144 
DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH. 
the African commerce. John Tintam and Wil- 
liam Fabian are stated to have been then em- 
ployed in equipping a fleet for the coast of 
Guinea, at the command of the Duke of Medina 
Sidonia ; but whether they sought to cover their 
enterprise by the name of this great Spanish 
grandee, or whether Spain sought thus covertly to 
obtain a share of her neighbour's wealth, our 
slender documents do not enable us to ascertain. 
John II. of Portugal, alarmed at the intelHgence 
of this armament, immediately despatched an em- 
bassy to the English king, (Edward IV.) The 
ambassadors, after sundry compliments, and much 
courtesy, proceeded to make his Majesty acquaint- 
ed with the claims which their master had to 
Guinea, requesting, " that he should give charge 
" through all his kingdom, that no man should 
^* arm or set forth ships to Ginnee," and also 
that he should " dissolve a certain fleet,'' equip- 
ped, as we have noticed, for the above purpose. 
The narrative concludes by stating, that the king, 
well pleased, had granted every thing thus de- 
manded ; so that this path, for a long series of 
years, was entirely shut against British enter- 
prise. 
The career of discovery was thus checked ; 
but as Britain became more and more a maritime 
country, and as accounts multiplied of the tide of 
wealth which flowed in upon Portugal from these 
