cording to Fernando Columbus, his father proceeded from one position to another of his theory. It is evident, however, that the grand argument which induced him to his enterprise was the one first cited; namely, that the most eastern part of Asia known to the ancients could not be separated from the Azores by more than a third of the circumference of the globe; that the intervening space must, in a great measure, be filled up by the unknown residue of Asia; and that, as the circumference of the world was less than was generally supposed, the Asiatic shores could easily be attained by a moderate voyage to the west.

It is

singular how much the success of this great enterprise depended upon two happy errors, the imaginary extent of Asia to the east, and the supposed small-. ness of the earth; both errors of the most learned and profound philosophers, but without which Columbus would hardly have ventured into the western regions of the Atlantic, in whose unknown and perhaps immeasurable waste of waters he might perish before he could reach a shore.

When Columbus had once formed his theory, it became fixed in his mind with singular firmness. He never spoke in doubt or hesitation, but with as much certainty as if his eyes had beheld the promised land. A deep religious sentiment mingled with his thoughts, and gave them at times a tinge of superstition, but of a sublime and lofty kind. He looked upon himself as standing in the hand of heaven, chosen from among men for the accomplishment of its high purpose; he read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery foretold in Holy Writ, and shadowed forth darkly in the prophecies. The

ends of the earth were to be brought together, and all nations, and tongues, and languages, united under the banners of the Redeemer.

The enthusiastic nature of his conceptions gave an elevation to his spirit, and a dignity and loftiness to his whole demeanour. He conferred with sovereigns almost with a feeling of equality. His proposed discovery was of empires; his conditions were proportionally magnificent, nor would he ever, even after long delays, repeated disappointments, and when under the pressure of actual penury, abate what appeared to others extravagant demands. Those who could not conceive how an ardent and comprehensive mind could arrive by presumptive evidence at so firm a conviction, sought for other modes of accounting for it; and gave countenance to an idle tale of his having received previous information of the western world, from a tempesttost pilot, who had died in his house, bequeathing him written accounts of an unknown land in the west, upon which he had been driven by adverse winds. This, and other attempts to cast a shade upon his fame, have been diligently examined and refuted; and it appears evident that his great enterprise was the bold conception of his genius, quickened by the impulse of the age, and aided by those scattered gleams of knowledge, which fall ineffectually upon ordinary minds.

CHAPTER IV.

Events in Portugal relative to Discovery-Propositions of Columbus to the Portuguese Court.

WHILE the design of attempting the discovery in the west was maturing in the mind of Columbus, he made a voyage to the northern seas, to the island of Thule, to which the English navigators, particularly those of Bristol, were accustomed to resort on account of its fishery. He even advanced, he says, one hundred leagues beyond, penetrated the polar circle, and convinced himself of the fallacy of the popular belief, that the frozen zone was uninhabitable. The island thus mentioned by him as Thule is generally supposed to have been Iceland, which is far to the west of the Ultima Thule of the ancients, as laid down on the map of Ptolemy. Nothing more is known of this voyage, in which we discern indications of that ardent and impatient desire to break away from the limits of the old world, and launch into the unknown regions of the ocean.

Several years elapsed without any decided effort on the part of Columbus to carry his design into execution. An enterprise of the kind required the patronage of some sovereign power, which could furnish the necessary means, could assume dominion over the lands to be discovered, and could ensure suitable rewards and dignities to the discoverer.

The cause of discovery had languished during the latter part of the reign of Alphonso of Portugal, who was too much engrossed with his wars with Spain to engage in peaceful enterprises, of great cost and doubtful result. Navigation also was still too imperfect for so perilous an undertaking as that proposed by Columbus. Discovery advanced slowly along the coasts of Africa; and though the compass had been introduced into more general use, yet mariners rarely ventured far out of sight of land; they even feared to cruise far into the southern hemisphere, with the stars of which they were totally unacquainted. To such men, therefore, the project of a voyage directly westward, in quest of some imagined land in the boundless wastes of the ocean, appeared as extravagant, as it would at the present day to launch forth in a balloon into the regions of space, in quest of some distant star.

The time, however, was at hand, that was to extend the power of navigation. The era was propitious to the quick advancement of knowledge. The recent invention of printing enabled men to communicate rapidly and extensively their ideas and discoveries. It multiplied and spread abroad, and placed in every hand, those volumes of information, which had hitherto existed only in costly manuscripts, treasured up in the libraries of colleges and convents. At this juncture, John II. ascended the throne of Portugal. He had imbibed the passion for discovery from his grand uncle, Prince Henry, and with his reign all its activity revived. The recent attempts to discover a route to India had excited an eager curiosity concerning the remote parts of the east, and had revived all the accounts,

Among these,

true and fabulous, of travellers. were the tales told of the renowned Prester John, a Christian king, said to hold sway in a remote part of the east, but whose kingdom seemed to baffle research as effectually as the unsubstantial island of St. Brandan. All the fables and dreamy speculations, concerning this shadowy potentate, and his oriental realm, were again put in circulation. It was fancied that traces of his empire had been discerned in the interior of Africa, to the east of Benin, where there was a powerful prince, who used a cross among the insignia of royalty; and John II., in the early part of his reign, actually sent missions in quest of the visionary Prester John.

Impatient of the tardiness with which his discoveries advanced along the coast of Africa, and eager to realize the splendid project of Prince Henry, and conduct the Portuguese flag into the Indian seas, John II. called upon his men of science to devise some means of giving greater scope and certainty to navigation. His two physicians, Roderigo and Joseph, the latter a Jew, who were the most able astronomers and cosmographers of his kingdom, together with the celebrated Martin Behem, entered into a consultation on the subject; and the result of their conferences was, the application of the astrolabe to navigation. This instrument has since been improved and modified into the modern quadrant, of which, even at its first introduction, it possessed all the essential advantages. This invention was one of those timely occurrences which seem to have something providential in them. It was the one thing wanting to facilitate an intercourse across the deep, and to cast navigation loose from its long bondage