening to be in
London, they began first of all to deal and consult diligently with him, and after
much search and conference together, it was at last concluded, that three ships
should be prepared and furnished out for the search and discovery of the northern

* Eden's Decades, fol. 256.
f Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.

183

part of the world, to open a way and passage to our men, for travel to new and
unknown kingdoms."*

Such is the authentic history of the impulse given to English
commerce at this interesting crisis. The influence of Cabot
is not only attested by the passage quoted, but in the Letters
Patent of Incorporation it is declared^ that, in consideration
of his having " been the chiefest setterforth of this journey
or voyage, therefore we make, ordain, and constitute him,
the said Sebastian, to be the first and present governor of the
same fellowship and community by these presents, to have and
enjoy the said office of governor to him, the said Sebastian
Cabota, during his natural life, without amoving or dismiss-
ing from the same room."

But a difficulty was encountered in the alleged exclusive
privileges of a very powerful body, whose odious monopoly
had long exercised its baneful influence on English commerce
and manufactures :

" The time was now at length come, that the eyes, of the English nation were to
be opened, for their discovering the immense damage which was sustained, by suf-
fering the German merchants of the house or college in London, called the Steel-
yard, so long to enjoy advantages in the duty or custom of exporting English cloths,
far beyond what the native English enjoyed ; which superior advantages possessed
by those foreigners began, about this time, to be more evidently seen and felt, as
the foreign commerce of England became more diffused. The Cities of Antwerp
and Hamburgh possessed, at this time, the principal commerce of the northern and
middle parts of Europe ; and their factors, at the Steelyard, usually set what price
they pleased on both their imports and exports ; and having the command of all the
markets in England, with joint and united stocks, they broke all other merchants.
Upon these considerations, the English company of merchant adventurers made
pressing remonstrances to King Edward the Sixth's Privy Council. These Hansea-
tics were, moreover, accused (and particularly the Dantzickers) of defrauding the
customs, by colouring, or taking under their own names, as they paid little or no
custom, great quantities of the merchandise of other foreigners not entitled to their
immunities. They were also accused of having frequently exceeded the bounds of
eyen the great privileges granted to them by our Kings ; yet, by the force of great
presents, they had purchased new grants."*

" Having, for the last forty -five years, had the sole command of our commerce,
(says the author) they had reduced the price of English wool to one shilling- and
six-pence per stone. The Steelyard merchants were also excused from aliens duties,

* Voyage of Richard Chancellor, Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.
f Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 268.

* Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. ii. p. 80. M'Pherson's Annals of Com-
merce, vol. ii. p. 109.

184

and yet all their exports and imports were made in foreign bottoms ; which was a
very considerable loss to the nation."*

" This is the substance of the whole business during1 King1 Edward the Sixth's
reign, of reversing- the privileges of the Steelyard merchants, taken from our histo-
ries, but more particularly from I. Wheeler's Treatise of Commerce, published in
quarto, in the year 1601 ; and, as he was then Secretary to the Merchant Adventur-
ers' Company, it may be supposed to be, in general, a true account, and is surely
an useful part of commercial history. Wheeler adds, that by reversing these pri-
vileges, our own merchants shipped off in this year forty thousand cloths for Flan-
ders. Rapin, in his History of England, observes, that the llegent of Flanders, as
well as the City of Hamburgh, earnestly solicited to have the Steelyard merchants
re-instated ; but to no purpose."!

The extraordinary interest felt by Edward himself on this
subject is manifest from his Journal, in which the incidents
are noted.J

" 18th January, 1551. This day the Stiliard put in their answer to a certain com-
plaint, that the merchant adventurers laid against them."

" 25th January, 1551. The answer of the Stiliard was delivered to certain of my
learned Counsel to look on and oversee."

"18th February, 1551. The merchant adventurers put in their replication to
the Stiliards answer."

" 23rd February, 1551. A decree was made by the Board, that upon knowledge
and information of their charters, they had found ; First, that they were no sufficient
Corporation. 2. That their number, names, and nation, was unknown. 3. That
when they had forfeited then- liberties, King Edward IV. did restore them on this
condition, that they should colour no strangers' goods, which they had done. Also,
that whereas in the beginning they shipped not past 8 clothes, after 100, after 1000,
after that 6000 ; now in theianame was shipped 44000 clothes in one year, and but
1100 of all other strangers. For these considerations sentence was given, that they
had forfeited their liberties, and were in like case with other strangers."

The difficulties which had to be struggled with, may be in-
ferred from the pertinacity with which the defeated party-
followed up the matter, even after a decision had been pro-
nounced. Thus, the following entries are found in the Jour-
nal of the young King :

"28th February, 1551. There came Ambassadors from Hamburg and Lubeck,
to speak on the behalf of the Stiliard merchants."

"2d March 1551. The answer for the Ambassadors of the Stiliard was com-

• Ibid,
f Ibid.

* Published in Burnet's History of the Reformation, yol. ii. from the Cotton
MSS.

185

mitted to the Lord Chancellor, the two Secretaries, Sir Robert Bowes, Sir John
Baker, Judge Montague, Griffith Solicitor, Gosnold, Goodrich, and Brooks."

" 2d May, 1551. The Stj&ird men received their answer ; which was, to con-
firm the former judgment ornmy Council."

The important agency of Cabot, in a result so auspicious not
merely to the interests of commerce but to the public revenue,
may be judged of from a donation bestowed on him, a few
days after the decision.*

"To Sebastian Caboto^the great seaman, 200 pounds, by
way of the king's majesty's1 re ward, dated in Marcfo, 1551."

* Strype's Historical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 495.

186

CHAP. XXIX. *

PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION PRECAUTIONS AS TO TIMBER

SHEATHING OF THE -VESSELS NOW FIRST RESORTED TO IN ENGLAND

EXAMINATION OF TWO TARTARS CHII^F COMMAND GIVEN TO SIR HUGH

WILLOU&HBY RICHARD CHANCELLOR STEPHEN BURROUGH — WILLIAM

BURROUGH ARTHUR PET THIS EXPEDITION CONFOUNDED WITH AN-
OTHER BY STRYPE AND CAMPBELL.

t»

A TRIUMPH having been obtained over the obstacles which
had heretofore impeded the career of English commerce, pre-
parations were diligently made for the Expedition.

The measures adopted for the safety of the ships indicate
the presence of great skill and providence ; "strong and well-
seasoned planks for the building" were provided, and the his-
torian of the expedition is struck with one novel precaution.
To guard against the worms " which many times pearceth and
eateth through the strongest oak," it was resolved to "cover
a piece of the keel of the shippe with thinne sheets of leade."*
This is the first instance in England, of the practice of sheath-
ing, but it had long before been adopted in Spain/ and had thus
engaged the attention of Cabot. It may, indeed, have been
originally suggested by him, as the first use of it is referred
to 1514, two years before which time we find him passing into
the service of Ferdinand, and advancing rapidly to posts of
distinction as his value became apparent.

Information was eagerly sought in every quarter as to the
countries which the Expedition might visit. There were
" two Tartarians" employed about the young king's stables.
These persons were hunted up and an interpreter provided,
"by whom they were demanded touching their country and
the mariners of their nation." But the poor creatures had

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 243.

187

no story to tell, and betrayed plainly their addiction to strong
drink. There was waggery in the City even at that early
day. "They were able to answer nothing to the purpose,
being indeed more acquainted (as one there merily and openly
said) to toss pots, than to learn the states and dispositions of
people.77*

The command of the expedition was an object of high am-
bition. Amongst those who pressed "very earnestly" for
the post was Sir Hugh Willoughby, " a most valiant gentle-
man and well borne.77 He came recommended by a high
reputation for " skill in the services of war,77 and it seems to
have been thought no slight recommendation that he was of
tall and commanding stature. The choice finally fell on him.

In command of one of the ships, and with the title of Pilot-
Major, was Richard Chancellor. He had been bred up in the
household of Henry Sydney, father of Sir Philip Sydney.
His character and merits, coupled with his brilliant success
on this occasion, and subsequent untimely fate, seem to have
made a deep impression on his contemporaries. He not only
proved a skilful and intrepid seaman, but his remarks on the
customs, religion, laws and manners of the countries visited,
show him to have possessed^ cultivated intellect, as well as
great shrewdness and powers of observation. He would seem
to have attracted the attention and enjoyed the friendship of
Cabot; for Eden (Decades, fol. 357), in adverting to one of
the phenomena of the ocean, mentions that the fact he relates
was communicated to him by Chancellor, who derived it from
Cabot. His was the only ship that succeeded in doubling the
North Cape, and making her way to Russia.

"For the government of other ships although divers men seemed willing, and
made offers of themselves thereunto, yet by a common consent one Richard Chan-
celer, a man of great estimation for many good parts of wit in him, was elected, in
whom alone great hope for the performance of this business rested. This man was
brought up by one Master Henry Sidney, a noble young gentleman and very much
beloved of King Edward."

The master of Chancellors ship was Stephen ^urrough,

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 445.

188

afterwards Chief Pilot of England, and of high rank in the
navy. There was, also, on board his ship, apparently as a
common seaman, William Burrows,* afterwards Comptroller
of the Navy and author of a work on navigation, and who in
after years conducted a squadron to the same quarter, f
thur Pet, also, whose name is associated with a subsequent
voyage, was in the same ship.|

Some obscurity has been occasioned by confounding this
memorable enterprise with another, entirely distinct and to a
different quarter. Thus there is found in Strype§ the follow-
ing passage:—

"In this month of May did the King grant letters of commendation, or safe con-
duct, for the three ships that were enterprising1 that noble adventure of seeking
for a passage into the Eastern parts of the world, through the unknown and dan-
gerous seas of the North. Of this expedition Sebastian Gabato, an excellent mari-
ner of Bristow, but of Italian parentage, was a great mover, to whom the King, as
a gratuity, had given 200 pounds. For this voyage* in February last, the King lent
two ships, the Primrose and the Moon, a pinnace, to Barns, Lord Maior of London,
Garrett, one of the Sheriffs, York and Windham, adventurers, binding themselves
to deliver to the King two ships of the like burden, and good condition, in Mid-
summer, anno 1554. Sir Hugh Willoughby, a brave knight, was the chief Cap-
tain in this enterprise : to whom the King granted a passport to go beyond the
seas, with four servants, forty pounds in money, his chain, &c."

Campbell (Lives of the Admits, vol. i. p. 319) says,

"The accounts we have of this matter differ videly? but as I observe there is a
variation in the dates of a whole year, so I am apt to believe, that there must have
been two distinct undertakings; one under the immediate protection of the court
which did not take effect; and the other by a joint stock of the merchants, which
did. Of the first, because it is little taken notice of, I will speak particularly here;
for the other will come in properly in my account of Sir Hugh Willoughby. When,
therefore, this matter was first proposed, the King lent two ships, the Primrose and
the Moon, to Barnes, Lord Mayor of London, Mr Garret, one of the Sheriffs, and
Mr York, and Mr Wyndham, two of the adventurers, giving bond to the King to
deliver two ships of like burden, and in as good condition, at Midsommer, 1554."

Thus has the Maritime History of England been written !
The vessels in question made part of the Expedition to Guinea,

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 233
t Ibid. vol. i. p. 401.

* Ibid. vol. i. p. 233-

§ Historical Memorials, vol. ii. p. 402.

189

of which an account was given, at length, by Richard Eden
(Decades, fol. 345).

" In the yeare of oure Lorde MLIII. the XII clay of Augiist, sayled from Porche-
mouth two g-oodly shyppes the Primrose and the Lion, with a Pynnesse cauled the
Moon, being all well furnysshed," &c.

It seems that the enterprise was frustrated by the miscon-
duct of " Captayne Wyndham." The persons spoken of as
having given bond to the King, were members of the com-
pany of merchant adventurers.* The expedition to Guinea,
thus obscured by Strype, Campbell, and succeeding writers,
is that of which Eden, against the remonstrances of his Pub-
lishers, inserted an account, consenting to swell his volume,
66 that sum memorie thereof might remayne to our posteritie,
if eyther iniquitie of tyme, consumynge all things, or igno-
rance creepyng in by barbarousness and contempte of know-
ledge should hereafter bury in oblivion so worthy attempts!"
(fol. 343.)

Hakluyt, voL i. p. 269.

190

CHAP. XXX.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SIR HUGH WILLOUGHBY.

THE instructions prepared by Cabot for the government of
this Expedition, have been justly regarded as a model, and
as reflecting the highest credit on his sagacity, good sense,
and comprehensive knowledge. They relate not only to the
conduct to be observed in reference to the great object in
view, but descend to minute suggestions, drawn from his long
experience, for the interior arrangements and discipline.
They are called " Ordinances, Instructions, and Advertise-
ments of, and for the direction of the intended voyage for
Cathay, compiled, made, and delivered by the right worship-
ful M. Sebastian Cabota, Esq. Governour of the Mysterie and
Companie of the Merchants Adventurers for the discoverie of
Regions, Dominions, Islands, and places unknowen, the 9th
day of May, in the yere of our Lord God 1553, and in the
7th yere of the reigne of our most dread sovereigne Lord,
Edward VI., by the grace of God, King of England, France,
and Ireland, defender of the faith and of the Church of
England and Ireland;, in earth supreme head."*

They were made up in the form of a Book which was or-
dered to be publicly read once every week, " to the intent
that every man may the better remember his oath, conscience,
duty and charge." These instructions are too voluminous to
be here introduced, but a few extracts, while they indicate
the cast of Cabot's mind, must fill us with renewed regret
that all the records of such a man's own labours should have
been unfortunately lost to us :

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 226.

191

" T. Item, that the merchants, and other skilful persons in writing shall daily
write, describe, and put in memorie the navigation of each day and night, with the
points, and observations of the knds, tides, elements, altitude of the sunne, course
of the moon and starres, and the same so noted by the order of the Master and
Pilot of every ship to be put in writing, the Captaine-Generall assembling the mas-
ters together once every weeke (if winde and weather shall serve) to conferre all
the observations, and notes of the said ships, to the intent it may appeare wherein
the notes do agree, and wherein they dissent, and upon good debatement, delibera-
tion, and conclusion determined, to put the same into a common leger, to remain
of record for the company: the like order to be kept in proportioning of the Gardes,
Astrolabes, and other instruments prepared for the voyage, at the charge of the
Companie."*

" 27. Item, the names of the people of every Island, are to be taken in writing,
with the commodities and incommodities of the same, their natures, qualities, and
dispositions, the site of the same, and what things they are most desirous of, and
what commodities, they will most willingly depart with, and what metals they have
in hils, mountains, streames, or rivers, in, or under the earth."-j-

Attention to moral and religious duties is strictly enjoined.

"12. Item, that no blaspheming of God, or detestable swearing be used in any
ship, nor communication of ribaldrie, filthy tales, or ungodly talke to be suffered
in the company of any ship, neither dicing, tabling, nor other divelish games to be
frequented, whereby ensueth not onely povertie to the players, but also strife, vari-
ance, brauling, fighting, and oftentimes murther, to the utter destruction of the
parties, and provoking of God's most just wrath, and sworde of vengeance. These,
and all such like pestilences, and contagions of vices, and sinnes to be eschewed,
and the offenders once monished, and not reforming, to be punished at the discre-
tion of the captaine and masters, as appertained."}:

"13. Item, that morning and evening prayer, with other common services ap-
pointed by the King's Majestic, and lawes of this reaLme, to be read and saide in
every ship daily by the minister in- the admirall, and the marchant or some other
person learned in other ships, and the Bible or paraphrases to be read devoutly
and Christianly to God's honour, and for his grace to be«i(btained, and had by hum-
ble and heartie praier of the navigants accordingly. "§

There is much good sense in the following hints : —

"'22. Item, not to disclose to any nation the state of our religion, but to passe it
over in silence, without any declaration of it, seeming to bear with such laws and
rights as the place hath where you shall arrive." |

" 23. Item, for as much as our people and shippe may appear unto them strange
and wonderous, and theirs also to ours; it is to be considered, how they may be
used, learning much of their natures and dispositions, by some one such person, as
you may first either allure, or take to be brought aboord your ships, and there to

Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 226. f Ibid. p. 228.

Ibid. vol. i. p. 222- § Ibid.

Ibid. vol. i. p. 228.

192

learn as you may, without violence or force, and no woman to be tempted, or intreated
to incontinence, or dishonestie."*

" 26. Item, every nation and region is to be considered advisedly, and not to
provoke them by any disdaine, laughing, contempt, or such like, but to use them
with prudent circumspection, with all gentlenes, and curtesie, and not to tarry long
in one place, untill you shall have attained the most worthy place that may be
found in such sort as you may returne with victuals sufficient, prosperously. "-j-

The difficulties experienced, from timidity and incredulity,
are apparent from a passage of the 32d item, in which he
speaks of the obstacles which had " ministered matter of sus-
picion in some heads, that this voyage could not succeed for
the extremitie of the North Pole, lacke of passage, and such
like, which have caused wavering minds, and doubtful heads,
not only to withdraw themselves from the adventure of this
voyage, but also dissuaded others from the same, the certainte
whereof, when you shall have tried by experience, &c." J

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 228.

fib.

J Ibid. vol. i. p. 229.

193

CHAP. XXXI.

THE EXPEDITION DROPS DOWN TO GREENWICH SALUTES ANIMATING

SCENE — PROCEED TO SEA VESSELS SEPARATED FATE OF SIR HUGH

WILLOUGHBY CHANCELLOR REACHES WARDHOUSE EARNESTLY DIS-
SUADED FROM PROCEEDING FURTHER HIS GALLANT RESOLUTION

CONFIDENCE OF THE CREW IN HIM REACHES ARCHANGEL EXCEL-
LENT EFFECT OF OBSERVING CABOT'S INSTRUCTIONS AS TO DEPORT-
MENT TOWARDS THE NATIVES SUCCESS OF CHANCELLOR.

ON the 20th May, the squadron, consisting of three ships,
dropped down to Greenwich : —

" The greater Shippes are towed downe with boates, and oares, and the Mari-
ners being all apparelled in Watchet or skie-coloured cloth, rowed amaine, and
made way with diligence. And being come neere to Greenewich (where the Court
then lay), presently upon the newes thereof, the Courtiers came running out, and
the common people flockt together, standing very thicke upon the shoare: the
privie Counsel, they lookt out at the windowes of the Court, and the rest ranne
up to the toppes of the towers: the shippes hereupon discharge their Ordinance,
and shoot off their pieces after the manner of warre, and of the sea, insomuch that
the tops of the hilles sounded therewith; the valleys and the waters gave an
Eccho, and the Mariners, they shouted in such sort, that the skie rang againe with
the noyse thereof. One stood in the poope of the ship, and by his gesture bids
farewell to his friends in the best manner hee could. Another walkes upon the
hatches, another climbes the shrowds, another stands upon the maine yard, and
another in the top of the shippe. To be short, it was a very triumph (after a
sort) in all respects to the beholders. But (alas) the good King Edward (in re-
spect of whom principally all this was prepared) hee only by reason of his sick-
nesse was absent from this shewe, and not long after the departure of these Ships,
the lamentable and most sorrowful accident of his death followed."*

There was" some delay at Harwich ; " yet at the last
with a good winde they hoysted up sayle, and committed
themselves to the sea, giving their last adieu to their native
countrey, which they knew not whether they should ever re-
turne to see againe or not. Many of them looked oftentimes

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 245.

194

backe, and could not refraine from teares, considering into
what hazards they were to fall, and what uncertainties of the
sea they were to make triall of."* Chancellor himself was
moved. " His natural and fatherly affection, also, somewhat
troubled him, for he left behinde him two little sonnes, which
were in the case of orphanes if he spedde not well.??f

After touching at Rost Island, and at a group called the
Cross of Islands, it was agreed that in the event of a separa-
tion the ships should rendezvous -at the Castle of Wardhouse
in Norway. On the very day of the council at wnich this
arrangement was made a furious tempest arose that dispersed
the vessels.

The story of the gallant Chief of the Expedition is brief
but horrible. Failing to make the contemplated progress to
the eastward, it wTas resolved to winter in Lapland, and ar-
rangements for that purpose were commenced on the 18th
September. The rigour of the climate proved fatal to all.
The two ships were long afterwards discovered with no living
thing on board. A Journal was found of the incidents of the
voyage, and a Will of Gabriel Willoughby, attested by Sir
Hugh, dated as late as January, 1554. Over the frightful
scenes witnessed by him who was reserved as the last victim
of the elements there is thrown, like a pall, impenetrable
darkness. As he stiffened into death, by the side of his un-
buried messmates, he saw the savage region yielded back,
without further struggle, to the " unknown and also wonder-
ful" wild beasts whose fearful numbers about the ships are
noted in the last entry of the Journal .J

Chancellor was more fortunate. He reached Wardhouse in
safety, and having remained there several days resolved to
proceed, notwithstanding the disheartening representations
made to him.

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 245.
fib.

t Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 239. The Will found- on board witnessed by Sir Hugh
Willoughby was in the possession of Purchas (Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 463).

195

. "Remaining stedfast and immutable in his first resolution, he determined either
to bring that to passe which was intended or els to die the death.*

"And as for them which were with Master Chanceler in his Shippe, although
they had great cause of discomfort by the losse of their companie (whom the fore-
said tempest had separated from them) and were not a little troubled with cogita-
tions and perturbations of minde, in respect of their doubtfid course : yet notwith-
standing, they were of such consent and agreement of minde with Master Chanceler,
that they were resolute, and prepared under his direction and government, to make
proofe and triall of all adventures, without all feare or mistrust of future dangers.
"Which constancie of minde in all the companie did exceedingly increase their Cap-
tain's carefulnesse."f

In this resolute spirit he again put to sea. " Master Chan-
celer held on his course towards that unknown part of the
world, and sailed so farre, that he came at last to the place
where he found no night at all, but a continuall light and
brightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and
mightie sea. And havitfg the benefite of this perpetuall light
for certaine dayes, at the length it pleased God to bring them
into a certaine great bay, which was one hundreth miles or
thereabout over. Whereinto they entered somewhat farre
and cast anchor."

He had now reached the Bay of St Nicholas. Landing
near Archangel, then only a castle, there becomes visible the
influence of Cabot's injunction, as to gentleness of deportment
towards the natives and its happy result.

"And looking every way about them it happened that they espied a farre off a
certain fisher boate which Master Chancellor, accompanied with a fewe of his men,
went towards to commune with the fishermen that were in it, and to knowe of them
what countrey it was, and what people, and of what maner of living they were :
but they being amazed with the strange greatnesse of his'shippe (for in those parts
before that time they had never seen the like) beganne presently to avoyde and to
flee : but hee still following them at last overtooke them, and being come to them,
they (being in greate feare, as men halfe dead) prostrated themselves before him,
offering to kisse his feete : but hee (according to his great and singular courtesie)
looked pleasantly upon them, comforting them by signes and gestures, refusing
those dueties and reverences of theirs and taking them up in all loving sort from the
ground. And it is strange to consider how much favour afterwards in that place,
this humanitie of his did purchase to himself. For they being dismissed spread by
and by a report abroad of the arrival of a strange nation of a singular gentleness and

* 'Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 246.
fib.

196

courtesie ; whereupon the common people came together offering to these newe-
come ghests victuals freely."*'

We may not follow further the movements of this intrepid
navigator, or repeat the circumstances of his overland journey
to Moscow, and his very curious and interesting account of
Russia. He was received in the most cordial manner, and
effected the necessary arrangements for a safe and extensive
commercial intercourse.

ib.

197

CHAP. XXXII.

CHARTER TO THE COMPANY OF MERCHANT ADVENTURERS — -SEBASTIAN
CABOT NAMED GOVERNOR FOR LIFE GRANT OF PRIVILEGES BY THE EM-
PEROR OF RUSSIA TO CABOT AND OTHERS AN AMBASSADOR FROM THE

EMPEROR EMBARKS WITH RICHARD CHANCELLER SHIPWRECK CHAN-
CELLOR PERISHES RECEPTION AND ENTERTAINMENT OF THE AMBASS-
ADOR IN LONDON.

THE success of Chancellor gave a new impulse, and the dig-
nity of a Charter, to the Association of Merchant Adven-
turers.*

In the instrument of incorporation Sebastian Cabot is named,
as has been stated, Governor for Life, as " the chiefest set-
ter forth" of the Enterprise.

There is preserved! " A copie of the first privileges grant-
ed to the English merchants, by John Vasilivich, by the Grace
of God, Emperor of Russia, Great Duke of Novogrode, Mos.-
covia," &c. After the recital it grants " unto Sebastian Ca-
bota, Governor, Sir George Barnes, Knight, &c. Consuls, Sir
John Gresham, &c., assistants^ and to the communaltie of the
afore -named fellowship, and to their successors for ever, and
to the successors of every of them, these articles, grants, im-,
munities, franchises, liberties, and privileges, and every of
them hereafter following, expressed and declared, videlicet."
Then follow ten clauses or articles placing the contemplated
commercial intercourse on the most liberal and secure footing.

Passing a little onward we find an Ambassador from the
Emperor arriving in England. This incident is connected
with the melancholy death of Richard Chancellor, in whose
ship the Ambassador had embarked . That intrepid navigator

* Dr Robertson (History of America, book ix. ) heedlessly represents (lie r.lm-ier
to have preceded the voyage of Sir Hnffh Willonghby.
I Hakluyt, vol. i. p, 265.

198

was doomed to perish when almost within reach <5f those be-
loved " two little sonnes," the thoughts of leaving whom "in
the case of orphanes if he spedde not well," had saddened his
departure. The ship was driven ashore at Pitsligo in the
North of Scotland, and by the fury of the tempest was bro-
ken to pieces on the rocks. Chancellor

" using1 all carefulness for the safetie of the bodie of the said Ambassadour and
his trayne, taking- the boate of the said Ship trusting to attaine the shore and so to
save and preserve the bodie and seven of the companie or attendants of the same
Ambnssadour, the same boat by rigorous waves of the seas, was by darke night
overwhelmed and drowned, wherein perished not only the bodie of the.said grand
pilot with seven Russes, but also divers of the Mariners of the said ship : the noble
personage of the said Ambassadour with a fewe others (by God's preservation and
speciall favour) only with much difficultie saved."*

A long account is given of the Ambassador's reception and
entertainment at London. The following is an extract :f

"On the 27th February, 1557, he approached to the Citie of London within
twelve English miles, where he was received with fourscore merchants with chaines
of Gold and goodly apparell, as well in order of men-servants in one uniforme liverie,
as also in and upon good horses and geldings, who conducting him to a marchant's
house, foure miles from London, received there a quantitie of Gold, velvet and
silke, with all furniture thereunto requisite, wherewith he made him a riding gar-
ment, reposing himself that night. The next day being Saturday and the last day
of Februarie, he was by the Merchants Adventuring for Russia, to the number of one
hundred and fortie persons, and so many or more servants in one liverie, as above-
said, conducted towards the citie of London, where by the way he had not onely
the hunting of the Foxe and such like sports shewed him, but also by the Queenes
Maiesties commandment was received and embraced by the right honorable Viscount
Montague, sent by her grace for his entertainment : he being accompanied with
divers lustie Knights, esquires, gentlemen and yeomen to the number of three
hundred horses, led him to the North partes of London, where by foure notable
Merchants richly apparelled was presented to him a right faire and large gelding
richly trapped, together with a foot cloth of orient crimson velvet enriched with
gold laces, all furnished in most glorious fashion, of the present and gifte of the
saide Merchants : whereupon the Ambassador at instant desire mounted, riding on
the way towards Smithfield barres, the first limits of the liberties of the Citie of
London. The Lord Maior accompanied with all the Aldermen in their Skarlet
did receive him, and so riding through the Citie of London in the middle, between
the Lord Mayor and Viscount Montague, a great number of Merchants and notable
personages riding before, and a large troupe of servants and apprentices following,
was conducted through the Citie of London (with great admiration and plausibilitie
of the people running plentifully on all sides, and replenishing all streets in such

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 286.
f Ibid. vol. i. p. 287.

199

•sort as no man without difficultie might passe) into his lodging situate in Fant
church streete, where were provided for him two chambers richly hanged and
decked, over and above the gallant furniture of the whole house, together with
an ample and rich cupboard of Plate of all sortes, to furnish and serve him at all
meales, and other services during his abode in London, which was, as is under-
written, until the third day of May : during which time, daily, divers Aldermen
and the gravest personages of the said companie did visit him, providing all kind
of victuals for his table and his servants, with all sorts of officers to attend upon
him in good sort and condition, as to such an Ambassadour of honour doeth and
ought to appertaine."

.He remained in London until the third May> when he

" departed from London to Gravesend, accompanied with divers Aldermen and
Merchants, who in good gard set him aboord the Noble shippe the Primrose, Ad-
miral to the Fleete, where leave was taken on both sides and parts, after many
imbracements and divers farewels not without expressing of teares."

200

CHAP. XXXIII.

VIEW OF THE TRADE OPENED WITH RUSSIA FROM THE LETTERS OF THE
" COMPANY TO THE AGENTS PRICES OF ENGLISH MANUFACTURES—AR-
TICLES OBTAINED IN RETURN EXTENSIVE ESTABLISHMENT OF ENGLISH-
MEN AT MOSCOW WHEN THAT CITY WAS DESTROYED BY THE TARTARS.

IT is not a little curious to look back into the early history of
the Trade with Russia. The Letters which passed between
the Company and its Agents apprise us of the nature and
prices of the commodities interchanged, and furnish, probably,
the earliest specimens extant of the English mercantile style.
In one Letter it is said :*

"You shall understand we have freighted for the parts of Russia foure good
shippes tobe laden t here by you and your order : That is to say, the Primrose of
the burthen of 240 Tunnes, Master under God John Buckland : The John Evan-
gelist of 170 Tunnes, Master under God Lawrence Roundal : The Anne of London
of the burthen of 160 Tunnes, Master under God David Philly, and the Trinitie
of London of the burthen of 140 Tunnes, Master under God John Robins, -as by
their Charter parties may appeare : which you may require to see for divers causes.
You shall receive, God willing, out of the said good ships, God sending them in
safety for the use of the Company, these kinds of wares following, all marked with
the general marke of the company as followeth, 25 fardels containing 207 sorting
clothes, one fine violet in graine, and one skarlet, and 40 cottons for wrappers,
beginning with number 1. and ending with number 52. The sorting clothes may
cost the first peny 51 9s. the cloth one with the other. The fine violet 18/. 6s. 6d.
The Skarlet 17/. 13s. 6d. the cottons at 9/. 10s. the packe, accompanying 7 cot-
tons for a packe more 500 pieces of Hampshire Kersies, that is 400. watchets, 43
blewes, 53 reds. 15 greenes. 5 ginger colours, and two yellowes which cost the first
penny 41. 6s. the piece, and 3 packes containing 21 cottons at 9/« 10s. the packe,
and part of the clothes is measured by Arshines. More 9. barrels of Pewter of
Thomas Hasels making, &c. Also the wares bee packed and laden as is afore-
sayde, as by an invoyce in eveiy shippe more plainly may appeare. So that when
it shall please God to send the saide good shipps to you in safetie, you are to re-
ceive our said goods, and to procure the sales to our most advantage either for
ready money, time or barter : having consideration that you doe make good debts,
and give such time, if you give any, as you may employ and returne the same

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 297.

201

against the next voyage ; and also foreseeing that you barter to a profit, and for
such wares as be here most vendible, as waxe, tallowe, traine oile, hempe and
flaxe. Of furres we desire no great plentie, because they be dead wares. And as
for Felts we will in no wise you send any. And whereas you have provided tarre,
and as we suppose, some hemp ready, bought, our advise is, that in no wise you
send any of them hither unwrought because our fraight is 4/. a tunne or little less :
which is so deare, as it would not beare the charges : and therefore we have sent
you 7. ropemakers, as by the copies of their covenants here inclosed shaft appeare.
Whom we will you set to worke with all expedition in making of cables and ropes
of all sorts, from the smallest rope to xii inches : And that such tarre and hempe
as is already brought to the water side, they may there make it out, and after that
you settle their work in Vologhda or Colmogro as you shall think good, where
their stuffe may be neerest to them : at which place and places you do assigne them
a principall overseer, as well to see the deliverie of the stuffe unwrought, as also
to take charge of the stuffe wrought, and to forsee that neither the yarne be burnt
in tarring, nor the hempe rotted in the watering ; and also to furnish them so with
labourers, workmen and stuffe, as hereafter when these workmen shall come away,
we be not destitute of good workmen, and that these may dispatch as much as poss-
ible they may, doing it substantially, for we esteem it a principall commoditie,
and that The Counsel of England doth well allowe. Let all diligence be used that
at thereturne of these shippes we may see samples of all ropes and cables if it be
possible, and so after to continue in worke, that we may have good store against the
next yeere. Therefore they have neede to have a place to work in, in the winter :
and at any hand let them have hempe ynoughAo spinne their stuffe : for seeing
you have great plentie of hempe there, and at areasonable price, we trust we shall
be able to bring as good stuffe from thence, and better cheape then out of Danske :
if it be diligently used, and have a good overseer.

"Let the chiefest lading of these foure shippes be principally in waxe, flaxe,
tallowe and trayne oyle. And if there be any more wares then these ships be
able to take in, then leave that which is least in valeu and grossest in stowage until
the next shipping : for wee do purpose to ground our selves chiefly upon those
commodities, as waxe, cables and ropes, traine oyle, flaxe and some linen yarne.
As for Masts, Tarre, Hempe, Feathers, or any such other like, they would not
beare the charges to have any considering our deere fraight. We have sent you
a skinner to be there at our charges for meate, drinke and lodging, to view and see
such furres as you shall cheap or buye, not minding neverthelesse, that you shall
charge yourselves with many, except those which be most vendible, as good mar-
terns mimures, otherwise called Lettis, and Mynkes. Of these you may send us
plentie, finding them good and at a reasonable price. As for sables and other rich
furres, they bee not every mans money : therefore you may send the fewer, using
partly the discretion of the Skinner in that behalfe.

" We heare that there is great plentie of Steele in Russia and Tartarie, whereof
wee would you send us part for an example, and to write your mindes in it what
store is to be had: for we heare say there is great plentie, and that the Tartars
steele is better than that in Russia. And likewise we be informed that there is
great plentie of Copper in the Emperours Dominions : we would be certified of it
what plentie there is, and whether it be in plates or in round flat cakes, and send
us some for an example. Also we would have you to certifie us what kind of
woollen cloth the men of Rie and Ruel, and the Poles and Lettoes doe bring to

2 A

202

Russia, and send the scantling's of them with part of the lists, and a full advice ol'
the lengths and breadths, colours and prices, and whether they be strained or not :
and what number of them may be utterred in a yeere, to the intent that we make
provision for them for the like sorts, and all other Flemish wares which they bring
thiftier and be most vendible there. And to certifie us whether our set clothes be
vendible there or not : and whether they be rowed and shorne : because ofttimes
they go yndrest. Moreover, we will you send us of every commodity in that
Country part, but no great quantity other than such as is before declared. And
likewise every kind of Lether, whereof we be informed there is great store bought
yeerely by the Esterlings and Duches for hie Almaigne and Germanie.

"More, that you doe send us for proofe a quantitie of such Earth, hearbes, or
what thing soever it be, that the Russes do die, and colour any kind of cloth linen or
wollen, Lether or any other thing withall : ;and also part of that which the Tar-
tars and Turkes doe bring thither, and how it must be used in dying and colouring.
Moreover that you have a special foresight in the chusing of your Tallowe, and
that it may be well purified and tried, or els it will in one yeere putrifie and con-
sume.

" Also that you certifie us the trueth of the weights and measures, and howe
they do answere with ours, and to send us 3 robles in money, that we may try the
just value of them.

" Also we doe send you in these ships ten young men that be bound Prentises
to the Companie whom we v/ill you to appoint every of them as you shall there
find most apt and meete, some to keepe accompts, some to buy and sell by your
order and commission, and sqffte to send abroad into the notable cities of the
Countrey for understanding and knowledge."

The spirit of commercial enterprise was fully kindled, and
an eager desire appears to become the Carriers of the world.
What a change from the utter prostration which led, just be-
fore, to the appeal to Him whose genius had been thus suc-
cessfully invoked to quicken and to guide !

" We would you bought as much waxe principally as you may get. For if there
be in that country, so great quantity, as we be informed there is, it will be the
best commodity we may have: for having that wholly in our hands, we may serve
our own Country and others. Therefore seeing the Emperour doth minde, that
such commodities as bee in his dominions shall not passe to Rie and Revel and
Poland as they have done, but be reserved for us : therefore we must so lay for it,
that it may not be upon their hands that have it to sell, always having consideration
in the price and time as our next dispatch may correspond.

" Also we doe understand that in the countrey of Permia or about the river of
Pechora is great quantitie of Yewe, and likewise in the countrey of Ugory, which
we be desirous to have knowledge of, because it is a special commoditie for our
Realme. Therefore we have sent you a young man, whose name is Leonard
Brian, that hath some knowledge in the wood, to shew you in what sort it must be
cut and cloven. So our minde is if there be any store, and that it be found to
be good, that there you doe provide a good quantitie against the next yeere for
the comming of our shippes. And because wee bee not sure what timber they
shall finde there to make Casks, we have laden in these ships 140 Tunnes emptie

203

Caske, that is 94 tunnes shaken Casks and 46 tunncs whole, and ten thousand
hoopes, and 480 wreth.es of twigs; they may be doing with that till they can pro-
vide other timber, which wee would be glad to heare of. They have an example
with them of the bignesse of the Caske they shall make. Neverthelesse, all such
Buttes and Hoggesheads as may be found to serve we' will shal be filled with traine
Oyle.

"It shalbe very needeful that you doe appoynt certaine to see the romagingof
the ships, and to give the master or Botswaine, or him that will take upon him to
romage, a good reward for his labour to see the goods well romaged. If it be iij d.
or iiij. d. the tunne, it shall not be amisse. For if it be not substantially well
looked into, it may be a great deale of money out of our wayes.

"Also, because we reckon that from the Mosco will bee alwaycs better convey-
ance of letters to us by land: our minde is that from time to time as occasion shall
serve, our Agents shall write to him that shall lie at Mosco of all things that shall
passe, that he may give us large instructions, as wel what is solde and bought, as
also what lading we shall take, and what quantitie and kinde of goods wee shall
send. For we must procure to utter good quantitie of wares, especially the commodi-
ties of our Healme, although we afford a good pcnyworth, to the intent to make other
that hate traded thither, wearic, and so to bring ourselves and our commodities in esti-
mation, and likewise to procure and have the chief e commodities of that Country in our
hands, as waxe and such others,- that other Nations may be served by us and at our
hands. For wee doe understand that the greatest quantitie of waxe that commeth
to Danske, Lubeck, and Hambourgh, commeth out of Russia. Therefore if wee
should buy part, and they also buy, it would raise the price there, and would be
little worth here. And all such letters of importance and secrecie as you doe send
by knd for any wares or otherwise, you must write them in Cyphers after the order
of a booke sent you in the shippes: alwayes taking goode heede in placing of your
letters and cyphers, that we may understand them by the same booke here, and
to send them in such sort, that we may have them here by Christmas or Candlemas
if it be possible. And because you cannot so certainly advertise us by letters of
your doings, but some doubt may arise whereof we would most gladly be certi-
fied: our minde is therefore that with these ships you send us home one such yong
man as is most expert in knowledge of that Countrey, and can best certifie vs in
such questions as may be demanded, whome we will remit unto you againe in the
next ships. We think Arthur Edwards will be fittest for that purpose: neverthe-
lesse use your discretion in that matter.

" The prices of wares here at this present, are, bale flaxe twenty pound the
packe and better, towe flaxe twenty-eight pounds the hundred, traine oyle at nine
pounds the tunne, waxe at foure pound the hundred, tallow at sixteene shillings
the hundred, cables and ropes very deare; as yet there are no shippes come out of
Danske."

Though matters passed off so smoothly in public with the
Ambassador, we are let here behind the curtain, and note
some misgivings as to the character of himself and his coun-
trymen :

"Also if the Emperour bee minded to deliver you any summe of money, or good
waxe at as reasonable price as you may buye for readie money, wee will that you

204 « »

shall take it and lade it for our accomptes, and to come at our adventure, and hee
to be payed at the returne of the shippes in velvets, sattens, or any other kinde of
silke, or cloth of golde, cloth of tissue, or according as his commission shalbe
that he shall send us in the shippes, and according to such paternes as hee shall
send. Wee doe notfmde the Ambassadour nowe at the last so conformable to reason as
wee had thought wee shoulde. Hee is very mistrustfull, and thinketh everie man will
beguile him. Therefore you had neecle to take heede ho\ve you have to doe with
him or with any such, and to make your bargains plaine, and to set them downe in
writing. For they be subt ill people, and doe not alwaies speake the trueth, and thinke
other men to bee like themselves. Therefore we would have none of them to send
any goods in our ships at any time, nor none to come for passengers, unlesse the
Emperour doe make a bargaine with you, as is aforesaid, for his owne person.

" Have consideration how you. doe take the roble. For although we doe rate it
after sixteen shillings eight-pence of our money, yet it is not worth past 12 or 13
shillings sterling."*

The Agent at Vologda writes thus to the Agent at Col-
mogro :

" Worshipfull Sir, heartie commendations premised. These may bee to adver-
tise you, that yesterday the thirtieth of this present came hither Robert Best, and
brought with him two hundred Robles, that is one hundred for this place, and one
hundred for you at Colmogro. As for hempe which is here at two robles and a
halfe the bercovite, master Gray has written to buy no more at that price; for John
Sedgewicke hath bought for sixe or seven hundred robles worth at Novogrode for
one roble and a halfe the bercovite, and better cheape: and white Novogrode flaxe
is there at three robles the bercovite. I trust he will doe much good by his going
thither. As I doe understand Richard Johnson is gone to-Novogrode with money
to him, I doubt not but master Gray hath advertised you of all their doings, both
at the Mosco and at Novogrod. And touching our doings heere, you shall perceive
that wee have solde wares of this fourth voyage of one hundred and fortie robles,
besides fiftie robles, of the second and third voyage since the giving up of my last
account, and for wares of the countrey, you shall understand that I have bought,
tried and untried, for 77 robles, foure hundred podes of tried tallowe, beside four
hundred podes that I have given out money for, whereof God graunt good receipt
when the time cometh, which is in Lent. And in browne flaxe and hempe I have
bought seventeen bercovites, sixe podes and sixteene pound, which cost 28 robles,
eleven altines two-pence. And as for other kindes of wares I have bought none
as yet. And for Mastes to bee provided, you shall understand that I wrote a letter
to Totma the 28 of this present for fiftie mastes, to wit, for 25 of fifteene fathoms,
and 25 of fourteene fathoms, to be an arshine and a halfe at the small ende. And
more, I have written for 30 great trees to be two archines and a half at the small
end, and for the other that were provided the last yeere, I trust they shall be sent
downe in the spring of the yeere. And as concerning the Ropemakers, you shall
understand that their abiding place shall be with you at Colmogro, as I do thinke
Master Gray hath, advertised you. For, as Roger Boutinge, Master of the woorkes,
doeth say, there is no place more meete for their purpose then with you; and there

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 297.

205 ^

it will be made with lesser cost, considering that the pale is the one halfe of it:
which is to set one pale more to that, and so for to cover it over, which as they say
will be but little cost. They doe pray that it may be made sixteene foote broade,
and one hundred and eighty fathoms long; and.that in the middle way twentie foote
from the pale towarde the water-side there may be a house made to tarre in, stand- *
ing alone by itselfe for danger of fire. The Tarre house that they would have
made, is to be fifteen fathoms Jong, and ten fathoms broade, and they would that
house should be made first; for I thinke they will not tarre before they come there.
And further they desire that you will provide for as much tarre as you may, for
heere we have small store, but when the time commeth that it should be made, I
will provide as much as I can here, that it may be sent downe when the nasade com-
meth. The stuffe that they have reddie spunne is about five thousand weight, and
they say that they trust to have by that time they come downe yarn ynough to
make 20 cables. A% concerning a copie of the alphabet in ciphers Master Gray
hath written hither that Robert Austen had one, which he willed that he shoulde
deliver to you. Thus I surcease, beseeching God to preserve you in health, and
send you your hearts desire."*

Another letter from the Company :

" This letter before written is the copie on one sent you by Thomas Alcock,
trusting that he was with you long since. The 26 day of the last moneth wee
received a letter from him dated in Stockholme in Sweden the 14 day of January,
and we perceive by his- letter that he had talked with a Dutchman that came lately
from Mosco, who informed him that our friend Master Antony Jenkinson was re-
turned to the Mosco in September last past, but how far he had beene, or what
he had done, he could not tell. Also he wrote that one John Lucke, a joyner,
was taken by the Lifelander, and put in prison. As yet we have not heard from
the sayd John Lucke, nor know not whether he be released out of prison or not.
We suppose that by him you wrote some letter which as yet is not come to our
hands : so that we thinke he is yet in prison, or otherwise dispatched out of the
way. The fifteenth day of December wee received a letter from Christopher
Hodson dated in the Mosco the 29 of July, by the way of Danske ; which is in
effect a copie of such another received from him in our shippes. You shall under-
stand that wee have laden in three good shippes of ours these kind of wares fol-
lowing : to wit, in the Shallowe of London, master under God Stephen Burrow,
34 fardels No. 136 broad short clothes, and four fardels No. 58 Hampshire Kersies :
and 23 pipes of bastards and seckes, and 263 pieces of Raisins, and four hogsheds
No. 154 pieces of round pewter, and ten hogsheds and poncheons of prunes, and
one dryfatte with almonds. And in the Philip and Marie, Master under God
Thomas Wade, 25 fardels No. 100 broad cloths, and three fardels No. 42 Hamp-
shire Kersies, and tbirtie pipes of seckes and bastards and 100 pieces of raisins.
And in the Jesus of London, Master under God Arthur Pette, 10 fardels No. 40
broade shorte clothes, and twenty-seven pipes of bastards and seckes, as by the
invoices herewith inclosed may appeare ; also you shall receive such necessaries
as you did write to bee sent for the rope-makers ; trusting that you shall have better
successe with them which you shall send us in these ships, then with the rest which

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 332.

206

you have sent us yet: for we as yet have sold none of them. And whereas we wrote
unto you, in our former letter, that we would send you a hundred tunnes of salte,
by reason it is so deare here we doe sende you but nine tunnes and a halfe, for it
cost here ten-pence the bushel the first pennie : namely in the Swallow 6 tunnes
1 and a halfe, in the Philip and Marie one tunne and a halfe, and in the Jesus one
tunne and a halfe. The 4 hogsheads of round pewter goe in the Swallow, and
in the Philip and Marie No. 154 pieces as is aforesaid. We send you three ships,
trusting that you have provided according- to our former writing good store of la-
ding for them. If yee have more wares than will lade the ships, let it be train e oyle
that you leave behinde ; the price is not here so good as it was : it is worth here 9
pound the tunne. We thinke it good you should let the smaller ship bring as much
of the traine as she can carry. And that the masters of the ships do looke well to
the romaging, for they might bring away a great deale more than they doe, if they
would take paine in the romaging ; and bestowe the traine by it»selfe, and the waxe
and tallowe by it selfe : for the leakage of the trayne doth fowle the other wares
much.

"We send you now but 100 Kersies : but against the next yeere, if occasion
serve, wee will send you a greater quantitie, according as you shall advise us : one
of the pipes of seckes that is in the Swallow, which hath two round compasses
upon the bung is to be presented to the Emperour : for it is speciall good. The
nete weight of the 10 puncheons of prunes is 4300. 2 thirds 1 Pound. It is written
particularly upon the head of every Puncheon : and the nete weight of the fatte of
Almonds is 500 li. two quarters. The raisins, prunes, and almonds you were best
to dispatch away at a .reasonable price, and particularly the raisins, for in keeping
of them will be great loss in the waight, and the fruit will decay. We thinke it
good that you provide against the next yeere for the comming of our shippes 20
or 30 bullocks killed and salted, for beefe is very deare here. Therefore you were
best to save some of this salt that we doe send you in these ships for the purpose.
The salt of that country is not so good. In this you may take the opinion of the
Masters of the shippes. Foxe skins, white, blacke, and russet, will be vendible
here. The last yere you sent none : but there were mariners that brought many.
If any of the mariners doe bring any 'trifling furres or other commodities, we will
they shall be registered in our pursers bookes, to the intent we may know what
they be."*

In a subsequent communication it is said :

' ' The ware that we would have you provide against the comming of the shippes
are Waxe, Tallowe, trayne Oyles, Flaxe, Cables and Ropes, and Furres sucli as we
have written to you for in our last letters by the shippes : and from hencefoorth not
to make any great provision of any riche Furres except principall Sables and Lettes :
for now there is a Proclamation made that no furres shall be worne here, but such
as the like is growing here within this our Realme. Also we perceive that there
might be a great deal of tallowe more provided in a yeere than you send. There-
fore our minde is, you should enlarge somewhat more in the price, and to send us if
you can three thousand podes a yeere for we do most good in it. And likewise the
Russes, if you would give them a reasonable price for their wares, woulde be the
willinger to buy and sell with you, and not to carrie so much to Novogrode as they
doe, but would rather bring it to Vologda to you, both Waxe, Tallowe, Flaxe, Ilempe,

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 308.

207

and all kinde of other wares fitte for our countrey. Our minde is you should pro-
vide for the next ships five hundred Loshhides, of them that be large and faire, and
thickest in hande, and to be circumspect in the choosing, that you buy them that be
killed in season and well dried and whole. If they be good we may sell them here
for sixteen shilling's and better the piece, wee would have the whole skinnes, that
is the necke and legges withall, for these that you sent now lacke their neckes
and legges. . Neverthelesse for this time you must send them as you may get
them : If you coulde finde the meanes that the haire might be clipped off them,
they woulde not take so much roome in the shippes as they doe. We perceive by
your letters that the prices of waxe doe rise there with you, by reason that the
Poles and Lifelanders doe trade into Russia by licence: which, if there should bee
peace between them, woulde rise to a bigger price, and not be sufficient to serve
them and us too, and likewise woulde bring downe there the prices of our com-
modities. Therefore we thinke it good you should make a supplication to the
Emperour in the name of The Companie to returne the trade from Rye and Revel
to us, especially for such wares as wee doe buy: promising that we will be bounde
to take them at a reasonable price, as wee have bought them in times past : and
likewise that we will bring to them such wares of 6urs, as are thought fit for the
Countrey, and to sell them at such reasonable prices as wee have done."*

There would seem to have been very soon an extensive es-
tablishment at Moscow, and many Englishmen in the service
of the Merchant Adventurers perished when that city was
destroyed by the Tartars :

" Mosco is burnt every sticke by the Crimme the 24 day of May last, and an in-
numerable number of people : and in the English house was smothered Thomas
Southam, Tofild, Waverley, Greene's wife and children, two children of Rafe, and
more to the number of 25 persons were stifled in our beere seller: and yet in the
same seller was Rafe, his wife, John Browne, and John Clarke preserved, which
was wonderful. And there went into that seller Master Glover and Master Rowley
also: but because the heate was so great, they came foorth again with much peril],
so that a boy at their heeles was taken with the fire, yet they escaped blindfold into
another seller, and there as God's will was they were preserved. The Emperour-
fled out of the field, and many of his people were carried away by the Crimme
Tartar : to wit, all the yong people, the old they would not meddle with, but let
them alone, and so with exceeding much spoile and infinite prisoners, they return-
ed home againe. What with the Crimme on the one side, and with his cruelty on
the other, he hath but few people left."|

• Hakluyt, voL i. p. 306. t Ib- vol. i- p- 402.

208

CHAP. XXXIV.

THE CHARTER OF INCORPORATION RECITES PREPARATIONS ACTUALLY

MADE FOR VOYAGES TO THE NORTH, NORTH-EAST, AND NORTH-WEST

* HOW FRUSTRATED WHALE FISHERY NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERY THE

AMBASSADOR OF THE SOPHY OF PERSIA AT MOSCOW HIS EXPLANATION

TO THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA AS TO ENGLAND FOLLOWED UP BY A MESS-
ENGER TO PERSIA FROM ENGLAND WITH A LETTER TO THE SOPHY PRO-
POSING A COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE.

IT is only by looking closely to the terms of the Charter that
we become aware of the extensive schemes of Commerce and
Discovery which were contemplated, far beyond the scope of
that of which the result has just been stated. The recital is
as follows :

"Whereas we be credibly informed, that our right trustie, right faithfull, and
welbeloved Counsailors, William Marques of Winchester Lord high Treasurer of
this our Realme of England, Henrie Earle of Arundel Lord" Steward of our hous-
holde, John Earle of Bedford Lord keeper of our Privie Scale, William Earle of
Pembroke, William Lorde Howard of Effingham Lorde High Admirall of our
saide Realme of England, &c. have at their own adventure, costs, and charges, pro-
vided, rigged, and tackled certaine ships, pinnesses, and other meete vessels,' and
the same furnished with all things necessary have advanced and set forward, for to
discover, descrie, and finde Isles, landes, territories, Dominions, and Seigniories
unknowen, and by our subjects before this not commonly by sea frequented, which
by the sufferance and grace of Almightie God, it shall chaunce them sailing
Northwards, Northeastwards, and Northwestwards, or any partes thereof, in that race
or course which other Christian Monarches (being with us in league and amitie),
have not heretofore by sea traffiqued, haunted, or frequented, to finde and attaine
by their said adventure, as well for the glorie of God, as for the illustrating of our
honour and dignitie royall, in the increase of the revenues of our crowne, and
generall wealth of this and other our Realmes and Dominions, and of our subjects
,of the same, and to this intent our subjects above specified and named, have most
humbly beseeched us, that our abundant grace, favour and clemencie may be gra-
tiously extended unto them in this behalfe. Whereupon wee inclined to the pe-
tition of the foresaide our counsailors, subjects, and Marchants, and willing to ani-
mate, advance, further and nourish them in their said Godlie, honest, and good
purpose, and, as we hope, profitable adventure, and that they may the more will-
ingly and readily atchieve the same, of our speciall grace, certaine knowledge and

209

tneere motion, have graunted, and by these presents do graunt, for us, our heires
and successors, unto our said right trustie, and right faithfull, and right welbeloved
Counsailors, and the other before named persons that they by the name of Mar-
chants Adventurers of England, for the discovery^) f lands, territories, Isles,' Do-
minions and Seigniories unknowen, r<\d not before that late adventure or enter-
prise by Sea or Navigation, commonly frequented as aforesaid, shalbe from hence-
forth one bodie and perpetuall fellowship and communitie of themselves, both in
deede and in name, and them by the names of Marchants Adventurers for the dis-
coverie of lands, territories, Isles and Seigniories unknowen, and not by the Seas,
and Navigations, before their said adventure or enterprise by Sea or navigation
commonly frequented. We doe incorporate, name, and declare by these presents,
and that the same fellowship or communalty from henceforth shalbe, and may have
one Governor of the said Fellowship and Communitie of Marchants Adventurers."*

The prospects thus opened to England were doubtless over-
shadowed by the domestic turmoil which followed, and which
separated the Noble Adventurers into virulent opposing fac-
tions. The war, too, with France, into which the country
was plunged, to serve the purposes of Philip, called their
attention and resources elsewhere, and it only remained to
follow up the success which had dawned on the first mercan-
tile speculations.

When we know that the extensive views of Cabot were thus
controlled, and recall the sanguine expressions of his letter to
Ramusio, how must our indignation kindle anew at such cruel
and absurd mis-statements as those of Mr Ellis, who thus fol-
lows up the blunder on his part, already exposed, which con-
verts the Butrigarius Conversation into a Letter from Sebas-
tian Cabot.

" From this account we see plainly the true reason why all thoughts of a North-
West passage were laid aside for near fourscore years. For the greatest part of
this time Sebastian Cabot, Esq., in quality of governor of the Russia Company,
was the great director and almost the sole manager of all our expeditions for dis-
covery, as appears as well from the instructions drawn by him, for the direction of
those who were employed to look for a North-East passage, as from several char-
ters, commissions, and other public instruments, in which we find him mentioned
with great honour, and treated as the father and founder of the English navigation.
It does not indeed appear, that he ever declared in express terms, against making
any further searches to the North- West; but as it is evident from the Letter of Ma
before-mentioned that he absolutely despaired of finding such a passage, it may be
fairly presumed, that during his life time, and considering the great influence he

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 267.

210

had in matters of this nature, no project for such a discovery would have met \v if I.
any encouragement; and therefore we need not wonder, that even in that age, when
hardly a year passed but some design or other, for promoting1 commerce and navi-
gation was set on foot, this remained as silent and unth ought of, as if it never had
been proposed; or as if a. single unsuccessful attempt upon a coast never before
visited, had been sufficient to extinguish all hopes, and produce absolute despair of
d.oing any good in a matter of such importance, the consequences of which were
so well known to the enterprising navigators of those times."*

One of the results of the Northern Voyages was the open-
ing the way to the Whale Fishery at Spitzbergen.t

An important Statute, 2d and 3d Edward VI. cap. 6, .oc-
curs to Newfoundland.^: After reciting that within the few
years last past, there had been exacted by certain officers of
the admiralty divers great sums of the merchants and fisher-
men resorting to Newfoundland and other places, " to the
great discouragement and hinderance of the same merchants
and fishermen, and to no little damage of the whole common-
wealth," it is forbidden, " to demand of any such merchants
or fishermen any sum or sums of money, doles, or shares of
fish, or any other reward, benefit, or advantage whatsoever it
be, for any licence to pass this realm to the said voyages or
any of them."

The claims of Cabot on the gratitude of his country for
having opened to it this source of wealth and power have been
freely recognised : —

"To come," says Sir William Monson, writing in 1610, "to the particulars of
augmentation of our trade, of our plantations, and our discoveries, because every
man shall have his due therein, I will begin with Newfoundland, lying upon the
main continent of America, which the King of Spain challenges as first discoverer;
but as we acknowledge the King of Spain the first light of the West and South-
West parts of America, so we, and all the world must confess, that we were the
first who took possession, for the crown of England, of the north part thereof, and
not above two years difference betwixt the one and the other. And as the Span-
iards have, from that day and year, held their possession in the West, so have we done
the like in the North; and though there is no respect, in comparison of the wealth

* Voyage to Hudson's Bay, &c., to which is prefixed an Historical Account, &c.
by Henry Ellis, Gent. p. 8.

f Anderson's History of Commerce, vol. ii. p. 83. M'Pherson's Annals of Com-
merce, vol. ii. p. 115.

£ Ruffhead's Statutes at large, vol. ii. p. 412,

211

betwixt the countries, yet England may boast, that the discovery from the year afore-
said to this very day, hath afforded the subject annually, one hundred and twenty
thousand pounds, and increased the number of many a good ship, and mariners, as
our western parts can witness, by their fishing in Newfoundland."

" If this worthy man," says Campbell, "had performed nothing more, his name
ought surely to have been transmitted to future times with honour, since it clearly
appears that Newfoundland hath been a source of riches and naval power to this
nation, from the time it was discovered, as well as the first of our plantations; so
that, with strict justice, it may be said of Sebastian Cabot, that he was the author
of our Maritime Strength, and opened the way to those improvements which have
rendered us so great, so eminent, so flourishing a people."*

" By his knowledge and experience, his zeal and penetration, he not only was
the means of extending the Foreign Commerce of England, but of keeping alive
that Spirit of Enterprise which, even in his life tune, was crowned with success,
and which ultimately led .to the most happy results for the nation, &c."f

Another branch of Commerce which grew out of the
North-Eastern Voyages, is connected with some very curious •
circumstances.

Richard Chancellor informed Eden (Decades, fol. 198), that
at Moscow he met the ambassador of the " Kinge of Persia,
called the great Sophie," and was indebted to him for sub-
stantial favours. " The ambassador was appareled all in scar-
let, and spoke much to the Duke in behalf of our men, of
whose kingdom and trade he was not ignorant." It may ex-
cite a smile, at the present day, to find an Ambassador of the
Sophy of Persia vouching for the commercial respectability of
England; and the Russia Company itself, yet in existence, is
probably not aware of the extent to which it may have been in-
debted to his good offices. The complacent feeling thus indi-
cated led shortly after to the mission of Anthony Jenkinson.
The Company writing to the Agent in Russia, say,$ " We have
> a further hope of some good trade to be found out by Master
Anthonie Jenkinson by reason we do perceive, by your let-
ters, that raw silk is as plentiful in Persia as flax is in Russia,
besides other commodities that may come from thence." One
of the earliest acts of Elizabeth, after her accession, was to
address a letter ' ' To the right mightie and right victorious

* Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, art. Sebastian Cabot
t Barrow's Chronological History, &c. p. 36.

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 307.

212

Prince, the great Sophie, Emperor of the Persians, Medes,
Parthians, Hircans, Carmanians, Margians, of the people on
this side and beyond the river of Tigris, and of all men and
nations between the Caspian Sea and the Gulfe of Persia."
She asks his good offices toward the Agent of the Company :

" For that his enterprise is onely grounded upon an honest intent, to establish
trade of merchandise with your subjects, and with other strangers trafficking in
your Realms." " We do hope that the Almightie God will bring it to pass, that
of these small beginnings greater moments of tilings shall hereafter spring both to
our furniture and honors, and also to the great commodities and use of our peo-
ples, so that it will be knowen that neither the Earth, the Seas, nor the Heavens
have so much force to separate us, as the godly disposition of natural humanity and
mutual benevolence have to joyne us strongly together."*.

* Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 341.

213

CHAP. XXXV.

THE SEARCH-THRIFT DESPATCHED TO THE NORTH IN 1556 UNDER STE-
PHEN BURROUGH — CABOT'S ENTERTAINMENT AT GRAVESEND — INFLU-
ENCE OF THE DEATH OF EDWARD VI. ON HIS PERSONAL FORTUNES

REVIVING HOPES OF THE STJLYARD MERCHANTS THEIR INSOLENT RE-
FERENCE TO THE QUEEN IN A MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO PHILIP THE

LATTER REACHES LONDON, 20THMAY, 1557 NEW ARRANGEMENT AS

TO CABOT'S PENSION ON 29TH MAY 1567 — WILLIAM WORTHINGTON IN

POSSESSION OF HIS PAPERS ACCOUNT OF THAT PERSON MANNER IN

WHICH THE MAPS AND DISCOURSES HAVE PROBABLY DISAPPEARED

CABOT'S ILLNESS — AEFECTING ACCOUNT OF HIS LAST MOMENTS BY
RICHARD EDEN.

AMIDST the stir and bustle of these commercial enterprises
concerted by Cabot, or due to the impulse he had communi-
cated, there occurs a remarkable anecdote of himself. Ste-
phen Burrough, afterwards Chief Pilot of England and one
of the four Masters having charge of The Royal Navy at
Chatham, &c.,* had been with Richard Chancellor, on the first
voyage, and was again despatched to the North in 1556, in a
pinnace called the Search-thrift. His copious journal of the
incidents of the voyage is preserved,! and an entry at the
outset strikingly exhibits the anxious supervision of Cabot,
and the apparent unwillingness to quit, up to the latest mo-
ment, the object of so much solicitude. At the Entertain-
ment, too, provided at Gravesend, his countenance to the joy -
.ous amusements of the company not only shows the unbroken
spirits of this wonderful man, but the terms in which Bur-
rough records these minute incidents prove how well Cabot
understood the character of those around him, and knew that

* See his Commission from Queen Elizabeth, dated 3d January, 1563, amongst
the Lansdowne MSS. No. 116, art. iii.
t Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 274.

214

he was leaving, to cheer them amidst their 'perils, a grateful
impression of kind and familiar sympathy at home.

"The 27 April being Munday, the Eight Worshipful Sebastian Caboto came
aboord our Pinnesse at Gravesende, accompanied with divers Gentlemen, and Gen-
tlewomen, who after that they had viewed our Pinnesse and tasted of such cheere
as we could make them aboord, they went on shore, giving to our mariners right
liberall rewards : and the good olde Gentleman Master Cabota gave to the poore
most liberall almes, wishing them to pray for the good fortune, and prosperous
successe of the Serchthrift, our Pinnesse. And then at the signe of the Christo-
pher, he and his friends banketted, and made me, and them that were in the com-
pany great cheere : and/or very joy that he had to see the towafdness of our intended
discovery, he entered into the dance himselfe, amongst the rest of the young and
lusty company^ which being ended, hee and his friends departed most gently,
commending us to the Governance of Almighty God."

A gloom now overspreads the history of Cabot, and we ap-
proach the closing scenes of his life with a painful conviction
that they exhibit a signal instance of ingratitude and bad faith.

The untimely death of Edward VI. while it operated as a
severe check on the advancing commercial prosperity of Eng-
land, was no less inauspicious to the personal fortunes of him
who had given the first great impulse. The generosity of
the youthful monarch, — his ingenious and enterprising spirit,
— and his fondness for the studies and inquiries connected
with sea affairs— are in melancholy contrast with the close and
sullen bigotry of Mary. It would form no recommendation
to her that Cabot had been a personal favourite with a brother
whom she regarded as a heretic and as her own persecutor.
With her husband he was still less likely to find favour.
Jealous of the growing commerce and maritime enterprise of
England, Philip saw in Sebastian Cabot the man who had left
his father's service, had refused peremptorily to return, and
who was now imparting to others the benefit of his vast ex-
perience and accumulated stores of knowledge.

Edward died on the 6 July, 1553. Oa the 27 November,
1555, the pension to Cabot was renewed (Rymer, Fredera,
vol. xv. p. 427), but there is no clause having a retrospective
character, to cover the intervening period, such as would be
necessary if, as the fact of renewal implies, the pension made
payable for life by the king and his successors was deemed to
expire on the death of the reigning monarch.

215

The most alarming indication of the complete change in
the aspect of affairs is the fact that the Stilyard merchants, by
the influence of Charles V., through the marriage of his son
with Mary, were enabled to obtain relief from the Act of the
late King. "This," says Rapin, "was the first fruit of the
Queen's alliance with the Emperor."

Their insolent confidence is strikingly apparent in one Doc-
ument, which shews, at the same time, their knowledge of
Philip's brutal disregard of the feelings of his wife.

" At an assembly of the Hanses at Lubeck, an Edict was pubh'shed against all
Englishmen, forbidding all trade or commerce with them, and staying the carrying
out of Come, which was provided for the service and necessitie of the Realme :
yet for all these indignities, the said Queene was contented that Commissaries on
both parts should meet in England, and agree upon, and set downe a certaine and
immutable manner of Trade tobejield, and observed on both sides : but the Hanses
were so farre from accepting of this gracious offer, that they wholly refused it, as
by a Petition of theirs exhibited to King Philip, the third of June 1557 appeareth,
wherein they declare the cause of that their refusall to bee, for that they coulde not
have* in this Realme anie other iudges of their cause, but such as were suspected,
not sparing or excepting the Queene herselfe of whose good will and favour they had
received so often experience and triall.*"

A crisis approaches. Philip reached London on the 20th
May, 1557, and the formal declaration of war against France
took place immediately after.f The period was one of great
pecuniary embarrassment with Mary, and she saw the dread-
ed necessity approaching for a demand on Parliament of money
to enable her to promote the schemes of her husband.J We
recall, at such a moment, with alarm, the almost incredible

* Treatise of Commerce by Wheeler, Ed. of 1601, p. 97.

| "Philip had come to London in order to support his partizans ; and he told

^the Queen, that if he were not gratified in_so reasonable a request, he never more

would set foot in England. This declaration extremely heightened her zeal for

promoting his interests, and overcoming the inflexibility of her Council." Hume,

anno 1557-

$ " Any considerable supplies could scarcely be expected from Parliament,
considering the present disposition of the nation ; and as the war would sensibly
diminish that branch arising from the customs, the finances, it was foreseen, would
fall short even of the ordinary charges of government ; and must still more prove
unequal to the expenses of war. But though the Queen owed great arrears to all
her servants, besides the loans extorted from the subjects, these considerations had
no influence with her." Ib.

216

baseness and ingratitude of this man, who, the year before,
had withheld from his father, Charles V., the paltry pittance
reserved on surrendering a mighty empire.*

On the 27th May, 1557, Cabot resigned his pension. f On
the 29th, a new grant is made, but in a form essentially dif-
ferent.:]: It is no longer to him exclusively, but jointly with
William Worthington; "eidem Sebastiano et dilecto servieoti
nostro Willielmo Worthington. "

On the face of this transaction Cabot is cheated of one-half
of the sum which had been granted to him for life. This was
done, no doubt, on the pretence that age prevented an effi-
cient discharge of his duties, forgetting that the very nature
of the grant for life had indulgent reference to such a contin-
gency, and that Cabot by refusing to quit England had for-
feited his pension from the Emperor.

That Worthington — probably a favourite of that dark hour
— was thus provided for on pretence of aiding in the discharge
of Cabot's functions seems placed beyond doubt by evidence
found in Hakluyt. The dedication of the first volume of the
greater work to the Lord High Admiral of England contains
these remarkable expressions :

"King Edward VI., that Prince of Peerless hope, with the advice of his sage
and prudent counsel, before he entered into the North-Eastern discovery, advanced
the worthy and excellent Sebastian Cabota to be Grand Pilot of England, allowing
him a most bountifull Pension of £166 by the year, during his life, as appeareth in
his letters Patent, which are to be seen in the third part of my work. And if God
had granted him longer life, I doubt not but as he dealt most royally in establish-
ing that office of Pilot Major, (which not long after to the great hindrance of the
common-wealth, was miserably turned to other private uses} so his Princely Majesty
would have showed himself no niggard in erecting, &c. &c."

* Robertson's Charles V. anno 1556. " But though he might have soon learned -~
to view with unconcern the levity of his subjects, or to have despised their neglect,
he was more deeply afflicted with the ingratitude of his Son, who, forgetting al-
ready how much he owed to his father's bounty, obliged him to remain some weeks
at Burgos, before he paid him the first moiety of that small Pension, which was all
that he had reserved of so many kingdoms. As without this sum Charles could
not dismiss his domestics with such rewards as their services merited, or his gen-
erosity had destined for them, he could not help expressing both surprise and dis-
satisfaction."

•f Rymer, vol. xv. p. 427.

* Ib. p. 466.

217

The high functionary thus addressed was then in the ser-
vice of Queen Elizabeth. The gross abuse, therefore, so in-
dignantly denounced has no reference, we may be assured, to
her, and we know that amongst the early acts of her reign
was the appointment of Stephen Burrough to the office in
question. The allusion, therefore, is to some dark tale of
perversion between the death of Edward in 1553 and the ac-
cession of Elizabeth in 1558, and we can have little difficulty
in coupling it with this mark of royal bounty at the expense
of Cabot.

The allusion was, doubtless, well understood by the person
addressed, for his father, then Lord High Admiral of England,
is named, as we have seen, in the Charter of the Merchant
Adventurers, (at the head of whom Cabot is placed) as one
of the associates who had fitted out the vessels to prosecute
discoveries in the North, North-West, and North-East.*
Hakluyt alludes to this circumstance in his Dedication to the
son.

We look round with some interest for information as to
William Worthington. The only notice of him discovered
is in a passage of Strype's Historical Memorials (vol. ii.
p. 506), where amongst the Acts of Edward VI. the youthful
monarch is found, with an easy liberality, forgiving him a
large debt on his allegation that a servant had run away with
the money.

"A Pardon granted to William Worthinglon, being- indebted to the King for
and concerning the office of Bailiff and Collector of the Rents and Revenues of all
the Manors, Messuages, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments within the City of
London, and county of Middlesex, which did belong to Colleges, Guilds, Frater-
nities, or Free Chappels, in the sum of 392 pounds 10 shillings 3 pence, as upon the
foot of his account, made by the said William before Thomas Mildmay auditor of
the said Revenues, manifestly it doth appear: In consideration of his service both
in France and Scotland, and also his daily service and attendance, being one of the
ordinary Gentlemen and Pensioners; and for that the Debt grew by the unfaithful-
ness of his servant, who ran away with the same. Granted in March, but the Patent
signed in April."

'* See the Charter in Hakluyt, vol. i. p.

2 C

218

It will be remembered* that in Hakluyt's earliest work,

blished in 1582, he speaks of all Cabot's Maps and Dis-
courses written with his own hand as then in the possession of
William Worthington. The facts disclosed may, perhaps,
assist to account for their disappearance. It is obvious that
such documents would be secured, at any price, by the Span-
ish Court, at the period of Hakluyt's publication, when Eng-
lish enterprise was scattering dismay amongst the Spanish
possessions of America. The work of Hakluyt (six years be-
fore the Armada) showed where they were to be found. The
depositary of them was the very man who had been the object
of Philip's bounty during his brief influence in England.
Were they not bought up? There can be now only a con-
jecture on the subject, yet it seems to gather strength the
more it is reflected on.

Suspicion may even go back farther, and suggest that a
main object in associating this man with Cabot was to enable
him to get possession of the papers that they might be de-
stroyed or sent to Spain. The fact that Worthington had
received them was probably too well known to be denied by
him ; and his remark to Hakluyt may have been a mere mode
of evading that person's prying curiosity. The same alarm
which dictated the demand on Edward VI. for the return of
Cabot would lead Philip to seize, with eagerness, an opportu-
nity of getting hold of these documents, so that the author's
dreaded knowledge might expire with himself. Of one thing
we may feel assured. Hakluyt, who is found attaching so
much importance to an " Extract" from one of Cabot's Maps,
was not turned aside from efforts to get a sight of this precious
Collection, but by repeated and peremptory refusals, for
which, if it really remained in Worthington's hands, there
occurs no adequate motive. The language of the Dedication
seems to betray something of the sharpness of a personal
pique.

Sixty-one years had now elapsed since the date of the first

* See p. 40.

219

commission from Henry VII. to Sebastian Cabot, and the pow-
ers of nature must have been absolutely wearied out. We
lose sight of him after the late mortifying incident ; but the
faithful and kind-hearted Richard Eden beckons us, with
something of awe, to see him die. That excellent person
attended him in his last moments,* and furnishes a touching
proof of the strength of the Ruling Passion. Cabot spoke
flightily, " on his death bed,77 about a divine revelation to
him of a new and infallible method of Finding the Longitude
which he was not permitted to disclose to any mortal. His
pious friend grieves that " the good old man," as he is affec-
tionately called, had not yet, " even in the article of death,
shaken off all worldlie vaine glorie." When we remember
the earnest religious feeling exhibited in the Instructions to
Sir Hugh Willoughby, and which formed so decided a feature
of Cabot's character, it is impossible to conceive a stronger
proof of the influence of long cherished habits of thought,
than that his decaying faculties, at this awful moment, were
yet entangled with the problem ^vhich continues to this day
to vex, and elude, the human intellect. The Dying Seaman
was again, in imagination, on that beloved Ocean over whose
billows his intrepid and adventurous youth had opened a path-
way, and whose mysteries had occupied him longer than the
allotted span of ordinary life. The date of his death is not
known, nor, except presumptively, the place where it oe-
. curred. From the presence of Eden we may infer that he
died in London. It is not known where his Remains were
deposited. The claims of England in the new world have
been uniformly, and justly, rested on his discoveries. Pro-
posals of colonization were urged, on the clearness of the
Title thus acquired and the shame of abandoning it. The

* See the Epistle Dedicatory to " A very necessarie and profitable book con-
cerning1 Navigatk>n compiled in Latin by Joannes Taisnerus, a publike Professor in
Rome, Ferraria and and other Universities in Italic, of the Mathematicalles named
a Treatise of Continual Motions. Translated into English by Richard Eden, Im-
printed at London by Richard Jugge." There is a copy of the work in the King's
Library, British Museum (title in Catalogue, Eden].

220

English language would probably be spoken in no part of
America but for Sebastian Cabot. The Commerce of Eng-
land and her Navy are admitted to have been deeply — incal-
culably— his debtors. Yet there is reason to fear that in his
extreme age the allowance which had been solemnly granted
to him for life was fraudulently broken in upon. His birth-
place we have seen denied. His fame has been obscured by
English writers, and every vile calumny against him eagerly
adopted and circulated. All his own Maps and Discourses
" drawn and written by himself" which it was hoped might
come out in print, " because so worthy monuments should not
be buried in perpetual oblivion," have been buried in per-
petual oblivion. He gave a Continent to England : yet no
one can point to the few feet of earth she has allowed him in
return !

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.

VOYAGES SUBSEQUENT TO THE DISCOVERY BY CABOT PATENT OF 19TH

MARCH 1501, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED, IN FAVOUR OF THREE MERCHANTS

OF BRISTOL AND THREE PORTUGUESE NATIVES BROUGHT TO ENGLAND

AND EXHIBITED AT COURT ERRONEOUS REFERENCE OF THIS INCIDENT

TO CABOT — HAKLUYT'S PERVERSION — SECOND PATENT 9TH DECEMBER
1 502 — DR ROBERTSON'S MISCONCEPTIONS — PROBABLE REASONS FOR THE
ABANDONMENT OF THE ENTERPRISE.

IT is now proposed to pass in review the efforts which have
been made at different periods, and under various auspices, to
follow up the project of Cabot, so far as may be necessary to
exhibit the pervading influence of the original enterprise.
This part of the subject has in it little of an attractive, or
popular, character; yet the close and minute inquiry which
it involves will, it is hoped, be sufficiently relieved by its
high purpose of rendering an act of tardy justice to the fame
of this great seaman. The same ignorance, or malevolence,
which has so long obscured the evidence of what he himself
achieved, has been even yet more successful in effecting its
object by an absurd exaggeration of the merit of subsequent
navigators.

Attention is naturally turned, in the first place, to the

222

country in which the scheme had its origin ; and here we re-
cognize distinctly the quickening impulse of its partial suc-
cess, though rendered unavailing by accidental causes. The
page of Lord Bacon which states the public exhibition by
Cabot, on his return, of a " Card,7' showing his progress to 67°
and-a-half, apprises us that " again in the sixteenth year of
his reign, and likewise in the eighteenth, the King granted
new commissions for the discovery and investing of unknown
lands."

Singular as it may appear, the first of these interesting and
curious documents has never yet been made public, and the
reference to it in a subsequent paper printed by Rymer (vol.
xiii. p. 42), has a mistake as to the date. After a tedious
search at the Rolls Chapel, it has at length been discovered,
and though, from unpardonable carelessness, a part of it has
become illegible, yet no material portion is lost.

It was granted during the brief Chancellorship of the Bishop
of Salisbury, and bears date 19th March, in the 16th year of
Henry VII. (19th March 1501), and is in favour of Richard
Warde, Thomas Jlshehurst, and John Thomas, " Merchants
of the Towne of Brystowe," and John Fernandas, Francis
Fernandus, and John Gunsolus, " borne in the Isle of Sur-
rys, under the obeisance of the Kyng of Portugale." The
following are its leading provisions.

Authority is given to these persons, their heirs, factors and
deputies, to sail to and explore, at their own expense, all
Islands, Countries, regions, and provinces whatever, in the
Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Seas heretofore
unknown to Christians, and to set up the Royal Banner in
such places as they may discover, and to subdue and take
possession of the same in the name of the King of England.
They are permitted to employ as many vessels as they may
think proper, and of any burden.

The King's subjects, male and female, are permitted to go
to and inhabit the regions which may be discovered, to take
with them their vessels, servants, and property of every de-

223

scription, and to dwell there under the protection and gov-
ernment of the patentees, who are empowered to frame Laws
and to enforce their execution. Theft, homicide, robbery,
and violation of the female natives of the newly-discovered
countries, are specially recited as offences to be provided
against.

The exclusive privilege of trading to the newly- discovered
countries is secured to the Patentees for ten years ; and they
may import thence gold, silver, precious stones, and all other
products.

In special consideration of the great expense attending the
enterprise, they are authorised to import for the term of four
years in one vessel of any burden, all articles duty-free ; but
a proviso is eagerly added that this shall not affect the claim
to duties on articles imported in other vessels.

All persons presuming to visit the newly-discovered regions
without permission of the Patentees, even though subjects of
a power in friendship and alliance with England, may be
treated as enemies and expelled, or imprisoned and punished
at the discretion of the Patentees.

They may appoint deputies for the government of all cities,
towns, and other places, in the countries discovered.

The office of King's Admiral in those regions is conferred
on them, and the survivors and survivor of them.

Lands are to be held by them, their heirs and assigns, by
fealty only, without further or other claim or demand on the
part of the King or his heirs.

The next clause forbids any interference with the Patentees
by any foreigner under any grant before made, or which
should afterwards be made, under the Great Seal.

The writing on the original parchment is then carefully
erased from a considerable space which had been occupied, as
we may conjecture, with the case of Cabot.

The three Portuguese are made denizens ; yet even this
act of grace is coupled with a qualification strikingly charac-
teristic of the Monarch whose sign manual is affixed to the
instrument. It is provided that they shall continue liable to

224

pay duties as aliens on all merchandise exported or im-
ported!*

The subsequent Patent bears date 9th December, in the
eighteenth year of Henry VII. that is 9th December, 1502,
and is found in Rymer (vol. xiii. p. 37). Of the original
Patentees, the names of Richard Warde, John Thomas, and
John Fernandus are dropped, and to those retained (Thomas
Ashehurst, John Gunsolus and Francis Fernandus) is now
added Hugh Elliott. The powers given to these four per-
sons are essentially the same with those conferred on the for-
mer six ; and in matters of detail a temper evidently less
churlish is displayed. The exclusive right of trade to the
new regions is extended to a period of forty years, and the
exemption from duty on merchandise imported in one vessel,
of whatever burden, to fifteen years; and before the instru-
ment closes, the additional privilege is given of importation,
duty free, for five years, in one other vessel of 120 tons. The
last indulgence is seemingly wrung from the King, after a par-
tial preparation of the instrument. The .ungracious proviso
which accompanied the original denization is also withdrawn,
and they are to pay no higher duties than natural- born subjects.

It is specially provided that any discoveries made by the
new patentees shall not be for the benefit of the former with-
out an express agreement to that effect.

At this late period we cannot pretend to ascertain, with
certainty, what was done under these Patents which evidently
look to an extensive scheme of colonization.

That one voyage at least was made, may be inferred from
various circumstances.

The provisions of the second Patent, of the 9th December
1502, have reference to the discovery of regions " not before
discovered by the King's subjects under authority from the
Great Seal" ("quse antehac ab aliis subditis nostris, aut
ab aliquibus h&redum et successorum suorum, potestatern, per

» As this document has not heretofore been made public, it is given at large in
the Appendix (D.)-

225

alias Literas Patentes sub Magno Sigillo Nostro in ea parte a
Nobis habentibus, reperta, inventa, investigate et recuperata
non fuerunt"). No such expressions are found in the Patent
of 19th March, 1501, the reference there being only to a
former authority to a foreigner (extraneus), that is, the Ve-
netian, John Cabot. We may therefore fairly infer, that the
allusion is to some intermediate discovery by the Patentees of
the 19th March, 1501, two of whom, Richard Warde and
John Thomas, merchants of Bristol, are omitted in the second
Patent.

The presumption is further strengthened by the following
passage in S tow's Annals, under the year 1502—

" This year were brought unto the King three men taken in the Newfound
Ilandes by Sebastian Gabato before named in anno 1498 ; these men were clothed
in beast skins and did eate raw flesh, but spake such a language as no man could
understand them, of the which three men two of them were seen in the King's
Court at Westminster two years after clothed like Englishmen and could not be dis-
cerned from Englishmen."

Stow quotes as his authority Robert Fabyan, though, as
has been remarked on a former occasion, no such passage is
to be found in the printed work of that Annalist.

The coupling of Cabot's name here with the year 1498,
may, perhaps, be supposed to refer merely to what had been
said of him before, as the finder of the ne^region, and to be
a mode of designating a country which h«^ as yet, received
no familiar appellation. One obvious consideration arises on
the face of the account to negative the idea that the savages
exhibited in 1502, had been brought off by him in 1498. The
author speaks, it will be seen, of the complete change in their
aspect and apparel, after a lapse of two years. Now had
they arrived with Cabot, they must have been in England four
years prior to the exhibition. Where had they been kept in
the intermediate period, and would they not, long before,
have cast their skins and lost something of the savageness which
afterwards disappeared so rapidly? To suppose that they
had been recently "brought unto the King" by Cabot is
against probability, when, while nothing is found with regard
to him, the Records show a treaty with Henry VII. by others,
2 D

226

executed a sufficient time before to fall in with this exhibition
These considerations would countervail even a positive state-
ment, had one been made, by the old Annalist who, in a me-
morandum as to the strange sight he had witnessed at West-
minster, would naturally refer it, without minute inquiry, to
the discovery and the person he -had before named. It is
satisfactory to disengage Cabot from the cruel trick of bring-
ing off the aborigines; this was plainly the first tribute to
popular wonder from the New World. They had evidently
just arrived, and were doubtless brought up to London to ex-
cite general curiosity and interest as to the new region pre-
paratory to an effort which was successfully made in Decem-
ber, to obtain a relaxation of the terms of the original Patent.
We may remark further, aside from the improbability of the
three Portuguese remaining idle in England for nearly two
years, that they would have come with an ill grace to ask for
a new Patent had they made no experiment to ascertain how
far the original one might be turned to account. Doubtless
the modification was urged on the ground that the country
was found, on examination, to offer none of the rich commod-
ities specially referred to in the first patent, — neither gold,
silver, nor precious stones, — and that it was impossible to ex-
pect, under the^dginal terms, even a reimbursement of the
expense incurreflJfWe require some such explanation of the
sudden extension from ten to forty years of the privilege of
exclusive traffic.

Another instance of treachery on the part of Hakluyt is
here to be noted, which may show how undeserving he is of
confidence. The early part of the year 1502 falls within the
seventeenth of Henry VII.* On turning to Hakluyt's origi-
nal work, published in 1582, there will be found this same
passage of Fabyan, as derived from " John Stowe Citizen a

* The following entries in the Account of the Privy Purse Expenses of Henry
VI# are obviously to be connected with these Patents: —

"7 January 1502 To men of Bristol that found Th' Isle £5

"30 September 1502 To the Merchants of 'Bristol that

have bene in the Newe founde Launde . £20."

227

diligent searcher and preserver of Antiquities," and he there,
with the recent communication before him, actually states the
seventeenth year of Henry VII. as the date of this exhibition
of savages. But when he came to publish his larger, and more
ambitious, work, he seems to have paused over the several
scraps of information he had collected, and which appeared
so little to harmonise. There is no evidence, it may be re-
marked, that he had any knowledge of the two Patents to the
Bristol Merchants and the Portuguese. He thought it, then,
unaccountable how Cabot should be found, at so late a period,
exhibiting savages evidently just from the woods. He deter-
mined, therefore, to set the matter right, and the "seven-
teenth" year of his original work is actually converted into
" fourteenth" so as to correspond with the date of Cabot's
voyage. In the work of 1582, the passage is headed "Of
three savage men which he brought home and presented unto
the King in the XVII yeere of his raigne," but in 1600,
(vol. iii. p. 9) " Of three savages which Cabot brought home
and presented unto the King in the fourteenth yeare of his
raigne mentioned by the foresaid Robert Fabian." Thus the
names of Stowe and Fabyan, cited, in 1582, for the statement
then made, are retained to sanction his own perversion eighteen
years after !

Whatever may have been the result of these Commissions,
a mere glance at their dates, and contents, will suffice to show
how idle are the speculations by which respectable writers
have sought to account for what they term the apathy of Henry
VII. The following passage from Dr Robertson's History of
America may serve as a specimen : —

"But by the time that Cabot returned to England, he found both the state of affairs
and the King's inclination unfavourable to any scheme, the execution of which would
have required tranquillity and leisure. Henry was involved in a War with Scotland*
and his Kingdom was not yet fully composed after the commotion excited by a
formidable insurrection of his own subjects in the West. An Ambassador from
Ferdinand of Arragon was then in London: and as Henry set a high value upon the
friendship of that Monarch, for whose character he professed much admiration,
perhaps from its similarity to his own, and was endeavouring to strengthen their
union by negotiating the marriage which afterwards took place between his eldest
Son and the Princess Catharine, he was cautious of giving any offence to a Prince
jealous to excess of all his rights.

228

" From the position of the Islands and Continent which Cabot had discovered, it
was evident that they lay within the limits of the ample donative which the bounty
of Alexander VI. had conferred upon Ferdinand and Isabella. No person, in that
age, questioned the validity of a paper grant ; and Ferdinand was not of a temper
to relinquish any claim to which he had a shadow of title. Submission to the au-
thority of the Pope, and deference for an ally whom he courted, seem to have con-
curred with Henry's own situation, in determining him to abandon a scheme, in
which he had engaged with some degree of ardour and expectation.

"No attempt towards discovery was made in England during the remainder of
his reign; and Sebastian Cabot, finding no encouragement for his active talents
there, entered into the service of Spain."

The four Commissions from Henry VII. bear date, respec-
tively, 5th March 1496, 3rd February 1598, 19th March
1501, and 9th December 1502. Of these, the second was
granted to John Cabot after the close of the war in Scotland,
and the putting down of Perkin Warbeck's Insurrection in the
West. The others follow at such intervals as show a continu-
ed patronage of the project, and there is not the slightest
evidence of refusal, or even of hesitation, from the considera-
tions suggested by Dr Robertson. At the very moment when,
according to that writer, Henry was influenced by a dread of
ecclesiastical censure, and a timid deference to foreign pow-
ers, he is found conferring under the Great Seal authority to
make discoveries and to treat as enemies, and pursue to con-
dign punishment, all who should presume to visit the countries
discovered without permission, even though subjects of a mon-
arch in alliance with England. As to the suggestion that the
enterprise was finally abandoned on account of the contem-
plated marriage between Prince Arthur and Catherine, not
only do we find the dates above-mentioned running over the
period of negotiation, but it happens that the last patent (the
one in Rymer) is dated seven months after the Prince's death.
The indisposition of Henry to give way to arrogant preten-
sions is abundantly clear. The Patentees are to respect the
prior discoveries of Portugal and other countries only where
actual possession had been maintained, " in terris prius repertis
et in quarum possessione ipsi Principes/am existunt."

Dr Robertson had seen the title of the last Patent, as given
by Rymer, but assuredly could not have read it, or he must
have struck out the whole of the passage quoted. The reader

229

will smile at the indolent credulity of the following sentence :
" If any attempt had been made in consequence of this Patent,
it would not have escaped the knowledge of a compiler so in-
dustrious and inquisitive as Hakluyt." We have just seen,
that the writer on whose accuracy and research Dr Robertson
relies so implicitly as to waive any examination for himself,
has contrived, by a nefarious perversion, to obscure the very
fact in question.

The real character of Henry VII. seems to have been that
of a thrifty, calculating, man of business. Caring little about
the niceties of the point of honour, he was inclined to submit
to many slights, and some injustice, rather than go to War,
which he shunned as the same prudent personage would, in
private life, have deprecate! a lawsuit, as a remedy involv-
ing, necessarily, much trouble and expense, and being, at last,
of uncertain issue. He often obtained by negotiation what a
more proud and impetuous spirit would have vindicated by
the sword. But wherever the obvious interests of the coun-
try, or of his own coffers, were concerned, he was sturdy,
persevering, fearless. The influence of his reign on the com-
mercial history of England has never been adequately appre-
ciated, because no one, since the time of Bacon, has taken up
the subject in a temper to do him justice. There is nothing
in his character to dazzle or excite, and Treaties of Commerce
are a poor substitute for Battles to the light reader or brilliant
historian.

In reference to the projects under consideration, it is plain
that Henry did not, for one moment, suffer the Pope's Bull,
or the remonstrances of Spain, to interfere with the eager and
resolute pursuit of what seemed a profitable speculation. But
when he found that the only quarter of the new world which
remained unoccupied held out, no prospect of speedy or rich
returns, and that the prosecution of these enterprises, instead
of proving a mine of wealth, only, perhaps, furnished an ap-
peal to his princely generosity for pecuniary aid, his interest
naturally languished.* The Foreigners who had resorted to

* That an intercourse was kept up for several years with the newly-discovered

230

his Court were obliged to seek, elsewhere, for Patrons either
more ambitious of the mere glory of discovery or more long-
sighted, in looking patiently to ultimate, though tardy, results.
John Gunsolus, is doubtless the^ " Juan Gonzales, Portugais,"
whose name appears as a witness in the celebrated trial of the
Fiscal with Diego Columbus (Navarette, Viages, torn. iii.
p. 553). Of his own fair standing some proof is, perhaps,
found in his being called on to testify to the estimation in
which Alonzo Pinzon was held by the seamen of that period
(Ib. p. 569). He mentions his having sailed with Diego de
Lepe, and probably proceeded to England about the date
(May, 1500) of the letter of the King and Queen of Spain to
Dorvelos, which Navarette (torn. iii. p. 42) refers to a project
on the part of Spain to follow up the discoveries of Cabot.
Lepe himself, after his return, is found in the November of
the same year at Palos, entangled in some vexatious law pro-
ceedings (Navarette, torn. iii. p. 80).

Repeated reference is found in Herrera to John and Francis
Goncalez, but as there are several individuals thus designated
it is impossible to know what incidents to refer to the English
patentees.

region, is apparent from the following1 entries in the account of the Privy Purse
Expenses of Henry VII.

" 17 November, 1503. To one that brought hawkes from the Newfoundecl
Island, I/.

" 8 April, 1504. To a preste [priest] that goeth to the new Islande, 21.

" 25 August, 1505. To Clays going to Richmount with wylde catts and popyn-
gays of the Newfound Island, for his costs, 13s- 4d.

" To Portugales [Portuguese] that brought popyilgais and catts of the moun-
taigne with other stuff to the King's grace, 51."

Can it have been that Sebastian Cabot, meanwhile, was attempting to colonize
the new region ? The mission of the Priest would seem to countenance the idea
of a settlement ; and we might thus account for the long disappearance of our Nav-
igator, as well as for the language of Thevet (see p. 87 of the present volume).

CHAP. II.

FIRST VISIT OF COLUMBUS TO TERRA FIRMA ON HIS THIRD VOYAGE— AP-
PRISED BEFORE LEAVING SPAIN OF CABOT'S DISCOVERIES PROJECTED

. EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH FROM SPAIN.

IT cannot be supposed that the two great maritime contem-
poraries of Henry, would regard with indifference the enter-
prise of Cabot, since the "Card," which that navigator ex-
hibited on his return, according to Lord Bacon, plainly show-
ed how little respect was paid to the arrogant meridian line
which had received the highest ecclesiastical sanction.

The Continent of America was first visited by Columbus in
August 1498, in the course of what is called his Third Voy-
age, on which he sailed 30 May 1498. The bare mention of
these dates will establish the impossibility that he could have
been ignorant of the great discoveries of Cabot which, com-
mencing at the point seen on the 24 June 1497, had extended
over the "Londe and Isle," recited in the second patent.
Not only had the first expedition returned, and the mariners
been dispersed in every direction, but a new expedition,
with the King at its head, is subsequently planned, and the .
royal authority, of 3rd February 1498, for its sailing precedes,
by nearly four months, the departure of Columbus. To sup-'
pose him ignorant of events so momentous would involve an
absurdity which becomes the more glaring in proportion as
the circumstances are considered. The court of Henry VII.
was filled with the agents of foreign powers,* through whom
the news would not fail to be spread, at once, over Europe.

• "It grew also from the airs which the princes and states abroad received from
their ambassadors and agents here ; which were attending the court in great num-
ber," 5tc. " So that they did write over to their superiors in high terms concern-
ing his wisdom and art of rule ; nay, when they were returned, they did commonly
maintain intelligence with him." Bacon's Henry VII.

232

With regard- to Spain, as she would feel the deepest interest
on the subject, so the circumstances are strongest to show a
continued communication between the two countries. The
authority in reference to the proposed marriage of Prince Ar-
thur with Catharine, bears date 3rd January, 1496, and the
negotiation runs through the whole of the period to 14th No-
vember, 1501, when the ceremony took place. It was by
the intervention of the resident Spanish Ambassador, Don
Pedro d'Ayola, that the truce between England and Scotland
of 30 September, 1497, was brought about, and certain mat-
ters being left to the arbitrament of Ferdinand and Isabella,
Henry's assent to the reference bears date 13 December,
1497.* That d'AyoIa, in the active communications going
on at such a period, omitted to speak of events so memorable
in themselves, and which Spain must have regarded with such
especial interest, is a proposition that it is superfluous to
combat.

A project was soon formed to visit the region actually ex-
plored, by Cabot. Navarette (Viages, torn. iii. p. 77) gives
us a letter dated Seville, 6th May 1500, from the king and
queen to a certain " Juan Dornelos o Dorvelos," touching a
voyage of discovery, and supposes (ib. p. 42) that it had for
its object to explore the seas, from the discovery of which Se-
bastian Cabot had returned ("que el plan dirigiese a renon-
cer los mares que acababa de descubrir Sebastian Caboto").
Nothing further appears with regard to it.

* Rymer, vol. xii. p. 672.

233

CHAP. III.

EXPEDITION FROM PORTUGAL — CORTEREAL THE WORK ENTITLED u PAESI

NOVAMEXTE RITROVATI," &C. LETTER OF THE VENETIAN AMBASSADOR

AT LISBON ELEVEN DAYS AFTER THE RETURN OF CORTEREAL REFER-
ENCE TO THE PREVIOUS VOYAGE OF CABOT TRINKETS FOUND AMONGST

THE NATIVES TRANSLATION OF THE " PAESI," &C. IN 1516.

THE voyage from Spain may not have taken place, but in
another quarter a more decided result was produced ; and we
reach now an enterprise of some celebrity, undertaken di-
rectly from that country whose adventurers have been traced
to England animated with the hope of turning to account the
discoveries of Cabot.

After the recent shame to Portugal of the rejection of Co-
lumbus, her enterprising and sagacious monarch could not but
take alarm at the departure of his subjects to se^k the shel-
ter, and to advance the glory, of a foreign flag. He had,
moreover, the strongest motives of interest for wishing to an-
ticipate the efforts of others to reach by a shorter route those
regions of which he had heretofore monopolised the lucrative
and envied commerce. Nor could the attempt be now deemed
a very arduous .pne. The dispersion of a force of three hun-
dred men, which, according to Peter Martyr, accompanied
Cabot on the voyage spoken of by that historian, would leave
not a single sea- port without many mariners eager to describe,
and to exaggerate, the wonders of the region they had visited,
and anxious, as well as competent, to act as guides in the
prosecution of a new enterprise. We are quite prepared,
therefore, to believe that the ready assent, and liberal coun-
tenance, of Emanuel might enable those who enjoyed them
to get the start of such of his own subjects as had, perhaps,
earlier conceived the project and repaired to England, but
2 E

234

whose proposals had there to encounter all the delays pro-
duced by the cautious and penurious temper of the personage
to whom they were addressed. It does not seem probable
that Gunsolus and Fernandus would have resorted to England
after an expedition for a similar purpose., and likely to cross
their path, had been fitted out under the auspices of their
own Sovereign. The voluminous treaty between them and
Henry VII. may, perhaps, sufficiently explain the apparent
tardiness of their subsequent movements. It wears, in every
line, a character of anxious and elaborate preparation, and its
terms are so harsh and narrow that they could not have been
assented to without reluctance, and were found so impractica-
ble that in the second patent, as we have seen, the necessity
of a relaxation is conceded. The conduct of Emanuel pre-
sents an honourable contrast in every particular. He con-
tributed largely from his own purse, and all the arrangements
were marked by that spirit of liberality which constitutes on
such occasions the truest economy.

The command of the Expedition was confided to Caspar
Cortereal, wljo had been brought up under the immediate eye
of the king while Duke de Beja.* Of its result we happen,
very fortunately, to possess an account from a disinterested
quarter, remarkably clear and minute.

As earty as the year 1507 there was published at Vicenza
a Collection of Voyages and Travels under the title, " Paesi
novamente retrovati et Novo Hondo da Jllberico Vesputio
Florentino intitulato." The extreme scarcity of the work
may be inferred from the circumstance that Camus, having
all the libraries of Paris within his reach, deplores the absence
of the original edition (Memoire sur la Collection des Grands
et Petite Voyages, &c., p. 5), and Navarette (Colecion de los
Viages, &c., com. iii. p. 187) knew of it only through an ac-
quaintance who had been in London. Haym (Bibliotheca
Italiana o sia notizia de Libri rari Italiani) had not seen the
Vicenza publication. In this precious volume is preserved

* Damiano Goes Chronico del Key D. Manoel, cap. Ixvi.

235

a letter from the Venetian ambassador in Portugal to his
brothers, written eleven days after the return of Cvrtereal.
The writer's opportunities for obtaining correct information
were abundant. He saw the natives whom Cortereal had
brought with him — heard from the adventurers themselves all
the particulars of the voyage — and speaks of the hopes and
speculations to which it gave rise at the Court to which he
was accredited. When it is stated that of this Letter there
was a most flagitious perversion in a Latin translation which
appeared at Milan the next year, and which has poisoned all
the subsequent accounts, the importance will be seen of noting
carefully the language of the original. The letter appears,
lib. vi. cap. cxxvi. and bears date 19th October 1501, seven
months, it may here be remarked, subsequent to Henry VII. ?s
Patent to the three Portuguese. After a few remarks irrela-
tive to the expedition, the writer thus continues —

" Adjr. VIII. del presente arivo qui una de le doe Caravelle quale questo seren.
issimo Re lanno pussato mando a discoprire terra verso tramontana Capitaneo Gas-
par Corterat : et referissi havere trouato terra ii M. miglia lonzi da qui tra maestro
& ponente qual mai per avanti fo cognita ad alcun; per la costa de la qual seorseno
forsi miglia DC in DCC. ne mai trovoreno fin: per el che credeno che sia terra
ferma la qual continue in una ultra terra che lano passato, fo discoperta fotto la tra-
montana, le qual caravelle non posse.no arivar Jin la per esser el mare agliazato &
infinita copia de neue; Questo in stesso 11 fa credere la moltitudine de fuimare
grossissime che anno trovate la che certo de una Insula none kavia mai tante & cosi
grosse: Dicono che questa terra e molto populaia &. le case de li habitant! sonno de
alcuni legni longissimi coperte de foravia de pelle de passi. Hanno conducti qui
VII. tra homini & femene Sc putti de quelli: & cum laltra Caravella che se aspecta
d hora in hora ne vien altvi cinquanta."

"On the 8th of the present month one of the two Caravels which his most Se-
rene Majesty dispatched last year on a voyage of discovery to the North, under the
command of Caspar Corterat, arrived here, and reports the finding of a country
distant hence West and North-West two thousand miles, heretofore quite un-
known. They proceeded along the coast between six and seven hundred miles with-
out reaching its termination, from wliich circumstance they conclude it to be of the
mainland connected with another region which last year was discovered in the North,
but which the Caravel could not reach on account of the ice and the vast quantity
of snow; and they are confirmed in this belief by the multitude of great rivers
they found, which certainly could not proceed from an island. They say that this
country is very populous, and the dwellings of the inhabitants are constructed with
timber of great length and covered with the skins of fishes. They have brought
hither of the inhabitants, seventh all, men, women, and children, and in the other
Caravel which is looked for every hour there are fifty more."

236
Describing the captives the Ambassador says —

" Quest! sono de equal colore, figura, statura, et aspecto, similimi a cingani, ves-
titi de pelle de diversi animali, ma precipue de ludre; de instade voltano el pello
i suso, et de in verno el contrario; et queste pelle non sonno cusite insieme in alcun
modo, ne couze, ma cosi como sonno tolte da li animali se le meltono intorno les-
palle et braze; et le parte pudibunde Igate cum alcune corde facte de nervi de
pesse fortissime. Adeo che pareno homini salvatichi: sono molto vergognosi et
mansueti; ma tanto ben facti de brazi & gambe &. spalle che non se potria dire:
Hanno signata la faza in modo de Indium: chi da vi chi da viii. chi da manco segni.
Parlano ma non sonno intesi dalcuno : Ampo credo chi sia sta facto parlare in ogni
lenguazo possibile: Nela terra loro non hano ferro: ma fanno cortelli de alcune
pietre: & similmente ponte de freze: Et quilli anchora hanuo porta de la uno pezo
de spada rotta dorata laqual certo par facta in Italia: uno putto de questi haveva ale
orechie dui todini de arzento, che senza dubio pareno sta facti a Venetia: ilche mi
fa creder che sia terra ferma, perche non e loco, che mai piu sia andato nave, che
se haveria hauto notitia de loro. Hanno grandissima copia de salmoni, Arenge,
Stochufis, & simil pessi: Hanno etiam gran copia de'legnami, & fo sopra tutto de
Pini da fare arbori Sf antenne de nave, per el che questo Serenissimo Re desegna
havere grandissimo utile cum dicta terra si per li legni de nave, che ne haveva de-
besogno como per li homini ch seranno per excellentia da fatiga, & gli meglior
schiavi se habia hauti sin bora."

" They are of like colour, figure, stature, and aspect, and bear the greatest re-
semblance to the Gypsies; are clothed with the skins of different animals, but prin-
cipally the otter; in summer the hairy side is worn outwards, but in winter the
reverse; and these skins are not in any way sewed together or fashioned to the
body, but just as they come from the animal are wrapped about the shoulders and
arms: over the part which modesty directs to be concealed is a covering made of
the great sinews of fish. From this description they may appear mere savages, yet
they are gentle and have a strong sense of shame and are better made in the arms,
legs, and shoulders, than it is possible to describe. They puncture the face, like
the Indians, exhibiting six, eight, or even more marks. The language they speak
is not understood by any one, though every possible tongue has been tried with them.
In this country there is no iron, but they make swords of a kind of stone, and point
their arrows with the same material. There has been brought thence a piece of a
broken sword which is gilt, and certainly came from Italy. A boy had in his ears
two silver plates, which beyond question, from their appearance, were made at
Venice, and this induces me to believe that the country is a Continent; for had it
been an Island and visited by a vessel we should have heard of it. They have
great plenty of salmon, herring, cod, and similar fish; and an abundance of timber,
especially the Pine, well adapted for masts and yards, and hence His Serene Majesty
contemplates deriving great advantage from the country, not only on account of
the timber of which he has occasion, but of the inhabitants who are admirably cal-
culated for labour, and are the best slaves I have ever seen."

When it is known from Lord Bacon (History of Henry
VII.), and the earlier annalists, that the vessels which sailed
with Cabot were " fraught with gross and slight wares fit for

237

commerce with barbarous people," we can have no difficulty in
deciding whither to refer the ear-rings and the fragments of
the showy sword. Aside from the commercial relations of
the father with his native city, such articles would naturally,
at that period, have been drawn from Venice. It would be
absurd to offer arguments to prove that the country further
north, which Cortereal could not reach but of which he rightly
conjectured he had found a continuation, was that discovered'
by Cabot.

An early French translation of the " Pae'si, &c." appeared
at Paris, without date, but usually referred by bibliographers
to the year 1516. After the quaint old introductory it Sen-
suyt," its title is, " Le Nouveau Monde et navigations faictes
par Emeric de Vespuce." It states the year 1500, instead
of 1501, as the date of Pasquiligi's letter, and the 7th,<instead
of the 8th, October as the day on which Cortereal returned ;
but these errors are unimportant, as the editions in the origi-
nal are unanimous, and even the fraudulent translation which
remains to be noticed does not falsify the date of the letter.
Dr Dibdin (Literary Companion, vol. i. p. 370, note) has
fallen into a singular mistake with regard to this Work, follow-
ing Meusel, who was in his turn misled (Bibl. Hist. vol. iii.
p. 265) by the prominence given on the title-page to the name
"Emeric Vespuce." They suppose it to be a translation of
another curious volume, of early date, occupied with the voy-
ages of Americus Vespucius, and Dr Dibdin is, consequently,
amazed at the " unaccountable" price given for it by Mr He-
ber. Its qontents are precisely those of the "Paesi," the
three first books being devoted to Cadamosto, &c., and the
three last to various voyages and enterprises in the old and
the new world. The name of Vespucius occurs only in the
fifth book. The passages in italics, in which it follows cor-
rectly the original, are noted for the purpose of contrast here-
after with the Latin perversion. In comparing the following
passages of Pasquiligi's letter (ch. cxxv. feuil. 78), with the
original, it will be borne in mind that the league is of four
miles.

238

" Le septiesme jourdu diet moys d'Octobre arriva icy vne des deux caravelles de
cestuy roy de Portugal ; Icsquelles Pan passe il avoit envoyez pour descouvrir la
terre vers transmontane et en estoit capitaine Gaspard Cotrad. Et a rapporte avoir
trouve, entre mnistratet ponent, vne terre qui est ltm»gtaine d'icy de cinq cens
lieues. Laquelle auparavant iamais d'aucun n'avoit este congneue. Et par la
coste d'icelle terre ilz allerent environ CL lieues, et iamais ne trouverent fin perquoy
ils croyent que ce soit terre ferme laquelle est voisine d'une anltre terre laquelle
, I'annee passee fut descouverte souk la transmontane lesquelles caravelles nepeurent
arriverjusques la pourceque la mer estoit glacee et pleine de neige. Et la ont trouve
yne multitude de tres gros fleuves ; ilz disent que cest terre est molt populee et les
rnaisons des habitans sont d'aucuns bois tres longs couvertes par dehors de peaulx
de poisson. Ilz ont amene de ce pays la tant hommes que femmes et petis enfans
huyt personnages: & dedkns 1'autre caravelle qui se attend d'heure en heure en vient
aultre cinquante. Les gens icy sont de esgalle couleur, figure, stature, regard et
semblable de egiptiens; vestus de peaulx de diverses bestes, mais principallement de
louves. En 1'este ilz tournent le poil par dehors et iver le contraire. Ft cestes
peaulx en aulcune maniere ne sont point consues ensemble ni acoustrees, mais tout
ainsi que elles sont ostees de la peau des bestes ilz les mettent tout alentour de leur
espaulles etdesbras. Les parties vergogneuses sontleiz avec auscunes cordes faictes
des nerfz de poisson tres fortes. En facon qu'ilz semblent hommes saulvaiges. Ilz
sont moult honteulx et doulx mais si bien faitz de bras et de jambes et d'espaulles
qu'ils ne pourroyent estre mieulx. Leur visage est marquee en la maniere des
Indiens ; auscuns ont VI. marques auscuns VIII. et que plus moins. Us parlent
ma ilz ne sont entendus d'aulcuns et croy qu'il leur a este parle de tous langaiges
qu'il est possible de parler. En leur pays il n'est point de fer, mais le cousteaulx
sont d'aulcunes pierres, et semblablcment leurs poinctes de leurs flesches ; et ceulx
des d'caravelles ont encores apporte d'icelle terre une piece d'espee rompue que
estoit doree laqueHe certainement semble avoir este faicte en Italic ; un petit enfant
de ces gens la avoit dedans les oreilles certaines pieces d'argent lesquelles sans
doute sembloyent estre faiz a Venise laquelle chose me fait croire que ce soit terre •
ferme parceque ce n'est pas lieu que iamais plr y ayt este aulcunes navires car il
eust este notice d'elles — Ilz ont tres grande habondance de saulmons harens, sto-
quefies et semblables poissons. Ilz ont aussi grande habondance de bois; & sur-
toutes de Pins pour fair e arbres et maiz de navires parquoy ce roy a delibere de avoir
grant profit de la terre a cause des bois pour faire des navires car il en avait grant
besoign et aussi des hommes lesquils seront par excellence de grant peine et les
meiHeurs esclaves qu'on saiche jusques a ceste heure."

The French translation, it will be seen, calls the Gypsies
Egyptians, of which the English word is a corruption. They
are styled ^Egyptians in the Statute 22 Henry VIII. cap.
x. but the designation of the Venetian Ambassador is that
by which they were universally known in Italy. In the
Dissertation of Grellman on this singular race, he remarks
(chap, i.),

" The name of Zigcuner has extended itself farther than
any other; these people are so called not only in all Germany,

239

Italy and Hungary (tzigany),* but frequently in Transilvania,
Wallacia, and Moldavia (ciganis). Moreover the Turks and
other Eastern Nations have no othef than thi* name for them
(tschingenes).'*'

The characteristics of the race are stated by Swinburne
(Travels through Spain, p. 230) —

" Their men are tall, well-built, and swarthy, with a bad
scowling eye, and a kind of favourite lock of hair left to
grow down before their ears, which rather increases the gloom-
iness of their features ; their women are nimble, and supple-
jointed ; when young they are generally handsome, with very
fine black eyes ; when old they become the worst-fa vo.ured
hags in nature."

It is remarkable that the early settlers in New-England
were struck with the resemblance. Purchas (vol. iv. p. 1842)
has (i a Relation or Journal of a*Plantation settled at Plimouth
in New-England and proceedings thereof: Printed 1622, and
here abbreviated.7' At p. 1849, we find in the month of
March, the following entry : —

"Saturday in the morning we dismissed the savage and gave him a knife, and
bracelet, and a ring ; he promised within a night or two to come again and to bring
with him some of the Massasoyts our neighbours with such beaver skins as they had,
to truck with us. Saturday and Sunday reasonable fair days. On this day came
again the Savage and brought with him five other tall proper men 5 they had every
man a deer's skin on him, and the principal of them had a wild cat's skin or such
like on one arm, &c. They are of complexion like our English Gypsies, &?c."

On the same page it is stated, that an Englishman named
Hunt had practised the same infamous deception as Cortereal:

" These people are ill affected towards the English by reason of one Hunt, a
master of a Ship who deceived the people and got them under color of trucking
with them twenty out of this very place where we inhabit, and seven nien from
the Nausites and carried them away and sold them for slaves, like a wretched man
(for twenty pounds a man) that care not what mischief he do them for his profit"

The passage in the Letter of the Venetian Ambassador
answers, incidentally, an important purpose. A doubt has
been suggested by Thomasius, Griselini, and the English ge-
ographer Salmon, whether Munster and Spelman do not err

* Is not here the original of zany?

240

in naming 1417, instead of 1517, as the era at which the gyp-
sies made their appearance in Europe, and important refer-
ences are connected with the rectification of the supposed
mistake.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (Edinburgh Edition of 1812),
under the title " Gypsies7' remarks —

'* Munster, it is true, who is followed and relied upon by Spelman, fixes the time
of their first appearance to the year 1417, but as he owns that the first whom he
ever saw were in 1529, it is probably an error of the press for 1517, especially as
other historians inform us that when Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in the year
1517 several of the Nations refused to submit to the Turkish yoke and revolted
under Zinganeus, whence the Turks call them Zinganees."

The same suggestion is found in The London Cyclopaedia.
It must disappear, with its train of conjectures, before this
Letter, written in 1501, which assumes the characteristics of
the race to be so familiarly known as even to furnish a conve-
nient illustration and save the necessity of a particular de-
scription. To those who hold the Hindostan origin of this
de, and have been struck with the admirable Memoir of
aptain Richardson in the Seventh volume of The Asiatic
Researches, this item of evidence will be deeply interesting.

241

CHAP. IV.

THE REGION VISITED BY CORTEREAL STATEMENTS OF THE THREE POR-
TUGUESE HISTORIANS, DAMIANO GOES, OSORIUS, AND GALVANO — OF

GOMARA, HERRERA, AND FUMEE EDITION OF PTOLEMY PUBLISHED AT

BASLE 1540 THE NAME " LABRADOR," i. 6. "LABORER."

THE inquiry now arises as to the point at which Cortereal
reached the American Continent, and followed the, coast north-
wards for a spacje of between six and seven hundred miles.

Damiano Goes, a writer of the highest credit, the contem-
porary of Emanuel, and historiographer of Portugal, says
(Chronica del Key D. Manoel, cap. Ixvi.), that it was — •

" A^^egion which on account of its great freshness, and
the vast groves of trees all along the coast, he called Green-
land" (terra que por ser muito fresca et de grandes arvoredos
como o sam todas as que jazem per a quella banda*lhe pos
nome Terra Verde).

Another Portuguese writer, Osorius (De rebus*Emanuelis,
&c. libt. ii,) says, that Cortereal conferred the name on account
of the 'singular amenity of the region ("ad terram tandem
pervenit quam propter singularem amoBnitatem Ftridem ap-
pellavit").

There is a third writer of that country, Galvano, of whom
a translation by Hakluyt appeared in 1601. He says (p. 35),

"In the year 1500, it is reported that Gasper Cortereal craved a general license
of the King Emanuel, to discover the New Foundland. He went from the Island
Terceira with two ships well appointed at his own cost, and he sailed into that
climate which siandeth under the North in 50 degrees of latitude, which is a land
now called after his name, and he came home in safety unto the city of Lisbon."

It is abundantly clear that Cortereal began his career to the
southward of the St Lawrence ; and he may have reached the
Gulf, and perhaps the southern extremity of Labrador.

Gomara, who, as We have seen, limits Cabot to 58 degrees,
2 F

242

says of Cortereal (ch. 37),— "Dexo su nombre a las ylasque
estan a la boca del Golfo Quadrado y en mas de 50 grades," a
passage translated by Richard Eden (Decades, fol. 318), " he
named the Quadrado after his name, Cortesreales, lyinge in
the L degrees and more.77

Herrera, who conducts Cabot to 68, says of Cortereal (Dec.
i. lib. vi,gch. 16), "No hico mas que dexar su nombre a las
Islas que estan a la boca del Golfo Quadrado en mas de 50
grados." ("He did nothing more than give his name to the
islands which are in the mouth of the Gulph Quadrado in
upwards of 50 degrees.") Fumee (Histoire Generate des
Indes, ch. xxxvii. fol. 48) makes the same statement.

In the edition of Ptolemy, published at Basle in 1540, the
first of the Maps is entitled "Typus Orbis Universal is," on
which is seen in the extreme North of the New World,
." Terra Nova sive de Bacalhos," and below it, to the south-
ward, is an island designated " Corterati," with a great
stream in its rear, evidently intended for the St Lawrence
and thus characterised " Per hoc fretum iter patet ad Mo-
lucas.%

There can be no difficulty in understanding why the region
whence it was supposed the fifty-seven unfortunate natives so
well adapted for Labour had been stolen had received its pre-
sent name. It was talked of as the Slave Coast of America,
and the commercial designation which thuy| entered into the
speculations of adventurers seems to have quickly supplanted
the appellation conferred on it by Corfcereal. A similar tri-
umph of the vocabulary of the mart is found at the same pe-
riod, and amongst the same people, in the case of Brazil.
Barros (Decade i. lib. v. chap. 2) is indignant that the name
of Santa-Cruz, given by Cabral should have yielded to one
adopted " by the vulgar," from the wood which constituted,
at first, its great export. So, in most of the old works, we
find the Asiatic possessions of Portugal, designated as the
Spice Islands, &c. It cannot be doubted that the objects of
Cortereal's second voyage were Timber and Slaves. Twenty
years before, there had been erected on the shores of Africa

243

the Fort of D'Elmina, to follow up the suggestion of Alonzo
Gonzales pointing out the southern Africans as articles of com-
merce. We readily comprehend, then, the exultation with
which a new region was heard of, where the inhabitants
seemed to be of a gentle temper, and of physical powers such
as to excite the admiration of the Venetian Ambassador.
That Cortereal on the subsequent visit fell a sacrifice to
the just exasperation of the people whose friends and rela-
tives— men, women, and children — he had perfidiously car-
ried off, is very probable, and the shores of America were
thus saved from witnessing all the horrors that have marked
the accursed traffic in the other hemisphere.

The impressions made on the natives, of dread and detes-
tation, seem not to have been speedily effaced. Verrazani,
twenty-two years afterwards, passed along the coast from Flo-
rida to the latitude of 50 degrees, and it is curious to follow*
his narrative in connexion with our knowledge of CortereaPs
base conduct, and its probable consequences to himself, and
the brother who went to seek him. Verrazani speaks, in
warm terms, of the kind and cordial reception he evecy where
experienced in the first part of his route, and in the latitude
of 41° 40' he remained for a considerable time (see his Nar-
rative in Ramusio, torn. iii. fol. 420). As he proceeds fur-
ther North, we recognise the coincidence of his description
of the country wjfih that of Cortereal.

" Piena di foltissime selve ; gli alberi dellequali erano abeti,
cipressi et simili chi si generano in regioni fredde" ("full ef
thick woods, consisting of fir, cypress, and other similar trees
of cold countries'7). And so of the dress of the inhabitants,
(( Vestono di pelli d'orso et lupi cervieri et marini et d'altri
animali" (" they clothe themselves with the skins of the bear,
the lucerne, the seal, and other animals"). He is struck
with the change of character, " Le genti tutte sons difformi
dalP altre et quanto i passati erano d'apparenza gentili tanto
questi erano di rozzezza et vitii pleni" (" the people differ
entirely from the others, and in proportion as those before
visited were apparently gentle, so were these full of rudeness

244

and malevolence"). With vehement cries they forbade him
to land (" continuamente gridando che alia terra non ci appros-
siinassimo"), and a party which went on shore was assailed with
the war-whoop and a flight of arrows ((( et quando scende-
vamo al lito ci tiravano con li lero archi mettendo grandissimi
gridi").

245

CHAP. V.

CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH HAVE LED TO ERRORS AS TO THE VOYAGE OF

CORTEREAL THE PORTUGUESE MAPS ISLE OF DEMONS THE FRAUD

OF MADRIGANON IN THE "iTINERARIUM PORTUGALLENSIUM*' MR BAR-

SS CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF VOYAGES, &C. DR LARDNER*S

CLOPJEDIA THE EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY.

HAViN£-4etermined the extent of Cortereal's progress to the
North, it is vime to advert to the circumstances which have
conspired to pervejrt the history of his voyage.

Theye is yet extant a letter from Robert Thorne of Bris-
tol, addressed from Seville, as early as the year 1527, to the
English Ambassador, Doctor Ley (Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 2J.4),
in which he sends to the ambassador " a little Mappe or Garde
of the World," with a great many curious remarks. It is
here that he speaks of his father as one of those who had set
forth the expedition of England, and of the happy conse-
quences, " if the mariners would then have been ruled and
followed their pilot's mind" (p. 219). Adverting to the con-
troversy pending between Portugal and Spain, he declares
that the islands in dispute belong to Spain, " as appeareth by
the most part of all the Gardes by the Portingals, save those
which they have falsified of late purposely77 (p. 218). After
speaking of the possessions of Spain in the new world, he
says, " which maine land or coast goeth northwards, and fin-
ishethvin the land that we found which is called here Terra
de Labrador" (p. 216).

Thus a quarter of a century before the time of Ramusio,
and half a century before that of Ortelius, we find the map-
makers of the country most renowned for nautical skill, and
the sciences connected with it detected in falsification as na-
tional interest, or vanity, might prompt. It appears, further,
that in the very quarter to which attention is now directed

246

there had been, already, an invasion of the English preten-
sions so well concerted as to give currency to the spurious
appellation, even among the rivals of the Portuguese, though it
excited the indignation of Thorne who was old enough to
remember all about the voyages of discovery set forth from his
native city.

Another source of the absurdities which deform the early
maps of this region, is found in that love of the marvellous and
the terrible which, in all ages, has delighted to people remote
and unknown countries with monsters and prodigies. The
first discoveries of the Portuguese gave a new direction to
vulgar wonder, and the exaggerations and falsehoods which
ministered to it ; and amongst other fictions it was pretended
that there existed an island, the peculiar residence of Demons
and fatal to all who approached it. * No Map could venture
to refuse this tribute to popular credulity, and, accordingly,
in the celebrated edition of Ptolemy, published at Ulme in
1483, we find the " Insula Demonum" occupying a place in
the Sexta Tabula Jlsiae.

Just as these regions were becoming so well known, as
rather to bring discredit on such tales, the New World was dis-
covered, and abundant seope allowed to the fancy, particularly
in the North, without much peril of detection. A difficulty
seems to have been experienced at first in selecting a judi-
cious site for the interesting emigrants. The island, saved
from the wreck of their fortunes in the old world, is bandied
about in all directions by Cosmographers with little regard to
that good old saying which, without recommending unne-
cessary commerce with the Evil One, yet makes it a point of
honesty to give him his due in unavoidable transactions. Or-
telius, on whose map the " Insula Dsemonum" figures with St
Brandon, Frisland, and all the other silly, or fraudulent fab-
rications of that day, places it not very far from Hudson's
Strait. Ramusio, in his text, would give it a local habitation
.about half way between that Strait and Newfoundland, but
in constructing the map which accompanies his third volume,
he seems to have thought a great Gulf a much fitter place,

247

and it, therefore, occupies a conspicuous station in the " Golfo
Quadrado," or St Lawrence. It is about five times as large
as Newfoundland, from which it is divided by a narrow strait.
On it demons are seen, as well flying as on foot, with
nothing to protect them from a climate so little suited to their
former habits but a pair of wings and a ridiculously short tail;
yet they are made, poor devils, to appear happy and even
sportive.

It is time, however, to turn from this, comparatively harm-
less, foolery to the deliberate fraud, already adverted to, on
the part of Madriganon, in his pretended translation of the
" Paesi, &c." into Latin, in a book entitled " Itinerarium.
Portugallensium," published at Milan in 1508 (cap. cxxvi.
fol. Ixxx.).

" Utigitur nova anni prcesentis intelligatis scitote hicesse earn triremem quam
superiore anno Ilex Portugallise Serenissimus expediverat versus Aquilonem prx-
fecto Gaspare Corterato qui nobis refert continentem invenisse distantem ad M.
duo milia inter Chorum et Favonium hactenus totipene orbi incompertam terrain;
cujus latus aiunt ad miltiaria prope DCCC percurrisse, nee tamen finis compertus
estquispiam; ideo credunt Continentem non Insulam esse, regioque videtur esse
conjuncta cuidam plagae alias a Nostris peragratse quasi sub ipso Septentrione eousque
celox tamen non pervenit ob congelatum xquor et ingruentes cfclo nives. Argu-
mento sunttot flumina quze ab illis montibus derivantur quod videlicet ibi magna vis
nivium existat: arguunt propterea insulam non posse tot flumina emittere: Aiunt
prseterea terram esse eximie cultam. Domos subeunt ligneas quas cooperiunt pelli-
bus ac coriis piscium: Hue adduxerunt viros septem sexus utriusque. In celoce
vero altera quam przestolamur in horas advehuntur quinquaginta ejus regionis in-
colae. Hi si proceritatem corporis, si colorem, si habitudinem, si habitum spectes
cinganis non sunt absimiles. Pellibus piscium vestiunt et lutrarum et eorum im-
primis qui instar vulpium pillosas habent pelles; eisque utuntur hieme pilo ad
carnes verso ut nos; at sestate ritu contrario; neque eas consuunt aut concinant
* quovis modo, verum uti fert ipsabellua eo modo utuntur, eis armos et brachia prae-
cipue tegunt; inguina vero fune ligant multiplici, confecto ex piscium nervis. Vi-
dentur propterea silvestres homines, non sunt tamen inverecundi et corpora habent
habilissima si brachia, si armos, si crura respexeris, ad sirnetriam sunt omnia. Fa-
ciem stigmate compungunt inuruntque notis multiiugis instar indorum, sex vel acto
stigmatibus prout libuerit; hunc morem sola voluptas moderatur: Loquuntur qui-
dem sed baud intelliguntur, licet adhibiti fuerint fere omnium linguarum inter-
pretes: Eorum plaga caret prorsus ferro; gladios tamen habent sed ex acuminate
lapide. Pari modo cuspidant sagittas qux nostris sunt acuminatiores: Nostri inde
attulerunt ensis confracti partem inauratam; qux Italisc ritu sabrifacta videbatur:
Quidam puer illic duos orbes argenteos auribus appensos circumferebat qui haud
dubie ccekti more nostro visebantur: tadaiuram Venetam imprimis prseseferentes;
quibus rebus non difficulter adducimur Continentem esse potius quam Insulam, quia

248

si eo naves aliquando applicuissent cle ea comperti aliquid habuissemus. Piscibus
scatet regio salmonibus videlicet et alecibus [Stockfish omitted, probably from
scantiness of vocabulary] et id genus compluribus. Silvas habent omnifariam
perinde ut omni lignorum genere abundet regio : propterea naves fabricantur antennas
et malos, transtra et reliqua quse pertinent ad navigia: ob id hie Nosier Rex instituit
inde multum emolument! sumere: turn ob ligna frequentia pluribus rebus baud
inepta, turn vel maxime ob hominum genus Laboribus assuetum: quibus ad varia
eis uti quibit, quandoquidem suapte natura hi viri nati sunt ad Labores suntque me-
liora mancipia quam unquam viderim."

The principal perversions are noted in italics. Instead of
" a region discovered last year," we have "a region formerly
visited by our countrymen." The distance sailed along the
coast becomes almost eight hundred miles. There is created
amongst the natives a preference of Venetian manufactures.
This region "very populous" according to the original, is
converted into one "admirably cultivated," and instead of the
Pine, &c. well suited for the spars of vessels, we have the na-
tives actually engaged in ship building ! The captives "adapt-
ed" to labour become "habituated" to it, and at length " born"
to it ; and in speaking of the king of Portugal, the ambassador
is made to call him " our King." And this is a professed
translation, by an ecclesiastic, dedicated to a high public func-
onary !

In order to comprehend fully the extensive influence which
this fraud has exercised on the modern accounts of CortereaPs
voyage, it will be necessary to advert briefly to a subsequent
piece of imposture of which more will be said in another place
In the year 1558, there, was published, at Venice, a little
volume containing the adventures of two brothers, Nicholas
and Antonio Zeno, in which an effort is made to show that '
they were acquainted with the New World long before the
time of Columbus. It is not necessary to give more of the
story at present, than that these persons, about the year 1380,
were in an island somewhere in the Atlantic, designated as
Frisland. They there conversed with a fisherman, who, twen-
ty-six years before, had been carried by a tempest far to the
westward, and been cast ashore, with a few companions, on a
place called Estotiland, plainly designed, by the framer of
the story, for the Northern Coast of America. After remain-

249

ing a number of years in this country, the fisherman, with the
aid of his transatlantic friends, built a vessel and. recrossed the
ocean to Frisland. The editor of the work gives the follow-
ing digest of the information gathered as to the inhabitants of
this newly-discovered region — ult is credible that in time
past they have had traffic with our men, for he said that'/ie
saw Latin boohs in the king's library." Again, " They
sow corn and make beer and ale," &c. &c. An expedition
was fi tted out by the Prince of the Island, and sailed towards
the west, bu.t returned, as it would appear, without having
reached Estotiland, so that the only visiter was the fisherman
driven off his station and cast away there one hundred and
forty-seven years, by computation, before the time of Corte-
real's voyage.

It will be seen that the story, promulgated in 1558, is so
framed as exactly to fall in with the perversion by the Itine-
rarium, half a century before, as to the probable intercourse
with Venetians — the cultivation of the soil by the natives —
and their building vessels fit to navigate the ocean. The only
difference is, that the Itinerarium merely makes the supposed
traffic precede generally the visit of Cortereal, but the author
of the Zeni voyages carries it back beyond the disaster to the
fisherman which must have occurred about the year 1354.

We are now prepared for the following passages from Mr
Barrow;, and another more recent writer. The parts enclosed
in parenthesis appear as Notes in the works quoted.

" In the first collection of voyages which is known to have been published in
Europe, and printed in Vicenza, by Francazano Montaboldo, (Mundo Nuovo e
Paesi nuovamente retrovati, See. Vicenza, 1507; a very rare book; translated into
Latin, by Madrigano, under the title of ' Itinerarium Portugalensium e Lusitania in
Indiam, 8cc.') there is inserted a letter from Pedro Pascoal, ambassador from the
republic of Venice to the court of Lisbon, addressed to his brother in Italy, and
dated 29th October, 1501, in which he details the voyage of Cortereal, as told by
himself on his return.

"From this authority, it appears that having employed nearly a year in this
voyage, he had discovered between West and North West, a Continent until then
unknown to the rest of the world, that he had run along the coast upwards of eight
hundred miles; that according to his conjecture this land lay near a region formerly
approached by the Venetians Nicholo and Antonio Ze.no! almost at the North Pole! and
that he was unable to proceed farther on account of the great mountains of ice
which encumbered the sea, and the continued snows which fell from the sky. He

250

further relates that Cortereal brought fifty-seven of the natives in his vessel—he ex-
tols the country on account of the timber which it produces, the abundance offish
upon its coasts, and the inhabitants being robust and laborious." (Barrow, Chrono-
logical History, p. 40, 41. )

" From his own account it appears that having employed nearly a year in this
voyage, he had discovered between West and North- West, a Continent till then
unknown to the rest of the world; that he ran along the coast upwards of eight hun-
dred miles; that according to his conjecture this land lay near a region formerly
ajpproached by the Venetians (an allusion to the voyages of the Zeni}, and almost at
the North Pole, and that he was unable to proceed further, &c. " (Dr Lardner's
Cyclopaedia, Hist, of Maritime and Inland Discovery, vol. ii. p. 139.)

Our criticism on this epitome of errors is confined to the
original wrong-doer. Not only does Mr Barrow fall an un-
resisting victim to the treachery of the monk, but, such is the
influence of bad company, he himself is found taking, in his
turn, rather dishonest liberties with his own guide. In the
original, Cortereal is said to have passed along between six
and seven hundred miles of the newly discovered coast
without reaching its termination. Madrignanon stretches out
the distance to almost eight hundred, while Mr Barrow in-
sists on f ' upwards77 of eight hundred. For all this, too, he
vouches the wretched monk, whereas his audacity, as we have
seen, did not quite enable him to reach the point over which
the Secretary of the Admiralty, with the gathered impetus of
so rapid a progress, takes a fearless leap.

In happy ignorance of the host of authorities which fix con-
clusively the limit of the voyage, this gentleman evinces an
amiable anxiety to frame an apology for one of Cortereal's
countrymen whose statement he found in Hakluyt's transla-
tion:

"Galvano places it, although with little accuracy, in 50°; misprinted probably for
60° which would be correct.'" (Barrow, p. 39. )

We have forborne, as has been said, to press a censure of
the writer in Dr Lardner's Cyclopaedia, because he is merely
a pitiable martyr to faith in his predecessor ; but another work,
published on the 1st of October last, does not merit the same
forbearance, as it sets at equal defiance the genuine and the
spurious authorities. The reference is to the " Narrative of
Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions,

251

&c. ; by Professor Leslie, Professor Jameson, and Hugh Mur-
ray, Esqre. F.R.S.E." forming vol. i. of the Edinburgh Cab-
inet Library. By this work it appears (p. 158) that Corte-
real, " immediately upon the discovery of the Western World,
resolved to follow in the steps of Columbus." We are in-
formed further (ib.), " Respecting the details of this voyage,
there remain only detached shreds which Mr Barrow has
collected with equal learning and diligence /" The character
of a work put forth under such auspices, may be gathered
from the following passage (p. 159) —

"The natives are correctly described as of small stature — a simple and laborious
race; and no less than fifty-seven being allured or carried on board were conveyed
to Portugal. After a run along this coast estimated at 800 miles Cortereal came to
a region which appeared to some (/) as lying almost beneath the Pole, and similar to
that formerly reached by Nicolo and Antonio Zeno ! Ramusio more explicitly
states, &c. &c."

All the rest is in a similar strain. Only one part of the pass-
age quoted calls for particular remark, — that as to the stature
of the inhabitants. The writer is evidently anxious to give a
sanction to his own absurd hypothesis that the natives whose
wonderful symmetry and aptitude for labour extorted the ad-
miration of the Venetian Ambassador — whose " goodly cor-
porature" is specially mentioned by Richard Eden (Decades^
318) — were the Esquimaux of Labrador. Now, without re-
lying on the circumstances already stated, we mention one
fact. Ramusio, whose name is here invoked, devotes to the
voyage of Cortereal about half a page, and expressly declares
that the inhabitants were large and well proportioned, " gli
habitant! sono huomini grandi, ben proper tionati."

252

CHAP. VI.

DIFFUSIVE MISCHIEF OF THE ITIXERA.RIUM PORTUGALLEN'SIUM GltV.VJEUS

— MEUSEL FLEURIEU HUMBOLDT, ScC.

THE perversion by Madrignanon has passed into the earliest
and most esteemed Collections of Voyages and Travels, and thus
exercised a mischievous influence on more recent works.

In the JVovus Orbis of Grynseus published at Basle, in
1532, the Letter of Pasquiligi is given (p. 138) according to
the version of the Itinerarium ; and so in the edition of that
work published in the same year at Paris (p. 121), and in the
Basle Edition of 1555 (p. 99). Everywhere, indeed, we are
presented with lamentable proofs of the blind confidence re-
posed in it, even as to other matters. Thus, the " Biogra-
phie Universelle" (art. Cadamosto) sharply rebukes Grynseus
for having stated 1504, instead of 1454, as the year in which
Cadamosto represents himself to have been at Venice previous
to his voyage. The Itinerarium (cap. ii.) is the source of this
error. The explanation does not, it is true, relieve Grynseus
from censure. The mistake appears in the Basle Edition of
the Novus Orbis of 1532 (page 5), in the Paris Edition of
the same year (p. 3), and is not corrected in that of Basle in
1555 (p. 2). .

So implicitly has Madrignanon been followed, that Meusel
(Biblioth. Hist., original Leipsic Ed. vol. ii. part ii. p. 318)
not only gives the year 1504, but finding a statement, on the
same page, by Cadamosto as to his age, makes a calculation
accordingly, and gravely informs us that the voyager must
have been born in 1483 — just, in fact, twenty-nine years after
the expedition ! Meusel finds out afterwards, in some way,
that he was wrong, and throws the blame (vol. iii. p. 159,
160), like the "Biographic Universelle,".. on Grynseus.

253

Even in translating the title of that chapter of the " Paesi,"
(book 6, cap. cxxvi.) which contains the letter of Pasquiligi,
the Itinerarium commits a blunder, that has been, in the same
manner, perpetuated. In the original it runs thus : "Copia
de ima Lettera de Domino Pietro Pasqualigo Oratore della
Illustrissima Signoria in Portugallo scripta (a soi fratelli) in
Lisbona adj. xix. Octobrio, &c." The words indicating the
address we have placed within a parenthesis, in order to mark,
with more distinctness, the manner in which it is plain they
must be read and understood. The place, as well as the time,
mentioned are parts of the date of the letter, for Pasquiligi is
obviously conveying intelligence from Lisbon, where Corte-
real had arrived, to his brothers in Italy. Not attending to a
matter so obvious, the Itinerarium (fol. Ixxix.) represents the
personages addressed as residing in Lisbon, "ad germanos
suos in Ulisbona commorantes !" This absurdity also is
copied into the JVbvtts Orbis (Basle Ed. of 1532, p. 138 ;
Paris Ed. same year, p. 121; and the Basle Ed. of 1555, p. 99).

Such, then, is the unhappy fate of a modern reader. By
the writers who minister to his instruction it is deemed a won-
derful effort to go back to the Novus Orbis of 1555. To con-
sult the earlier editions of 1532 would be considered quite an
affectation of research. Yet on reaching that distant point, it
is plain we cannot read a single line without a distressing un-
certainty whether it may not merely reflect the dishonesty,
or ignorance, of an intermediate translator, instead of the
meaning of the original work.

The question how far the author of the "Paesi" was in-
debted to previous publications, now finally lost, for part of
his materials, particularly as to the first four books, is one of
much curiosity, and with regard to which a great deal has
been said by many learned critics who had plainly never ex-
amined any one of its pages ; but the inquiry would here be
irrelevant, as it is not pretended that the Letter of Pasquiligi
and the others addressed to persons in Italy, given in Book
Sixth, had ever before appeared in print. The remarks pre-
pared on that point are, therefore, withheld, as they would

254

unwarrantably swell a part of the subject which has already
expanded beyond its due proportion.

The name Labrador or Laborer •, connected with the per:
version by the Itinerarium of " very populous" into " admi-
rably cultivated," has led to a singular medley of errors in all
the accounts of CortereaPs voyage. It would require a vol-
ume to exhibit them, but a reference to a few of the more
recent writers will show how completely all the sources of
information within their reach had been poisoned. Thus M.
Fleurieu, in his Introduction to the Voyage de Marchand
(torn. i. p. 5), says: —

"En 1500 ou 1501 Caspar de Cortereal, Portugais, homme denaissance partitde
Lisbone, arriva a Terre Neuve, en visita la cote orientale, se presenta 4 1'embou-
chure du fleuve Saint Laurent, decouvrit au-dessus du cinquantieme Parallile une
Terre qu'ilnomma de Labrador parce qu'il Izjugeapropre au labourage et ala cul-
ture, parvint, enfin, remontant vers le Nord £ l'entre£ d'un Detroit auquel il imposa
le nom de Detroit d'Anian et qui plus de cent ans apres fut appelle Detroit de
Hudson,* &c."

It is to be regretted that Baron Humboldt (Essai Politique
sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, Lib. iii. ch. viii.)
should have hastily given an incidental sanction to a passage
replete with errors of every description.

Mr Barrow, with that wary caution which is generally the
result of long official training, does not dwell on this perplex-
ing point, but others have rushed in where he dared not tread :

" That part of it which being on this side of the 50th degree of N. latitude he
thought was still Jit for tillage and cultivation he named Terra de Labrador" (Fors-
ter, p. 450). " He arrived at Conception Bay in Newfoundland, explored the East
Coast of that Island, and afterwards discovered the River St Lawrence. To the
next country which he discovered he gave the name of Labrador, because from its
latitude and appearance it seemed to him better fitted for culture than his other dis-
coveries in this part of America." (Kerr's Collection of Voyages, &c. vol. xviii.
p. 354.) "He appears first to have reached Newfoundland, whence pushing to
the North he came to that great range of Coast to which from some very superficial
observation he gave the name of Labrador or the Laborers Coast" (Historical Ac-
count of Discoveries and Travels in North America, £c. by Hugh Murray, Esq.
vol. i. p. 69).

Mr Barrow must have a further hearing (p. 41).

" To this evidence may also be added that of Ramusio, whose accuracy in such

* So the Biographic Universelle (art. Cortereal), " Ce detroit auquel il donna le
nom d'Anian a recu depuis celui d' Hudson."

255

matters is well known. The following extract is taken from his discourse on Terra
Firma and the Oriental Islands:— 'In the part of the New World which runs to
the North-West, opposite to our habitable Continent of Europe, some navigators
have sailed, the fast of whom, as far as can be ascertained, was Gaspar Cortereal,
a Portugueze, who arrived there in the year 1500 with two Caravels, thinking
that he might discover some strait through which he might pass by a shorter
voyage than round Africa, to the Spice Islands. They prosecuted their voyage in
those seas until they arrived at a region of extreme cold; and in the latitude of 60°
North they discovered a river filled with Ice [such is Mr Barrow's translation of
Ramusio's word neve], to which they gave the name of Rio Nevado, — that is, Snow
River. They had not courage however to proceed farther, all the coast which
runs from Rio Nevado to Porto das Malvas (Mallow Port), which lies in 56° and
which is a space of two hundred leagues, Sec. &c.' "

The claims of Ramusio (who has merely put into words the
representation of the Portuguese maps) to extraordinary ac-
curacy, may be judged of by the assertion made at the outset
of the foregoing Extract. He states Cortereal to be the first of
whom he had heard as penetrating into this Northern region ;
yet on the very same page which thus conducts that naviga-
tor to 60° he represents Cabot to have advanced to 67°, and
in the previous volume he had fixed the date of the latter en-
terprise as even earlier than the truth will warrant. Thus
he is convicted of the plainest inconsistency, without drawing
to our aid the fact just established, from the earliest and best
authority, that Cortereal was defeated in an effort to reach
that very Northern Region which had been discovered the
year before.

The force of rfe other proofs establishing the discrepance
between Ramusio's account and that of the Venetian Ambass-
ador, is obscured by Mr Barrow's method of presenting the
subject. He quotes, at first, as will be seen on referring to
his volume, just enough to exhibit a progress, in seeming co-
incidence with Pasquiligi's Letter, and then turns to other
matters. He does not revert to Rarausio until the reader's
attention is diverted from the measurement of distances, which
occurs as the first test, and even in the end he suppresses a
part of Ramusio's statement on that subject. The limited
distance is exhausted, as we see, between 60° and 56°, and
here then would seem to be that region which Cortereal, on
account of its amenity and smiling groves, denominated Green-

256

land. But Mr Barrow's theory, and all the authorities, re-
quire that Cortereal should visit the River St Lawrence.
Whatever scepticism may exist as to his having penetrated
into Hudson's Bay, no doubt can

" occur in regard to the St Lawrence. Even without specific evidence, it might
safely have been concluded, that as a passage to India was the grand object of re-
search, so large an opening as is presented by the mouth of this river could not have
escaped examination. Independent, however, of this general reasoning, the evi-
dence furnished by Ramusio is decisive. In describing the principal places on that
coast, he says, that beyond Capo de Gabo (Cattle Cape), which is in 54°, it runs
two hundred leagues to the Westward, to a great river called St Lawrence, which
some considered to be an arm of the sea, and which the Portuguese ascended to the
distance of many leagues." (Barrow, p. 43.)

Thus we find the distance between 56° and 54° entirely
thrown out of view, and yet there remains a computation of
four hundred leagues of coast examined by Cortereal, viz.,
two hundred from Rio Nevado to 56°, and two hundred more
from 54° to the St Lawrence. To meet this demand we have
in the original only between six and seven hundred miles,
increased by Madrignanon to almost eight hundred!

The river laden with snow (carico de Neve), and hence
called Rio JVevado, is, doubtless, the St Lawrence, if indeed
the name and the circumstances be not mere fiction. Mr
Barrow, however, considers it to be Hudson's Strait, and
finds a probability in " all. the collateral circumstances of the
Narrative,'-' that the Portuguese on this occasion " actually
entered Hudson's Bay" (p. 42). Now it will surely be con-
sidered rather singular that a person familiar with the minia-
ture streams of Portugal, should thus misapply epithets, even
if we suppose him to have erroneously regarded the Strait as
terminating in itself, and as thus forming a great Bay or Gulf ;
yet Mr Barrow is persuaded that Cortereal called the Strait
&ww River, after he had ascertained it to be neither River,
Bay nor Gulf, but a mere medium of communication between
different parts of the ocean !

On the map of Ortelius the Northern Coast of America is
studded with Portuguese names. The Letter of Thorne fur-
nishes a satisfactory clew to this nomenclature. The fidelity
of the representation of Hudson's Bay is too striking to have

257

been the result of chance. Having, then, negatived the poss-
ibility that Cortereal could have penetrated into it, we revert,
with perfect confidence, to the belief that Cabot's Map, which
the geographer expressly states to have been before him, must
have been made use of. No difficulty remains if we suppose
that Ortelius was anxious to employ all his materials, so as not
to appear behind the knowledge of his time, and that having
adopted the configuration of the English Navigator he affixed,
conjecturally, the names found in profusion on the maps got
up at Lisbon.

However this may have been, we quit the voyage of Cor-
tereal with the certainty that he claimed for it neither origi-
nality of purpose nor success of execution, but admitted, on
the contrary, that he had completely failed in an effort to reach
the point attained by his predecessor.

2 H

258

CHAP. VII.

i'HOJKCT OF CORTES IN 1524.'

A CONSIDERABLE interval now occurs without any materials
•for the present review ; and the second Expedition of Cabot
from England, in 1517, has already been considered at large.

Proceeding to the year 1524 we reach the project of the
celebrated Cortes, of which the history is, fortunately, much
less involved than that of Cortereal. As it was attended, in-
deed, with no interesting results, even a passing notice would
be superfluous were it not that the spirit of misrepresentation
has here also been perversely active and successful.

We must be indebted again to Mr Barrow, whose work,
indeed, is invaluable in reference to our present task, as it not
only embodies, in a cheap and convenient form, all the mis-
takes of its predecessors, but generally supplies a good deal
of curious original error :

" Cortez, the conqueror and viceroy of Mexico, had received intelligence of the
attempt of Cortereal to discover a Northern passage from the Atlantic into the
Pacific, and of his having entered a strait to which he gave his name. Alive to
the importance of the information, he lost not a moment in fitting out three ships
well manned, of wliich he is said to have taken the command in person, though
nominally under the orders of Francisco Ulloa, to look out for the opening of this
strait into the Pacific, and to oppose the progress of the Portuguese and other
Europeans who might attempt the passage. Little is known concerning this ex-
pedition of Cortez, but tliat it soon returned without meeting with Cortereal, &c."*

From all this the reader naturally infers, that while the eyes
of Europe were turned, at that period, on Cortereal, no one
had heard of the discoveries of Cabot, or at least that they
were deemed of minor importance. After what has been said,
in the preceding Chapter, of the subordinate and unsuccessful

* Barrow's Chronological History of Voyages, p. 54.

259

character of the Portuguese enterprise, it will no doubt be
thought extraordinary that such an erroneous estimate should
have been made at that early day. There is no difficulty in
clearing the matter up from the very letter of Cortes himself,
in which he apprises the Emperor of his views on the subject.
The letter, dated 16th of October, 1524, will be found in
Barcia's Historiadores Primitives, torn. i. p. 151, and is faith-
fully rendered by Ramusio (vol. iii. fol. 294). After ex-
pressing great zeal for the service of the Emperor, he remarks
that it seemed to him no other enterprise remained by which
to manifest his devotion than to examine the region between
the river Panuco (in Mexico) and Florida recently discovered
by the Adelantado Ponce de Leon, and also the Coast of the
said Florida towards the North until it reaches the Baccalaos,
holding it for certain that along this coast is a strait conducting
to the South Sea (" descubrir entre el Rio de Panuco i la
Florida, que es lo que descubrio el Adelantado Juan Ponce de
Leon, i de alii la Costa de la dicha Florida por la parte del
Norte hasta llegar a los Bacallaos ; porque se tiene cierto que
en aquella costa ai estrecho que pasa a la Mar del Surv).
He states as a j>art of his plan that certain vessels in the Pa-
cific should sail concurrently along the western coast of Amer-
ica, while the others, " as I have said, proceed up to the point
of junction with the Baccalaos, so that on the one side or the
other we cannot fail to ascertain this secret77 (" como he dicho
hasta la junior con los Bacallaos ; asi por una parte i por otra
no se deja de saber el secreto").

The reader can now judge of Mr Barrow's correctness.
The Viceroy " receives intelligence of the attempt of Corte-
real ;" of his having " entered a strait" which Mr Barrow
pronounces Hudson's Strait, and " loses not a moment" in
endeavouring to follow up that alarming success, when it ap-
pears that in point of fact the interval thus measured by a
" moment77 was at least twenty-three years, and the proposed
survey of Cortes from Florida point expressly stops short at
the Baccalaos. There is not the slightest reason for supposing
that Cortes had ever heard of Cortereal7s voyage which

260

amounted, as we have seen, to an unsuccessful effort, at first,
to tread in the steps of Cabot, and was afterwards turned into
a mere kidnapping speculation. But it is material to remark
that Cortes has no other designation for the region in the
North than that which Peter Martyr, in his Decades, pub-
lished eight years before, had stated to have been conferred
on it by Cabot.

We will not fatigue and disgust the reader by quoting from
other writers passages having the same tendency to obscure
the just fame of the English Navigator.

261

CHAP. VIII.

fAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ IN THE SEKVICE OF SPAIN.

IE expedition next in order, in point of time, is that
of .Stephen Gomez, fitted out by order of the Emperor
Charles V. There is a very slight and unsatisfactory notice
of it in Purchas who, instead of resorting to the original
sources of information which are many and copious, contents
himself with referring to a small tract by Gaspar Ens, pub-
lished at Cologne in 1612. It would be ungenerous to treat
this obscure writer with harshness, for he very modestly states
that the accounts at large being in foreign languages or in
bulky volumes (" peregrinis linguis aut magnis voluminibus"),
his humble object was to prepare a brief digest of the prin-
cipal heads ((t quocirca operae pretium putavi siprsecipua vari-
orum navigationum et descriptionum Occidentalis Indise Ca-
pita Jectori communiearem"). Such is the authority on which
Purchas gravely relies, and it is curious to note how com-
pletely Mr Barrow has, in consequence, been misled (p. 52).

" In point of time, however, there is one solitary voyage on record though the
particulars of it are so little known as almost to induce a suspicion whether any such
voyage was ever performed, which takes precedence of any foreign voyage on the
part of English Navigators (/): it is that of a Spaniard, or rather, perhaps, judging
from the name, of a Portuguese. To what part of the coast of America or (/)
Newfoundland or Labrador he directed his course is not at all know?i. It is evi-
dent, however, that he returned without bringing back with him any hope of a
passage into the Eastern Seas, having contented himself with seizing and bringing
off some of the natives of the coast on which he had touched. It is said that
one of his friends, accosting him on his return, inquired of him with eagerness
what success he had met with and what he had brought back, to which Gomez
replying shortly ' esclavos' (slaves), the friend concluded he had accomplished
his purpose and brought back a cargo of (cloves). On this, says Purchas, he
posted to the court to carry the first news of this spicy discovery, looking for a
great reward, but the truth being known caused hereat great laughter. Gaspar,
in his History of the Indies, is the only authority for this voyage.'"

262

Some surprise may be felt that Mr Barrow should designate
this writer in a familiar way, by his Christian name, evidently
on a slight acquaintance, while his own countrymen are quoted
not as ^ Richard" or « Samuel," but as « Hakluyt," and
" Purchas." The difference of manner seems to proceed
from no want of respect for the German, but from really sup-
posing that in the reference found in Purchas to "Gasparus
Ens. 1. ii. c. xxv." the marked word probably alluded, in
some quaint way, to the contents of the book, and made no
part of the name. But aside from this singular misconcep-
tion, the whole scope of the Secretary's remarks betrays a
more comprehensive ignorance of the subject than could have
been thought possible. Nothing can be more erroneous than
to say, that " Gaspar" is the only writer who speaks of this
voyage. There is, on the contrary, not a single author of
reputation on the history of the New World who does not give
an account of it, and of those who wrote prior to 1612 we may
particularly mention Peter Martyr (Decade vi. ch. x., and
again Decade viii. ch. x.) Oviedo (Somm. de la natural y
general historia, &c. ch. x.), Ramusio (vol. iii. fol. 52, in
Index title "Stefano"), Gomara (ch. xl.}, De Bry (Gr. Voy.
part iv. p. 69), Fumee (Hist. Gen. des Indes, fol. 49), Her-
rera(Dec. iii. lib. viii. ch. viii.), the Portuguese writer, Gal-
vano, translated by Hakluyt (Ed. of 1601, p. 66), Eden (De-
cades, fol. 213), and Sir William Monson (Naval Tracts,
Bookiv.).

The first named of these writers, who was himself a mem-
ber of the Council of the Indies, is more than usually minute
with regard to this voyage. After describing the conference
at Badajos in 1524, he says, " Decretum quoque est ut Ste-
phanus quidam Gomez artis et ipse maritime peritus alia
tendat via qua se inquit reperturum inter Baccalaos et Flo-
ridas jamdiu nostras terras iter ad Cataiam" (Dec. vi. ch. x.).*

* "It is decreed that one Stephanas Gomez (who also himself is a skilful navi-
gator) shall go another way, whereby, betweene the Baccalaos and Florida, long
since our countries, he saith'he will finde out a waye to Cataia" (M. Lok'a transla-
tion, London, 1612, fol. 246).

263

He then proceeds to describe the equipment, and the In-
structions given by the Council. In the 8th Decade, eh. x.
we have an account of the return of Gomez — of the country
visited by him — -and of his having, in violation of the standing
orders on that subject, forcibly brought off some of the in-
habitants (" contra leges a nobis dictates ne quis ulli gentium
vim afferat"). The jest arising out of the mistake of the
word " esclavos" for "clavos'Ms not forgotten. All this is
faithfully rendered in Lok's translation (fol. 317). In Oviedo
(Sommario, ch. x. fo. xiv.), we have the report made to the
Emperor on the return of Gomez: —

"Despues que V. M. esta en esta cibdad de Toledo llego a qui en el mes de
Noviembre el Piloto Estevan Gomez el qual en el anno passado de Mil y quinien-
tos y veynte y quatro par mandado de V. M. fue ala parte del Norte y hallo mucha
tierra continuada con la que se llama de los Baccalaos discurriendo al qccidente et
pues en XL. grados y XLI. y assi algo mas y algo menos de donde traxo algunos
Indios y los ay de llos al presente enesta cibdad los quales son de mayor estatura
quel los de la tierra firma segun lo que dellos paresce comun y porque el dicho piloto
dize que vido muchos de llos y que son assi todos : la colores assi como los de tierra
firma, y son grandes frecheros y andan cubiertos de cueros de venados y otros ani-
males y ay en aquella tierra excellentes martas, zebellinas y otros ricos enforros y
d'stas pieles truxo algunas el dicho Poloto, &c."

This passage is copied from the edition of Oviedo in The
Library of the British Museum, published at Toledo on the
15th February, 1526, eighty-six years before "Gaspar's"
time. It will he found in Ramusio at the place indicated
above, and is thus translated by Richard Eden in his "De-
cades" (fol. 213), published at London in 1555.

" Shortly after that Your Majestic came to the Citie of Toledo there arryved in
the moneth of November Stephen Gomez the Pilot, who the yeare before, of 1524,
by the commandemetit of Your Majestic sayled to the Northe partes and founde a
greate parte of Lande continuate from that which is called Baccalaos discoursynge
towarde the West to the 4>0th and 4\st degree whense he brought certeyn Indians
(for so caule wee all the nations of the new founde landes) of the which he brought
sum with him from thense who are yet in Toledo at this present, and of greater
stature than other of the firme lande as they are commonly- Theyr coloure is
much lyke the other of the firme lande. They are great archers and go covered
with the skinnes of dyvers beasts both wild and tame. In this lande are many
excellent furres, as marterns, sables, and such other rych furres of the which the
sayde Pylot brought some with him into Spayne, &c."

It is of a voyage set forth under such auspices, and the
results of which are thus minutely detailed, that Mr Barrow

264

declares "to what part of the Coast of America, or (!) New-
foundland, or Labrador he directed his course is not at all
known/"7 In vain has the Father of this portion of History
given us the Decree of a Council at which he was personally
present — and in vain has another Historian preserved the
official report to the Emperor ; Mr Barrow will have it, that
" so little is known as almost to induce a suspicion whether
any such voyage was ever performed." While the writers of
every language in Europe are full of its details — while Eden,
who wrote half a century before the time of Gaspar Ens,
gives us, in plain English, the very degrees of latitude visited
by Gomez— while an account of the voyage is supplied by
Sir William Monson, with whose writings it may be consid-
ered the official duty of a Secretary of the Admiralty to be
familiar — that gentleman insists that " the only authority for
the voyage" is the paltry compend published in 1612 ! Such
is the mode in which the British Public is ministered to on
the History of Maritime Enterprise, and such the character
of a book which Dr Dibdin pronounces, in his Library Com-
panion, " a work perfect in its kind !"

Mr Barrow, it has been seen, throws out a suggestion that
Gomez, from his name, was probably a native of Portugal, and
finding it somewhere stated that he sailed with Magellan, ap-
peals, in another passage of the book, to that fact with some
complacency, as countenancing his shrewd conjecture. A
writer on such subjects ought surely to have known that in
the brief narrative which we have of Magellan's memorable,
but tragic, expedition, Gomez occupies a prominent, though
not very creditable place, and that both Herrera (Dec. ii. lib.
ix. ch. xv.) and Purchas (vol. i. book ii. ch. ii. p. 34) ex-
presyly state him to have been a Portuguese. The " Bio-
graphic Universelle," on the other hand, not only pronounces
Gomez a Spaniard, but asserts, in the mere wantonness of
rounding off a sentence, that his misconduct towards Magel-
lan is to be attributed to impatience at being placed under the
command of a Portuguese (Art. Gomes] !

Keeping in view our leading purpose, it is proper to note,

265

emphatically, that in every account of this voyage distinct
reference is made to the antecedent discoveries of Cabot — to
the " Baccalaos" which had been rendered universally known
by the work of Peter Martyr, published eight years before.
It must be evident that if the Historian just named confided
in Cabot's veracity he could not have anticipated a successful
result to the enterprise of Gomez, for he had described our
navigator as ranging along the coast of America with the
same object in view, as far south as the latitude of Gibraltar.
True, he tells us at the same time, that the Spaniards were
inclined to speak slightingly of Cabot (Dec. iii. c. 6), but his
own language of respect, and even affection, shows that he
himself cherished no disparaging suspicions, and we are, there-
fore, curious to know what part he took in the Council of the
Indies when Gomez submitted his offer to find a passage in
the very quarter which Cabot had carefully explored in vain.
To the surprise of all those who have not looked closely into
the subject, there will be found in the 8th Dec., c. 10, the
following expressions : —

"Nunc a& Stephanum Gomez quern in calce porrecti libelli (incipientis 'Prius-
quam') cum una missum caravela dixi ad fretum aliud inter Floridam tellurem et
Saccalaos satis tritos quxrendum. Is nee freto neque a se promisso Cataio repertis
regressus est intra mensem decimum a discessu. Inanes hujus boni hominis fore
cogitatus existimavi ego semper et prseposui,- non defuere in ejus favorem suf-
fragia."*

The good old man tells, with great glee, the jest about
" esclavos," and chuckles at the momentary triumph of Ca-
bot's enemies : —

"Ubiaccessit in portum Clunium unde vela fecerat unus quidam audito navis
ejus adventu et quod esclavos (id est servos) adveheret nil ultra vestigans citatissimo
equorum cursu ad nos venit anhelo spiritu inquiens clavis et preciosis gemmis onus-

* "Now I come to Stephanus Gomez, who, as I have said in the ende of that
Booke presented to your Holiness beginning ("Before that"), was sent with one
Caravell to seeke another Straight between the land of Florida and the Bacalaos
sufficiently known and frequented. He neither findinge the Straight nor Cataia
which he promised, returned backe within tenn Monethes after his departure. /
always thought and presupposed this good man's imaginations were vayne and frivo-
lous. Yet wanted he no suffrages and voyces in his favour and defence" (Lok's
translation, fo. 317).

2 I

266

tarn affert navim Stephanus Gomez, opimam se habiturum strenam arbitratus est
Ad hanc hujus hominis ineptiam erectl qui rei faverent, universam obtunderunt
cum ingenti applausu curiam,per aphaeresim dictione detruncata pro esclavis clavos
esse advectos prseconando (esclavos enim Hispanum idioma servos appellat et gario-
phyllos nuncupat ckvos) postea vero quam a clavis in esclavos fabulam esse trans-
formatam Curia cognovit cum fautorum jubilantium erubescentia risum excitavit."*

Of Gomara's account it might be superfluous to say any
thing; but he was Cabot's contemporary, and the passage
illustrates what has been said, in another place, as to his nar-
row feeling of jealousy towards that Navigator who had a few
years before abandoned the service of Spain to rejoin that of
his native country, and whom the King of England had re-
fused, as we have seen, to send back on the requisition of
Charles V. After stating the departure of Gomez in pursuit
of the strait ("en demanda de un estrecho que se ofrecio de
haller en tierra de Baccalaos"}, his return without success,
and the jest about the " esclavos,7' he says (c. xl.) that Gomez
visited a region < ' que aun no estaba par otro vista ; bien que
dicen como Sebastian Gabato la tenia primero tanteada"
("which had never before been seen by anyone, though
they say that it was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot").
These are his churlish expressions at a moment when he has
no other epithet by which to designate the country visited,
but that conferred on it by the very man whose merits he
strives, in this despicable temper, to depreciate !

In the " Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in the Po-
lar Seas, &c. by Professor Leslie, Professor Jameson, and

• " And when he came into the haven of Clunia from \vhence he set sayle, a cer-
tayne man hearing of the arrivall of his Shippe and that hee had brought JEsclavos,
that is to say slaves, seekinge no further, came postinge unto us with pantinge and
breathless spirit sayinge that Stephanus Gomez bringeth his Shippe laden with
cloves and precious Stones: and thought thereby to have received some rich pre-
sent or reward: They who favoured the matter, attentive to this mann's foolish and
idle report, wearied the whole Court with exceedinge great applause, cutting the
word by aphseresis proclaimynge that for esclavos hee hadd brought clavos (for the
Spanish tongue calleth slaves esclavos and cloves clavos) but after the Court under-
stoode tljat the tale was transformed from clavos to slaves they brake foorth into a
great laughter to the shame and blushinge of the favourers who had shouted for
joy" (Lok's translation, fol. 317).

267

Hugh Murray, Esq. F.R.S.E." published on the 1st October
last, there is found (|k. 161) the following passage :—

"Only one very early voyage (from Spain to the North) is mentioned, that
namely, which was undertaken in 1524 by Gomez, with a view of discovering' a
shorter passage to the Moluccas. He is said to have brought home a few of the
natives; but no record is preserved either of the events which attended his enterprise
or even of the coast on which he arrived. There remains of it, as has been observed,
only a jest, and one so indifferent as not to be worth repeating."

The writer might be excused, perhaps,- for not knowing
that Oviedo, in 1526, and Richard Eden, in 1555,, name 40
and 41 degrees of latitude as points visited by Gomez, but
what shall we say of his overlooking the following passage in
a popular work, published in 1817?

" Une ancienne carte manuscrite dressee en 1529 par Diego Ribeiro, cosmo-
graphe Espagnol, a conserve le souvenir du voyage de Gomez : on y lit au dessous
de 1'emplacement occupe paries etats de New York, de Connecticut et de Rhode-
Island Terre D'Etienne Gomez qu'il decouvrit en 1525 par I'ordre de S. M. fly a
beaucoup d'arbres, beaucoup de rodoballas, de saumons, et de soles,- on n'y trouvepas
d'or." (Biographic Universelle, tit. Gomes.)

The Diego Ribeiro here named had been, on 10th June,
1523, appointed ( Royal Cosmographer, with a large salary,
and the duty committed to him of preparing charts, astrolabes,
and other nautical instruments (Navarette, Introd. torn. i. p.
cxxiv. note 2). The Map with a valuable memoir, published
at Weimar in 1795, is in the Library of the British Museum.

268

CHAP. IX.

EXPEDITION FROM ENGLAND IN 1 527.

ERRONEOUS STATEMENT THAT ONE OF THE VESSELS WAS NAMED " DOM-
INUS VOBISCUM"— THEIR NAMES THE " SAMPSON" AND "THE MARY OF

GUILFORD" — LETTERS FROM THE EXPEDITION DATED AT NEWFOUND-
LANDj ADDRESSED TO HENRY VUI. AND CARDINAL WOLSEY THE ITAL-
IAN NAVIGATOR, JUAN VERRAZANI, ACCOMPANIES THE EXPEDITION AND

IS KILLED BY THE NATIVES LOSS OF THE SAMPSON THE MARY OF

GUILFORD VISITS BRAZIL, PORTO RICO, &C. ARRIVES IN ENGLAND,

OCTOBER 1527 ROBERT THORNE OF BRISTOL HIS LETTER COULD NOT

HAVE LED TO THIS EXPEDITION.

THE Second Expedition under the auspices of Henry VIII.
in 1527, to discover a North- West Passage, has not been
more fortunate than the First, in 1517, in escaping perversion.
The statement of Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 129) is this : —

"Master Robert Thorne of Bristoll, a notable member and ornament of his
Country, as wel for his learning as great charity to the poore, in a letter of his to
King Henry the 8th and a large discourse to Doctor Leigh, his Ambassador to
Charles the Emperor (which both are to be seene almost at the beginning of the
first volume of this my Work) exhorted the aforesaid King, with very weighty and
substantial reasons, to set forth a discovery even to the North Pole. And that it
may be known that this his motion took present effect, I thought it good here-
withall to put down the testimonies of two of our Chroniclers, M. Hall and M.
Grafton, who both write in this sort. * This same moneth' (say they) ' King Henry
the 8th sent two faire Ships wel manned and victualled, having in them divers
cunning men to seek strange regions, and so they set forth out of the Thames the
20th day of May in the 19th yeere of his raigne, which was the veere our Lord
1527.'

"And whereas Master Hall, and Master Grafton say, that in those Ships there
were divers cunning men, I have made great inquiry of such as, by their yeeres
and delight in Navigation, might give me any light to know who those cunning
men should be, which were the directors in the aforesaid Voyage. And it hath
been toldeme by Sir Martine Frobisher, and M. Richard Allen, a Knight of the
Sepulchre, that a Canon of Saint Paul inLondon, which was a great Mathematician,
and a Man indued with wealth^did much advance the action, and went therein him-
selfe in person, but what his JRne was I cannot learne of any. And furthur they
tolde that one of the ships was called the Dominus Vobiscum, which is a name likely
to be given by a religious man of those dayes: and that sayling very farre North-
westward, one of the Ships was cast away as it entered into a dangerous Gulph,

269

about the great opening, betweene the North parts of Newfoundland, and the
Country lately called by her Majestic, Meta Incognita. Whereupon the other
ship shaping her course towards Cape Briton, and the Coastes of Arambec, and
oftentimes putting their men on land to search the state of those unknown regions,
returned hoflfe about the beginning of October, of the yere aforesayd. And thus
much (by reason of the great negligence of the writers of those times, who should
have used more care in preserving of the memories of the worthy actes of our Na-
tion) is all that hitherto I can learne or find out of this voyage."

This is copied into every History of Discovery since that
period down to Mr Barrow, Dr Lardner, and the Edinburgh
Cabinet Library, with the same expression of regret and in-
dignation that no record should have been preserved of the
persons and vessels employed in the enterprise.

Incredible as it may appear, after what has been said, there
is found in Purchas (vol. iii. p. 809), the very Letter written
by John Rut, the commander of one of the vessels engaged in
this expedition, to Henry VIII. from Newfoundland, and an
account of another Letter written from the same place by Al-
bert de Prato, an Ecclesiastics to Cardinal Wolsey. The Let-
ter to the King thus appears in Purchas, with some obvious
imperfections : —

"Pleasing your Honorable Grace to heare of your Servant John Rut, with all
his company here, in good health, thanks be to God and your Graces ship, The
Mary of Guilford, with all her [a blank in Purchas] thanks be to God ; and
if it please your honorable Grace, we ranne in our course to the Northward, till we
came into 53 degrees, and there we found many great Hands of Ice and deepe
water, we found no sounding, and then we durst not goe no further to the North,
ward for feare of more Ice, and then we cast about to the Southward, and within
foure dayes after we had one hundred and sixtie fathom, and then we came into
52 degrees and fell with the mayne Land, and within ten leagues of the mayne
Land we met with a great Hand of Ice, and came hard by her, for it was standing in
deepe water, and so went in with Cape de Bas, a good Harbor, and many small
Hands, and a great fresh River going up farre into the mayne Land, and the Mayne
Land all wildernesse and mountaines and Woods, and no naturall ground, but all
mosse, and no inhabitation nor no people in these parts: and in the woods we found
footing of divers great beasts, but we saw none not in ten leagues. And please
your Grace, The Samson and wee kept company all the way till within two dayes
before we met with all the Hands of Ice, that was the first day of July at night, and
there rose a great and a marvailous great storme, and much foule weather ; I trust
in Almightie Jesu to heare good newes of her. And please your Grace, we were
considering and a writing of all our order, how we would wash us and what course
we would draw and when God do and foule weather that with the Cape de Sper
shee should goe, and he that came first should tarry the space of sixe weeks one
for another, and watered at Cape de Bas ten dayes, ortiering of your Graces ship

270

and fishing, and so departed towards the Southward to seeke our fellow: the third
day of August we entered into a good Haven, called St John, and there we found
eleven saile of Normans, and one Erittaine, and two Portugall Barkes, and all a fish-
ing, and so we are readie to depart toward Cape de Bas, and that is twentie five
leagues, as shortly we have fished, and so along the Coast till we nny meete with
our fellow, and so with all diligence that lyes in me toward parts to that Hands that
tve are commanded by the Grace of God as we were commanded at our departing .- and
thus Jesu save and keepe your Honorable Grace, and all your honorable Rever. in
the Haven of Saint John, the 3 day of August, written in haste, 1527-

" By your Servant John Rut to his uttermost of his power."

The Letter to Cardinal Wolsey from Albert de Prato was
thus addressed: —

" Reverend, in Christo Patri Domino Cardinal! et Domino
Legato Angliae." It began

" Reverendissime in Christo Pater Salutem. Reverendiss-
irne Pater, placeat Reverendissimae paternitati vestrae scire,
Deo favente postquam exivimus a Plemut quse fait X. Junii,"
&c.

Purchas says, "the substance is the same with the former,
and therefore omitted." The date is " apud le Baya Saint
Johan in Terris Novis die X. Augusti 1527, Revr. Patr. vest,
humilis servus, Albertus de Prato."

We have here the name of the master of the vessel, and also
that, it is to be presumed, of the Canon of St Paul's, and learn,
further, that neither of the vessels was called the " Dominus
Vobiscum," but that one was " The Mary of Guilford," and
the other " The Samson." We may infer that the latter
perished in the " marvellous great Storm," by which the two
vessels were separated*

The direct Correspondence with the King and the Cardi-
nal sufficiently assure us of the interest taken by these per-
sonages in the enterprise, and the commands of which Rut
speaks « at our departing" as to the ultimate destination of
the vessels were doubtless from the Monarch to whom the
letter is addressed.

We have to state, in reference to this enterprise, a convic-
tion that there went in it the celebrated Italian Navigator,
Juan Verrazani, over whose fate a singular mystery has ex-
isted. The circumstances which seem to establish the fact are
the following : —

271

In the year 1524, Verrazani, employed by Francis the First,
coasted North America from the latitude of 34° to 50°. The
account of his voyage, found in Ramusio, is dated at Dieppe,
8th July, 1524. From this period we have no distinct intel-
ligence of him. It is said that he made a subsequent voy-
age, but whence or whither is unknown, fo.r the French and
Italian writers do not offer even a conjecture as to the cir-
cumstances under which it took place. That he made it in
the service of France will appear improbable when we look
at the history of that period.

On the 24th February 1525 the disastrous battle of Pavia
was fought, and Francis was conducted a prisoner to Madrid.
The deplorable condition of the country is thus described: —

" Meanwhile France was filled with consternation. The King himself had early
transmitted an account of the rout at Pavia in a letter to his Mother delivered by
Pennalosa which contained only these words, ' Madam, all is lost except our Hon-
our.' The officers who made their escape when they arrived from Italy brought
such a melancholy detail of particulars as made all ranks of men sensibly feel the
greatness and extent of the calamity. France without its Sovereign, without money
in Tier Treasury, without an Army, without Generals to command it; and encompassed
on all sides by a victorious and active enemy, seemed to be on the very brink of destruc-
tion."*

On the 5th June, 1525, the mother of Francis appointed
commissioners to seek relief from Henry VIII. (Rymer's Foe-
dera, vol. xiv. p. 37), and ultimately a loan was obtained of
two millions of crowns (ib. p. 130). Every document of that
period serves to show the utter prostration of France, and
the anxiety to exhibit a sense of gratitude to England for
having suddenly become from an enemy a preserver. Thus,
there appears (Rymer, vol. xiv. p. 232) a document from the
King of France, dated 25 September 1527, having reference
to the inconvenience to which the commerce of England
might be subject in Flanders in consequence of her new posi-
tion, and appointing Commissioners to secure to English mer-
chants equivalent privileges in his dominions. It closes
thus:

* Robertson's Charles V. Book iv.

272

" Czteraque denique omnia et singula agere, promittere et concludere in hoc
negotio suisque circumstantiis et dependentiis quibuscunque qux nosmetipsi si
prxsentes agere et concludere possemus, etiam si talia forent q-uae mandatum re-
guirerunt magis speciale, promittentes bona fide et verbo nostro regio. Nos omnia
et singula per dictos oratores et Procuratores nostros pacta promissa et conclusa
impleturos et prsstituros, nee ullo unquam tempore quovis qusesito colore, infractu-
ros aut contraventuros sed perpetuo observaturos."

Under such circumstances it would be no matter of sur-
prise to find the impatient Navigator turning to the same
country to which his late employers had become supplicants,
and tendering his services to a Monarch whose means were
as abundant as his spirit was sanguine and enterprising. An
expedition, then, is fitted out at this precise period under the
auspices of the King and Cardinal Wolsey. If the slightest
evidence could be discovered of communication with Verra-
zani, we would feel quite assured that the one party would
be as anxious to secure his aid as the other to proffer it.

This link is supplied by Hakluyt. In that early work, of
1582, the "Divers Voyages," we find the following state-
ment:—

"Master John Verarzanus, which had been thrice on that
coast, in an old excellent Map which he gave to Henry VIII.,
and is yet in the custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out
as is to be scene in the Map annexed to the end of this boke
being made according to Verarzanus' plot."

It is impossible to withstand a conviction that Henry while
intent on this enterprise would eagerly enlist the services of
such a navigator as Verrazani fortunately thrown out of em-
ployment, and so well acquainted with the American Coast,
that Hakluyt, more than half a century afterwards, found his
Map to exhibit the most accurate representation of it.

The rumours which remain as to the fate of this navigator
must now be examined.

Ramusio (torn. iii. fol. 417) does not state in whose service
the last voyage was made, though from its connexion with
that of 1524 the reader might be hastily led to suppose that
both were from the same country. It is needless to repeat
what has been said as to the improbability that France, during

273

a period of dismay and beggary, engaged in fitting out ex-
ploratory voyages. So soon after the peace of Cambray as
she could recruit her exhausted resources, we find the well-
known expedition of Carrier, in 1534. When such clear and
authentic information exists with regard to this last voyage, as
well as of the previous one of 1524 under Verrazani, is it at
all likely that not the slightest trace would be found of an
intermediate expedition, had one been despatched? The cir-
cumstances attending the death of Verrazani, are thus given
by Ramusio:' —

*' Et nell' ultimo viaggio che esso fece havendo voluto smontar in terra con alcuni
compagni furono tutti morti da quei popoli et in presentia di coloro che erano
rimasi nelle navi furono arrostiti et mangiati."*

Such was the horrible tale which Ramusio found current in
Italy. It is plain, then, that the survivors who beheld the
cruelties practised on the unfortunate captives must have got
back in safety, and made report of the dreadful scene. Yet
in the annals of no other country but England is the slightest
allusion found to the departure, or return, of any such expe-
dition.

There will now be perceived the importance of having
settled on a former occasion,! that Oviedo, in his history of
the West Indies, represents the visit of an English ship at
Porto Rico, &c., to have occurred, not in 1517, but in
1527. It was then shown that Herrera, in subsequently
stating the same transaction, had given in greater detail the
testimony of Gines Navarrb, the Captain of the Caravel, who
had immediately gone off to the English ship. Let us now
turn again to Navarro's statement : —

• " In the last voyage which he made, having gone on shore with some com-
panions, they were all killed by the natives, and roasted and eaten in the sight of
those who remained on board."

f See page 112.

274

se they came into a v
aod lest it imgh

wood.

Comparing this with the letter of Rut, is it necessary t
enforce the coincidence in the year-the sailing of the two
ships from England-the separation by tempest-the s
with the ice in the North-the return to Baccalaos-
vessels found there engaged in fishing?

Mark too the death of the Italian pilot, under circum-
stances which correspond so well with the sad tale reported
to the friends of Verrazani and recorded by Ramusic

It was probably the death of Verrazani, and despair of being
reioined by the Sampson, that induced Rut, the main object
being frustrated, to seek the only market which reman
for the merchandise with which the Mary of Gu.lford was

av says, that the English spoke of having proceeded
along the coast as far South as the River of Chicora. Now,
in describing the movements of the expedition to Florida under
Ayllon, in 1523, Peter Martyr (Dec. vii. ch. n.) says, «
affirm that these provinces lie under the same parallel of lat-
itude with Andalusia in Spain! They thoroughly exanun,

^^\^^^T^^^^^^^

Frtncesas i Portuguese, pescando, i que alii quisieron salir en Uerra, para tomar
lengua de'los Indios, i les malaron al Piloto, que era Piamante. i que desd,
costeado hasta el Rio de Chicora, i que de.de este Rio atravesaron a 1
jTan- i preguntando les le que buscaban en aquellas Islas, dixeron, que las quenan
ver, plra dL relacion al Rei de Inglaterra i cargar de Brasil (Herrera, Dec. a. lib.
v. cap. iii-)-

5^ 275

the principal countries, CAz'coraand Buhare." Peter Mar-
tyr supposes these regions to " join the Baccalaos discovered
by Cabotus from England." Amongst the provinces connect-
ed with the two first described, he (ib.) expressly mentions
Jlrambe, and when we find Frobisher stating to Hakluyt (3
Hakl. 129) a tradition that the surviving ship of the Expe-
dition of 1527, after the disaster in the North, " shaped her
course towards Cape Breton and the Coasts of Jlrambec" we
find a degree of harmony pervading these unconnected ac-
counts that is truly surprising.

It would be too much, however, to expect a minute accuracy
in every particular of Navarro's report as to what he heard
on board the English ship. An error is probably committed
by misplacing one of the incidents. The alarm about the
opening of the seams of the vessel from extreme heat, which
appears so absurd as referred to the North, becomes quite
intelligible, when we recollect that the English are represent-
ed by Oviedo to have attempted to run down the coast of Bra-
zil. The effect produced on the Mary of Guilford was, doubt-
less, the same as that experienced during the third voyage of
Columbus, in 1498, when precisely the same apprehensions
are represented to have seized his crew.

The name of Robert Thorne is associated by Hakluyt and
subsequent writers with this Expedition, but evidently with-
out due consideration. Thorne, a native of Bristol, was a
merchant-tailor of London,* who went to Spain and is said,
without further particulars as to date, to have addressed the
; letter found in Hakluyt to Henry VIII. from Seville "in
f- 1527." As the Expedition left the Thames on the 20th May,
\, 1527, it is plainly absurd to suppose that a letter written dur-
ing that year could have been forwarded — its suggestions con-
sidered and adopted — the course resolved on — the command-
ers selected — vessels suitable for such an enterprise prepared
— and all the arrangements completed so as to admit of this
early departure. Nor is there any evidence that the letter

* Stow's Survey of London ; Fuller's Worthies.

276

in question was ever forwarded. It was handed to Hakluyt,
as he states in his work of 1582, by Cyprian Lucar, a son of
Thome's executor. No doubt Verrazani proceeded to Eng-
land immediately on discovering that in the confused and ex-
hausted state of France he had no chance of employment ; and
not more than sufficient time would thus be allowed for ma-
turing all the necessary arrangements. Aside from the en-
terprising temper of Henry VIII., Verrazani was, perhaps,
in some measure indebted for success in his application to the
mood of Wolsey, whose resentment at the supposed treachery
of Charles V. as to the election of a Pope had at this time pass-
ed into the politics of England. The Cardinal's zeal on behalf
of the Expedition may have been quickened by knowing how
much its success would startle and annoy the Emperor. We
have already seen, in considering the voyage of 1517 with
which this has been confounded, what alarm was created by
intelligence of the visit of the Mary of Guilford to the Islands.
The Emperor was struck with the inconveniences likely to
result,* and gave strict orders to seize and make an example
of any future intruders.

The abrupt termination of the enterprise prevents our being
able to trace distinctly the influence on it of Cabot's previous
voyages. Verrazani, in 1524, did not get further North than
50°, and so far as the Mary of Guilford advanced beyond that
point we see only an effort to reach Hudson's Strait. It would
be absurd to suppose that the King who is found possessed of
Verrazani's more limited map had not before him the bolder
one of Cabot. In addition to " the Card" which Lord Bacon
speaks of as having been exhibited by Cabot, the history of
the more recent voyage of 1517 must have been perfectly
well known. Thorne speaks familiarly to Henry VIII. of the
discoveries made on that occasion by " your Grace's subjects,"
and the very mariners employed ten years before would of.
course be sought for and. engaged anew.f

* "Los inconvenientes que podria haver cle la navigacion de esta Nacion a los
Indias." Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. v. c. iii.
•}• See Appendix (E.).

277

A future part of the subject will be understood more readily
by noting here, that Frobisher was aware of the course taken
on this occasion and of the loss of one of the ships in " a dan-
gerous gulf between the North parts of Newfoundland and
the country lately called by her Majesty Meta Incognita."

It is impossible to turn from this Expedition without ad-
verting, in terms of indignation, to those who, instead of look-
ing into the evidence which strikingly evinces the earnest and
continued exertions of Henry VIII. in reference to this pro-
ject, prefer the easier task of stringing together such para-
graphs as the following: —

"Neither was the turbulent, voluptuous, proud, and cruel disposition of Henry
VIII. any great encouragement to men of abilities and enterprise to undertake
voyages of discovery, and thereby expose themselves to the king's fickle and
tyrannical temper in case of miscarriage."*

"But it is more difficult to discover what prevented this scheme of Henry VH.
from being resumed during the reigns of his son and grandson, and to give any
reason why no attempt was made either to explore the Northern Continent of
America more fully, or to settle in it. Henry VIII. was frequently at open enmity
with Spain: the value of the Spanish acquisitions in America had become so well
known, as might have excited his desire to obtain some footing in those opulent
regions; and during a considerable part of his reign, the prohibitions in a papal
bull would not have restrained him from making encroachments upon the Spanish
dominions. But the reign of Henry was not favourable to the progress of discovery.
During one period of it, the active part which he took in the affairs of the Conti-
nent, and the vigour with which he engaged in the contest between the two
mighty rivals, Charles V. and Francis I. gave full occupation to the enterprising
spirit both of the King and his Nobility. During another period of his administra-
tion, his famous controversy with the Court of Rome kept the nation in perpetual
agitation and suspense : engrossed by those objects, neither the King nor the Nobles
had inclination or leisure to turn their attention to new pursuits ,- and without their
patronage and aid, the commercial part of the nation was too inconsiderable to
make any effort of consequence. "f

"That prince, (Henry VIII.) full of bustle, needy of money, and not devoid of
intelligence, might have been supposed rather prompt to embark in such enter-
prises: but involved in so many disputes, domestic and theological, and studying,
though with little skill, to hold the balance between the two great continental
rivals, Charles and Francis, he was insensible to the glory and advantages to be derived
from Maritime Expeditions." t

* Forster, Northern Voyages, p. 268.
•[• Dr Robertson's America, book ix.

J Edinburgh Cabinet Library (vol. i. p. 98), by Professors Leslie and Jameson,
and Hugh Murray, Esq.

278

CHAP. X.

VOYAGE FROM ENGLAND IN 1536.

IT has been thought unnecessary to speak in detail ^of the
Expedition of Verrazani in 1524, or of that of Cartier in
1534, as they did not advance beyond the points which for-
mer Navigators had rendered quite familiar. Of a subse-
quent voyage from England, in 1536, our information, de-
rived altogether from Hakluyt, is quite meagre, but there was
evidently contemplated a more adventurous range of search.
The scheme originated with "one Master Hore of London,
a man of goodly stature and of great courage, and given to
studie of cosmography.'7* Amongst the company, it is stated,
were " many gentlemen of the Inns of Court, and of the Chan-
eerie.^ One of the persons particularly spoken of, is " M.
Rastall, Sergeant Rastall's brother," a name familiar in the
Law, from the well-known " Entries'" of the brother here
alluded to. After a tedious passage, the gentlemen reached
Cape Breton and proceeded Northward, but seem to have
made little progress when they were arrested by famine,
which became so pinching that one individual killed his com-
panion " while he stooped to take up a root for his relief,"!
and having appeased the pangs of hunger, hid the body for
his own future use. It being ascertained that he had some-
where a concealed store of animal food, he was reproached
for his base selfishness, "and this matter growing to cruel
speeches,"^ he stated plainly what he had done. The Chief
of the Expedition was greatly shocked at this horrible dis-
covery, " and made a notable oration, containing how much
these dealings oifended the Almightie, and vouched the Scrip-

* Hakluyt, vol. Hi. p. 129. •)• Ibid. vol. iii. p. 130. t Ib.

279

lures from first to last what God had in cases of distresse done
for them that called upon Him, and told them that the power
of the Almighty was then no lesse than in all former time it
had bene. And added, that if it had not pleased God to have
holpen them in that distresse, that it had bene better to have
perished in body, and to have lived everlastingly, than to
have relieved for a poore time their mortal bodyes, and to
be condemned everlastingly both body and soul to the un-
quenchable fire of hell."* But in vain did this good man,
who was not himself of the Profession, entreat his associates
to combat the unhappy tendency to prey on their fellow-crea-
tures ; and they were about to cast lots to ascertain who should
be killed, when a French vessel unexpectedly arrived "well
furnished with vittaile." Notwithstanding the amity of the
two nations, it was decided, in the multitude of Counsellors,
to consult their own safety at the expense of the new comers.
The case being one of plain necessity, they resolved to act on
the familiar maxim which permits the law to slumber in such
emergencies, and to get possession of the French vessel, view-
ing it, doubtless, if any argument was had, in the light of the
tabula in naufragio spoken of in the books.

The thing would seem to have been managed with fair
words and characteristic adroitness. Hakluyt got his informa-
tion from Mr Thomas Buts, of Norfolk, whom he rode two
hundred miles to see, " as being the only man now alive that
was in this diseoverie." Buts must have been very young at
the time of the Expedition — probably in London as a student
of law or articled to an attorney — and it can hardly be sup-
posed that he was trusted with a prominent part at this inter-
esting crisis, when there were on board men of the experience
of Rastall and the others. Yet there was evidently a touch of
vain- glory about his narrative to Hakluyt — something of the
"pars fai" — and the old man, though long retired from busi-
ness, kindled up at the reminiscence: "Such was {\\zpolicie
of the English that they became masters of the same, and

• Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 130.

280

changing Ships and vittailing them they set sayle to come
into England !"* The despoiled Frenchmen followed these
harpies of the law, and made complaint to Henry VIII.

" The King- causing the matter to be examined and finding the great distresse
of his subjects, and the causes of the dealing with the French, was so moved with
pitie that he punished not his subjects, but of his own purse made full and royal
recompense unto the French."f

It had been stated at the outset that the adventurers were
" assisted by the King's favour and good countenance," which,
with his subsequent clemency and generosity, may furnish a
suitable answer to the silly tirade of Forster.

* Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 131. f Ib.

281

CHAP. XL

EXPEDITION OF CORTEREAL IN 1574, AND RETROSPECT TO A PRETENDED
VOYAGE BY A PERSON OF THE SAME NAME IN 1464.

THE long interval between the voyage of 1536 and that of
Frobisher supplies nothing worthy of particular notice. One
incident, however, may be glanced at, because it is probably
connected with a misconception as to a pretended expedition
of much earlier date.

In the work of Hakluyt published in 1582, we find the fol-
lowing passage: —

" A verie late and great probabilitie of a passage by the North- West part of
America in 58 degrees of Northerly latitude. An excellent learned Man of Por-
tugal of singular gravety, authoritie and experience tolde me very lately that one
Anus Cortereal Captayne of tJte yle of Tercera about the yeare 1574 which is not
above eight years past sent a shippe to discover the North West Passage of Ame-
rica and that the same shippe arriving on the Coast of the said America in fiftie
eyghte degrees of Latitude found a great entrance exceeding deepe without all
impediment of ice, into which they passed above twentie leagues and found it
alwaies to trende towards the South the lande lying low and plain on either side.
And that they persuaded themselves verily that there was a way open into the
South Sea. But their victuals fayling them and they beeing but one Shippe they
returned backe agayne with joy."

Nothing further is heard on the subject.

One of the idlest of the numerous efforts to detract from the
fame of those who led the way in the career of discovery, is
the assertion that Newfoundland was discovered by a person
named Cortereal as early as 1464, twenty-eight years before
the enterprise of Columbus. The following passage on the
subject is found in Mr Barrow's Chronological History of
Voyages (p. 37).

"The first Navigator of the name of Cortereal, who engaged in this enterprise,
was John Vaz Costa Cortereal, a Gentleman of the Household of the Infanta Don
Fernando— who, accompanied by Alvaro Martens Hornea, explored the northern

2 L

282

seas, by order of King Alfonso the Fifth, and discovered'the Terra de Saccalhaos
(the land of Cod Fish) afterwards called Newfoundland.

" This voyage is mentioned by Cordeiro, (Historia Insulana Cordeiro 1 vol. fol )
but he does not state the exact date, which however is ascertained to have been
in 1463 or 1464; for on their return from the discovery of Newfoundland, or Terra
Nova, they touched at the Island of Terceira, the Captaincy of which Island having
become vacant by the death of Jacome Bruges, they solicited the appointment, and
in reward for their services the request was granted, their patent commission being
dated in Evora, 2nd April 1464.

*' Notwithstanding this early date of a voyage across the Atlantic, there exists
no document to prove that any thing further was done by the Portuguese, in the
way of discovery, till towards the close of the fifteenth century; and if the evidence
of that in question rested on this single testimony of Cordeiro, and on the fact of
the Patent, it would scarcely be considered as sufficiently strong to deprive Cabo-
tas of the honour of being the first who discovered Newfoundland ; at the same
time if the Patent should specify the service for which it was granted, and that
service is stated to be the discovery of Newfoundland, the evidence would go far in
favour of the elder Cortereal."

Supposing, for a moment, the statement here made to be
correct, it must doubtless be received with astonishment. In
all the eager controversies between Spain and Portugal, grow-
ing out of the discovery of America by the former power, not
the slightest reference is made to this antecedent voyage, al-
though we are apprised, by the letter of Thorne, of a resort
even to the falsification of maps. Is it possible that Portugal,
during the most stirring period of her history, would not at-
tempt to follow up a disco very which was yet deemed worthy of
a signal reward? The younger Cortereal, moreover, we have
seen, speaks of the country visited by him in 1501 as before
altogether unknown, and of that lying further north as discov-
ered only the year before. Would such language have been
used by him, or endured by his countrymen, if he had merely
revisited a region discovered thirty-seven years before by a
member of the same family ?

We have in the work of the Portuguese writer Galvano,
translated by Hakluyt, a minute and copious History of Mar-
itime Discovery, in which, though the voyage of Caspar
Cortereal is particularly described, not the slightest allusion is
found to this earlier enterprise.

It will probably be considered, also, rather remarkable that
when Columbus, twenty years after this discovery, submitted

283

to the Court of Portugal his project for seeking land in the
West, it was referred to a learned Junto, who pronounced it
extravagant and visionary, and that on appeal to the Council
this decision was affirmed. To remove all doubt a Caravel
was secretly sent to sea, provided with the instructions of Co-
lumbus, and her return, not long after, without success, was
considered to establish, conclusively, the impracticable char-
acter of the scheme.

But it happens that Mr Barrow, in putting forth the state-
ment, ftas not looked even into the work which he professes
to cite as his authority. The volume of Cordeyro was pub-
lished in 1717, and is entitled " Historia Insulana das Ilhas a
Portugal sugeytas no Oceano Occidental." Of it, and of its
author so litfle is known that his name does not find a place
even in the Biographic Universelle. A greater part is occu-
pied with adulation of some of the principal families of the
different islands ; yet there is supplied the very Document at
full length, to whose possible language Mr Barrow hypothet-
ically attaches so much importance. A copy of the work is
found in the Library of the British Museum. The Commiss-
ion of Cortereal, as Governor of Terceira, bears date (p. 246),
Evora, 12 April, 1464, and in the consideration recited for
the grant not the slightest reference is made to any such dis-
covery.*

Thus does the evidence in support of this preposterous
claim disappear. The whole story had probably its origin in
some confused tradition which reached Cordeyro as to the
voyage of 1574. Yet mark how Error, " like to an entered
tide, rushes by and leaves" even Mr Barrow hindmost :

" There seems little reason to doubt that a Portuguese navigator had discovered
Newfoundland long before the time of Cabot. John Vaz Casta Cortereal, a gentle-
man of the Royal Household, had explored the Northern Seas by order of Alphonso

* " E considerando en de outra parte os .services que Joao Vas Cortereal, fidalgo
da casa do dito Senhor meu filho, tern feyto ao Infante meu Senhor seu padre que
Deos haja, &. depois a mim & a elle, confiando em a sua bondade, & lealdade, &
vendo a sua disposicao, a qual he para poder servir o dito Senhor & manter seu
direyto, & justica, em galardao dos ditos services Ihe fiz merce de Capitania da Ilha
Terceyra."

284

the V. about the year 1463, and discovered the Terra de Baccalhaas or land of Cod-
fish, afterwards called Newfoundland."*

As authority for these assertions, Mr Barrow is cited !
Again:

" This house was that of Cortereal: for a member of which, John Vaz Cortereal,
claims are advanced as having discovered Newfoundland nearly a century ( \ ) before
the celebrated voyages of Columbus or Cabot, "f

• Dr Lardner*s Cyclopaedia, History of Maritime and Inland discovery, vol. ii.
p. 138. 0

| Edinburgh Cabinet Library, by Professors Leslie and Jameson, and Hugh
Murray, Esq. vol. i. p. 158.

285

CHAP. XII.

SIR MARTIN FROBISHER.

To exhibit a just estimate of the merits of this navigator, is
one of the gravest portions of the duty that remains to be per-
formed. There will here be found, probably, the most striking
proof yet presented of injustice to the fame of Sebastian Cabot.

Had Frobisher seen the tract of Sir Humphrey Gilbert?
The question may not, perhaps, be deemed one of essential
importance, when we know that Ramusio, twenty-two years
before, had furnished a statement, which it is impossible to
misunderstand, of the course pursued, and of the point attain-
ed, by Cabot, and that there was suspended in the Queen's
Gallery the Map, exhibiting his discoveries, referred to in
that tract. Yet the evidence happens to be so singularly con-
clusive as to invite the inquiry.

A doubt, indeed, on the subject has arisen only from the"
conduct of Hakluyt, who in giving a place to the work of Sir
Humphrey Gilbert has suppressed the very curious and in-
teresting explanation of its history ; and, owing to the blind
confidence in that compiler, no one has since thought of going
beyond his volumes. ' There is, fortunately, a copy of the
original publication in the Library of the British Museum
(title in catalogue Gilbert).

The tract was published on the 12 April 1576, and is pre-
ceded by an Address to the reader from George Gascoigne,
who thus explains the manner in which it came into his pos-
session :

"Now it happened that myself being one (amongst many) beholden to the said
Sir Humphrey Gilbert for sundry courtesies, did come to visit him in the winter
last past, at his house in Limehouse, and being very bold to demand of him, how
he spent his time in this loitering vacation from martial stratagems, he courteously
took me into his study, and there shewed me sundry profitable and very com-

286

mendable exercises which he had perfected painfully with his own pen, and amongst
the rest this present discovery. The which, as well because it was not long, as
also, because I understood that M. Forboiser, a kinsman of mine, did pretend to
travel in the same discovery, I craved it at the said Sir Humphrey's hand for two or
three days."

Gascoigne retained possession of the tract, and subsequently
published it.

Frobisher (or Forboiser as he is more commonly called in
the old accounts) sailed from Gravesend, on his first voyage,
12 June, 1576. We thus find that the tract was obtained by
a kinsman, for his use, the preceding winter, and that it even
appeared in print two months before Frobisher left the
Thames. The following is an extract from it (Hakluyt, vol.
iii. p. 16).

" Sebastian Cabota by his personal experience and travel hath set forth and de-
scribed this passage in his Charts, which are yet to be seen in the Queen's Majesty's
Privy Gallery at Whitehall, who was sent to make this discovery by King Henry
VII. and entered the same fret.- affirming that he sailed very far westward with a
quarter of the North on the North side of Terra de Labrador the llth of June,
until he came to the Septentrional latitude of 67° and-a-half, and finding the sea
still open said, that he might and would have gone to Cataia if the mutiny of the
master and mariners had not been."

There is another tract in Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 24) already
referred to, entitled "Certain other reasons or arguments to
prove a passage by the North- West, learnedly written by Mr
Richard Willes > Gentleman." Here, also, a perilous discre-
tion has been exercised in the way of curtailment. The Ess-
ay appeared originally in a new edition of Richard Eden's
Decades, published by Willes, in 1577.* The tract is ad-
dressed to the Countess of Warwick whose husband was the
patron of Frobisher, and is headed " For M. Captayne Fro-
bisher, passage by the North- West" (fol. 230). That Willes
had been solicited to prepare it is apparent from the conclu-
sion (fol. 236).

" Thus much, Right Honorable, my very good Lady, of your question concern-
ing your servant's voyage. If not so skilfully as I would, and was desirous fully to
do, at the least as I could and leisure suffered me, for the little knowledge God

* " The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies, &c. by Richard Eden.
Newly set in order, augmented and finished by Richarde Willes. London, 1577- "

287

hath lent me, if it be any at all, in cosmography and philosophy, and the small
experience I have in travaile. Chosing rather in the clear judgment of your hon-
ourable mind to appear rude and ignorant, and so to be scene unto the multitude,
than to be found unthankful and careless in anything your Honour should com-
mande me. God preserve your Honor. At the Court the 20 of March, your
Honor's most humbly at commandment Richard Willes."

This Tract was prepared after the first voyage of Fro-
bisher, and reference is made in it to a document now lost,
viz., the Chart drawn by Frobisher to exhibit the course he
had pursued. The account given by Willes of Cabot's de-
scription of the Strait corresponds with that supplied by Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, but it is, as has been shown on a former
occasion, more explicit.

" Cabota was not only a Skilful Seaman but a long travailer, and such a one as
entered personally that Strait sent by King Henry VII. to make the aforesaid dis-
covery, as in his own Discourse of Navigation you may read in his Card drawn
with his own hand; the mouth of the North- Western Strait lieth near the 318 me-
ridian [60° W. Long, from Greenwich] between 61 and 64° in elevation continuing
the same breadth about ten degrees West where it openeth Southerly more and
more" (fol. 233).

That Frobisher was considered as having done nothing
more, on his first voyage, than to act on the suggestions of
Cabot, and as far as he went to confirm them, may be inferred
from another passage. It was plain that he had not penetrated
to the extent mentioned by Cabot, yet he had followed the in-
structions as to the quarter where the Strait was to b*e found,
and his partial success inspired a hope that he might, in a
second attempt, urge his way through. That this was the
extent of the merit claimed for the recent voyage is plain
from the language which Willes addresses to a lady whose
influence had been mainly instrumental in setting it forth.
After representing the Strait to be " betwixt the 61 st and
64th degrees North," he adds, " So left by our countryman
Sebastian Cabote in his Table, the which my good Lord your
father [The Earl of Bedford] hath at Cheynies and so tried
this last year by your Honor's Servant as he reported and his
Card and Compass do witness" (fol. 232).

The very history of the voyages themselves is stripped by
Hakluyt of the evidence they furnish as to a knowledge of

288

Cabot's previous enterprise. Thus we have (vol. iii. p. 47)
the account of three voyages " penned by Master George
Best, a gentleman employed in the same voyage," and find
(p. 60) that this gentleman was the Lieutenant of the Admi-
ral's ship. There is a copy in the King's Library (title in
catalogue Frobisher] of his work as originally published in
1578 ; and prefixed to it is a long and interesting Dedication
to Sir Christopher Hatton, of which no part is found in Hak-
luyt. Amongst other things he says, " And Sebastian Ca-
bote being an Englishman and born in Brystowe, after he had
discovered sundry parts of Newfoundland and attempted the
passage to Cataya by the North- West for the King of Eng-
land, for lack of entertainment here (notwithstanding his good
desert) was forced to seek to the King of Spain."

There was another work published during the same year,
entitled "A Prayse and Reporte of Master Martin For-
baisher's voyage to Meta Incognita by Thomas Churchyard"
(Library of British Museum, title in catalogue Churchyard})
in which the writer says, " Gabotha was the first in King
Henry VII. ?s days that discovered this frozen land, or Seas
from. Sixty -seven towards the North, and from thence towards
the South along the Coast of America to 36° and-a-half, &c.
But this G^botha's labor robs no piece of prayse from Master
Forboisher, for Gabotha made but a simple rehearsal of such
a soil, but Master Forboisher makes a perfect proof of the
mines and profit of the country." It is curious to note, thus
early, a disposition on the part of Frobisher's admirers to cast
into the shade the enterprise of Cabot. The claim put forth
to superior merit — sufficiently idle in itself — must have ap-
peared utterly ridiculous after the worthlessness of the ore had
been ascertained, and it seems to have been subsequently
thought safer to waive any allusion whatever to him who had
gloriously led the way in the career of discovery.

Thus, then, we have the most conclusive evidence of a
knowledge of what Cabot had done, and of its direct influ-
ence on Frobisher's enterprise. Let us now see what the lat-
ter actually accomplished.

289

The First Expedition left Gravesend, as has been said, on
the 12th June, 1576. No interest attaches to its movements
until the llth of August, at which point "we take up the nar-
rative of the Master of the Gabriel, Christopher Hall (Hak-
luyt, vol. iii. p. 30)—

" The 11 we found our Latitude to be 63 degr. and 8 minutes, and this day we
entered THE STREIGHT.

" The 12 wee set saile towardes an Island, called the Gabriel's Island, which was
10 leagues then from us.

"We espied a Sound, and bare with it, and came to a Sandie Baye, where we
came to an anker, the land bearing East-South-east off us, and there we rode at
night in 8 fathome water. It floweth there at the South-east Moone. We called
at Prior's sownd, being from Gabriel's Island, tenne leagues.

" The 14 we waied, and ranne into another sownd, where we ankered in 8
fathome water, faire sande and black oaze, and there calked our ship, being weake
from the wales upward and took in fresh water.

" The 15 day we waied, and sailed to Prior's Bay, being a mile from thence.

" The 16 day was calme and rode still without yce, but presently within two
houres it was frozen round about the ship, a quarter of an ynch thicke and that day
very faire and calme.

" The 17 day we waied, and came to Thomas Williams Island.

" The 18 day we sailed North North West, and ankered again in 23 fathome,
and tough oaze, vnder Burchers Island, which is from the former Island, ten
leagues.

"The 19 day in the morning, being calme, and no winde, the Captaine and I
tooke our boate, with eight men in her, to row us ashore, to see if there were there
any people, or no, and going to the top of the Island, we had sight of seven boates,
which came rowing from the East side, toward that Island: whereupon we returned
aboored againe: at length we sent our boate with five men in her, to see whither
they rowed, and so with a white cloth brought one of their boates with their men
along the shoare, rowing after our boate, till such time as they sawe our Ship, and
then they rowed ashoare : then I went on shoare myself, and gave every of them a
threadden point, and brought one of them aboored of me, where he did eate and
drinke, and then carried him ashore againe. Whereupon all the rest came aboored
with their boates, being nineteen persons, and they spake, but we understoode
them not. They be like to Tartars, with long blacke haire, broad faces, and flatte
noses, and tawnie in color, wearing scale skins, and so doe the women, not differ-
ing in the fashion, but the women are marked in the face with blewe streekes
downe the cheekes, and round about the eyes. Their boates are made all of scales
skinnes, with a keele of wood within the skin: the proportion of them is like a
Spanish Shallop, save only they be flat in the bottome, and sharpe at both ends.

" The twentieth day we waied, and went to the East side of this Island, and I and
the Captaine, with foure men more went on shoare, and there we sawe their houses,
and the people espying vs, came rowing towards our boate: whereupon we plied
toward our boate; and wee being in our boate and they ashore, they called to ua,
and we rowed to them, and one of their company came into our boate, and we

290

carried him aboard, and gave him a Bell and a knife: so the Captaine and I willed
five of our men to set him a shoare at a rocke, and not among1 the company, which
they came from, but their wilfulness was such, that they would goe to them, and so
were taken themselves, and our boate lost.

"•The next day in the morning-, we stoode in neere the shoare, and shotte off a
fanconet, and sounded our Trumpet, but we could heare nothing of our men: this
Sound we called the Five Men Sound, and plyed out of it, but ankered againe in
thirtie fathome, and oaze, and riding1 there all night, in the morning, the snowe lay
a foote thicke upon our hatches.

" 1'he 22 day in the morning1 we wayed, and went againe to the place where we
lost our men, and our boate. We had sight of fourteen boates, and some came
neere to us, but we could learne nothing of our men: among the rest, we enticed,
one boate to our ships side, with a Bell, and in giving him the Bell, we tooke him,
and his boate, and so kept him, and so rowed down to Thomas Williams Island,
and there ankered all night.

" The 26 day' we waied, to come homeward and by 12 of the clocke at noone, we
were thwart of Trumpets Island."

Such was the result of Frobisher's Only Voyage, having in
view the discovery of a North- West Passage !

It is seen, at once, that he got entangled with the land by
keeping, at the outset, too far North. Cabot had said, that
the Strait was between the 61st and 64th degree of latitude ;
and Ramusio tells us, from the navigator's Letter, and Sir
Humphrey Gilbert and Lord Bacon from his card, that the
course he took was "very far Westward, with a quarter of
the North on the North side of Terra de Labrador." Frobish-
er's reasons for disregarding facts which must have been known
to him, can only be conjectured. One motive may have been
a puerile ambition to strike out a new route. We learn from
Best, (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 58) " This place he named after
his name, Frobisher's Strait, like as Magellanus at the South-
West end of the World, having discovered the passage to the
South Sea, and called the same Straits Magellan's Straits.77
A more indulgent explanation is suggested by recollecting the
account which he gave (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 129) of the fate
of one of the English ships engaged in the attempt at discovery
in 1527. Frobisher understood that the vessel had been (( cast .
away as it entered into a dangerous gulf about the great open-
ing between the North parts of Newfoundland and the coun-
try lately called by her Majesty Meta Incognita.77 (Ib.) It is
not improbable that he may have been induced by a dread of

291

the fate of his predecessor absurdly to commence his examina-
tion on the very verge of the limit fixed by Cabot, without the
• least reference to the course pursued by that Navigator which
had conducted him from 61° at the commencement of the
Strait to 64° at its termination. The precise extent to which
Frobisher threaded his way amongst rocks and islands is not
given by Hall, but is stated by Best, (Hakluy t, p. 58) at fifty
leagues, and again (p. 59) at sixty leagues.

The Second Voyage was prompted by mere cupidity.
The incident which stimulated the hopes of the adventurers
is thus related, (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 59)

" Some of his company brought floures, some greene grasse: and one brought a
piece of blacke stone much like a sea cole in colour, which by the waight seemed
to be some kinde of metall or mineral!. This was a thing- of no account in the
judgment of the Captaine at the first sight, and yet for novelty it was kept in re-
spect of the place from whence it came.. After his arrival in London being- de-
manded of sundry of his friends what thing he had brought them home out of that
country, he had nothing left to present them withal but a piece of this blacke stone,
and it fortuned a gentlewoman one of the adventurers wives to have a piece thereof,
which by chance she threw and burned in the fire, so long that at the length being
taken forth, and quenched in a little vinegar, it glistered with a bright marquesset
of Golde. Whereupon the matter being called in some question, it was brought
to certaine Goldfiners in London to make assay thereof, who gave out that it held
Golde, and that very richly for the quantity. Afterwards the same Goldfiners
promised great matters thereof if there were any store to be found, and offered
themselves to adventure for the searching of those parts from whence the same
was brought. Some that had great hope of the matter sought secretly to have a
lease at her Majesty's bands of those places, whereby to enjoy the masse of so
great a public profit vnto their own private gaines.

" In conclusion, the. hope of more of the same Golde ore to be found kindled a
greater opinion in the hearts of many to advance the voyage againe. Whereupon
preparation was made for a new voyage against the yere following-, and the Cap-
taine more especially directed by commission for the searching more of this Golde
ore than for the searching any further discovery of the passage."

All the movements of the Expedition had exclusive refer-
ence to this new object of pursuit.

" Now had the Generall altered his determination for going any further into the
Streites at this time for any further discovery of the passage having taken a man
and a woman of that country, which he thought sufficient for the use of language:
and. also having met with these people here which intercepted his men the last yere
(as the apparell and English furniture which was found in their tents, .very well
declared) he knew it was but a labor lost to se'eke them further off, when he had
found them there at hand. And considering also the short time lie had in hand,
he thought it best to bend his whole endeavour for the getting of myne, and to
leave, the passage further to be discovered hereafter." (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 70.)

292

On the 22nd August, having collected upwards of two
hundred tons of ore, they left the Island, whence it had been
principally obtained, on their return to England. " We gave
a volley of shot for a farewell in honour of the Right Honoura-
ble Lady Anne Countess of Warwick, whose name itbeareth,
and so departed aboard." (Hakluyt, vol. iii. p. 72.) They
reached Bristol in October.

The Third Voyage had the same objects in view with the
preceding, and we find it remarked at the close, (3 Hakluyt,
p. 96) " The people are now become so wary and so circum-
spect by reason of their former losses, that by no means we
can apprehend any of them, although we attempted often in
this last voyage. But to say truth we could not bestow any
great time in pursuing them because of our great business in
lading and other things."

There is little interest in pursuing the details of such an
expedition. But one part of the account is too curious not
to be noticed. By stress of weather, Frobisher was actually
driven to the southward into Hudson's Strait, and yet aban-
doned the route which he saw plainly before him in order to
resume the search for ore.

<« The seventh of July as men nothing yet dismayed, we cast about towards the
inward/andhad sight of land, which rose in form like the Northerland of the Straits,
which some of the fleetes, and those not the worst mariners, judged to be the North
foreland: however other some were of contrary opinion. But the matter was not
well to be discerned by reason of thicke fogge which a long time hung upon the
Coast, and the new falling snow which yeerely altereth the shape of the land, and
taketh away oftentimes the Mariners markes. And by reason of the darke mists
which continued by the space of twentie days together, this doubt grew the greater
and the longer perilous. For whereas indeed we thought ourselves to be upon
the Northeast side of Frobisher's Straits we were now carried to the Southwest-
wards of the Queens Foreland, and being deceived by a swift current coming from
the Northeast were brought to the Southwestwards of our said course many miles more
than we did think possible could come to passe. The cause whereof we have since
found, and it shall be at large hereafter declared." (3 Hakl. 79.)

" The tenth of July the weather still continuing thicke and darke, some of the
ships in the fogge lost sight of the Admirall, and the rest of the Fleete, and won-
dering to and fro with doubtful opinion whether it were best to seeke backe againe
to seaward through the great store of yce, or to follow on a doubtful course in a
Seas Bay or Straights they knew not, or along a coast, whereof by reason of the
darke mistes they could not discerne the dangers if by chance any rocka or broken
ground should lie off the place, as commonly in those parts it doth" (p. 80).

293

" The General, albeit, with the first, perchance, he found out the error, and that
this was not the olde straights, yet he persuaded the Fleete alwayes that they were
in their rig-lit course, and knowen st-aights. Howbeit, I suppose, he rather dis-
sembled his course." " And as some of the companie reported, Tie has since con-
fessed that if it had not beenefor the charge and care he had ofthefleete and freighted
skips, he both would and could have gone through to the South Sea, called Mar del
Sur, and dissolved the long doubt of the passage which we seeJce to finde to the rich
country of Cataya" (p. 80).

Having taken in a vast quantity of ore the vessels returned,
and it proving, on examination, utterly worthless, no further
attempt was made by Frobisher.

The preceding detail, while it has enabled us to draw some
facts from the rare and curious volumes in which they have
long slumbered, has effected incidentally, it is hoped, the pur-
pose which connects them with these pages. It is evident,
that nothing but Frobisher's departure from the plain Instruc-
tions laid down for his government, prevented his doing what
was achieved by Cabot so long before, and by Hudson in the
next century. But after his first blind experiment he was
intent on another object. We find him actually driven into
the true Strait and confessing that he saw his way quite clear.
At this very moment he had in 'his Cabin the Instructions
drawn up, at the instance of his patrons, by Willes, describing
the Strait in a manner not to be misunderstood, and strength-
ening all the hopes suggested by his own observation. That
paper, as actually printed in England the year before he sailed
on the Third Expedition, urges to this day its testimony
against him. The tract of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, procured
in MS. for his use, and printed two years before, offered the
same cheering confirmation. It is difficult to screen Frobisher
altogether from reproach, for the discovery of the passage evi-
dently continued a leading object with those who had set forth
the Expedition. When, therefore, he voluntarily abandoned
the route which he was convinced would conduct him through
the Strait, we see that his own eager sympathies were with
the more sordid objects of pursuit, and induced him to turn
away from the peril, and the glory, of the onward course.

What must be thought, under such circumstances, of a
writer who refuses a place to the name of Cabot in a list of
those who had engaged in the enterprise ?

294

" The reign of George III, will stand conspicuous and proudly pre-eminent in
future history, for the spirit with which discoveries were prosecuted andtheobjects
of science promoted; and a dawn of hope appears that ere its close the interesting
problem of a North-West passage will be solved, and this great discovery, to which
the Frobishers, the Hudsons, &c., so successfully opened the way, be accomplished.
Little, if any thing, has been added to the discoveries of these extraordinary men,
who, in the early periods of navigation, had every difficulty to struggle against," &c.
(Quarterly Review, vol. xviii. p. 213.)

295

CHAP. XIII.

VOYAGE OF HUDSON.

AFTER what has been said of the evidence that lay open as to
the success of Cabot, the task may be a superfluous one of
tracing a familiarity with it to each succeeding Navigator.
Yet with regard to Hudson, his acquaintance is apparent even
with the volumes which collect and arrange the knowledge
on the subject existing at the time of that Expedition of 1610
which has given to his name so much celebrity. In the voyage
made by him two years before, he is found conferring amongst
other designations that of " Hakluyt's Headland" (Purchas,
vol. iii. p. 464). It would be absurd, then, to suppose him
ignorant of the Volumes, published in London eight years
before, which constitute that writer's claim to the gratitude
of Seamen; nor can we suppose that in undertaking a voyage
in search of the North- West passage he would overlook the
information which they supplied as to his predecessors in the
enterprise. He would find at p. 16, of the third vol. the
Treatise of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in which it is said, " Fur-
thermore, Sebastian Caboto, by his personal experience and
travel, hath set forth and described this passage in his charts,
which are yet to be seen in the Queen's Majesty's Privy Gal-
lery at Whitehall, who was sent to make the discovery by King
Henry VII. , and entered the same fret, affirming that he sail-
ed very far westward with a quarter of the North on the North
side of Terra de Labrador the llth of June, until he came
to the Septentrional latitude of 67° and-a-half." He would
find at p. 26, of the same volume, the yet more pointed state-
ment of Willes, that Cabot represented the strait through
which he penetrated to commence at about a longitude equiv-
alent to 60° west from Greenwich and between 61° and 64°

296

of latitude, " continuing the same breadth about ten degrees
West, where it openeth southerly more and more." It could
hardly fail to arrest his attention at p. 80, that Frobisher, in
his last voyage, being driven by stress of weather into the very
Strait thus described, "confessed that if it had not been for
the charge and care he had of the Fleet and fraughted Ships
he both would and could have gone through to the South Sea."
In the same volume, p. 9, is the passage from Gomara, which
represents Cabot to have proceeded by the route of Iceland.
At page 441 of the first volume occurs a special recommen-
dation of " Ortelius' Book of Maps." It has already been
stated that in this work the Bay is plainly exhibited, and that
the author had Cabot's Map before him. When, therefore,
it appears that Hudson, in 1610, touched at Iceland on his
way out, and finally penetrated into the Bay by following the
Instructions so distinctly laid down, we cannot but suppose
him aware that he was merely attempting to retrace the course
taken, a century before, by Sebastian Cabot.

APPENDIX

(A.)

(See page 42.)
FABYAN'S CHRONICLE — ALLUSION TO THE VOYAGE OF CABOT.

FABYAN died, according to Stow, in 1511. Five years after, his
Chronicle was published by Pynson, but it then reached only to the
tenth year of Henry VII. 's reign, that is 1495. A new edition of
the work was published by Rastall, in 1533, with the Continuation.
It is here, of course, that we look for the paragraphs referred to by
Stow; yet, there is not to be found the slightest allusion to the expe-
dition or to either of the Cabots, Mr Ellis, who gave to the public,
some years ago, an edition of Fabyan with notes, and has even fur-
nished a copy of Fabyan's Will occupying seven folio pages, does
not seem to have been aware of the importance of inquiry on this
point. Stow, in the collections which he made for his Survey, speaks
of a Continuation by Fabyan himself, as low as the third year of
Henry VIII. which book, he adds, "I have in written hand" (Har-
leian MS. 538). Mr Ellis, in his Preface to Fabyan (p. xvii.), sup-
poses that the MS. thus referred to may be the" one now in the Cot-
ton Manuscripts (Nero C, no. xi.), but this comes down only to the
beginning of the reign of Henry VII., and though some of the last
pages have been destroyed, yet it would seem from an examination
of the copious Index which fortunately precedes it, and is evidently
contemporary with 'the body of the work, that it did not reach the
period in question. Assuming, however, the correctness of Mr
Ellis's conjecture, the question would still remain open as to the
authenticity of the ordinary version. Mr E. refers (ib.) to another
MS. copy which he had heard of, but had not, as it would seem,
consulted. The point is worthy of attentive examination. Stow,

300

of course, in making the assertion, knew of the printed work of
Fabyan. The Stow MS. could be instantly recognised by its allu-
sion, under the year 1502, to the exhibition of the savages. We A
must strike out the reference to Fabyan in Stow, Speed, and Pur-
chas, or deny that any part of the Continuation can be by him, for
it is difficult to believe that he would prepare two works relative to
the incidents of the same reign differing essentially from each other.
It forms a presumption in favour of the Stow MS., and against the
Continuation by Rastall, that while the worthy Alderman, noting
from time to time what fell under his observation, would be likely to
advert to the incident in question, it might readily escape a compiler
endeavouring to recall the leading events of the era after curiosity
about the Newfoundland had passed away*.

It is remarkable, that the original edition of Fabyan, published by
Pynson, is accompanied by a single leaf, on which are noted the
death of Henry VII. and the accession of his son. • As Mr Ellis re-
publishes this (see his edition, p. 678) without any attempt to account
for the disappearance of the intermediate matter, a conjecture may be
hazarded. Bale, in his <* Scriptorum Illustrium Magni Brytannia3,
&c." (Bas. Ed. of 1557, fol. 642), states that Cardinal Wolsey had
caused some copies of Fabyan's work to be burned, because it ex-
posed the enormous revenues of the priesthood, "Ejus Chronicorum
exemplaria nonnulla Cardinalis Wolsius in suo furore comburi fecit
quod cleri proventus pingues plus satis detexerit." Mr Ellis is of
opinion (Preface, xviii.) that the obnoxious passage "must" have
been that in which an abstract is given of the Bill projected by the
House of Commons in the llth Henry IV. ; but this seems to furnish
a very inadequate motive for the vehement indignation of the Car-
dinal. A more perilous epoch to the Chronicler was that in which *
he had to record the death (in 1500) of Cardinal and, Chancellor Mor-
ton. Of this personage, Bacon says, in his History of Henry VII.',

"This year also died John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury,
Chancellor of England and Cardinal. He was a wise man, and an
eloquent, but in his nature harsh and haughty; much accepted by the
King, but envied by the nobility, and hated of the people." " He
(Henry VII.) kept a strait hand on his rfobilityj and chose rather to
advance clergymen and lawyers which were more obsequious to him,
but had less interest in the people."

It is highly probable, that the popular sentiment would be reflect-
ed from the page of Fabyan, and give umbrage to Wolsey, who may
be supposed anxious that Henry VIII. should pursue the very policy

301

Attributed by Bacon to his Father. At this precise point, then, occurs
a chasm in the copies extant of Py nson's edition . Was not this part

Sacrificed to the resentment of Wolsey, or suppressed from a dread of
his displeasure, and was it not afterwards supplied by Rastall ? The
MS. which had, meanwhile, been lost sight of, could not elude so
indefatigable a collector as Stow. The single leaf referred to, of
Pynson's edition, may be either part of the original work, or a hasty
substitute, got up on the withdrawal of the obnoxious matter, so as
to give to the work the appearance of being brought down to the
latest period.

(B.)
(Seepage 95.)

ENGLISH EXPEDITION SAID TO HAVE BEEN FOUND BY HOJEDA AT CAQUI-
BACOA.

THE claims of Truth are so paramount to those of any Hypothesis,
however convenient and apparently well sustained, that a caution must
here be interposed. It might be presumed that Navarette (torn. iii.
p. 41) would not lightly hazard the unqualified assertion alluded to;
yet this consideration will, perhaps, occur with most force to those
who have not examined his volumes. He adduces no authority in
support of the position,*and the Document which seems, at a hasty
glance, to countenance it^will be found, on examination, to suggest
an opposite conclusion.

Cabot had discovered a vast Continent along the coast of which he
proceeded to the South as far as Florida without reaching its termi-
nation. Of this ||ct the Spanish Government was, of course, fully
aware in July 1500, the date of the agreement with Hojeda in which
allusion is made to the English, for we find (Navarette, torn. iii.
p. 77) a Letter from the Sovereigns dated .tfth May, 1500, which
Navarette himself (ib. p. 42) connects with an intention to follow up
the discoveries of Cabot The conduct of England was of course
regarded by the Court of Spain with indignation and alarm, as in-
volving a violation of the Papal Bull. Cabot followed the main land
no further only because his provisions were exhausted. When the
Spaniards, then, subsequently discovered Term Firma, nothing was
more natural, or correct, than to suppose it connected with the Great
Continent coasted by the English, and in resolving to take possess-

302

ion, their policy, and pretended exclusive rights, would lead them
to watch and repel all foreign competition. It was as if, in after
times, the Spanish commander at Pensacola or St Augustine had
been advised of the colonization of Virginia by the English.

On turning to the agreement with Hojeda it is found that he is
enjoined to continue his examination of the region he had discover-
ed on the former voyage, and which seemed to run East and West,
as it must lead towards (hacia) the place where it was known the
English were making discoveries. He is directed to set up marks
as he proceeds with the Royal Arms, so that it might be known he
had taken possession for Spain, and the English be therebv prevent-
ed from making discoveries in that direction (Navarette, torn. iii.
p. 86).

" Item : que vaes 6 sigais aquella costa que descubristes que se corre leste —
vuest, segun parece, per razon que va hacia laparte donde se ha salido que des-
cubrian los Ingleses e vais poniendo las marcas con las armas de SS. A. A. 6 con
otras senales que scan conocidas, cuales vos pareciere porque se conozca como vos
habes descubierto aquella tierra, para que atages el descubrir cle los Ingleses por
aquella via."

A Grant of Land is made to Hojeda in consideration prospectively
of his active exertions to prosecute discoveries and to check those of
the English (ib. p. 88). ^

''Para que labrees, e fagaes labrar, e vos aprovecheis 6 podais aprovechar de "•
alii, para lo que habees de descubrir 6 en la costa de la tierra firme para el atajo
de los Ingleses." »

The general direction of the region visited by Hojeda is correctly
described, and it is certain that had Cabot not been stopped by a
failure of provisions, but turned the Cape of Florida and followed
the coast, he must have reached Caquibacoa. The vast interval oc-
casioned by the Gulf of Mexico was then unknown.

It is quite plain that the injunction contained in Hojeda's instruc- *
tions, so far from assuming the identity of the spots visited by him
and the English, involves a conjecture as to their relative position
towards each other. It was by following up his discoveries that
Hojeda was to meet and check intrusion. The phraseology, too,
discountenances the idea that the person addressed had conveyed the
information as to the danger; it seems rather communicated to him
in the way of caution. Nor would the setting up of marks to let the
English know, on reaching them, of the Spanish claim be probably
so much insisted on, if, long before, Hojeda had personally given
notice of it. The allusion seems to be not so much to any one expe-

* 303

dition of the English as to a particular quarter from which their en-
croachment was to be apprehended; and Hojeda is, therefore, en-
joined to spread out his party, as soon as possible, over the interme-
diate region, so that it might be found preoccupied. If Caquibacoa
had been the scene of common discovery, and of actual encounter,
it is strange that Hojeda should now be told by others of the direc-
tion which led towards the English.

Hojeda was examined on oath, at great length, in the law pro-
ceedings between Don Diego Columbus and the Crown, and the
very question at issue was as to originality of discovery. He makes
not the slightest allusion to such a meeting, and yet, in the course of
a trial before a domestic tribunal, there would seem to have been no-
motive for omitting to state what, if true, must have been known to
so many. Nor is this all. If Hojeda really found a party of Eng-
lishmen in that quarter he can hardly escape the charge of perjury.
He swears positively (Navarette, torn. iii. p. 544) that he was the
first who attempted to follow up the discovery of Columbus ("el
primero hombre que vino a descubrir despues que el Almirante").
After speaking of his having found the marks of Columbus he pro-
ceeds to detail his own discoveries, mentioning particularly Caqui-
bacoa; and he swears that no part of this had ever been discovered
or visited either by Columbus or any one else (" nunca nadie loha-
bia descubierto ni tocado en ello asi el Almirante como otra per-
sona"). The statement is repeated in another part of his testimony
(p. 546), " e que toda esta costa y la tierra-firme, y el Golfo de
Uraba y el Darien el Almirante ni otra persona no lo habia descu-
bierto."

One other forcible consideration will occur to those apprised of the
character of Hojeda. That fiery and daring adventurer would have
regarded the rivs^party as impudent trespassers on the dominions
^ of the King of Spain, and as setting at defiance the Papal Bull. A
man who gravely quotes this instrument in his manifesto to the poor
Indians as sufficient authority for subjugating them, would hardly
have exacted less deference to it from Christians. He was the4ast
person in the world to come home quietly with a report of the intru-
sion— not knowing when he should return — and to throw on his
Sovereign the necessity of giving that direct authority for expulsion
which it might be more agreeable to find the officer taking for
granted. Hojeda would have known his cue without a prompter.

In a recent volume (Lardner's Cyclopaedia, History of Maritime
and Inland discovery, vol. ii. p. 35), the assertion is made that

304 4

" Hojeda met with English navigators near the Gulf of Maracaibo,"
and a sufficient authority is supposed to be found for it in the lan-
guage of the Document already quoted. Without repeating what
has been said on that point, it may be remarked that the writer in
the Cyclopaedia does not deal fairly with the original. He repre-
sents Hojeda as ordered "to follow and examine the coast lohich he
had already discovered, and which appears to run East and West,
as that is the part which the English are known to be exploring,"
&c. It is obvious that the most important words are here left unno-
ticed. The expression " por razon que va hacia la parte donde se
ha sabido que descubrian las Itfgleses" will not tear the translation
of the Cyclopaedia without the substitution indicated by brackets,
" as that is [goes towards] the part where the English are known
to be exploring."

Should it appear, in the end, that the assertion has no better
foundation than the document in question, what a melancholy proof
have we of the perils to which Truth is subject when a writer like
Navarette, who was to clear up all difficulties, is found rashly start-
ing new errors to run their course through successive volumes!

It must be acknowledged that the remarks now submitted rather
take from the force of what appears, in the text, a plausible case.
But a frequent observation of the diffusive consequences of a single
error suggests that there is something of moral guilt in pressing too
earnestly a statement the truth of which is not sincerely confided in.

If deprived of the happy coincidence suggested by the assertion of
Navarette, it must be left to conjecture to determine in what quarter
the active and enterprising spirit, of Cabot was employed during the
long interval between his undoubted voyages from England and the
time of his entering the service of Spain.

Another motive has its weight. The curious and important
Documents at the Rolls Chapel will probably one day be arranged
and made available to the purposes of history. Evidence may then
come forth, and it is desirable that no erroneous hypothesis should
be found in the way of Truth. Until that period we must be con-
tent to remain in the dark. Where the records are in such a state of
confusion as to warrant the charge which has been before men-
tioned for finding a specific paper of which the exact date — the
name of the party — the purpose and general tenor—are given, it is
obvious that no private fortune would be adequate to meet the ex-
pense of a general search.

305

(C.)
(See page 174.)

WAS CABOT APPOINTED GRAND PILOT?.

A DOUBT on this point is expressed in the text. Nothing is said on
the subject in the grant of the pension, and the circumstantial evi-
dence seems to negative the existence of such an office in his time.
There is preserved in the Lansdowne MSS. (No. 116, art. 3) a Me-
morial presented by Stephen Burrough, an English seaman of con-
siderable note, the object of which is to enforce the necessity of
appointing such an officer. It appears by an accompanying docu-
ment that Burrough himself was forthwith appointed "Cheyffe Py-
lot" for life, and also " one of the foure masters that shall have
the keepyng and oversight of our shipps, &c." It is declared the
duty of the Chief Pilot to " have the examination and appointing
of all such mariners as shall from this time forward take the charge
of a Pilot or Master upon him in any ship within this our realm."
This is the duty supposed to have been, assigned to Cabot, but it
seems difficult to reconcile the language of Burrough with the pre-
vious existence of any such office. His memorial recites "Three
especial causes and considerations amongst others, wherefore the
office of Pilot-Major is allowed and esteemed in Spain, Portugal,
and other places where navigation flourisheth." Had any such du-
ties ever been exercised in England, he would of course have refer-
red to the fact, and insisted on the advantages which had resulted,
more particularly as he was educated in the school of Cabot, and
expressly names "the good olde and f amuse man Master Sebas-
tian Cabota."

2 0

306

(D.)
(See page 224.)

LETTERS PATENT, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED DATED 19 MARCH 1501, FROM
HENRY VII. TO RICHARD WARDE~, THOMAS ASHEHURST, AND JOHN THO-
MAS, OF BRISTOL, AND JOHN FERNANDUS, FRANCIS FERNANDUS, AND
JOHN GUNSOLUS OF PORTUGAL.

MEMORANDUM quod XIX die Marcii, anno regni Regte Henrici
Septimi XVI, ista Billa delihata fuit Domino Custodi Magni Sigilli
Angliae apud Westmonasterium exequenda.

TO THE KYNG OUR SOVEREYNE LORD.

Please it your Highness of your most noble and habundaunt Grace
to graunt unto your welbeloved subjects Richard Warde, Thomas
Asshehurst and John Thomas, .merchants of your Towne of Bris-
towe, and to John Fernandus, Francis Fernandus, and John Gun-
solus, Squyers, borne in the Isle of Surrys under the obeisaunce of
the Kynge of Portingale your gracious Lettres Patentis under your
Greate Scale in due forme to be made according to the tenour here-
after ensuying, and that this Byll sygned with your gracious hand
may be to the Reverend Fader in God Henry Byshop of Salesbury,
Keeper of your Greate Scale, sufficient and immediate warrant for
the making, sealying, accomplysshyng of your said Lettres Patentes,
and they shall duryng ther lyves pray to God for the prosperous
contynuance of your most noble and ryall astate.

H. R.

Rex universis et singulis ad quos prsesentes Literas Nostrae per-
venerint Salutem: Notum sit vobis et manifestum quod ex certis
considerationibus nos moventibus de advisamento Consilii Nostri,
concessimus et Licentiam dedimus, prout per Praesentes Concedimus
et Licentiam damus, pro Nobis et Hseredibus Nostris quantum in
Nobis est, dilectis subditis nostro Ricardo Warde, Thomae Asshurst,
et Johanni Thomas, mercatoribus Villas Nostrae Bristollias ac dilectis
nobis Johanni Fernandus, Francisco Fernandus et Johanni Gunsolus,
armigeris in Insulis de Surrys sub obediencia Regis Portugal ori-

307

undis, et eorum cuilibet ac cujuslibet eorum haeredibus, attornatis,
factoribus, seu deputatis ac eis et eorum cuilibet plenam ac liberam
auctoritatem, facultatem et potestatem com mittimus navigandi et se
transferendi ad omnes partes, regiones et fines Maris Orientalis Oc-
cidentalis, Australis, Borealis et Septentrionalis, sub Banneris, et
Insigniis nostris cum tot et tantis et talibus Navibus sive Batellis
quot sibi placuerint et necessarise fuerint, cujuscunque portagii qui-
libet Navis sive Batella extiterit, cum Magistris, -contromagistris,
marinariis pagettis aliisque hominibus pro gubernatione, salva custo-
dia et defensione Navium et Batellarum prsedictarum competentibus
requisitis et necessariis, ad custus et onera dicti Ricardi et aliorum
praedictorum et pro hujusmodi salariis vadiis et stipendiis prout inter
eos poterunt concordare ad inveniendum, recuperandum, descope-
riendum et investigandum Insulas, patrias, Regiones sive provincias
quascunque Gentilium et Infidelium in quacunque Mundi parte po-
sitas quae Christianis omnibus ante haec tempora fuerunt et in prae-
senti sunt incognita.

Ac hujusmodi Banneras et insignia nostra in quacunque villa, op-
pido, Castro insula seu terra-firma a se sic noviter inventis affigendi,
ipsasque villas, oppida, castra, insulas et terras firmas pro nobis et
nomine nostro intrandi et capiendi et ea tanquam Vasalli nostri ac
Gubernatores Locatenentes et Deputati nostri, eorumque dominio,
titulo, dignitate et praeeminencia eorundem nobis semper reservatis,
occupandi possidendi et subjugandi.

Et insuper quandocumque, imposterum, hujusmodi Insulas Patrise,
Terras et Provincial per praefatos Ricardum et alios praevocatos ad-
eptse recuperatae et inventae fuerint, tune volumus et per prsesentes
concedimus quod omnes et singuli tarn viri quam foeminae hujus regni
nostri cceterique subditi nostri et insulas hujusmodi sic noviter in-
ventas visitare et in eisdem inhabitare cupientes et desiderantes,
possint et valiant licite et impune ad ipsas patrias, insulas et loca
cum eorum navibus, hominibus et servientibus, rebus et bonis suis
universis transire et in eisdem sub protectione et regimine dictorum
Ricardi et aliorum praenominatorum morari et inhabitare, divitiasque,
fructus et emolumenta patriarum, terrarum et locorum praedictorum
adquierere et obtinere.

Dantes insuper et concedentes praefatis Ricardo, Thomas et Johan-
ni, Francisco et Johanni et eorum cuilibet plenam tenore Praesen-
tium potestatem et auctoritatem omnes et singulos homines marina-
rios caeterasque personas ad Insulas, Patrias, Provincias terras firmas
et loca praedicta ex causa praedicta se divertentes et confluentes tarn

308

in comitiva dictorum Ricardi et aliorurn praenominatorum quam in
comitiva aliorum illuc imposterum recur'sum habere contingentium
tarn supra Mare quam in Insulis, patriis, terris-firmis et locis hiijus-
modi post quam inventa et recuperata fuerint regendi et gubernandi
Legesque Ordinationes, Statuta et Proclamationes pro bono et quieto
regimineet gubernatione dictorum hominum, magistrorum, marina-
riorum, et aliarum personarum prsedictarum faciendi, stabiliendi,
ordinandi et constituendi et superinde proclamationes faciendi a&
omnes et singulos quos in hac parte contraries et rebelles ac Legibus,
Statutis et Ordinacionibus praedictis inobedientes invenerint ac omnes
illos qui furtum, homicidia, rapinas commiserint et perpetrariunt aut
aliquas mulieres Insularum seu Patriarum praedictarum, contra eoruin
voluntatem aut aliter, rapuerint et violaverint juxta leges et statuta
.per ipsos in hac parte ordinata castigandi et puniendi. Ac etiam
concessimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni, Johanni, Francisco
et Johanni haeredibus et assignatis suis quod postquam aliquse insulae,
provinciae, Terrae-firmae, regio seu provincia imposterum per ipsum
Ricardum et alios praenominatos inventa fuerint tunc'non licebit ali-
cui seu aliquibus subdito seu subditis nostris durante termino decem
annos proximo et immediate sequentes ad ipsas villas Provincias, In-
sulas, Terras-firmas et Loca causa mercandisandi ac bona acquirendi
absque licentia nostra regia et [the words in italics illegible but
supplied conjecturally from the corresponding paragraph in the sub-
sequent patent of 9th Dec. 1502] dictorum Ricardi et aliorum prae-
nominatorum haeredum et assignatorum suorum cum suis navibus
frequentare aut se divertere aut in eadem ingred'i seu in eisdem pro
aliquibus bonis acquirendi intromittere.

Et post terminum dictorum decem annorum quod nullus ex nostris
subditis ad aliquam Terram-firmam, insulam, patriam seu loca per
ipsos Ricardum et Thomam et alios praedictos sic noviter inventa
navigare et frequentare praesumat absque licentia nostra prsedicta
et [the words in italics supplied as before] praedictorum Ricardi et
coeterorum sub poena amissionis et forisfacturae omnium Bonarum,
mercandisarum, rerum et navium quarumcunque ad ea loca sic no-
viter inventa navigare et in eadem ingredi prassumentium (videlicet)
una medietas inde erit ad opus nostrum et alia medietas ad opus dic-
torum Ricardi et aliorum praenominatorum et haeredum suorum.

Et ultius ex abundanti gratia nostra concessimus et per Praesentes
concedimus pro nobis et hjeredibus nostris quantam in nobis est
praefatis Ricardo, Thomse, Johanni, Johanni, Francisco et Johanni
et eorum cuilibet haeredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi et eorum
quilibet mercandisas, mercimonia, aurum et argentum in massa, lapi-

309

des preciosa et alia bona qusecumque de crescentia patriarum, insu-
larumque et locorum prsedictorum per ipsos sic recuperandorum et
inveniendorum tarn in dictis navibus et bateliis quam aliis quibus-
cunque navibus exteris a dictis patriis insulis, terris-firmis et locis
in hoc regnum nostrum Angliae ad quemcunque portum seu alium
locum ejusdem adducere et carfare et adduci seu cariari facere possit
et valeat, eaque vendere et distribuere ad eorum proficium et advan-
tagium aliquo Statuto actu ordinatione seu provisione inde in con-
trarium factis sive ordinatis nonobstantibus.

Ac nos intime considerantes grandia custus et onera quas circa prae-
missa facienda et perimplendo requiruntur volentes igitur prjtfatis
Ricardo, Thomae et aliis memoratis personis gratiam provide facere
specialem Concessimus (prout] per Przsentes concedimus eisdem,
haeredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi et eorum quilibet h redes et
assignati sui praedicti de tempore in tempus durante termino quatuor
annorum a tempore recuperationis et inventionis Insularum, et pro-
vinciarum praedictarum proximo et immediate sequentes, mercandi-
sas, mercimonia caeteraque bona in uno navi tantum cujuscunque
partagii fuerit eskippata et onustata ac in hoc regnum nostrum An-
glise adducenda ^t transportanda in portu seu loco prssdicto ad ter-
rain ponere, eaque vendere, exponere et pro libito suo distribuere
possint de tempore in tempus, qualibet viaggio, durante termino,
dictorum quatuor annorum absque aliquibus custumis, subsidiis, seu
aliis deveriis pro eisdem bonis mercimoniis et caeteris praemissis in
dicta unica navi tantum contentis et eskippatis nobis aut haeredibus
nostris infra dictum regnum nostrum Anglise aliqualiter solvendis.

Proviso tamen quod nobis de custumis, subsidiis pondagiis et aliis
deveriis Nobis pro caeteris mercandisis, mercimoniis et bonis in
omnibus aliis navibus contentis debitis juxta consuetudinem in hoc
regno nostro Anglise hactenus usitatam fideliter respondeatur ut est
justum. Et Insuper volumus et concedimus per Praesentes quod
quilibet Capitalis Magister, contra magister et Marinarius cujuslibet
Navis ad aliquam Terram-firmam Insulanuj)atriam, provinciam et
locum prsedictum frequentantis et navigantishabeant gaudeant etper-
cipiant de bonis et mercimoniis a dictis Insulis, Terris-firmis et Pro-
vinciis in hoc regnum Anglise adducendis custumas et subsidia se-
quentia, videlicet.

Quod quilibet Magister habeat gaudeat et precipiat subsidia et
custumas, quolibet viagio, quatuor doliorum.

Et quilibet Contramagister vel Quarter-Magister custumas et sub-
sidia duorum Doliorum.

Ac quilibet Marinarius custumas et subsidia unius Dolii.

310

Licet sint caveata et eskippata [the words in italics supplied as
befor] ut bona sua propria aut ut bona alicujus alterius personae cu-
juscunque et hoc absque aliquibus custumis, subditis debitis seu de-
veriis infra hoc regnum nostrum Angliae ad opus nostrum aut haere-
dum nostrorum pro eisdem doliis aliqualiter solvendis seu petendis.

Et si contingat aliquem vel aliquos mercatorem seu mercatores
hujus regni nostri ad dictas Insulas Patrias et Loca sub licencia dic-
torum subdictorum nostrorum aut absque licencia causa habendi mer.
candisas et mercimonia adventare et laborare ad bona et mercimonia
ab eisdem partibus in hoc regnum nostrum adducere tune volumus
et concedimus, per praesentes, prsefatis, Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni,
Johanni, Francisco, Johanni haeredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi
durante termino decem annorum antedicto habeant de quolibet hu-
jusmodi mercatore, solutis nobis custumis, subsidiis et aliis deveriis
nobis in hac parte debitis et consuetis, vicesimum partem omnium
hujusmodi bonarum et mercimoniarum per ipsos a dictis Insulis,
patriis et Locis quolibet viagio durante dicto termino decem annorum
in hoc regnum nostrum Arigliae traducendorum et cariandorum ha-
bendam et capiendam hujusm.odi vicesimam partem in portu ubi con-
tigerit dicta bona discarcari et exonerari.

Proviso Semper quod prsedicti Ricardus et alii praedicti, haeredes
et assignati sui et non alii omnino imposterum durante dicto termino
decem annorum sint Factores et Attornati in dictis Insulis Terris-
firmis et Patriis pro quibuscunque hujusrnodi mercatoribus aliisque
personis illuc ex causa praedicta confluentibus in etpro eorum Factis
mercatoriis in eisdem.

Proviso etiam quod nulla navis cum bonis et mercandisis a dictis
partibus sic noviter inventis carcata et onusta postquam in aliquam
portum hujus [the words in italics supplied as before] Regni nostri
adducta fuerint non exoneratur de eisdem bonis et mercandisis nisi
in prsesentia praefatorum Ricardi et aliorum praedictorum eorumve
haeredum seu deputatorum ad hoc assignandum sub poena forisfac-
turae eorumdem bonarunuet mercandisiarum ; unde una medietas ad
opus nostrum et alia medietas praefatis Ricardo et aliis praenominatis
et haeredibus suis applicentur.

Et si imposterum aliqui extranez aut alias [the part in italics sup-
plied as before] personae ad ipsas partes contra voluntatem ipsorum
Ricardi et aliorum praenominatorum 'causa habendi divitias navigare
et ea vi et armis ingredi ac dictos Ricardum et alios praedictos aut
haeredes suos ibidem insultare ac eos expellere et debellare aut
alias inquietare presumpserint quod tune volumus ac eisdem subditis
tenore Praesentium damus et committimus ipsos extraneos licet sint

311

subditi et vasalli alicujus Principis Nobiscum in liga et amicitia totis
suis veribus tarn per terram quam per mare et aquas dulces expugnan-
di resistendi et Gueriam contra eos levandi et faciendi easque cap-
iendi, subpeditandi et incarcerandi ibidem quousque Fines et Re-
demptiones eisdem subditis nostris fecerint moratur aut alias secun-
dum sanam discretionem ipsorum subditorum nostrorum et haeredum
suorum castigandi et puniendi.

At'etiam prsefatis subditis nostris casterisque personis praedictis
plenam tenore Prsesentium poteslatem damus et committimus sub se
quoscunque Capitaneos, Locatenentes et Deputatos in singulis Civi-
tatibus, villis, Oppidis et Locis dictarum Insularum Provinciarum,
Patriarum et Locorum praedictorum ad regendum et gubernandum
omnes et singulas personas in eisdem partibus sub regimine et gu-
bernatione dictorum subdictorum nostrorum ibidem commorantium
ac ad justitiam eisdem secundum tenorem et efiectum Ordinationum
Statutprum et Proclamationum praedictorum debite exequendum et
administrandum per Literas suas Patentes sigillis eorum sigillandas,
faciendi, constituendi nominandi et substituendi. Et insuper con-
cessimus et per Prsesentes concedimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomas,
Johanni, Johanni, Francisco et Johanni ad terminum vitas suae et
cujuslibet eorum diutius viventis officium Admiralli supra Mare in
quibuscunque locis, patriis, et provinciis a se sic noviter inventis et
imposterum inveniendis et recuperandis, ipsosque Ricardum, Tho-
mam, Johannem, Johannem, Franciscum, Johannem et eorum quem-
libet conjunctim et divisim Admirallos nostros in eisdem partibus
facimus, constituimus, ordinamus et deputamus, per Praesentes dantes
et concedentes eisdem et eorum cuilibet plenam tenore Praesentiarum
potestatem et auctoritatem ea omnia et singula quae ad officium Ad-
mirallitatis pertinent faciendi exercendi et exequendi secundum
legem et consuetudinem maritimam in hoc regno nostro Anglias
usitatam.

Ac etiam postquam praefati Ricardus Warde, Thomas Ashhurst et
Johannes Thomas, ac Johannes Fernandus, Franciscus Fernandus et
Johannes Gunsolus aliquas terras-firmas, insulas, patrias et provin-
cias, oppida, castra, civitates et villas per assistentiam nostram sic
invenerint, obtinuerint, et subjugaverint tune volumus et per Prae-
sentes concedimas eisdem, haeredibus ct assignatis suis quod ipsi et
haeredes sui habeant, teneant et possideant sibi haeredibus et assignatis.
suis omnia et singula talia et tanta, terras-firmas, insulas, patrias,
provincias, castra, oppida, fortallicia, civitates et villas qualia et
quanta ipsi et homines tenentes et servientes sui possunt inhabitare.

312

custodire sustinere et manutere: Habenda et Tenenda eadem Terras
Insulas et loca praedicta sibi, haeredibus et assignatis suis et cujusli-
bet eorern de nobis et haeredibus nostris imperpetuum per Fidelitatem
tantum absq.ue aliquo Compoto seu aliquo alio nobis aut hseredibus
nostris proinde reddendo seu faciendo, Dignitate Dominio, Regali-
tate, Jurist! ictione, et pre-eminentia in eisdem nobis semper salvis et
omnino reservatis.

Et ultius concessimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomas, Johanni, Johan-
ni, Francisco, Johanni quod ipsi hseredes et assignati sui praedicti
dictas terras-firmas, in«ulas et provincias ipsiset haeredibus suis prae-
dictis ut praam ittitur sic concessas, postquam inventae et recuperatae
sint, accum in plena possessione earundem fuerint teneant possideant
et gaudeant libere, quiete, et pacifice absque impedimento aliquali
nostri aut haeredum nostrorum quarumcunque. Et quod nullus ex
subditis nostris eos eorum aliquem de et super possessione et titulo
suis de et in dictis terris-firmis, insulis et provinciis se aliqualiter
contra voluntatem suam expellat quovis modo seu aliquis extraneus
aut aliqui extranet virtute aut colore alicujus concessionis nos-
trse sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per antea factse aut imposterum

faciendae cum aliquibus aliis locis et insulis

. et contiguis ac membris et Parcellis praefatis Insulis
Terris-firmis Provinciis et locis ...:.. absque licen-

tia . subditorum nostrorum et alio-

rum prsenominatorum aliquo modo intromittat nee intromittant
[Through the words in italics the pen is drawn in the original, and
a space then occurs, from which the writing has been carefully and
completely erased].

Promittentes bona-fide et in verbo regio Nos ratum gratum et firm-
urn habituros totum et quicquid praefati Ricardus, Thomas, Johannes,
Johannes Franciscus et Johannes et eorum quilibet pro praemissorum
complemento fecerint fierique procuraverint in hac parte. Et quod
Nos aut haeredes nostri nullo unquam tempore in futUro ipsos aut
eorum aliquam haeredes et assignatos suos in jure, titulo et possess-
ione suis inquietabimus, impediemus aut molestium eis faciemus nee
per alios nostros subditos aut alios quoscunque quantum in nobis
fuerit fieri seu procurari permittemus seu procurabimus, nee ipsos
haeredes et assignatos suos pro aliqua causa imposterum eniergente
seu contingente ab eisdem Terris-firmis, provinciis et locis nullo
modo amovebimus aut amoveri seu expelli per subditos nostros pro-
curabimus. Et ultius ex uberiori gratia nostra et mero motu nostro
concessimus et per Praesentes concedimus pro Nobis et haeredibus

313

quantum in nobis est Johanni Johanni Fernandus, Francisco Fernan-
dus et Johanni Gunsalos, Armigeris de Insulis de Surrys subditos
Regis Portugaliae oriundis et eorum cuilibet quod ipsi et eorum quili-
bet ac omnes liberi sui tarn procreati quam procreandi in perpetuam
sint indigeni et ligei nostri et hseredum nostrorum et in omnibus
causis, querelis, rebus et materiis quibuscumque habeantur pertrac-
tarentur teneantur, reputentur et gubernentur tanquam veri et fideles
Ligei Nostri infra Regnum nostrum Anglige oriundi etnon aliter nee
alio modo. Et quod ipsi et omnes liberi sui praedicti omnimodo
actiones reales personales et mixtas in omnibus Curiis, locis et juris-
dictionibus nostris quibuscunque habere exercere eisque uti et gau-
dere ac eas in eisdem placitare et implacitari respondere et respon-
deri, defendere ac defendi possint et eorum quilibet possit in omni-
bus sicuti veri et fideles Ligei nostri infra Regnum nostrum praedic-
tum oriundi. Et quod ipsi et eorum quilibet Terras, Tenementa,
reditus, reversiones, servitia et alios possessiones qusecunque tarn in
domiriio quam in reversione infra dictum regnum nostrum Anglise
acalia dominia etloca sub obedientia nostra perquirere, capere, reci-
pere, habere tenere possidere et haereditare sibi, haeredibus et assig-
natis sui imperpetuum vel alio modo quocunque ac ea dare, vendere,
alienare et legare cuicunque personse sive quibus cunque personiis
sibi placuerit libere, quiete, liciteet impune possint et quilibet eorum
possit ad libitum suum adeo libere integre et pacifice sicut possit et
valeat aliquis Ligeorum nostrorum infra regnum nostrum Angliae
oriundus. Ita tamen quod prsedicti Johannes Fernandus, Francis-
cus et Johannes Gunsolus et omnes liberi sui prsedicti solvant aut
solvi faciant et eorum quilibet solvat seu solvi faciat talia custumas
subsidia et alia demandia pro bonis, mercibus, mercandisis et merci-
moniis suis in Regnum nostrum Angliae adducendis vel extra idem
Regnum educendis qualia alienigeni nobis solvant aut solvere debe-
rent vel consueverunt. Et quod idem Johannes Fernandus, Fran-
ciscus et Johannes Gunsolus et omnes liberi sui praedicti de caetero
in future colore seu vigore alicujus Statuti, Ordinacionis sive con-
cessionis in Parliamento nostro aut extra Parliamentum nostrum facti
vel fiendi non arcteantur seu compellantur nee eorum aliquis arete nea-
tur teneatur sen compellatur ad solvendum, dandum vel supportan-
dum nobis vel alicui hseredum nostrorum seu cuicunque alteri aliqua
Taxas, Tallagia seu alia onera quaecunque pro terris, tenements, bonis
vel personis suis prselerquam talia et tanta qualia et quanta alii fideles
Ligei nostri infra dictum Regnum nostrum oriundi pro bonis, terris
tenements seu personis suis solvunt dant faciunt ve! supportant aut
2P

314

solverc, dare, facere vel supportare consueverunt et teneantur sed
quod prsedicti Johannes Fernandas, Franciscus et Johannes Gunso-
lus et omnes liberi sui pr^dicti habere et possidere valeant et possint
eteorum quilibet valeatet possit omnia et omnimodo alia Libertates,
privilegia, franchesias et custumas ac eis uti et gaudere possint et
eorum quilibet possit infra dictum Regnum nostrum Anglise, jurisdic-
tiones et dominia nostra quaecunque adeo plene libere, quiete, integre
et pacifice sicut coeteri Ligei nostri infra idem Regnum nostrum ori-
undi habent utunt et gaudent aut habere, possidere, uti et gaudere de-
beantet valeant aliquo statuto, acto, ordinacione vel aliqua alia causa,
re, vel materia quacunque nonobstante.

Proviso semper quod prsefati Johannes Fernandus, Franciscus et
Johannes Gunsolus homagium ligeum nobis faciunt et eorum quili-
bet faciat ac Lotto et Scotto et aliis oneribus in Regno nostro prae-
dicto debitis et consuetis contribuant et eorum quilibet contribuat
sicut alii ligei nostri infra dictum regnum nostrum oriundi faciunt

Proviso etiam quod iidem Johannes Fernandus, Franciscus et
Johannes Gunsolus solvant et eorum quilibet solvat nobis et haeredi-
bus nostris tot et tanta custumas subsidia et alia deveria pro bonis et
mercandisis suis prout alienigeni nobis solvere et reddere teneantur.

Et ulterius ex uberSori gratia nostra concessimus praefatis Ricardo,
Thomas, Johanni, Johanni, Francisco, et Johanni quod ipsi habeant
Praesentes Literas Nostras in Cancellaria nostra absque aliquo fine
seu feodo aut aliquibus finibus seu feodis pro eisdem Literis nostris
aut aliqua parte eorundem aut pro Magno Sigillo nostro ad opus
nostrum in Hannaperio dictae Cancellariae nostrae aliqualiter sol-
vendis.

Et volumus et concedimus per Praesentes quod Reverendissimus
in Christo Pater Henricus Episcopus Salisb. Gustos Magni Sigilli
nostri auctoritate prassentis Concessionis nostrae fieri faciat etsigillari
tot et talia Brevia sub Magno Sigillo nostro sigillanda Custodi sive
clerico Hanaperii nostri dirigenda pro exoneratione dictorum Fini-
um et Feodorum quot et qualia in hac parte necessaria fuerint et re-
quisita, absque aliquo alio Warranto aut prosecutione penes Nos in
hac parte faciendis.

In cujus, &c.

315

(E.)
(Seepage 276.)

CONJECTURE AS TO THE NAME " DOMINIS VOBISCUM*' ERRONEOUSLY

ASSOCIATED WITH THE VOYAGE OF 1527 FORSTER*S MISTAKE AS TO

NORUMBEGA — NAVARETTE, &C., AS TO THE PERIOD AT WHICH NEW-
FOUNDLAND WAS FIRST FREQUENTED FOR FISHING.

WHENCE could have arisen the misconception of Frobisher as to
the words Dominus Vobiscum associated with this enterprise ? As-
sured that he was wrong, a conjecture may be hazarded. Were
they the final adieu and benediction of Wolsey to his ecclesiastical
protege and correspondent — perhaps as the vessel passed Greenwich?
Such an exclamation would linger on the popular ear. One of the
ships was never heard of, but all hopes of her could not have been
abandoned for many years, and the fate of those on board must have
long been a subject of painful speculation, and to their relatives of
agonizing suspense. The invocation of the odious Cardinal may
have been recalled as little likely to propitiate Heaven — in fact of
evil omen — and the impression, coloured highly at the time by the
imagination, might be confusedly traced by Frobisher, half a century
afterwards, amidst the faded reminiscences of the Expedition.

Forster (p. 436, note) is very much puzzled at the name of No-
rumbega, which occurs in the heading of Hakluyt's account of the
voyage, and supposes " that some of the toys which were presented
to the savages, consisting of looking-glasses, bells, &c., were of
Nuremberg manufacture, and that by the name given to the country
they meant to preserve the memory of this fact!" The name is
found distinguishing the country immediately to the southward of
Newfoundland on the maps or descriptions of Ortelius, De Laet,
Bertius, and Cluverius. In another passage of Hakluyt, (vol. iii. p.
163) reference is made to the same Norumbega in connexion with
the enterprise of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and in a way not to be mis-
understood. As to the origin of the name, it might have occurred
to Forster, from the termination Hochlega, &c. and the usual cus-
tom of the French of preserving Indian names, that it was aboriginal.

316

He has not only overlooked these considerations, but something else
of which his ignorance is less excusable. The article which imme-
diately follows the account of Verrazani's voyage of 1524, in Ramu-
sio, (torn. iii. fol. 423, F.) is " a Discourse by a great Sea Captain
of France," relative to these regions, written fifteen years after the
time of Verrazani. He describes the " terra di Norumbega" as
lying where we have stated, and expressly states it to be so called by
the natives, " la terra e detta da psesani suai Norembega." So,
too, Thevet, in his Cosmographie Universelle, (Paris ed. of 1575,
torn. ii. fol. 1010) says of this region, " que aucuns ont appelee
Terre Fran cay se et ceux du pays Norumbeque."

There is one incidental point which the Letter of Rut conclusively
settles. Navarette has a long dissertation to prove that the New-
foundland fishery was not pursued at so early a period as has been
usually supposed. This opinion is adopted by a recent writer, (Dr
Lardner's Cyclopaedia, History of Maritime and Inland discovery,
vol. ii. p. 24) who says " Don M. de Navarette, whose authority
on this point seems conclusive) is disposed to think that the Bis-
cayans did not discover Newfoundland till 1526, and he shews that
they did not frequent the Banks till 1540." Now we have the
positive statement of the English Commander to Henry VIII. that
on entering St John's on the 3rd of August, 1527, he found "eleven
sail of Normans, and one Brittaine, and two Portugall Barkes, and
all a fishing." Herrera (Dec. ii. lib. v. cap. iii.) gives this same
report by an English vessel which had touched in the West-Indies,
as to her having been at the Baccalaos, and found there engaged in
fishing fifty vessels, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. The misfor-
tune of Don M. Navarette is that with no firm hold of the History
of the New World, even as found in the works of his own country-
men,he attaches an importance altogether exaggerated, andsometimes
absurd, to the Documents over which he is incumbent, and when he
finds a scrap of manuscript exhibits it with a sort of triumph and as
quite decisive, when, in a majority of cases, it owes its origin to
ignorance or fraud. Thus, on this point, he gravely cites the nega-
tive testimony of half-a-dozen masters of vessels taken on a trial of
which he has a MS. account. These persons, it seems, were unable
to carry back further the history of the fishery. Infinite discretion
is necessary on the part of a writer circumstanced like Don M. Na-
varette. The eye quickly becomes diseased unless the microscope
be often withdrawn, and a healthy look taken round the natural
horizon.

317

PORTRAIT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT BY HOLBEIN.

REFERENCE has already been made (page 179) to the Portrait of
Sebastian Cabot in considering the singular misconception as to the
meaning of the epithet " Militis aurati." The statement of Pur-
chas (vol. iv. p. 1812) is as follows: —

" Sir Seb. Cabota; his Picture in the Privie Gallerie at White-
Hall hath these words, Effigies Seb. Caboti rfngli, JUii Joannis
Caboti Veneti militis aurati, fy-c. ; he was born at Venice, and
serving Henry VII., Henry VIII., Edward VI. was accounted
English — Galpano saith he was borne at Bristol."

This Picture now belongs to the Representatives of the late Charles
Joseph Harford, Esq. of Bristol. The inscription which Purchas
curtails by an "&c." is this: —

" Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli, filii Johannis Caboti Veneti Militis
Aurati, Primi Invenloris Terras Novae sub Henrico VIL Anglix
JRege."

The manner in which the Portrait came to the knowledge of Mr
Harford, and finally into his possession, is very minutely stated in
a Memoir prepared by him and left with his family. Without need-
lessly introducing names it may suffice to state that whilst travelling
in Scotland, in 1792, he saw it for the first time at the seat of a no-
bleman; and, many years afterwards, his friend the late Sir Frede-
rick Eden was enabled to gratify his anxious wishes by procuring it
for him.

The work of Purchas was published in 1625, at the close of the
reign of James I. That the picture was not in the Gallery in the
time of Charles II., would appear from the followingcircumstances: —

There is a tract by Evelyn, the celebrated author of Sylva, £c.,
entitled " Navigation and Commerce, their Original and Progress,
containing a succinct account of traffic in general, its benefits and
improvements; of discoveries, wars, and conflicts at sea, from the
original of Navigation to this day; with special regard to the English
nation; their several voyages and Expeditions to the beginning of
our late differences with Holland; in which his Majesty's Title to the

318

Dominion of the Sea is asserted against the novel and later preten-
ders, by J. Evelyn, Esq. S.R.S. London, 1674." It is dedicated
to Charles II., to whom the author expresses his gratitude for an ap-
pointment to the Council of Commerce and Plantations. The object
of it, as may be inferred from the title, is to shew the early and dif-
ipsive influence of England at sea. Referring to the triumphant
conflicts with France in the time of Henry VIII. he says, (p. 73)
" see also that rare piece of Holbein's in his Majesty's Gallery at
White-Hall." He adverts (p. 57) to Sebastian Cabot, « born with
us at Bristol," and hazards a conjecture as to his having, with
his father, " discovered Florida and the shoars of Virginia with that
whole tract as far as Newfoundland before the bold Genoese.*' Had
the portrait in question been in the Gallery at White-Hall in Eve-
lyn's time, he would not have omitted to notice the remarkable as-
sertion which its inscription conveys.

The disappearance of the picture, therefore, from White-Hall, and
its getting into private hands, may be referred to the intermediate
period. It was, probably, bought at the Sales which took place
after the death of Charles I., and of which the following account is
found in Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England: —

" Immediately after the death of the King1, several votes were passed for sale of
his goods, pictures, statues, &c.

" Feb. 20, 1648. It was referred to the Committee of the Navy to raise money
by sale of the crown jewels, hangings, and other goods of the late King.

" In the ensuing month the House proceeded to vote, that the personal estate of
the late King, Queen, and Prince should be inventoried, appraised, and sold. This
vote, in which they seem to have acted honestly, not allowing their own members
to be concerned in the sale, was the cause that the collections fell into a variety of
low hands, and were dispersed among the painters and officers of the late King's
household; where many of them remained on sale with low prices affixed.

'• All other furniture from all the King's Palaces was brought up and exposed to
sale; there are specified, particularly, Denmark or Somerset-house, Greenwich,
Whitehall, Nonsuch, Oatlancls, Windsor, Wimbleton-house, St James's, Hampton-
court, Puchmond, Theobalds, Ludlow, Carisbrook, and Kenilworth Castles; Bewd-
ley-house, Holden by-house, Royston, Newmarket, and Woodstock manor-house.
One may easily imagine that such a collection of pictures, with the remains of jew-
els and plate, and the furniture of nineteen palaces, ought to have amounted to a
far greater sum than one hundred and eighteen thousand pounds.

" The sale continued to August 9, 1653. The prices were fixed, but if more
was offered, the highest bidder purchased; this happened in some instances, not in
many. Part of the goods were sold by inch of candle. The buyers called con-
tractors, signing a writing for the several sums. If they disliked the bargain, they
were at liberty to be discharged from the agreement on paying one fourth of the
sum stipulated. Among the purchasers of statues and pictures were several pain-

319

ters, as Decritz, Wright, Baptist Van Leemput, Sir Balthazar Gerbier, &c. The
Cartoons of Raphael were bought by his Highness (Cromwell) for 300/."

The circumstances which refer this Portrait to Holbein seem to
be conclusive. Cabot is represented as in extreme age. Now he
had not been in England from 1517 until his return in 1548. The
Portrait, therefore, must have been taken after the last-mentionda
date. Holbein enjoyed the continued patronage of Henry VIII.
after Sir Thomas More had introduced his works to the King's no-
tice in the manner so familiarly known. He lived through the reign
of Edward VI., and died at Whitehall of the plague, in 1554. It
is not probable, under such circumstances, that a Portrait of Cabot,
destined for the King's Gallery, would have been taken by any other
hand.

Such seems to be the curious history of a Picture in itself so inter-
esting. Painted for Edward VI., in compliment to this great sea-
man and national benefactor, and the property, in succession, of two
Queens, and two Kings of England, its retirement to private life
may probably be dated from a Sale at which Oliver Cromwell was
a bidder.

Cabot was evidently, as has been said, at a very advanced age
when the Portrait was taken. His stature, though somewhat lost in
a slight stoop, must have been commanding. Holbein would seem
to have wished to catch the habitual, unpremeditated expression
which he had doubtless, from engagements about the Court, had fre-
quent opportunities of remarking. It is that of profound, and even
painful, thought; and in the deeply-marked lines, and dark hazel
eye, there yet linger tokens of the force arid ardour of character of
this extraordinary man. The right hand exhibits an admirable spe-
cimen of the painter's minute, elaborate finish. Of the compasses
which it holds one foot is placed on a great globe resting on a table
on which are an hour-glass and writing materials. The rich robe,
and massy gold chain, are probably badges of his office as Governor
of the Society of Merchant-Adventurers. It is impossible not to
gaze with deep interest on this memorial, heightened, perhaps, by a
reflection on its present humble position — emblematic, indeed, of the
slight on the closing years of the great original.*

* A Catalog-ue of the Pictures, &c., belonging to Charles I., drawn up in his
lifetime, and apparently for his use, is found amongst the Harleian M
4718. Amongst those enumerated as then in the Privy (Cillery at White-Hall
that of Cabot is not mentioned. This might lead to the inference that it had got
into private hands sooner than is above suggested, particularly as it appears by

320

(G.)

ERROR IN ATTRIBUTING TO CABOT THE WORK ENTITLED " NAVIGATIONS
NELLE PARTE SETTENTRIONALE," PUBLISHED AT VENICE IN 1583.

THERE has been universally referred to Sebastian Cabot a work en-
titled "Navigatione nelle parte settentrionale," published at Venice
in 1583; and in the Catalogue of the Bodleian Library, it is actu-
ally announced under the title " Cabot." The Biographic Univer-
selle, adverting to this circumstance, says, in seeming despair, that
this work, unknown to all the Biographers who had been consulted
on the subject, is perhaps imaginary.* An explanation may be
given, though somewhat at the expense of the Biographic Univer-
selle, and of the Bodleian Catalogue.

The work in question will be found in the second volume of Ra-
musio (ed. of 1583 and of 1606, fol. 212). In the Memoir of Ca-
mus on the Collection of De Bry and Thevenot, he takes occasion
to furnish a list of the contents of Ramusio, and in his account (p. 10)
of the second volume this tract is noticed as the 17th article. The
Biographic Universelle cites this Memoir (art. Ramusio), but of

the Catalogue that some of the Pictures had been recently obtained in the way
of exchange. Again, it may have been sent, or taken, away by the King. In the
MS. work of Richard Symonds (Harleian MSS. No. 991), it is said, "The Com-
mittee at Somerset-house valued the King's pictures and other movable goods at
200,000/., notwithstanding that both himself and the Queen had carried away abun-
dance." The painting in question is not specially mentioned in a List of the Sales
during the Protectorate, found in the Harleian MSS. No. 7352, though this is by
no means decisive, as several of the entries are mere charges against individuals
for "a Picture," "two pictures," "three pictures," &c. (fol. 222, et seq.J. Ca-
bot's Portrait has recently been seen, in London, by the most eminent artists, and
instantly recognised as a Holbein. However we may balance between probabili-
ties as to its intermediate history, a doubt as to its identity with the picture referred
to by Purchas, seems to involve not only the necessity of accounting for the dis-
appearance of the latter, but also the extravagant supposition that two Portraits
of Cabot, bearing the same remarkable inscription, were executed by the great
Artist of his day.

* •' Ce livre inconnu a tous les Bibliograpb.es que nous avons consulted cst
peutetre imaginaire" (art. Cabot).

course it could not have been read attentively, or we should not have
heard of the ineffectual inquiries amongst the bibliographers. The
authenticity of the work, wholly unknown to the bibliographers
consulted by the Biographic Universelle, is discussed by Foscarini
in his Literatura Veneziana, and by Tiraboschi in the Storia Delia
Literatura Italiana. They denounce the error of attributing it to
Cabot, though not aware of its real history. Tiraboschi supposes it
a translation of some work now lost.

The truth happens to be, that it is nothing more than the Journal
of Stephen Burrough during his two voyages to the North-East,
with an absurd introduction from some anonymous writer at Venice!
The account of the incident at Gravesend which probably sug-
gested to the Italian the name of Cabot is omitted, and the whole is
disfigured, but the identity may at once be detected by comparing
the closing paragraph of the article in Ramusio as to the first voy-
age (fol. 216) with the corresponding paragraph of the Journal of
Stephen Burrough (Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 283); and, again, the con-
cluding paragraph of the second voyage (fol. 21.9) with the corres-
ponding part in Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 295.

It is proper to remark that in the work of Ramusio, as published
by himself, this tract is not to be found, but has been interpolated
in the subsequent editions. The voyage, indeed, was not com-
pleted until after Ramusio's death. Yet this circumstance rather
aggravates the charge against the Biographic Universelle. That
work (art. Ramusio) earnestly advises the reader to consult Camus*
in selecting a copy of Ramusio, and Camus, following the Books on

* An instance of the carelessness of this writer ought to be mentioned in justice
to the Abbe Prevost. In the " Histqire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle
France," by Charlevoix (Ed. of 1744, torn. i. p. 100), an account is given of the
memorable expedition of Dominique de Gourgue to Florida, and use is made of a
history of the expedition in the possession of the family of de Gourgue, drawn
up by the chivalrous Commander himself. This statement is repeated by the
Abbe Prevost (Histoire Generale des Voyages, vol. xiv. p. 448, Paris ed. in 4to),
with a reference, such as he had before given, to Charlevoix as the Historian of
New France. Camus (p. 46) falls into the error of supposing that the reference
of Prevost is to the old work of Lescarbot, and remarks, "11 cite pourgarant dece
faitl'auteur de 1'Histoire de la Nouvelle France; je n'ai pu 1'y trouver au moins
dans 1'edition de 16094" The document referred to by Charlevoix is yet in the
possession of the Family, and the Viscount Gourgue was good enough recently,
at the author's reque*st, to permit the collation of it with a copy of the MS. Narra-
tive in the King's Library at Paris, supposed to have been transmitted by Domi-
nique de Gourgue to Charles IX.

2 Q

322

Bibliography, specially recommends the perfidious editions. It is
plain, therefore, that the remarks of the Biographic Universelle were
made without consulting the guide which is recommended to the
reader.

A remark cannot be forborne on the utter folly which has con-
sented to repeat the advice referred to as to the selection of a Ra-
musio. It is obvious that the great value of such a work resides in
the assurance felt by the reader that the articles found there were
subjected, at an early period, to the honest judgment of the compi-
ler, and that before admitting them he satisfied himself that they
had a fair claim to authenticity. The discrimination which Ramusio
exercised has become an important item of evidence. Thus he re-
jects the first and second of the alleged voyages of Amerigo Ves-
pucci, but republishes the two last.* Though he speaks in respect-
ful terms of Vespucci, we may fairly infer that he considered the first
voyage as a fiction, and the account of the second as suspicious on
account of the unwarrantable importance assumed by Vespucci for
himself at a time when he was known to have been acting under
the orders of Hojeda. Now what can be more obviously absurd
than to recommend an edition where this valuable characteristic is
completely lost sight of and new matter is interpolated, on no -avowed
responsibility, yet in such a manner as to have misled some of the
most learned individuals and societies of the day, and of course
fatally deceptive to those who make only an occasional hurried re-
ference to the work?

One example of the pernicious consequence of this proceeding is
too remarkable to be passed over. It relates to that memorable
fraud, the pretended voyage of Nicholas and Antonio Zeno.

The Dedication of this work, as originally published by Marco-
lini, bears date December, 1558. Ramusio died in July 1557; and
of course it is impossible that it could have been published by him,
or that he could have marked it for insertion. It does not appear
in the Ramusio of 1559, but was interpolated into the second vo-
lume in 1574, seventeen years after his death. This circumstance
is decisive against its authenticity. Ramusio, a -native of Venice,
was not only a diligent and anxious collector of voyages, but, it ap-
pears by his work, was familiar with the family of the Zeno of that

, — . * : __

* " In questo volume non si fa mentione delle navigation! fatte da Amerigo Ves-
pucci all' Indie Occidental! per ordine de gli Re de Castiglia, ma solamente di
quelle due che el fece di Commissionie del Re di Portogallo" (torn. i. fol. 130).

323

city, and he speaks with pride (Ed. of 1559, torn. ii. fol. 65, D.)
of the adventurous travels of Caterino Zeno in Persia. Had the
materials for such a narrative existed he would, have eagerly seized
the opportunity of embodying them, and it is plain that the impos-
ture dared not make its appearance in his lifetime. Yet, from the
subsequent interpolation, this tract, by almost unanimous consent,
has been considered to bear the high sanction of Ramusio's name.

" This," says Forster (p. 180), " is the account given of the affair
by Ramusio." The Biographic Universelle (art. Zeno) says « Cette
Relation a etc reimprime par Ramusio." And the Quarterly Re-
view (vol. xvi. p. 165, note) speaks of certain things known "before
Ramusio published the Letters of the two Zeni." In short, the
misconception has been universal.

Nor is it merely from the silence of Ramusio that an inference is
drawn against this pretended voyage.

He declares in the Preface to the Third Volume, that he considers
it not only proper, but in the nature of a duty, to vindicate the truth
in the behalf of Columbus, who was the first to discover and bring
to light the New World.*

He answers in detail the calumny that the project was suggested
to Columbus by a Pilot who died in his house, and refers for a re-
futation of the. idle tale to persons yet living in Italy, who were
present at the Spanish Court when Columbus departed. He recites
the circumstances which had conducted the mind of Columbus, as an
able and experienced mariner and Cosmographer, to the conclusion
that his project was practicable.

" Such," he declares in conclusion, " were the circumstances that
led to his anxiety to undertake the voyage, having fixed it in his
mind that by going directly West the Eastern extremity of the In-
dies would be discovered. "f

He breaks into an apostrophe to the rival city of Genoa which
had given birth to Columbus, a fact so much more glorious than that
about which seven of the greatest cities of Greece contended. J

• "No pure e convenevole, ma par mi anco di essere obligate a dire alquate
parole accompagnate dalla verita per diffesa del Signer Christoforo Colombo, ilqual
fu ilprimo inventor e di discoprire et far venire in luce questameta delmondo"

t "Tutte queste cose lo inducevano a voler far questo v- -gio, havendo fisso
nelF ammo die andando a dritto per Ponente esso trovejjg^e le parti di Levant!
ove sono 1'Indie."

* " Genoua si vanti et glorii di cosi excellente huomo cittadin suo et mettasi 4
paragone di quatunque altra citta percioche costui non fu Poeta, come Homero

324

The full force of this evidence cannot be understood without ad-
verting to the strength of Ramusio's prejudices in favour of his native
City. He honestly acknowledges that their influence may mislead
him when he is disposed to rank the enterprize of Marco Polo, of
Venice, by land, as more memorable than even that of the great
Genoese by sea.*

Yet this is the writer who is said to have given to the world un-
deniable evidence not only that the Venetian Zeno knew of these
regions upwards of a century before the time of Columbus, but that
traces had been discovered proving that the Venetians had visited
them long before the time of Zeno. And in a work of the present
day we have these monstrous assertions:

They [the Zeni] " added a Relation which, whether true or false,
contained the positive assertion of a continent existing to the West
of the Atlantic Ocean. This Relation was unquestionably known
to Columbus, "t

The professed author of the book, Marcolini, was a bookseller and
publisher of Venice. It bears his well-known device, of which Dr
DibdinJ has given a fac-simile. The motive for getting it up is
pretty well disclosed in the concluding remarks which allude to the
prevailing appetite of the public for such works. It is stated that

del qual sette citta dell maggiori chc havcsse la Grecia contcsero insie^je affer-
mando ciascuna chc egli era su Cittadino, ma fa un huomo 51 quale hafutto nascer
al mondo un altro mondo che e effetto incomparabilment molto maggiore del detto
di sopra." The terms in which he denounces the effort to disparage Columbus,
on the ground of pretended hints from the Pilot, assure us of the manner in which
he would have treated the subsequent imposture absurdly attributed to himself;
"questa favola laqual malitiosamente dopo suo ritorno fu per invidia finta dalla
gente bassa et ignorante.-" Again: "una favola pieno di malignita et di tristitia."
lie loftily denounces the baseness with which a low envy had seized on and dressed
up this tale, " ad approval1 la detta favola et dipingerla con mille colori."

* " F,t se 1'affettione della patria non fn'inganna, mi par che per ragion probabile
r.fFermare che questo fatto per terra debba esser anteposto a quello di
mare," Pref. torn. ii.

•j- Dr Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia? History of Maritime and Inland Discovery,
vol. i. p. 225.

\ Bibliographical Decameron, vol. ii. p. 244-5. In Singer's learned " Researches
into the History of Playing Cards, with Illustrations of the origin of Printing and
Engraving on Wood," is an account (p. 64-65) of Marcol'mi's beautiful volume,
entitled Lc Sorti. "The decorative woodcuts are very numerous, and many of
them very beautiful ; great numbers of them afterwards served to decorate the
Capricdos of that odd genius Doni, who seems to have been employed by Marcolini
to write some of his whimsical productions as vehicles for these Woodcuts."

the slight materials extant had been put together that they might not
be altogether lost at a period "most studious of new narratives, and
of the discoveries of strange countries, made by the bold and indefati-
gable'exertions of our ancestors" (" studiosissima delle Narrationi
nuovi et delle discoperte de paesi non conosciuti fatte dal grande an-
imo et grande industria de i nostri maggiori").

A full exhibition of the evidence which establishes this produc-
tion to be a rank imposture would require more space than can here
be justifiably devoted to a topic purely incidental. As it is likely
to engage attention, anew, in connexion with the rumoured disco-
veries in East or Lost Greenland, such a degree of interest may be
thrown round it as to warrant, hereafter, in a different form, a de-
tailed examination.

Reverting to the immediate subject under consideration — the al-
terations of Ramusio in recent editions — an example occurs in referr
ence to this voyage of the Zeni, which shews not only that new
matter has been unwarrantably introduced, but that the text has been
corrupted, without hesitation, to suit the purposes of the moment.

It has been made a charge against Hakluyt, that in translating the
work of Marcolini, he has interpolated a passage representing Esto-
tiland) the Northern part of the new Region, as abounding in gold
and other metals:

"In Hakluyt's Collection of Voyages, it is added, they have mines of all manner
of metals, but especially they abound in gold. This passage, however, is not to
be found in the Italian original of Ramusio."*

The English Translator of Forster, referring (p. 189) to the al-
leged infidelity of Hakluyt, says,

" From many circumstances, it appears, that Hakluyt's collection was made
principally with a view to excite his countrymen to prosecute new discoveries in
America, and to promote the trade to that quarter of the globe. Considering it in
this light, and that hardly any thing was thought worthy of notice in that age but
mines of silver and mountains of gold, we need not wonder at the interpolation .'"

Thus has Hakluyt been made, alternately, the theme of extrava-
gant eulogium and groundless denunciation ! The passage about
gold is in .the original (fol. 52) precisely as he translates it: "Han-
no lingua et lettere separate et cavano Metalli d'ogni sortcet sopra
tutto abondano d'Oro et le lor pratiche sono in Engron$lun</ cli
dove traggono pellerecie, &c." The misconception of later writers

* Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 189, note.

326

is due to a complex piece of roguery running through the several
editions of Ramusio.

The story of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno gains a footing, for the
first time, in the second volume of the Venice edition of 1574, of
which there is a copy in the Library of the British Museum. The
passage of the original representing Estotiland to abound in Gold
is found there (fol. 224 A.). But before the next edition came out,
the well-known result of Frobisher's magnificent hopes was calcu-
lated to throw ridicule on such representations. The passage, there-
fore, disappears from the editions of 1583 and 1606 (fol. 232 A.).
The suppression is executed in rather an awkward manner. On
turning to the passage indicated of the more recent editions, there
will be discovered, at the eleventh line from the top of the page, a
chasm in the sense between " cavano" and "di dove.'' The sup-
pression of the intermediate words, which are marked in italics in
our quotation from the original, constitutes the fraud, and renders
what remains unintelligible. Hakluyt made his translation from the
Ramusio of 1574, and not from the original work of Marcolini.
This is evident from the fact, that in his translation (vol. iii. p. 124)
immediately after the death of Nicolo Zeno, there follows a deduc-
tion of descent from him to " the other Zenos that are living at this
day," of which there is not a syllable in the original (fol. 51), but it
is interpolated into the Ramusio of 1574. He escaped the falsifica-
tion of the edition of 15S3, because his translation was made prior
to that time, it having appeared in his early work " Divers Voyages,
&c." published in 15S2. The matter, then, stands thus. Hakluyt
folloxved a vicious copy, but one which had reached only the first
stage of depravation. Those who denounce him merely happen to
have got hold of a subsequent edition which has been further tam-
pered with. Neither party went back to the Original, though by
no means a rare book; and it is curious that the critics of Hakluyt,
while talking of the "original," had before them neither the original
Marcolini, nor the original Ramusio, nor even, if the expression
may be used, the original counterfeit of Ramusio. In this last par-
ticular Hakluyt has the advantage over them.

It has been ascertained from Oxford that the tract which figures
in the Catalogue of the Bodleian Library is not to be found in a se-
parate form, but only as an item of the second volume of Ramusio.
The person who prepared the Catalogue was doubtless caught by the
attractive name of Cabot, and unfortunately gave to it this deceptive
prominence.

327

The erroneous citation by Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 6) of the second
volume of Ramusio, instead of the first^ was probably occasioned
by this tract. Eden had said that the passage containing the Conver-
sation of Butrigarius was to be found in the Italian History of Navi-
gations. Hakluyt, in looking over the first and third volumes of
Ramusio, found no leading title to catch his attention, whilst the spu-
rious article in the second volume has the name of Cabot running
ostentatiously at the top of the page. He probably conjectured that
it was to be found there. Purchas (Pilgrims, vol. iii. p. 807) impli-
citly follows Hakluyt, and repeats the citation of the second volume.

It is remarkable that in "The History of Navigation," found in
Churchill's Collection (vol. i. p. Ixxiv.) and usually attributed to
Locke, there is an account of the contents of Ramusio, and this item
of the second volume is represented as a description of Cabot's Voy-
age «to The North- West /"

Another instance of unwarrantable liberty taken with the text of
Ramusio, occurs in a passage which has already been cited. In that
Conversation, usually connected with the name of Butrigarius, the
speaker is described in the edition of 1554 (vol. i. fol. 413, A.)
merely as a gentleman, "un gentil'huomo," but in the editions of
1583, 1606, and 1613 (fol. 373), the expression is altered to «un
gentil'huomo Mantovano" doubtless from mere conjecture.

The fact is remarkable, that owing to the deceptive instructions
given for the purchase of this work, there is rarely found in the most
carefully selected Libraries an uncorrupted copy — one which can
be taken up without peril to the reader, at every turn, of being the
dupe of rash, or fraudulent, alteration by an unknown editor.

THE END.

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Contents of Part I. — General Introduction; Homeric Questions; Life of
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Published by Carey fy Lea. 3

with no previous work which bears any resemblance to this, except « White's Histoty of
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XVII. A DISCOURSE on the REVOLUTIONS of the SURFACE of the
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XIX. ATLAS of ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, consisting of 21 Coloured
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By the same Author.

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XXII. The WATER WITCH, or the SKIMMER of the SEAS. By the

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Neiv Editions of the following Works by the same Author.

NOTIONS of the AMERICANS, by a
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The WISH-TON-WISH, 2 vols.
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The SPY, 2 vols. 12mo.

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12mo.

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The PRAIRIE, 2 vols. 12rao.

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XXIV. The ARMENIANS, a Tale of Constantinople. ByJ.MACFARLANE.

n"The0author will appreciate our rtSfl^jor his talents, when we say that he has don.
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4 Valuable Works

XXV. TALES of a GRANDFATHER, being a Series from French His-
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The popular and valuable English work of Mr. Gray, which forms the ground-work of the
present volume, was published in London in 1829, and designed to exhibit a Systematic and
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and the popularity of the work in England, as well as its intrinsic merits attest the fidelity
and success with which it has been executed. In the work now offered to the American
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XXXII. ARNOTT'S ELEMENTS of PHYSICS. Vol. II. Part I. con-
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Published by Carey fy Lea. 5

all the flimsy productions called popular, which falsely pretend to strip science of its
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XXXIII. ELEMENTS of PHYSICS, or NATURAL PHILOSOPHY,
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edition, with additions, by ISAAC HAYS, M. D.

%* Of this work four editions have been printed in England in a very short time. All
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XXXIV. MORALS of PLEASURE, illustrated by Stories designed for
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hereafter."— JV. Y. Com. Adv.

XXXV. SKETCHES of CHINA, with Illustrations from Original Draw-
ings. By W. W. Wood. In 1 vol. 12mo.

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and early travellers, the information contained in the present work."

XXXVI. CLARENCE; a Tale of our own Times. By the Author of RED-
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XXXVII. FALKLAND, a Novel, by the Author of PELHAM. &c. 1 vol. 12mo.

XXXVIII. A COLLECTION of COLLOQUIAL PHRASES on every topic
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XXXIX. A SELECTION of ONE HUNDRED PERRIN'S FABLES, ac-
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XL. NEUMAN'S SPANISH and ENGLISH DICTIONARY, new ed.

XLI. A TOUR in AMERICA, by BASIL HALL, Capt. R. N. in 2 vols. 12mo.

XLII. AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY, or NATURAL HISTORY
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*#* Gentlemen who possess Wilson, and are desirous of rendering the work
complete, are informed that the edition of this work is very small, and that but
a very limited number of copies remain unsold. Vol. IV. in the press.

XLIII. The AMERICAN QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. XVII. Con-
tents, — France, by Lady Morgan — Ennui— Dobell's Travels in China and
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Spanish Voyages of Discovery — Martin's History of Louisiana— Halsted on
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XLV. HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, and STATISTICAL AMERI-
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XLVI. Major LONG'S EXPEDITION to the SOURCES of the MISSIS-
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XLVII. The HISTORY of LOUISIANA, particularly of the Cession of
that Colony to the United States of North America; with an Introductory
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II. BROUSSAIS on CHRONIC INFLAMMATIONS. Translated from,
the French, in 2 vols. 8vo. Nearly ready.

By Ihe same Author.

III. A TREATISE on PHYSIOLOGY, applied to PATHOLOGY. Trans-
lated by JOHX BELL. M. D. and R. LA ROCHE, M. D. 3d ed. with additions.

IV. EXAMINATION of MEDICAL DOCTRINES and SYSTEMS of
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VIII. PARSONS on ANATOMICAL PREPARATIONS, 8vo. with plates.

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X. COLLES'S SURGICAL ANATOMY. Second American edition.
XL PATHOLOGICAL and PRACTICAL RESEARCHES on DIS-
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" We have here a work of authority, and one which does credit to the author and his ^
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By the same Author.

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XIII. A RATIONAL EXPOSITION of the PHYSICAL SIGNS of DIS-
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" If we are not greatly mistaken, it will lead to a better understanding, and a more
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Med. Journ.

XIV. BECLARD'S GENERAL ANATOMY. Translated by J. TOGNO, J
M. D. 8vo.

XV. A TREATISE on FEVER. By SOUTHWOOD SMITH, M. D. Physi-
cian to the London Fever Hospital.

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is the best we have ever perused on the subject of fever, and in our conscience, we be-
lieve it the best that ever flowed from the pen of physician in any age or in any country.' "
— Jim. JWed. Journ.

XVI. MEMOIR on the TREATMENT of VENEREAL DISEASES
WITHOUT MERCURY, employed at the Military Hospital of the Val-iL-

WITHDRAWN

BY NEW ORLEANS.
PUBLIC LIBRARY

UJi.V?R.Sl.TY°F CALIFORNIA-

L 008 3038828

A/N

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0117.B

11878

Biddle, Richard

A memoir of Sebastian Cabot

NEW ORLEAMS PUBLIC LIBHAfcf

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