/ 
196 D I sc o vEiu Es a'/W SettlemeN'Ts Book! 
^which have accrued from the Fijhery upon its Coafls to this Nation. 12. Fhefirft Attempt to fettle Vir-* 
ginia, under the Direclion of Sir Walter Raleigh, vcith an Account of that Colo?iy, 13. The fever at 
Voyages of Captain John Davis, and the great Nifcoveries made by him in North America. 14. Sit 
Walter Raleighh Expedition to Guiana j the Confequences of that Expedition^ and Remarks thereupon^ 
15. Other remarkable naval TranfaSlio?2S^ within the Compafs of that Reign ^ relating to this SubjeB. 
16. A fucci)'iSl View op' the State of our Trade America, at the Time of the Death op' ^leen EYi- 
zabeth. 1 7. Remarks and Obfervations on the principal Events mentioned in the foregoing Sedlion. 
i.- HE Glory of having firft 'difcovered far diftant 
X Countries, and adding thereby to the Know- 
ledge and Commerce of Mankind, has always had 
Charms fufficient to invite different Nations to put in their 
ClaimSj even though they have not been extremely well 
founded. When America was firft made known, it oc- 
cafioned abundance of Enquiries j and, as it was natural, 
recalled to many Peoples Remembrances and Confidera- 
tions. Stories which had before been deemed fcarce wor- 
thy of Notice : Amongft the reft our Nation put in •, and 
the Tale told in Favour of us, as it is the earlieft in 
Point of Time, feems to merit Relation as well or bet- 
ter than" any other. In fhort^ this Story afferts that Madoc.^ 
Prince of Wales, was the firft Difeoverer of America, 
and the Detail of his Expedition runs thus : He flourifh- 
ed in the twelfth Century, and was Son of Owen Giiyneth, 
Prince of North Wales ; his Brethren raifing a civil War 
about the Divifion of his Father’s Dominions, he chofe 
rather to go to Sea with a few of his Friends, and feek out 
new Habitations, than run the Hazard of what might 
happen in this Difpute. Accordingly, about the .Year 
1170, fteering due Weft, and leaving Ireland on the 
North, he came to an unknown Country, where he fet- 
tled a Colony ; and, returning thence into Wales, carried 
a fecond Supply of People, but was never heard of 
more. 
That the Country he went to was really America, is 
more, I think, than can be thoroughly proved ; but that 
this Tale was invented after the Difeovery of that Coun- 
try, on purpofe to fet up a prior Title, is moft certainly 
falfe. Meredith ap Rees, who died in 1477, and was 
a famous Welch Poet, compofed an Ode in Honour of 
this Madoc.) wherein was contained an Account of his 
Difeoveries. Now as this was feveral Years before Colum- 
bus made his firft Voyage, we may be fure that this was 
really a Tradition, and no Tale of late Contrivance. 
Some foreign Writers, indeed, have fuggefted that this 
was a pure Invention, defigned to prejudice the Repu- 
tation of the great Difeovery made by Columbus ; but in 
this they rather fhew their Malice to us, than difeover 
ours *, for beyond all doubt, the Welch had, and have 
ftill, fuch a Tradition, and therefore fome wifer and bet- 
ter informed Critics have endeavoured to prove that it 
was not America, but Groenland, to which our Welch 
Prince failed. In Proof of which they have - obferved 
that this Country was well known ih the ninth and tenth 
Centuries, though it was afterwards loft. 
But with SubmilTion to thefe great Men, this Story does 
not at all anfwer their Purpofe j for, it is evident, the 
CoLirfe does by no means agree ; fmee, if he had failed to 
' that Country, he could not have left Ireland to the North. 
I have feen a very ingenious Difeourfe upon this Sub- 
je<ft, in which is fuggefted, that Prince Madoc landed in 
fome Part of Florida ; that, in procefs of Time, the Co- 
lony he planted there proceeded round by Land, and 
reached the northern Parts of Mexico, which Country 
they conquered, and were thofe foreign Anceftors of the 
Mexicans, of whom we have heard fo much from the 
Spanijh Writers that have recorded the Adventures of 
Cortes, and v/ith which the Reader is fo well acquainted, 
that there is no need of our faying any thing m.ore of 
them here, except it be this, that feveral Britijh Words 
have been difeovered in the old Mexican Tongue, and 
that no other European Nation can fliew a better founded 
Tradition than this ; for the Truth of which, however, 
I am very far from contending. 
2. If there had been really any Defire in the Englifo 
Nation to conteft the Title of the Crov/n of Spain to the 
Country oY America, it might have been undoubtedly 
Iked upon a much better Foundation j for, in the Life 
of Don Chrifiopher Colon, written by his Son in the reign 
of our King Henry the Vlllth, it is exprefly faid, that this 
great Man fent his Brother Bartholomew into England, to 
offer his Difeovery to King Henry VII. and he did accord- 
ingly prefent a Map, dated the if aoY February 1488, to 
that Monarch; and having explained to him his Bro- 
ther’s Defign, and what he propofed thereby, it was 
readily accepted ; and Don Bartholomew was fent to invite 
his Brother into England, with an Aflurance that the King 
Would grant him all he defired. This Agreement was 
four Years before the Voyage of Columbus in the Service 
of their Catholic Majefties, and therefore had v/ebeen fo 
much inclined to hunt for Titles to this new found Coun- 
try, here had been a fair Pretence. But King Henry the 
Vllth was of another Difpofition ; and, though he was a 
Prince much addifled to encourage fuch kind of ufeful 
Undertakings, he fcorned to aim at reaping the Fruits of 
other Prince’s Adventures-, and therefore he, contented 
himfelf, after miffing by mere Accident ColumbiNs Dif- 
eovery, with inviting other Seamen of known Reputa- 
tion, to enter into his Service for like Purpofes. 
Amongft thefe was John Cabot, Citizen of Venice, who 
had been long fettled at Brijlol, and who thought himfelf 
capable of performing, as a Seaman, things little, if at all, 
fhort of what Columbus had done. He accordingly ap- 
plied himfelf to the King, who, by Patent inrolled, dat- 
ed the 5th of March, in the eleventh Year of his Reign, 
and in the Year of our Lord 1495, granted to the faid 
John Cabot, and his three Sons, Lewis, Sebajiian, and 
Sancias, Authority to fail with five Ships of what Burthen 
and Strength they thought fit, upon Difeoveries to the 
Eaft, Weft, and North giving them the full Property 
of filch Country or Countries as they fhould difeover, 
with this Refer vation only, that they fhould return to 
Brijlol, and that they fhould pay him the Fifth Part of 
the neat Profits of theirVoyage ; in Confideration of which, 
they were to have the exclufive Right to the Countries 
fo difeovered, to which no other Englifr Subjebls were 
to trade, but by their Leave and Licence. But the 
Year before that Patent was granted, that is in 1494, 
John Cabot, with his Son Sebajiian, had failed from 
Brijlol upon Difeovery, and had ablually feen the Conti- 
nent of Newfoundland, to which they gave the Name 
of Prma Vifta, or Firjl Seen. And on the 24th of June 
the fame Year he went afliore on an Ifland, which, be- 
caufe it was difeovered on that Day, he called St. John’s ; 
and of this Ifland he reported very truly, that the Soil 
was barren, that it yielded little, and that the People 
wore Bear-Skin Cloaths, and were armed with Bows, Ar- 
rows, Pikes, Darts, Wooden Clubs, and Slings; but 
that the Coaft abounded with Fifh ; and upon this Re- 
port of his, the beforementioned Patent was granted. 
3’. The nextVoyage made for Difeovery was by Sebajiian 
Cabot, the Son of John, concerning which all our Writers 
have fallen into great Miftakes, for want of comparing 
the feveral Accounts we have of this Voyage, and making 
proper Allowances for the Manner in winch they were 
written ; fince I cannot find there was ever any diftindt 
and clear Account of this Voyage publifned, though it 
was of fo great Confequence. On the contrary, I believe 
that Cabot himfelf kept no Journal of it by him ; fince in 
a Letter he wrote on this Subjedt, he fpeaks doubtfully 
of the very Year in which it v/as undertaken, though 
from the Circumftances he relates, that may be very cer- 
tainly fixed. On the 3d oi February, in the 13th Year 
of the Reign of King Henry VII, a ntxt Grant was made - 
to John Cabot, by which he had Leave given him to take 
Ships out of any of the Ports of England, oY the Burden 
of two Iiundred Ton, to fail upon Difeoveries ; but be- 
fore this could be effected, John Cabot died ; and Se~ 
^ hajlian 
