4 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN 
would be less formidable than those which were in¬ 
cident to the long and tedious voyages round either 
of the Southern capes, especially during periods of 
war. 
The principal object of pursuit, it is true, was not 
attained ; but England was rewarded by the acquisition 
of a valuable intercourse with Russia, by the way of 
Archangel; by a productive whale fishery at Spitzber- 
gen; by the discovery of Hudson’s and Baffin’s Bays ; 
and especially by the development of that commercial 
energy which never faltered till it became dominant 
throughout the globe. 
London was the central source of these operations ; 
and her municipal officers, composed of her leading and 
most successful men of business, were the organizers 
and supporters of the many bold and far-reaching 
schemes of traffic and colonization by which the period 
was distinguished. The monarchs of trade in ancient 
Venice and Genoa never conceived more extensive 
designs, or conducted them more royally, than did the 
mayors, sheriffs, and aldermen of London their com¬ 
bined expeditions of commerce and discovery. The 
names of Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Dudley Digges, Sir 
John Wolstenholme, Sir Francis Cherie, Alderman 
Wyche, Alderman Jones, and others of the same class 
and position, the merchant-princes of this heroic age 
of maritime adventure, were bestowed with almost 
indiscriminate profusion, and somewhat perplexing 
repetition, upon the numerous localities discovered 
under their auspices, often at their individual charge ; 
and with them the names of Hakluyt and Purchas, the 
