• LECTURES. 127 



It is evident, then, that the ohler a compiled map is the more origi- 

 nal matter it may he supposed to contain, and that often tlie entire 

 picture in all its parts will be unique to us. But even later maps 

 may sometimes have the same value, at least for certain parts of their 

 contents. The famous and interesting globe of Molineux, in the Mid- 

 dle Temple in London, is in many respects only a copy from copies of 

 other well known maps. But for certain northern parts of North 

 America, Molineux had before him the original draughts brought 

 home by Drake, Baffin, and other English navigators. He copied 

 those draughts, and transferred them to his globe, which is now the 

 only authentic thing in the way of maps transmitted to us from those 

 navigators. That part of Molineux's globe, therefore, possesses for 

 us the authority and value of a most precious historical document. 

 In such a case we should copy if not the whole at least the most im- 

 portant parts of the map to be inserted in our collection. 



But neither should all the works of compilers who had few or no 

 original documents before them be rejected by us, if that is true which 

 a biographer states of the great French map-maker, D'Anville. 

 "D'Anville," he says, "combined with vast information a very fine 

 and experienced eye. In the enormous mass of materials offered to him 

 for the construction of his maps, he quickly discovered the right from 

 the wrong, and seemed sometimes by a kind of critical instinct to re- 

 cognise the truth." D'Anville's maps, therefore, were not mere 

 compilations ; they were new creations. By adopting the mean of all 

 the differing lines offered to him, which were all wrong, he drew upon 

 his map the correct line, and thus produced something new, which was 

 truer than all the rest. 



Such men as D'Anville gifted with such a decided genius for geo- 

 graphy are rare. But they appear sometimes, and then they generally 

 correct so many errors, discard so many old prejudices, and base their 

 productions upon such a solid foundation of truth, that they become 

 the models and guides of their successors, as if they had been dis- 

 coverers themselves. 



The old cosmographers of the 16th century, Sebastian Miinster 

 and the still more excellent Ortelius, were men of this stamp. They 

 first led the way in map-making and geography, and were called the 

 Ptolemies of their age. The maps of Ortelius, in particular, served 

 as the basis of all the similar works undertaken after them. 



Hondius, Blaeu, Nicolaus Vischer, Sanson d' Abbeville, and Duval, 

 among Dutch and French geographers, took the lead in this branch of 

 science and art during the 17th century. Sanson d' Abbeville has 

 been called the creator of geography and map-making in France. 



Delille and D'Anville, in the 18th century, effected great improve- 

 ments in the maps of their age, although not travellers themselves, 

 merely by the help of critical study and sagacious combination. 



Such men as these, whom I mention only as instances, possessed the 

 confidence of their governments. To them were laid open all the 

 materials concealed in hydrographical and topographical archives. 

 They made themselves masters of this undigested matter ; and because 

 they put on their maps no line, point, or name about which they had 

 not studied everything within their reach, and for which they had not 



