[thacubr] the CABOTIAN DISCOVERY 293 



convey and lead to the land and isles of late found l»y the said John in 

 our name and by our commandment." 



Jn the privy purse account of Henry VII., ])reserved in the British 

 Museum, and to which allusion has already been made, are the two fol- 

 lowing items, under date of March 22, 1498: To Launcclot Thirkill, of 

 London, upon a Prest — present — for his shi|) goino- toward the new 

 ilande, £20. Delivered Launcelot Thirkill. going toward the ne\v lie, 

 in Prest. £20. 



Under date of April 1, 1498, are two other items : To Thomas 

 Bradley and Launcelot Thirkill, going to new isle, £20. To .Fohn Carter 

 going to the new isle in reward, £40 5 shilling. 



We have before us now every contemporaneous account of the 

 voyage of discover}-. There are three other important ]n"inted docu- 

 ments to be consulted before we close our subject and pass final judg- 

 ment, but these documents are not contemporaneous. The first is Peter 

 Martyr's account of what Sebastian Cabot told him of the voyage, and 

 which was first printed in 1516 ; the second is an engraved map, gener- 

 ally called Sebastian Cabot's own map, published first in 1544 ; the third is 

 a gossip}' account of a conversation between Sebastian Cabot and an 

 anonymous Mantuan gentleman, first printed in Ramusio's "voyages," 

 under the date of 156/]. These three documents give us much informa- 

 tion and much misinformation. They have served, when taken by them- 

 selves, to confuse the question of the discoverer and the discovery. 

 Documents wi'itten or printed long after the occurrence of an event are 

 dangerous authorities. The opportunity for chance or design to alter 

 or modify earlier and contemporaneous statements, is too great to permit 

 history to accept those statements Avithout scrutiny and caution. There- 

 fore, confining ourselves for the present to the contemporaneous 

 accounts, the letter of the Venetian, Pasqualigo, and the two letters of 

 Raimondo di Soncino, and the several state papers, we can get toleral)ly 

 apjn-oximate bearings. We must remember that both Pasqualigo 

 and Soncino knew John Cabot personally, while the latter says he became 

 quite intimate with him. Two of the three descriptive letters were writ- 

 ten the same month of Cabot's return, and the third Avas written in De- 

 cember of the same year. We ai*e now in the possession of the following 

 facts: First, the expedition consisted of one sliip with eighteen men, 

 under the charge of John Cabot, a Venetian citizen, and sailed fmm 

 Bristol, England, in May, or three months previous to its return in 

 August, under the authority and by the commandment of Henry VII , 

 King of England. The expedition was seeking Cathay by going to the 

 northwest. The course steered was noi-th and west, and not at any time 

 south. This information as to the starting point and as to the direction 

 is of the utmost importance. The expedition, on sailing out from Bri-stol, 

 passed the western limits of Ireland, and then began to steer to the north- 



