ditionally, to the Cabots and their family for ever.

Under this patent,

John Cabot and his son Sebastian embarked for the west, and discovered the Continent of North America on the 24th of June, 1497, near Labrador, in latitude 56° north. This was some time before Columbus, in his third voyage, came in, sight of the Continent, and two years before Amerigo Vespucci sailed west of the Canaries. It seems, then, that the American Continent was first discovered by a Bristol merchant, without any aid or assistance whatever from the crown. Although the Cabots derived little or no benefit from the expedition, England acquired a title. to North America, which she afterward successfully asserted. The fact of its having been first seen by a Bristol mariner, from the deck of a vessel bearing her flag, though fitted out for private adventure, conferring, in the opinion of a British Parliament, (after the Reformation,) a better title than the grant of a Roman pontiff.

John Cabot having made, as he supposed, an important discovery, hastened home without landing on its coast, to announce his success; and on the 3rd of February, 1498, a new patent was issued, and another voyage undertaken by Sebastian Cabot, for purposes of traffic, in which the frugal king became a partner. Sebastian Cabot was a man of great benevolence and courtesy, daring in conception, and patient in execution. He guided, for more than half a century, the commercial enterprise of Europe with the western Continent. Having, in his second voyage, arrived upon the coast of Labrador, in latitude 58° north, he was induced by the severity of the climate to sail to the south, and did so, as far as Maryland, and thence he returned, for want of provisions, directly to England. subsequent period, he received the title of pilot-major from Charles V., and was much applauded by the Spaniards for his achievements and skill. He also advanced the commerce of England, on his return thither, and after a life of peril, was gathered to his fathers in extreme old age. Although he had given a Continent to his adopted country, such was the ingratitude of its monarch, that "the old veteran seaman," the hero of a thousand storms, was buried somewhere, it is said, in England, but where is still uncertain. No monument marks the spot where "the hero was laid."

Adventures without profit soon languished; and during the reign of Henry VIII., scarce anything in the way of discovery was effectedHenry and his celebrated minister, Cardinal Woolsey, having other business in hand: a few efforts, it is true, were made, but none deserving of record.

A new era, however, was approaching. English commerce was about to burst its fetters, and English valor to display its glory. Her sailors no longer feared the heat and fevers of the south, nor the cold and icebergs of the north; and her merchants sought competition in every clime. The restraints imposed by religion-the ambition which avarice had inspired-and a desire for strange adventures, which had engrossed the thoughts of the high, the low, and the brave, having previously driven the

boldest and most daring spirits of Castile to the newly-discovered world in search of fame, and fortune; and their deeds being recorded by Spanish historians, and now emblazoned forth in England, in consequence of the matrimonial alliance contracted between Philip of Spain, and Mary, Queen of England, induced the merchants and mariners of the latter, to vie with those of the former on the ocean and the land-the marriage of Philip and Mary having tended, as it undoubtedly did, to excite the emulation it was intended to check.

The firmness of Elizabeth, aided in a great degree the efforts of her subjects; and the ascendency of the Protestant religion, unquestionably completed what she had begun. The celebrated Armada having been defeated, the hopes and expectations of the Spanish monarch were checked for a time, and England (no longer the ally, but the antagonist of Philip,) aspired to be mistress of the northern seas. She therefore strengthened her navy-filled her arsenals-and encouraged the building of ships. Her privateers soon visited the harbors of Spanish America in hostile array, and the rich galleons of Spain, laden with extorted treasures, decorated her ports.

The discovery of a northwest passage to India, or Cathay, as it was then called, having excited considerable attention, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, reposing from the toils of war, wrote a treatise upon the subject, which met with universal favor. Martin Frobisher, in 1576, followed in his wake, esteeming it, as he quaintly observes, "the only thing of the world that was yet left undone, by which a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate." Too poor to fit out an expedition at his own expense, he sought aid of his friends-tendered his services to merchants, and finally to his sovereign, but all in vain. Dudley, Earl of Warwick, at last promoted his design, and fitted out a squadron for that purpose, consisting of three vessels, (if such they could be called,) one of twenty-five tons, one of twenty, and a pinnace of ten tons. With this humble armament,

As

Frobisher was to traverse unknown seas, and to battle with storms. he dropped down the Thames, on the 8th of June, 1576, Queen Elizabeth “waved her hand in token of favor;" and the admiral, standing on the deck of his flag-ship of twenty-five tons, responded to his sovereign, (who had not advanced a shilling to defray the expenses,) and departed in quest of other worlds. The pinnace, overtaken by a storm, was swal lowed up by the sea. The commander of the Michael became terrified and returned; and the brave old admiral was left to pursue his voyage alone. After enduring hardships apparently incredible, he arrived on the coast of Labrador, entered the bay now called Frobisher's Bay, took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, erected the standard of England on its coast, gathered stones and rubbish from the shore, seized one of the natives for exhibition on his return, and arrived safely in England. This is the most extraordinary, well-attested, naval expedi tion on record.

America and its mines were now associated together. The stones brought by Frobisher from the north, being examined by the refiners of London, were said to be impregnated with gold. The avarice of the English nation was at once roused to activity, and some citizens of London applied to Elizabeth for a lease of this northern El Dorado. A fleet was fitted out immediately to bring home the precious metal, and Elizabeth, who had contributed nothing as yet to the expense, sent a large ship of her own to join the expedition. Having reached the northeastern coast of America, their danger became imminent. Mountains of ice encompassed them on every side. The light, however, reflecting from floating icebergs, enabled them so to direct their course, as to avoid the most imminent perils; and the mariners, agitated sometimes by hope and sometimes by fear, now looking for death, and now for gold, escaped at length with their lives; and by incessant toil, in which the admiral participated in common with the meanest sailor, loaded their fleet with a large quantity of useless earth, and returned to England. The spirit of adventure was now excited to its highest pitch, and a magnificent fleet of fifteen sail, was fitted out, partly at the expense of Elizabeth. The sons of some of the English gentry embarked as volunteers. Some were chosen to form a colony, destined to vie with Mexico and Peru, in a region which produced neither tree nor shrub; and twelve vessels were ordered to return immediately with ore. As the fleet approached the northeastern coast, it got bewildered amid the icebergs, and afterward lost in the fog. One vessel was crushed and sunk-the zeal of volunteer colonists abated -one ship laden with provisions deserted and returned—and the sailors, disheartened and being ready to mutiny, the settlement was abandoned. They freighted, however, a ship with mineral from an island they discovered, and like other foolish projectors, contrived to conceal their loss. The historians of the expedition are silent as to the disposition of the cargo, and the whole affair was consigned promptly to oblivion. It had, however, a salutary effect. Avarice was rebuked, and the belief of golden regions among the Esquimaux, dissipated at once and for ever.

While Frobisher was threading his way among icebergs, “getting in at one gap and out at another," Francis Drake, afterward Sir Francis Drake, was acquiring fame and fortune as a freebooter in the Spanish harbors of South America. Although his career was little else than splendid piracy, and Oxhenham, a subordinate officer who had ventured to imitate his master, was taken by the Spaniards and hanged without exciting a murmur in England, (his sentence being considered perfectly just,) Drake continued, by the magnitude of his exploits, (saying nothing of their character,) to encircle his name with a halo of glory. Its effects however upon commerce were exceedingly injurious. The minds of sailors became debased, by a passion for sudden, unexpected, and unearned acquisitions. The receipt of regular wages seemed base and unmanly, when, by hazarding life only, boundless plunder awaited their bidding. Commerce, like every other species of business, is in fact most

prosperous, when dependent upon regular industry, and the mines which exalt a nation most, are those near its surface.

The English fisheries about this time (1578,) became exceedingly important. As nurseries of seamen, their value was immense. They prepared the way too for permanent settlements. While Elizabeth and her partners in the slave-trade, (Sir John Hawkins and others,) and in piracy, (Sir Francis Drake and others,) in the profits of whose adventures, we are told she participated, were dazzled by the glittering prospects before them, Sir Humphrey Gilbert was forming extensive plans for permanent colonization. He stood high in the army; he had also been a soldier of rank, and a member of Parliament. He was an able writer, and esteemed for his piety. Having obtained a patent from the crown, according to the commercial theories which prevailed in that day, giving him and his assigns a right to the soil within two hundred leagues of his settlement, with executive and legislative powers both civil and criminal, he collected a company of volunteer adventurers, defraying the expenses principally himself, and put to sea. One of his ships was lost, and the residue were compelled by a contest with the Spaniards to return. Being too much impoverished to renew the attempt, his patent and settlement, after divers ineffectual struggles, were finally abandoned.

About the time of De Gourgis's return from chastising Spanish bigotry and insolence in Florida, a young gentleman by the name of Raleigh, left the University of Oxford, to participate in the wars of France; and with the young and ardent Prince of Navarre, afterward Henry the IV., studied the art of war, under the veteran Coligny. The Protestants were then excited at the massacre which De Gourgis had avenged; and some of those unfortunate men who had escaped, having been landed by Sir John Hawkins upon the English coast, found their way into the presence of Elizabeth. The gentleman above referred to, was no other than the celebrated Sir Walter Raleigh, a step-brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Young, handsome, and brave-the favorite of Elizabeth—a scholar, a soldier, and a patriot; he had returned a short time before from the Continent, and was now basking in the sunshine of imperial favor. His active genius delighted in adventure; and the New World spread its charms before him. To lay the foundation of new states, and thus extend the dominions of his sovereign, were objects, as he thought, worthy of ambition. He sighed for renown, and at the same time, burned for vengeance. The rich galleons of Spain, may have passed in his sunny moments before him; or the renown of his early friend and companion, Sir Francis Drake, may have troubled and perplexed his thoughts.

In 1583, he equipped a fleet at his own expense, and gave the command of it to his step-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who, on his departure, received from Elizabeth a golden anchor, guided by a lady, as a token of her regard. The expedition sailed under fortunate omens, and a colony might, perhaps, have been established in America, but for the misfortunes by which the projector was overwhelmed. Gilbert having

sailed for Newfoundland, entered the harbor of St. John, and summoned the Spaniards, Portuguese, and other strangers there, to witness the cere monies by which he took possession of the country; erected a monument with the arms of England upon it; granted lands to the fishermen in fee, on the payment of quit-rent; freighted his largest ship in secret, "with the precious ore," and embarked for England. Intending to visit the coast of the United States, he sailed to the south. His largest ship was wrecked by the carelessness of its crew, and nearly a hundred men, with all the "mineral" were lost. His seamen, little better than pirates, were continually bent on pillaging every vessel that fell in their way; the "morals of the sea" at that time, being imperfectly understood, and judging from facts, rather carelessly practiced. It was, therefore, no easy matter to preserve order in such a fleet, and Gilbert was thus compelled to hasten his return. "The general" (Sir Humphrey Gilbert,) himself, sailed in the Squirrel, a bark of ten tons, in order to approach near the coast, ascertain its bearings, and explore its harbors; and being unwilling to forsake the little company with whom he had encountered so many storms, he attempted in this frail bark, scarcely superior to the long-boat of a merchantman, to cross the vast Atlantic. The sea was rough, the winds were high, and the oldest mariners had rarely witnessed the like. The little bark bore up manfully for a while, but was too small "to pass through the ocean-sea at that time of year;" and when last seen, the general was sitting abaft with a book in his hand, crying out to those in another vessel that followed in his wake, "We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land.” The same night, a little before twelve o'clock, the lights of the Squirrel suddenly disappeared, and neither vessel nor crew were heard of more.

Raleigh, having determined to secure, at all events, those delightful regions to England, from which the French Protestants had been expelled, was neither disheartened by the fate of his step-brother, nor appalled by the magnitude of the undertaking. His bold and enterprising spirit never despaired. He therefore, on the 25th of March, 1584, obtained from the crown a patent as ample as the one conferred on Gilbert. By its terms, Raleigh was constituted lord proprietor, with almost unlimited power. The icy seas were at once exchanged for regions of perpetual fertility; and two vessels laden with men and provisions, under the command of Philip Amidas and Arthur Barlow, buoyant with hope, sailed for the newly discovered world, and on the 18th of July, 1584, landed on the coast of North Carolina. The whole crew were enraptured by its beauty. The trees had nowhere else their equal. The vines clambered up the loftiest cedars, and grapes hung in festoons from every bough. The ocean, scarcely disturbed by a ripple, rolled its lazy surges "in upon the shore, and dashed its spray upon the clusters." The tawny inhabitants appeared in harmony with the scene, and welcomed their newly arrived guests, or invaders, after the manner of the golden age. Amidas and Barlow explored the country in part, and returned to England in Sep