a 
I’he V O Y 
into Countries which their Aiiceflors never knew. But, 
after all, this Notion of pulhing their Cqnquells in. this 
manner carries in it nothing fo truly noble as the Proje6t 
of Hifcovering Countries far removed from other Parts of 
the World by vaft Trafls of Sea ; and this for many Rea- 
fons, but principally for thefe three. Firft, Becaufe the 
former is the bare Refult of Force ^ whereas the latter 
mull be the Effedt of Skill. To enjoy Courage only is 
common with other Animals 5 but Fortitude of Mind, 
with refpedl to Dangers not felt, but forefeen, is peculiar 
to us as Men •, and fo likewife is the Condudb by which 
Providence has enabled us to guard againft them. Se- 
condly, in attempting the Difcovery of diftant and un- 
known Regions, we not only combat thofe Difficulties 
which other Conquerors meet with ; but, at the fame time, 
attempt to fubdue Nature, and to make her, who is the 
Miftrefs of Mankind, obedient to our Will, which, in 
ancient Times, was fuppofed to have fomewhat in it of 
Divinity, becaufe, to ordinary Minds, it feemed beyond 
the Reach and Power of Man. Thirdly, Whereas other 
Conquefts tend only to the Benefit' of this or that Nation j 
thefe are advantageous to the Species, and add Domi- 
nion not to a fmgle People, but to the whole Race of 
Mankind. 
2. We muft allow that the Ufe of the Compafs had 
brought about confiderable Changes in the Art of Navi- 
gation, before any Attempt was made to difcover new 
Countries by failing Weftward; but, however, there were 
great Difficulties to be overcome, before any Defign of 
that fort could be accompliffied. The Veffels then in ufe 
were very unfit for long Voyages, in Point of Form, Ca- 
pacity, and Strength. The Seamen again had very little 
Experience, were naturally inclined to coafting, and knew 
not enough of their Art to be clearly fatisfied what could, 
or what could not, be performed by it. Add to all this, 
that their Skill confifted rather in pradtifing what they 
had feen before, than in the Knowledge of any fettled 
Principle of Science, capable of diredling them in any ex- 
traordinary Cafes that might happen. And even as to 
their Obfervations, they were far enough from being exadt, 
partly from the Meannefs of their Inftruments, and part- 
ly from the Narrownefs of their Notions about the Ufe of 
them. 
We may fubjoin to thefe another Difficulty, as great, 
or perhaps greater, than any of the reft *, which was their 
Pronenefs to Superftition, a thing incident to all Arts, 
while indifferently underftood, which made them, on 
the one hand, liable to be furprized and confounded by 
every little Accident, and, on the other, rendered them 
fo obftinate and intradtable, that it was very hard, and, 
in fome Cafes, almoft impoffible, to force them out of 
their ordinary Road, notwithftanding their being diredled 
by Perfons of fuperior Abilities, and who, by a long 
Courfe of Study and Obfervation, had conquered all or 
moft of thefe Difficulties. Thefe Errors and Imperfedlions 
in fuch fort of People might, however, be very eafily 
excufed, when thofe who, both from their Parts and their 
Profeffions, ought to have been freer from thefe Foibles 
and Follies, entangled themfelves, by their own Wilful- 
nefs and Vanity, in ftill greater Miftakes. Thus, for in- 
ftance, it became a Point of Faith to deny that there were 
AntipodeSy and the learned Biffiop of Saltzburg was con- 
demned as a Heretic for holding the contrary Opinion. 
There has, indeed, been fome Endeavours ufed to pal- 
liate this Matter, and to m.ake the World believe that the 
Clergy, in thofe Days, were not quite fo ignorant as they 
have been reprefented. With this View we are told, that 
St. Augufiin~ on whore Authority the Prelate before-men- 
tioned was condemned, was far enough from believing, 
that the Earth upon which we live was flat, like a Tren- 
cher, which may be granted ; but then let us hear how 
they explain the Matter, and in what manner they ftate 
the Cafe of the Antipodes^ fo as to render the Belief of 
them an Herefy. V/hy, fay they, though the Church 
acknowledged the Earth to be a Globe, and that there 
was an inferior, as well as fuperior, Hemifphere yet they 
denied that the latter was habitable, becaufe, as it muft 
be feparatcd from us by a great Ocean, the Confequence 
they thought muft have been, that, if it was peopled, the 
AGES of Book B 
Inhabitants could not have been defcended from Adam^ 
and therefore the afferting a World fo peopled was, in 
their Judgment, a flat Contradidtion of the Scriptures. 
This Pofition of theirs, though a little better Senfe, was 
as effedlual a Bar to Science, and as much calculated ta 
prevent Difcoveries, as the other Opinion of the Earth’s be- 
ing fiat •, fo that, confidering the Power of the Church in the 
fifteenth Century, one cannot help wondering how it came 
into the Head of fo religious a Man as Chrijtopher Colum- 
bus to maintain the Poflibility of fuch an Enterprize •, and 
one ought to wonder much more that, that after he did main- 
tain fuch a Do6lrine, it was not condemned as a Herefy. 
3. At firft fight, the examining this Point may feem 
to be a little wide from our Purpofe •, but I hope, before 
I have done with it, to convince the ingenious Reader that 
nothing can contribute fo much to the perfedf underftand- 
ing the Subjedt of this Sedtion. We have already ffiewn, 
at the Beginning of the former Volume, that, when Co- 
lumbus firft propofed his Scheme, it luet v/ith great Op- 
pofitions, more efpecially from the Learned, who, either 
not comprehending the Force of his Arguments, were 
refolved to conceal their own Ignorance the beft way they 
could ; or elfe, from a Principle of Envy, were affidu- 
ous in maintaining that what he afferted was falfe and 
abfurd, merely becaufe they had not Penetration enough 
to make ftich a Difcovery themfelves r But we never hear 
that they charged him with Herefy, and therefore I am 
inclined to think, that the Reafon before afligned for con- 
demning the Opinion of the Antipodes was the true one. 
The Bufinefs then is to fliew how Columbus avoided 
fplitting upon this Rock, and maintained his Notion 
wdthout running into that to which the Church was, in 
his time, as little reconciled as when the Biffiop of Saltf- 
hurg was adjudged an Heretic. In order to clear up this,, 
the Reader is to underftand, that though Columbus difco- 
vered that great Continent, now called America *, yet he 
was very far from declaring, at leaftj or perhaps from 
believing, before he undertook his firft Voyage, that 
there was any fuch Continent by which I mean, a Con- 
tinent feparated from Europe by fo large a Part of the 
Ocean on one fide, and as far feparated irom Afta in like 
manner on the other. For, had he fb conceived, or, at 
leaft, had he maintained this Conception, however agree- 
able to good Senfe and Truth, he had been moft certainly 
efteemed a Heretic. 
But the Principle he went upon, though not ftnccly 
true, exempted him from all Imputation. It was,, in 
few Words, this. That the Earth being globular, it was 
reafonable to fuppofe, that the Continent and Iflands of 
the Eaft Indies extended themfelves in fuch a Manner into 
the inferior Hemifphere, as that they might be reached 
very conveniently by lailing AVeftward. It is very evident 
that, by this Suppofition, he entirely avoided the Flerefy 
of maintaining, that there might be another Continent, 
inhabited by Men that were not defcended imm Adam, 
It is very true that he might maintain and publiffi this 
Doftrine, without believing it ; but, as the Reader will 
hereafter fee, this was not the Cafe ; for he really fpoke 
as he thought. Nor does it appear that he was unde- 
ceived, even by the firft Voyage that he made j but, on 
the contrary, firmly believed, that the iflands ^he had 
viflted were fuch as lay at fome Diftance from tne Con- 
tinent of the moft Eaftern Part of AJia. 
4. There is nothing in this Error of Columbus which 
can in the leaft prejudice him in the Opinion of a judici- 
ous and intelligent Perfon ; but quite the contrar^^ imce 
it was impoffible for him, or, indeed, for any Man, to 
difcover, by the Force ot his Genius only, how the Divine 
Providence had diftributed the Continent and Iflands in 
that unknown Hemifphere. On the contrary, we learn, 
from hence, that there is always fomething magnificent 
and ffiining, and, if I may be allowed the Expreffion, a 
ffiadowy Refemblance of Truth even in the Miftakes o 
oreat Men. It was the Opinion of this able Perfon, that, 
Ster traverfmg a wide Sea, he ffiould fall in 
Archipelago of Iflands which Marco Paulo had defcnbed, 
and which he had called ZipangOy or CipangOy which are 
what we call Japon-, and, if the Continent oi America 
had not lain in his way (which, as I faid, it was impo 1- 
