/ 
Chap. in. /BRAZIL by the 
this Nation, and had the Confidence of the King, of 
whom he demanded a particular Audience upon this Oc- 
cafion, at which he delivered himfelf in the following Man- 
ner “ Your Majefty cannot be fufficiently commended 
“ for that Ready Attention which you have always fhewn 
“ to the Affairs of your Government, and the Pains you 
“ have lately beftowed in examining into the Ballance of 
“ Trade, is a new Proof of that Merit which would 
“ entitle you to the Crown, had it not defcended to 
“ you from a long and glorious Line of Royal An- 
“ ceftors. But permit me, Sire, to obferve, that there is 
“ a greater King, one by whom all Kings reign, and 
“ whofe Providence is over all his Works. According 
“ to his Diftribution of things. Riches belong to fome 
“ Nations, and Induftry to others •, and by this Means 
‘‘ the Liberality of Heaven is made equal to all. Vain, 
“ Sire, are all human Councils when oppofed to his Wif- 
dom, and feeble the Efforts even of royal Power, 
“ when directed to crofs his Will. You have forbid 
“ Gold to be exported out of your Dominions, and you 
“ would willingly enforce this Prohibition, but the thing 
“ is imprafticable. You may reft rain your Subjefts it 
“ is true, but you cannot fet Bounds to their Necefftties. 
“ But fay that this was poffible •, fuppofe you could de- 
feat the Induftry of the northern Nations, what would 
“ be the Confequence ? Their Hufbandmen, Grafiers, 
“ Weavers, and all that infinite Train of Manufadturers, 
‘‘ that now labour quietly at home to cloath and feed 
“ your Subjedls, would then turn Soldiers •, and, inftead 
“ of feeing their Merchantmen in the River of Lijbon, 
“ you would hear of their Fleets conveying them to 
“ Brazil^ to fetch much more of that Gold than you 
“ now fetch for them. Befides, Sire, if they are Gainers 
“ by your Trade,, they become thereby the natural Gua- 
“ rantees of your Dominions : It is not their Treaties 
only, but their Interefts that bind them to your Ser- 
“ vice. You have potent Enemies, and you require 
“ powerful Friends. The Ambition of France knows no 
“ Bounds: The Pride of Spain will teach her to keep 
“ up a perpetual Claim to your Territories and Crown : 
“ You can have no Recourfe to fruftrate the Views, and 
“ to defeat the Endeavours, of thofe Potentates, but to the 
“ maritime Powers •, and therefore let me befeech your 
“ Majefty to conftder, that every Projedl to diftrefsthem, 
“ is in Effedl a Scheme to deftroy yourfelf.” This 
Speech had the defired Effedt •, the intended Prohibition 
was laid alide, and the Englijh Nation has reaped the Be- 
nefit of this Trade ever fince. I, came to the Know- 
PORTUGUEZE. 189 
ledge of this Fadl, which is very’imperfedHy related by 
a French Author, by an Accident ; and I thought it my 
Duty, and a Piece of Juftice owing to his Lordlhip’s Me- 
mory, to relate it fully and fairly, as I have done; and 
now I ftiall take leave of this Subjedf, in order to give a 
fhort, but diftindt Account of our own Difcoveries in 
America^ according to what I propofed at the Beginning 
of this Chapter. 
The Labour of colledling thefe is great ; that of 
digefting them into Order ftill greater ; and the reducing 
the Subftance of large Books into fmall Sedtions greateft 
of all : But the Encouragement I have hitherto received 
by the kind Entertainment of my V/ritings, and the 
many friendly Communications that I have met with, 
and to which their Merit is chiefly owing, will enable 
me, I doubt not, to go through the reft of this large 
Taflc, with as much Succefs as I have hitherto done. 
The Reputation of doing this is the chief Reward I have 
in View, becaufe I am fatished that a ColleFmn of Voy- 
ages like thefe, where things are regularly cbnnedted, 
and the Subjedts treated in their full Extent, will be of 
conftant Service, as they have been hitherto one of the 
chief things wanting towards forming a Compleat Body 
of Hiftory. We have, indeed, very large Colledtions of 
Materials in feveral Languages ; but then, almoft all 
Nations have produced Writers extremely partial to them- 
felves, and our own amongft the reft ; but the Bufmefs is 
to purge thefe partial Relations, to free them from trivial 
Circumftances and needlefs Particulars, fo as to bring the 
Knowledge they convey within a reafonable Conipafs, 
that it may be both eafily read and eafily underftood, 
which is what we have endeavoured in the former Sec- 
tions, and fhall ftudy to perform in what follows. As 
for large and entire Hiftories of Colonies, they are not 
to be expedfed here, as being frequent enough already, 
and therefore the lefs neceflary, and requiring, befides, 
much more Room than we can fpare. But in the laft 
Book of this Colledtion, we fhall infert fome curious 
EngUJb which will fupply the Reader with a 
full Account of the Adlions of thofe great Men of this 
lOand, whom we are now to compare With thofe Heroes 
of other Climates, that have been already recorded ; and 
when we have paid that juft Tribute of Praife that is due 
to their Memories, we fhall proceed in like Manner to a 
fuccindt Hiftory of the French and Dutch Settlements, 
which will effedlually compleat the View we promifed to 
give of America^ and make the Weft Indies as well known 
as the Eajt. 
SECTION XVII. 
Difcoveries abtd Settlements made hy the En glish different Parts of America, 
from the Reign of Henry VII, to the clofe of that of ^ueen Elizabeth ; interfperf- 
ed with various Remarks on the Progrefs of our TCrade and naval Power ^ and the 
Difficulties which the Nation had to flruggle with in their frfl Attempts, 
I , 'The Hijiory of Madoc, one of the Princes of Wales^ and his fuppofed Difcovery of America fet m a true 
Lights and vmdicfted from fome groundlefs Kef edlions made thereon by foreign Writers. 2. 'The gene- 
rous ibifpoftion of King Henry VII, with refpeB to encouraging Difcovertes ; and the V yages of John, 
and Sebaftian Cabot, in his Service^ who firfi lifted the Continent of America. 3 . The V oyage of 
Sebaftian Cabot, for the Difcovery f a Norph-wef Paf 'age, in which he failed along the Coaji of that 
Part of North America, to which the cfterwards gave the Name of Florida. 4. I he Voy- 
age of Sir Thomas Pert, Vice-Admiral /^England, and Sebaftian Cabot, to Brazil, and other Parts of 
the Weft Indies. 5. The firfi Attempt f Mr. Horc, Merchant ^London, to efiablifh a Colony in New- 
foundland; the firange Misfortunes he met withy and a memorable Infiance of the fufiice and Generofity 
of King Henry VIII. 6 . The feveral Voyages of Captain William Hawkins to Brazil, and a fingular 
Proof of his Abilities and Integrity. 7. A fuccinbi Account of the Difcoveries and maritime Expeditions 
to America, under the Reign of King Edward VI. 8. That Hijiory continued during the Reign of ^een 
Mary, and her Confort, 'King Philip. 9. The Methods taken for extending our Trade y and making Settle- 
ments in the Reign of Ffueen Hizabeth. 10. An Account of Sir Francis Drake’s the Name oflAcw 
Albion, to a Country lying in the northern Part of California, and the Importance of that Difcovery. 1 1 . 
' The firfi Settlement of Newfoundland, with a fhort Account of the Nature thereof and the Advantages 
VoL. II. Numb. LXXXIL C c c ^hicb 
V 
