This passage, however, is not to be found in the Italian original of Ramusio.**

"The English translator of Forster, referring (p. 189) to the alleged infidelity of Hakluyt, says:

"From many circumstances, it appears that Hakluyt's collection was made principally with a view to excite his countrymen to prosecute new discoveries in America, and to promote the trade to that quarter of the globe. Considering it in this light, and that hardly any thing was thought worthy of notice in that age but mines of silver and mountains of gold, we need not wonder at the interpolation!'

"Thus has Hakluyt been made, alternately, the theme of extravagant eulogium and groundless denunciation ! The passage about gold is in the original (fol. 52) precisely as he translates it: Hanno 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 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 calculated to throw ridicule on such representations. The passage, therefore, disappears from the editions of 1583 and 1606 (fol. 232 A.) The suppression is executed in rather an awkward manner. On turning to the passage indicated of the more recent editions, there will be discovered, at the eleventh line from the top of the page, a chasm in the sense between 'cavano' and 'di dove.' The suppression of the

*Forster's Northern Voyages, p. 189, note.

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 deduction 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 falsification of the edition of 1583, 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 tampered 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 particular Hakluyt has the advantage over them."

CHAPTER II.

Of Christopher Columbus; his plan for reaching India by a route to the West; the fate of his applications to the Court of Portugal from 1470 to 1484, and afterwards to the Court of Spain till 1492; a squadron then fitted out.

Mr. Irving supposes Christopher Columbus to have been born about 1435 or 1436;* being some ten years earlier than is generally represented. The City of Genoa has the honour of being his birthplace.† He had two brothers, Bartholomew and Diego, and a sister.

Columbus attained manhood at a period worthy of remark. John Guttenberg, the inventor of printing, was yet alive. In consequence of Guttenberg's not attaching any date to his works, we do not know the precise time of his first attempts. But there is little doubt that the works disseminated by means of his invention had the effect of stimulating Columbus to his enterprise. Las Casas thinks that none had more effect in this way than those of Pedro de Aliaco, one of the most learned and scientific men of the day. He was born in 1350, and died in 1416 according to some, in 1425 according to others. When Mr. Irving was in Seville, making researches in the Bibliothica Colombina, the library given to the cathedral of that

* Irving's Columbus, vol. 1, p. 3; vol. 2, p. 229, 30, Appendix No. 4; also p. 231, Appendix No. 5.

↑ Id. p. 233, Appendix No. 6.

city by Fernando Columbus, the natural son of Christopher, he saw an old volume in folio, bound in parchment, (published soon after the invention of printing,) which had belonged to Christopher Columbus. This volume was a collection in Latin of astronomical and cosmographical tracts of Pedro de Aliaco, and of his disciple John Gerson. Las Casas had spoken of the volume being so familiar to Columbus, that he had filled its whole margin with Latin notes in his handwriting. It was a great satisfaction to Mr. Irving to discover this identical volume, this Vade Mecum of Columbus, in a state of good preservation. The notes he says are written in a very small but neat and distinct hand, and call attention to the most striking passages, or to those which bore most upon the theories of Columbus; occasionally containing brief comments, or citing the opinions of other authors, ancient and modern, either in support or contradiction of the text. "This volume," Mr. Irving adds, "is a most curious and interesting document, the only one that remains of Columbus prior to his discovery. It illustrates his researches, and in a manner the current of his thoughts, while as yet his great enterprise existed but in idea, and while he was seeking means to convince the world of its practicability."*

Columbus arrived at Lisbon about 1470, and his marriage there, soon after, fixed him in that city. Prince Henry, so instrumental in promoting discoveries, was no longer living. But a like passion for discovery was evinced by John the Second. His call

* Irving's Columbus, vol. 1, p. 294-5.

on men of science to devise means by which to give greater scope and certainty to navigation, resulted in the application of the astrolabe; enabling the seaman, by the altitude of the sun, to ascertain its distance from the equator.*

It was immediately after this event that Columbus proposed to King John, if he would furnish him with ships and men, to go to the west across the Atlantic, and thus reach India by a shorter and more direct route than around the coast of Africa. The proposition was referred to a commission of three persons, two of whom were cosmographers; but this scientific body treated the project as visionary. The king, not satisfied, convoked a council composed of the prelates and other persons of learning; but they, too, generally opposed the plan. Yet Columbus was desired to furnish for the examination of the council, the charts or other documents according to which he intended to shape his course; and a caravel was dispatched for the ostensible purpose of carrying provisions to the Cape de Verd islands, but with private instructions to pursue the route designated in the papers of Columbus. The weather becoming stormy, the pilots had not the resolution to proceed, and returned, ridiculing the project.‡

The wife of Columbus having been for some time dead, he determined now to abandon Portugal. Towards the end of 1484, he departed from Lisbon, taking with him his son Diego. About the same time, he engaged his brother Bartholomew to depart to England with proposals to the monarch of that country.

* Irving's Columbus, vol. 1, p. 31. † Id. 34. + Id. 36. § Id.