1132 MISCELLANEOUS. 



not engaged in commercial pursuits, become shareholders in adven- 

 tures to the new fishing-grounds. And though the Dutch refused to 

 abandon the particular fishery by which they had obtained both 

 wealth and celebrity, vessels wearing the flags of France, England, 

 Spain, and Portugal came annually in search of the cod as we shall 

 see for nearly a century before a single European colony was 

 founded in America north of the ancient limits of the United States. 



Of the incidents of the French fishing voyage of 1504 I have not 

 been able to find any account ; but there is mention, four years later, 

 of Thomas Aubert, who came from Dieppe to Newfoundland, and 

 who, previous to his return, explored the river St. Lawrence. We 

 learn, further, that the fishery increased rapidly, and that, in 1517, 

 quite fifty ships of different nations were employed in it. 



The flag or France was probably the most numerous, since, in 

 1527, an English captain at Newfoundland wrote to his sovereign, 

 Henry VIII, that in the harbor of St. John alone he found fishing 

 eleven sail of Norman and one Breton. Francis I, at this period, was 

 engrossed by a passionate and unsuccessful rivalry with Charles V of 

 Spain, and could hardly attend to so humble an interest. "But 

 Cnabot, admiral of France, acquainted by his office with the fisher- 

 men, on whose vessels he levied some small exactions for his private 

 emolument, interested Francis in the design of exploring and colo- 

 nizing the new world." Jacques Cartier,* of St. Malo, who was con- 

 sidered the best seaman of his day, was accordingly intrusted with 

 the command of an expedition in 1534. 



The French appear to have had establishments on shore, for the 

 purposes of the fishery, in 1540; but we have no certain information 

 with regard to them. In 1577 they employed no less than one hun- 

 dred and fifty vessels, and prosecuted the business with great vigor 

 and success. After the accession of Henry IV the first or the Bour- 

 bons and under the auspices of his illustrious minister, Sully, the 

 Newfoundland cod-fishery was placed under the protection of the 

 government. 



Previous to 1609, so constant and regular was intercourse with our 

 fishing-grounds that Scavalet, an old fisherman, had made forty 

 voyages. 



the kingdom, the retainers and servants had but spare and unwholesome diet salt 

 beef, mutton, and fish three-fourtJis of the year, with little or no vegetables; so that, 

 as Hume says, 'there cannot be anything more erioneous than the magnificent ideas 

 formed of the roast beef of old England.' Nor does it seem that 'my lord and lady' 

 themselves fared much better than their 'retainers,' since for their breakfast they 

 had 'a quart of beer, as much wine, two pieces of salt fish, six red herrings, four white 

 ones, and a dish of sprats.' In England, in the same century, 'the first dish brought 

 to table on Easter day was a red herring riding away on horseback;' that is, it was the 

 cook's duty to set this fish 'in corn sallud,' and make it look like a man riding on a 

 horse." 



* Jacques Cartier was a native of St. Malo. Francis I sent him on his first voyage 

 in 1534. He made a second voyage in 1535; and, when ready to depart fromFrance, 

 he went to the cathedral, with his whole company, to receive the bishop's benedic- 

 tion. Many of his companions were young men of distinction. He came to the 

 French possessions in America a third time in 1540, as pilot, and in command of five 

 ships, under Francois de la Roque, lord of Roberval, wno, commissioned as governor 

 of Canada, was intrusted with the supreme authority. Cartier published an account 

 of Canada after his second voyage. 



