SEBASTIAN CABOT. 
15 
cess to that monarch, when the recommendation of any project 
wa s to be enforced, which had the most remote tendency to 
satisfy his ruling passion of avarice. There is not, certainly, any 
document existing to show that she, who was at one time, the 
“ wittiest harlot” who shared the royal bed of Edward IV., had 
in any manner attempted to exercise her influence over his suc¬ 
cessor, in favor of her relative; nor can it be ascertained that 
Henry VII., sanctioned in any degree, the expedition of Manson. 
We are therefore left to the conjecture, that the voyage was pro¬ 
jected, at the sole risk and expence of private merchants ; but on 
the other hand, there is mention made of one Thomas Manson, “a 
seafaringe manne,” whc found great favor in the eyes of Elizabeth, 
the queen consort of Henry, and therefore we may in some de¬ 
gree be warranted in drawing the conclusion, that her interest 
and power, although extremely limited over her sovereign, might 
have been exercised in favor of Manson, although it could not be 
expected, that it would have been called into action, from any 
disposition to befriend the discarded Jane Shore, or any of her 
relations. It was however sufficient to submit to the considera¬ 
tion of Henry VII., any project, the ultimate aim of which was 
to fill his coffers, in order to ensure his royal patronage and 
co-operation; and viewed from this point, certainly no scheme 
was more likely to effect that end, than the promotion of the 
discovery of foreign countries, which had already given to the 
king of Spain, the character of the richest monarch of the world. 
It has been considered by the majority of writers, that Sebas¬ 
tian Cabot, the Venetian, was the first navigator, who projected 
the discovery of the north west passage; the fame, however, of 
his having been the first projector of that undertaking, stands 
on very dubious grounds. Cabot arrived in England, and took 
up his residence at Bristol, with the strong recommendation of 
his having accompanied Columbus in his first expedition, and 
as far as his own report was to be credited, he was one of the most 
skilful mariners of that period. He clearly saw the many, and 
almost insuperable obstacles, which stood in the way of the 
detection of the truth or falsehood of any of the reports, which 
he might make relative to the voyage of Columbus, and there- 
