IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^€- f/. % ill !.0 i I.I 2,2 1I1L25 i 14 2.0 i^ii4 6" PhotQgrapnic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STUIT WnSTIR.N.Y. USM (7i6) 872-4503 iV 'C^ ^^X^"^ ^v^ ^J^^ 5? ../^ A .^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Micro eproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquas £ \ 1981 Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes tachniques at bibliographiquaa Tl to The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images In the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. n n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagie Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurAe et/ou pelliculAG Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes g6ographiques an couleur. Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I — I ColoMred plates and/or illustrations/ D D D Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other materia!/ Reli6 avec d'autras documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de ia dntortion le long de la marge ihtirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from fMming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restaurntion apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont pas At* filmAes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplAmentaires; L'Institut a microfilm^ le mellleur exemplaire qu'il lui a AtA possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mAthoda normale de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommagies n Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur6es et/ou pellicultes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d (meaning "CON- TINUED"^ or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symboie V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required, "^ha following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre fiimte A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seui ciichA. 11 est filmd A partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en has, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 CABOrS DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. THE DATES CONNECTED WITH THE VOYAGE OF THE MATTHEW, OF BRISTOL. MR. a. E. WEARE'S REPLY TO MR. HENRY HARRISSE. B^printed from Notes and Queries, July 17. 1897. LONDON: PBIVATBLY PRINTED FOB THE AUTHOR. 1897. mm CABOT'S DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA. Mb. Henby Habbisse, of Paris, in an article in the June number of the Forum (published in New York), has endeavoured to prove that there exists no justification for the Cabot celebration on the 24th ult. in England, Oanada, Nova Scotia, Newfound- land, &c. Notes from this article, through the medium of the press, have been circulated throughout the length and the breadth of the United States. My work, in which the excerptum (from an ancient MS. Chronicle) containing the date of the landfall occurs, and in which is given a history of the MS. Chronicle, was published after Mr. Harrisse had written the article for the Forum, A pamphlet, containing a reprint of an article in Notes and Queries (S*** S. xi. 501), mmmmmmm SS has been recently published by Mr. Harrisse, in which he challenges the authenticity of the dates connected with the voyage of the Matthew, of Bristol, in the year 1497. Mr. Harrisse's point is that the ship's name and the dates were forged by Ohatterton. In other words, he states that his "impres- sion" is that the MS. Chronicle in which the name and the dates occur was " fabri- cated, in some form or other, by Chatter- ton," and that he (Ohatterton) sold the chronicle to Sir Francis Fust. . -^i^^® published a reply to Mr. Harrisse in JVotes and Queries (8*^ S. xii. 49). The same number of this journal contains a reply to Mr. Harrisse from Mr. G. E. F. Prowse. G. E. WEARE. 'i'WS^H JOHN CABOT AND THE MATTHEW. (8««» S. xi. 601.) The excerptum referred to by Mr. Henrt Harkisse in which the dates connected with the voyage of the Matthew are set oat oooars between entries as to the mayors, sheriffs, &c., of Bristol, as follows : — "1496. John Drewes [Mayor], Hugh Jobnea [Sheriff], Thomas Vaughan, John Elyott [Bailiffs]. "1497. 'Henry Dale* [Mayor],' Richard Vaughan [Sheriff], John Spencer, William Lane [BailiffB]." The^ "complete text'* of the excerptumf which, subject only to a trifling error as to the sheriff and bailiff, is correctly given by Mr. Harrissb, was published by me last month for the first time. Please allow me to give a few specimens of the entries in the volume of excerpta in the possession of Mr. William George, of Bristol. I propose to dispense with the entries as to the mayors, sheriffs, &c.: — "1486[7]. This year the Duke of Bedford came into Bristowe, where he continued 3 days and then departed towards Wales." B 6 " 1491[2]. Tbia year the 7th of May an Insurrection began in Briatowe between the English Mariners and the Spaniards being soldiers of the ship called the NichoIaB of the Tower. And this Insurrection was like to have been the death of many men." "1607[8]. This year on St. Nicholas Eve was a great wind and flood, which did much hurt in Bristowe, especially in Merchants* cellars and other places." " 1508[9]. This year was an Insurrection in Temple street against the Mayor, through the persuasion of one Robert Henlowe, and the Mayor put many of the Rebels in Prison." The chronicle contaiDed the curious book-plate of Sir Francis Fust, who died in 1769, but it does not follow that, as suf^gested by Mb. Harbissb, it was purchased by Sir Francis ; it is not at all improbable that it may have come into his posses- sion from his wife's family (the Tookers of Bristol). I will now deal with the extraordinary suggestion of Mr. Harrisse that the chronicle was ** fabri- cated, in some form or other, by Cbatterton.'' Of what value, in the absence of any evidence, is Mr. Harrissb's "impression" that Ohatterton soP. the MS. book to Sir Francis Fustl Can Mr. Harrisse produce a particle of evidence to prove that Ohatterton was ever brought into con- tact with, or that he was personally known to, Sir Francis Fust, of Hill Oourt, Gloucestershire ? It goes without saying that if the chronicle had been written by Ohatterton it would have been regarded as one of the most important productions of his pen. Mr. Kerslake, bookseller, of Bristol, who was a very intelligent and painstaking antiquary, during the time, or a portion of the time, the chronicle remained in his possession, had also in his possession genuine and unquestioned speci- mens of Ohattertou's handwriting i further, the evidence of living persona could, if necessary, be obtained to prove that, apparently, the chro- nide was in a contemporary, ♦.«., sixteentn century, style of writing. Mr. Harrissb may rest assured that the chronicle, whatever may be its merits or demerits, was not a Chat- terton forgery. In t»^% ^"^'^""^^^S' ^..^^^^ no alternative but to relegate Mr. Harrissb s "impression" to a place oa^side the pale of authentic history. The excerptum states that tne " said ship departed from the port of Bnstowe the second day of May, and came home again the 6th of August next following." In a letter written by Lorenio Pasqualigo, dated 23 Aug, 1497, we find that John Oabot « was three months on the voyage, which is consistent with the dates given in the Ixeerptum, The date of the return of the Matthew on "the 6th of August " occurs, so far as I know, in no other place. Mr. Harrissb very tairly points out that "we know that Cabot was back in England 10 Aug., 1AQ7 hilt we know it only from the gratuity which HeLVlI^anted him on that day, and this waB ma.de S in prSt not before 1831, when N. Hams N.colai publiBhed his * Excerpta Historica. Here, again, Mr. Harrissb unconsciously affords proof that Ohatterton could have nad no hand in^the formation of the entry in the chronic e; the information as to the vessel haying been three months on the voyage" was only made Icnown within a quite recent period by the discovery of a Tont^mporary letter, aSd the date of the payment of the gratuity to Oabot was not known m Bristol at the time the chronicle was written. Ihe information as to the gratuity could only have 8 been obtained in London, and poor Ohatterton, whose departure from Bristol for London — he never left Bristol until the year 1770— took place after the death of Sir Francis Fust, was never in a position to pay searchers to examine the original rolls in London. And it is extremely doubtful whether the rolls were accessible in Ghatterton's time. With regard to the date given for Cabot's landfall, " St. John the Baptist's day," that is, 24 June, 1497, I see no reason why this date should not be accepted. Judge Prowse, in *A History of Newfoundland' (p. 9), says : — "Easterly winds generally prevail in i.he North Atlantic in early May. Qiven a fair wind, these little vessels, with their flat floors and broad lug sails, oould easily go five to six Irnots before the wind. Fifty-three days out from Bristol to Newfoundland, and forty-two days home, would not be a record-breaking passage, even for those days." Mr. Harbissb refers to " the common htlief that the text of the above-mentioned excerptum is contemporaneous with Oabot's first voyage," but I should imagine that no person who had the slightest knowledge of the history of North America would imagine for a moment that the entry of the word ** America " in the excerptum was contemporaneous. But idthough he is correct in saying that Humboldt disclosed, probably for the first time, the paitioulars of the invention of the name "America" in his 'Examen Critique,' published in 1834, Mr. Harrissb has onaitted to call attention to the fact that the name which had been previously the designation of South America, or of a portion of South America, was applied to the whole of the newly foand land in Gerard Mercator's globe made in 1641, the letters " amb " appearing on the northern portion and the letters ** bioa " on the Bouthein. It is not at all improbable that Meroator's ideas were known in Bristol in or before the year 1665. In the course of copying (or in editing, if the word be preferred) a chronicle which purports to contain entries of important events relating to Bristol after the name "America ** had become known, the ccribe woald, properly I think, have made an interpolation in an entry, supposing an entry in another form to have been in existence, for the purpose of elucidation ; as to this matter, however, it is obvioudly clear that Che question as to the original form of the entry, or when the entry was first made, must remain pure conjecture in the absence of correct information. Having regard to the fact that a contemporary writer tolls us that the voyage occupied three months, I am inclined to think that the critic cism of the dates in the chronicle is due to the fa ', that Mr. Habbissb's conjectural statement (p. 63 of his work on the Oabots) to the effect that the men on board the little vessel, after the landfall, "rested awhile, and devoted some time to refit or repair their diminutive craft, as well as to take in wood and water, and renew the stock of victaals, which could onlv be done by hunting and salting game on the mainland,'*^ although unsuppc^ted by proof, is still regarded by him as a record of fact. The following evidence, which can be read in my work (' Oabot's Discovery of North America '), does not confirm Mb. Habbissb's ideas as to what todc place after landing : — " He [CSabot] saw no human beings, but he has brought here to the king certain snares whieh had been set to U i fij; 10 catch game, and a needle for making nets; he alio found some felled trees, by which he judged there were inhabitants, and returned to his ship in alarm. He was three months on his voyage, and on his return saw two islands to starboard, but wotUd not land, time being pre- cious, as he tfas short of provCstons.'* — Pp. 189-40. " He came at last to mainland, where he planted the royal banner, took possessiou for His Highness [Henry VII.] , made certain marks, and returned."— P. 148, I am of opinion that the prorisioDing oi the ▼esael for a thrae months' voyage, supplemented by a supply of fish, was a matter not very difficult of acoomplishmeot ; those who imagine it to be im- probable that the yessel would bare bean suffi- ciently provisioned for a voyage of three months^ duration should not foi^et that there had been previous voyages from Bristol in quest of the fabled islands which were believed to be in exist- ence beyond the sea-horizon of the w^s^^m waters, and that so far back as 1480 (twelve years before Oolumbus sailed on his first expedition) a Bristol vessel had cruised in the Atlantic for at leatt nine weeks, " but in consequence of tempests returned to a port in Ireland for the repose of the ship and mariners'' (' Cabot's Discovery of North America,' pp. 58, 59). G. E. Wbabe. Weston-super-Mare. Mr. Harrissb asks, TV here did the author of the Fust chronicle find the date of Oabot's return, 6 Aug. ? He shows that the Privy Purse entry of 10 Aug. was only known in 1831, and suggests that the MS. was a forgery. If we somewhat alter the question we shall see his argument is fallacious, in paii;, at least. How could a forger about 1760 11 hcTO hit apon this date 6 Aug. which synchroDizes BC Bocurately with the date of the award, 10 Aag. ? We must remember that until Bawdon Brown disooyered Pasqualigo's lettfor there was absolutely no statement to suggest that the voyage lasted three months ; bo that, although there would be no diffi- culty in fixing from Hakluyt on 2 May hb a dat? for the start, the probabilities of a forger choosing 6 Aug. as the date of return, with no data what- ever to guide him, arc very small indeed. This point may be put a little stronger. Any one reading the accounts of Martyr, Bamusio, &c., which con- fuse the two voyages, would be led to infer a much later date than August for the arrival home. The date 6 Aug. seems to be an undesigned coincidence— it may, of coarse, be nothing more than a coincidence. An authoritative statement as to the value of the exeerpta as a whole may settle the point, though even then there remains the possibility, though perhaps not the probability, if the chronicle as a whole is a forgery, that this particular entry was transferred from genuine records now lost. The use of the word Aa erica (a use which even in 1565 would have been, I venture to think, an anachronism as describing " the new fonde londe quhar men goeth a fishing "), except upon the sup- position of its being a late interpolation, tells strongly against the genuineness of the chronicle. As regards the unreliability of the date given for the landfall, 24 Jane, Mr. Harrissb has ty no means established bis point, nor can his attempt be con- sidered sound to limit the sources of information open to a Bristol historian (we must assume Toby to be a Bristolian) in 1565 to Oabot's map at a 12 time when local tradition mast hare BtiU bAAn three monthi on the voyaoe wWM. ff— ^? «oent}y q„„tioned by'^M^h ThV^/ hi!. .!.^S>" '''• picturesque item, fonnd onlv here Mid m Banrett, that the first BDaliahlSin 2 re«A the New World wu oaUed t£ &ewf Bradford. G. B. F. Piiowga, hi (I I!