A. D. 15 25. 65 



maps of his own compofing, on wooden plates, according to the new 

 difcoveries. 



1. It appears, that by means of the Portu^uefe difcoveries, the charts 

 of the coafts of Africa, Arabia, Perfia, and India, are pretty well deli- 

 neated. 



2. With refpedl to China, to which the Portuv.uele had not as yet 

 given that more modern name, and which he, alter the old autliors of 

 the 13th century, fliles Cathay, almoll all that he Teemed to know of it 

 is, that it was to be failed to from India. 



3. He calls America, ' Terra nova inventa per Chriflophorum Co- 

 ' lumbum,' i. e. the new land found out by Columbus ; which feems to 

 be all that he knew of it. But, 



4. His map or chart of what he calls the Mare Congelatum. together 

 with the countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, is miferablv er- 

 roneous, as is alfo that of the Baltic fea. And between Greenland and 

 Norway-Lapland, inftead of an open fea he miakes a great bay, which 

 terminates at a fabulous ridge of mountains, like thofe of Ptolemy, &c. 



5. In one of his maps, he makes England and Scotland two different 

 ifles, and in another but one ifle, though extremely erroneous in figure, 

 &c. The like of other parts of the world. This is enough to fliow the 

 infant ftate of cofmographical knowlege in that age. 



About this time, King Henry at a great expenfe erected the pier of 

 Dover. Being afterward decayed, it was repaired by Queen Elizabeth ; 

 and both it and the harbour have fmce at many different periods been, 

 with very great charge, repaired and enlarged. Dover was anciently a 

 flouriiliing town, and had ("even parifh churches, fmce reduced to two ; 

 partly occafioned by the lofs of Calais, and partly by the fuppreffion of 

 pilgrimages and monafteries ; (which is alfo the cafe of the anciently fa- 

 mous city of Canterbury) partly alio by the decay of its harbour : Yet 

 Dover has fince in fome meafure recovered its former profperity; and its 

 harbour is one of the befl dry harbours of England. 



No difcovery of any confequence had been made from England fince 

 Cabot's voyage to the coafts of America. King Henry now fent out 

 two fhips towards the fame coafls, one of which was caft away in the 

 gulf of St. Laurence, and the other returned home the fame year with- 

 out any material difcovery. Some place this attempt in the year 1527. 

 (^See Hakluyt, V. iii, p. 129.) This voyage is probably that which Ro- 

 bert Thorn put King Henry upon, for a north-weft paffage to the IMo- 

 luccos. 



1526. — In this year the famous treaty of Madrid was made between 

 the Emperor Charles V, and King Francis I of France, then his prifoner. 

 What relates to commerce is in fubftance, 



I) That onlv the antient cuftoms and duties on merchandize fhould 



Vol. II. ' I 



