The inscription on the portrait reads as follows: 
 
 "Effigies Seb. Caboti Angli, filii Johannis Caboti Veneti 
 Militis Aurati, Primi Inventoris Terrae Novae sub Henrico VII. 
 Angliae Rege." 
 
PORTRAIT OF SEBASTIAN CABOT 
 
 From a copy of the original portrait purchased by 
 Richard Biddle (author of this Memoir) from the 
 heirs of Charles Joseph Harford of Bristol, England. 
 
 In the great fire at Pittsburgh in 1845, Mr. Biddle's Library 
 and with it the " Harford picture " were completely destroyed. 
 Fortunately two copies of the Cabot portrait had been already 
 made. One in 1838 by John G. Chapman with Mr. Biddle's 
 permission for the Massachusetts Historical Society, and 
 another in 1841, with like permission, by Cephas G. Thompson 
 for the New York Historical Society. It is from the latter 
 copy that the illustration for this book has been made. 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 SEBASTIAN CABOT; 
 
 WITH 
 
 A REVIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HISTORY OF MARITIME DISCOVERY. 
 ILLUSTRATED BY DOCUMENTS FROM THE ROLLS, 
 
 NOW FERST PUBLISHED. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CAREY AND LEA. 
 1831. 
 
 REPRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
 
 1915. 
 
Philadelphia: 
 
 Printed by James Kay, Jun. & Co. 
 No. 4, Minor Street. 
 
 Reprinted by 
 
 J. B. Lippincott Company 
 
 1915. 
 
ACIFIC CCAST 
 HiSTOHY 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTBODUCTION . . * 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 ^d not confer the name Prima Vista .... 57 
 
 CHAP. vra. 
 
 Richard Eden's Decades of the New World" Cabot's own statement as to 
 the Place of his Birth . . . . . .61 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Patents of 5th March, 1496, and 3rd February, 1498 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 ^ . 
 
 CHAP. XH. 
 
 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. 
 
 Hakluyffc error with regard to the Voyage of 1517 . . .108 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Voyage of 15 17, the one referred to by Cabot in his Letter to Ranrosio . 1 15 
 
 CHAP. XVI. 
 
 Cabot appointed, in 1518, Pilot-Major of Spain Summoned to attend the 
 Congress at Badajos in 1524 Projected Expedition under his Command 
 tothe Moluccas . .. . . .. . .118 
 
 CHAP. XVH. 
 
 Jealousy of the contemplated .Expedition on the part of Portugal Mission 
 of Diego Garcia, a Portuguese ... . . . 123 
 
 CHAP. XVIH. 
 
 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 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 ..... 145 
 
 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, 
 five of his Party Maintains his Position Garcia enters the River In. 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 terview with Cabot Mistakes of Charlevoir, Scc.t Cabot returns to the 
 Fort Santos 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 Guafanis 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 . . . . .1.67 
 
 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 r 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. XXVH. 
 
 Mistake of Purchas, Pinkerton, Dr Henry in his History of Great Britain, 
 Campbell in the Lives of the Admirals, and other writers, as to the Knight- 
 ing of John or Sebastian Cabot . . . .179 
 
 CHAP. XXVHI. 
 
 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 . 182 
 
VI 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 Burrough William Bui-rough Arthur Pet This Expedition con 
 founded with another by Strype and Campbell . . .186 
 
 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 Chancel- ' 
 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 Na,tives Success of Chancellor . . . . 193 
 
 CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 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, xxxra. 
 
 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 that 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. vii 
 
 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. n. 
 
 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. m. 
 
 Expedition from Portugal Cortereal The work entitled Paesi novamente 
 ritrovatif &c. Letters of the Venetian Ambassador at Lisbon eleven daya 
 after the return of Courtereal Reference to the previous voyage of Cabot 
 Trinkets found amongst the Natives French translation of the Paesi, 
 &c.in!516 . . . . . ... . -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 Cyclopaedia The Edinburgh Cabinet Library . 245 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Diffusive mischief of the Itinerarium Portugallensium Grynseus Meusel 
 Fleurieu Humboldt, &c. ....... 352 
 
 CHAP. vn. 
 
 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 Pobiscum Their names, The Samson and The 
 Mary of Guilford Letters from the Expedition dated at Newfoundland, 
 addressed to Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolscy The Italian Navigator, Juan 
 Verrazani, accompanies the Expedition and is killed by the Natives Loss 
 
Vlil CONTENTS. 
 
 of the Samson The Mary of GuiMbrd visits Brazil, Porto Rico, &c. Ar 
 rives in England October 1527 Robert Thome of Bristol His letter cfculd 
 not have led to this Expedition . . . . . .268 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Voyage from England in 1536 . ' . . . . . . 278 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Expedition of Cortereal in 1574, and retrospect to a pretended voyage by a 
 person of the same name in 1464 . . .281 
 
 CHAP. XH. 
 
 Frobisher , . . . . . . . 285 
 
 CHAP. XHL 
 Hudson . 295 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) 
 
 Fabyan's Chronicle AJiusion to Cabot . . . . .299 
 
 (B.) 
 English Expedition said to have been found by Hojeda at Caquibacoa . 301 
 
 (C.) 
 
 Wai 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 
 Fernandas, Francis Fernandus, and John Gunsolus, Portuguese . . 306 
 
 (E.) 
 
 Possible origin of the misconception as to the name Domnus vobiseum erro 
 neously associated with the voyage of 1527 from England Forster^s mis 
 take as to Nommbegar- Error as to the period at which Newfoundland was 
 first frequented for Fishing ....... 315 
 
 (FO 
 
 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 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS volume is a reprint from the original American 
 Edition, published by Lea and Blanchard of Phila 
 delphia, in the year 1831. An English Edition appeared 
 also in London the same year and was followed by a 
 second edition issued there in 1832. The American 
 Edition and the first English Edition are precisely alike 
 in all respects. In the second London Edition a quo 
 tation from the New Interlude No. 5 is introduced at 
 page 77, and this additional matter will be found in 
 an appendix printed at the back of the book. 
 
 This issue of a modern Edition of the "Memoir of 
 Sebastian Cabot" is undertaken by the surviving son 
 of the author in testimony of his affectionate venera 
 tion for his father's memory. 
 
 Richard Biddle, at his death in 1847, was in his 
 fifty-first year. A son of Charles Biddle (1745-1821), 
 Vice-President of the Supreme Executive Council of 
 Pennsylvania when Benjamin Franklin was its Presi 
 dent, Mr. Biddle's early associations were connected 
 with Philadelphia, and his legal studies pursued in his 
 native city. In the same year of his admission to the 
 Bar, however, he removed to Pittsburgh (Pa.), where 
 he soon became distinguished in his profession. 
 
 In a Eulogy delivered in 1847, the year of Mr. 
 
 ix 
 
Biddle's death, before the members of the Pittsburgh 
 Bar, and by one of its most distinguished members, a 
 very vivid portrayal is given of the author's career at 
 the Bar. The qualities of his indomitable energy are 
 dwelt upon, and one sentence in the address, as fore 
 shadowing his labors on this Memoir, seems apt enough 
 to quote: "his mind was of great power and his energy 
 was invincible no prospect of severe and interminable 
 labor made him hesitate or falter." 
 
 After ten years of active professional life, he went 
 abroad in 1828 and settled himself in London. Here 
 he continued a diligent student, frequenting the Courts 
 and Libraries. Just how he was led to undertake the 
 farther voyage for such it proved itself into those 
 unfathomed depths of legend and fact surrounding at 
 that time the careers of the Cabots, it may not be 
 possible to determine. In his own preface Mr. Biddle 
 draws attention to some very loose and inaccurate 
 statements appearing just then in a new Edition of the 
 "Biographic Universelle." It is entirely possible that 
 the erroneous and slighting remarks upon the voyages 
 of the Cabots to which he adverts may have been the 
 inducing cause for the exhaustive researches he under 
 took, lasting several years, and resulting in what has 
 been recognized on high modern authority "as the 
 best review of the history of maritime discovery relating 
 to the period of which it treats that had appeared." 
 (Deane (Charles), Voyages of the Cabots.) 
 
 The book on its appearance made a deep impression, 
 and although published anonymously its authorship was 
 
XI 
 
 no secret. From many reviews and notices of it that 
 appeared at the time in English, French, Italian and 
 American publications, we select and give excerpts from 
 those published in the London Westminster Review, 
 and in the North- American Review in this country. 
 
 In its issue of January, 1832, the Westminster 
 Review remarks: 
 
 "This book is a phenomenon among the productions 
 of the day, for various reasons first, it is not a catch 
 penny, next it is written with the motive of discovering 
 truth; again it is the result of hard labor, and acute 
 investigation among the really original authorities; it 
 is not written for money; it springs from studies, of 
 such accuracy and minuteness as no ordinary pecuniary 
 reward could pay. Again its title-page is much less 
 comprehensive than the volume and altogether from 
 these and other causes it forms a glorious exception 
 from the poor and paltry spirit which actuates nine 
 publications out of ten of those that load the counters 
 of the modern book-seller. . . . The author of this 
 volume is an American, he does honor to his country, 
 and we cannot but take kindly the interest he has 
 shown in vindicating for England the parentage of the 
 land of his birth." 
 
 Quoting from the North-American Review of Jan 
 uary, 1832: 
 
 "The author has well kept the honorable promise 
 (contained in Preface) which he has thus virtually 
 made. He never points out an error where he is not 
 able to substitute the truth, and never sets up a theory 
 
Xll 
 
 or conjecture till he has a solid foundation of fact for 
 it to rest upon j; . . He seems perfectly ac 
 quainted with the contents of many rare and curious 
 books of reference, the very titles of which are probably 
 new to ninety-nine out of a hundred of his readers. 
 . . . He has dragged into light manuscripts with 
 the mould of centuries upon them, and forced them 
 to give their tardy testimony in favor of the truth. 
 . . . Nothing escapes his acuteness and penetra 
 tion. . . - The book is indeed unrivalled in its 
 way and is well worth the attentive study of a young 
 lawyer as a model for a learned, acute and profound 
 argument upon certain obscure and disputed points of 
 history, which admits nothing that is irrelevant and 
 rejects nothing that is important, and by which a cause 
 that looks desperate at first is so triumphantly sup 
 ported, that we wonder how the contrary impression 
 could ever have prevailed." . 
 
 It is not claiming too much to say that Richard 
 Biddle's "Memoir of Sebastian Cabot" was the pioneer 
 in the work of investigation and verification that has 
 resulted in the mass of literature issued since on the 
 early voyages of the Cabots. His discovery among the 
 Manuscripts in the Public Record Office, London, of 
 the text of Henry VII's second letters patent, and his 
 distinguishing thereby for the first time that there were 
 two Cabot voyages, in 1497 and 1498, was an immense 
 contribution to the subject. In fact Mr. G. P. Winship, 
 in his exhaustive treatise on the literature of the Cabot 
 Voyages, sums up his notes on Mr. Biddle's Memoir 
 
Xlll 
 
 by saying that "The strictly historical investigation 
 into the careers of the Cabots dates from the appear 
 ance of Mr. Biddle's volume." 
 
 In a preface to "John and Sebastian Cabot" by 
 C. Raymond Beazley, Fellow of Merton College, 
 Oxford, appearing in 1898, the author in noting the 
 changes of .opinion in Europe and America on certain 
 points of history, leads off by saying, "Since the modern 
 Cabot literature began with the appearance of R. 
 Biddle's (American) Memoir in 1831." .< . . Not 
 a work on the Cabots but contains references to the 
 Biddle Memoir (Harrisse has 36 references), and a note 
 in Winship's Cabot Bibliography mentions that an ac 
 count of Cabot by Errizo, appearing at Venice in 1855, 
 "is largely drawn from Biddle." 
 
 Mr. Biddle returned to Pittsburgh in 1832, after an 
 absence of four years, and reengaged in the practice 
 of the law. In 1837 he was elected to Congress, and 
 went to Washington the year following to attend its 
 sessions. Mr. David Ritchie, when speaking of his 
 election in the Eulogium referred to at the beginning 
 of this notice, says: "No man was ever elected to 
 that place with less intrigue or management or personal 
 interference. He had earned such a position in this 
 community (Pittsburgh) that the people desired his 
 services and sent him to Congress without any solici 
 tation on his part. . . . He had not been long in 
 the house of representatives till his position was of 
 the highest." He was reflected in 1838, and served 
 in the first session of '39 and '40, but in this year 
 
XIV 
 
 resigned "to the very great regret of his constituents, 
 to whom his services gave almost universal satisfaction." 
 
 On the 17th of June, 1844, he was married to Ann 
 Eliza Anderson, eldest daughter of John Anderson of 
 Pittsburgh. This lady survived him many years, and 
 passed the latter portion of her life in Philadelphia, 
 although finally removing to her daughter's house in 
 Pittsburgh, where she died May 6th, 1908. 
 
 Two children were born of this marriage: a son, 
 Richard, now a resident of Tennessee, and a daughter, 
 Grace, lately deceased, who married the Rev. J. Hall 
 Mcllvaine. 
 
 EDWARD BIDDLE. 
 
 December, 1915. 
 
 CORRECTION 
 
 In a Note at foot of page 79, a printed nought should 
 clearly have been the figure 9 Thus for " 10th August, 
 1407," read "10th August, 1497. To hym that found 
 the New Isle, 101" 
 
RICHARD BIDDLE (1796-1847) 
 Author of a Memoir of Sebastian Cabot. 
 
 From the portrait by Thomas Sully, painted in 1821. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE following pages lay claim to the share of merit 
 that may be due to a spirit of diligent research which 
 took nothing at second hand where an original writef, 
 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 
 the evidence which justified a departure from received 
 opinions could have effected no good purpose, and would 
 have justly incurred, the charge of presumption. Error 
 
 A 
 
11 
 
 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 tha& 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 
 thorship. 
 
 A new and urgent motive may be suggested for en- 
 
Ill 
 
 deavouring to clear up, as speedily as possible, the con 
 fusion which has hence heen 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 fails qu'on" n'y pas rectifies ou dementis devront par 
 ce tnoyen ctre regardes comme a peu-pres incontestables et sans r^plique." 
 
IV 
 
 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 laid 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 ete 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, &c. 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 
 
8 
 
 previous to the date of the patent, arid some time between 
 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 
 ol 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 tbe 
 hasty and superficial manner in which they have been con 
 sidered. 
 
 Taking up the accounts in the order in which they stand, 
 they may be 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't 
 Collection of Voyages. In this, the author says that in a 
 written 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 without 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 apparenfr^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- thithgr_without his license, and is 
 .therefore called Pilotct Mayor, that is, the grand pilot ? And when- wfi. 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 fof 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 many 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 yeeres 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 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 when newcs were brought that Don Christopher Colanus 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, sayling 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, and sailed downe by the coast of that land toward the equinoctiall 
 (ever with intent to finde the said passage t'o 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 
 Rio de la 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 no we pretermit, and waxing 
 olde, I give myself to rest from such travels, because there are nowe many yong 
 and lustle 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 
 details sur la navigation et la vie de Sebastian Cabot. II dit 1'avoir tire*e du second 
 
11 
 
 volume de la collection cle Ramusio; mais nous Vy avons cherchee en vain. Cette 
 piece est attribute a Galearius Butrigarius legat du pape en Espagne qui dit tenir 
 les particularites qu'elle contient d'un habitant de Cadiz lequel avait eu plusieurs 
 conversations avec Sebastian.'* "Ramusio, con nu par son exactitude n'a donne" 
 aucun extrait des navigations de Sebastian Cabot; Use contente de citer dans la 
 preface de son 3 e volume un passage d'une Lettre qu'il avoit rejue 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 memory 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 person^ 
 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 the first volume of Ramusio. It is part of 
 the interesting article entitled, " Disco rso 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 
 
12 
 
 " 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, / 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 il 
 qual fu molto contento et mi armo due caravelle di tutto cio 
 che era dibisogno et fu del 1496 net 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. 
 
13 
 
 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, &e." It consists of a translation of the three 
 first Books of Peter Martyr d'Angleria, 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." 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 nd 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" 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 farre as I remember " finds no place ; "anno igitur 1496, 
 in principio veris ex Anglia solvi," 
 
 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.;" after which, 
 we are informed that this citizen of Venice abandoned the 
 effort at 56 " despairing to. find the passage V 7 Ramusio 
 must not be charged with this blunder, for the original is, 
 <c Et fatto alquanti di pauso voltatosi verso di noi disse, Non 
 
14 
 
 sapete a questo proposito d'andare a trovar PIndie 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 institutes de investiganda 
 oriental! India qua Thracias ventus flat) quid egerit civis 
 quidam vester, &c." 
 
 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.")5 but 
 on the page of Hakluyt this becomes, being certain years 
 in the City of Seville, and desiring, &c." The Latin ver 
 sion in De Bry is correct, " Quern ante aliquot annos invisi 
 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, " partito suo padre da 
 Venetia gia mold 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 
 
15 
 
 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, and the revolution 
 caused by the discovery of the passage round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, Ramusio says (Edit, of 1554, torn. -iii. foh 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 da 
 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 recollect" (" II qual 
 ragionamento non mi basta Panirno 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 
 67o. ( 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 
 
16 
 
 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 ttelP 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 1 
 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 Ramiisio himself,, two 
 
17 
 
 hundred and seventyfive 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 Hakluy t 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 L, says 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 (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. fat., 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. 
 Tat, 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 u have some knowledge of the naviga 
 tions of the Spaniards.' 1 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, 
 
19 
 
 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. 
 
20 
 
 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 Bac- 
 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 topke the way towards Island from beyond the Cape of Labrador, until 
 he found himselfe m 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 
 mitives" 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, 
 maybe inferred from the circumstance, that when he has 
 
Zl 
 
 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 Tnglaterra do tratava desde pequeno, a costa del Rey En 
 rique Septimo, que desseava contratar en la especiera como hazia el Rey 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. 
 V 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 grades y tornose de alii a Inglaterra. 1 * 
 
 " 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 landcs 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 
 
22 
 
 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, (< Gomara also men 
 tions that the ships were rigged at Henry's costs. 19 Hakluyt 
 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' iris 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) 
 
23 
 
 " 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 raena avec 
 soy trois cens hommes et print la route d' 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. 301) 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 Goraara 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- 
 
24 
 
 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) " 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 hadin 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 il quale diceva." Hakluyt, however, relying 
 on Fumee " jusques a ce qu'il ce trouva a 58 degrez 
 et par dela" renders the passage " until 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. That Gomara 
 
 Campbell, in his Lives of the Admirals, changes Hakluyt's phrase into 
 somewhat more than fifty-eight degrees,'* for which he quotes Gomara. 
 
25 
 
 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 Charks 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 naving, 
 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 |s 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 two 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 
 
26 
 
 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 Baccaiaos 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 VIL, Rex d'Angle- 
 terre, de cercher quelque passage pour aller en Catay par la 
 Tramontaine. Cestuy la descouvrit la pointe de Baccaiaos, 
 (que les mariniers de Bretaigne, et de Normandie appellent 
 
 * " Sebastian Cabot attempted, at the expense of Henry Vlf., King.of England 
 lo find a way by the north to Cataia. He first discovered the point of Baccaiaos, 
 which the Breton and Norman sailors now call the Coast of Codfish; and, proceed 
 ing yet further, he readied Ike latitude of sixty-seven degrees towards the Arctic 
 Pole." 
 
27 
 
 La Coste des Molues) et plus haut jusqu'a soixante sept 
 degrez 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 Verazzan, 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. 
 
28 
 
 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 toe 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 map was 
 of the World, " Universalem Tabulam 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 they found the aire colde, and great 
 islands of ice, but no ground 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 
 
30 
 
 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 (Prima Parte, lib. i. fol. 2), with 
 some curious corollaries of his own. The subject belongs 
 to a different part of pur 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 salsa." 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 rriezo navigando allora per la 
 quarta di Maestro verso Ponente ivi chiaro vide essere il mare aperto e spatiosiss- 
 ima senza veruno impedimento. Onde giudico fermaniente 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 h dietro." 
 
31 
 
 Eden says, in a marginal note, " Cabot told 
 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- West 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: 
 
32 
 
 " We found, on our return, that a fresh southerly breeze, which had been blow 
 ing for several hours, 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 trending 
 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 r6calfe 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 ic.e 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.V 
 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, 
 
33 
 
 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 eame 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. 
 
 E 
 
34 
 
 on a modern map, where that degree of longitude crosses 
 Labrador, it will be seen how little allowance is necessary fop 
 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/' 
 
 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 : 
 
 " Where itopeneth 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 dime." 
 
 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 
 dov/n 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 
 
35 
 
 Frisiiis 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. Mulleins Tract, as to the Russian discoveries, 
 there is a map by " Thomas Jeiferys, 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 dpes 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, 
 
36 
 
 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. 
 
 FlfcST WORK OF HAKLUYT MAPS AND DISCOURSES LEFT BY SEBASTIAN 
 
 CABOT ATX 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 Hakluy t's larger work. Dr Didbin, in his Library 
 Oompanion (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 
 Hakluy t."* 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; thoie who are will find amongst the Harleian MSS. (No. 288, Art 111) 
 a very curiou* autograph letter from Hakluyt, dated Paris, July 1588, relative to 
 an overture from France. 
 
38 
 
 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 Universelle" (title Ri- 
 
39 
 
 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 where 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 no we to be had 
 unless I had caused it to be printed againe." The work, 
 however, as originally published by Hackit, iu London, in 
 1563, is in the Library of the British Museum (title in Cata- 
 logue y 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- 
 
40 
 
 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 
 land DISCOURSES drawne andvjritten by himselfe, which are in the custodie of 
 the worshipful Master William Worthington, one of her Majesty's Pensioners, 
 wJio (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. 
 
41 
 
 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 father ; and the 
 alleged testimony of Robert Fdbyan, 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 Chroniclei 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 kiner caused to man and victuall a ship at Bristow to search 
 
42 
 
 for an island, which he said he knew well was rich, and replenished with great 
 commodities: which shippethns manned and victualled at the King's costs, divers 
 marchants of London ventured in her email 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 (vol. iii. p. 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 VIL, and that we have here the answer 
 given to the inquiry. From what has already been seen, it 
 maybe 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). 
 
43 
 
 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 Genoa'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- 
 
44 
 
 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 Hakluyt'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," 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 Cabofs first discovery of part of the Indies, 
 taken out of the latter part of Robert Fabyan's Chronicle, not 
 hitherto printed, which is in the' custody of Mr John Stow, a 
 diligent preserver of Antiquities." 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 
 
45 
 
 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 
 M'Pherson'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 
 
46 
 
 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 Hakluy t 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 Hakluy t ? s 
 perversions, and even repeats the citation of Fabyan, as found 
 in Hakluy t's last work, though S tow'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. 
 
47 
 
 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 Sandu9 r 
 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 
 
48 
 
 latitude by observing that Cabot, according to Willes, fixed 
 the mouth of the Strait between 61 and 64; and as to the 
 Haven, the allusionjs probably to Placentia Bay, or as it is 
 written on the old maps of Newfoundland, Plasandus y a tide 
 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 ott 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 bom, Sec. 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 discoveiy, 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 
 
49 
 
 embarked in this enterprise, it was no unnatural precaution 
 that the patent should he 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 lite 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 Laves of the Admirals, vol. i. p. 310, on thfi authority of MS. re 
 marks on Hakluyt. 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 we must, in inquiring what were his functions, carefully put 
 aside the thousand absurdities which have Jiad 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. 
 
51 
 
 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 films 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 mari in earn partem primum oculos 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. 
 
52 
 
 quod aperta fuit eo qui die est sacer Diuo Joanni Baptists: Hujus incola 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 affert, 
 ex quo fit, ut ursus albo colore, et cervis inusitatte apud nos magnitudinis 
 referta sit: piscibus abundat, iisque sane magnis, quales sunt lupi marini et quos 
 salmones vulgus appellat; soleae autem reperiuntur tarn longae, ut ulnse 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 aquilac 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 Haklayt 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." " The soil along the coast is ndt deep of earth, 
 bringing forth abundantly peason, small, yet good feeding for 
 cattle. Roses, passing sweet," <fec. In the letter of Parme- 
 nius from Newfoundland (p. 162), the passage beginning 
 
53 
 
 " 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 " tellus sterilis est." This 
 Hakluyt renders " the soil is barren in some places;" 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 "Insula," 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 *f 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 f and the following passage from MTherson'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 
 
54 
 
 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 rnens' 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 
 " 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 color e 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 
 
55 
 
 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, "qua> ex ad verso 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 Cartier, 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 sa 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 large, vol. ii. p. 304. 
 
56 
 
 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 Newfoundland^ 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." 
 
57 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 CABOT DID NOT CONFER THE NAME " PRIM A VISTA." 
 
 THE question as to the name Prima Vista stands apart from 
 that which has just heen 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 terrain fecerunt perviam qiiam nullus prius adire ausus fuit die 24 Junii 
 circiter horam quinism bene mane. Hanc autem appellavit Terrain primum visam 
 credo quod ex man in earn partem primum oculos injecerak" 
 
 A passage thus translated by Hakluyt 
 
 " They discovered that land which ho man before that time had attempted, on 
 the 24th June, about five of the clock, early in the morning. This land he called 
 Prima Ftsta, 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 
 
58 
 
 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," as distinguished from the "insula." 
 
 The origin of the misconception is suspected to have been 
 this : The Map of the New World which accompanies the 
 copy of Hakluyt's work, in the King's Library, has the fol 
 lowing inscription on the present Labrador, " This land was 
 discovered by John et Sebastian Cabote, for Kinge Henry 
 VH., 1497." Now, the "Extract" which we are consider 
 ing, says, that John and Sebastian Cabot first discovered the 
 land " which no man before that time had attempted" (" quam 
 nullus prius adire ausus fuit"). 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 prirnum visa Joanne Caboto et Sebastiano 
 illius filio die, 24 Junio, 1497, circiter horam quintam bene 
 mane." 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 Seire- 
 facias, Mandamus, Quo Warranty &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 Florentine 
 intitulato." It is usually quoted as the "Paesi novamente 
 retrovati," and a bookseller, therefore, when asked for ' < Land 
 
59 
 
 lately discovered," exhibits a thin quarto volume, published 
 at Vicenza, in 1507. The same is the case with the " Novus 
 Orbis," the "Fc&dera," &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," 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 wholiad 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 
 JBonavista." 
 
 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 
 
 Prima Vista, and his tailors, Newfoundland/ and in a few 
 days, he descried a smaller Isle, to which he gave the name 
 of St John." Thu$ 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. 
 
til 
 
 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. fHeJ 
 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 
 
62 
 
 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 thee, 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 
 volume (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 from Eden (fol. 255), every thing but the erroneous 
 reference to the 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 postferitie, 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 ta his work (vol. ii. part ii. p. 9), retains the 
 introductory expressions, without the slightest acknowledge^ 
 
63 
 
 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, being one 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 
 
 (fol. 249 to 263), and on the manners and customs of the Tar 
 tars (fol. 299, Ac.). 
 
 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, arid 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 accepti estis dum omnes quod sui est cfficii facere 
 satagebant, ubi in tanta hominum turba vix unus reperitatur qui non aliquid agendo 
 adventum vestrum gfatulabatur, ccepi et ego quoque aliorum exemplo (proprius 
 prsesertim ad me accedentibus Celsitudinibus vestris) tanto animi ardore ad ali 
 quid agendum accendi ne solus in tanta hominum corona otiosus vrderer quod vix 
 me continebam quin in aliquant extemporariam orationem temere erupuissemt nisi et 
 prasentise vestrze majestas et mea me obscuritas a tarn audaci facinore deteruissent. 
 Vcrum cuih postea penitius de hac re mecum cogitassem, &c." 
 
65 
 
 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 hot every man's mo 
 ney 5 fearying rather theyr losse and.hynderance than carefuU 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 lytUe 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 
 thynke me woorthy theyr goode worde, wherewith I shall repute myselfe and my 
 travaylesv 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 5 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 liberalise of Master Toy encouraged me to attempt the same, whiche I speake 
 not to the reproache of other ia 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, until I had recourse unto yourself, of whose spe 
 cial favour and bountiful patronage I have been often muck 
 encouraged, &c. &c." 
 
 But the work is rendered yet more precious by information 
 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." 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 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 
 Willoughby, 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 
 ho we 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 secreate in his mynde, I shall not neede 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 the 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, either 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!" 
 
 * Historical Sketch 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. 
 
67 
 
 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 therefrom the " province of Sibier," 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," 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. 
 
 a 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 his father was invited 
 over to England, he brought him with him, though he was 
 then very young" (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." Even when he states (vol. iii. p. 
 807), that on the " Effigies" 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," and referring, on ano- 
 
68 
 
 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." 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 Hcrrera (Dee. i 
 lib, ix. cap. 13), whom Purchas. himself quotes (vol. iv, 
 p. 177 to that point. 
 
 In defiance of the contemporary "Effigies," 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 
 " the Cabots of Venice in the discovery of Newfoundland;" 
 and Mr Barrow, in his " Chronological History of Voyages, 
 &c." (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." 
 
 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 been born in Venice." 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 
 
69 
 
 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 the language and associations of childhood. He returned 
 thither while yet a boy (" pene infam" 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 
 af 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. 
 
70 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE PATENTS OF 5TH MARCH, 1496, AKD 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, vot. 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 ef Newfoundland, to which they gave the name otPrima 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 granted." 
 
 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," 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, 
 
71 
 
 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 (" quatn 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- 
 
72 
 
 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, 
 "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 
 
73 
 
 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 Fcade- 
 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 17448, vol. ii. p. 190), 
 K 
 
74 
 
 and in Pinkerton (vol. xii. p. 158), after stating, not conjee 
 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 tiie 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 graut 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 Mi- Thorne, and Mr Hugh Elliot. But whereas Sebastian 
 Cabot himself says that he made this voyage in the summer of 1496, he must he 
 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 jie 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 ango regni Regis Henrici Septimi xni. 
 
75 
 
 ista Billa delibata fuit Domino Cancellario Angliae apud Westmonasterium exc- 
 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 
 fourme 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. 
 
 H. R. 
 
 "Rex. 
 
 " To all men to whom theis Presenteis shall come send Gretyng: Knowe 
 ye that We of our Grace especiall, and for dyyers 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 Portes or other place within this our 
 Realme of England or obeisance, so that and if the said Shippes be of the 
 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 kde to 
 the Londe and Isles of latefounde ~by the seid John in oure 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 fles, withoute anye 
 impedymente, lett or perturbance of any of our officers or imnistres 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 of attempted. Geving in commaundement to all and every our 
 officers, ministres and subjects seyingor 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 Lettrei 
 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 
 
76 
 
 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 deciphered, and some words finally eluded the most anxious scrutiny. And 
 
77 
 
 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. 
 
78 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 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/ere gradus equarit ; ad occidentemque profectus tantum estut 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 John Corry and the Rev. John Evans, vol. i. p. 213. (In King's Library, 
 title in Catalogue Corry.) 
 
79 
 
 ward, that it was there almost equal in latitude with the sea Fretum Herculeum 
 having 1 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 
 band 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 again, 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 
 "Londe 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, 107." 
 
 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 Hams Nicolas, Esq., in his valuable 
 Excerpta Historica. Mr N. remarks, "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 King's Remembrancer and the other officers, they failed, because these 
 
80 
 
 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 he 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 
 by 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, ami 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. 
 
81 
 
 tution, by the lattery 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, and 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 ta that of the original discovery. 
 
 A matter so simple as this has not escaped mis-statement. 
 Thus, in MTherson'^ 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. 
 L 
 
82 
 
 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 
 father's 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 delF 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- 
 roduced 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 Universelle (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 ran Italian!," p. 131. 
 t See Cartwright's Labrador. 
 
 t Ramusio, torn. Hi. fol. 35, in Index "Bacalai," " Sebastiano Gabotto," and 
 " orso." 
 
83 
 
 he resolved," &c. ("dapoila morte del quale trovandosi 
 richissimo et di grande animo deliberosi,"&e.). 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 be particularly noted. The second 
 patent does not look to further discoveries, but merely au 
 thorises the patentee to revisit theJRegion 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 well was 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 light 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 much 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. 
 
84 
 
 (article, Sir John Cabot), adopts Hakluyt's substitution of 
 John Cabot's name, and thus speaks of the patent of 3rd Feb* 
 ruary, 1498. 
 
 "In consequence of this license, the King 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 matter for want of thoroughly understanding the subject of 
 which they were writing. John Cabot was too a wise man to pretend to know r 
 before he saw it, what country he should discover, whether island or continent ; 
 but what he proposed was to find a North-West 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 pa tent 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," &c. (ed. of 1818, p. 15), states, that; 
 the supplemental matter was furnished by Dr Camjsbell. No method is used to 
 distinguish the original from what is interpolated ; ai\d Pinkerton was, probably, 
 thus misled. 
 
85 
 
 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." 
 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 Tkirkill, of London, upon a prest,* for his 
 shippe going towards the New Ilande, 20/." 
 
 " Delivered to Launcelot Thirkill, going towards the New Isle, in prest, 20/. J> 
 
 " 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, 2/." 
 
 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 u the 
 Genoas son," 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," that here must 
 be something more th'an an island, and we find, accordingly, 
 in the patent of 3rd February, 1498, reference made to " the 
 Londe and Isles" discovered. 
 
 * In the way of loan or advance. 
 
86 
 
 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 settlement 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." 
 
 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 
 pop el norte al Catayo y traer de alia especias en menos tiempo que Portuguese, 
 por el sun Y va tambien par saber que tierra 'eran las Indias 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 pedacos de yelo que no oso passar mas 
 adelante. Y que los dios eran grandissimos y quasi sin noche y las nbches 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 como 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 dayes 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, 
 alid that spices might be brought from thense soner by that way, then by the 
 yyage the Portugalcs vse by the sea of Sur. He went also to knowe what maner 
 
87 
 
 of landes those Indies were to inhabite. He had with hym three hundreth men, 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 ho 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 xviii. 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 The vet, the French Cosmographer. 
 This writer is, deservedly, held in little estimation, his work 
 being disfigured by the plainest marks of haste, as well as by 
 the most absurd credulity. The only circumstance which 
 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 Cosmographie 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 aux Indes, joint qu'il se proposoit aller au Peru 
 et Amerique pour peupler le pais de nouveaus habitans et dresser la j une Nouvelle 
 Angleterre, ce qu'il n' executa; vray est qu'il mist bien trots cens hommes en terre, 
 du coste d'Irlande au Nort on lefroidfist mourir presque toutesa 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 VII. King of England, that he could go easily this way by the North to 
 
88 
 
 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 he 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- 
 ziendoseen los Baccalaos"), and afterwards to have proceeded 
 South to 38. It mav 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 
 
89 
 
 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 derived this fact from hi ni, 
 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. 
 
90 
 
 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 
 lopk 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, proffered 
 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." 
 
91 
 
 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 suffice to 
 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- 
 
92 
 
 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 ft strong 
 tide, 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- 
 
93 
 
 leeches and shearers, bold men and careless of fame, and that took t6ll of their 
 master's grist. 
 
 "Then did they also use to inthral and charge the subjects' lands with tenures 
 in capite,' by finding false offices, and thereby to work upon them 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- 
 copding 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 
 
94 
 
 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 gre&tseal (" virtute aut colore alicujus concessionis 
 nostrse sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per antea factse"). 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, 
 JLustralis, 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 
 
95 
 
 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.)- 
 
96 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN FERDINAND OF SPAIN AND LORD WILLOUGH- 
 BTDE BROKE CABOT ENTERS THE SERVICE OF SPAIN 13TH SEPTEM 
 BER, 1512 REVISION OF MAPS AND CHARTS, IN 1 5 1 5-^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- 
 
97 
 
 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 Cosraographers of 
 the time. We are expressly told that these motives induced 
 him. 
 
 N 
 
98 
 
 " A traer a su servicio a Sebastian Gaboto, Ingles, por tenir noticia que era 
 esperto hombre de Mar y para esto escrivio a Milort Ulibi Capilan General del 
 Key de Ingleterra que se le embiasse y esto fufr a treze de Septembre deste anno 
 Sebastian Gaboto vino a Castilla y el Rey le dio titulo da su Capitan, y buenas 
 gages, y quedo en su servicio y le mando residir 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 VIIL, 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," 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 j ust 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 at Seville to await orders." 
 
99 
 
 extant about a century ago, if we may judge from the lan 
 guage used in the "Ensaio Cronologico Para La Historia 
 General De Florida," 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 mes de Septembre de 1512, entendiendo de Algunas 
 Cosmografos que avia algun estrecho a la parte de la Tierra 
 de los Baccalaos y otro a Occident e, 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 cosmographers 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 little 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 Henrid Majoris Britannia Regis 
 mortem concurialis noster est expectatque Indies ut navigia sibi parcntur quibus 
 arcanum hoc nature latens jam tandem detegatur. Martio mense anni futuri 
 MDXVI. puto ad explorandum discessurum. - Quae succedent tua San-citas 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 
 
 4 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 ray 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, 
 fcl. 119. 
 
101 
 
 therefore most Noble 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. 
 
103 
 
 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 
 seein 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 Bycharde Eden. Prxter 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- 
 tariansthat 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 
 >s, 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 wayj 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 that 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 of 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; 
 /or that of the four parts of the world, it seemeth thre.e 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- 
 st of all others j 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-/Aera>/ a proofe, 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, then lacked* and the inconve 
 niences and lets removed, that then were cause that your Grace's desire took no 
 /ull effect, which is, the courses to be changed, ami 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." 
 
 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 Thorne, 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 
 Thorne 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 Grace'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 
 O 
 
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 Thome 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 (S tow'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 
 
 poLte, 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, Thome 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 \sy 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 weU 
 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.* 3 * 
 
 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, caused a tire 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 th&t 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 Chicory, 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.t>. 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 9 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 E[ak- 
 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 Visk 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"). 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 ^vho knew the jealous system of exclusion auopted 
 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 heldji 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 diiferent auspices, there will be seen 
 
 * *' Con occasion de la nave Inglesa que havia llegada al JPuerto de la Ciudad 
 de Santo Domingo de la Isla Espanola, i de los Franceses de que se ha tratado en 
 cl capitulo precedente, el Obispo de Santo Domingo, Presidente del Audencia 
 higo una Junta de todos las Estados de la Isla, adonde se confirio lo que se debia 
 hacer," &c. 
 
 P 
 
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 " 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's 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 
 troduction- 
 
 fDiose titulo Piloto Major k Sebastian Gaboto con orden que ningun Pilot' 
 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 eold 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. iiu 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 1 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^ 
 
 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 
 Cabot4 The conference was held at Badajos, in April 1 524, 
 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. ix. f Peter Martyr, Dec. vi. cap. x. 
 
 * Gomara, cap. c-i 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, and 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.f In 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 the 
 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, H 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- 
 
 * Peter Martyr, Dec. vi. cap. x. 
 
 f Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii. 
 
 * Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 215. We may conjecture one of these to bare been Jorge 
 Barlo (George Barlow), who, with another, brought to Spain Cabot's Despatch 
 from the La Plata (Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. iii. cap. L). 
 
 Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vi. 
 
 | Ib. 
 
 1 Herrera, Dec. iil 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 document 
 
 Q 
 
122 
 
 cific, after penetrating through the Strait, as Magellan had 
 done, to proceed deliberately and explore on every side, par 
 ticularly the western coast of the Continent.* 
 
 The arrangement at first was, that the expedition should 
 sail in August, 1525;f hut it was delayed by circumstances to 
 which it may be proper now to advert as bearing on its ulti 
 mate fate. 
 
 * Peter Martyr, Dec. yii. cap. vi 
 fib. 
 
123 
 
 CHAP. XVII. 
 
 JEALOUSY OF THE CONTEMPLATED EXPEDITION ON THE PART OF PORTU 
 GAL MISSION OF DIEGO GARCIA, A PORTUGUESE. 
 
 IN 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 to 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, these 
 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 de Castilla perderia el gasto porque Her- 
 nando de Magallanes era hombre hablador, i de poca substancia, i que no saldria 
 con lo que prometia." Herrera, Dec. li. lib. iv. cap. x. 
 
124 
 
 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 by 
 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 negotiation, 
 under the name of Factor, confirmeth the same. Our senate yieldeth great credit 
 to this man. He gave me the names of all the five ships that accompanied the 
 Victory, and of all the Mariners, and mean Officers whatsoever. And in our 
 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 the matter for a while, 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 
 ished."! 
 
 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.f 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 power," as the 
 arrest of the expedition, would not be taken. So far as 
 
 * Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. ix. cap. xv. Purchas, vol. i. B. i. ch- ii. 
 f Peter Martyr, Dec. viii. cap. x. 
 | Peter Martyr, Dec. vii. cap. vii. 
 . Peter Martyr, Deci. vii. cap. vii. 
 
125 
 
 > 
 
 endearing domestic ties could influence such a matter, the 
 apprehension here implied was to be yet further increased. 
 A negotiation was going on for the Emperor's marriage to 
 Isabella, the sister 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. 
 t Herrera, Dec. iii. lib. x. cap. 
 
126 
 
 done; found its way to the La Pldta; fixed itself in his neigh 
 bourhood ; and, finally, by the misconduct of certain persons 
 connected with it, brought on a general and overwhelming 
 attack on Cabot, from the natives, who had previously, by a 
 mixture of boldness and good management, been brought into 
 alliance with him. Charlevoix (Histoire du Paraguay, torn. 
 i. p. 28) supposes that Garcia was employed avowedly by 
 Portugal ; but according to Herrera (Dec. iii. lib. x. cap. i.), 
 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 occasion might require. 
 One great object was to search for Juan de Cartagena, and the 
 French priest whom Magellan had put on shore. Garcia left 
 Cape Finisterre on the 5th of August, 1526, 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 Lardner'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 way 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 grantj 
 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 
 mastery. It is important to note that in Peter Martyr, whose 
 
127 
 
 work embraces the early part of 1526,* no reference b made 
 to any projected expedition to the quarter for which, as it is 
 now said, Garcia was destined. 
 
 At Decade iv. lib. 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 
 pany 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 been before him, and, as Garcia asserts, had 
 behaved in a very shameful manner, carrying off the sons of 
 several chiefs who had treated him with great kindness. Pro 
 ceeding up the La Plata, Garcia found the ships which Cabot, 
 oh ascending the river, had left under the charge of an offi 
 cer. He resolved to follow in his brigantine ; and here we 
 are let into the 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."f 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 King of 
 Portugal, which took place in March, 1526. 
 
 f " Para dar color a esta codicia, dixO que havia protestado al Conde Don Fer 
 nando de Andrada que no le diese esta nave porque 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 Acosta, 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. yi. 
 f - Ib. Dec. iy. 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. 
 
 IN a letter dated November, 1525, Peter Martyr * speaks of 
 the expedition as at length about to sail. It was doomed, 
 however, to yet further 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.! 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. he. 
 
 f 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. 
 
 R 
 
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 por diferencias que con el General avian lenido 
 quisieron que fuesse Martin Mendez y no Miguel de Rufis dquien pretendia llevar 
 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 chief 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 oji 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 
 
 * Jlerrera, Dec. iii. lib. ix. cap. iii. 
 f Ib. Dec. IT. 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 TOgard 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, we 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. Hen-eta, Dec, iii. lib. i* 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 \rork, 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 
 AmericusVespucius who had held that office was "probably" then dead (p. 52), 
 a singular remark, as it is well known that Vespucias died fifteen years before. 
 He was succeeded, as we have seen, by Juan Dias de Soils. 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 SQUADRONSPRETENDED 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 
 nave 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 passage has that wr of vagueness 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 unfitness 
 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 netfessary 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 falt6 la victualla por ser mal repartida y como por las diferencias de 
 Sevilla, iban algunos animos mal satisfechos y el tuvo poco cuydado en sossegarlos 
 nacieron murmuraciones 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 crisis, 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. J 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. Hi. 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. 5.), 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, " not so much, as some say, by his 
 fault, as by that of his associates."* 
 
 It might be superfluous, under such circumstances, 10 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. 
 Gomarn, 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 popults 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." 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 Ilhados 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," 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 demanda del Cabo de San Augustin, que este Piloto pone en ocho 
 Grades, i unsesmo de Grado de la Vanda del Sur, de la otra parte 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 Cosmogi-afo, 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 oif 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," &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.J 
 
 " Cabot's 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 citiusi 
 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 dirigere quando Sol," &c. 
 
 t "Despues de muchas dificultades partio Sebastian Gaboto a los primeros de 
 Abril de este ano (1526), &c. 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. 
 
 4= ' A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific 
 Ocean, &c. By James Burney, 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 another 
 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 5 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. 
 
 * Herrera, Dec. 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 
 m'utiny 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 Thorne, then at Seville, and his two friends 
 who were engaged in it. He states the loss of the vessel, and 
 
 * "The Emperoure's Majestic 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," Sec. 
 
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 Cyclopaedia, 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 huwlreth 
 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 piu de secento leghe." Kamusio, 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 been 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 Gareia'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 
 expugneitby one 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. Gomara, 
 Cap. Ixxxix. " Lo mataron; i comiefon con todos las Espanoles que sacq, i aun 
 quebraron el batel. Los otros que de los Navios miruban, alcarou anclas i velas, 
 sin osar tomar venganca de la muerte de su Capituu." 
 
 T 
 
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 Herrera, that the river spo 
 ken of might be either the Uruguay, which, on the right, 
 takes a northern direction, or one of 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 Sol is, would not distinguish any 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 right 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, 
 ne says, " From the isle of Martin Garcia unto St Salvador, 
 is nine or ten leagues. This is an island which standeth two 
 leagues within theirs* mouth, where 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 of 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 leagues 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 into 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 order 
 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 of 
 Cumberland, the fort 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. 
 788). 
 
 It is desirable to fix this first point of occupation, not only as 
 a matter curious in itself, but because Charlevoix (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 poblacion que avian hecho en el puerto que 
 Raman 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 our knowledge 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 te 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, and 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 attaches little importance, and 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 of 
 small islets, correctly stated in the " Ruttier" to be five in num 
 ber. But still more conclusively : Cabot's report, as 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" speaks 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 the position 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 Indies 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 ERECT? 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- 
 
 OtTINARY BATTLE THIRTY-FOUR LEAGUES UP THAT RIVER THREE 
 
 HUNDRED OF THE NATIVES KILLED, WITH A LOSS TO CABOT OF TWENTY- 
 FIVE OF HIS PARTY MAINTAINS HIS POSITION GARCIA ENTERS THE 
 
 RIVER INTERVIEW WITH CABOT MISTAKES OF CHARLEVOIX, 8cC. 
 
 CABOT RETURNS TO THE FORT u SANTUS SPIRITUS." 
 
 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 down for the purpose. The point at which 
 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 as 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- Pens d - de S. M. Individuo de la Rl. Academia 
 de S n Fernando, y de la Sociedad Bascongada de los Amig-os del Pais ; teniendo 
 presentes varies mapas y noticias originates con 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, ano 1775, de orden del Rey Espana, por D n - Juan 
 de la Cruz Cano y Oniedilla, Geo f o- Pe do - de S. M. C. Londres, Publicardo por 
 Guillermo Faden, Geografo del Rey, y del Principe de Gales, Enero 1. de 1799.' 
 
 
151 
 
 Parana, as appears 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. JThere is laid 
 down the "Cart Road" from Buenos Ayres to Sante Fe, 
 which passes through El Rosario and 8. 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 and fifty 
 men, increased perhaps by the gentlemen volunteers. Be 
 sides 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 which 
 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 rannynge dayly to oure shyppes."f 
 
 * "Lettres Edifiantes et curieuses ecrites des Missions Etrangers par quelques 
 Missionaires de la Campagnie de Jesus." The work is in the King's Library, 
 British Museum (title in Catalogue Epistolae). 
 
 f Richard Eden's Decades, fol, 255. The original in Ramusio, torn. i. fol. 415. 
 " Trovandolo sempre bellissirao et habitato da infiniti popoli che per maraviglis* 
 correvano k 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 lie 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.f 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. i. 
 t Ib., Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i. 
 *Ib., 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 Santw 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 \ Martin Mendez, que 
 iban contra el porquc Sebastian Gaboto, por inquietos, los havia dexado en una 
 isla desterrados entre los Indies." Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. i. cap. i. 
 
 f "Porque aunque sabia que Sebastian Gaboto havia desbaratado los Indios era 
 imposible que no huviesen peligrado algunos." Herrera, Dec. iv lib. i. cap. i. 
 
 u 
 
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 Garr 
 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 Jlna^ 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 
 
 "Qu* si hallase muerto a Sebastian Gaboto le rogaba que no los dcxasse 
 alii." Ib. 
 
155 
 
 years after. To suit this main fiction, he fabricates a series of 
 collateral incidents equally unfounded and ridiculous.* 
 
 * "Gabot yit arriver a son Camp un Capitaine Portugais nomme Diegue Gar- 
 cias lequel avoit etc envoie" par le Capitaine General de Bresil pour reconnoitre le 
 pals et en prendre possession au nom de la Couronne de Portugal mais qui n'&voit 
 pas assez de monde pour executer sa Commission malgre les Espagnols, qu'il ne 
 s'etoitpas attendu. de trouver en si grande nombre sur les bords du Paraguay. 
 Gabot de son cot fit reflexion qu'il ne pourroit jamais empecbxr les Portugais de se 
 rendre maitres du pays si ils y revenoient avec des forces superieures que la prox- 
 imit6 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 Garcias 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 
 
 XHENCE BY THE GUARANIS 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 OTHEH 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 9 * but 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 existence amongst the ar 
 chives of Spain. 
 
 The bearers of the communication wereHernando 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 Thome, 
 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 Guaranzs, 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," &c. "Cabot negotiated a peace with this 
 tribe. By friendly intercourse he came to leafn many secrets of the country, and 
 procured from them gold and silver which they had brought from Pert*," &c.* 
 
 It had been a part of 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." f < He will scour along all the South side of our sup- 
 
 * "La relacion que hico al Rey fue que la mas principal generacion de Inclios 
 de aquella tierra son los Guaranis t 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 vitoriososa su naturaleca." Ib. "Y 
 haviendo hecho Sebastian Goboto la Paz con esta generacion, &c. con el amitad 
 destos supo muchos secretos 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 muthiied 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; ancl 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. J 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 unwarlike 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. 
 
 f " 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 i 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 hini 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.). 
 
 "Topb 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- 
 aguacay 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 huro 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 Indios, i era de la que los Indios Guaranis traian en planchas i otras piecas 
 grandes de las Provincias del Peru."* 
 
 * Herrera, 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 ; and further, that the tide 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 Bend 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 mdakt and in conformity with his description, he gone 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 Cyclopaedia, History of Maritime and Inland Discovery, vot ti. 
 
 V 
 
162 
 
 importance of the country; the river was named Rio de 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," <fec. ("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. 
 
163 
 
 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 1 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. The 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 hi 
 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 
 
 * Herfreca, Dec iv lib viii. cap. xi " Que Sebastian Gaboto avia cdificado 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 
 
 "TheGuaranis 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, Col" 
 chines and Chanas, who are savages. After these come the Mecoretas and the Me- 
 penes, who continue for im 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 (" Que 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 Choreas, 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.J This Memoir would 
 be, even at the present day, highly curious and interesting. 
 
 Herrera, Dec. iv. lib. via. cap*-xi. 
 
 f Gomara, cap. Ixxxix. Eden, fol. 255, and again, fol. 317- 
 
 I 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 know 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.) 
 
 "La muerte, 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 el Paranna, 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 netuvoculpa." 
 
166 
 
 Del Guaranl, 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 
 Hurtado, one of the principal officers of the garrison! 
 
167 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF CABOT AFTER HIS RETURNRESUMES HIS FUNCTIONS A3 
 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 ia 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 lopk 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 valeftte et pratico delle cose pertittenti 
 
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 P 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."t 
 
 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. ?? f The 
 
 alia Navigatione et all Cosmographia che in Spagna al presente non v'e suo pati 
 et la sua virtu 1'ha fatto preporre a tutti li Pilotti che navigano all* Indie Occi- 
 dentali, che senza sua licenza non possono far quel essercitio et per questo lo chi- 
 amanoPilotto Maggiore." 
 
 * "Lo trovai una gentilissima persona et cortese che mi fece gran carezze et 
 mostrommi molte cose et fra 1'altre un Mapainondo grande colle navigation! par- 
 ticolari,'si di Portaghesi, come di Castigliani." 
 
 j- * Feci poi molte altre navigationi le quali pretermetto et -trovandomi alia fine 
 vecchio volsi riposare essendosi allevati tanti pratichi et valenti marinari giovanni 
 et hora me ne sto con questo carico che voi sapete, godendo il frutto delle mie 
 fatiche." 
 
 * Eden's Decades, fdl. 255. The original * c dicendosi che era stata cosa piu 
 tosto divina che humana, &c." Ramusio, torn. i. fol. 415. 
 
 w 
 
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 
 Tum cum magnanimus nostra in regione Cabotus 
 Proximtts a mctgnoostendit sua vela Columbo.^ 
 
 * "Mi nacque un desiderio grande, anzi un ardor nel core di voler far anchora io 
 qualche cosa segnalata, &c." Ib, 
 f Budeius in Hakluyt, vol. UL p. 143. 
 
171 
 
 CHAP. XXV. 
 
 PERVERSION OF FACTS AND DATES BY HARRIS AND PINKERTON OABOT*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 for the discovery of the coast of Brazil (!) in which he had 
 much better success than Americua 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 Blackwall, 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 J] 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 Thome of Bristol. Unfortunately 
 for this hypothesis it appears* thatThorne 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. 
 
 fThis blunder is gravely copied into Dr Uardner's Cyclopaedia, History of 
 Maritime and Inland Discovery,, vol. ii. p. J.38, together with Mtr/flJarrow's asser 
 tion, that the pension of 166. 13s. 4d. was equal to five hundred Marks ! 
 
 $ 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."* 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," might be sent over to Spain " as a very necessary man 
 for the Emperor, whose servant he was, and had a Pension of 
 him."f 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/. 
 13. 4c?.). Hakluyt (vol. iii. p. 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 consideration 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 
 
 Burnet'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 Hakluyt, 
 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. iiL p. 719) to be pre 
 sent at the examination of a French pilot who had 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 
 BY MERCATOR FOR HIS FIRST MERIDIAN REFERENCE TO CABOT*S MAP 
 
 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*& 
 
 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 many 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 Re d* 
 Inghilterra, pressoal quale (come poi daaltri intesi) esso Gianetti all* hora honor- 
 atissimo si ritrovaa? et egli dimostro insieme, quanta fusse questa distaaza, eckc 
 non appareva in ciascun luogo la medesima," Lib. rim fol. 2. 
 
176 
 
 " Con versing on this subject with Gianeti, he undertook to 
 obtain for me, through a gentleman named Bartholomew Gom- 
 pagni, then in England, this information wh^h he himself had 
 not gathered."* 
 
 The person thus addressed sent word of what he had learn 
 ed from Cabot, and Sanoto remarks that he had, subsequently, 
 further assurance cf 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 Floras, 
 one of the Azores.* 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that the First ^Meridian on 
 the maps of Mercafor, 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 Compagni, che in Inghilterre si tratteneva, slnteae 
 cio, ch* egli dal detto Caboto ne seppe." 
 
 f " Bt a quello ancora, che io dapoi vidi con gli occhi jniei 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 detta Fiori di quelle pur delli 
 Azori." 
 
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"). 
 
 Fournier, 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 offer 
 even a conjecture. His exposition to the king would evi 
 dently seem to have Leen 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 on board 
 is able to get away." 
 
 t "Que Cabot remarqua/ortf exacttment les declinaisons que Paymant Faisoit en 
 (livers endroits des costes Septentrionales de I'Amer-que qu'il decouvrit." 
 
 X 
 
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 HENRY IN HIS HISTORY OF GREAT 
 BRITAIN, CAMPBELL IN THE LIVES OF THE ADMIRALS, AND OTHER WRI 
 TERS, AS TO THE u 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. iy. 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 puzfcle 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 " 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 a year after Cabot had 
 done it. He was set forth by Henry VII. , and after by Henry 
 VIIL 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 409 South of the line, and to 67 towards the North, 
 for which King flenry VIIL 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 and arms of 
 such as have been advanced to the order of knighthood in the 
 reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIIL, 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 Venetiani 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 VIIL 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 
 ment'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 " Mititis 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 manner 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 Bf THE MER 
 CHANTSURGES 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 as 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 declaredf 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 byHhese 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. 
 Jpon 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 
 even 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 during- King 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 Uegent of Flanders, as 
 well as the City of Hamburgh, earnestly solicited to have the Steelyard merchants 
 re-instated j but to no purpose."f 
 
 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 lo a certain com- 
 plaint, that the merchant adventurers laid against them." 
 
 " 25th January, 155 1. 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 rtation, was unknown. 3. That 
 when they had forfeited their 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 their name 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, maybe in 
 ferred from the pertinacity with which the defeated party 
 followed up the matter, even after a decision had been pro 
 nounced. ThfUSj the following entries are found in the Jour 
 nal of the youngJKing : 
 
 " 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, Tol. 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 Stiliard men received their answer; which was, to con 
 firm the former judgment of my 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 Cuboto, the great seaman, 200 pounds, by 
 way of the king's majesty's reward, dated in March, 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 CHIEF COMMAND GIVEN TO SIR HUGH 
 
 WILLOUGHBY RICHARD CHANCELLOR STEPHEN BURROUGH WILLIAM 
 BURROUGHS ARTHUR PET THIS EXPEDITION CONFOUNDED WITH AN 
 OTHER BY STRYPE AND CAMPBELL. 
 
 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 noyel 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 manners 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."* 
 
 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." He came recommended by a high 
 reputation for " skill in the services of war," 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 a 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 Chancellor's ship was Stephen Burrough, 
 
 * 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 autfior 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.J ,* 
 
 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 enterprising 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 Admirals, vol. i. p. 319) says, 
 
 " The accounts we have of this matter differ widely; 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 cpme 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 cure Lorde MLEQ". the XII day of August, sayled from Porche- 
 mouth two goodly 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, 
 " that sum memorie thereof might remayne to our posteritie, 
 if eyther iniquitie of tyme, consumynge all things, or igno 
 rance creepy ng 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 tbe 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 
 
 " 7. Item, that the merchants, and other skilftd persons In writing shall daily 
 arrite, describe, and put in memorie the navigation of each day and night, with the 
 points, and observations of the lands, 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, andtipon 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 fails, mountains, streames, or rivers, in, or under the earth.'f 
 
 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 placers, 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 appertaineth."t 
 
 ** 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 mar-chant 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 bis grace to be obtained, 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."fl 
 
 " 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 aboard your ships, and there to 
 
 * Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 226. f Ibid, p. 228. 
 
 t Ibid. vol. i. p. 227. $ Ibid. 
 
 | Ibid. vol. i. p. 228. 
 
192 
 
 learn as you may, without violence orforce t 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, until! you shall have attained the most worthy place that may be 
 found in such sort as you may returne with victuals sufficient, prosperously."! 
 
 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."f 
 
 * Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 228. 
 
 fib. 
 
 J Ibid. vol. i.jj. 22.9. 
 
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, 
 amf 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 alLrespects 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 lung 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 which 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 was 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.^ 
 
 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. 
 
 $ 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 hia 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 doubtful 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, hut a continuall light and 
 hrightnesse of the sunne shining clearly upon the huge and 
 mightie sea. And having 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 hisr 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 duetiesand 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. 
 t Ib. 
 
196 
 
 courteaie , 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 CHANOELLER 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, &e., 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 the Charter 
 to have preceded the voyage of Sir Hugh Willoughby 
 t Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 265 
 
198 
 
 was doomed to perish when almost within reach of 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 Scbtlandj and hy the fury of the tempest was bro 
 ken to pieces on the rocks. Chancellor 
 
 " using 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 
 Ambassadour, 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 riot 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 Smithficld 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. 28f. 
 
199 
 
 sort as no man without difficultie might passe) 1 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 Jhouse, 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 Arabassadour 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 fraighted 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 fblloweth^ 25 fardels containing 207 sorting 
 ilothes, 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 5/. 9*. the cloth one with the other. The fine violet 18/. 6s. 6d. 
 The Skarlet 17/. 13s. 6d. the cottons at 91: 10*. 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 4/. 6*. 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, Sec. Also the wares bee packed and laden as is afore- 
 sayde, as by an invoyce in every 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, herape 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 shall 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 stuflfe 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 alkwe. Let all diligence be used that 
 at the returne 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 pkce to work in, in the winter : 
 and at any hand let them have hempe ynough to 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 nevcrthelesse, 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, tmd 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 scantlings of them with part of the lists, and a full advice of 
 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 
 thither 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 ofUimes 
 they go undrest. Moreover, we will you send us of every commodity in that 
 Country part, but no great quantity other than such as ; s 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 Germanic. 
 
 "More, that you doe send us for proofe a quantitie of such Earth, hearbes, or 
 what thing soever it be, that the liusses 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 will 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 some 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 tunnes whole, and ten thousand 
 hoopes, and 480 wrethes 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 alwayes 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 solcle 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 Realme, although we afford a good penyworth, to the intent to make other 
 that have traded thither, wearie, and so to bring ourselves and our commodities in esti 
 mation, and likewise to procure and have the chiefs commodities of that Country in our 
 hands, as waxe and such others,- that other Nations may be served byus 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 land 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 so.*, 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, wliome 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 notfinde the'Jlmbassadour nowe at the last so conformable to reason as 
 wee had thought wee shoulde.. Hee is very mistrustful!, and thinketh everie man will 
 beguile him. Therefore you had neede to take heede howe 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 subtill 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. 
 
 " Hare 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.' 1 * 
 
 The Agent at Vologda writes thus to the Agent at Col 
 mogro: 
 
 ** Worshipful! 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, andbetter 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, 1 have written for 30 great trees to be two archines and k 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; andjthat 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 long, 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. As 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 m 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 thirtie 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 
 and a halfe, in the Philip afid 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 traine 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 
 andtallowe 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 b& 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 such 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, Hempe, 
 
 * Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 308. 
 
207 
 
 and all kinde of other wares fitte for our countrey. Our mlnde 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 1 , 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 shillings 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 g'ood 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 ours, 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 Crimmethe 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 1 as God's will was they were preserved. The Emperour 
 fled out of the field, and many of his people were earned 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."f 
 
 Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 306. f 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 terras 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 traffi qued, 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 councilors, 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 
 
 'meere motion, have graunted; and by these presents do graunt, for us, our heirea 
 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 of lands, territories, Isles, Do 
 minions and Seigniories unknowen, and not before that late adventure or enter 
 prise by Sea or Navigation, commonly frequented as aforesaid, shalbe from henqe- 
 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, air eady 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 oy 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 his 
 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 with 
 any encouragement; and therefore we need not wonder, that even in that age, when 
 hardly a year passed but some design or other, for promoting commerce and navi 
 gation was set on foot, this remained as silent and unthought 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 
 doing 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.f 
 
 An important Statute, 2d and 3d Edward VI. cap. 6, oc 
 curs to Newfoundland 4 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 {o 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 Cabof 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, lylhg 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 tliat 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. 41?. 
 
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 jiame 
 ought eurely 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 tune 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, 4 his zeal and penetration, he not only was 
 the means of extending the Foreign Commerce of England, hat of keeping alive 
 that Spirit of Enterprise which, even in his life time, 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/ 5 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, J " We have 
 a further hope of some good trade to be found out by Master 
 Anthonie Jenkinson by reason we do perceive, by your fet 
 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, 8cc, p. 36. 
 t 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 things 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. 
 
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 STILYARD MERCHANTS THEIR INSOLENT RE 
 FERENCE TO THE QUEEN IN A MEMORIAL ADDRESSED TO PHILIP THE 
 
 LATTER REACHES LONDON, 20TH MAY, 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, amonerst 
 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 2? April being Monday, the Right Worshipful Sebastian Cdboto came 
 aboord our Pinnesse at Grave^ende, accompanied with divers Gentlemen, jand Gen- 
 tlevyomen, 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 m.e, and them that were in the com 
 pany great cheere : and/or very joy that he had to see the towardness 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. On the 27 November, 
 1555, the pension to Cabot was renewed (Rymer, Fcedera, 
 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 i& 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, art Edict was published against all 
 Englishmen t 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 wag contented that Commissaries on 
 both parts should meet in England, and agree upon, and set downe a certaine and 
 immutable manner of Trade to beheld, 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, ibrthat they coulde not 
 have in this Realme anie other iudges of their cause, but such as were suspected, 
 not sparing or excepting the Queene herself e of whose good wUl 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, f We 
 recall, at such a moment, with alarm, the almost incredible 
 
 treatise of Commerce by Wheeler, Ed. of 1601, p. 97. 
 
 j- "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 wpuld 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 e;mpire,* * 
 
 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 Sebastianb et dilecto servienti 
 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 IheNbrthJEastern discovery, advanced 
 the worthy and excellent Sebastian Cabotato be Grand Pilot of England, allowing 
 him a most bountiful! 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." 
 
 t 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. it 
 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 Worthington, 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. 268. 
 2 C 
 
218 
 
 It will be remembered* that in Hakluyt's earliest work, 
 published 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 sebured, 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 tabe 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 i& 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 he 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 Alaps, 
 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 Jate 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," about a* divine revelation to 
 him of a new and infallible method of Finding the Longitude 
 which he w&s 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 which 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 oc 
 curred. From the presence of Eden we may infer that he 
 died in London. It is not knovvn 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 wete urged, on the clearness of the 
 Title thus acquired and the shame of abandoning it, The 
 
 See the Epistle Dedicatory to " A very necessarle and profitable book con 
 cerning- Navigation compiled in Latin by Joannes Taisnenis, 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' 7 which it was hoped might 
 come out in print, " because so worthy monuments should not 
 be buried in perpetual oblivion/ 7 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 ID 
 return ! 
 
BOOK II. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 VOYAGES SUBSEQUENT TO THE DISCOVERY BY OABOT 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 5 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 5 and here we re 
 cognize distinctly the quickening impulse of its partial suc 
 cess, though rendered unavailing by accidental causes. The 
 page of Eord Bacon which states the public exhibition by 
 Cabot, on his return, of a " Card," 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 Fernandus, 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 Erigland, 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, potestatem, 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, investigata et recuperate 
 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 new region, and to be 
 a mode of designating a country which had, 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 original terms, even a reimbursement of the 
 expense incurred. We 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 
 VII. 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 befdre 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, h% 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 \>y 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. 
 
28 
 
 "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 
 etin quarum possessions ipsi Principesyaw 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 deprecated 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 tu 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 Oonzales, 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 following entries in the account of the Privy Purse 
 Expenses of Henry VII. 
 
 ' 17 November, 1503. To one that brought hawkes from the Newfounded 
 Island, 11. 
 
 " 8 April, 1504. To a preste [priest] that goeth to the new Islande, 2/. 
 
 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 popyngais 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). 
 
231 
 
 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," &c. "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, tears 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'Ayola, 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. 
 
 JfiXPEDITION FROM PORTUGAL CORTEREAL THE WORK ENTITLED rt PAES1 
 
 NOVAMENTE 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 seek 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 one. 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 
 
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, who 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 early as the year 1507 there was published at Vicenza 
 a Collection of Voyages and Travels under the title, "Paesi 
 novamente retrovati et Novo Mondo da Jllberico Vesputio 
 Florentine 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 Petits Voyages, &c., p. 5), and Navarette (Colecion de los 
 Viages, &c., torn. 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 Rey D. Manoel, cap. Ixvi. 
 
235 
 
 a letter from the Venetian ambassador in Portugal to his 
 brothers, written eleven days after the return of Cortereal. 
 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 seret 
 issimo Re /anno pastiato mando a discoprire terra verso tramontana Capitaneo Gas- 
 par Corterat : et referissi havere trouato terra ii M. miglia lonzi da qui tra maestro 
 8c ponente qual mai per avanti fo cognita ad alcun; per la costa de la qua! scorseno 
 forsi mig-lia DC in DCC. ne mai trovoreno fin: per el che credeno che sia terra 
 ferma la qual continue in una altra terra che lano passato, fo discoperta sotto la tra. 
 montana, le qual caravelle non posseno arivar fin la per esser el mare agliazato & 
 infinita copiade neue; Questo in stesso li fa credere la moltitudine de fiumare 
 grossissime che anno trovate la che certo de una Insula none havia maitante & cosi 
 grosse: Dicono che questa terra e mollo populata & le case de li habitant! sonno de 
 alcuni legni longissimi coperte de foravia de pelle de passi. Hanno conduct! qui 
 VII. tra homini 8c femene 8c putti de quelli: & cum laltra Caravella che se aspect* 
 d hora in hora ne vien altri 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 which 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, seven in 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 dc 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 tan to ben facti de brazi 8c gambe & spalle che non se potria dire: 
 Hanno signata la faza in modo de Indian!: chi da vi chi da viii. chi da manco segni. 
 Parlano ma non sonno int<*3i 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 hanno porta.de la uno pezo 
 de spada rotta dorata laqual certo par facfa 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, Areng'e, 
 StochafiSt & simil pessi: Hanno ctiam gran copia de legnami, & fo sopra tutto de 
 Pint da fare arbori tf anttnnt de nave, per el che questo Serenissimo Re desegna 
 havere grandissimo utile cum dicta terra si per IHegni de nave, che ne haveva de- 
 besogno como per li homini ch seranno per exceUentia da fatiga, & gli meglior 
 schiavi se habia hauti sin hora." 
 
 " 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 far masts andyards t 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 "Paesi, &c." appeared 
 at Paris, without date, but usually referred by bibliographers 
 to the year 1516. After the quaint old introductory " Sen- 
 suyt," its title is, " Le Nouveau Monde et navigations faictes 
 par Emeric de Vespuee/' 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 Vespuee." 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 contents are precisely those of the " Paesi," the 
 three first books being devoted to Cadamosto, <fee., 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 dOctobre arriva icy vne des deux caravelles de 
 cestuy roy de Portugal ; lesquelles Pan passe il avoit envoyez pour descouvrir la 
 terre vers transmontane et en estoit capitaine Gaspard Cotrad. Et a rapporte avoir 
 trouve, entre maistral et ponent, yne terre qui est loingtaine d'icy de cinq cens 
 lieues. Laquelle auparavant iamais d'aucun .n'avoit este ^ongneue. Et par la 
 coste d'icelle terre ilz allerent environ CL lieues, et iamais ne trouverentfin perquoy 
 ils croyent que ce soit terre ferme laquelle est voisine d'une aultre terre laquelle 
 Pannee passee fut descouverte soulz la transmontane lesquelles caravelles nepeureni 
 arriverjusques la pourceque la mer estoit glacee et pleine de neige. Et la ont trouve 
 vne multitude de tres gros fieuves ; ilz disent que cest terre est moltpopulee etles 
 maisons 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 person nages : & dedans Pautre 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 Peste 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 et desbras. Les parties vergogneuses sont leiz avec auscunes cordes faicteo 
 des nerfz de poisson tres fortes. En facon qu'ilz semblent homines saulvaiges. Ilz 
 sont moult honteulx et doulx mais si bien faitz de bras et de jambes et d'espaulka 
 qu'ils ne pourroyent estre mieulx. Leur visage est marquee en la maniere dea 
 Indiens ; auscuns ont VI, marques auscuns VIII. et que plus moins. Ils 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 semblablement leurs poinctes de leurs flesches ; et ceulx 
 des d'caravelles ont encores apporte d'icelle terre une piece d'espee rompue que 
 estoit doree laquelle 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 faire arbres et matz 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 
 meilleurs 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 Zzgeuner 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 other than this name for them 
 (tschingenes)." 
 
 The characteristics of the race are stated by Swinburne 
 (Travels through Spain, p. 230) 
 
 u 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 
 fiae black eyes ; when old they become the worst-favoured 
 hags in nature." 
 
 It is remarkable that the early settlers in New-England 
 were struck with the resemblance. Purchas (vol. iv. p. 1842) 
 has "a Relation or Journal of a Plantation settled at Plimouth 
 in New-England and proceedings thereof: Printed 1622, and 
 here abbreviated." 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 ; 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, 8cc. They are of complexion like our English Gypsies, tfc." 
 
 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 men 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 Encyclopedia Britannica (Edinburgh Edition of 1812), 
 under the title " Gypsies" 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 
 people, and have been struck with the admirable Memoir of 
 Captain 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 OFTHE THREE POR 
 TUGUESE HISTORIANS, DAMIANO GOES, OSORIUS, AND GALVANO 0? 
 
 GOMARA, HERRERA, AND FUMEE EDITION OF PTOLEMY PUBLISHED AT 
 
 BASLE 1540 THE NAME " LABRADOR," i. 6. "LABORER. 5 * 
 
 THE inquiry now arises as to the point at which Cortereal 
 reached the American Continent, and followed the coast north 
 wards for a space 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 Rey D. Manoel, cap. Ixvi.), that it was 
 
 " A region 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 etde grandes arvoredos 
 como o sam todas as que jazem per a quella banda Ihe pos 
 nome Terra Verde). 
 
 Another Portuguese writer, Osorius (De rebus Emanuelis,. 
 &c. lib. ii.) says, that Cortereal conferred the name on account 
 of the singular amenity of the region (" ad terrain tandem 
 pervenit quam propter singularem amcenitatem Viridem 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 standeth 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 ylas que 
 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." 
 
 Herrera, who conducts Cabot to 68, says of Cortereal (Dec. 
 i. lib. vi. ch. 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 Universalis," 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 fre turn 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 thus entered into the 
 speculations of adventurers seems to have quickly supplanted 
 the appellation conferred on it by Cortereal. 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 
 CortereaPs second voyage were Timber and Slaves. Twenty 
 years before, there had been erected on the shores of Africa 
 
243 
 
 the Fort of D'EImina, 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 me n, 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 Cortereal's 
 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 every 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 with that of Cortereal. 
 
 " Piena di foltissime selve ; gli alberi dellequali erano abeti, 
 cipressi et simili chi si generano in regioni fredde" ("full of 
 thick woods, consisting of fir, cypress, and other similar trees 
 of cold countries"). 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 
 dalF 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 (" eontinuainente gridando che alia terra non ci appros- 
 gimassimo"), 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 loro archi mettendo grandissimi 
 
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- 
 HOW'S CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF VOYAGES, &C. DR LARDNER*S 
 CYCLOPAEDIA THE EDINBURGH CABINET LIBRARY. 
 
 HAVING determined the extent of Cortereal's progress to the 
 North, it is time to advert to the circumstances which have 
 conspired to pervert the history of his voyage. 
 
 There 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. 214), 
 in which he sends to therambassador " 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 purposely" (p. 218). After 
 speaking of the possessions of Spain in the new world, he 
 says, " which maine land or coast goeth northwards, and fin- 
 isheth in 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 Thome 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 *fl.sise* 
 
 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 scope 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, <fee." into Latin, in a book entitled " Itinerarium 
 Portugallensiura," published at Milan in 1508 (cap. cxxvu 
 fol. Ixxx.). 
 
 " Utigitur nova anni prasentis intelligatis scitote hicesse cam triremem quam 
 superiore anno Rex Portugallix Serenissimus expediverat versus Aquilonem prx- 
 fecto Gaspare Corterato qui nobis refert continentem invenisse distantem ad M. 
 duo milia inter Chorum et Favonium haptenus totijoene orbi incompertam terrain; 
 cujus latus aiunt ad mifliaria prope DCCC percurrisse, nee tamen finis compertus 
 estquispiam; ideo credunt Continentem non Insulam esse, regioque videturesse 
 conjunctoeuidamplagx alias a jtfbstris p&agratse quasi sub ipso Septentrione eousque 
 celox tamen non pervenit ob- congelatum sequor et ingruentes caclo nives. Argu- 
 mento sunt totfluminaqus ab illis montibUs derivantur quod videlicet ibi magna via 
 nivium existat: arguunt propterea insulam non posse tot flumina emittere: Aiunt 
 prjeterea terram esee eximie cultam. Domos subeunt ligneas quas cooperhint pelli- 
 busaccoriispiscium: Hue adduxerunt viros septem sexus utriusque. Inceloce 
 vero altera quam prastolamur in koras advehuntur quinquaginta ejus regionis ln- 
 colx. Hi si proceritatem corporis, si colorem* si habitudinem, si habitum spectet 
 cinganis non sunt absimilefi. Pellibus piscium vestiunt et lutrarum et eorum im 
 primis qui instar vulpium pillosas habent pclles; eisque utuntur hieme pilo ad 
 carnes verso ut nos; at estate ritu oontrario; neque eas consuunt aut concinant 
 quovis modo, verum uti fert ipsabellua eo modo utuntur, eis armos et brachia prae- 
 ^cipue tegunt; inguina vero ftine ligant multiplici, confecto ex piscium nervia. Vi- 
 dentur propterea silvestres homines, non sunt tamen invereciindi et corpora habent 
 habilissima si brachia, si armos, si crura respexeris, ad simetriam sunt orania. F*- 
 ciem stigmate compunguntinunintquenotismultiiugis' instar indorum, sex velacto 
 stigm'atibus prout libuerit; hunc morem sola voluptas moderatur: Loquuntur qui- 
 dem sed haud intelliguntur, licet adhibiti fuerint fere omnium linguarum inter- 
 pretes: Eorum plaga caret prorsus ferro; gladios tamen habent sed ex acuminato 
 lapide. Pari modo cuspidant sagittas qu& nostris sunt acuminatiares: Nostri inde 
 attulewint ensis confracti partem inauratam? quae Italiae ritu sabrifacta videbatur: 
 Quidam puer illic duos orbes argenteos auribus appensos circumferebat qui baud 
 dubie ccelati more nostro visebantur: caelaturam Fenelam imprimis prxseferentest 
 auibus rebus non difficulter adducin^ur CoKtinentem csse potius quam Insulam, quia 
 
248 
 
 si eo naves aliquando applicuissent de 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 omnilignorum g^nere abundet Teg'io-.propterea naves fabricantur antennas 
 et maksy transtra et religua qu& pertinent ad navigia: ob id hie Nosier Rex instituit 
 inde multum emolumenti 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 
 tionary ! 
 
 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- tnade 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 tfempest 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 y with the 
 aid of his transatlantic friends, built a vessel mA 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 "It is credible that in time 
 past they have had traffic with our men, for he said that he 
 saw Latin book in the king's library." Again, They 
 3010 corn and rake beer and ale," <&c. &c. An expedition 
 was fitted out by the Prince of the Island, and sailed towards 
 the west, but 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. 
 
 " la the first collection of voyages which is known to have been published hi 
 Europe, and printed in Vicenza, by Franfcazano Montaboldo, (Mundo Nuovo e 
 Paesi nuovamente retrovati, &c. Vicenza, 1507; a very rare book; translated into 
 Latin, by Madrigano, under the title of ' Itinerarium Portugalensium e Lusitania in 
 Indiam, &c. J ) 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 wfcich 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 Zeno! 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 
 
 2G 
 
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 
 approached 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, 8cc.? J (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 <loes 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 " upwards" 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 CortereaPs 
 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 ha* 
 collected with eq ual 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 arid 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 
 habitanti sono huomini grandi* ben proportionati." 
 
252 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 DIFFUSIVE MISCHIEF OF THE ITINERARIUM POttTUGALLENSTUM GRYffJEUS 
 MEUSEL FLIiURIEU HUMBOLDT, &C. 
 
 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 JVbvus Orbis of GrynJEus 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 
 phic Universelle" (art. Gadamosto) sharply rebukes GrynsBus 
 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 Grynaeus. 
 
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 una 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 commorantcs !" This absurdity also is 
 copied into the Novus 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 pf 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 Cortereal's 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. 
 Fleurieuy in his Introduction to the Voyage de Marchand 
 (torn. i. p. 5), says: 
 
 " En 1500 ou 1501 Gaspar de Cortereal, Portugais, homme de nalssance partit de 
 Lisbone, arriva a Terre Neuve, en visita la cote orientale, se presenta a 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 a la cul 
 ture, parvint, enfin, remontant vers le Nord a 1'entree" d'un Detroit auquel il imposa 
 le nom de Detroit d'Anian et qui plus de cent ans apre"s 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, 8cc. 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 Biographie Universelle (art. Cortereal), ' Ce detroit auquel il donna le 
 nom d'Anian a recu depuis celui cF Hudson." 
 
255 
 
 matters is well known. The following extract is taken from his discourse on Terra 
 Ilnna 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 first of whom, as far as can be ascertained, was Caspar 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, See. &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 the 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 Ramusio 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 famished by Bamusio is decisive. In describing- the principal places on that 
 coast, he says, that beyond Capo de Qabo (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." (Barrdw, 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 Bio Nevado, 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. 4). 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 
 Snow Biver, 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 Thome 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. VIL 
 
 PROJECT 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 which 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 that 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 par te del 
 Norte hasta llegar a los Bacallaos ; porque se tiene cierto que 
 en aquella costa ai estrecho que pasa a la Mar del Sur"). 
 He states as a part 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 secret" (" como he dicho 
 hasta lajuntar 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 
 " moment" 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 CortereaPs 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. 
 
 VOYAGE OF STEPHEN GOMEZ IN THE SERVICE OF SPAIN. 
 
 THE 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 (" quocirca operse pretium putavi siprsecipua vari 
 orum navigationum et descriptionum Occidentalis India Ca 
 pita lectori communicarem"). 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 EngUsh 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 known. It is evi 
 dent, however, that he returned without bringing hack with him any hope of a 
 passage into the Eastern Seaa, having contented himself with seizing and bringing 1 
 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 \vord 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 pr ior 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, 
 Book iv. ) 
 
 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 maritimse peritus alia 
 tendat via qua se inquit reperturum inter Baccalaos et Flo- 
 ndas 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's 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, ch. 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 dictatas ne quis ulli gentium 
 vim afferat"). The jest arising out of the mistake of the 
 word "esclavos" for "clavos" is not forgotten. All this is 
 faithfully rendered in Lok's translation (fol. 317). In Oviedo 
 (Sonimario, 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 ks Baccalaos discurriendo al occidente et 
 pues en XL. grados y XLI. y assi algo mas y algo menos de donde traxo algunos 
 Indies y los ay de lies 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 
 mates 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 "Gaspares" 
 time. It will be 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 Majestie 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 commandement of Your Majestie say led to the Northe partes and founde a 
 greate parte of Lande continttate from that which is called Baccalaos discoursynge 
 towarde the West to the 40th and 4ilst degree vvhense he brought certeyn Indians 
 (for so caule wee all the nations of the new founde landes) of the wliich 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 lie directed his course is not at all 
 known." 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 hefore the time of Caspar 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 oil 
 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 
 pressly 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 
 
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 ad Stephanum Gomez quern in calce porrecti libelli (incipientis 'Prlus- 
 quam') cum una missum caravela dixi ad fretum aliud inter Floridam tellurem et 
 Baccalaoa satis tritos quserendum. 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 : 
 
 " Ubi accessit in portum Chinium unde vela fecerat unus quidam audito navi* 
 ejus adventu et quod esclabos (id est servos) adveheret nil ultra vestigans citatissimo 
 equorum cursu ad nos venlt anhelo spiritu inquiens clavis et preciosis gemmis onus- 
 
 * "Now I come to Stepnanus 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 Bacdaoa. 
 sufficiently known and frequented. He neither findinge the Straight nor Cataia. 
 which he promised, returned backe within tenn Monethes after his departure. 7 
 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 aflfert navim Stephanus Gomez, opimam se habiturum strenam arbitratus est, 
 Ad hanc hujus hominis ineptiam erecti qui rei faverent, universam obtunderunt 
 cum ingenti applausu curiam per aphaeresim dictione detruncata pro esclavis clavos 
 esse advectos prxconando (esclavos enim Hispanum idioma servos appellatet gario- 
 phyllos nuncupat clavos) postea vero quam a clavis in esclavos fabulam esse trans- 
 formatam Curia cognovit cum fautonim 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 (" endemanda de un estrechoque se ofrecio de 
 haller en tierra de Baccalaos"), his return without success, 
 and the jest about the " esclavos," he says (c. xl.) that Gomez 
 visited a region " que aun no estaba par otro vista 5 bien que 
 dicen como Sebastian Gabato la tenia primero tanteada" 
 (" which had never before been seen by any one, 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 whence he set sayle, a cer- 
 tayne man hearing of the arrivall of his Shippe and that hee had brought Esclavos,, 
 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 foolis-n and 
 idle report, wearied the whole Court with exceedinge great applause, cutting the 
 word by aphxresis proclaimynge that for esclavos hee hadd brought clavos (for the 
 Spanish tongue calleth slaves esclavos and cloves cfoww),but after the Court under- 
 stoode that 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 (p. 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 consent le souvenir du voyage de Gomez: ony litau dessous 
 de 1'emplacement occup par les etats de New York, de Connecticut et de Rhode- 
 Island Terre IPEtienne Gomez qu'il decouvrif en 1525 par I'ordre de S. M. Hy 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- 
 LAND, ADDRESSED TO HENRY VIII. 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 Bristol!,, 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 yeere our Lord 
 1527V 
 
 "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 tolde me by Sir Martine Frobisher, and M. Richard Allen, a Knight of the 
 Sepulchre, that a Canon of Saint Paul in London, 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 name 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 
 tote given by a religious man of those dayes: and that say ling 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 home 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 Ecclesiastic, 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 Gruitford, with all her [a bknk 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 Ilands 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 Iland 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 
 Ilands, 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 Samsm and wee kept cotnpany all the way till within two dayes 
 before we met with all the Ilands of Ice, that was the first day of July at night, and 
 there rose a great and a marvailous great stortne, and much foule weather ; I trust 
 in Almightie Jesu to heare goqd 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 size weeks one 
 for another, and watered at Cape de Bas ten dayes, oruering 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 ive found 
 eleven saile of Normans, and one Brittaine, 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 may meete with 
 our fellow, and so with all diligence that lyes in me toward parts to that Hands that 
 we are commanded fry 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- 
 ime Pater, placeat Reverendissimse paternitati vestrse scire, 
 Deo favente postquam exivimus a Plemut quae fuit 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 Corresppndence with the King and the Cardi 
 nal sufficiently assure us of the interest taken by these per 
 sonages in the enterprise, and the commands pf 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, Verrazarii, 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, for 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 Hoa- 
 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 her Treasury t without an Army, without Generah 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 Fce- 
 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 
 
 "Cseteraque demque omniaet singula agere, promittere et concludere in hoc 
 negotio suisque circumstantiis et dependentiis quibuscunqtle quae nosmetipsi si 
 prxsentes agere et concludere possemus, etiam si talia forent quae mandotum rt~ 
 quireruni magis spedale, promittentes bona fide et verbo nostro regio. Nos omnia 
 et singula per dictos oratores et Procoratores nostros pacta promissa et conclusa 
 impleturos et praestituros, nee ullo unquam tempore quovis qusesito colore, mfractu- 
 ros aut contraventuros scd perpetu6 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. Ail 
 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/ 7 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. y 
 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 Carder, in 1534. When such clear and 
 anthentic 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 Rarausio: 
 
 <r Et nell* ultimo viaggio che esso fece havendo voluto smontar in terra con alcuni 
 compagni furono tutti morti da quei popoli et in prcsentia 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, &e., 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 Navarro, the Captain of the Caravel, who 
 had immediately gone off to the English ship. Let us i\ow 
 turn again to Navarro's statement: 
 
 " 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 pursuing 
 her course had been in a frozen sea and found great islands of ice, and that taking 
 
 " 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. 
 
 2K 
 
274 
 
 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 the 
 Baccalaos where they found fifty sail of vessels, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, 
 engaged in fishing, that going on shore to communicate with the natives, the Pilot y 
 a native of Piedmont, was killed; that they proceeded afterwards along the coast 
 to the river Chicora, and crqssed over thence to the Island of St John. Asking 
 them what they sought in these islands, they said, that they wished to explore in 
 order to make report to the King of England; and to procure a load of the Brazil 
 wood."* 
 
 Comparing this with the letter of Rut, is it necessary to 
 enforce the coincidence in the year the sailing of the two 
 ships from England the separation by tempest the struggle 
 with the ice in the North the return to Baccalaos the 
 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 Ramusio ! 
 
 It was probably the death of Verrazani, and despair of being 
 rejoined by the Sampson, that induced Rut, the main object 
 being frustrated, to seek the only market which remained 
 for the merchandise with which the Mary of Guilford was 
 freighted. 
 
 Navarro 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. ii.) says, " They 
 affirm that these provinces lie under the same parallel of lat 
 itude with Andalusia in Spain ! They thoroughly examined 
 
 * Dixeron que eran Ingleses, i que la nao era de Inglaterra, i que aquella i otra 
 se avian armado, para ir buscar la Tierra del gran Can, i que un temporal las 
 havia apartado: ique siguiendo esta nao su viage dieron eji un mar elado, i que 
 hallaban grandes Islas de ielo: i que torn ando otra derrota, dieron en otra mar 
 caliente, que hervia como el agua en una caldera; i porque no se les derritasse la 
 brea, fueron reconocer a losEacallos, adonde hallaron cinquenta Naos astellanas 
 Francesas, i Portuguesas, pescando, i que alii quisieron salir en tierra, para tomar 
 lengua de los Indies, i \esmataro7i al Piloto, que era Piamontes i que desde alii avian 
 costeado hasta el Rio de Chicora, i que desde este Rio atravesarpn a la Isla de san 
 Juan; i preguntando les le que buscabamen aquellas Islas, dixeron, que las querian 
 ver, para dar relacion al Rei de inglaterra i cargar de Brasil (Herrera, Dec. ii. lib. 
 V. cap. iii.).' 
 
275 
 
 the principal countries, Chicora&nd Duhare." Peter Mar 
 tyr supposes these regions to " join the Baccalaos discovered 
 t)y 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 ta 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 apprehension 
 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 
 ro ef chant- tailor of London,* who went to Spam and is said, 
 without further particulars as to date, to have addressed the 
 letter found ia Hakluyt to Henry VIII. from Seville e< in 
 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 selectedvessels 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 Lunar, 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 tnay 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 de la navigation 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 VIIL 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 
 VII I. arty great encouragement to men of abilities and enterprise to undertake 
 voyages of discovery K and thereby expose themselves to the king's fickle and 
 tyrannical temper in case of 'miscarriage."* 
 
 " JJut it is more difficult to discover what prevented this scheme of Henry VII. 
 from being resumed during the reigns of his son and grandson, and to give any 
 reason why no attempt was made cither to explore tie Northern Continent of 
 America more fully, or to settle in it. Henry VlII.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 objeds t neither the King nor the Nobles 
 had inclination or leisure to turn their attention to new pursuits f 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, 
 .hough 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." % 
 
 * Forster, Northern Voyages, p. 268. 
 j- Dr Robertson's America, book 5x. 
 
 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 ."* Amongst the company, it is stated, 
 were " many gentlemen of the Inns of Court, and of the Chan- 
 cerie" One of the persons particularly spoken of, is " M. 
 Rastall, Sergeant RastalPs 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 #nd 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 potable oration, containing how much 
 these dealings offended tHe Almightie, and vouched the Scrip- 
 
 * Hakluyt, vol. in. p. 129. f Ibid. vol. Hi. p. 130. f Ib. 
 
279 
 
 tures 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 acton 
 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 discoverie. ?; Buts musjt have heen 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 fui ?? and the old man, though long retired from busi 
 ness, kindled up at the reminiscence : " Such was thepolicie 
 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 
 pilie that he punished not his subjects, hut 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 hy 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: 
 
 "Averielate 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 Hut 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 afl 
 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 fay ling- 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, explore4 the northern 
 
 2L 
 
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, (Historta Insulana Cordeiro I 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 
 feted 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 w 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 discovery 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 hts 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, has 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 little 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 whicn 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,.8c depois a mim & a elle, confiando em a sua bondade, & lealdade, & 
 vendo a sua disposicao, a qual he para, poder servir o dito Sbhor & manter seu 
 direyto, &, justica, em galardao dos ditos services Ihe fiz merce de Capitania da flha 
 Terceyra." 
 
284 
 
 the V. about the year 1463, and discovered the Terra dt Baccalhao* 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. 
 
 f 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 
 (tide 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- 
 
386. 
 
 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 t 1 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 bath 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 
 VH. 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-halfj end 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, 8cc. 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 trayaile. 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 
 mtered 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 be 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 Gabotha ? 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 Frbbteher's admirers to cast 
 iato 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, arid 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 sa#e towardes an Island, called the GabriePsMaM, 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. Itfloweth 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 the"re 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 tie former Island, ten 
 leagues. 
 
 "The 19 day in the morning, being calme, and no winde, the Captaine and I 
 teoke our boate, with eight men in her, to rowtis 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 retuined 
 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 us, 
 and we rowed to them, and one of their company came into our boate, and we 
 
 2M 
 
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 among 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 1 , 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 riding there all night, in the morning, the snowe lay 
 a foote thicke upon our hatches. 
 
 " The 22 day in the morning 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 liim 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 aew 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." 
 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 ^dangerous gulf about the great open 
 ing between the North parts of Newfoundland antii the coun 
 try lately called by her Majesty Meta Incognita." (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 a&d islands is not 
 given by Hall, but is stated by Best, (Hakluyt, 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 1 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 minerall. 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 theni withal b'ut 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 hands of those places, whereby to enjoy the masse of so 
 great a public profit vfito theil- 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 morfc 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 oflanguage. 
 and ako having met with these people here which intercepted his men the lastycre 
 (as the apparell and English furniture which was found in their tents, very well 
 declared) he knew it was but a labor lost toseeke them further off*, when he had 
 found them there at hand. And considering also the. short time he' 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 it beareth, 
 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 hq 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, and had sight of land, which rose in form like the Northerland of the Straits, 
 which some of the fleetes, and those not the worst marine*s, 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 
 A-hich 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 Souihwestwards 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 rocke or broken 
 ground should lie off the place, as commonly in those parts it doth" (p. 80). 
 
293 
 
 The General, albeit, -tfith the first, perchance, he found out the error, and that 
 this was not the olde straights, yet he persuaded the Fleete alwayesth&t they were 
 in their right course, and knowen straights. Howbeit, I suppose, he rather dis 
 sembled his course." ** And as some of the companie reported, he has since con 
 fessed that if it had not beenefor the charge and care he had of the fleets and freighted 
 ships, 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 seeke to fade 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," Sec. 
 (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. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) 
 
 -i (Seepage 42.) 
 FABYAN'S CHRONICLEALLUSION TO THE VOYAGE OF CABOT. 
 
 FABTAN 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 
 Etlis'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 
 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 lo account 
 for the disappearance of the intermediate matter, a conjecture may be 
 hazarded. Bale, in his " Scriptorum Illustrium Magni Brytanniae, 
 &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 nobi4ity, and hated of the people. 9 ' " He 
 (Henry VII.) kept a strait hand on his nobility, 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 Pynson'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 l>y 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 OAQUI- 
 
 BAOOA. 
 
 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 adduced 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^s Florida without reaching its termi 
 nation. Of this fact 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 6th 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 Terra 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 thereby prevent 
 ed from making discoveries in that direction (Navarette, torn. iii. 
 p. 86). 
 
 "Item: quevaes 6 sigais aquella costa que descubristes que se corre leste 
 Tuest, segun parece, per razon que va hacia laparte donde se ha sabido que des- 
 cubrian los Ingleses vais poniendo las marcas con las armas de SS. A. A. 6 con 
 otras senales que scan conocidas, cuales vos pareciere porque se conozcacomo voa 
 habes descubierto aquella tierra, para que atages el descubrir de los Ingleses por 
 aquella via." 
 
 A Grant of Land is made to Hojeda in consideration prospectively 
 ofhis active exertions to prosecute discoveries and to check those of 
 the English (ib. p. 88). 
 
 ** Para que labrees, fagaes labrar, vos aprovecheis podais aprovechar de 
 alii, para lo que habees de descubrir i en la costa de la tierra fame para el atajo 
 de loa 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 ooast, 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, (here 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 Jo 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 rival 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 the last 
 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 tha f 
 
304 
 
 " 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 which 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 Ingleses" will not bear the translation 
 of the Cyclopaedia without the substitution indicated by brackets, 
 " as that is [goes towards] the part where the English are knowa 
 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 
 
 (CO 
 (See page 174.) 
 
 WAS CABOT APPOINTED GRAND PILOT? 
 
 A DOtTBT 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 " Cheyfie 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 famine man Master Sebas 
 tian Cabota." 
 
 2 
 
506 
 
 (D.) 
 (Seepage 224.) 
 
 LETTERS PATENT NOW FIRST PUBLISHED DATED 19 MARCH 1501, FROM 
 HENRY VII, TO RICHARD WARDE, THOMAS ASHEHTJRST, AND JOHN THO 
 MAS, OF BRISTOL, AND JOHN FERNANDUS, FRANCIS FERNAWDUS, AND 
 JOHN GUNSOLUS OF PORTUGAL. 
 
 MEMORANDUM quod XIX die Marcii, anno regni Regis Henrici 
 Septimi XVI, ista Billa delibata fuit Domino Custodi Magni Sigilli 
 Angliae apud Westmonasterium exequenda. 
 
 TO THE KYNG OUR SO VERB YNE LORD. 
 
 Please it your Highness of your most noble and habundaunt Grace 
 to graunt unto your welbeloved subjects Richard Warde, Thomas 
 Asshehurst and Johp 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 Seale 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 Seale, 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 
 conty nuance of your most noble and ryall astate. 
 
 H. R. 
 
 Rex universis et singulis ad quos praesentes Literal Nostrae per- 
 vcnerint 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 Haeredibus Nostris quantum in 
 Nobis est, dilectis subditis nostro Ricardo Warde, Thomae Asshurst, 
 et Johanni Thomas, mercatoribus Villae NostraeBristolliaB ac dilectis 
 nobis Johanni Fernandus, Francisco Fernandus et Johanni Gunsolus, 
 armigeris in Insulis de Surrys sub obediencia Regis Portugaliss ori- 
 
307 
 
 undis, et eorum cuilibet ac cujuslibet eonim hsredibus, attomatis, 
 factoribus, seu deputatis ac eis et eorum cuilibet plenam ac liberam 
 auctoritatem, facultatem et potestatem cdmmittimus navigandi etse 
 transferendi ad omnes partes, regiones et fines Maris Orientalis Oc- 
 cidentalis, Australia, 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 extiteri^ cum Magistris, contromagistris, 
 marinariis pagettisaliisquehominibus pro gubernatione, salva custo- 
 dia et defensione Navium et Batellarum prsedictarum competentibus 
 requisitis et necessariis, ad custus et onera dicti Ricardi et alioruin 
 praedictorum et pro hujusmodi salariis vadiis et stipendiis prout inter 
 eos poterunt concordare ad inveniendum, recuperandum, descope- 
 riendum et investigandum Insulas, patrias, Uegiones sive provincias 
 quascunque Gentilium et Infidelium in quacunque Mundi parte po- 
 sitas quae Christianis omnibus ante haec'tempora fuerunt et in prx- 
 senti sunt incognita. 
 
 Ac hujusmodi Banneras et insignia nostra in quacunque villa, op- 
 pido, Castro insula seu terra-firma a se sie noviter inventis affigendi, 
 ipsasque villas, oppida, castra, inswlas 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 prseeminencia eorundem nobis semper reservatis, 
 occupandi possidendi et subjugandi. 
 
 Et insuper quandocumque, imposterum, hujusmodi Insulae Patriae, 
 Terras et Provincia3 per praefatos Ricardum et alios praevocatos ad- 
 eptae recuperatae et inventae fuerint, tune volumus et per praesentes 
 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 Prsesen- 
 tium potestatem et auctoritatem omnes et singulos homines marina- 
 rios cseterasque personas ad Insulas, Patrias, Provincias terras firmas 
 et loca prsedicta ex causa praedicta se divertentes et confluentes tarn 
 
303 
 
 in comitiva dictorum Ricardi et aliorum praenominatorum quam in 
 comitiva aliorum illuc imposterum recursum habere contingentium 
 tarn supra Mare quam in Insulis, patriis, terris-firmis et locis hujus- 
 modi post quam inventa et recuperata fuerint regendi et gubernandi 
 .Legesque Ordinationes, Statuta et Proclamationes pro bono et quieto 
 regimine et gubernatione dictorum hominum, magistrorum, marina- 
 riorum, et aliarum personarum praedictarum faciendi, stabiliendi, 
 ordinandi et constituendi et superinde proclamationes faciendi ac 
 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 eorurn 
 voluntatem aut aliter, rapuerint et violaverint juxta leges et statute 
 per ipsos in hac parte ordinata castigandi et puniendi. Ac etiam 
 concessimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni, Johanni, Francisco 
 et Johanni haeredibus et assignatis suis quodpostquam aliquae insulae, 
 provinciae, Terrae-firmae, regio seu provincia imposterum per ipsum 
 Ricardum et alios preenominatos inventa fuerint tune 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 ingredi 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 
 cceterorum sub poena amissionis et forisfacturae omnium Bonarum, 
 mercandisarum, rerum et navium quarumcunque ad ea loca sic no 
 viter inventa navigare et in eadem ingredi pragsumentium (videlicet) 
 una medietas inde erit ad opus nostrum et alia medietas ad opus dic- 
 toram Ricardi et aliorum prsenominatorum et haeredum suorum, 
 
 Et ultius ex abundanti gratia nostra concessimus et per Praesentes 
 concedimus pro nobis et haeredibus nostris quantam in nobis est 
 praefatis Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni, Johanni, Francisco et Johanni 
 et eorum cuilibet haeredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi et eorum 
 quilibet mercandisas, mercimonia, aurum et argentum in macsa, lapi- 
 
 
309 
 
 des preeiosa et alia bona quaecumque de creseeutia patriarum, insu- 
 larumque et locorum praedictorum per ipsos sic recuperandorum ct 
 inveniendorum tarn in dictis navibus et batellis 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 cariare et adduci seu cariari facere possit 
 et valeat, eaque vendere et distribuere ad eorum proficium et advan- 
 tagium aliquo Statute actu ordinatione seu provisione inde in con- 
 trarium factis sive ordinatis nonobstantibus. 
 
 Ac nos intime considerantes grandia custus et onera quae circa prae- 
 missa facienda et perimplendo requiruntur volentes igitur praefatis 
 Ricardo> Thomae et aliis memoratis personis gratiam provide facere 
 specialem Concessimus (prout) per Prsesente's concedimus eisdem, 
 hseredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi et eorum quilibet h redes et 
 assignati sui prsedicti de temporein tempus durante termino quatuor 
 annorum a tempote recuperationis et inventionis Insularum, et pro- 
 vinciarum prsedictarum proximo et immediate sequentes, mercandi- 
 sas, mercimonia caeteraque bona in uno navi tantum cujuscunqUe 
 portagii fuerit eskippata et onustata ac in hoc regnum nostrum An- 
 gliae adducenda et transportanda in portu seu loco praedicto ad ter- 
 ram ponere, eaque vendere, exponere et pro libito uuo 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 casteris praemissis in 
 dicta unica navi tantum contentis et eskippatis nobis aut haeredibus 
 nostris infra dictuih regnum nostrum Anglia? aliqualiter solvendis. 
 
 Proviso tamen quod nobi& de custumis, subsidiis pondagiis et aliis 
 deveriia Nobis pro caeteris mercandisis, mercimoniis et bonis in 
 omnibas aliis navibus contentis debitis juxta cdnsuetudinem in hoc 
 regno nostro Angliae hactenus usitatam fideliter respondeatur ut est 
 justum. Et Insuper volumtis et concedimus per Prsesentes quod 
 quilibet Capitalis Magister, contra magister et Marinarius cujuslibet 
 NaviS ad aliquam Terram-firmam Insulam, patriam, provinciam et 
 locum praedictum frequentantis et pavigantishabeant gaudeant et per- 
 cipiant de bonis et mercimoniis a dictis Insulis, Terris-firmis et Pro- 
 vinciis in hoc regnum Angliae 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] lit bona sua propria aut ut bona alicujus alterius persons cu- 
 juscunque et hoc absque aliquibus custumis, subditis debitis seu de- 
 veriis infra hoc regnum nostrum Angliae ad opus nostrum aut hsere- 
 dum nostrorum pro eisdenr doliitf 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, praefatis, Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni, 
 Johanni, Francisco, Johanni hseredibus et assignatis suis quod ipsi 
 durante termino decem annorum antedicto habeant de quolibet hu- 
 jusrnodi rnercatore, 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 Angliae traducendorum et cariandorum ha- 
 bendam et capiendam hujusmodi vicesimam partem in portu ubi con- 
 tigerit dicta bona discarcari et exonerarL 
 
 Proviso Semper quod praedicti 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- 
 nrmis et Patriis pro quibuscunque hujusmodi 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 praesentia praefatorum Ricardi et aliorum praedictorum eorumvB 
 hseredum seu deputatorum ad hoc assignandum sub poena forisfac- 
 turae eorumdem bonarum et mercandisiarum ; unde una medietas ad 
 opus nostrum et alia medietas praefatis Ricardo et aliis praenominatis 
 et haeredibus suis applicentur. 
 
 Et *i imposterum aliqui extranet aut alias [the part in italics sup 
 plied as before] personae ad ipsas partes contra voluntatern ipsorum 
 Ricardi et aliorum praenominatorum causa habendi divitias navigare 
 et ea vi et armis ingredi ac dictos Ricardum et alios praedictos aut 
 hseredes 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 terrain quam per mare et aquas dulces expugnan- 
 di resistendi et Gueriam contra eos levandi et faciendi casque 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 praefatis subditis nostris caeterisque personis praedictis 
 plenam tenore Praesentium potestatem damus et committimus sub se 
 quoscunque Capitaneos, Locatenentes et Deputatos in singulis Civi- 
 tatibus, villis, Oppidis et Locis dictarum Insularum Provinciarum, 
 Patriarum et Locorum praedietorum 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 effectum Ordinationum 
 Statutorum et Proclamationum praedictorum debite exequendum et 
 administrandum per Literas suas Patentes sigillis eonim sigillandas, 
 faciendi, constituendi nominandi et substituendi. Et insuper con- 
 cessimus et per Praesentes concedimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomse, 
 Johanni, Johanni, Francisco et Johanni ad terminum vitae suae et 
 cujuslibet eorum diutius viventis officium Admiralli supra Mare in 
 quibuscunque locis, patriis, et provinces 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 ^xercendi et exequendi secundum 
 legem et consuetudinem maritimam in hoc regno nostro Angliae 
 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 
 jnvenerint, obtinuerint, et subjugaverint tune volumus et per Pree- 
 sentes concedimus eisdem, haeredibus et 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 posstmt inhabitare, 
 
312 
 
 custodire sustinere et manutere: Habenda et Tenendaeadem Terras 
 Insulas et loca prsedicta sibi> hseredibus et assignatis suis et cujusli- 
 bet eorem de nobis ethaeredibus nostris imperpetuum per Fidelitatem 
 tantum absque aliquo Compoto" seu aliquo alio nobis aut haeredibus 
 nostris proinde reddendo seu faciendo, Dignitate Dominio, Regali- 
 tate, Jurisdictione, et pre-eminentia in eisdem nobis semper salvis et 
 omnino reservatis. 
 
 Et ultius concessimus praefatis Ricardo, Thomae, Johanni, Johan- 
 ni, Francisco, Johanni quod ipsi haeredes et assignati sui praedicti 
 dictas terras-firmas, insulas et provincias ipsis et haeredibus suis prae- 
 dictis ut praemittitur sic concessas, postquam iaventae et recuperates 
 sint, ac cum in plena possessiorie earundem fuerint teneant possideant 
 et gaudeant libere, quiete, et pacifice absque impedimento aliquali 
 nostri aut'haeredum nostrorum quarumcunque, Et quod nullus es: 
 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 seualiquis extranet^ 
 aut aliqui extranei virtute aut colore alicujus concessions nos- 
 trsB sibi Magno Sigillo Nostro per antea factse aut imposterum 
 faciendse 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 tbe 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 future ipsos aut 
 eorum aliquam hasredes 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 emergente 
 seu contingente ab eisdem Terris-firmis, provinciis et locis nullo 
 modo amovebimus.aut amoveri seu expelli per subditos nostros pro 
 curabimus. Et ultius ex uheriori gratia nostra et mero motu nostro 
 concessimus et per Praesentes concedimus pro Nobis et haeredibns 
 
313 
 
 quantum in nobis est Johanni Johanni Fernandus, Francisco Fernan- 
 dus et Johanni Gunsalos, Armigeris de Insulis de Surrys subditos 
 Regis Portugaliaeoriundiset eorum cuilibetquod ipsi et eorum quili- 
 bet ac omnes liberi sui tarn procreati quam procreandi in perpetuam 
 flint indigeni et ligei nostri et hsereduiu 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 Angliae oriundi etnon aliternec 
 alio mbdo. 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 prsedic- 
 tum oriundi. Et quod ipsi et eorum quilibet Terras, Tenementa, 
 reditus, reversiones, servitia et alios possessiones quaecunque tarn in 
 ddminio quam in reversione infra dictum regnum nostrum Angliae 
 ac alia dominia et loca sub obedientia nostra perquirere, capere, reci- 
 pere, habere tenere possidere et haereditare sibi, haeredibus et assig- 
 Ratis sui imperpetuum .vel alio modo quocunque ac ea dare, vendere, 
 alienare et legare cuieunque personae sive quibus-cunque personiis 
 sibi placuerit libere, qiiiete, licite et impune possint et quilibet eorum 
 possit ad libitum suum adeo libere integre et pacifice sicut possit et 
 valeat aliquis Ligeorum nostroruzn infra regnum nostrum Angliae 
 oriundus. Ita tamen quod prasdicti Johannes Fernandus, Francis- 
 eus et Johannes Gunsolus et omnes liberi sui praedicti 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 castero 
 in futuro colore seu vigore alicujus Statuti, Ordinacionis sive con- 
 ceseionis in Parliamento nostro aut extra Parliamenium nostrum facti 
 vel fiendi non arcteantur seu compellantur nee eorum aliquis arctenea- 
 tur teneatur seu compellatur ad solvendum, dandum vel supportan- 
 dum nobis vel alicui haeredum nostrorum seu cuicunque alteri aliqua 
 Taxas, Tallagia seu alia onera quaecunque pro terris, tenementis, bonis 
 vel personis suis praeterquam talia et tanta qualia et quanta alii fideles 
 Ligei nostri infra dictum Regnum nostrum oriundi pro bonis, terris 
 tenementis seu personis suis solvunt dant faciunt vel supportant aut 
 2P 
 
314 
 
 solvere, dare, facere vel supportare consueverunt et teneantur sed 
 quod praedicti Johannes Fernandus, Franciscus et Johannes Gunso- 
 lus et omnes liberi sui praedicti habere et possidere valeant et possint 
 et eorum quilibet valeat et possit omnia et omnimodo alia Libertates, 
 privilegia, franchesias et custumas ac eis uti et gaudere possint et 
 eorum quilibet possit infra dictum Regnum nostrum Angliae, 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 praefati 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 pras- 
 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 hseredi- 
 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 uberiori 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 nostri? 
 aut aliqua parte eorundem aut pro Magno Sigillo nostro ad opiu 
 nostrum in Hannaperio dictae Cancellarias nostrae aliqualiter sol- 
 vendis. 
 
 Et volumus et concedimus per Praesentes quod Reverendissimus 
 in Christo Pater Henricus Episcopus Salisb. Gustos Magni Sigilli 
 nostri auctoritate praesentis 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 
 
 (See page 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 
 proteg6 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 
 yoyage, 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 Norumbegain connexion with 
 the enterprise of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and in a way not te 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, inRamu- 
 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 paesani 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 Francayse 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 
 alia 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, and sometimes 
 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 OP SEBASTIAN OABOT 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 Angll, filii Joannis 
 Caboti Veneti militis aurati, fyc. ; 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 Inventoris Terras Novae sub Henrico VIL *ftngli& 
 JRege." 
 
 The manner in which the Portrait came to the knowledge of Mr 
 Harford, and finally into his possession, is very minutely stated in 
 & 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 following circumstances: 
 
 There is a tract by Evelyn, the celebrated author of Sylvct, &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 
 fusive 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 King 1 , 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, hanging's, 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, Oatlands, Windsor, Wimbleton-house, St James's, Hampton- 
 court, Richmond, Theobalds, Ludlow, Carisbrook, and Kenilworth Castles; Bewd- 
 ley-house, Holdenby-house, Royston, Newmarket, and Woodstock manor-house. 
 One may easily imagine that suoh 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 
 sura stipulated. Among the purchasers of statues and pictures were several pain- 
 
319 
 
 ters, as Dccritz, 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-mentioned 
 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 and 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 posi'tion emblematic, indeed, of the 
 slight on the closing years of the great original,* 
 
 * A Catalogue of the Pictures, &c., belonging to Charles I., drawn up in his 
 lifetime, and apparently for his use, is found amongst the Harleian MSS. No. 
 4718. Amongst those enumerated as then in the Privy Gallery 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 THB 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.). 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 /wo Portraits 
 of Cabot, bearing the same remarkable inscription, were executed by the great- 
 Artist of his day. 
 
 * ' Ce livre inconnu a tous les Bibliographes que nous avons consulted cst 
 peutetre imaginaire" (art. Cabot). 
 
321 
 
 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 Biographie 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 (foh 219) with the corres 
 ponding part in Hakluyt, vol. i. p. 295. Bancroft Librwjjl 
 
 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 Biographie Universelle. That 
 work (art. Ramusio) earnestly advises the reader to consult Camtts* 
 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 " Histoire et Description Generale de Ja 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, "II cite pourgarant dece 
 faitPauteur de 1'Histoire de la N&uvelle France; je n^ai pu 1'y trouver ail moins 
 dans Fedition de 1609-!" 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 request, 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 delJe navigation! fatte da Amerigo Ves 
 pucci all* Indie Occidental! per ordine de gli Re de Castiglia, ma solanaente di 
 quelle due che el fece di Commissionie del Re di Fortogallo" (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 wouid 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." ID short, the 
 misconception has been uirversal, 
 
 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 
 
 ft No pure e convene vole, ma par mi anco di essere obligate a dire alquate 
 parole accompagnate dalla verita per diffesa del Signer Christoforo Colombo, Uqual 
 fu ilprimo inventore di discoprire etfar venire in luce qucsta meta del mondo." 
 
 t " Tutte queste cose lo inducevano a voler far questo viaggio, havendo fisso 
 nelP animo che andando a dritto per Ponente esso troverebbe le parti di Levant! 
 ove sono Tlndie." 
 
 t " Genoua si vanti et glorii di cosi excellente huomo cittadin suo et mettasi 
 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 [theZeni] "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.'^ 
 
 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 che havesse la Grecia contesero insieme affer- 
 mando ciascuna che egli era su Cittadino, ma fa un huomo il quale hafatto nascer 
 al mondo un altro mondo che 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." 
 He loftily denounces the baseness with which a low envy had seized on and dressed 
 up this tale, " ad approvar la detta favola et dipingerla con mille colori." 
 
 " Et se 1'affettione della patria non m'inganna, mi par che per ragion probabile 
 si possa aflfermare che questo fatto per terra debba esser anteposto a quello di 
 mare," Pref. torn. ii. 
 
 | 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 
 iuto the History of Playing Cards, with Illustrations of the origin of Printing and 
 Engraving on Wood," is an account (p. 64-65) of Marcolini's beautiful volume, 
 entitled Le Sortl. "The decorative woodcuts are very numerous, and many of 
 them very beautiful ; great numbers of them afterwards served to decorate the 
 Capriccios 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.'* 
 
325 
 
 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 moggiori"). 
 
 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 refer 
 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 JEsto- 
 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 flte 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 sorte et sopra 
 tutto abondano d'Oro et le lor pratiche sono in Engroneland di 
 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.' 5 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 1582. The matter, then, stands thus. Hakluyt 
 followed 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 Hakluy t (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. 
 
 Additional matter appearing in 2nd London Edition 
 at Pages 77-78 and mentioned in Preface. To para 
 graph in Text ending "was first discovered by an 
 expedition commissioned to 'set up the banner' of 
 England." The following Note is appended: 
 
 "A passage in the Interlude of the Nature of the Four Elements" given in 
 Mr. Collier's recent 'Annals of the Stage,' supplies a curious allusion to this 
 fact. The Interlude is by some antiquarians referred to the year 1510, and by 
 others to 1517: 
 
 "And also what an honorable thynge. 
 Both to the Realme and to the Kynge, 
 To have had his domnynyon extendynge 
 There into so far a grounde 
 Whiche the noble Kynge of late memory. 
 The most wyse prynce, the VII Kerry 
 Caused furst for to bee founde".