JOHN CABOT'S VOYAGES 



free of ice in 67° N. lat., are not of a kind to strengthen our 

 confidence. It might seem to be the same voyage that is 

 referred to in a statement of Richard Eden, which he may have 

 had from Sebastian Cabot himself. In the dedication (written 

 in June, 1553) of Eden's translation of the fifth part of Sebastian 

 Munster's " Cosmographia " we read that 



"Kinge Henry the viij. about the same yere [i.e., the eighth year] of his 

 raygne, furnished and sent forth certen shippes vnder the gouernaunce of 

 Sebastian Cabot yet liuing, and one Syr Thomas Perte, whose faynt heart 

 was the cause that that viage toke none effect; yf [I say] such manly courage 

 whereof we haue spoken, had not at that tyme bene wanting, it myghte 

 happelye haue comen to passe, that that riche treasurye called Perularia> 

 [which is now in Spayne in the citie of Ciuile, and so named, for that in it is 

 kepte the infinite ryches brought thither from the newe found land of Peru] 

 myght longe since haue bene in the towne of London." ^ 



As Peru is mentioned, it might doubtless appear as though 

 a voyage to South America were in question; but we often 

 see that the western countries beyond the sea were spoken of 

 as a continuous possession (cf. Robert Thome's letter, above, 

 p. 334), and it may therefore refer to the same alleged expe- 

 dition as is spoken of by Ramusio; for both Ramusio and 

 Eden have evidently the same statements from Sebastian 

 Cabot, and the latter can hardly have spoken of two expeditions 

 which were both unsuccessful merely because his companions 

 failed him. 



If this is correct, the voyage took place in the eighth year 

 of Henry VIII.'s reign, i.e., April 16, 1516, to April 15, 1517;^ 

 but, as Harrisse contends, it is very doubtful whether the 

 voyage was made at all. It is true that a poem of Henry VIII.'s 

 time also speaks of an English expedition which may have 

 taken place at this time, and which failed on account of the 

 cowardice of the crew. Robert Thorne, too, as we have seen 

 (P- 335) > tells of a voyage made by his father and Hugh Eliot, 



1 Cf. Harrisse, 1896, pp. 159 f.; Winship, 1900, p. 44. 



2 We must then suppose that " Henry VII." in Ramusio is an error for 

 " Henry VIII." 



