102 SAMUEL EDWARD DAWSOX OX TIIB 



of King Henry VIE., have been preserved at all, and the public records of England bear fil vourablo com- 

 parison with those of any other nation. Ilis book is full of sneers, and insinuations, and charges of per- 

 versions of plain meaning against every writer whose views do not harmonize with his own. Ilakluyt 

 often does not qunte exactly the words of the writer he cites, and sometimes supplements the sense by 

 information from other sources. Such was the method in an uncritical age. His work was a collec- 

 tion, not for critical study, but for practical information, and he recorded all he could learn. It was 

 the first attemjit to narrate the exploits of English seamen and he spared neither pains or money to 

 do it. Mr. Biddle out of his own fancy describes him as a " sleek well fed prebendary who would not 

 " likely condescend to speak to a poor antiquary like Stow." Then, he himself, so severe upon others, 

 is incessantly building facts upon hypotheses. He " supposes," continually and repeats " it is impos- 

 sible " and " it is not improbable" and "it is incredible," and when enough of such material is spread 

 he propounds a conclusion which he seomi to think proved. So out of "if and "probably " and 

 " doubtless " he weaves a statement that Vorrazano was with Eut on his voyage of 1527 and was killed 

 by the Indians on the coast of America. Of this Buckingham Smith, with some of Biddle's causticity, 

 says, " They who find instruction in speculative history may be gratified with a fine e.x;ample by furn- 

 " ing to the chapter in the Memoir of Cabot in which he (Verrazano) is supposed to have lost his life 

 " in the service of England." 



But one of the grossest instances of a grave charge made upon a mere hypothesis is his treatment 

 of William Worthington. It will be remembered that Cabot had loft Spain while he was a high 

 oflS-cial of the emperor Charles. He was in receipt of a salary from the English crown and was at 

 least 83 years of age when, on the 27th May, 1557, he resigned and was reappointed conjointly with 

 one William Worthington. At that date Philip II. was in England and Mr. Biddle, out of his own 

 fancy, calls Worthington " that Worthington probably, a favourite of that dark hour." And then he 

 goes on without the least basis to formulate the charge that Worthington, while an English official, 

 sold to Philip all of Cabot's papers and maps to be taken to Spain. This is very effectively disproved 

 by Hakluyt in his "Divers Voyages," who says that then (in 1582) they were in the possession of the 

 Worshipful Master William Worthington, one of Her Majesty's (Queen Elizabeth's) pensioners, who 

 was willing to have them published. Harrisse's theory is probably correct that Cabot was too old to 

 perform his functions awi Worthington was appointed to do the work and divide the salary. 

 D'Avezac, a very high authority on the subject, suggests that Worthington was related to Cabot 

 through his wife and the change was made in Cabot's interest by his friends. One theory is as good 

 as another, but Philip was not so popular in England that a native born officer of the English crown 

 would bo likely to betray his country's interest for a Spaniard, and, if he did, it was not likely that 

 Elizabeth's ministers would have continued him in his office and emoluments. It appears that Worthing- 

 ton had held some office under Edward VI. and that there had been a defalcation in his department. 

 The official discharge shows that " in consideration of his services both in France and Scotland * * * 

 "and for that the debt grew by unfaithfulness of his servant who ran away with the same," he was 

 exonerated. This Mr. Biddle converts, out of his own imagination, into " the king with easy liberality 

 " forgiving him a large debt on his allegation that a .servant had run away with the money." 



Whatever cause of complaint Mr. Biddle may give on account of unjust handling of his materials 

 ho did, in fact, contribute a great deal of valuable original matter to the subject. This, however, can- 

 not be said of Mr. J. F. Nicholls, librarian of the city of Bristol, who, in 1869, published an 

 apotheosis of Cabot under the following title : " The remarkable life, adventures and discoveries of 

 " Sebastian Cabot, of Bristol, the founder of Great Britain's maritime power, discoverer of America, 

 " and its first colonizer." Excepting in its outward appearance this book seems to be a model of 

 everything a book ought not to be. Here is the author's idea of what the " Matthew " did in the time 

 between June 24 and towards the end of July, in 34 days at most. " The first land made was the Cape 

 " North, the northern extremity of Cape Breton, and the island opposite the same (not lying in front 

 " of the land but further on) was Prince Edward island which was then named by them and long 

 " afterward known as the isle of St. John. They skirted this island and sailed along the southern 



