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DID CAHOT RKTURX FROM HIS SIXOXD VOWXGi: ?> 
 
 Tills important ([ucstion of inaritiiiic history acciuiics additional 
 interest from a document recently discovered in tlie archives of 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 It is well known that John (."abot. bj- virtue of letters patent 
 j^ranted to him and his three sons by Henry VII., eciuipped a small 
 ves.sel, and with a crew of ei^diteen men, sailed from I^ristol in the 
 spring of 1497, to make di.scoveries "in whatever part of the workl 
 heretofore unknown to all Christians." I le landed somewhere on 
 the northeast coast of the new world, and returned iiome after an 
 absence of only three months. That is the ori_L,nn of the reyal title 
 of England to the i^reatest part of North America. 
 
 As John Cabot was believed to have discovered Cipanf;o and 
 the Kingdom of the Great Khan, he found no difficulty in obtaining 
 letters j)atent for a second e:;i)edition. Karly in May, 149S, tlie 
 bokl navii^ator sailed a^ain wi ward, leading.; a small fleet of five 
 ships. In July following, news was received in London that one of 
 the vessels had been forced by stress of weather to put into Ireland. 
 That is the last that was ever heartl of John Cabot's second aiul last 
 voj'age. 
 
 He had a .'on, called Sebastian, who arrojjated to himself the 
 merit of the achievement and lived and prospered, in lui^land as 
 well as in Spain, to an extreme old ai^e, ui)on this mendacious boast. 
 Nay, during several centuries nearly every one believed that he had 
 been the sole discoverer of Labrador, Newfoundland, No\a Scotia 
 and Canada, although authentic documents tend to prove that he 
 was not e\en on board when these disco\eries were made.' 
 
 Regarding the second voyage, historians, as a rule, positiveh' 
 asserted that it had also been accomplished by Sebastian Cabot. 
 Thus Biddle taught that John Cabot died shortly after the patent of 
 February 1498 had been issued, and, besides, that so far from be- 
 ing a seaman, he only " followed the trade of merchandise ; " George 
 Bancroft asserted that John Cabot had made no \o\age \vhatev<'r 
 under the second charter ; while Mr. D'Avezac maintained that 
 Sebastian took the place of the patentee, apparently owing to the 
 latter's "unexpected death." 
 
 ' Warden's Accounts of the Drapers' Coniiiaiiy of London, from March 1st to April 
 9th, 1521. 
 
2 //. I/arrissc 
 
 It was in vain tiiat attc-ntion was called rq)oatcdly to a scries of 
 facts showini,' that Joiin Cabot actually sailed in command of the 
 second expedition ; as, for instance, tli.it he was the sole i^rantee of 
 the new letters patent ; that several times he explainetl in person to 
 trnstworthy witnesses his plans for the second vo>-a^^e ; tiiat two 
 ambassadors, on Jnly 23, 149S, each sent a ilispatch statini; that 
 the " fleet had sailed with another Genoese like Columbns," and we 
 know from precedin^i; letters that it was their manner of desi^niatin-; 
 John Cabot; that when relating the mishap which had occurred tf) 
 one ol the ships, they addeil : "the Genoese lius coittiiiiicd his voy- 
 ai^r," etc. What else coukl be desired to pro\e his ha\in^t;- sailed 
 and commanded the expedition in 149.S ? Yet, certain writers con- 
 tinued to rei)eat that Sebastian, not John, was tlu- sole commander 
 of the fleet ; and so lately as July last, the Maripiis of LHifferin and 
 Ava, in an elabonite memoir, also stated that " before the expedition 
 was ready John Cabot ilied, lea\in;4 the new adventure to be prose- 
 cuted by his son." 
 
 Nevertheless one historian at le.ist could be found to maintain 
 that John Cabot had been the real chief of the seconil as we'l as of 
 the first expedition, although unable to say whether the bold navi- 
 <^ator survived it or not. A Bristol compiler, however, recently ar- 
 j^ued at leni;th that John Cabot and his companions had possibly 
 been exterminated by Alonso de Hojcda. Uwfortunately for that 
 fine hypothesis, llojeda remained permanentl) in Spain from June 
 II, 1496, until May 18, 1499; whilst Sebastian Cabot, who is al- 
 leged to have been on board, and must therefore have shared the 
 pretended .sad fate of his father, was yet flourishing in England sixty 
 years afterwards. 
 
 Immediatijly upon John Cabot's arrival in London, August 10, 
 
 1497, he received from Henry VII. a gratuity of ^'lO "to enjoy 
 himself," and on December 13 following " an anuel rent « f ^'20, to 
 be had and \-erel\- perce\-ued from tlie feast of thanunciacion of our 
 lady last passed during our pleasur of our cu.stunies and subsidies 
 com\-ing and grt)wing in our poort of Bristowe by thands of our 
 custums there for the tynie beying at Michelmas and lustre by even 
 
 porcion.s." 
 
 According to the terms of this annuity, John Cabot was entitled 
 to receive ^10 September 29, 1497, April 15 and September 29, 
 
 1498, March 31 and September 29, 1499, respectively, if alive at 
 those dates. Considering that the English Public Record Office 
 contains the most comp'^te collection of state arciiives in the world, 
 the Rolls House was. naturally enough, the first source to consult to 
 ascertain whether there were traces of pa)-ments made on account ot 
 
Did Gibot Return from his SWo/x/ J'ovdxr.^ ?, 
 
 Cabot's pi-nsioii. to whom aiul wlu'ii. But ill-luck will liavc it that 
 the rucords of the rci^Mi of 1 k'iir\- \'l I. arc cNtivtiU'ly scant) . State 
 papers for the period scarcely exist, and the Issue Rolls cease be- 
 tween 1479 and 1 59/"- 'I"'i^' ""'>• substitutes arc Llie Tellers' Rolls, 
 but they lack detaiis, not bein- final accounts, and contain no spe- 
 cial dates for the entries. They are all classed nieiely under ICaster 
 and Michaelmas terms. 
 
 That series, to.i,rcther with the Warrants for l'. xchcqucr Issues, 
 were nevertheless duly examined in 1895, for the years 1485-1520. 
 The investii^ation, ab'.y carrieil on by Mr. M. ()i)penh.'im. to wh.un 
 the historical student is indebted for such excellent works as J / .'/.v- 
 /orv of the Administration of tlic Royal Xai-y, and Saiud .Irrounrs of 
 tlt'c l<n,-:ii of Ilciiry VII.} resulted in the discovery of an important 
 document. This is a warrant of Henry VII., issued February 32, 
 1498, or(!erin<4 that Cabot's annuity should be paid without farther 
 delay. It recites that having' been " enformed that John Caboote 
 being delaicd of his paymont because the cu.stomcn; of the poorte of 
 Bri-stowe have no sufficient matier of dischari;e for their indempnitie 
 to be yolden at their accompt bef-.Tc th.c Harons of the Ivscheiiuier," 
 the king orders that .several "tallies" oi £\Q each be levied and de- 
 livered to John Cabot. 
 
 Interesting as that document was in itself, it did not throw any 
 light on the question which historians had most at heart to solve, as 
 they knew already that John Cabot, in I'ebruary 1498, had not >'et 
 sailed out on his second vo>'age. Onl>' the accounts rendered by 
 the collectors of the customs and subsidies of Henry VII. n-. the 
 port of Bristol, for the last two or three years of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, could enlighten us as regards the iiuestion whether John Cabot 
 had collected his pension after July 1498. B;it where was that class 
 of documents to be found ? Did they even still exist ? 
 
 Last year one of those accounts came to light. It coveretl the 
 period from September 29, 1497, until April 15, 1498, and showed 
 that within that period, /. <■., between I'ebruary 22, 1498, and ICaster 
 following, " John Cal' . )t {sic) a Venetian, late of the town of Bristol," 
 had received ^10 of nis annuity of ^20 a year. This showed only 
 that John Cabot was y.-t in England before April 15, 1498, a well- 
 known fact. The document would have proved of some utility only 
 if its editor had disclosed the place w here the original was preser\-ed, 
 so as to enable others to initiate more thorough researches. But he 
 thought fit to be as reticent on that point, as he has been regarding 
 the books or book from which he took twenty -five important docu- 
 ments without a particle of acknowledgment. 
 
 1 Publications of the Xavy Records Society, London, 1896. 
 
//. Ifan-is 
 
 I listoriaiis wlit tliiritnrc ,i-,iin ,it mm. Hut .i ^rli-.un nf lij^'hl 
 .i|)|ic.iic(l when, on the J.ftli of Juiir la-^t, tlir M,ii(iiiis nf I Jiirfcrin 
 ■uul .\\,i replied to lite tn.isl of Sir .Mirli.ul I licks-Hcacli, on tlu- 
 occasion of the Caljot (|u,iterccnlciiaiy in ISiistol. His I.onlsliii) 
 then announced that a liitherto unknown record rehitiii^' to the now 
 \indicatcil na\i^r,it<n- Iiail beiMi discoveiid !))■ Mr. Scott, ol the 
 I'liitish Mustuui. It was as t'ollous ; 
 
 " llristoU Artiiuriis Kcniys ct Ricanhis .\ Meryk CoIUm tores Custii- 
 Miaruni ct Sudsiihoruni Rej^'is ihideni a fcsto Sam li Mi( liaclis Ar( liangcU 
 ainio trcdecinio Re^is nuiu usi|iie idem fcstuin Sancti Michaclis turn 
 liroNinio NCcitiens redihnit ( oniiiutuiii ik' /l\,22(^, 7s., lod. 
 
 " I'.liani in tlioauro in una tallia pro Johnune Calioot, /,jo."' 
 
 " l^ristol. .\rlhur Keni\s and Ricliard a Mer_\k, collectors ol 
 the kinj^'s customs and >ul)sidies there, from the least of St. Michael 
 tin- .Xrchaiv^al, in the thirteeiitli j'ear [of the rei<;iij of this kin^^ to 
 the .same feast next ensuini;-, rentier thi.s account of L\ ,--'''■ 7'^.. lOtl. 
 
 " In the treasur)-, in one tally, for John Cahot /."20. 
 
 I lis 1-ordship added : " The passaj^e I have (pioted does not say 
 much." It meant on the contrary a threat de.il, as, to all ai)pearances. 
 the record was no less tiian the loMi;-sout;ht tlocumentary proof 
 not only that John Caliot had not been massacred by llojcda, nor 
 died at sea, or before the expedition set out, but that he had safely 
 retunutl to Iui_L;land, even prior to September 29, 1498. 
 
 This annovmcement i;reatly whetted the appetite of inquirers, 
 wh(-) were anxious to see it confirmed b\- other accounts of the kind, 
 which .it the same time could enable them to ascertain when the 
 pension had ceased to be paitl. The tlocument was said to ha\e 
 been found "in the Westminster Chapter-lKaise muniments, No. 
 12,24:5." Those who live abroad iniainned that this referred to 
 the Westniin.ster Chapter-house public records, now removed to 
 the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane. Hut these, it .seems, do 
 not contain an\- e\iilence that John Cabot recived anything on ac- 
 count of his pension after May 1498." 
 
 At last there has just appeared in Bristol a work ■' containing 
 three records which api)arcnlly settle the main point at issue, viz. : 
 the return of John Cabot to luigland. 
 
 The first document in that sumptuous and useful publication, 
 
 ' London Timi-s, Jiine 25, 1S97, p. cS. 
 
 ^ liettor results might be expected perhaps from the Clo>e Rolls, which contain varied 
 and valual)le information on nearly ever)' subject. 
 
 '^T/w Customs Roll of the Port of Bristol, A. D. I4gb-i4gq. Translated from tlu 
 original manuscript recently ,liscorere,l at Westminster Abbey, by luhoard Scott, M. A., 
 Keeper of Manuscripts in the British Museum. IVith an Introduction relating to the 
 entries of the A'oyal Pension paid to John Cabot, Xa:'igator. By Alfred E. Iludd, F.S.A. 
 I'libli^hed by William (Jeorge's Sons, liristol, 1S97. I.iirge folio, ly leaves, 3 of fac-similes. 
 
/Vy Cahol Rctc -'i from /lis S<r<w,/ lovitxc.^ 
 
 whiili, h.iwcwr, nii-Iit li.i\i' l)eLii mmv KMiikd!)- idiud, i- tlic C iis- 
 toiii K'llI rnmi Michaelmas, i4(/i, to Michai'Ima--, \ .\yt; . ]<>hu 
 CaliDt at the latter least (September 2tj, 1497I had been in i'.ii-laiid 
 seven weeks, after his return from his llr-^t voya};e, >et his name 
 does not fi^nire ill the account. This is owin;.; to the fact that the 
 l)enMoii, whirh ha<l been made to d.ite back from the least ol the 
 Amuuuiation of that year (March Jj, 149"). ^^'-i"^ L^ranted only De- 
 eeml)er i^ 1497, and did not pass the sials before Jamiar>' JS, 
 upjS. 
 
 Tile second document i> liie Custom Roll lioni Michaelmas. 
 1497, to the same feast in the year follow in.i;, vi/. : from September 
 29, 1497, to September ,'9, 149S, and contanis the full text of the 
 record cited by Lord Dufferin. In a list of thirteen entries, (Jabot 
 occujjiis the fifth iilace, in these terms : 
 •• In th[esuirari]i)' in \natall[iaj i)[ru] J [ohannje Coiiout (.v/c)... xxli." 
 
 That is : 
 '' In the treasury in one tally for John Coboot /-o" 
 
 Strictly speakin,i;, Cabot sliouUl have received then, not /"jo 
 only, but £t,o, as his pension ilateil fr-n March 2$, 1497, and, 
 as we have just seen, the first payment diil not and could not figure 
 in the precedinj^ account. 
 
 This document shows that two terms of Cabot's pension were 
 paid ; but were tlie>' paid to him in person ? That is the j^nst of the 
 Huestion. 
 
 The collectors exhibit only as a voucher for their disbursement 
 a " tally." Hut what was a tally in th(.)se da\s ? Ivxlernally it was, 
 as evcrybotly knows, a small piece of wood cleft iiito two [)arts, 
 both cut with corrcspondin;^ notches. One of the two sticks was 
 kept by tlic debtor, the other was <,nven to the creilitor, as an evi- 
 dence of the settlement. Madox - describes the tally as follows; 
 " The summ of ni')ney whicli it bore was cutt in notches in the wood 
 by the Otf/cr of the Tallies, and likewise written upon two sides of 
 it by the /I'/vAv of the Tallies. ... A notch of such a lar-eiiess 
 signified M /. ; a notch of aiiodier lari^^eness, C /. ; of another size, 
 XX /. &c. It being thus divided or cleft, one i)art of it was called a 
 Tally, the other a Countertally. And when these two parts came 
 afterwards to be joind, if they were genuine, they fitted so exactly 
 that they appeared evidently to be parts the one of the other." This 
 
 ' rerhaps the alibroviaied fonn " /« ^io" >iioul<l In; -pcUcd cnu " /« //iMtttro," nut 
 " In tlicsaurario. " If so, the moaning' of the above entry niij^ht be : " I'aid in treasure 
 (or cash) ^^20, attested by a tally to the account of John Cabot." I'here are entries, I 
 am told, in the Pipe Rolls in >upporl of such an interpretation. 
 
 2 The History and Anti.iiiitia of the Exchc/uer of the Kings of Engl^uh/, London, 
 1 71 1, pp. 709-710. 
 VI 11.. ni. — 50 
 
//. ffarn'ssc 
 
 staUinciit is made on tlu' aiitiiority of the D/d^q-iis i/r Sohrtrrio. 
 Matlox adils : "Tallies, as well those that were made out at the 
 !Cxche(Hier as those which were used /// /"lus [therefore in Mristol], 
 were wont to have a superscriptiire importiii;^' of what nature they 
 were and for what |)uri)ose ^iven." 
 
 This constituted, until it was completely abolisheil in iSjf), ' the 
 common w.iy of keeping; ^fovernincnt accounts in Miii^dand, .uul, 
 .it a cirtain time, ivirywhere else in I'an-ope, The old tallies were 
 destroyed in I .S34 ; so that there is now scarcel\- a specimen left of 
 those archaeolonical slips of wood. 
 
 Witiial, the term ajjplied also to vouchers which were entirely of 
 a iliffereiit form. Thus, ordinarily, Mr. Oppenheim says,- in pay- 
 ment of an exchecjui'r warrant, the money woult! be handed over 
 and a receipt taken. That receipt, when customers settleil their ac- 
 counts, would momenthrily be exchanged ft>r a real tally in the Tally 
 Office, then remitted in the l^xclie(|uer Chamber next tloor, and, 
 althout^h a mere slip of paper, was called likewise a "tally " Pro- 
 vincial receipts in writini; went also fretpiently by that name. 
 
 Tallies were received as e\idence in courts of justice, but they do 
 not imply neces.sarily th.it the pa\-ee received his dues personally. 
 We notice in tho.se accounts payments made in 1496, 1497 and 149S 
 to Sir Thomas Lovell. Is it likely that this personai^e, who was 
 Chancellor of the ICxchecpn-r, went every year to l?ristol to collect 
 ^100 or i,"200 in person ? Vet the entries where his name occurs 
 all state, as in Cabot's ca.se : " In thesaurario in una tallia." This 
 leads one to believe that the amounts were received at Bri.stol by the 
 ai;ent of Sir Tiiomas Lt)vell. As to the v.ooden tally it.self, we must 
 infer that it was handed to the latter in person, by the kins^'s chani- 
 berl.iin or treasurer, very much as if it liad been what we call a 
 checpie, drawn tin Kemys and I\Ieryk. If so, there is no reason 
 why John Cabot might not have received his tallies in the same 
 manner. 
 
 But durint; the summer of 1498 John Cal<ot was certainly at .sea. 
 May he not, before starting, have empowered an attorney to receive 
 the tallies in London, with instructions to forward them to his wife, 
 who then resitled in liristol ? Better .still, coukl not the king's cham- 
 berlain or treasurer have sent the tallies'' directly to Kemys and 
 
 ' Tallies were aboli.slicd '>y the st.itute 23 Ceo. III. c. S2, but not until " the death, 
 surrender, forfeiture or removal " of the two chamberlains of the exchenuer, and they did 
 not resij,ni till l.S2(>. 
 
 ^ See also in his A^cnuil Aiioitnts, tlie not'!, page 8. 
 
 'Tallies were not necessarily j;iven one only at a time, it seems, for in the warrant of 
 Henry VII., February 22, 1498, I read ; " We wol and charge you that ye our Treas- 
 ourer and Chanibrelaines . . . do to be levied in due fournie ii sever.il tallies every 
 of them conteignyng \ li . . . and the same taill or tallies . . . ye delyver unto 
 the said lohn Caboote." 
 
niif Cahot Rifnni from /lis St'com/ I ('J''',;'''-'' 7 
 
 Mcryk, lo hf rciniltid to .iiul cnllniiil h)- luisilf iluiin'^ C'.!l)(>t'> 
 absence, f!>r tlu' i\Mintiii.iiK\' of tlu' f.niiily? On tlie otluT li.iiul. 
 there are iiiiuimeral)le instances in tlie 'IVlkrs' Accounts of ]),i_\iniiits 
 maile "to A. M. for C. D." or " to A. IV hy his servant C". I >. " \ct, 
 as I am infortncd, that does not prove tljat the form was not soipi;- 
 times omitti.'il. It nuist also he st.ited tli.it taUies could douhtless 
 he discomited in London ; yet, when [)aiil to the hroker hs' the cus- 
 tomers. I asranne lliat tlie entry in the account was maile in the 
 name of tlie original grantee. 
 
 It follows from what precedes, thai the tallies meiitii>iied in the 
 Westminster Ahhey dt)cuments do not in themselves prove the per- 
 sonal i)resence of John Cahot either in I.or.di n or in Bristol at the 
 dates specified in the accounts. They are only what lawyers would 
 call f^ri 111(1 f licit evidence of the fact, 
 
 The tliiril document, showin^f a similar pajineiit made l)etween 
 September 29, 149.S, and September 2^), 1499, evitlenceil also h>- a 
 tally, is liable to the same objection, which, however, is more than 
 cuwnterhalanceil by the follow in^^ ficts : 
 
 The first Cabolian voj-agc lastetl from the beL^innini; of May to 
 the first week in August. 1497, which shows that such a voNa^^e 
 could be accomplished in three months. Cahot, the second time, 
 sailed from Bristol early in May, 149S. I le mi- lit h.ive been absent 
 five months and yet have returned home in time to collect his pen- 
 sion before the end of September following;;. It is therefore nowise 
 impossible that John Cabot should have collected his pension per- 
 sonally in Bristol, or received his tallies in person at the hands of 
 the king's treasurer in London, before September 39, 149S, and in 
 
 1499. 
 
 Further, that was the time when ho was expected back in I-,ng- 
 land. Dr. Puebla, the Spanish ambassador, in a dispatch to I-'erdi- 
 nand and Lsabella, umlated, but sent from London in July, 1498, 
 speaking of the .sailing of the five shi[)s of the second e.\pedition, says : 
 " Dicen cjue seran veiiidos para el Setiembre : — They say that they 
 will be back in Septemljer (next)." Pedro de Ayala, the joint am- 
 bassador, in another dispatch, dated London, July 25, 1498, also 
 writes: " Sperase seran venidos para el Setiembre: — It is hoped 
 tliat they will have returned in September." 
 
 The Bristol accounts, examined by tlie light of these facts, strongly 
 
 tend to prove, therefore, that John Cabot did return from his last 
 
 voyage before September 29, 1498, and that he was still living after 
 
 the latter date. 
 
 Henry Harrisse. 
 
ii