Abstract
A miscellany gathering the defence of consciousness-based personal identity, advice on reading and study, the ‘Elements of Natural Philosophy’ (matter, motion, senses, understanding), and a history of navigation: heterogeneous writings of empiricist cast.
Testo originale inglese · Delphi Classics, 2000 · pubblico dominio
The candid author of the late essay upon personal identity cannot justly be offended with any attempt to explain and vindicate Mr. Locke’s hypothesis, if it is carried on in the same spirit, though it should be attended with the overthrow of some of his own favourite notions: since he owns that it is of consequence to form right opinions on this point: which was indeed once deemed an important one, how little soever such may be regarded now-a-days. I shall proceed therefore, without farther apology, to settle the terms of this question, and endeavour to state it so as to bring matters to a short and clear determination.
Now the word person, as is well observed by Mr. Locke (the distinguishing excellence of whose writings consists in sticking close to the point in hand, and striking out all foreign and impertinent considerations) is properly a forensic term, and here to be used in the strict forensic sense, denoting some such quality or modification in man as denominates him a moral agent, or an accountable creature; renders him the proper subject of laws, and a true object of rewards or punishments. When we apply it to any man, we do not treat of him absolutely, and in gross, but under a particular relation or precision: we do not comprehend or concern ourselves about the several inherent properties which accompany him in real existence, which go to the making up the whole complex notion of an active and intelligent being; but arbitrarily abstract one single quality or mode from all the rest, and view him under that distinct precision only which points out the idea abovementioned, exclusive of every other idea that may belong to him in any other view, either as substance, quality or mode. And therefore the consideration of this same quality, or qualification, will not be altered by any others of which he may be possessed; but remains the same whatever he shall consist of besides: whether his soul be a material or immaterial substance, or no substance at all, as may appear from examining the import of these pronouns, I, thou, he, &c. [the grammatical meaning of such words generally pointing out the true origin of our ideas primarily annexed to them] which both in their original sense and common acceptation are purely personal terms, and as such lead to no farther consideration either of soul or body; nay, sometimes are distinguished from both, as in the following line,
Linquebant dulces animas, aut ægra, trahebant Corpora.
An enquiry after the identity of such person will be, whether at different times he is, or how he can be, and know himself to be the same in that respect, or equally subjected to the very same relations and consequent obligations which he was under formerly, and in which he still perceives himself to be involved, whenever he reflects upon himself and them. This we shall find to consist in nothing more, than his becoming sensible at different times of what he had thought or done before: and being as fully convinced that he then thought or did it, as he now is of his present thoughts, acts, or existence.
Beyond this we neither can, nor need go for evidence in any thing; this, we shall soon see, is the clear and only medium through which distant things can be discovered and compared together; which at the same time sufficiently ascertains and establishes their several natures and realities respectively; so far as they relate to ourselves and to each other: or if this should not be esteemed sufficient to that end, we shall find, in the last place, that there is nothing else left for it. This distinct consciousness of our past actions, from whence arise all the ideas of merit and demerit, will most undoubtedly be regarded with the strictest exactness in foro divino; and indeed has its due weight in foro humano, whenever it can be with certainty determined: wherever this appears to be wanting, all judicial proceedings are at an end. How plain soever any criminal act were, the man would now-a-days be acquitted from guilt in the commission of it, and discharged from the penalties annexed to such fact, could it at the same time be as plainly made out, that he was incapable of knowing what he did, or is now under a like incapacity of recollecting it. And it would be held a sufficient reason for such acquittal, that the punishment or persecution of a creature in these circumstances, could not answer the end proposed by society in punishment, viz. the prevention of evil, the only end that I know of, which can justify punishments in any case. The reason then why such a plea has usually so small regard paid to it in courts of justice, is, I apprehend, either the difficulty of having this incapacity proved with the same clearness that the fact itself is established; or the common maxim that one crime, or criminal indisposition, is not admissible in excuse for another; as in cases of drunkenness, violent passion, killing and maiming men by mistake when one is engaged in an unlawful pursuit, &c. Or in some of these cases perhaps men are punished for the murders, &c. not because they possibly may be conscious of them, and yet that consciousness not appear; but that such evils may be more effectually prevented by striking at the remoter cause, i. e. exciting a salutary terrour of those confessedly evil practices and habits, which are often found to terminate in such fatal effects. A kind of injustice is here indeed committed by society, which we have no reason to suppose will be admitted in foro divino, and some worse instances may be seen in our statute books. By the 23 of Hen. 8. a man becoming lunatic after an act of treason shall be liable to be arraigned, tried, and executed. But Hale in his P. C. says, That if a traitor becomes non compos before conviction he shall not be arraigned; if after conviction, he shall not be executed: and Hawkins observes the same concerning those who have committed any capital offences.
In human courts, which cannot always dive into the hearts of men and discover the true springs of action, nor consequently weigh the effects and operations of each in an equal balance: in this state of ignorance and uncertainty, such a notorious indisposition as that of drunkenness, v. g. being generally a great fault in itself, is seldom allowed in extenuation of such others as are committed under its influence; nor indeed does it, I believe, often produce any new, materially different trains of thinking, or totally obliterate the old ones; but where this is really so, the Deity would make just abatement for such defect or disability, as was at the time both unconquerable and unavoidable: nor can we properly impute actions consequent upon any real disorder of the rational faculties, howsoever that disorder might have been contracted; and therefore all animadversions upon them must be in vain: nor is a man punishable for any thing beside the bare act of contracting such disorder, or for the original cause of this disability, how great or durable soever; the dangerous consequences of which he did, or might foresee. As is the case in some other confirmed habits, viz. that of swearing, &c. which often operate mechanically and unperceived, and in which therefore all the moral turpitude (or what is so accounted) arising from them, never can reach beyond the fountain head from whence they are derived, and from which all the effects of them naturally, and even necessarily flow. We must therefore conclude in general, that a person’s guilt is estimated according to his past and present consciousness of the offence, and of his having been the author of it. Nor is it merely his having forgotten the thing, but his having so far lost the notion of it out of his mind, that how frequently soever, or in what forcible manner soever, it may be presented to him again, he lies under an utter incapacity of becoming sensible and satisfied that he was ever privy to it before, which is affirmed to render this thing really none of his, or wholly exculpate him when called to answer for it. Suppose this same consciousness to return, his unaccountableness (call it personality, or what you please) will return along with it: that is, the infliction of evil upon him will now answer some purpose, and therefore he must be considered as now liable to it. Thus some wholly lose the use of their intellectual faculties for a time, and recover them at intervals. In such cases they are considered as punishable by laws, and so declared by juries, in proportion to the probability of their being conscious of the fact. Others lie under a partial deprivation of some one faculty for certain periods, while they continue to enjoy the rest in tolerable perfection. I knew a learned man, who was said to recollect with ease subjects upon which he had written, or any others that had been discussed before the last ten or fifteen years; could reason freely, and readily turn to the authors he had read upon them; but take him into the latter part of his life, and all was blank; when any late incidents were repeated to him, he would only stare at you, nor could he be made sensible of any one modern occurrence, however strongly represented to him. Was this man equally answerable for all transactions within the last period of his life, as for those in the first? Or if he could have been made sensible of the latter part, but had irrecoverably lost the former; could that former part have been in like manner imputed to him? Surely not. And the reason plainly is, because society could find no advantage from considering him as accountable in either case. Which shows personality to be solely a creature of society, an abstract consideration of man, necessary for the mutual benefit of him and his fellows; i. e. a mere forensic term; and to inquire after its criterion or constituent, is to inquire in what circumstances societies or civil combinations of men have in fact agreed to inflict evil upon individuals, in order to prevent evils to the whole body from any irregular member. Daily experience shows, that they always make consciousness of the fact a necessary requisite in such punishment, and that all inquiry relates to the probability of such consciousness. The execution of divine justice must proceed in the same manner. The Deity inflicts evil with a settled view to some end; and no end worthy of him can be answered by inflicting it as a punishment, unless to prevent other evils. Such end may be answered, if the patient is conscious, or can be made conscious of the fact, but not otherwise. And whence then does this difference in any one’s moral capacity arise, but from that plain diversity in his natural one? from his absolute irretrievable want of consciousness in one case, and not in the other? Suppose now that one in the former condition kills a man; that he, or some part of what we call him, was ever so notoriously the instrument, or occasion of that death; yet if he was either then insensible of the fact, or afterwards became so, and so continued: Would he be any more guilty of murder, than if that death had been occasioned by another person? since at that time he was truly such, or at least is so now, notwithstanding that most people might be apt to judge him still the same, from a sameness in outward circumstances (which generally supply the best means men have of judging) from his shape, mien, or appearance; though these often differ widely from the internal constitution, yet are so often mistaken for it; and this accordingly thought and spoke of with little more philosophical propriety, than when we, in the vulgar phrase, describe a man’s condition by saying, We would not be in his coat.
Suppose one then in the situation above-mentioned; could any pains, think you, inflicted on him suit the idea, or answer the ends of punishment, either with regard to himself or others, farther than mere show and delusion? Rewards and punishments are evidently instituted for the benefit of society, for the encouragement of virtue, or suppression of vice, in the object thus rewarded or punished, and in the rest of the community; but what tendency to the above purposes can either of these have, if dispensed to one who is not so far himself as to become conscious of having done any thing to deserve it? What instruction is conveyed to him? What admonition to such others, as are duly acquainted with the whole of the case, and see every circumstance thus grossly misapplied? And as in these cases, laws only can define the circumstances in which a man shall be treated as accountable, they only can create guilt, i. e. guilt also is a forensic term, or a mode of considering any action, which in its essence implies knowledge of a law, offence against that law, and a sense of having offended against it; i. e. an after consciousness of the fact; without which after consciousness, punishment would be of little avail, as it would neither serve to guard the man himself against a like delinquency, nor tend to the warning of others, who by such inflictions would openly perceive that they might chance to suffer pain, without being able to assign a reason for it. — Thus may personality be extended or contracted, and vary in various respects, times, and degrees, and thereby become liable to great confusion, in our applying it to various subjects; yet is the ground and foundation of it fixed; and when once discovered, its consequences are not less so, both before God and man.
Abstract, general ideas (of which this is an eminent one) are alone productive of certain, uniform, and universal knowledge: Thus qualities of a certain kind, when abstracted, or taken apart from nature, and set up for common standards, are so far independent as to become absolute, unmixed, or perfect in themselves, however different they may be found in their respective concretes. Thus goodness, justice, guilt, merit, &c. in general, are ever the same goodness, &c. all the world over, however imperfectly they may appear in any particular subjects, times, and places. In the same manner as a line, or the abstract consideration of length without thickness or breadth; the consideration of surface, i. e. length and breadth without thickness, must be the same, in all intelligent beings of like faculties with us, though the natural substances which suggest them may differ with an endless variety. Let personality answer to a line or surface; let the substances it is predicated of, like the infinite variety of solids in nature, (with their appendages, heat, cold, colour, &c.) in which length and breadth are found, vary as you please, still the abstract ideas of line and surface, and therefore of person, will remain invariable. And thus propositions formed out of these general ideas contain certain truths, that are in one sense external and immutable, as depending on no precarious existences whatever. Being merely what we ourselves make them, they must continue the same while the same number of such ideas continue joined together, and appear the same to every intelligent being that contemplates them. They do not stand in need (I say) of an objective reality, or the existence of any external things in full conformity to them, since we here consider things no farther than as coming up to these original standards, settled in the minds of men; or as capable of being included in such measures as are applied to determine their precise quantity, quality, &c. we are ranking them under a certain species or sort, hence called their essence, which entitles them to the name descriptive of it, as is sufficiently explained by Mr. Locke. They want therefore nothing more to establish their reality, than to be consistently put together, so as may distinguish them from others that are merely chimerical, and qualify them for the admission of any real beings that may occur: Thus, not only the instance of a triangle so frequently used by Mr. Locke, but every theorem in Euclid, may be ranked among the abstract considerations of quantity, apart from all real existence, which seldom comes up to it: As it may be justly questioned whether any triangle or circle, as defined by him, ever existed in nature, i. e. existed so that all the lines of the triangle were right ones, or all the lines drawn from the centre to the circumference equal. These ideas presuppose no one being in particular, they imply nothing more than a proper subject of inquiry (as was said above) or some such creature as is either actually endowed with, or at least susceptible of these specific qualities, or modes, which furnish matter for the whole tribe of abstractions daily made and preserved by such terms as usually serve to denote them; whether appellatives, in order to distinguish men in their several stations and relations, private or public; to describe their character or conduct, office, &c. as parent, patriot, king, &c. or such more general, technical ones, as paternity, patriotism, kingship, &c. the nature, end, and use, of all which abstractions, with their names, are well enough understood, and would not easily be mistaken in affairs of common life, which are happily less liable to such kind of subtile refinements, as have brought metaphysical speculations into that contempt under which they have long laboured. In short, of these same abstractions consist all general terms and theorems of every science; and the truth and certainty contained in them, when applied to morals or theology, is no less determinate than in other sciences; it is equally capable of strict demonstration; as Mr. Locke observes, and equally applicable to full as useful and important purposes: the great general truths, I say, arising out of these general essences, or entities, (as they are sometimes called) are all clear, constant, and invariable in themselves, though the names in which such a collection of ideas should be preserved, are often through the poverty and imperfection of language rendered extremely vague and uncertain in each writer or speaker, and the ideas formed by them in other men’s minds (which are their proper archetypes, and a conformity to which alone makes them right or wrong, truly or untruly applied) thereby become no less frequently confused and indeterminate. Thus, in the case before us, the word person is often used to signify the whole aggregate of a rational being, including both the very imperfect idea, if it be any idea at all, of substance, and its several properties, [as is the common way] or taking all the essential qualities together, [which properly constitute the substance of any thing] with several of their modes. As when speaking of any one, we include soul, body, station, and other circumstances, and accordingly style him a wise, worthy person; a tall, comely, a rich, great one, &c. where person in a lax, popular sense signifies as much as man. In which popular sense Mr. Locke manifestly takes the word, when he says, it “stands for a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking being, in different times and places.” B. 2. C. 27. § 9. But when the term is used more accurately and philosophically, it stands for one especial property of that thing or being, separated from all the rest that do or may attend it in real existence, and set apart for ranging such beings into distinct classes, (as hinted above) and considering them under distinct relations and connexions, which are no less necessary to be determined in life, and which should therefore have their proper and peculiar demonstration. And thus sameness of person stands to denote, not what constitutes the same rational agent, though it always is predicated of such: but we consider his rationality so far only, as it makes him capable of knowing what he does and suffers, and on what account, and thereby renders him amenable to justice for his behaviour, as above-mentioned.
Whatever ingredients therefore of different kinds go to the composition, what other particulars, whether mental or corporeal, contribute to the formation of this intelligent being, these make no part of our inquiry; which, I beg leave to repeat it again, is not what enters into the natural constitution of a thing, but what renders it so far a moral one, and is the sine quâ non of its being justly chargeable with any of its past actions, here or hereafter: Or, in other words, it does not affect the reality or the permanency of such intelligent beings, but only regulates and retains those beings under such a moral relation, as makes them properly accountable to some superior for their course of action. It is an artificial distinction, yet founded in the nature, but not the whole nature of man, who must have many other essential powers and properties to subsist as man, and even to support this in question; but none other, we say, that can affect, or in any wise alter his condition in the above-named respect, and therefore none that come with propriety into the present consideration.
This is all the mystery of the matter, which has puzzled so many ingenious writers, and been so marvellously mistaken by such as are not sufficiently acquainted with the doctrine of abstractions, or are misled by terms of art, instead of attending to the precise ideas which these ought to convey, and would always convey if they were but carefully and steadily applied; for want of which proper application, men of genius and good sense have fallen into such egregious trifling, as serves only to disturb this beyond most other parts of science, and has filled the above celebrated question with a multitude of quibbles, which Mr. Locke’s clear and copious answers to his several opponents might, one would have hoped, have most effectually prevented; but which are subsisting to this very day, to the no small mortification of all sincere lovers of truth, and admirers of that able defender of it. And I have been the larger on this head of general words and notions, which have so close a connexion with each other, and with the present question, as the subject perhaps is not sufficiently explained by Mr. Locke in any one place of his admirable essay, though it occurs pretty often: and since the several properties or attributes of these same abstract ideas are still so miserably misunderstood, as to have their very existence disputed, probably because he has been pleased to set it forth in a manner somewhat paradoxical. Though this word existence also is a term often misapplied, as if nothing could really exist which was not an object of the senses: Whereas in these, and several other ideas, as has been often observed, their esse is percipi.
Again, We are often misled on the other hand by imagining what things are in themselves (as we usually term it) or in their internal essences; instead of considering them as they appear, and stand related to us; or according to the ideas that are obviously suggested by them; which ideas only should be the objects of our contemplation (since we really perceive nothing else) and ought always to regulate our inquiry into things, as these are the sole foundation of all our knowledge concerning them, of all that can with safety direct, or be of service to us.
But to return to our author. The property then, or quality, or whatever he chooses to call it, which, in his own words, renders men “sensible that they are the same” in some respects, is in Mr. Locke’s sense, in the legal, and in common sense, that which so far makes them such, or brings them into the same relative capacity of being ranked among moral, social creatures, and of being treated accordingly, for several obvious purposes in social life. This consciousness, I say, of being thus far ourselves, is what, in Mr. Locke’s language, makes us so. In this case, as in some other ideal objects, to be, and be perceived, is really the same, and what this author calls the sign, coincides with the thing signified. Whether any intelligent being is at present what he is in every respect, wants no proof; of this he has self-evident intuitive knowledge, and can go no higher. And whether he now is what he was once before, in this single article of personality, can only be determined by his now being sensible of what he then thought and did, which is equally self-evident; and thus again, consciousness at the same time, and by the same means, that it convinces him of this, does likewise constitute him such to all ends and purposes whatsoever.
Well then, having examined a little into the nature, and enumerated some few properties of an abstract idea in general, and shown that this particular one before us can be nothing more, we may find perhaps that however fluctuating and changeful this account may be judged to render personality; how much soever it may fall short of some sublime systems about purely immaterial substances, and perfectly independent principles of thought; yet there is no help for these changes in the seat of personality; since, in the last place, we know of nothing more stable and permanent in our constitution that has the least pretence to settle and support it. All parts of the body are to a certain degree in perpetual flux, nor is any one of them, that we are acquainted with, concerned in the present case more than another. As to the mind, both its cogitative and active powers are suspended (whether they be so or not is a matter of fact, in which experience only, and not subtile argumentations drawn from the nature of an unknown, perhaps imaginary, essence ought to decide) during sound sleep: Nay, every drowsy nod (as Mr. Locke expresses it) must shake their doctrine, who maintain that these powers are incessantly employed. Call then a resuscitation or revival of these powers, when we awake, another beginning of their existence, a new creation; and argue against the possibility of any such interruption or annihilation of them, as long as you please; yet that it is matter of fact, and nightly experience, and capable of as good proof as a negative proposition will admit, is made out sufficiently by the above-named excellent writer. This, if properly attended to, and pursued through its genuine consequences, would go a great way towards unfolding the true nature of the human mind, which many thoughtful men seem yet very little acquainted with, and very much afraid to examine. And while this disposition holds, we can never expect to come at the original core of all those corruptions that have infected this branch of philosophy, and extended themselves to some other parts of science. Nor are the several proofs, or, if you please, probabilities, that I was not thinking all the last night, sufficiently answered by the old excuse that I may forget all such thoughts immediately as soon as ever I awake: for setting aside the great improbability of this happening so very constantly, for so long a time, it must appear to any one who understands what he says, that whosoever, or whatsoever, was thus employed, it could not possibly be I who was all this while busily engaged in such thoughts, since they never bore the least share in my series of consciousness, never were connected with the chain of my waking thoughts, nor therefore could any more belong to me, than if you suppose them (as you might full as well, for argument’s sake, and to salve an hypothesis) to be the working of some secret mechanism, or kept up in the watch that was lying by me. Something like this, I presume, would be the plea, which all the advocates for this lame system would offer in their own defence, were any one so injurious as to charge them with things done or said in their sleep. The same observation may be urged against that absurd, self-repugnant hypothesis of our having been in a pre-existent state: for whatsoever was done there it can be nothing to us, who had never the least notice or conception of it.
To the difficulties so often objected, of this being a “new creation,” and making the same thing have “two beginnings of existence;” — We may observe, that it would indeed be an absurdity to suppose two beginnings of existence, if the identity of a substance, being, or man were inquired into; but when the inquiry is made into the artificial abstract idea of personality, invented for a particular end, to answer which consciousness only is required, beginning and end of existence are quite out of the question, being foreign to any consideration of the subject. — It may be farther observed, that in fact we meet with something of the same kind every morning after a total interruption of thought (and I hope, we may by this time in one sense be allowed to term it so) during sound sleep: nay, if we search the thing narrowly, and may in our turn enter into such minutiæ, thus much will be implied in the successive train of our ideas, even in each hour of the day; that same article of succession including some degree of distance between each of them, and consequently at every successive step there is a new production, which may with equal reason be styled an interruption of thought, or a new exertion of the thinking power. — But enough of these nugæ difficiles. Such changeable, frail creatures then are we through life; yet safe in the hand of that unchangeably just, wise, good, and all-powerful Being, who perfectly understands our frame, and will make due allowances for each defect or disorder incident to it; who at first created us out of nothing, and still preserves us through each shifting scene, be the revolutions in it never so frequent and rapid, and will at length most assuredly conduct us to immortality. Though in every respect we are here “fleeing as it were a shadow, and never continuing in one stay,” and at last suffer a short seeming pause in our existence, which is in scripture termed the “sleep of death:” yet will he again raise us “out of the dust;” restore us to ourselves, and to our friends; revive our consciousness of each past act or habit, that may prove of the least moral import; cause the “secrets of all hearts to be laid open,” and either reward or punish every one according to his works done in the body.
Nor does it imply a plurality of persons in any man at any time given to charge him with various actions or omissions; since he may become guilty of a plurality of crimes, as often as he is induced or enabled to reflect upon them, though these cannot be crowded into his mind altogether, any more than they could have been so committed. Nor therefore need all past actions become at once present to the mind; which is utterly inconsistent with our frame, as it now stands, and perhaps with that of every other created being; nor is there a necessity for any one idea being always actually in view; which is equally so; but only for a capacity of having such brought to mind again, together with a consciousness of their having been there before, (which distinguishes them from entirely new ones), or a possibility of recognizing them upon occasion, at least whenever we are to account for them, as has been frequently observed. So far as any such recognition reaches, such person is the same; when this faculty varies, that must vary also; and he become the same, or not, at different times and in divers respects, as observed likewise; at least his accountableness must vary in proportion, call this personality, or what you think fit. Nor does it properly lie in a power of causing a return of the same idea; but rather in the capacity of receiving it, of re-admitting the same consciousness concerning any past thought, action, or perception. Nor is it merely a present representation of any such act; but a representation of it as our own, which entitles us to it; one person may know or become conscious of the deeds of another, but this is not knowing that he himself was the author of those deeds, which is a contradiction; and to treat him as such upon that account only, would be inverting all rules of right and wrong; and could not therefore be practised by either God or man, since no end could possibly be answered by such treatment, as observed above.
To dwell upon those surprising consequences that might attend the transferring the same consciousness to different beings, or giving the same being very different ones, is merely puzzling and perplexing the point, by introducing such confusions as never really existed, and would not alter the true state of the question, if they did.
Such Fairy tales and Arabian transformations, possible or impossible, can only serve to amuse the fancy, without any solid information to the judgment. These flights of mere imagination Mr. Locke generally avoids, though he was here tempted to indulge a few such, in playing with the wild suppositions of his adversaries, [v. g. a change of souls between Socrates and the mayor of Queenborough, &c.] probably to enliven a dry subject, and render it more palatable to the bulk of his readers.
Nor are those cases of a disordered imagination in lunacy or vapours, where persons are for a time beside themselves, (as we usually term it) and may believe such chimerical alterations to befal them, any more to the purpose.
But it were endless to unravel all futile sophisms and false suppositions, that have been introduced into the present question; I have endeavoured to obviate such as appeared most material, and account for them; and at the same time to inculcate a doctrine, which, though common enough, seemed not enough attended to; yet is fundamentally requisite to a right understanding of this intricate subject. And if that which is laid down above be a true state of the case, all the rest of our author’s plan, [of placing personal identity in a continuation of thought] will drop of course. I trust the reader will make allowance for some repetitions, which were left to render things as plain as possible, and prevent future subterfuges of the like kind; and if the substance of these few hasty observations on the first part of this ingenious writer’s essay, prove in the least degree satisfactory to himself, or have a tendency to enlarge general knowledge, and guard against popular errours, I must rely upon his candour for excusing the manner in which they are thrown out; and shall take the liberty of closing them in the form of a syllogism, which is submitted to his consideration:
Quo posito ponitur personæ identitas, et quo sublato tollitur, id personalem identitatem constituit:
Sed positâ conscientiâ, &c.
Ergo.
APPENDIX.
A friend, well acquainted with the subject of the foregoing sheets, having communicated to me some observations concerning the use of the word Person, which came too late to be inserted in their proper place, I must take the liberty of annexing them, though they occasion some more redundancies and repetitions, in order to throw as much light as is possible on this very obscure and long controverted question.
As Mr. Locke’s definition of the term person, (chap. xxvii. § 9.) may possibly create some difficulty, it will be proper to examine into the sense which should be put upon this word, whenever we inquire after the identity of any man’s person; which may perhaps at once lead us to a just conception of the whole. In the aforementioned section, Mr. Locke says, that person stands for “a thinking intelligent being, that has reason and reflection,” &c. whereas I should imagine, the expression would have been more just, had he said that the word person stands for an attribute, or quality, or character of a thinking intelligent being; in the same sense as Tully uses it, Orat. pro Syll. § 3. “Hanc mihi tu si, propter res meas gestas, imponis in omni vitâ meâ personam, Torquate, vehementer erras. Me natura misericordem, patria severum; crudelem nec patria, nec natura esse voluit: denique istam ipsam personam vehementem et acrem, quam mihi tum tempus et respublica imposuit, jam voluntas et natura ipsa detraxit.” It came at last to be confounded with, and stand for homo gerens personam (Taylor, Civ. L. , 248.) and in this sense Locke has incautiously defined the word. It has attributed also to more intelligent beings than one; as by the jesuits in their declaration prefixed to the third book of Newton, alienam coacti sumus gerere personam. The word person then, according to the received sense in all classical authors, standing for a certain guise, character, quality, i. e. being in fact a mixed mode, or relation, and not a substance; we must next inquire, what particular character or quality it stands for in this place, as the same man may bear many characters and relations at the same, or different times. The answer is, that here it stands for that particular quality or character, under which a man is considered, when he is treated as an intelligent being subject to government and laws, and accountable for his actions: i. e. not the man himself, but an abstract consideration of him, for such and such particular ends: and to inquire after its identity is to inquire, not after the identity of a conscious being, but after the identity of a quality or attribute of such a conscious being. All difficulties that relate to a man’s forgetting some actions, &c. now vanish, when person is considered as a character, and not a substance, or confounded with homo gerens personam: and it amounts to no more than saying a man puts on a mask — continuing to wear it for some time — puts off one mask and takes another, i. e. appears to have consciousness — to recollect past consciousnesses — does not recollect them, &c. The impropriety consists in saying, a man is the same person with him who did such a fact; which is the same as to say, a man is blackness, guilt, &c. i. e. a mixed mode is predicated of a substance; whereas it ought to be, in strict propriety of speech, the person of the man who did such a fact, is the same with the person of him, who now stands before us; or, in plainer terms, the man who now stands before the court is conscious of the former facts, and is therefore the proper object of punishment. It may be observed, that the word personality is really an absurd expression; since person itself stands for the mixed mode or quality; — and personality therefore may be ranked among the old scholastic terms of corporeity, egoity, tableity, &c. or is even yet more harsh: as mixed modes, such as gratitude, murder, and therefore person, cannot be thus re-modified without peculiar absurdity.
Reading is for the improvement of the understanding.
The improvement of the understanding is for two ends; first, for our own increase of knowledge; secondly, to enable us to deliver and make out that knowledge to others.
The latter of these, if it be not the chief end of study in a gentleman; yet it is at least equal to the other, since the greatest part of his business and usefulness in the world is by the influence of what he says, or writes to others.
The extent of our knowledge cannot exceed the extent of our ideas. Therefore he, who would be universally knowing, must acquaint himself with the objects of all sciences. But this is not necessary to a gentleman, whose proper calling is the service of his country; and so is most properly concerned in moral and political knowledge; and thus the studies, which more immediately belong to his calling, are those which treat of virtues and vices, of civil society, and the arts of government; and will take in also law and history.
It is enough for a gentleman to be furnished with the ideas belonging to his calling, which he will find in the books that treat of the matters above-mentioned.
But the next step towards the improvement of his understanding, must be, to observe the connexion of these ideas in the propositions, which those books hold forth, and pretend to teach as truths; which till a man can judge, whether they be truths or no, his understanding is but little improved; and he doth but think and talk after the books that he hath read, without having any knowledge thereby. And thus men of much reading are greatly learned, but may be little knowing.
The third and last step therefore, in improving the understanding, is to find out upon what foundation any proposition advanced bottoms; and to observe the connexion of the intermediate ideas, by which it is joined to that foundation, upon which it is erected, or that principle, from which it is derived. This, in short, is right reasoning; and by this way alone true knowledge is to be got by reading and studying.
When a man, by use, hath got this faculty of observing and judging of the reasoning and coherence of what he reads, and how it proves what it pretends to teach; he is then, and not till then, in the right way of improving his understanding, and enlarging his knowledge by reading.
But that, as I have said, being not all that a gentleman should aim at in reading, he should farther take care to improve himself in the art also of speaking, that so he may be able to make the best use of what he knows.
The art of speaking well consists chiefly in two things, viz. perspicuity and right reasoning.
Perspicuity consists in the using of proper terms for the ideas or thoughts, which he would have pass from his own mind into that of another man. It is this, that gives them an easy entrance; and it is with delight, that men hearken to those, whom they easily understand; whereas what is obscurely said, dying, as it is spoken, is usually not only lost, but creates a prejudice in the hearer, as if he that spoke knew not what he said, or was afraid to have it understood.
The way to obtain this, is to read such books as are allowed to be writ with the greatest clearness and propriety, in the language that a man uses. An author excellent in this faculty, as well as several others, is Dr. Tillotson, late archbishop of Canterbury, in all that is published of his. I have chosen rather to propose this pattern, for the attainment of the art of speaking clearly, than those who give rules about it: since we are more apt to learn by example, than by direction. But if any one hath a mind to consult the masters in the art of speaking and writing, he may find in Tully “De Oratore,” and another treatise of his called, Orator; and in Quintilian’s Institutions; and Boileau’s “Traité du Sublime;” instructions concerning this, and the other parts of speaking well.
Besides perspicuity, there must be also right reasoning; without which, perspicuity serves but to expose the speaker. And for the attaining of this, I should propose the constant reading of Chillingworth, who by his example will teach both perspicuity, and the way of right reasoning, better than any book that I know; and therefore will deserve to be read upon that account over and over again; not to say any thing of his argument.
Besides these books in English, Tully, Terence, Virgil, Livy, and Cæsar’s Commentaries, may be read to form one’s mind to a relish of a right way of speaking and writing.
The books I have hitherto mentioned have been in order only to writing and speaking well; not but that they will deserve to be read upon other accounts.
The study of morality, I have above mentioned as that that becomes a gentleman; not barely as a man, but in order to his business as a gentleman. Of this there are books enough writ both by ancient and modern philosophers; but the morality of the gospel doth so exceed them all, that, to give a man a full knowledge of true morality, I shall send him to no other book, but the New Testament. But if he hath a mind to see how far the heathen world carried that science, and whereon they bottomed their ethics, he will be delightfully and profitably entertained in Tully’s Treatises “De Officiis.”
Politics contains two parts, very different the one from the other. The one, containing the original of societies, and the rise and extent of political power; the other, the art of governing men in society.
The first of these hath been so bandied amongst us, for these sixty years backward, that one can hardly miss books of this kind. Those, which I think are most talked of in English, are the first book of Mr. Hooker’s “Ecclesiastical Polity,” and Mr. Algernon Sydney’s “Discourses concerning Government.” The latter of these I never read. Let me here add, “Two Treatises of Government,” printed in 1690; and a Treatise of “Civil Polity,” printed this year. To these one may add, Puffendorf “De Officio Hominis et Civis,” and “De Jure Naturali et Gentium;” which last is the best book of that kind.
As to the other part of politics, which concerns the art of government; that, I think, is best to be learned by experience and history, especially that of a man’s own country. And therefore I think an English gentleman should be well versed in the history of England, taking his rise as far back as there are any records of it; joining with it the laws that were made in the several ages, as he goes along in his history; that he may observe from thence the several turns of state, and how they have been produced. In Mr. Tyrrel’s History of England, he will find all along those several authors which have treated of our affairs, and which he may have recourse to, concerning any point, which either his curiosity or judgment shall lead him to inquire into.
With the history, he may also do well to read the ancient lawyers; such as Bracton, “Fleta,” Heningham, “Mirrour of Justice,” my lord Coke’s “Second Institutes,” and the “Modus tenendi Parliamentum;” and others of that kind which he may find quoted in the late controversies between Mr. Petit, Mr. Tyrrel, Mr. Atwood, &c. with Dr. Brady; as also, I suppose, in Sedler’s Treatise of “Rights of the Kingdom, and Customs of our Ancestors,” whereof the first edition is the best; wherein he will find the ancient constitution of the government of England.
There are two volumes of “State Tracts” printed since the revolution, in which there are many things relating to the government of England.
As for general history, Sir Walter Raleigh and Dr. Howell, are books to be had. He, who hath a mind to launch farther into that ocean, may consult Whear’s “Methodus legendi Historias,” of the last edition; which will direct him to the authors he is to read, and the method wherein he is to read them.
To the reading of history, chronology and geography are absolutely necessary.
In geography, we have two general ones in English, Heylin and Moll; which is the best of them, I know not; having not been much conversant in either of them. But the last, I should think to be of most use; because of the new discoveries that are made every day, tending to the perfection of that science. Though, I believe, that the countries, which Heylin mentions, are better treated of by him, bating what new discoveries since his time have added.
These two books contain geography in general, but whether an English gentleman would think it worth his time to bestow much pains upon that; though without it he cannot well understand a Gazette; it is certain he cannot well be without Camden’s “Britannia,” which is much enlarged in the last English edition. A good collection of maps is also necessary.
To geography, books of travels may be added. In that kind, the collections made by our countrymen, Hackluyt and Purchas, are very good. There is also a very good collection made by Thevenot in folio, in French; and by Ramuzion, in Italian; whether translated into English or no, I know not. There are also several good books of travels of Englishmen published, as Sandys, Roe, Brown, Gage, and Dampier.
There are also several voyages in French, which are very good, as Pyrard, Bergeron, Sagard, Bernier, &c. whether all of them are translated into English, I know not.
There is at present a very good “collection of voyages and travels,” never before in English, and such as are out of print; now printing by Mr. Churchill.
There are besides these a vast number of other travels; a sort of books that have a very good mixture of delight and usefulness. To set them down all, would take up too much time and room. Those I have mentioned are enough to begin with.
As to chronology, I think Helvicus the best for common use; which is not a book to be read, but to lie by, and be consulted upon occasion. He that hath a mind to look farther into chronology, may get Tallent’s “Tables,” and Strauchius’s “Breviarium Temporum,” and may to those add Scaliger “De Emendatione Temporum,” and Petavius, if he hath a mind to engage deeper in that study.
Those, who are accounted to have writ best particular parts of our English history, are Bacon, of Henry VII; and Herbert of Henry VIII. Daniel also is commended; and Burnet’s “History of the Reformation.”
Mariana’s “History of Spain,” and Thuanus’s “History of his own Time,” and Philip de Comines; are of great and deserved reputation.
There are also several French and English memoirs and collections, such as la Rochefoucault, Melvil, Rushworth, &c. which give a great light to those who have a mind to look into what hath past in Europe this last age.
To fit a gentleman for the conduct of himself, whether as a private man, or as interested in the government of his country, nothing can be more necessary than the knowledge of men; which, though it be to be had chiefly from experience, and, next to that, from a judicious reading of history: yet there are books that of purpose treat of human nature, which help to give an insight into it. Such are those treating of the passions, and how they are moved; whereof Aristotle in his second book of Rhetoric hath admirably discoursed, and that in a little compass. I think this Rhetoric is translated into English; if not, it may be had in Greek and Latin together.
La Bruyere’s “Characters” are also an admirable piece of painting; I think it is also translated out of French into English.
Satyrical writings also, such as Juvenal, and Persius, and above all Horace: though they paint the deformities of men, yet they thereby teach us to know them.
There is another use of reading, which is for diversion and delight. Such are poetical writings, especially dramatic, if they be free from prophaneness, obscenity, and what corrupts good manners; for such pitch should not be handled.
Of all the books of fiction, I know none that equals “Cervantes’s History of Don Quixote” in usefulness, pleasantry, and a constant decorum. And indeed no writings can be pleasant, which have not nature at the bottom, and are not drawn after her copy.
There is another sort of books, which I had almost forgot, with which a gentleman’s study ought to be well furnished, viz. dictionaries of all kinds. For the Latin tongue, Littleton, Cooper, Calepin, and Robert Stephens’s “Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ,” and “Vossii Etymologicum Linguæ Latinæ.” Skinner’s “Lexicon Etymologicum,” is an excellent one of that kind, for the English tongue. Cowell’s “Interpreter” is useful for the law terms. Spelman’s “Glossary” is a very useful and learned book. And Selden’s “Titles of Honour,” a gentleman should not be without. Baudrand hath a very good “Geographical Dictionary.” And there are several historical ones, which are of use; as Lloyd’s, Hoffman’s, Moreri’s. And Bayle’s incomparable dictionary, is something of the same kind. He that hath occasion to look into books written in Latin since the decay of the Roman empire, and the purity of the Latin tongue, cannot be well without Du Cange’s “Glossarium mediæ et infimæ Latinitatis.”
Among the books above set down, I mentioned Vossius’s “Etymologicum Linguæ Latinæ;” all his works are lately printed in Holland in six tomes. They are fit books for a gentleman’s library, containing very learned discourses concerning all the sciences.
ELEMENTS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
Matter is an extended solid substance; which being comprehended under distinct surfaces, makes so many particular distinct bodies.
Motion is so well known by the sight and touch, that to use words to give a clear idea of it, would be in vain.
Matter, or body, is indifferent to motion, or rest.
There is as much force required to put a body, which is in motion, at rest; as there is to set a body, which is at rest, into motion.
No parcel of matter can give itself either motion or rest, and therefore a body at rest will remain so eternally, except some external cause puts it in motion; and a body in motion will move eternally, unless some external cause stops it.
A body in motion will always move on in a straight line, unless it be turned out of it by some external cause; because a body can no more alter the determination of its motion, than it can begin it, alter or stop its motion itself.
The swiftness of motion is measured by distance of place and length of time wherein it is performed. For instance, if A and B, bodies of equal or different bigness, move each of them an inch in the same time; their motions are equally swift; but if A moves two inches, in the time whilst B is moving one inch; the motion of A is twice as swift as that of B.
The quantity of motion is measured by the swiftness of the motion, and the quantity of the matter moved, taken together. For instance, if A, a body equal to B, moves as swift as B; then it hath an equal quantity of motion. If A hath twice as much matter as B, and moves equally as swift, it hath double the quantity of motion; and so in proportion.
It appears, as far as human observation reaches, to be a settled law of nature, that all bodies have a tendency, attraction, or gravitation towards one another.
The same force, applied to two different bodies, produces always the same quantity of motion in each of them. For instance, let a boat which with its lading is one ton, be tied at a distance to another vessel, which with its lading is twenty-six tons; if the rope that ties them together be pulled, either in the less or bigger of these vessels, the less of the two, in their approach one to another, will move twenty-six feet, while the other moves but one foot.
Wherefore the quantity of matter in the earth being twenty-six times more than in the moon; the motion in the moon towards the earth, by the common force of attraction, by which they are impelled towards one another, will be twenty-six times as fast as in the earth; that is, the moon will move twenty-six miles towards the earth, for every mile the earth moves towards the moon.
Hence it is, that, in this natural tendency of bodies towards one another, that in the lesser is considered as gravitation; and that in the bigger as attraction; because the motion of the lesser body (by reason of its much greater swiftness) is alone taken notice of.
This attraction is the strongest, the nearer the attracting bodies are to each other; and, in different distances of the same bodies, is reciprocally in the duplicate proportion of those distances. For instance, if two bodies at a given distance attract each other with a certain force, at half the distance, they will attract each other with four times that force; at one third of the distance, with nine times that force; and so on.
Two bodies at a distance will put one another into motion by the force of attraction; which is inexplicable by us, though made evident to us by experience, and so to be taken as a principle in natural philosophy.
Supposing then the earth the sole body in the universe, and at rest; if God should create the moon, at the same distance that it is now from the earth; the earth and the moon would presently begin to move one towards another in a straight line by this motion of attraction or gravitation.
If a body, that by the attraction of another would move in a straight line towards it, receives a new motion any ways oblique to the first; it will no longer move in a straight line, according to either of those directions; but in a curve that will partake of both. And this curve will differ, according to the nature and quantity of the forces that concurred to produce it; as, for instance, in many cases it will be such a curve as ends where it began, or recurs into itself; that is, makes up a circle, or an ellipsis or oval very little differing from a circle.
To any one, who looks about him in the world, there are obvious several distinct masses of matter, separate from one another; some whereof have discernible motions. These are the sun, the fixt stars, the comets and the planets, amongst which this earth, which we inhabit, is one. All these are visible to our naked eyes.
Besides these, telescopes have discovered several fixt stars, invisible to the naked eye; and several other bodies moving about some of the planets; all which were invisible and unknown, before the use of perspective glasses were found.
The vast distances between these great bodies, are called intermundane spaces; in which though there may be some fluid matter, yet it is so thin and subtile, and there is so little of that in respect of the great masses that move in those spaces, that it is as much as nothing.
These masses of matter are either luminous, or opake or dark.
Luminous bodies, are such as give light of themselves; and such are the sun and fixt stars.
Dark or opake bodies are such as emit no light of themselves, though they are capable of reflecting of it, when it is cast upon them from other bodies; and such are the planets.
There are some opake bodies, as for instance the comets, which, besides the light that they may have from the sun, seem to shine with a light that is nothing else but an ascension, which they receive from the sun, in their near approaches to it, in their respective revolutions.
The fixt stars are called fixt, because they al wys keep the same distance one from another.
The sun, at the same distance from us that the fixt stars are, would have the appearance of one of the fixt stars.
Our solar system consists of the sun, and the planets and comets moving about it.
The planets are bodies, which appear to us like stars; not that they are luminous bodies, that is, have light in themselves; but they shine by reflecting the light of the sun.
They are called planets from a Greek word, which signifies wandering; because they change their places, and do not always keep the same distance with one another, nor with the fixt stars, as the fixt stars do.
The planets are either primary, or secondary.
There are six primary planets, viz. Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
All these move round the sun, which is, as it were, the centre of their motions.
The secondary planets move round about other planets. Besides the moon, which moves about the earth; four moons move about Jupiter, and five about Saturn, which are called their satellites.
The middle distances of the primary planets from the sun are as follows:
The orbits of the planets, and their respective distances from the sun, and from one another, together with the orbit of a comet, may be seen in the figure of the solar system hereunto annexed.
The periodical times of each planet’s revolution about the sun are as follows:
The planets move round about the sun from west to east in the zodiac; or, to speak plainer, are always found amongst some of the stars of those constellations, which make the twelve signs of the zodiac.
The motion of the planets about the sun is not perfectly circular, but rather elliptical.
The reason of their motions in curve lines, is the attraction of the sun, or their gravitations towards the sun, (call it which you please); and an oblique or side-long impulse or motion.
These two motions or tendencies, the one always endeavouring to carry them in a straight line from the circle they move in, and the other endeavouring to draw them in a straight line to the sun, makes that curve line they revolve in.
The motion of the comets about the sun is in a very long slender oval: whereof one of the focuses is the centre of the sun, and the other very much beyond the sphere of Saturn.
The moon moves about the earth, as the earth doth about the sun. So that it hath the centre of its motion in the earth; as the earth hath the centre of its revolution in the sun, about which it moves.
The moon makes its synodical motion about the earth, in 29 days, 12 hours, and about 44 minutes.
It is full moon, when, the earth being between the sun and the moon, we see all the enlightened part of the moon: new moon, when, the moon being between us and the sun, its enlightened part is turned from us; and half moon, when the moon being in the quadratures, as the astronomers call it, we see but half the enlightened part.
An eclipse of the moon is, when the earth, being between the sun and the moon, hinders the light of the sun from falling upon, and being reflected by, the moon. If the light of the sun is kept off from the whole body of the moon, it is a total eclipse; if from a part only, it is a partial one.
An eclipse of the sun is, when the moon, being between the sun and the earth, hinders the light of the sun from coming to us. If the moon hides from us the whole body of the sun, it is a total eclipse; if not, a partial one.
Our solar system is distant from the fixt stars 20,000,000,000 semi-diameters of the earth; or, as Mr. Huygens expresses the distance, in his Cosmotheoros: the fixt stars are so remote from the earth, that, if a cannon-bullet should come from one of the fixt stars with as swift a motion as it hath when it is shot out of the mouth of a cannon, it would be 700,000 years in coming to the earth.
This vast distance so much abates the attraction to those remote bodies, that its operation upon those of our system is not at all sensible, nor would draw away or hinder the return of any of our solar comets; though some of them should go so far from the sun, as not to make the revolution about it in less than 1000 years.
It is more suitable to the wisdom, power, and greatness of God, to think that the fixt stars are all of them suns, with systems of inhabitable planets moving about them, to whose inhabitants he displays the marks of his goodness as well as to us; rather than to imagine that those very remote bodies, so little useful to us, were made only for our sake.
The earth, by its revolution about the sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, makes that space of time we call a year.
The line, which the centre of the earth describes in its annual revolution about the sun, is called ecliptic.
The annual motion of the earth about the sun, is in the order of the signs of the zodiac; that is, speaking vulgarly, from west to east.
Besides this annual revolution of the earth about the sun in the ecliptic, the earth turns round upon its own axis in 24 hours.
The turning of the earth upon its own axis every 24 hours, whilst it moves round the sun in a year, we may conceive by the running of a bowl on a bowling-green; in which not only the centre of the bowl hath a progressive motion on the green; but the bowl in its going orward from one part of the green to another, turns round about its own axis.
The turning of the earth on its own axis, makes the difference of day and night; it being day in those parts of the earth which are turned towards the sun; and night in those parts which are in the shade, or turned from the sun.
The annual revolution of the earth in the ecliptic, is the cause of the different seasons, and of the several lengths of days and nights, in every part of the world, in the course of the year.
The reason of it, is the earth’s going round its own axis in the ecliptic, but at the same time keeping every where its axis equally inclined to the plane of the ecliptic, and parallel to itself. For the plane of the ecliptic inclining to the plane of the equator, 23 degrees and an half, makes that the earth, moving round in the ecliptic, hath sometimes one of its poles, and sometimes the other nearer the sun.
If the diameter of the sun be to the diameter of the earth, as 48 to 1, as by some it is accounted; then the disk of the sun, speaking “numero rotundo,” is above 2000 times bigger than the disk of the earth; and the globe of the sun is above 100,000 times bigger than the globe of the earth.
The distance of the earth’s orbit from the sun, is above 200,000 semi-diameters of the earth.
If a cannon-bullet should come from the sun, with the same velocity it hath when it is shot out of the mouth of a cannon, it would be 25 years in coming to the earth.
We have already considered the earth as a planet, or one of the great masses of matter moving about the sun; we shall now consider it as it is made up of its several parts, abstractedly from its diurnal and annual motions.
The exterior part of this our habitable world is the air or atmosphere; a light, thin fluid, or springy body, that encompasses the solid earth on all sides.
The height of the atmosphere, above the surface of the solid earth, is not certainly known; but that it doth reach but to a very small part of the distance betwixt the earth and the moon, may be concluded from the refraction of the rays coming from the sun, moon, and other luminous bodies.
Though considering that the air we are in, being near 1000 times lighter than water; and that the higher it is, the less it is compressed by the superior incumbent air, and so consequently being a springy body the thinner it is; and considering also that a pillar of air of any diameter is equal in weight to a pillar of quicksilver of the same diameter of between 29 and 30 inches height; we may infer that the top of the atmosphere is not very near the surface of the solid earth.
It may be concluded, that the utmost extent of the atmosphere reaches upwards, from the surface of the solid earth that we walk on, to a good distance above us; first, if we consider that a column of air of any given diameter is equiponderant to a column of quicksilver of between 29 and 30 inches height. Now quicksilver being near 14 times heavier than water, if air was as heavy as water, the atmosphere would be about 14 times higher than the column of quicksilver, i. e. about 35 feet.
Secondly, if we consider that air is 1000 times lighter than water, then a pillar of air equal in weight to a pillar of quicksilver of 30 inches high will be 35000 feet; whereby we come to know that the air or atmosphere is 35000 feet, i. e. near seven miles high.
Thirdly, if we consider that the air is a springy body, and that that, which is nearest the earth, is compressed by the weight of all the atmosphere that is above it, and rests perpendicularly upon it; we shall find that the air here, near the surface of the earth, is much denser and thicker than it is in the upper parts. For example, if upon a fleece of wool you lay another; the under one will be a little compressed by the weight of that which lies upon it; and so both of them by a third, and so on; so that, if 10000 were piled one upon another, the under one would by the weight of all the rest be very much compressed, and all the parts of it be brought abundantly closer together, than when there was no other upon it; and the next to that a little less compressed, the third a little less than the second, and so on till it came to the uppermost, which would be in its full expansion, and not compressed at all. Just so it is in the air; the higher you go in it, the less it is compressed, and consequently the less dense it is; and so the upper part being exceedingly thinner than the lower part, which we breathe in (which is that that is 1000 times lighter than water); the top of the atmosphere is probably much higher than the distance above assigned.
That the air near the surface of the earth will mightily expand itself, when the pressure of the incumbent atmosphere is taken off, may be abundantly seen in the experiments made by Mr. Boyle in his pneumatic engine. In his “Physico-mechanical Experiments,” concerning the air, he declares it probable that the atmosphere may be several hundred miles high; which is easy to be admitted, when we consider what he proves in another part of the same treatise, viz. that the air here about the surface of the earth, when the pressure is taken from it, will dilate itself about 152 times.
The atmosphere is the scene of the meteors; and therein is collected the matter of rain, hail, snow, thunder, and lightning; and a great many other things observable in the air.
Besides the springy particles of pure air, the atmosphere is made up of several steams or minute particles of several sorts, rising from the earth and the waters, and floating in the air, which is a fluid body, and though much finer and thinner, may be considered in respect of its fluidity to be like water, and so capable, like other liquors, of having heterogeneous particles floating in it.
The most remarkable of them are, first, the particles of water raised into the atmosphere, chiefly by the heat of the sun, out of the sea and other waters, and the surface of the earth; from whence it falls in dew, rain, hail, and snow.
Out of the vapours rising from moisture, the clouds are principally made.
Clouds do not consist wholly of watery parts; for, besides the aqueous vapours that are raised into the air, there are also sulphureous and saline particles that are raised up, and in the clouds mixed with the aqueous particles, the effects whereof are sometimes very sensible; as particularly in lightning and thunder, when the sulphureous and nitrous particles firing break out with that violence of light and noise, which is observable in thunder, and very much resembles gunpowder.
That there are nitrous particles raised into the air is evident from the nourishment which rain gives to vegetables more than any other water; and also by the collection of nitre or salt-petre in heaps of earth, out of which it has been extracted, if they be exposed to the air, so as to be kept from rain; not to mention other efforts, wherein the nitrous spirit in the air shows itself.
Clouds are the greatest and most considerable of all the meteors, as furnishing matter and plenty to the earth. They consist of very small drops of water, and are elevated a good distance above the surface of the earth; for a cloud is nothing but a mist flying high in the air, as a mist is nothing but a cloud here below.
How vapours are raised into the air in invisible steams by the heat of the sun out of the sea, and moist parts of the earth, is easily understood; and there is a visible instance of it in ordinary distillations. But how these steams are collected into drops, which bring back the water again, is not so easy to determine.
To those that will carefully observe, perhaps it will appear probable, that it is by that, which the chymists call precipitation; to which it answers in all its parts.
The air may be looked on as a clear and pellucid menstruum, in which the insensible particles of dissolved matter float up and down, without being discerned, or troubling the pellucidity of the air; when on a sudden, as if it were by a precipitation, they gather into the very small but visible misty drops that make clouds.
This may be observed some times in a very clear sky; when, there not appearing any cloud, or any thing opake, in the whole horizon, one may see on a sudden clouds gather, and all the hemisphere overcast; which cannot be from the rising of the new aqueous vapours at that time, but from the precipitation of the moisture, that in invisible particles floated in the air, into very small, but very visible drops, which by a like cause being united into greater drops, they become too heavy to be sustained in the air, and so fall down in rain.
Hail seems to be the drops of rain frozen in their falling.
Snow is the small particles of water frozen before they unite into drops.
The regular figures, which branch out in flakes of snow, seem to show that there are some particles of salt mixed with the water, which makes them unite in certain angles.
The rainbow is reckoned one of the most remarkable meteors, though really it be no meteor at all; but the reflection of the sun-beams from the smallest drops of a cloud or mist, which are placed in a certain angle made by the concurrence of two lines, one drawn from the sun, and the other from the eye to these little drops in the cloud, which reflect the sun-beams; so that two people, looking upon a rainbow at the same time, do not see exactly the same rainbow.
Part of the water that falls down from the clouds, runs away upon the surface of the earth into channels, which convey it to the sea; and part of it is imbibed in the spungy shell of the earth, from whence sinking lower by degrees, it falls down into subterranean channels, and so under ground passes into the sea; or else, meeting with beds of rock or clay, it is hindred from sinking lower, and so breaks out in springs, which are most commonly in the sides, or at the bottom of hilly ground.
Springs make little rivulets; those united make brooks; and those coming together make rivers, which empty themselves into the sea.
The sea is a great collection of waters in the deep valleys of the earth. If the earth were all plain, and had not those deep hollows, the earth would be all covered with water; because the water being lighter than the earth, would be above the earth, as the air is above the water.
The most remarkable thing in the sea is that motion of the water called tides. It is a rising and falling of the water of the sea. The cause of this is the attraction of the moon, whereby the part of the water in the great ocean, which is nearest the moon, being most strongly attracted, is raised higher than the rest; and the part opposite to it on the contrary side, being least attracted, is also higher than the rest. And these two opposite rises of the surface of the water in the great ocean, following the motion of the moon from east to west, and striking against the large coasts of the continents that lie in its way; from thence rebounds back again, and so makes floods and ebbs in narrow seas, and rivers remote from the great ocean. Herein we also see the reason of the times of the tides, and why they so constantly follow the course of the moon.
This solid globe we live upon is called the earth, though it contains in it a great variety of bodies, several whereof are not properly earth; which word, taken in a more limited sense, signifies such parts of this globe as are capable, being exposed to the air, to give rooting and nourishment to plants, so that they may stand and grow in it. With such earth as this, the greatest part of the surface of this globe is covered; and it is as it were the store-house, from whence all the living creatures of our world have originally their provisions; for from thence all the plants have their sustenance, and some few animals, and from these all the other animals.
Of earth, taken in this sense, there are several sorts, v. g. common mould, or garden earth, clay of several kinds, sandy soils.
Besides these, there is medicinal earth; as that which is called terra lemnia, bolus armena, and divers others.
After the several earths, we may consider the parts of the surface of this globe, which is barren; and such, for the most, are sand, gravel, chalk, and rocks, which produce nothing, where they have no earth mixt amongst them. Barren sands are of divers kinds, and consist of several little irregular stones without any earth; and of such there are great deserts to be seen in several parts of the world.
Besides these, which are most remarkable on the surface of the earth, there are found deeper, in this globe, many other bodies, which, because we discover by digging into the bowels of the earth, are called by one common name, fossils; under which are comprehended metals, minerals or half metals, stones of divers kinds, and sundry bodies that have the texture between earth and stone.
To begin with those fossils which come nearest the earth; under this head we may reckon the several sorts of oker, chalk, that which they call black-lead, and other bodies of this kind, which are harder than earth, but have not the consistency and hardness of perfect stone.
Next to these may be considered stones of all sorts; whereof there is almost an infinite variety. Some of the most remarkable, either for beauty or use, are these: marble of all kinds, porphyry, granate, free-stone, &c. flints, agates, cornelians, pebbles, under which kind come the precious stones, which are but pebbles of an excessive hardness, and when they are cut and polished, they have an extraordinary lustre. The most noted and esteemed are, diamonds, rubies, amethysts, emeralds, topazes, opals.
Besides these, we must not omit those which, though of not so much beauty, yet are of greater use, viz. loadstones, whetstones of all kinds, limestones, callamine, or lapis calaminaris; and abundance of others.
Besides these, there are found in the earth several sorts of salts, as eating or common salt, vitriol, sal gemma, and others.
The minerals, or semi-metals, that are dug out of the bowels of the earth, are antimony, cinnabar, zink, &c. to which may be added brimstone.
But the bodies of most use, that are sought for out of the depths of the earth, are the metals; which are distinguished from other bodies by their weight, fusibility, and malleableness; of which there are these sorts, gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, and, the most valuable of them all, iron; to which one may join that anomalous body quicksilver, or mercury.
He that desires to be more particularly informed concerning the qualities and properties of these subterraneous bodies, may consult natural historians and chymists.
What lies deeper towards the centre of the earth we know not, but a very little beneath the surface of this globe, and whatever we fetch from under ground, is only what is lodged in the shell of the earth.
All stones, metals, and minerals, are real vegetables; that is, grow organically from proper seeds, as well as plants.
Next to the earth itself, we may consider those that are maintained on its surface; which, though they are fastened to it, yet are very distinct from it; and those are the whole tribe of vegetables or plants. These may be divided into three sorts, herbs, shrubs, and trees.
Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have nothing woody in them, as grass, sowthistle, and hemlock. Shrubs and trees have all wood in them; but with this difference, that shrubs grow not to the height of trees, and usually spread into branches near the surface of the earth, whereas trees generally shoot up in one great stem or body, and then, at a good distance from the earth, spread into branches; thus gooseberries, and currants, are shrubs; oaks, and cherries, are trees.
In plants, the most considerable parts are these, the root, the stalk, the leaves, the flower, and the seed. There are very few of them that have not all these parts, though some there are that have no stalk; others that have no leaves; and others that have no flowers. But without seed or root I think there are none.
In vegetables, there are two things chiefly to be considered, their nourishment and propagation.
Their nourishment is thus: the small and tender fibres of the roots, being spread under ground, imbibe, from the moist earth, juice fit for their nourishment; this is conveyed by the stalk up into the branches, and leaves, through little, and, in some plants, imperceptible tubes, and from thence, by the bark, returns again to the root; so that there is in vegetables, as well as animals, a circulation of the vital liquor. By what impulse it is moved, is somewhat hard to discover. It seems to be from the difference of day and night, and other changes in the heat of the air; for the heat dilating, and the cold contracting those little tubes, supposing there be valves in them, it is easy to be conceived how the circulation is performed in plants, where it is not required to be so rapid and quick as in animals.
Nature has provided for the propagation of the species of plants several ways. The first and general is by seed. Besides this, some plants are raised from any part of the root set in the ground; others by new roots that are propagated from the old one, as in tulips; others by offsets; and in others, the branches set in the ground will take root and grow; and last of all, grafting and inoculation, in certain sorts, are known ways of propagation. All these ways of increasing plants make one good part of the skill of gardening; and from the books of gardeners may be best learnt.
There is another sort of creatures belonging to this our earth, rather as inhabitants than parts of it. They differ in this from plants, that they are not fixed to any one place, but have a freedom of motion up and down, and, besides, have sense to guide them in their motions.
Man and brute, divide all the animals of this our globe.
Brutes may be considered as either aerial, terrestrial, aquatic, or amphibious. I call those aerial, which have wings, wherewith they can support themselves in the air. Terrestrial, are those, whose only place of rest is upon the earth. Aquatic, are those, whose constant abode is upon the water. Those are called amphibious, which live freely in the air upon the earth, and yet are observed to live long upon the water, as if they were natural inhabitants of that element; though it be worth the examination to know, whether any of those creatures that live at their ease, and by choice, a good while or at any time upon the earth, can live a long time together perfectly under water.
Aerial animals may be subdivided into birds, and flies.
Fishes, which are the chief part of aquatic animals, may be divided into shell-fishes, scaly fishes, and those that have neither apparent scales nor shells.
And the terrestrial animals may be divided into quadrupeds or beasts, reptiles, which have many feet, and serpents, which have no feet at all.
Insects, which in their several changes belong to several of the before-mentioned divisions, may be considered together as one great tribe of animals. They are called insects, from a separation in the middle of their bodies, whereby they are, as it were, cut into two parts, which are joined together by a small ligature; as we see in wasps, common flies, and the like.
Besides all these, there are some animals that are not perfectly of these kinds, but placed, as it were, in the middle betwixt two of them, by something of both; as bats, which have something of beasts and birds in them.
Some reptiles of the earth, and some of aquatics, want one or more of the senses, which are in perfecter animals; as worms, oysters, cockles, &c.
Animals are nourished by food, taken in at the mouth, digested in the stomach, and thence by fit vessels distributed over the whole body, as is described in books of anatomy.
The greatest part of animals have five senses, viz. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. These, and the way of nourishment of animals, we shall more particularly consider; because they are common to man with beasts.
The way of nourishment of animals, particularly of man, is by food taken in at the mouth, which being chewed there, is broken and mixed with the saliva, and thereby prepared for an easier and better digestion in the stomach.
When the stomach has performed its office upon the food, it protrudes it into the guts, by whose peristaltic motion it is gently conveyed along through the guts, and, as it passes, the chyle, which is the nutritive part, is separated from the excrementitious, by the lacteal veins; and from thence conveyed into the blood, with which it circulates till itself be concocted into blood. The blood, being by the vena cava brought into the right ventricle of the heart, by the contraction of that muscle, is driven through the arteria pulmonaris into the lungs; where the constantly inspired air mixing with it, enlivens it; and from thence being conveyed by the vena pulmonaris into the left ventricle of the heart, the contraction of the heart forces it out, and, by the arteries, distributes it into all parts of the body; from whence it returns by the veins into the right ventricle of the heart, to take the same course again. This is called the circulation of the blood; by which life and heat are communicated to every part of the body.
In the circulation of the blood, a good part of it goes up into the head; and by the brains are separated from it, or made out of it, the animal spirits; which, by the nerves, impart sense and motion to all parts of the body.
The instruments of motion are the muscles; the fibres whereof contracting themselves, move the several parts of the body.
This contraction of the muscles is, in some of them, by the direction of the mind, and in some of them without it; which is the difference between voluntary and involuntary motions, in the body.
OF SEEING.
The organ of seeing is the eye; consisting of variety of parts wonderfully contrived, for the admitting and refracting the rays of light; so that those that come from the same point of the object, and fall upon different parts of the pupil, are brought to meet again at the bottom of the eye, whereby the whole object is painted on the retina that is spread there.
That which immediately affects the sight, and produces in us that sensation which we call seeing, is light.
Light may be considered either, first, as it radiates from luminous bodies directly to our eyes; and thus we see luminous bodies themselves, as the sun, or a flame, &c.; or secondly, as it is reflected from other bodies; and thus we see a man, or a picture, by the rays of light reflected from them to our eyes.
Bodies, in respect of light, may be divided into three sorts; first, those that emit rays of light, as the sun and fixt stars; secondly, those that transmit the rays of light, as the air; thirdly, those that reflect the rays of light, as iron, earth, &c. The first are called luminous; the second pellucid; and the third opake.
The rays of light themselves are not seen; but by them the bodies, from which they originally come; as the sun, or a fixt star; or the bodies, from which they are reflected; as a horse, or a tulip. When the moon shines, we do not see the rays which come from the sun to the moon, but by them we see the moon, from whence they are reflected.
If the eye be placed in the medium, through which the rays pass to it, the medium is not seen at all; for instance, we do not see the air through which the rays come to our eyes. But if a pellucid body, through which the light comes, be at a distance from our eye, we see that body, as well as the bodies, from whence the rays come that pass through them to come to our eyes. For instance, we do not only see bodies through a pair of spectacles, but we see the glass itself. The reason whereof is, that pellucid bodies being bodies, the surfaces of which reflect some rays of light from their solid parts; these surfaces, placed at a convenient distance from the eye, may be seen by those reflected rays; as, at the same time, other bodies beyond those pellucid ones may be seen by the transmitted rays.
Opake bodies are of two sorts, specular, or not specular. Specular bodies, or mirrours, are such opake bodies, whose surfaces are polished; whereby they, reflecting the rays in the same order as they come from other bodies, show us their images.
The rays that are reflected from opake bodies, always bring with them to the eye the idea of colour; and this colour is nothing else, in the bodies, but a disposition to reflect to the eye more copiously one sort of rays than another. For particular rays are originally endowed with particular colours; some are red, others blue, others yellow, and others green, &c.
Every ray of light, as it comes from the sun, seems a bundle of all these several sorts of rays; and as some of them are more refrangible than others; that is, are more turned out of their course, in passing from one medium to another; it follows, that after such refraction they will be separated, and their distinct colour observed. Of these, the most refrangible are violet, and the least red; and the intermediate ones, in order, are indigo, blue, green, yellow, and orange. This separation is very entertaining, and will be observed with pleasure in holding a prism in the beams of the sun.
As all these rays differ in refrangibility, so they do in reflexibility; that is, in the property of being more easily reflected from certain bodies, than from others; and hence arise, as hath been said, all the colours of bodies; which are, in a manner, infinite, as an infinite number of compositions and proportions, of the original colours, may be imagined.
The whiteness of the sun’s light is compounded of all the original colours, mixed in a due proportion.
Whiteness, in bodies, is but a disposition to reflect all colours of light, nearly in the proportion they are mixed in the original rays; as, on the contrary, blackness is only a disposition to absorb or stifle, without reflection, most of the rays of every sort that fall on the bodies.
Light is successively propagated with an almost inconceivable swiftness; for it comes from the sun, to this our earth, in about seven or eight minutes of time, which distance is about 80,000,000 English miles.
Besides colour, we are supposed to see figure, but, in truth, that which we perceive when we see figure, as perceivable by sight, is nothing but the termination of colour.
OF HEARING.
Next to seeing, hearing is the most extensive of our senses. The ear is the organ of hearing, whose curious structure is to be learnt from anatomy.
That which is conveyed into the brain by the ear is called sound; though, in truth, till it come to reach and affect the perceptive part, it be nothing but motion.
The motion, which produces in us the perception of sound, is a vibration of the air, caused by an exceeding short, but quick, tremulous motion of the body, from which it is propagated; and therefore we consider and denominate them as bodies sounding.
That sound is the effect of such a short, brisk, vibrating motion of bodies, from which it is propagated, may be known from what is observed and felt in the strings of instruments, and the trembling of bells, as long as we perceive any sound come from them; for as soon as that vibration is stopt, or ceases in them, the perception ceases also.
The propagation of sound is very quick, but not approaching that of light. Sounds move about 1140 English feet in a second of time; and in seven or eight minutes of time, they move about one hundred English miles.
OF SMELLING.
Smelling is another sense, that seems to be wrought on by bodies at a distance; though that which immediately affects the organ, and produces in us the sensation of any smell, are effluvia, or invisible particles, that coming from bodies at a distance, immediately affect the olfactory nerves.
Smelling bodies seem perpetually to send forth effluvia, or steams, without sensibly wasting at all. Thus a grain of musk will send forth odoriferous particles for scores of years together, without its being spent; whereby one would conclude that these particles are very small; and yet it is plain, that they are much grosser than the rays of light, which have a free passage through glass; and grosser also than the magnetic effluvia, which pass freely through all bodies, when those that produce smell will not pass through the thin membranes of a bladder, and many of them scarce ordinary white paper.
There is a great variety of smells, though we have but a few names for them; sweet, stinking, sour, rank, and musty, are almost all the denominations we have for odours; though the smell of a violet, and of musk, both called sweet, are as distinct as any two smells whatsoever.
OF TASTE.
Taste is the next sense to be considered.
The organ of taste is the tongue and palate.
Bodies that emit light, sounds, and smells, are seen, heard, and smelt at a distance; but bodies are not tasted, but by immediate application to the organ; for till our meat touch our tongues, or palates, we taste it not, how near soever it be.
It may be observed of tastes, that though there be a great variety of them, yet, as in smells, they have only some few general names; as sweet, bitter, sour, harsh, rank, and some few others.
OF TOUCH.
The fifth and last of our senses is touch; a sense spread over the whole body, though it be most eminently placed in the ends of the fingers.
By this sense the tangible qualities of bodies are discerned; as hard, soft, smooth, rough, dry, wet, clammy, and the like.
But the most considerable of the qualities, that are perceived by this sense, are heat and cold.
The due temperament of those two opposite qualities, is the great instrument of nature, that she makes use of in most, if not all, her productions.
Heat is a very brisk agitation of the insensible parts of the object, which produces in us that sensation, from whence we denominate the object hot; so what in our sensation is heat, in the object is nothing but motion. This appears by the way whereby heat is produced; for we see that the rubbing of a brass nail upon a board will make it very hot, and the axle-trees of carts and coaches are often hot, and sometimes to a degree, that it sets them on fire, by the rubbing of the nave of the wheel upon it.
On the other side, the utmost degree of cold is the cessation of that motion of the insensible particles, which to our touch is heat.
Bodies are denominated hot and cold in proportion to the present temperament of that part of our body to which they are applied; so that feels hot to one, which seems cold to another; nay, the same body, felt by the two hands of the same man, may at the same time appear hot to the one, and cold to the other: because the motion of the insensible particles of it may be more brisk than that of the particles of the other.
Besides the objects before-mentioned, which are peculiar to each of our senses, as light, and colour of the sight; sound of hearing; odours of smelling; savours of tasting; and tangible qualities of the touch; there are two others that are common to all the senses; and those are pleasure and pain, which they may receive by and with their peculiar objects. Thus, too much light offends the eye; some sounds delight, and others grate the ear; heat in a certain degree is very pleasant, which may be augmented to the greatest torment; and so the rest.
These five senses are common to beasts with men; nay, in some of them, some brutes exceed mankind. But men are endowed with other faculties, which far excel any thing that is to be found in the other animals in this our globe.
Memory also brutes may be supposed to have, as well as men.
The understanding of man does so surpass that of brutes, that some are of opinion brutes are mere machines, without any manner of perception at all. But letting this opinion alone, as ill-grounded, we will proceed to the consideration of human understanding, and the distinct operations thereof.
The lowest degree of it consists in perception, which we have before in part taken notice of, in our discourse of the senses. Concerning which it may be convenient farther to observe, that, to conceive a right notion of perception, we must consider the distinct objects of it, which are simple ideas; v. g. such as are those signified by these words, scarlet, blue, sweet, bitter, heat, cold, &c. from the other objects of our senses; to which we may add the internal operations of our minds, as the objects of our own reflection, such as are thinking, willing, &c.
Out of these simple ideas are made, by putting them together, several compounded or complex ideas; as those signified by the words pebble, marygold, horse.
The next thing the understanding doth in its progress to knowledge, is to abstract its ideas, by which abstraction they are made general.
A general idea is an idea in the mind, considered there as separated from time and place; and so capable to represent any particular being that is conformable to it. Knowledge, which is the highest degree of the speculative faculties, consists in the perception of the truth of affirmative, or negative, propositions.
This perception is either immediate, or mediate. Immediate perception of the agreement, or disagreement, of two ideas, is when, by comparing them together in our minds, we see, or, as it were, behold, their agreement, or disagreement. This therefore is called intuitive knowledge. Thus we see that red is not green; that the whole is bigger than a part; and that two and two are equal to four.
The truth of these, and the like propositions, we know by a bare simple intuition of the ideas themselves, without any more ado; and such propositions are called self-evident.
The mediate perception of the agreement, or disagreement, of two ideas, is when, by the intervention of one or more other ideas, their agreement, or disagreement, is shown. This is called demonstration, or rational knowledge. For instance: The inequality of the breadth of two windows, or two rivers, or any two bodies that cannot be put together, may be known by the intervention of the same measure, applied to them both; and so it is in our general ideas, whose agreement or disagreement may be often shown by the intervention of some other ideas, so as to produce demonstrative knowledge; where the ideas in question cannot be brought together, and immediately compared, so as to produce intuitive knowledge.
The understanding doth not know only certain truth; but also judges of probability, which consists in the likely agreement, or disagreement, of ideas.
The assenting to any proposition as probable is called opinion or belief.
We have hitherto considered the great and visible parts of the universe, and those great masses of matter, the stars, planets, and particularly this our earth, together with the inanimate parts, and animate inhabitants of it; it may be now fit to consider what these sensible bodies are made of, and that is of unconceivably small bodies, or atoms, out of whose various combinations bigger moleculæ are made: and so, by a greater and greater composition, bigger bodies; and out of these the whole material world is constituted.
By the figure, bulk, texture, and motion, of these small and insensible corpuscles, all the phænomena of bodies may be explained.
Epistola.] A letter from Mr. Locke to Mr. Toignard, containing a new and easymethod of a common-place-book, to which an index of two pages is sufficient.
At length, sir, in obedience to you, I publish my “method of a common-place-book.” I am ashamed that I deferred so long complying with your request; but I esteemed it so mean a thing, as not to deserve publishing, in an age so full of useful inventions, as ours is. You may remember, that I freely communicated it to you, and several others, to whom I imagined it would not be unacceptable: so that it was not to reserve the sole use of it to myself, that I declined publishing it. But the regard I had to the public discouraged me from presenting it with such a trifle. Yet my obligations to you, and the friendship between us, compel me now to follow your advice. Your last letter has perfectly determined me to it, and I am convinced that I ought not to delay publishing it, when you tell me, that an experience of several years has showed its usefulness, and several of your friends, to whom you have communicated it. There is no need I should tell you, how useful it has been to me, after five and twenty years experience, as I told you, eight years since, when I had the honour to wait on you at Paris, and when I might have been instructed by your learned and agreeable discourse. What I aim at now, by this letter, is to testify publicly the esteem and respect I have for you, and to convince you how much I am, sir, your, &c.
Before I enter on my subject, it is fit to acquaint the reader, that this tract is disposed in the same manner that the common-place-book ought to be disposed. It will be understood by reading what follows, what is the meaning of the Latin titles on the top of the backside of each leaf, and at the bottom [a little below the top] of this page.
Ebionitæ.] In eorum evangelio, quod secundum Hebræos dicebatur, historia quæ habetur Matth. xix. 16. et alia quædam, erat interpolata in hunc modum: “Dixit ad eum alter divitum, magister, quid bonum faciens vivam? Dixit ei Dominus, legem & prophetas, fac. Respondit ad eum, feci. Dixit ei: vade, vende omnia quæ possides, & divide pauperibus, & veni, sequere me. Cœpit autem dives scalpere caput suum, & non placuit ei. Et dixit ad eum Dominus: quomodo dicis, legem feci & prophetas? cém scriptum sit in lege, diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum: & ecce multi fratres tui filii Abrahæ amicti sunt stercore, morientes præ fame, & domus tua plena est bonis multis, & non egreditur omnino aliquid ex eâ ad eos. Et conversus, dixit Simoni, discipulo suo, sedenti apud se: Simon fili Johannæ, facilius est camelum intrare per foramen acus, quam divitem in regnum cœlorum.” Nimirum hæc ideo immutavit Ebion, quia Christum nec Dei filium, nec νομοθέτην sed nudum interpretem legis per Mosem datæ agnoscebat.
In the Gospel of the Ebionites, which they called the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the story, that is in the xixth of St. Matth. and in the 16th and following verses, was changed after this manner: “One of the rich men said to him: Master, what shall I do that I may have life? Jesus said to him: Obey the law and the prophets. He answered, I have done so. Jesus said unto him, Go, sell what thou hast, divide it among the poor, and then come and follow me. Upon which the rich man began to scratch his head, and to dislike the advice of Jesus: and the Lord said unto him, How can you say you have done as the law and the pro- Adversariorum Methodus.] I take a paper book of what size I please. I divide the two first pages that face one another by parallel lines into five and twenty equal parts, every fifth line black, the other red. I then cut them perpendicularly by other lines that I draw from the top to the bottom of the page, as you may see in the table prefixed. I put about the middle of each five spaces one of the twenty letters I design to make use of, and, a little forward in each space, the five vowels, one below another, in their natural order. This is the index to the whole volume, how big soever it may be.
The index being made after this manner, I leave a margin in all the other pages of the book, of about the largeness of an inch, in a volume, in folio, or a little larger; and, in a less volume, smaller in proportion.
If I would put any thing in my Common-Place-Book, I find out a head to which I may refer it. Each head ought to be some important and essential word to the matter in hand, and in that word regard is to be had to the first letter, and the vowel that follows it; for upon these two letters depends all the use of the index.
I omit three letters of the alphabet as of no use to me, viz. K. Y. W. which are supplied by C. I. U. that are equivalent to them. I put the letter Q. that is always followed with an u. in the fifth space of Z. By throwing Q. last in my index, I preserve the regularity of my index, and diminish not in the least its extent; for it seldom happens that there is any head begins with Z. u. I have found none in the five and twenty years I have used this method. If nevertheless it be necessary, nothing hinders but that one may make a reference after Q. u. provided it be done with any kind of distinction; but for more exactness a place may be assigned For Q. u. below the index, as I have formerly done. When I meet with any thing, that I think fit to put into my common-place-book, I first find a proper head. Suppose, for example, that the head be Epistola, I look into the index for the first letter and the following vowel, which in this instance are E. i. if in the space marked E. i. there is any number that directs me to the page designed for words that begin with an E. and whose first vowel, after the initial letter, is I; I must then write under the word Epistola, in that page, what I have to remark. I write the head in large letters, and begin a little way out into the margin, and I continue on the line, in writing what I have to say. I observe constantly this rule, that only the head appears in the margin, and that it be continued on without ever doubling the line in the margin, by which means the heads will be obvious at first sight.
If I find no number in the index, in the space E. i. I look into my book for the first backside of a leaf that is not written in, which, in a book where there is yet nothing but the index, must be . I write then, in my index after E. i. the number 2. and the head Epistola at the top of the margin of the second page, and all that I put under that head, in the same page, as you see I have done in the second page of this method. From that time the class E. i. is wholly in possession of the second and third pages.
They are to be employed only on words that begin with an E, and whose nearest vowel is an I, as Ebionitæ (see the third page) Episcopus, Echinus, Edictum, Efficacia, &c. The reason, why I begin always at the top of the backside of a leaf, and assign to one class two pages, that face one another, rather than an entire leaf, is, because the heads of the class appear Adversariorum Methodus.] all at once, without the trouble of turning over a leaf.
Every time that I would write a new head, I look first in my index for the characteristic letters of the words, and I see, by the number that follows, what the page is that is assigned to the class of that head. If there is no number, I must look for the first backside of a page that is blank. I then set down the number in the index, and design that page, with that of the right side of the following leaf, to this new class. Let it be, for example, the word Adversaria; if I see no number in the space A. e. I seek for the first backside of a leaf, which being at . I set down in the space A. e. the number 4. and in the fourth page the head Adversaria, with all that I write under it, as I have already informed you. From this time the fourth page with the fifth that follows is reserved for the class A. e. that is to say, for the heads that begin with an A, and whose next vowel is an E; as for instance, Aer, Aera, Agesilaus, Acheron, &c.
When the two pages designed for one class are full, I look forwards for the next backside of a leaf, that is blank. If it be that which immediately follows, I write, at the bottom of the margin, in the page that I have filled, the letter V, that is to say, Verte, turn over; as likewise the same at the top of the next page. If the pages, that immediately follow, are already filled by other classes, I write at the bottom of the page last filled, V, and the number of the next empty backside of a page. At the beginning of that page I write down the head, under which I go on, with what I had to put in my common-place-book, as if it had been in the same page. At the top of this new backside of a leaf, I set down the number of the page I filled last. By these numbers which refer to one another, the first whereof is at the bottom of one page, and the second is at the beginning of another, one joins matter that is separated, as if there was nothing between them. For, by this reciprocal reference of numbers, one may turn, as one leaf, all those that are between the two, even as if they were pasted together. You have an example of this in the third and tenth pages.
Every time I put a number at the bottom of a page, I put it also into the index; but when I put only a V, I make no addition in the index; the reason whereof is plain.
If the head is a monosyllable and begins with a vowel, that vowel is at the same time both the first letter of the word, and the characteristic vowel. Therefore I write the words Ars in A a and Os in O o.
You may see by what I have said, that one is to begin to write each class of words, on the backside of a page. It may happen, upon that account, that the backside of all the pages may be full, and yet there may remain several pages on the right hand, which are empty. Now if you have a mind to fill your book, you may assign these right sides, which are wholly blank, to new classes.
If any one imagines that these hundred classes are not sufficient to comprehend all sorts of subjects without confusion, he may follow the same method, and yet augment the number to five hundred, in adding a vowel. But having experienced both the one and the other method, I prefer the first; and usage will convince those, who shall try it, how well it will serve the purpose aimed at; especially if one has a book for each science, upon which one makes collections, or at least two for the two heads, to which one may refer all our knowledge, viz. moral philosophy, and natural.
You may add a third, which may be called the knowledge of signs, which relates to the use Adversariorum Methodus.] of words, and is of much more extent than mere criticism.
As to the language, in which one ought to express the heads, I esteem the Latin tongue most commodious, provided the nominative case be always kept to, for fear lest in words of two syllables, or in monosyllables that begin with the vowel, the change, which happens in oblique cases, should occasion confusion. But it is not of much consequence what language is made use of, provided there be no mixture in the heads, of different languages.
To take notice of a place in an author, from whom I quote something, I make use of this method: before I write any thing, I put the name of the author in my common-place-book, and under that name the title of the treatise, the size of the volume, the time and place of its edition, and (what ought never to be omitted) the number of pages that the whole book contains. For example, I put into the class M. a. “Marshami Canon Chronicus Ægyptiacus, Græcus, & disquisitiones fol.” London 1672, . This number of pages serves me for the future to mark the particular treatise of this author, and the edition I make use of. I have no need to mark the place, otherwise than in setting down the number of the page from whence I have drawn what I have wrote, just above the number of pages contained in the whole volume. You will see an example in Acherusia, where the number 259 is just above the number 626, that is to say, the number of the page, where I take my matter, is just above the number of pages of the whole volume. By this means I not only save myself the trouble of writing Canon Chronicus Ægyptiacus, &c. but am able by the rule of three to find out the same passage in any other edition, by looking for the number of its pages; since the edition I have used, which contains 626, gives me 259. You will not indeed always light on the very page you want, because of the breaches, that are made in different editions of books, and that are not always equal in proportion; but you are never very far from the place you want, and it is better to be able to find a passage, in turning over a few pages, than to be obliged to turn over a whole book to find it, as it happens, when the book has no index, or when the index is not exact.
Acheron.] “Pratum, ficta, mortuorum habitatio, est locus prope Memphin, juxta paludem, quam vocant Acherusiam, &c.” This is a passage out of D. Siculus, the sense whereof is this: the fields, where they feign that the dead inhabit, are only a place near Memphis, near a march called Acherusia, about which is a most delightful country, where one may behold lakes and forests of lotus and calamus. It is with reason, that Orpheus said, the dead inhabit these places, because there the Egyptians celebrate the greatest part, and the most august, of their funeral solemnities. They carry the dead over the Nile, and through the march of Acherusia, and there put them into subterraneous vaults. There are a great many other fables, among the Greeks, touching the state of the dead, which very well agree with what is at this day practised in Egypt. For they call the boat, in which the dead are transported, Baris; and a certain piece of money is given to the ferry-man for a passage, who, in their language, is called Charon. Near this place is a temple of Hecate in the shades, &c. and the gates of Cocytus and Lethe, shut up with bars of brass. There are other gates, which are called the gates of truth, with the statue of justice, before them, which had no head. Marsham. 259/626. Ebionitæ.] “phets direct you? since it is written in the law, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and there are many of thy brethren, children of Abraham, who are almost naked, and who are ready to die with hunger, while thy house is full of good things, and yet thou givest them no help nor assistance. And turning himself towards Simon, his disciple, who sat near him; Simon, son of Johanna, said he, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Ebion changed this passage, because he did not believe Jesus Christ to be the son of God, nor a law-giver, but a mere interpreter of the law of Moses. Grotius 333/1060.
11 12.
Hæretici.] “Nostrum igitur fuit, eligere & optare meliora, ut ad vestram correctionem auditum haberemus, non in contentione & æmulatione & persecutionibus, sed mansuetè consolando, benevolè hortando, lenitur disputando, sicut scriptum est, servum autem Domini non oportet litigare, sed mitem esse ad omnes, docibilem, patientem, in modestia corripientem diversa sentientes. Nostrum ergo fuit velle has partes expetere; Dei est volentibus & petentibus donare quod bonum est. Illi in vos sæviant qui nesciunt cum quo labore verum inveniatur, & quam difficile caveantur errores. Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quam rarum & arduum sit carnalia phantasmata piæ mentis serenitate superare. Ille in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt cum quantâ difficultate sanetur oculus interioris hominis, ut possit intueri solem suum; — Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt quibus suspiriis & gemitibus fiat, ut ex quantulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus. Postremo, illi in vos sæviant, qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt, quali vos deceptos vident. In catholicâ enim ecclesiâ, ut omittam sincerissimam sapientiam, ad cujus cognitionem pauci spirituales in hâc vitâ perveniunt, ut eam ex minimâ quidem parte, qui homines sunt, sed tamen sine dubitatione, cognoscant: cæterum quippe turbam non intelligendi vivacitas, sed credendi simplicitas tutissimam facit.” Augustinus, Tom. vi. col. 116. fol. Basiliæ 1542, contra Epist. Manichæi, quam vocant fundamenti.
“We were of opinion, that other methods were to be made choice of, and that, to recover you from your errours, we ought not to persecute you with injuries and invectives, or any ill treatment, but endeavour to procure your attention by soft words and exhortations, which would shew the tenderness we have for you: according to that passage of holy writ, “the servant of the Lord ought not to love strife and quarrels, but to be gentle, affable, and patient towards all mankind, and to reprove with modesty those who differ from him in opinion.”— “Let them only treat you with rigour, who know not how difficult it is to find out the truth, and avoid errour. Let those treat you with rigour, who are ignorant how rare and painful a work it is calmly to dissipate the carnal phantoms, that disturb even a pious mind. Let those treat you with rigour, who are ignorant of the extreme difficulty that there is to purify the eye of the inward man, to render him capable of seeing the truth, which is the sun, or light of the soul. Let those treat you with rigour, who have never felt the sighs and groans that a soul must have before it can attain any knowledge of the divine Being. To conclude, let those treat you with rigour who never have been seduced into errours, near a-kin to those you are engaged in. I pass over in silence that pure wisdom, which but a few spiritual men attain to in this life; so that though they know but in part, because they are men; yet nevertheless they know what they do know with certainty: for, in the catholic church, it is not penetration of mind, nor profound knowledge, but simplicity of faith, which puts men in a state of safety.
Barbari quippe homines Romanæ, imo potius humanæ eruditionis expertes, qui nihil omnino sciunt, nisi quod à doctoribus suis audiunt: quod audiunt hoc sequuntur, ac sic necesse est eos qui totius literaturæ ac scientiæ ignari, sacramentum divinæ legis doctrina, magis quam lectione, cognoscunt, doctrinam potius retinere, quam legem. Itaque eis traditio magistrorum suorum & doctrina inveterata, quasi lex est, qui hoc sciunt, quod do- Confessio Fidei.] Periculosum nobis admodum atque etiam miserabile est, tot nunc fides existere, quot voluntates: & tot nobis doctrinas esse, quot mores: & tot causas blasphemiarum pullulare, quot vitia sunt: dum aut ita fides scribuntur, ut volumus, aut, ita ut volumus, intelliguntur. Et cum secundum unum Deum & unum Dominum, & unum baptisma, etiam fides una sit, excidimus ab eâ fide, quæ sola est: & dum plures fiant, id esse cœperunt, ne ulla sit; conscii enim nobis invicem sumus, post Nicæni conventûs synodum, nihil aliud quam fidem scribi. Dum in verbis pugna est, dum de novitatibus quæstio est, dum de ambiguis occasio est, dum de autoribus querela est, dum de studiis certamen est, dum in consensu difficultas est, dum alter alteri anathema esse cæpit, prope jam nemo est Christi, &c. Jam vero proximi anni fides, quid jam de immutatione in se habet? Primum, quæ homousion decernit taceri: sequens rursum, quæ houmousion decernit & prædicat. Tertium deinceps, quæ ousiam simpliciter à patribus præsumptam, per indulgentiam excusat. Postremum quartum, quæ non excusat, sed condemnat, &c. De similitudine autem filii Dei ad Deum patrem, quod miserabilis nostri temporis est fides, ne non ex toto, sed tantum ex portione sit similis? Egregii scilicet arbitri cœlestium sacramentorum conquisitores, invisibilium mysteriorum professionibus de fide Dei calumniamur, annuas atque menstruas de Deo fides decernimus, decretis pœnitemus, pœnitentes defendimus, defensos anathematizamus, aut in nostri aliena aut in alienis nostra damnamus, & mordentes invicem, jam absumpti sumus invicem.” Hilarius, , in lib. ad Constantium Augustum. Basil. 1550, fol.
“It is a thing equally deplorable and dangerous that there are at present as many creeds as there are opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations; and as many sources of blasphemy, as there are faults among us; because we make creeds arbitrarily, and explain them as arbitrarily. And as there is but one faith; so there is but one only God, one Lord, and one baptism. We renounce this one faith, when we make so many different creeds; and that diversity is the reason why we have no true faith among us. We cannot be ignorant that, since the council of Nice, we have done nothing but make creeds. And while we fight against words, litigate about new questions, dispute about equivocal terms, complain of authors, that every one may make his own party triumph; while we cannot agree, while we anathematise one another, there is hardly one that adheres to Jesus Christ. What change was there not in the creed last year! The first council ordained a silence upon the homousion; the second established it, and would have us speak; the third excuses the fathers of the council, and pretends they took the word ousia simply: the fourth condemns them, instead of excusing them. With respect to the likeness of the Son of God to the Father, which is the faith of our deplorable times, they dispute whether he is like in whole, or in part. These are rare folks to unravel the secrets of heaven. Nevertheless it is for these creeds, about invisible mysteries, that we calumniate one another, and for our belief in God. We make creeds every year, nay every moon we repent of what we have done, we defend those that repent, we anathematise those we defended. So we condemn either the doctrine of others in ourselves, or our own in that of others, and, reciprocally tearing one another to pieces, we have been the cause of each other’s ruin.
Hæretici.] centur. Hæretici ergo sunt, sed non scientes. Denique apud nos sunt hæretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantam se catholicusesse judicant, ut nos ipsos titulo hæreticæ appellationis infament. Quod ergo illi nobis sunt & hoc nos illis. Nos eos injuriam divinæ generationi facere certi sumus, quod minorem patre filium dicant. Illi nos injuriosos patri existimant, quia æquales esse credamus. Veritas apud nos est; sed illi apud se esse præsumunt. Honor Dei apud nos est: sed illi hoc arbitrantur, honorem divinitatis esse quod credunt. Inofficiosi sunt, sed illishoc est summum religionis officium. Impii sunt, sed hoc putant esse veram pietatem. Errant ergo, sed bono animo errant, non odio sed affectu Dei, honorare se dominum atque amare credentes. Quamvis non habeant rectam fidem, illi tamen hoc perfectam Dei, æstimant caritatem. Qualiter pro hoc ipso falsæ opinionis errore in die judicii puniendi sunt, nullus scire potest nisi judex. Interim idcirco eis, utreor, patientiam Deuscommodat, quia videt eos, etsi non rectè credere, affectu tamen piæ opinionis errare.” Salvinus. 162/339.
This bishop speaks here of the Arian Goths and Vandals: “They are, (says he,) Barbarians, who have no tincture of the Roman politeness, and who are ignorant of what is very commonly known among other men, and only know what their doctors have taught them, and follow what they have heard them say. Men so ignorant as these find themselves under a necessity of learning the mysteries of the gospel, rather by the instructions that are given them, than by books.”
The tradition of their doctors and the received doctrines are the only rule they follow, because they know nothing but what they have taught them. They are then heretics, but they know it not. They are so in our account, but they believe it not; and think themselves so good catholics, that they treat us as heretics, judging of us as we do of them. We are persuaded that they believe amiss concerning the divine generation, when they maintain the Son is inferior to the Father; and they imagine that we rob the Father of his glory who believe them both to be equal. We have the truth on our side, and they pretend it is on theirs. We give to God his due honour, and they think they honour him better. They fail in their duty, but they imagine they perform perfectly well; and they make true piety to consist in what we call impious. They are in a mistake, but with a great deal of sincerity; and it is so far from being an effect of their hatred, that it is a mark of their love of God, since, by what they do, they imagine they show the greatest respect for the Lord, and zeal for his glory. Therefore, though they have not true faith, they nevertheless look upon that which they have as a perfect love of God. It belongs only to the judge of the universe to know how these men will be punished for their errours at the last day. Yet I believe God will show compassion towards them, because he sees their heart is more right than their belief, and that, if they are mistaken, it is their piety made them err.”
[none] [none]
The placing of certainty, as Mr. Locke does, in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of our ideas, the bishop of Worcester suspects may be of dangerous consequence to that article of faith which he has endeavoured to defend; to which Mr. Locke answers, since your lordship hath not, as I remember, shone, or gone about to show, how this proposition, viz. that certainty consists in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas, is opposite or inconsistent with that article of faith which your lordship has endeavoured to defend; it is plain, it is but your lordship’s fear, that it may be of dangerous consequence to it, which, as I humbly conceive, is no proof that it is any way inconsistent with that article.
Nobody, I think, can blame your lordship, or any one else, for being concerned for any article of the christian faith; but if that concern (as it may, and as we know it has done) makes any one apprehend danger, where no danger is, are we, therefore, to give up and condemn any proposition, because any one, though of the first rank and magnitude, fears it may be of dangerous consequence to any truth of religion, without showing that it is so? If such fears be the measures whereby to judge of truth and falsehood, the affirming that there are antipodes would be still a heresy: and the doctrine of the motion of the earth must be rejected, as overthrowing the truth of the scripture; for of that dangerous consequence it has been apprehended to be, by many learned and pious divines, out of their great concern for religion. And yet, notwithstanding those great apprehensions of what dangerous consequence it might be, it is now universally received by learned men, as an undoubted truth; and writ for by some, whose belief of the scripture is not at all questioned; and particularly, very lately, by a divine of the church of England, with great strength of reason, in his wonderfully ingenious New Theory of the Earth.
The reason your lordship gives of your fears, that it may be of such dangerous consequence to that article of faith which your lordship endeavours to defend, though it occur in more places than one, is only this, viz. That it is made use of by ill men to do mischief, i. e. to oppose that article of faith which your lordship hath endeavoured to defend. But, my lord, if it be a reason to lay by any thing as bad, because it is, or may be used to an ill purpose, I know not what will be innocent enough to be kept. Arms, which were made for our defence, are sometimes made use of to do mischief; and yet they are not thought of dangerous consequence for all that. Nobody lays by his sword and pistols, or thinks them of such dangerous consequence as to be neglected, or thrown away, because robbers, and the worst of men, sometimes make use of them, to take away honest men’s lives or goods. And the reason is, because they were designed, and will serve to preserve them. And who knows but this may be the present case? If your lordship thinks, that placing of certainty in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of ideas be to be rejected as false, because you apprehend it may be of dangerous consequence to that article of faith: on the other side, perhaps others, with me, may think it a defence against error, and so (as being of good use) to be received and adhered to.
I would not, my lord, be hereby thought to set up my own, or any one’s judgment against your lordship’s. But I have said this only to show, whilst the argument lies for or against the truth of any proposition, barely in an imagination that it may be of consequence to the supporting or overthrowing of any remote truth; it will be impossible, that way, to determine of the truth or falsehood of that proposition. For imagination will be set up against imagination, and the stronger probably will be against your lordship; the strongest imaginations being usually in the weakest heads. The only way, in this case, to put it past doubt, is to show the inconsistency of the two propositions; and then it will be seen, that one overthrows the other; the true, the false one.
Your lordship says, indeed, this is a new method of certainty. I will not say so myself, for fear of deserving a second reproof from your lordship, for being too forward to assume to myself the honour of being an original. But this, I think, gives me occasion, and will excuse me from being thought impertinent, if I ask your lordship whether there be any other, or older method of certainty? and what it is? For if there be no other, nor older than this, either this was always the method of certainty, and so mine is no new one; or else the world is obliged to me for this new one, after having been so long in the want of so necessary a thing as a method of certainty. If there be an older, I am sure your lordship cannot but know it: your condemning mine as new, as well as your thorough insight into antiquity, cannot but satisfy every body that you do. And therefore to set the world right in a thing of that great concernment, and to overthrow mine, and thereby prevent the dangerous consequence there is in my having unreasonably started it, will not, I humbly conceive, misbecome your lordship’s care of that article you have endeavoured to defend, nor the good-will you bear to truth in general. For I will be answerable for myself, that I shall; and I think I may be for all others, that they all will give off the placing of certainty in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of ideas, if your lordship will be pleased to show, that it lies in any thing else.
But truly, not to ascribe to myself an invention of what has been as old as knowledge is in the world, I must own I am not guilty of what your lordship is pleased to call starting new methods of certainty. Knowledge, ever since there has been any in the world, has consisted in one particular action in the mind; and so, I conceive, will continue to do to the end of it. And to start new methods of knowledge, or certainty (for they are to me the same thing) i. e. to find out and propose new methods of attaining knowledge, either with more ease and quickness, or in things yet unknown, is what I think nobody could blame: but this is not that which your lordship here means, by new methods of certainty. Your lordship, I think, means by it, the placing of certainty in something, wherein either it does not consist, or else wherein it was not placed before now; if this be to be called a new method of certainty. As to the latter of these, I shall know whether I am guilty or no, when your lordship will do me the favour to tell me, wherein it was placed before: which your lordship knows I professed myself ignorant of, when I writ my book, and so I am still. But if starting new methods of certainty be the placing of certainty in something wherein it does not consist: whether I have done that or no, I must appeal to the experience of mankind.
There are several actions of men’s minds, that they are conscious to themselves of performing, as willing, believing, knowing, &c. which they have so particular sense of, that they can distinguish them one from another; or else they could not say, when they willed, when they believed, and when they knew any thing. But though these actions were different enough from one another, not to be confounded by those who spoke of them, yet nobody that I had met with, had, in their writings, particularly set down wherein the act of knowing precisely consisted.
To this reflection upon the actions of my own mind the subject of my Essay concerning Human Understanding naturally led me; wherein if I have done any thing new, it has been to describe to others more particularly than had been done before, what it is their minds do when they perform that action which they call knowing; and if, upon examination, they observe I have given a true account of that action of their minds in all the parts of it, I suppose it will be in vain to dispute against what they find and feel in themselves. And if I have not told them right and exactly what they find and feel in themselves, when their minds perform the act of knowing, what I have said will be all in vain; men will not be persuaded against their senses. Knowledge is an internal perception of their minds; and if, when they reflect on it, they find it is not what I have said it is, my groundless conceit will not be hearkened to, but be exploded by every body, and die of itself; and nobody need to be at any pains to drive it out of the world. So impossible is it to find out, or start new methods of certainty, or to have them received, if any one places it in any thing, but in that wherein it really consists: much less can any one be in danger to be misled into error, by any such new, and to every one visibly senseless project. Can it be supposed, that any one could start a new method of seeing, and persuade men thereby, that they do not see what they do see? Is it to be feared that any one can cast such a mist over their eyes, that they should not know when they see, and so be led out of their way by it?
Knowledge, I find in myself, and I conceive in others, consists in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of the immediate objects of the mind in thinking, which I call ideas; but whether it does so in others or no, must be determined by their own experience, reflecting upon the action of their mind in knowing; for that I cannot alter, nor, I think, they themselves. But whether they will call those immediate objects of their minds in thinking ideas or no, is perfectly in their own choice. If they dislike that name, they may call them notions or conceptions, or how they please; it matters not, if they use them so as to avoid obscurity and confusion. If they are constantly used in the same and a known sense, every one has the liberty to please himself in his terms; there lies neither truth, nor error, nor science, in that; though those that take them for things, and not for what they are, bare arbitrary signs of our ideas, make a great deal ado often about them; as if some great matter lay in the use of this or that sound. All that I know, or can imagine of difference about them, is that those words are always best, whose significations are best known in the sense they are used; and so are least apt to bread confusion.
My lord, your lordship hath been pleased to find fault with my use of the new term, ideas, without telling me a better name for the immediate objects of the mind in thinking. Your lordship also has been pleased to find fault with my definition of knowledge, without doing me the favour to give me a better. For it is only about my definition of knowledge that all this stir concerning certainty is made. For, with me, to know and to be certain, is the same thing; what I know, that I am certain of; and what I am certain of, that I know. What reaches to knowledge, I think may be called certainty; and what comes short of certainty, I think cannot be called knowledge; as your lordship could not but observe in the 18th section of cha. of my 4th book, which you have quoted.
My definition of knowledge stands thus: “knowledge seems to me to be nothing but the perception of the connexion and agreement, or disagreement and repugnancy of any of our ideas.” This definition your lordship dislikes, and apprehends it may be of dangerous consequence as to that article of christian faith which your lordship hath endeavoured to defend. For this there is a very easy remedy: it is but for your lordship to set aside this definition of knowledge by giving us a better, and this danger is over. But your lordship chooses rather to have a controversy with my book for having it in it, and to put me upon the defence of it; for which I must acknowledge myself obliged to your lordship for affording me so much of your time, and for allowing me the honour of conversing so much with one so far above me in all respects.
Your lordship says, it may be of dangerous consequence to that article of christian faith which you have endeavoured to defend. Though the laws of disputing allow bare denial as a sufficient answer to sayings, without any offer of a proof: yet, my lord, to show how willing I am to give your lordship all satisfaction, in what you apprehend may be of dangerous consequence in my book, as to that article, I shall not stand still sullenly, and put your lordship upon the difficulty of showing wherein that danger lies; but shall on the other side, endeavour to show your lordship that that definition of mine, whether true or false, right or wrong, can be of no dangerous consequence to that article of faith. The reason which I shall offer for it, is this: because it can be of no consequence to it at all.
That which your lordship is afraid it may be dangerous to, is an article of faith: that which your lordship labours and is concerned for, is the certainty of faith. Now, my lord, I humbly conceive the certainty of faith, if your lordship thinks fit to call it so, has nothing to do with the certainty of knowledge. As to talk of the certainty of faith, seems all one to me, as to talk of the knowledge of believing, a way of speaking not easy to me to understand.
Place knowledge in what you will; start what new methods of certainty you please, that are apt to leave men’s minds more doubtful than before; place certainty on such ground as will leave little or no knowledge in the world: (for these are the arguments your lordship uses against my definition of knowledge) this shakes not at all, nor in the least concerns the assurance of faith; that is quite distinct from it, neither stands nor falls with knowledge.
Faith stands by itself, and upon grounds of its own; nor can be removed from them, and placed on those of knowledge. Their grounds are so far from being the same, or having any thing common, that when it is brought to certainty, faith is destroyed: it is knowledge then, and faith no longer.
With what assurance soever of believing I assent to any article of faith, so that I stedfastly venture my all upon it, it is still but believing. Bring it to certainty, and it ceases to be faith. I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead, and buried, rose again the third day from the dead, and ascended into heaven: let now such methods of knowledge or certainty be started, as leave men’s minds more doubtful than before; let the grounds of knowledge be resolved into what any one pleases, it touches not my faith; the foundation of that stands as sure as before, and cannot be at all shaken by it; and one may as well say, that any thing that weakens the sight, or casts a mist before the eyes, endangers the hearing; as that any thing which alters the nature of knowledge (if that could be done) should be of dangerous consequence to an article of faith.
Whether then I am or am not mistaken, in the placing certainty in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of ideas; whether this account of knowledge be true or false, enlarges or straitens the bounds of it more than it should; faith still stands upon its own basis, which is not at all altered by it; and every article of that has just the same unmoved foundation, and the very same credibility, that it had before. So that, my lord, whatever I have said about certainty, and how much soever I may be out in it, if I am mistaken, your lordship has no reason to apprehend any danger to any article of faith from thence; every one of them stands upon the same bottom it did before, out of the reach of what belongs to knowledge and certainty. And thus much of my way of certainty by ideas; which, I hope, will satisfy your lordship how far it is from being dangerous to any article of the christian faith whatsoever.
In his 2d letter to the bishop of Worcester.
Against that assertion of Mr. Locke, that possibly we shall never be able to know whether any mere material being thinks or no, &c. the bishop of Worcester argues thus: if this be true, then, for all that we can know by our ideas of matter and thinking, matter may have a power of thinking: and, if this hold, then it is impossible to prove a spiritual substance in us from the idea of thinking; for how can we be assured by our ideas, that God hath not given such a power of thinking to matter so disposed as our bodies are? especially since it is said, “That, in respect of our notions, it is not much more remote from our comprehension to conceive that God can, if he pleases, superadd to our idea of matter a faculty of thinking, than that he should superadd to it another substance, with a faculty of thinking.” Whoever asserts this can never prove a spiritual substance in us from a faculty of thinking, because he cannot know, from the idea of matter and thinking, that matter so disposed cannot think: and he cannot be certain, that God hath not framed the matter of our bodies so as to be capable of it.
To which Mr. Locke answers thus: here your lordship argues, that upon my principles it cannot be proved that there is a spiritual substance in us. To which, give me leave, with submission, to say, that I think it may be proved from my principles, and I think I have done it; and the proof in my book stands thus: First, we experiment in ourselves thinking. The idea of this action or mode of thinking is inconsistent with the idea of self-subsistence, and therefore has a necessary connexion with a support or subject of inhesion: the idea of that support is what we call substance; and so from thinking experimented in us, we have a proof of a thinking substance in us, which in my sense is a spirit. Against this your lordship will argue, that, by what I have said of the possibility that God may, if he pleases, superadd to matter a faculty of thinking, it can never be proved that there is a spiritual substance in us, because, upon that supposition, it is possible it may be a material substance that thinks in us. I grant it; but add, that the general idea of substance being the same every where, the modification of thinking, or the power of thinking, joined to it, makes it a spirit, without considering what other modifications it has, as, whether it has the modification of solidity or no. As, on the other side, substance, that has the modification of solidity, is matter, whether it has the modification of thinking, or no. And therefore, if your lordship means by a spiritual, an immaterial substance, I grant I have not proved, nor upon my principles can it be proved, (your lordship meaning, as I think you do, demonstratively proved) that there is an immaterial substance in us that thinks. Though, I presume, from what I have said about this supposition of a system of matter, thinking (which there demonstrates that God is immaterial) will prove it in the highest degree probable, that the thinking substance in us is immaterial. But your lordship thinks not probability enough, and by charging the want of demonstration upon my principle, that the thinking thing in us is immaterial, your lordship seems to conclude it demonstrable from principles of philosophy. The demonstration I should with joy receive from your lordship, or any one. For though all the great ends of morality and religion are well enough secured without it, as I have shown, yet it would be a great advance of our knowledge in nature and philosophy.
To what I have said in my book, to show that all the great ends of religion and morality are secured barely by the immortality of the soul, without a necessary supposition that the soul is immaterial, I crave leave to add, that immortality may and shall be annexed to that, which in its own nature is neither immaterial nor immortal, as the apostle expressly declares in these words, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
Perhaps my using the word spirit for a thinking substance, without excluding materiality out of it, will be thought too great a liberty, and such as deserves censure, because I leave immateriality out of the idea I make it a sign of. I readily own, that words should be sparingly ventured on in a sense wholly new; and nothing but absolute necessity can excuse the boldness of using any term in a sense whereof we can produce no example. But, in the present case, I think I have great authorities to justify me. The soul is agreed, on all hands, to be that in us which thinks. And he that will look into the first book of Cicero’s Tusculan questions, and into the sixth book of Virgil’s Æneid, will find, that these two great men, who of all the Romans best understood philosophy, thought, or at least did not deny the soul to be a subtile matter, which might come under the name of aura, or ignis, or æther, and this soul they both of them called spiritus: in the notion of which it is plain, they included only thought and active motion, without the total exclusion of matter. Whether they thought right in this, I do not say; that is not the question; but whether they spoke properly, when they called an active, thinking, subtile substance, out of which they excluded only gross and palpable matter, spiritus, spirit. I think that nobody will deny, that if any among the Romans can be allowed to speak properly, Tully and Virgil are the two who may most securely be depended on for it: and one of them speaking of the soul, says, Dum spiritus hos reget artus; and the other, Vita continetur corpore et spiritu. Where it is plain by corpus, he means (as generally every where) only gross matter that may be felt and handled, as appears by these words, Si cor, aut sanguis, aut cerebrum est animus: certe, quoniam est corpus, interibit cum reliquo corpore; si anima est, fortè dissipabitur; si ignis, extinguetur, Tusc. Quæst. l. 1. c. 11. Here Cicero opposes corpus to ignis and anima, i.e. aura, or breath. And the foundation of that his distinction of the soul, from that which he calls corpus or body, he gives a little lower in these words, Tanta ejus tenuitas ut fugiat aciem, ib. c. 22. Nor was it the heathen world alone that had this notion of spirit; the most enlightened of all the ancient people of God, Solomon himself, speaks after the same manner, that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts, even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other, yea, they have all one spirit. So I translate the Hebrew word חוך here, for so, I find it translated the very next verse but one; Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth down to the earth? In which places it is plain, that Solomon applies the word חוך, and our translators of him the word spirit, to a substance, out of which materiality was not wholly excluded, unless the spirit of a beast that goeth downwards to the earth be immaterial. Nor did the way of speaking in our Saviour’s time vary from this: St. Luke tells us, that when our Saviour, after his resurrection, stood in the midst of them, they were affrighted, and supposed that they had seen πνιῦμα, the Greek word which always answers spirit in English; and so the translators of the Bible render it here, they supposed that they had seen a spirit. But our Saviour says to them, behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. Which words of our Saviour put the same distinction between body and spirit, that Cicero did in the place above-cited, viz. That the one was a gross compages that could be felt and handled; and the other such as Virgil describes the ghost or soul of Anchises.
Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum,
Ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago,
Par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
I would not be thought hereby to say, that spirit never does signify a purely immaterial substance. In that sense the scripture, I take it, speaks, when it says God is a spirit; and in that sense I have used it; and in that sense I have proved from my principles that there is a spiritual substance; and am certain that there is a spiritual immaterial substance: which is, I humbly conceive, a direct answer to your lordship’s question in the beginning of this argument, viz. How we come to be certain that there are spiritual substances, supposing this principle to be true, that the simple ideas by sensation and reflection are the sole matter and foundation of all our reasoning? But this hinders not, but that if God, that infinite, omnipotent, and perfectly immaterial Spirit, should please to give to a system of very subtile matter, sense and motion, it might with propriety of speech be called spirit, though materiality were not excluded out of its complex idea. Your lordship proceeds, It is said indeed elsewhere, that it is repugnant to the idea of senseless matter, that it should put into itself sense, perception, and knowledge. But this doth not reach the present case: which is not what matter can do of itself, but what matter prepared by an omnipotent hand can do. And what certainty can we have that he hath not done it? We can have none from the ideas, for those are given up in this case, and consequently we can have no certainty, upon these principles, whether we have any spiritual substance within us or not.
Your lordship in this paragraph proves, that, from what I say, we can have no certainty whether we have any spiritual substance in us or not. If by spiritual substance your lordship means an immaterial substance in us, as you speak, I grant what your lordship says is true, that it cannot upon these principles be demonstrated. But I must crave leave to say at the same time, that upon these principles it can be proved, to the highest degree of probability. If by spiritual substance your lordship means a thinking substance, I must dissent from your lordship, and say, that we can have a certainty, upon my principles, that there is a spiritual substance in us. In short, my lord, upon my principles, i. e. from the idea of thinking, we can have a certainty that there is a thinking substance in us; from hence we have a certainty that there is an eternal thinking substance. This thinking substance, which has been from eternity, I have proved to be immaterial. This eternal immaterial, thinking substance, has put into us a thinking substance, which, whether it be a material or immaterial substance, cannot be infallibly demonstrated from our ideas: though from them it may be proved, that it is to the highest degree probable that it is immaterial.
Again, the bishop of Worcester undertakes to prove from Mr. Locke’s principles, that we may be certain, “That the first eternal thinking Being, or omnipotent Spirit cannot, if he would, give to certain systems of created sensible matter, put together as he sees fit, some degrees of sense, perception, and thought.”
To which Mr. Locke has made the following answer in his third letter.
Your first argument I take to be this; that according to me, the knowledge we have being by our ideas, and our idea of matter in general being a solid substance, and our idea of body a solid extended figured substance; if I admit matter to be capable of thinking, I confound the idea of matter with the idea of a spirit: to which I answer, No; no more than I confound the idea of matter with the idea of a horse, when I say that matter in general is a solid extended substance; and that a horse is a material animal, or an extended solid substance with sense and spontaneous motion.
The idea of matter is an extended solid substance; wherever there is such a substance, there is matter, and the essence of matter, whatever other qualities, not contained in that essence, it shall please God to superadd to it. For example, God creates an extended solid substance, without the superadding any thing else to it, and so we may consider it at rest: to some parts of it he superadds motion, but it has still the essence of matter: other parts of it he frames into plants, with all the excellencies of vegetation, life, and beauty, which is to be found in a rose or peach tree, &c. above the essense of matter, in general, but it is still but matter: to other parts he adds sense and spontaneous motion, and those other properties that are to be found in an elephant. Hitherto it is not doubted but the power of God may go, and that the properties of a rose, a peach, or an elephant, superadded to matter, change not the properties of matter; but matter is in these things matter still. But if one venture to go one step farther and say, God may give to matter thought, reason, and volition, as well as sense and spontaneous motion, there are men ready presently to limit the power of the omnipotent Creator, and tell us he cannot do it; because it destroys the essence, or changes the essential properties of matter. To make good which assertion, they have no more to say, but that thought and reason are not included in the essence of matter. I grant it; but whatever excellency, not contained in its essence, be superadded to matter, it does not destroy the essence of matter, if it leaves it an extended solid substance: wherever that is, there is the essence of matter: and if every thing of greater perfection superadded to such a substance, destroys the essence of matter, what will become of the essence of matter in a plant or an animal, whose properties far exceed those of a mere extended solid substance?
But it is farther urged, that we cannot conceive how matter can think. I grant it: but to argue from thence, that God therefore cannot give to matter a faculty of thinking, is to say God’s omnipotency is limited to a narrow compass, because man’s understanding is so; and brings down God’s infinite power to the size of our capacities. If God can give no power to any parts of matter, but what men can account for from the essence of matter in general; if all such qualities and properties must destroy the essence, or change the essential properties of matter, which are to our conceptions above it, and we cannot conceive to be the natural consequence of that essence; it is plain, that the essence of matter is destroyed, and its essential properties changed, in most of the sensible parts of this our system. For it is visible, that all the planets have revolutions about certain remote centres, which I would have any one explain, or make conceivable by the bare essence, or natural powers depending on the essence of matter in general, without something added to that essence, which we cannot conceive; for the moving of matter in a crooked line, or the attraction of matter by matter, is all that can be said in the case; either of which it is above our reach to derive from the essence of matter or body in general; though one of these two must unavoidably be allowed to be superadded in this instance to the essence of matter in general. The omnipotent Creator advised not with us in the making of the world, and his ways are not the less excellent, because they are past finding out.
In the next place, the vegetable part of the creation is not doubted to be wholly material; and yet he that will look into it, will observe excellencies and operations in this part of matter, which he will not find contained in the essence of matter in general, nor be able to conceive they can be produced by it. And will he therefore say, that the essence of matter is destroyed in them, because they have properties and operations not contained in the essential properties of matter as matter, nor explicable by the essence of matter in general?
Let us advance one step farther, and we shall in the animal world meet with yet greater perfections and properties, no ways explicable by the essence of matter in general. If the omnipotent Creator had not superadded to the earth, which produced the irrational animals, qualities far surpassing those of the dull dead earth, out of which they were made, life, sense, and spontaneous motion, nobler qualities than were before in it, it had still remained rude senseless matter; and if to the individuals of each species he had not superadded a power of propagation, the species had perished with those individuals: but by these essences or properties of each species, superadded to the matter which they were made of, the essence or properties of matter in general were not destroyed or changed, any more than any thing that was in the individuals before was destroyed or changed by the power of generation, superadded to them by the first benediction of the Almighty.
In all such cases, the superinducement of greater perfections and nobler qualities destroys nothing of the essence or perfections that were there before; unless there can be showed a manifest repugnancy between them: but all the proof offered for that, is only, that we cannot conceive how matter, without such superadded perfections, can produce such effects; which is, in truth, no more than to say, matter in general, or every part of matter, as matter, has them not; but is no reason to prove, that God, if he pleases, cannot superadd them to some parts of matter, unless it can be proved to be a contradiction, that God should give to some parts of matter qualities and perfections, which matter in general has not; though we cannot conceive how matter is invested with them, or how it operates by virtue of those new endowments; nor is it to be wondered that we cannot, whilst we limit all its operations to those qualities it had before, and would explain them by the known properties of matter in general, without any such induced perfections. For, if this be a right rule of reasoning, to deny a thing to be, because we cannot conceive the manner how it comes to be; I shall desire them who use it to stick to this rule, and see what work it will make both in divinity as well as philosophy: and whether they can advance any thing more in favour of scepticism.
For to keep within the present subject of the power of thinking and self-motion, bestowed by omnipotent power in some parts of matter: the objection to this is, I cannot conceive how matter should think. What is the consequence? Ergo, God cannot give it a power to think. Let this stand for a good reason, and then proceed in other cases by the same. You cannot conceive how matter can attract matter at any distance, much less at the distance of 1,000,000 miles; ergo, God cannot give it such a power: you cannot conceive how matter should feel, or move itself, or affect an immaterial being, or be moved by it; ergo, God cannot give it such powers: which is in effect to deny gravity, and the revolution of the planets about the sun; to make brutes mere machines, without sense or spontaneous motion; and to allow man neither sense nor voluntary motion.
Let us apply this rule one degree farther. You cannot conceive how an extended solid substance should think, therefore God cannot make it think: can you conceive how your own soul, or any substance, thinks? You find indeed that you do think, and so do I: but I want to be told how the action of thinking is performed: this, I confess, is beyond my conception: and I would be glad any one, who conceives it, would explain it to me. God, I find, has given me this faculty; and since I cannot but be convinced of his power in this instance, which though I every moment experiment in myself, yet I cannot conceive the manner of; what would it be less than an insolent absurdity, to deny his power in other like cases, only for this reason, because I cannot conceive the manner how?
To explain this matter a little farther: God has created a substance; let it be, for example, a solid extended substance. Is God bound to give it, besides being, a power of action? that, I think, nobody will say: he therefore may leave it in a state of inactivity, and it will be nevertheless a substance; for action is not necessary to the being of any substance that God does create. God has likewise created and made to exist, de novo, an immaterial substance, which will not lose its being of a substance, though God should bestow on it nothing more but this bare being, without giving it any activity at all. Here are now two distinct substances, the one material, the other immaterial, both in a state of perfect inactivity. Now I ask, what power God can give to one of these substances (supposing them to retain the same distinct natures that they had as substances in their state of inactivity) which he cannot give to the other? In that state, it is plain, neither of them thinks; for thinking being an action, it cannot be denied, that God can put an end to any action of any created substance, without annihilating of the substance whereof it is an action; and if it be so, he can also create or give existence to such a substance, without giving that substance any action at all. By the same reason it is plain, that neither of them can move itself: now I would ask, why Omnipotency cannot give to either of these substances, which are equally in a state of perfect inactivity, the same power that it can give to the other? Let it be, for example, that of spontaneous or self-motion, which is a power that it is supposed God can give to an unsolid substance, but denied that he can give to solid substance.
If it be asked, why they limit the omnipotency of God, in reference to the one rather than the other of these substances? all that can be said to it is, that they cannot conceive, how the solid substance should ever be able to move itself. And as little, say I, are they able to conceive, how a created unsolid substance should move itself. But there may be something in an immaterial substance, that you do not know. I grant it; and in a material one too: for example, gravitation of matter towards matter, and in the several proportions observable, inevitably shows, that there is something in matter that we do not understand, unless we can conceive self-motion in matter; or an inexplicable and inconceivable attraction in matter, at immense, almost incomprehensible distances: it must therefore be confessed, that there is something in solid, as well as unsolid substances, that we do not understand. But this we know, that they may each of them have their distinct beings, without any activity superadded to them, unless you will deny, that God can take from any being its power of acting, which it is probable will be thought too presumptuous for any one to do; and I say it is as hard to conceive self-motion in a created immaterial, as in a material being, consider it how you will: and therefore this is no reason to deny Omnipotency to be able to give a power of self-motion to a material substance, if he pleases, as well as to an immaterial; since neither of them can have it from themselves, nor can we conceive how it can be in either of them.
The same is visible in the other operation of thinking: both these substances may be made, and exist without thought; neither of them has, or can have the power of thinking from itself; God may give it to either of them, according to the good pleasure of his omnipotency; and in which ever of them it is, it is equally beyond our capacity to conceive, how either of these substances thinks. But for that reason, to deny that God, who had power enough to give them both a being out of nothing, can by the same omnipotency, give them what other powers and perfections he pleases, has no better foundation than to deny his power of creation, because we cannot conceive how it is performed: and there, at last, this way of reasoning must terminate.
That Omnipotency cannot make a substance to be solid and not solid at the same time, I think with due reverence we may say; but that a solid substance may not have qualities, perfections, and powers, which have no natural or visibly necessary connexion with solidity and extension, is too much for us (who are but of yesterday, and know nothing) to be positive in. If God cannot join things together by connexions inconceivable to us, we must deny even the consistency and being of matter itself; since every particle of it having some bulk, has its parts connected by ways inconceivable to us. So that all the difficulties that are raised against the thinking of matter, from our ignorance, or narrow conceptions, stand not at all in the way of the power of God, if he pleases to ordain it so; nor prove any thing against his having actually endued some parcels of matter, so disposed as he thinks fit, with a faculty of thinking, till it can be shown, that it contains a contradiction to suppose it.
Though to me sensation be comprehended under thinking in general, yet, in the foregoing discourse, I have spoke of sense in brutes, as distinct from thinking; because your lordship, as I remember, speaks of sense in brutes. But here I take liberty to observe, that if your lordship allows brutes to have sensation, it will follow, either that God can and doth give to some parcels of matter a power of perception and thinking; or that all animals have immaterial, and consequently, according to your lordship, immortal souls, as well as men, and to say that fleas and mites, &c. have immortal souls as well as men, will possibly be looked on as going a great way to serve an hypothesis.
I have been pretty large in making this matter plain, that they who are so forward to bestow hard censures or names on the opinions of those who differ from them, may consider whether sometimes they are not more due to their own; and that they may be persuaded a little to temper that heat, which, supposing the truth in their current opinions, gives them (as they think) a right to lay what imputations they please on those who would fairly examine the grounds they stand upon. For talking with a supposition and insinuations, that truth and knowledge, nay, and religion too, stand and fall with their systems, is at best but an imperious way of begging the question, and assuming to themselves, under the pretence of zeal for the cause of God, a title to infallibility. It is very becoming that men’s zeal for truth should go as far as their proofs, but not go for proofs themselves. He that attacks received opinions with anything but fair arguments, may, I own, be justly suspected not to mean well, nor to be led by the love of truth; but the same may be said of him too, who so defends them. An error is not the better for being common, nor truth the worse for having lain neglected; and if it were put to the vote any where in the world, I doubt, as things are managed, whether truth would have the majority, at least, whilst the authority of men, and not the examination of things, must be its measure. The imputation of scepticism, and those broad insinuations to render what I have writ suspected, so frequent, as if that were the great business of all this pains you have been at about me, has made me say thus much, my lord, rather as my sense of the way to establish truth in its full force and beauty, than that I think the world will need to have any thing said to it, to make it distinguish between your lordship’s and my design in writing, which therefore I securely leave to the judgment of the reader, and return to the argument in hand.
What I have above said, I take to be a full answer to all that your lordship would infer from my idea of matter, of liberty, of identity, and from the power of abstracting. You ask, How can my idea of liberty agree with the idea that bodies can operate only by motion and impulse? Ans. By the omnipotency of God, who can make all things agree, that involve not a contradiction. It is true, I say, “That bodies operate by impulse, and nothing else.” And so I thought when I writ it, and can yet conceive no other way of their operation. But I am since convinced by the judicious Mr. Newton’s incomparable book, that it is too bold a presumption to limit God’s power in this point by my narrow conceptions. The gravitation of matter towards matter, by ways unconceivable to me, is not only a demonstration that God can, if he pleases, put into bodies powers, and ways of operation, above what can be derived from our idea of body, or can be explained by what we know of matter, but also an unquestionable, and every where visible instance, that he has done so. And therefore in the next edition of my book, I will take care to have that passage rectified.
As to self-consciousness, your lordship asks, What is there like self-consciousness in matter? Nothing at all in matter as matter. But that God cannot bestow on some parcels of matter a power of thinking, and with it self-consciousness, will never be proved by asking, How is it possible to apprehend that mere body should perceive that it doth perceive? The weakness of our apprehension I grant in the case: I confess as much as you please, that we cannot conceive how a solid, no, nor how an unsolid created substance thinks; but this weakness of our apprehensions reaches not the power of God, whose weakness is stronger than any thing in men.
Your argument from abstraction we have in this question, If it may be in the power of matter to think, how comes it to be so impossible for such organized bodies as the brutes have, to enlarge their ideas by abstraction? Ans. This seems to suppose, that I place thinking within the natural power of matter. If that be your meaning, my lord, I never say, nor suppose, that all matter has naturally in it a faculty of thinking, but the direct contrary. But if you mean that certain parcels of matter, ordered by the Divine power, as seems fit to him, may be made capable of receiving from his omnipotency the faculty of thinking; that, indeed, I say; and that being granted, the answer to your question is easy; since, if Omnipotency can give thought to any solid substance, it is not hard to conceive, that God may give that faculty in a higher or lower degree, as it pleases him, who knows what disposition of the subject is suited to such a particular way or degree of thinking.
Another argument to prove, that God cannot endue any parcel of matter with the faculty of thinking, is taken from those words of mine, where I show, by what connexion of ideas we may come to know, that God is an immaterial substance. They are these, “The idea of an eternal actual knowing being, with the idea of immateriality, by the intervention of the idea of matter, and of its actual division, divisibility, and want of perception,” &c. From whence your lordship thus argues, Here the want of perception is owned to be so essential to matter, that God is therefore concluded to be immaterial. Ans. Perception and knowledge in that one eternal Being, where it has its source, it is visible must be essentially inseparable from it; therefore the actual want of perception in so great a part of the particular parcels of matter, is a demonstration, that the first being, from whom perception and knowledge are inseparable, is not matter: how far this makes the want of perception an essential property of matter, I will not dispute; it suffices that it shows, that perception is not an essential property of matter; and therefore matter cannot be that eternal original being to which perception and knowledge are essential. Matter, I say, naturally is without perception: ergo, says your lordship, want of perception is an essential property of matter, and God does not change the essential properties of things, their nature remaining. From whence you infer, that God cannot bestow on any parcel of matter (the nature of matter remaining) a faculty of thinking. If the rules of logic, since my days, be not changed, I may safely deny this consequence. For an argument that runs thus, God does not; ergo, he cannot, I was taught when I first came to the university, would not hold. For I never said God did; but, “That I see no contradiction in it, that he should, if he pleased, give to some systems of senseless matter a faculty of thinking;” and I know nobody before Des Cartes, that ever pretended to show that there was any contradiction in it. So that at worst, my not being able to see in matter any such incapacity as makes it impossible for Omnipotency to bestow on it a faculty of thinking, makes me opposite only to the Cartesians. For, as far as I have seen or heard, the fathers of the christian church never pretended to demonstrate that matter was incapable to receive a power of sensation, perception, and thinking, from the hand of the omnipotent Creator. Let us therefore, if you please, suppose the form of your argumentation right, and that your lordship means, God cannot: and then, if your argument be good, it proves, that God could not give to Balaam’s ass a power to speak to his master as he did; for the want of rational discourse being natural to that species, it is but for your lordship to call it an essential property, and then God cannot change the essential properties of things, their nature remaining: whereby it is proved, that God cannot, with all his omnipotency, give to an ass a power to speak as Balaam’s did.
You say, my lord, You do not set bounds to God’s omnipotency: for he may, if he please, change a body into an immaterial substance, i. e. take away from a substance the solidity which it had before, and which made it matter, and then give it a faculty of thinking, which it had not before, and which makes it a spirit, the same substance remaining. For if the substance remains not, body is not changed into an immaterial substance, but the solid substance, and all belonging to it, is annihilated, and an immaterial substance created, which is not a change of one thing into another, but the destroying of one, and making another de novo. In this change therefore of a body or material substance into an immaterial, let us observe these distinct considerations.
First, you say, God may, if he pleases, take away from a solid substance solidity, which is that which makes it a material substance or body; and may make it an immaterial substance, i. e. a substance without solidity. But this privation of one quality gives it not another; the bare taking away a lower or less noble quality does not give it an higher or nobler; that must be the gift of God. For the bare privation of one, and a meaner quality, cannot be the position of an higher and better; unless any one will say, that cogitation, or the power of thinking, results from the nature of substance itself: which if it do, then wherever there is substance, there must be cogitation, or a power of thinking. Here then, upon your lordship’s own principles, is an immaterial substance without the faculty of thinking.
In the next place, you will not deny, but God may give to this substance, thus deprived of solidity, a faculty of thinking; for you suppose it made capable of that, by being made immaterial; whereby you allow, that the same numerical substance may be sometimes wholly incogitative, or without a power of thinking, and at other times perfectly cogitative, or endued with a power of thinking.
Further, you will not deny, but God can give it solidity and make it material again. For, I conclude, it will not be denied, that God can make it again what it was before. Now I crave leave to ask your lordship, why God, having given to this substance the faculty of thinking after solidity was taken from it, cannot restore to it solidity again, without out taking away the faculty of thinking? When you have resolved this, my lord, you will have proved it impossible for God’s omnipotence to give a solid substance a faculty of thinking; but till then, not having proved it impossible, and yet denying that God can do it, is to deny that he can do what is in itself possible; which, as I humbly conceive, is visibly to set bounds to God’s omnipotency, though you say here you do not set bounds to God’s omnipotency.
If I should imitate your lordship’s way of writing, I should not omit to bring in Epicurus here, and take notice that this was his way, Deum verbis ponere, re tollere: and then add, that I am certain you do not think he promoted the great ends of religion and morality. For it is with such candid and kind insinuations as these, that you bring in both Hobbes and Spinosa into your discourse here about God’s being able, if he please, to give to some parcels of matter, ordered as he thinks fit, a faculty of thinking: neither of those authors having, as appears by any passages you bring out of them, said any thing to this question, nor having, as it seems, any other business here, but by their names skilfully to give that character to my book, with which you would recommend it to the world.
I pretend not to inquire what measure of zeal, nor for what, guides your lordship’s pen in such a way of writing, as yours has all along been with me: only I cannot but consider, what reputation it would give to the writings of the fathers of the church, if they should think truth required, or religion allowed them to imitate such patterns. But God be thanked, there be those amongst them, who do not admire such ways of managing the cause of truth or religion; they being sensible that if every one, who believes or can pretend he hath truth on his side, is thereby authorized, without proof, to insinuate whatever may serve to prejudice men’s minds against the other side, there will be great ravage made on charity and practice, without any gain to truth or knowledge: and that the liberties frequently taken by disputants to do so, may have been the cause that the world in all ages has received so much harm, and so little advantage from controversies in religion.
These are the arguments which your lordship has brought to confute one saying in my book, by other passages in it; which therefore being all but argumenta ad hominem, if they did prove what they do not, are of no other use, than to gain a victory over me: a thing methinks, so much beneath your lordship, that it does not deserve one of your pages. The question is, whether God can, if he pleases, bestow on any parcel of matter, ordered as he thinks fit, a faculty of perception and thinking. You say, you look upon a mistake herein to be of dangerous consequence, as to the great ends of religion and morality. If this be so, my lord, I think one may well wonder, why your lordship has brought no arguments to establish the truth itself which you look on to be of such dangerous consequence to be mistaken in; but have spent so many pages only in a personal matter, in endeavouring to show, that I had inconsistencies in my book; which if any such thing had been showed, the question would be still as far from being decided, and the danger of mistaking about it as little prevented, as if nothing of all this had been said. If therefore your lordship’s care of the great ends of religion and morality have made you think it necessary to clear this question, the world has reason to conclude there is little to be said against that proposition which is to be found in my book, concerning the possibility, that some parcels of matter might be so ordered by Omnipotence, as to be endued with a faculty of thinking, if God so pleased; since your lordship’s concern for the promoting the great ends of religion and morality, has not enabled you to produce one argument against a proposition that you think of so dangerous consequence to them.
And here I crave leave to observe, that though in your title page you promise to prove, that my notion of ideas is inconsistent with itself, (which if it were, it could hardly be proved to be inconsistent with any thing else) and with the articles of the christian faith; yet your attempts all along have been to prove me, in some passages of my book, inconsistent with myself, without having shown any proposition in my book inconsistent with any article of the christian faith.
I think your lordship has indeed made use of one argument of your own: but it is such an one, that I confess I do not see how it is apt much to promote religion, especially the christian religion, founded on revelation. I shall set down your lordship’s words, that they may be considered: you say, that you are of opinion, that the great ends of religion and morality are best secured by the proofs of the immortality of the soul from its nature and properties; and which you think prove it immaterial. Your lordship does not question whether God can give immortality to a material substance; but you say it takes off very much from the evidence of immortality, if it depend wholly upon God’s giving that, which of its own nature it is not capable of, &c. So likewise you say, If a man cannot be certain, but that matter may think, (as I affirm) then what becomes of the soul’s immateriality (and consequently immortality) from its operations? But for all this, say I, his assurance of faith remains on its own basis. Now you appeal to any man of sense, whether the finding the uncertainty of his own principles, which he went upon, in point of reason, doth not weaken the credibility of these fundamental articles, when they are considered purely as matters of faith? For before, there was a natural credibility in them on account of reason; but by going on wrong grounds of certainty, all that is lost, and instead of being certain, he is more doubtful than ever. And if the evidence of faith fall so much short of that of reason, it must needs have less effect upon men’s minds, when the subserviency of reason is taken away; as it must be when the grounds of certainty by reason are vanished. Is it at all probable, that he who finds his reason deceive him in such fundamental points, shall have his faith stand firm and unmoveable on the account of revelation? For in matters of revelation there must be some antecedent principles supposed, before we can believe any thing on the account of it.
More to the same purpose we have some pages farther, where, from some of my words your lordship says, you cannot but observe, that we have no certainty upon my grounds, that self-consciousness depends upon an individual immaterial substance, and consequently that a material substance may, according to my principles, have self-consciousness in it; at least, that I am not certain of the contrary. Whereupon your lordship bids me consider, whether this doth not a little affect the whole article of the resurrection. What does all this tend to, but to make the world believe that I have lessened the credibility of the immortality of the soul, and the resurrection, by saying, that though it be most highly probable, that the soul is immaterial, yet upon my principles it cannot be demonstrated; because it is not impossible to God’s omnipotency, if he pleases, to bestow upon some parcels of matter, disposed as he sees fit, a faculty of thinking?
This your accusation of my lessening the credibility of these articles of faith, is founded on this, that the article of the immortality of the soul abates of its credibility, if it be allowed, that its immateriality (which is the supposed proof from reason and philosophy of its immortality) cannot be demonstrated from natural reason: which argument of your lordship’s bottoms, as I humbly conceive, on this, that divine revelation abates of its credibility in all those articles it proposes, proportionably as human reason fails to support the testimony of God. And all that your lordship in those passages has said, when examined, will, I suppose, be found to import thus much, viz. Does God propose any thing to mankind to be believed? It is very fit and credible to be believed, if reason can demonstrate it to be true. But if human reason come short in the case, and cannot make it out, its credibility is thereby lessened; which is in effect to say, that the veracity of God is not a firm and sure foundation of faith to rely upon, without the concurrent testimony of reason; i. e. with reverence be it spoken, God is not to be believed on his own word, unless what he reveals be in itself credible, and might be believed without him.
If this be a way to promote religion, the christian religion, in all its articles, I am not sorry that it is not a way to be found in any of my writings; for I imagine any thing like this would (and I should think deserved to) have other titles than bare scepticism bestowed upon it, and would have raised no small outcry against any one, who is not to be supposed to be in the right in all that he says, and so may securely say what he pleases. Such as I, the profanum vulgus, who take too much upon us, if we would examine, have nothing to do but to hearken and believe, though what he said should subvert the very foundations of the christian faith.
What I have above observed, is so visibly contained in your lordship’s argument, that when I met with it in your answer to my first letter, it seemed so strange for a man of your lordship’s character, and in a dispute in defence of the doctrine of the Trinity, that I could hardly persuade myself, but it was a slip of your pen: but when I found it in your second letter made use of again, and seriously enlarged as an argument of weight to be insisted upon, I was convinced that it was a principle that you heartily embraced, how little favourable soever it was to the articles of the christian religion, and particularly those which you undertook to defend.
I desire my reader to peruse the passages as they stand in your letters themselves, and see whether what you say in them does not amount to this: that a revelation from God is more or less credible, according as it has a stronger or weaker confirmation from human reason. For,
Your lordship says, you do not question whether God can give immortality to a material substance; but you say it takes off very much from the evidence of immortality, if it depends wholly upon God’s giving that, which of its own nature it is not capable of.
To which I reply, any one’s not being able to demonstrate the soul to be immaterial, takes off not very much, nor at all, from the evidence of its immortality, if God has revealed that it shall be immortal; because the veracity of God is a demonstration of the truth of what he has revealed, and the want of another demonstration of a proposition, that is demonstratively true, takes not off from the evidence of it. For where there is a clear demonstration, there is as much evidence as any truth can have, that is not self-evident. God has revealed that the souls of men should live for ever. But, says your lordship, from this evidence it takes off very much, if it depends wholly upon God’s giving that, which of its own nature it is not capable of, i. e. The revelation and testimony of God loses much of its evidence, if this depends wholly upon the good pleasure of God, and cannot be demonstratively made out by natural reason, that the soul is immaterial, and consequently in its own nature immortal. For that is all that here is or can be meant by these words, which of its own nature it is not capable of, to make them to the purpose. For the whole of your lordship’s discourse here, is to prove, that the soul cannot be material, because then the evidence of its being immortal would be very much lessened. Which is to say, that it is not as credible upon divine revelation, that a material substance should be immortal, as an immaterial; or which is all one, that God is not equally to be believed, when he declares that a material substance shall be immortal, as when he declares, that an immaterial shall be so; because the immortality of a material substance cannot be demonstrated from natural reason.
Let us try this rule of your lordship’s a little farther. God hath revealed, that the bodies men shall have after the resurrection, as well as their souls, shall live to eternity. Does your lordship believe the eternal life of the one of these more than of the other, because you think you can prove it of one of them by natural reason, and of the other not? Or can any one, who admits of divine revelation in the case, doubt of one of them more than the other? Or think this proposition less credible, that the bodies of men, after the resurrection, shall live for ever; than this, That the souls of men shall, after the resurrection, live for ever? For that he must do, if he thinks either of them is less credible than the other. If this be so, reason is to be consulted how far God is to be believed, and the credit of divine testimony must receive its force from the evidence of reason; which is evidently to take away the credibility of divine revelation in all supernatural truths, wherein the evidence of reason fails. And how much such a principle as this tends to the support of the doctrine of the Trinity, or the promoting the christian religion, I shall leave it to your lordship to consider.
I am not so well read in Hobbes or Spinosa, as to be able to say, what were their opinions in this matter. But possibly there be those, who will think your lordship’s authority of more use to them in the case, than those justly decried names; and be glad to find your lordship a patron of the oracles of reason, so little to the advantage of the oracles of divine revelation. This at least, I think, may be subjoined to the words at the bottom of the next page, That those who have gone about to lessen the credibility of the articles of faith, which evidently they do, who say they are less credible, because they cannot be made out demonstratively by natural reason, have not been thought to secure several of the articles of the christian faith, especially those of the trinity, incarnation, and resurrection of the body, which are those upon the account of which I am brought by your lordship into this dispute.
I shall not trouble the reader with your lordship’s endeavours, in the following words, to prove, that if the soul be not an immaterial substance, it can be nothing but life; your very first words visibly confuting all that you allege to that purpose, they are, If the soul be a material substance, it is really nothing but life; which is to say, That if the soul be really a substance, it is not really a substance, but really nothing else but an affection of a substance; for the life, whether of a material or immaterial substance, is not the substance itself, but an affection of it.
You say, Although we think the separate state of the soul after death, is sufficiently revealed in the scripture; yet it creates a great difficulty in understanding it, if the soul be nothing but life, or a material substance, which must be dissolved when life is ended. For, if the soul be a material substance, it must be made up, as others are, of the cohesion of solid and separate parts, how minute and invisible soever they be. And what is it which should keep them together, when life is gone? So that it is no easy matter to give an account how the soul should be capable of immortality, unless it be an immaterial substance; and then we know the solution and texture of bodies cannot reach the soul, being of a different nature.
Let it be as hard a matter as it will, to give an account what it is that should keep the parts of a material soul together, after it is separated from the body; yet it will be always as easy to give an account of it, as to give an account what it is that shall keep together a material and immaterial substance. And yet the difficulty that there is to give an account of that, I hope, does not, with your lordship, weaken the credibility of the inseparable union of soul and body to eternity: and I persuade myself, that the men of sense, to whom your lordship appeals in the case, do not find their belief of this fundamental point much weakened by that difficulty. I thought heretofore (and by your lordship’s permission would think so still) that the union of the parts of matter, one with another, is as much in the hands of God, as the union of a material and immaterial substance; and that it does not take off very much, or at all, from the evidence of immortality, which depends on that union, that it is no easy matter to give an account what it is that should keep them together: though its depending wholly upon the gift and good pleasure of God, where the manner creates great difficulty in the understanding, and our reason cannot discover in the nature of things how it is, be that which, your lordship so positively says, lessens the credibility of the fundamental articles of the resurrection and immortality.
But, my lord, to remove this objection a little, and to show of how small force it is even with yourself; give me leave to presume, that your lordship as firmly believes the immortality of the body after the resurrection, as any other article of faith; if so, then it being no easy matter to give an account what it is that shall keep together the parts of a material soul, to one that believes it is material, can no more weaken the credibility of its immortality, than the like difficulty weakens the credibility of the immortality of the body. For, when your lordship shall find it an easy matter to give an account what it is, besides the good pleasure of God, which shall keep together the parts of our material bodies to eternity, or even soul and body, I doubt not but any one who shall think the soul material, will also find it as easy to give an account what it is that shall keep those parts of matter also together to eternity.
Were it not that the warmth of controversy is apt to make men so far forget, as to take up those principles themselves (when they will serve their turn) which they have highly condemned in others, I should wonder to find your lordship to argue, that because it is a difficulty to understand what shall keep together the minute parts of a material soul, when life is gone; and because it is not an easy matter to give an account how the soul shall be capable of immortality, unless it be an immaterial substance: therefore it is not so credible, as if it were easy to give an account by natural reason, how it could be. For to this it is that all this your discourse tends, as is evident by what is already set down; and will be more fully made out by what your lordship says in other places, though there needs no such proof, since it would all be nothing against me in any other sense.
I thought your lordship had in other places asserted, and insisted on this truth, that no part of divine revelation was the less to be believed, because the thing itself created great difficulty in the understanding, and the manner of it was hard to be explained, and it was no easy matter to give an account how it was. This, as I take it, your lordship condemned in others as a very unreasonable principle, and such as would subvert all the articles of the christian religion, that were mere matters of faith, as I think it will: and is it possible, that you should make use of it here yourself, against the article of life and immortality, that Christ hath brought to light through the gospel, and neither was, nor could be made out by natural reason without revelation? But you will say, you speak only of the soul; and your words are, That it is no easy matter to give an account how the soul should be capable of immortality, unless it be an immaterial substance. I grant it; but crave leave to say, that there is not any one of those difficulties, that are or can be raised about the manner how a material soul can be immortal, which do not as well reach the immortality of the body.
But, if it were not so, I am sure this principle of your lordship’s would reach other articles of faith, wherein our natural reason finds it not so easy to give an account how those mysteries are; and which therefore, according to your principles, must be less credible than other articles, that create less difficulty to the understanding. For your lordship says, that you appeal to any man of sense, whether to a man, who thought by his principles he could from natural grounds demonstrate the immortality of the soul, the finding the uncertainty of those principles he went upon in point of reason, i. e. the finding he could not certainly prove it by natural reason, doth not weaken the credibility of that fundamental article, when it is considered purely as a matter of faith? which, in effect, I humbly conceive, amounts to this, that a proposition divinely revealed, that cannot be proved by natural reason, is less credible than one that can: which seems to me to come very little short of this, with due reverence be it spoken, that God is less to be believed when he affirms a proposition that cannot be proved by natural reason, than when he proposes what can be proved by it. The direct contrary to which is my opinion, though you endeavour to make it good by these following words; If the evidence of faith fall too much short of that of reason it must needs have less effect upon men’s minds, when the subserviency of reason is taken away; as it must be when the grounds of certainty by reason are vanished. Is it at all probable, that he who finds his reason deceive him in such fundamental points, should have his faith stand firm and unmoveable on the account of revelation? Than which I think there are hardly plainer words to be found out to declare, that the credibility of God’s testimony depends on the natural evidence of probability of the things we receive from revelation, and rises and falls with it; and that the truths of God, or the articles of mere faith, lose so much of their credibility, as they want proof from reason; which if true, revelation may come to have no credibility at all. For if, in this present case, the credibility of this proposition, the souls of men shall live for ever, revealed in the scripture, be lessened by confessing it cannot be demonstratively proved from reason; though it be asserted to be most highly probable: must not, by the same rule, its credibility dwindle away to nothing, if natural reason should not be able to make it out to be so much as probable, or should place the probability from natural principles on the other side? For, if mere want of demonstration lessens the credibility of any proposition divinely revealed, must not want of probability, or contrary probability from natural reason, quite take away its credibility? Here at last it must end, if in any one case the veracity of God, and the credibility of the truths we receive from him by revelation, be subjected to the verdicts of human reason, and be allowed to receive any accession or diminution from other proofs, or want of other proofs of its certainty or probability.
If this be your lordship’s way to promote religion, or defend its articles, I know not what argument the greatest enemies of it could use more effectual for the subversion of those you have undertaken to defend; this being to resolve all revelation perfectly and purely into natural reason, to bound its credibility by that, and leave no room for faith in other things, than what can be accounted for by natural reason without revelation.
Your lordship insists much upon it, as if I had contradicted what I have said in my essay, by saying that upon my principles it cannot be demonstratively proved, that it is an immaterial substance in us that thinks, however probable it be. He that will be at the pains to read that chapter of mine, and consider it, will find, that my business there was to show, that it was no harder to conceive an immaterial than a material substance; and that from the ideas of thought, and a power of moving of matter, which we experienced in ourselves, (ideas originally not belonging to matter as matter) there was no more difficulty to conclude there was an immaterial substance in us, than that we had material parts. These ideas of thinking, and power of moving of matter, I in another place showed, did demonstratively lead us the certain knowledge of the existence of an immaterial thinking being, in whom we have the idea of spirit in the strictest sense; in which sense I also applied it to the soul, in the 23d ch. of my essay; the easily conceivable possibility, nay great probability, that the thinking substance in us is immaterial, giving me sufficient ground for it: in which sense I shall think I may safely attribute it to the thinking substance in us, till your lordship shall have better proved from my words, that it is impossible it should be immaterial. For I only say, that it is possible, i. e. involves no contradiction, that God, the omnipotent immaterial spirit, should, if he pleases, give to some parcels of matter, disposed as he thinks fit, a power of thinking and moving: which parcels of matter, so endued with a power of thinking and motion, might properly be called spirits, in contradistinction to unthinking matter. In all which, I presume, there is no manner of contradiction.
I justified my use of the word spirit, in that sense, from the authorities of Cicero and Virgil, applying the Latin word spiritus, from whence spirit is derived, to the soul as a thinking thing, without excluding materiality out of it. To which your lordship replies, That Cicero, in his Tusculan Questions, supposes the soul not to be a finer sort of body, but of a different nature from the body — That he calls the body the prison of the soul — And says, that a wise man’s business is to draw off his soul from his body. And then your lordship concludes, as is usual, with a question, Is it possible now to think so great a man looked on the soul but as a modification of the body, which must be at an end with life? Ans. No: it is impossible that a man of so good sense as Tully, when he uses the word corpus or body for the gross and visible parts of a man, which he acknowledges to be mortal, should look on the soul to be a modification of that body; in a discourse wherein he was endeavouring to persuade another, that it was immortal. It is to be acknowledged that truly great men, such as he was, are not wont so manifestly to contradict themselves. He had therefore no thought concerning the modification of the body of a man in the case: he was not such a trifler as to examine, whether the modification of the body of a man was immortal, when that body itself was mortal: and therefore, that which he reports as Dicæarchus’s opinion, he dismisses in the beginning without any more ado, c. 11. But Cicero’s was a direct, plain, and sensible inquiry, viz. What the soul was? to see whether from thence he could discover its immortality. But in all that discourse in his first book of Tusculan Questions, where he lays out so much of his reading and reason, there is not one syllable showing the least thought that the soul was an immaterial substance; but many things directly to the contrary.
Indeed (1) he shuts out the body, taken in the senses he uses corpus all along, for the sensible organical parts of a man; and is positive that is not the soul: and body in this sense, taken for the human body, he calls the prison of the soul: and says a wise man, instancing in Socrates and Cato, is glad of a fair opportunity to get out of it. But he no where says any such thing of matter: he calls not matter in general the prison of the soul, nor talks a word of being separate from it.
He concludes, that the soul is not, like other things here below, made up of a composition of the elements, ch. 27.
He excludes the two gross elements, earth and water, from being the soul, ch. 26.
So far he is clear and positive: but beyond this he is uncertain; beyond this he could not get: for in some places he speaks doubtfully, whether the soul be not air or fire. Anima sit animus, ignisve, nescio, c. 25. And therefore he agrees with Panætius, that if it be at all elementary, it is, as he calls it, inflammata anima, inflamed air; and for this he gives several reasons, c. 18, 19. And though he thinks it to be of a peculiar nature of its own, yet he is so far from thinking it immaterial, that he says, c. 19. that the admitting it to be of an aërial or igneous nature, will not be inconsistent with any thing he had said.
That which he seems most to incline to is, that the soul was not at all elementary, but was of the same substance with the heavens; which Aristotle, to distinguish from the four elements, and the changeable bodies here below, which he supposed made up of them, called quinta essentia. That this was Tully’s opinion is plain from these words, Ergo animus (qui, ut ego dico, divinus) est, ut Euripides audet dicere, Deus: & quidem, si Deus aut anima aut ignis est, idem est animus hominis. Nam ut illa natura cœlestis et terrâ vacat & humore; sic utriusque harum rerum humanus animus est expers. Sin autem est quinta quædam natura ab Aristotele inducta; primum hæc & deorum est & animorum. Hanc nos sententiam secuti, his ipsis verbis in consolatione hæc expressimus, ch. 29. And then he goes on, c. 27. to repeat those his own words, which your lordship has quoted out of him, wherein he had affirmed, in his treatise De Consolatione, the soul not to have its original from the earth, or to be mixed or made of any thing earthly; but had said, singularis est igitur quædam natura & vis animi, sejuncta ab his usitatis notisque naturis: whereby he tells us, he meant nothing but Aristotle’s quinta essentia: which being unmixed, being that of which the gods and souls consisted, he calls it divinum cœleste, and concludes it eternal; it being, as he speaks, sejuncta ab omni mortali concretione. From which it is clear, that in all his inquiry about the substance of the soul, his thoughts went not beyond the four elements, or Aristotle’s quinta essentia, to look for it. In all which there is nothing of immateriality, but quite the contrary.
He was willing to believe (as good and wise men have always been) that the soul was immortal; but for that, it is plain, he never thought of its immateriality, but as the eastern people do, who believe the soul to be immortal, but have nevertheless no thought, no conception of its immateriality. It is remarkable what a very considerable and judicious author says in the case. No opinion, says he, has been so universally received as that of the immortality of the soul; but its immateriality is a truth, the knowledge whereof has not spread so far. And indeed it is extremely difficult to let into the mind of a Siamite the idea of a pure spirit. This the missionaries who have been longest among them, are positive in. All the pagans of the east do truly believe, that there remains something of a man after his death, which subsists independently and separately from his body. But they give extension and figure to that which remains, and attribute to it all the same members, all the same substances, both solid and liquid, which our bodies are composed of. They only suppose that the souls are of a matter subtile enough to escape being seen or handled. — Such were the shades and manes of the Greeks and the Romans. And it is by these figures of the souls, answerable to those of the bodies, that Virgil supposed Æneas knew Palinurus, Dido, and Anchises, in the other world.
This gentleman was not a man that travelled into those parts for his pleasure, and to have the opportunity to tell strange stories, collected by chance, when he returned: but one chosen on purpose (and he seems well chosen for the purpose) to inquire into the singularities of Siam. And he has so well acquitted himself of the commission, which his epistle dedicatory tells us he had, to inform himself exactly of what was most remarkable there, that had we but such an account of other countries of the east, as he has given us of this kingdom, which he was an envoy to, we should be much better acquainted than we are, with the manners, notions, and religions of that part of the world inhabited by civilized nations, who want neither good sense nor acuteness of reason, though not cast into the mould of the logick and philosophy of our schools.
But to return to Cicero: it is plain that in his inquiries about the soul, his thoughts went not at all beyond matter. This the expressions that drop from him in several places of this book evidently show. For example, that the souls of excellent men and women ascended into heaven; of others, that they remained here on earth, c. 12. That the soul is hot, and warms the body: that, at its leaving the body, it penetrates, and divides, and breaks through our thick, cloudy, moist air: that it stops in the region of fire, and ascends no farther, the equality of warmth and weight making that its proper place, where it is nourished and sustained, with the same things wherewith the stars are nourished and sustained, and that by the convenience of its neighbourhood it shall there have a clearer view and fuller knowledge of the heavenly bodies, c. 19. That the soul also from this height shall have a pleasant and fairer prospect of the globe of the earth, the disposition of whose parts will then lie before it in one view, c. 20. That it is hard to determine what conformation, size, and place, the soul has in the body: that it is too subtile to be seen: that it is in the human body as in a house, or a vessel, or a receptacle, c. 22. All which are expressions that sufficiently evidence, that he who used them had not in his mind separated materiality from the idea of the soul.
It may perhaps be replied, that a great part of this which we find in cha is said upon the principles of those who would have the soul to be anima inflammata, inflamed air. I grant it. But it is also to be observed, that in this 19th, and the two following chapters, he does not only not deny, but even admits, that so material a thing as inflamed air may think.
The truth of the case in short is this: Cicero was willing to believe the soul immortal; but, when he sought in the nature of the soul itself something to establish this his belief into a certainty of it, he found himself at a loss. He confessed he knew not what the soul was; but the not knowing what it was, he argues, c. 22, was no reason to conclude it was not. And thereupon he proceeds to the repetition of what he had said in his 6th book, De Repub. concerning the soul. The argument, which, borrowed from Plato, he there makes use of, if it have any force in it, not only proves the soul to be immortal, but more than, I think, your lordship will allow to be true: for it proves it to be eternal, and without beginning, as well as without end: Neque nata certe est, & æterna est, says he.
Indeed from the faculties of the soul he concludes right, that it is of divine original: but as to the substance of the soul, he at the end of this discourse concerning its faculties, c. 25, as well as at this beginning of it, c. 22, is not ashamed to own his ignorance of what it is; Anima sit animus, ignisve, nescio; nec me pudet, ut istos, fateri nescire quod nesciam. Illud si ulla alia de re obscura affirmare possem, sive anima, sive ignis sit animus, eum jurarem esse divinum, c. 25, So that all the certainty he could attain to about the soul, was, that he was confident there was something divine in it, i. e. there were faculties in the soul that could not result from the nature of matter, but must have their original from a divine power; but yet those qualities, as divine as they were, he acknowledged might be placed in breath or fire, which, I think, your lordship will not deny to be material substances. So that all those divine qualities, which he so much and so justly extols in the soul, led him not, as appears, so much as to any the least thought of immateriality. This is demonstration, that he built them not upon an exclusion of materiality out of the soul; for he avowedly professes he does not know, but breath or fire might be this thinking thing in us; and in all his considerations about the substance of the soul itself, he stuck in air, or fire, or Aristotle’s quinta essentia; for beyond those it is evident he went not.
But with all his proofs out of Plato, to whose authority he defers so much, with all the arguments his vast reading and great parts could furnish him with for the immortality of the soul, he was so little satisfied, so far from being certain, so far from any thought that he had, or could prove it, that he over and over again professes his ignorance and doubt of it. In the beginning he enumerates the several opinions of the philosophers, which he had well studied, about it: and then, full of uncertainty, says, Harum, sententiarum quæ vera sit, Deus aliquis viderit; quæ verisimillima, magna quæstio, c. 11. And towards the latter end, having gone them all over again, and one after another examined them, he professes himself still at a loss, not knowing on which to pitch, nor what to determine. Mentis acies, says he, seipsam intuens, nonnunquam hebescit, ob eamque causam contemplandi diligentiam amittimus. Itaque dubitans, circumspectans, hæsitans, multa adversa revertens, tanquam in rate in mari immenso, nostra vehitur oratio, c. 30. And to conclude this argument, when the person he introduces as discoursing with him, tells him he is resolved to keep firm to the belief of immortality; Tully answers, c. 32, Laudo id quidem, etsi nihil animis oportet considere: movemur enim sæpe aliquo acute concluso; labamus, mutamusque sententiam clarioribus etiam in rebus; in his est enim aliqua obscuritas.
So unmoveable is that truth delivered by the spirit of truth, that though the light of nature gave some obscure glimmering, some uncertain hopes of a future state; yet human reason could attain to no clearness, no certainty about it, but that it was JESUS CHRIST alone, who had brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Though we are now told, that to own the inability of natural reason to bring immortality to light, or which passes for the same, to own principles upon which the immateriality of the soul, (and, as it is urged, consequently its immortality) cannot be demonstratively proved, does lessen the belief of this article of revelation, which JESUS CHRIST alone has brought to light, and which consequently the scripture assures us is established and made certain only by revelation. This would not perhaps have seemed strange, from those who are justly complained of for slighting the revelation of the gospel, and therefore would not be much regarded, if they should contradict so plain a text of scripture, in favour of their all-sufficient reason: but what use the promoters of scepticism and infidelity, in an age so much suspected by your lordship, may make of what comes from one of your great authority and learning, may deserve your consideration.
And thus, my lord, I hope, I have satisfied you concerning Cicero’s opinion about the soul, in his first book of Tusculan questions; which, though I easily believe, as your lordship says, you are no stranger to, yet I humbly conceive you have not shown, (and, upon a careful perusal of that treatise again, I think I may boldly say you cannot show) one word in it, that expresses any thing like a notion in Tully of the soul’s immateriality, or its being an immaterial substance.
From what you bring out of Virgil, your lordship concludes, That he, no more than Cicero, does me any kindness in this matter, being both assertors of the soul’s immortality. My lord, were not the question of the soul’s immateriality, according to custom, changed here into that of its immortality, which I am no less an assertor of than either of them, Cicero and Virgil do me all the kindness I desired of them in this matter; and that was to show, that they attributed the word spiritus to the soul of man, without any thought of its immateriality; and this the verses you yourself bring out of Virgil,
Et cum frigida mors animâ seduxerit artus,
Omnibus umbra locis adero; dabis, improbe, pœnas;
confirm, as well as those I quoted out of his 6th book: and for this monsieur de la Loubere shall be my witness in the words above set down out of him; where he shows that there be those amongst the heathens of our days, as well as Virgil and others amongst the ancient Greeks and Romans, who thought the souls or ghosts of men departed did not die with the body, without thinking them to be perfectly immaterial; the latter being much more incomprehensible to them than the former. And what Virgil’s notion of the soul is, and that corpus, when put in contradistinction to the soul, signifies nothing but the gross tenement of flesh and bones; is evident from this verse of his Æneid 6, where he calls the souls which yet were visible,
— Tenues sine corpore vitas.
Your lordship’s answer concerning what is said Eccles. xii. turns wholly upon Solomon’s taking the soul to be immortal, which was not what I question: all that I quoted that place for, was to show, that spirit in English might properly be applied to the soul, without any notion of its immateriality, as תיך was by Solomon, which, whether he thought the souls of men to be immaterial, does little appear in that passage where he speaks of the souls of men and beasts together, as he does. But farther, what I contended for is evident from that place, in that the word spirit is there applied by our translators, to the souls of beasts, which your lordship, I think, does not rank amongst the immaterial, and consequently immortal spirits, though they have sense and spontaneous motion.
But you say, If the soul be not of itself a free thinking substance, you do not see what foundation there is in nature for a day of judgment. Ans. Though the heathen world did not of old, nor do to this day, see a foundation in nature for a day of judgment; yet in revelation, if that will satisfy your lordship, every one may see a foundation for a day of judgment, because God has positively declared it; though God has not by that revelation taught us, what the substance of the soul is; nor has any where said, that the soul of itself is a free agent. Whatsoever any created substance is, it is not of itself, but is by the good pleasure of its Creator; whatever degrees of perfection it has, it has from the bountiful hand of its maker. For it is true in a natural, as well as a spiritual sense, what St. Paul says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.”
But your hordship, as I guess by your following words, would argue, that a material substance cannot be a free agent; whereby I suppose you only mean, that you cannot see or conceive how a solid substance should begin, stop, or change its own motion. To which give me leave to answer, that when you can make it conceivable, how any created, finite, dependant substance can move itself, or alter or stop its own motion, which it must to be a free agent; I suppose you will find it no harder for God to bestow this power on a solid than an unsolid created substance. Tully, in the place above quoted, could not conceive this power to be in any thing but what was from eternity; Cum pateat igitur æturnum id esse quod seipsum moveat, quis est qui hanc naturam animis esse tributam neget? But though you cannot see how any created substance, solid or not solid, can be a free agent, (pardon me, my lord, if I put in both, till your lordship please to explain it of either, and show the manner how either of them can, of itself, move itself or any thing else) yet I do not think you will so far deny men to be free agents, from the difficulty there is to see how they are free agents, as to doubt whether there be foundation enough for a day of judgment.
It is not for me to judge how far your lordship’s speculations reach; but finding in myself nothing to be truer than what the wise Solomon tells me, “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all things;” I gratefully receive and rejoice in the light of revelation, which sets me at rest in many things, the manner whereof my poor reason can by no means make out to me: Omnipotency, I know, can do any thing that contains in it no contradiction: so that I readily believe whatever God has declared, though my reason find difficulties in it, which it cannot master. As in the present case, God having revealed that there shall be a day of judgment, I think that foundation enough to conclude men are free enough to be made answerable for their actions, and to receive according to what they have done; though how man is a free agent, surpasses my explication or comprehension.
In answer to the place I brought out of St. Luke, your lordship asks, Whether from these words of our Saviour it follows, that a spirit is only an appearance? I answer, No: nor do I know who drew such an inference from them: but it follows, that in apparitions there is something that appears, and that which appears is not wholly immaterial; and yet this was properly called ϫνεῦμα, and was often looked upon, by those who called it ϫνεῦμα in Greek, and now call it spirit in English, to be the ghost or soul of one departed; which I humbly conceive justifies my use of the word spirit, for a thinking voluntary agent, whether material or immaterial.
Your lordship says. That I grant, that it cannot upon these principles be demonstrated, that the spiritual substance in us is immaterial: from whence you conclude, That then my grounds of certainty from ideas are plainly given up. This being a way of arguing that you often make use of, I have often had occasion to consider it, and cannot after all see the force of this argument. I acknowledge that this or that proposition cannot upon my principles be demonstrated; ergo, I grant this proposition to be false, that certainty consists in the perception of the agreement or disagreement of ideas. For that is my ground of certainty, and till that be given up, my grounds of certainty are not given up.
The ensuing treatises are true and genuine remains of the deceased author, whose name they bear; but, for the greatest part, received not his last hand, being in a great measure little more than sudden views, intended to be afterwards revised and farther looked into; but by sickness, intervention of business, or preferable inquiries, happened to be thrust aside, and so lay neglected.
The “conduct of the understanding” he always thought to be a subject very well worth consideration. As any miscarriages, in that point, accidentally came into his mind, he used sometimes to set them down in writing, with those remedies, that he could then think of. This method, though it makes not that haste to the end, which one could wish, yet perhaps is the only one, that can be followed in the case; it being here, as in physic, impossible for a physician to describe a disease, or seek remedies for it, till he comes to meet with it. Such particulars of this kind, as occurred to the author, at a time of leisure, he, as is before said, set down in writing; intending, if he had lived, to have reduced them into order and method, and to have made a complete treatise; whereas now it is only a collection of casual observations, sufficient to make men see some faults in the conduct of their understanding, and suspect there may be more, and may, perhaps, serve to excite others to inquire farther into it, than the author hath done.
“The examination of P. Malebranche’s opinion, of seeing all things in God,” shows it to be a very groundless notion, and was not published by the author, because he looked upon it to be an opinion that would not spread, but was like to die of itself, or at least to do no great harm.
“The discourse of miracles” was writ for his own satisfaction, and never went beyond the first draught, and was occasioned by his reading “Mr. Fleetwood’s essay on miracles,” and the letter writ to him on that subject.
“The fourth letter for toleration” is imperfect, was begun by the author a little before his death, but never finished. It was designed for an answer to a book intitled, “A second letter to the author of the three letters for toleration,” &c. which was writ against the author’s third letter for toleration, about twelve years after the said third letter had been published.
“The memoirs of the late earl of Shaftesbury” are only certain particular facts, set down in writing by the author, as they occurred to his memory; if time and health would have permitted him, he had gone on farther, and from such materials have collected and compiled an history of that noble peer.
The acute and ingenious author of the Recherche de la Verité, among a great many very fine thoughts, judicious reasonings, and uncommon reflections, has in that treatise started the notion of “seeing all things in God,” as the best way to explain the nature and manner of the ideas in our understanding. The desire I had to have my unaffected ignorance removed, has made it necessary for me to see whether this hypothesis, when examined, and the parts of it put together, can be thought to cure our ignorance, or is intelligible and satisfactory to one who would not deceive himself, take words for things, and think he knows what he knows not.
This I observe at the entrance, that P. Malebranche having enumerated, and in the following chapters showed the difficulties of the other ways, whereby he thinks human understanding may be attempted to be explained, and how insufficient they are to give a satisfactory account of the ideas we have, erects this of “seeing all things in God” upon their ruin, as the true, because, it is impossible to find a better. Which argument, so far being only “argumentum ad ignorantiam,” loses all its force as soon as we consider the weakness of our minds, and the narrowness of our capacities, and have but humility enough to allow, that there may be many things which we cannot fully comprehend, and that God is not bound in all he does to subject his ways of operation to the scrutiny of our thoughts, and confine himself to do nothing but what we must comprehend. And it will very little help to cure my ignorance, that this is the best of four or five hypotheses proposed, which are all defective; if this too has in it what is inconsistent with itself, or unintelligible to me.
That P. Malebranche’s Recherche de la Verité, l. 3. . c. 1, tells us, that whatever the mind perceives “must be actually present and intimately united to it.” That the things that the mind perceives are its own sensations, imaginations, or notions; which, being in the soul the modifications of it, need no ideas to represent them. But all things exterior to the soul we cannot perceive but by the intervention of ideas, supposing that the things themselves cannot be intimately united to the soul. But because spiritual things may possibly be united to the soul, therefore he thinks it probable that they can discover themselves immediately without ideas; though of this he doubts, because he believes not there is any substance purely intelligible but that of God; and that though spirits can possibly unite themselves to our minds; yet at present we cannot entirely know them. But he speaks here principally of material things, which he says certainly cannot unite themselves to our souls in such a manner, as is necessary that it should perceive them; because, being extended, the soul not being so, there is no proportion between them.
This is the sum of his doctrine contained in the first chapter of the second part of the third book, as far as I can comprehend it; wherein, I confess, there are many expressions, which carrying with them, to my mind, no clear ideas, are like to remove but little of my ignorance by their sounds. v. g. “What it is to be intimately united to the soul;” what it is for two souls or spirits to be intimately united; for intimate union being an idea taken from bodies when the parts of one get within the surface of the other, and touch their inward parts; what is the idea of intimate union, I must have, between two beings that have neither of them any extension or surface? And if it be not so explained as to give me a clear idea of that union, it will make me understand very little more of the nature of the ideas in my mind, when it is said I see them in God, who being “intimately united to the soul” exhibits them to it; than when it is only said they are by the appointment of God produced in the mind by certain motions of our bodies, to which our minds are united. Which, however imperfect a way of explaining this matter, will still be as good as any other that does not by clear ideas remove my ignorance of the manner of my perception.
But he says that “certainly material things cannot unite themselves to our souls.” Our bodies are united to our souls, yes; but, says he, not after “a manner which is necessary that the soul may perceive them.” Explain this manner of union, and show wherein the difference consists betwixt the union necessary and not necessary to perception, and then I shall confess this difficulty removed.
The reason that he gives why “material things cannot be united to our souls after a manner” that is necessary to the soul’s perceiving them, is this, viz. That, “material things being extended, and the soul not, there is no proportion between them.” This, if it shows any thing, shows only that a soul and a body cannot be united, because one has surface to be united by, and the other none. But it shows not why soul, united to a body as ours is, cannot, by that body, have the idea of a triangle excited in it, as well as by being united to God, (between whom and the soul there is as little proportion, as between any creature immaterial or material, and the soul,) see in God the idea of a triangle that is in him, since we cannot conceive a triangle, whether seen in matter, or in God, to be without extension.
He says, “There is no substance purely intelligible but that of God.” Here again I must confess myself in the dark, having no notion at all of the substance of God;” nor being able to conceive how his is more intelligible than any other substance.
One thing more there is, which, I confess, stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis, which stands thus: we cannot “perceive” anything but what is “intimately united to the soul.” The reason why some things (viz. material) cannot be “intimately united to the soul,” is, because “there is no proportion between the soul and them.” If this be a good reason, it follows, that the greater the proportion there is between the soul and any other being, the better and more intimately they can be united. Now then I ask, whether there be a greater proportion between God, an infinite being, and the soul, or between finite created spirits and the soul? And yet the author says, that “he believes that there is no substance purely intelligible but that of God,” and that “we cannot entirely know created spirits at present.” Make this out upon your principles of “intimate union” and “proportion,” and then they will be of some use to the clearing of your hypothesis, otherwise “intimate union” and “proportion” are only sounds serving to amuse, not instruct us.
In the close of this chapter he enumerates the several ways whereby he thinks we come by ideas, and compares them severally with his own way. Which how much more intelligible it is than either of those, the following chapters will show: to which I shall proceed, when I have observed that it seems a bold determination, when he says that it must be one of these ways, and we can see objects no other. Which assertion must be built on this good opinion of our capacities, that God cannot make the creatures operate, but in ways conceivable to us. That we cannot discourse and reason about them farther than we conceive, is a great truth: and it would be well if we would not, but would ingenuously own the shortness of our sight where we do not see. To say there can be no other, because we conceive no other, does not, I confess, much instruct. And if I should say, that it is possible God has made our souls so, and so united them to our bodies, that, upon certain motion made in our bodies by external objects, the soul should have such or such perceptions or ideas, though in a way inconceivable to us; this perhaps would appear as true and as instructive a proposition as what is so positively laid down.
Though the peripatetic doctrine of the species does not at all satisfy me, yet I think it were not hard to show, that it is as easy to account for the difficulties he charges on it, as for those his own hypothesis is laden with. But it being not my business to defend what I do not understand, nor to prefer the learned gibberish of the schools to what is yet unintelligible to me in P. M. I shall only take notice of so much of his objections, as concerns what I guess to be the truth. Though I do not think any material species, carrying the resemblance of things by a continual flux from the body we perceive, bring the perception of them to our senses; yet I think the perception we have of bodies at a distance from ours, may be accounted for, as far as we are capable of understanding it, by the motion of particles of matter coming from them and striking on our organs. In feeling and tasting there is immediate contact. Sound is not unintelligibly explained by a vibrating motion communicated to the medium, and the effluvia of odorous bodies will, without any great difficulties, account for smells. And therefore P. M. makes his objections only against visible species, as the most difficult to be explained by material causes, as indeed they are. But he that shall allow extreme smallness in the particles of light, and exceeding swiftness in their motion; and the great porosity that must be granted in bodies, if we compare gold, which wants them not, with air, the medium wherein the rays of light come to our eyes, and that of a million of rays that rebound from any visible area of any body, perhaps the 1/1000 or 1/10000 part coming to the eye, are enough to move the retina, sufficiently to cause a sensation in the mind, will not find any great difficulty in the objections which are brought from the impenetrability of matter, and these rays ruffling and breaking one another in the medium which is full of them. As to what is said, that from one point we can see a great number of objects, that is no objection against the species, or visible appearances of bodies, being brought into the eye by the rays of light; for the bottom of the eye or retina, which, in regard of these rays, is the place of vision, is far from being a point. Nor is it true, that though the eye be in any one place; yet that the sight is performed in one point, i. e. that the rays that bring those visible species do all meet at a point; for they cause their distinct sensations by striking on distinct parts of the retina, as is plain in optics: and the figure they paint there must be of some considerable bigness, since it takes up on the retina an area whose diameter is at least thirty seconds of a circle, whereof the circumference is in the retina, and the centre somewhere in the crystalline; as a little skill in optics will manifest to any one that considers, that few eyes can perceive an object less than thirty minutes of a circle, whereof the eye is the centre. And he that will but reflect on that seeming odd experiment of seeing only the two outward ones of three bits of paper stuck up against a wall, at about half a foot, or a foot one from another, without seeing the middle one at all, whilst his eye remains fixed in the same posture, must confess that vision is not made in a point, when it is plain, that looking with one eye there is always one part between the extremes of the area that we see, which is not seen at the same time that we perceive the extremes of it; though the looking with two eyes, or the quick turning of the axis of the eye to the part we would distinctly view, when we look but with one, does not let us take notice of it.
What I have here said I think sufficient to make intelligible, how by material rays of light visible species may be brought into the eye, notwithstanding any of P. M.’s objections against so much of material causes, as my hypothesis is concerned in. But when by this means an image is made on the retina, how we see it, I conceive no more than when I am told we see it in God. How we see it, is, I confess, what I understand not in the one or in the other, only it appears to me more difficult to conceive a distinct visible image in the uniform invariable essence of God, than in variously modifiable matter; but the manner how I see either, still escapes my comprehension. Impressions made on the retina by rays of light, I think I understand; and motions from thence continued to the brain may be conceived, and that these produce ideas in our minds I am persuaded, but in a manner to me incomprehensible. This I can resolve only into the good pleasure of God, whose ways are past finding out. And I think I know it as well when I am told these are ideas that the motion of the animal spirits by a law established by God, produces in me; as when I am told they are ideas I see in God. The ideas it is certain I have, and God both ways is the original cause of my having them; but the manner how I come by them, how it is that I perceive, I confess I understand not; though it be plain motion has to do in the producing of them: and motion so modified, is appointed to be the cause of our having them; as appears by the curious and artificial structure of the eye, accommodated to all the rules of refraction and dioptrics, that so visible objects might be exactly and regularly painted on the bottom of the eye.
The change of bigness in the ideas of visible objects, by distance and optic glasses, which is the next argument he uses against visible species, is a good argument against them, as supposed by the peripatetics; but when considered, would persuade one that we see the figures and magnitudes of things rather in the bottom of our eyes than in God: the idea we have of them and their grandeur being still proportioned to the bigness of the area, on the bottom of our eyes, that is affected by the rays which paint the image there; and we may be said to see the picture in the retina, as, when it is pricked, we are truly said to feel the pain in our finger.
In the next place where he says, that when we look on a cube “we see all its sides equal.” This, I think, is a mistake; and I have in another place shown, how the idea we have from a regular solid, is not the true idea of that solid, but such an one as by custom (as the name of it does) serves to excite our judgment to form such an one.
What he says of seeing an object several millions of leagues, the very same instant that it is uncovered, I think may be shown to be a mistake in matter of fact. For by observations made on the satellites of Jupiter, it is discovered that light is successively propagated and is about ten minutes coming from the sun to us.
By what I have said, I think it may be understood how we may conceive, that from remote objects material causes may reach our senses, and therein produce several motions that may be the causes of ideas in us; notwithstanding what P. M. has said in his second chapter against material species. I confess his arguments are good against those species as usually understood by the peripatetics: but, since my principles have been said to be conformable to the Aristotelian philosophy, I have endeavoured to remove the difficulties it is charged with, as far as my opinion is concerned in them.
His third chapter is to confute the “opinion of those who think our minds have a power to produce the ideas of things on which they would think, and that they are excited to produce them by the impressions which objects make on the body.” One who thinks ideas are nothing but perceptions of the mind annexed to certain motions of the body by the will of God, who hath ordered such perceptions always to accompany such motions, though we know not how they are produced; does in effect conceive those ideas or perceptions to be only passions of the mind, when produced in it, whether we will or no, by external objects. But he conceives them to be a mixture of action and passion when the mind attends to them, or revives them in the memory. Whether the soul has such a power as this, we shall perhaps have occasion to consider hereafter; and this power our author does not deny, since in this very chapter he says, “When we conceive a square by pure understanding, we can yet imagine it; i. e. perceive it in ourselves by tracing an image of it on the brain.” Here then he allows the soul power to trace images on the brain, and perceive them. This, to me, is matter of new perplexity in his hypothesis; for if the soul be so united to the brain as to trace images on it, and perceive them, I do not see how this consists with what he says a little before in the first chapter, viz. “that certainly material things cannot be united to our souls after a manner necessary to its perceiving them.”
That which is said about objects exciting ideas in us by motion; and our reviving the ideas we have once got in our memories, does not, I confess, fully explain the manner how it is done. In this I frankly avow my ignorance, and should be glad to find in him any thing that would clear it to me; but in his explications I find these difficulties which I cannot get over.
The mind cannot produce ideas, says he, because they are “real spiritual beings,” i. e. substances; for so is the conclusion of that paragraph, where he mentions it as an absurdity to think they are “annihilated when they are not present to the mind.” And the whole force of this argument would persuade one to understand him so; though I do not remember that he any-where speaks it out, or in direct terms calls them substances.
I shall here only take notice how inconceivable it is to me, that a spiritual, i. e. an unextended substance, should represent to the mind an extended figure, v. g. a triangle of unequal sides, or two triangles of different magnitudes. Next, supposing I could conceive an unextended substance to represent a figure, or be the idea of a figure, the difficulty still remains to conceive how it is my soul sees it. Let this substantial being be ever so sure, and the picture ever so clear; yet how we see it, is to me inconceivable. Intimate union, were it as intelligible of two unextended substances as of two bodies, would not yet reach perception, which is something beyond union. But yet a little lower he agrees, that an idea “is not a substance,” but yet affirms it is “a spiritual thing:” this “spiritual thing” therefore must either be a “spiritual substance,” or a mode of a spiritual substance, or a relation; for besides these I have no conception of any thing. And if any shall tell me it is a “mode,” it must be a mode of the substance of God; which, besides that it will be strange to mention any modes in the simple essence of God; whosoever shall propose any such modes, as a way to explain the nature of our ideas, proposes to me something inconceivable, as a means to conceive what I do not yet know; and so bating a new phrase, teaches me nothing, but leaves me as much in the dark as one can be where he conceives nothing. So that supposing ideas real spiritual things ever so much, if they are neither substances nor modes, let them be what they will, I am no more instructed in their nature, than when I am told they are perceptions such as I find them. And I appeal to my reader, whether that hypothesis be to be preferred for its easiness, to be understood, which is explained by real beings, that are neither substances nor modes.
In the fourth chapter he proves, that we do not see objects by ideas that are created with us; because the ideas we have even of one very simple figure, v. g. a triangle, are not infinite, though there may be infinite triangles. What this proves I will not here examine; but the reason he gives being built on his hypothesis, I cannot get over, and that is, that, “it is not for want of ideas, or that infinite is not present to us, but it is only for want of capacity and extension of our souls, because the extension of our spirits is very narrow and limited.” To have a limited extension, is to have some extension which agrees but ill with what is before said of our souls, that they “have no extension.” By what he says here and in other places, one would think he were to be understood, as if the soul, being but a small extension, could not at once receive all the ideas conceivable in infinite space, because but a little part of that infinite space can be applied to the soul at once. To conceive thus of the soul’s intimate union with an infinite being, and by that union receiving of ideas, leads one as naturally into as gross thoughts, as a country maid would have of an infinite butter-print, in which was engraven figures of all sorts and sizes, the several parts whereof being, as there was occasion, applied to her lump of butter, left on it the figure or idea there was present need of. But whether any one would thus explain our ideas, I will not say, only I know not well how to understand what he says here, with what he says before of union, in a better sense.
He farther says, that had we a magazine of all ideas that are necessary for seeing things, they would be of no use, since the mind could not know which to choose, and set before itself to see the sun. What he here means by the sun is hard to conceive, and according to his hypothesis of “seeing all things in God,” how can he know that there is any such real being in the world as the sun? Did he ever see the sun? No, but on occasion of the presence of the sun to his eyes, he has seen the idea of the sun in God, which God has exhibited to him; but the sun, because it cannot be united to his soul, he cannot see. How then does he know that there is a sun which he never saw? And since God does all things by the most compendious ways, what need is there that God should make a sun that we might see its idea in him when he pleased to exhibit it, when this might as well be done without any real sun at all.
He farther says, that God does not actually produce in us as many new ideas as we every moment perceive different things. Whether he has proved this or no, I will not examine.
But he says, that “we have at all times actually in ourselves the ideas of all things.” Then we have always actually in ourselves the ideas of all triangles, which was but now denied, “but we have them confusedly.” If we see them in God, and they are not in him confusedly, I do not understand how we can see them in God confusedly.
In the fifth chapter he tells us “all things are in God,” even the most corporeal and earthly, but after “a manner altogether spiritual, and which we cannot comprehend.” Here therefore he and I are alike ignorant of these good words; “material things are in God after a spiritual manner,” signifying nothing to either of us; and “spiritual manner,” signifies no more but this, that material things are in God immaterially. This and the like are ways of speaking, which our vanity has found out to cover, not remove our ignorance. But “material things are in God,” because “their ideas are in God, and those ideas which God had of them before the world was created, are not at all different from himself.” This seems to me to come very near saying, not only that there is variety in God, since we see variety in what “is not different from himself;” but that material things are God, or a part of him; which, though I do not think to be what our author designs; yet thus I fear he must be forced to talk, who thinks he knows God’s understanding so much better than his own, that he will make use of the divine intellect to explain the human.
In the sixth chapter he comes more particularly to explain his own doctrine, where first he says, “the ideas of all beings are in God.” Let it be so, God has the idea of a triangle, of a horse, of a river, just as we have; for hitherto this signifies no more, for we see them as they are in him; and so the ideas that are in him, are the ideas we perceive. Thus far I then understand God hath the same ideas we have. This tells indeed that there are ideas, which was agreed before and I think nobody denies, but tells me not yet what they are.
Having said that they are in God, the next thing he tells us is, that we “can see them in God.” His proof, that “our souls can see them in God, is because God is most straitly united to our souls by his presence, insomuch that one may say, God is the place of spirits, as spaces are the places of bodies;” in which there is not, I confess, one word that I can understand. For, first, in what sense can he say, that “spaces are the places of bodies;” when he makes body and space, or extension, to be the same thing? So that I do no more understand what he means, when he says, “spaces are the places of bodies,” than if he had said, bodies are the places of bodies. But when this simile is applied to God and spirits, it makes this saying, that “God is the place of spirits,” either to be merely metaphorical, and so signifies literally nothing, or else being literal, makes us conceive that spirits move up and down, and have their distances and intervals in God, as bodies have in space. When I am told in which of these senses he is to be understood, I shall be able to see how far it helps us to understand the nature of ideas. But is not God as straitly united to bodies as to spirits? For he is also present, even where they are, but yet they see not these ideas in him. He therefore adds, “that the soul can see in God the works of God, supposing God would discover to it what there is in him to represent them,” viz. the ideas that are in him. Union therefore is not the cause of this seeing; for the soul may be united to God, and yet not see the ideas are in him, till he “discover” them to it; so that, after all, I am but where I was. I have ideas, that I know; but I would know what they are; and to that I am yet only told, that “I see them in God.” I ask how I see them in God? And it is answered, by my “intimate union” with God, for he is every-where present. I answer, if that were enough, bodies are also intimately united with God, for he is every-where present; besides, if that were enough, I should see all the ideas that are in God. No, but only those that he pleases to “discover.” Tell me wherein this discovery lies, besides barely making me see them, and you explain the manner of my having ideas: otherwise all that has been said amounts to no more but this, that I have those ideas that it pleases God I should have, but by ways that I know not; and of this mind I was before, and am not got one jot farther.
In the next paragraph he calls them “beings, representative beings.” But whether these beings are substances, modes, or relations, I am not told; and so by being told they are spiritual beings, I know no more but that they are something, I know not what, and that I knew before.
To explain this matter a little farther, he adds, “It must be observed, that it cannot be concluded, that souls see the essence of God, in that they see all things in God; because what they see is very imperfect, and God is very perfect. They see matter divisible, figured, &c. and in God there is nothing divisible and figured: for God is all being, because he is infinite, and comprehends all things; but he is not any being in particular. Whereas what we see is but some one or more beings in particular; and we do not at all comprehend that perfect simplicity of God which contains all beings. Moreover, one may say, that we do not so much see the ideas of things, as the things themselves, which the ideas represent. For when, for example, one sees a square, one says not that one sees the idea of a square, which is united to the soul, but only the square that is without.” I do not pretend to be short-sighted; but if I am not duller than ordinary, this paragraph shows, that P. M. himself is at a stand in this matter, and comprehends not what it is we see in God, or how. Chap. fourth, he says, in express words, that “it is necessary that at all times we should have actually in ourselves the ideas of all things.” And in this very chapter, a little lower, he says, that “all beings are present to our minds,” and that we have “general ideas antecedent to particular.” And, chath, that we are never without the “general idea of being:” and yet here he says, “that which we see” is but “one or more beings in particular.” And after having taken a great deal of pains to prove, that “we cannot possibly see things in themselves, but only ideas; here he tells us “we do not so much see the ideas of things as the things themselves.” In this uncertainty of the author what it is we see, I am to be excused if my eyes see not more clearly in his hypothesis than he himself does.
He farther tells us, in this sixth chapter, that “we see all beings, because God wills that that which is in him that represents them should be discovered to us.” This tells us only, that there are ideas of things in God, and that we see them when he pleases to discover them; but what does this show us more of the nature of those ideas, or of the discovery of them, wherein that consists, than he that says, without pretending to know what they are, or how they are made, that ideas are in our minds when God pleases to produce them there, by such motions as he has appointed to do it? The next argument for our “seeing all things in God,” is in these words; “but the strongest of all the reasons is the manner in which the mind perceives all things: it is evident, and all the world knows it by experience, that when we would think of any thing in particular, we at first cast our view upon all beings, and afterwards we apply ourselves to the consideration of the object which we desire to think on.” This argument has no other effect on me, but to make me doubt the more of the truth of this doctrine. First, because this, which he calls the “strongest reason of all,” is built upon matter of fact, which I cannot find to be so in myself. I do not observe, that when I would think of a triangle, I first think of “all beings;” whether these words “all beings” be to be taken here in their proper sense, or very improperly for “being” in general. Nor do I think my country neighbours do so, when they first wake in the morning, who, I imagine, do not find it impossible to think of a lame horse they have, or their blighted corn, till they have run over in their minds “all beings” that are, and then pitch on dapple; or else begin to think of “being” in general, which is “being” abstracted from all its inferiour species, before they come to think of the fly in their sheep, or the tares in their corn. For I am apt to think that the greatest part of mankind very seldom, if ever at all, think of “being” in general, i. e. abstracted from all its inferiour species and individuals. But taking it to be so, that a carrier when he would think of a remedy for his galled horse, or a foot-boy for an excuse for some fault he has committed, begins with casting his eye upon all things; how does this make out the conclusion? Therefore “we can desire to see all objects, whence it follows that all beings are present to our minds.” Which presence signifies that we see them, or else it signifies nothing at all. They are all actually always seen by us; which, how true, let every one judge.
The words wherein he pursues this argument stand thus, “Now it is indubitable that we cannot desire to see any particular object without seeing it already, although confusedly, and in general. So that being able to desire to see all beings sometimes one, sometimes another, it is certain that all beings are present to our spirits; and it seems all beings could not be present to our spirits, but because God is present to them, i. e. he that contains all things in the simplicity of his being.” I must leave it to others to judge how far it is blameable in me; but so it is, that I cannot make to myself the links of this chain to hang together; and methinks if a man would have studied obscurity, he could not have writ more unintelligibly than this. “We can desire to see all beings, sometimes one, sometimes another; therefore we do already see all things, because we cannot desire to see any particular object, but what we see already confusedly and in general.” The discourse here is about ideas, which he says are real things, and we see in God. In taking this along with me, to make it prove any thing to his purpose, the argument must, as it seems to me, stand thus: we can desire to have all ideas, sometimes one, sometimes another; therefore we have already all ideas, because we cannot desire to have any particular idea, but what we have already “confusedly” and “in general.” What can be meant here by having “any particular” idea “confusedly and in general,” I confess I cannot conceive, unless it be a capacity in us to have them; and in that sense the whole argument amounts to no more but this: we have all ideas, because we are capable of having all ideas; and so proves not at all that we actually have them by being united to God, who, “contains them all in the simplicity of his being.” That any thing else is, or can be meant by it, I do not see; for that which we desire to see, being nothing but what we see already, (for if it can be any else, the argument falls and proves nothing,) and that which we desire to see, being, as we are told here, something particular, “sometimes one thing, sometimes another;” that which we do see must be particular too; but how to see a particular thing in general, is past my comprehension. I cannot conceive how a blind man has the particular idea of scarlet confusedly or in general, when he has it not at all; and yet that he might desire to have it, I cannot doubt, no more than I doubt that I can desire to perceive, or to have the ideas of those things that God has prepared for those that love him, “though they be such as eye hath not seen, or ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive,” such as I have yet no idea of. He who desires to know what creatures are in Jupiter, or what God hath prepared for them that love him, hath, it is true, a supposition that there is something in Jupiter, or in the place of the blessed; but if that be to have the particular ideas of things there, enough to say that we see them already, nobody can be ignorant of any thing. He that has seen one thing hath seen all things; for he has got the general ideas of something. But this is not, I confess, sufficient to convince me, that hereby we see all things “in the simplicity of God’s being,” which comprehends all things. For if the ideas I see are all, as our author tells us, real beings in him, it is plain they must be so many real distinct beings in him; and if we see them in him, we must see them as they are, distinct particular things, and so shall not see them confusedly and in general. And what it is to see any idea (to which I do not give a name) confusedly, is what I do not well understand. What I see I see, and the idea I see is distinct from all others that are not the same with it: besides, I see them as they are in God, and as he shows them me. Are they in God confusedly? Or does he show them me confusedly?
Secondly, This “seeing of all things,” because we “can desire to see all things,” he makes a proof that “they are present” to our minds; and if they “be present, they can no ways be present but by the presence of God, who contains them all in the simplicity of his being.” This reasoning seems to be founded on this, that the reason of seeing all things, is their being present to our minds; because God, in whom they are, is present. This, though the foundation he seems to build on, is liable to a very natural objection, which is, that then we should actually always see all things, because in God, who is present, they are all actually present to the mind. This he has endeavoured to obviate, by saying we see all the ideas in God, which he is pleased “to discover to us;” which indeed is an answer to this objection; but such an one as overturns his whole hypothesis, and renders it useless, and as unintelligible as any of those he has for that reason laid aside. He pretends to explain to us how we come to perceive any thing, and that is by having the ideas of them present in our minds: for the soul cannot perceive things at a distance, or remote from it. And those ideas are present to the mind, only because God, in whom they are, is present to the mind. This so far hangs together, and is of a piece. But when after this I am told, that their presence is not enough to make them be seen, but God must do something farther to discover them to me, I am as much in the dark as I was at first: and all this talk of their presence in my mind explains nothing of the way wherein I perceive them, nor ever will, till he also makes me understand, what God does more than make them present to my mind, when he discovers them to me. For I think nobody denies, I am sure I affirm, that the ideas we have, are in our minds by the will and power of God, though in a way that we conceive not, nor are able to comprehend. God, says our author, is strictly united to the soul, and so the ideas of things too. But yet that presence or union of theirs is not enough to make them seen, but God must show or exhibit them; and what does God do more than make them present to the mind when he shows them? Of that there is nothing said to help me over this difficulty, but that when God shows them we see them; which in short seems to me to say only thus much, that when we have these ideas we have them, and we owe the having of them to our Maker: which is to say no more than I do with my ignorance. We have the ideas of figures and colours by the operation of exteriour objects on our senses, when the sun shows them us; but how the sun shows them us, or how the light of the sun produces them in us; what, and how the alteration is made in our souls; I know not: nor does it appear, by any thing our author says, that he knows any more what God does when he shows them us, or what it is that is done upon our minds, since the presence of them to our minds, he confesses, does it not.
Thirdly, One thing more is incomprehensible to me in this matter, and that is, how the “simplicity of God’s being” should contain in it a variety of real beings, so that the soul can discern them in him distinctly one from another? it being said, chath. That the ideas in God “are not different from God himself.” This seems to me to express a simplicity made up of variety, a thing I cannot understand. God I believe to be a simple being, that by his wisdom knows all things, and by his power can do all things; but how he does it, I think myself less able to comprehend, than to contain the ocean in my hand, or grasp the universe with my span. “Ideas are real beings,” you say; if so, it is evident they must be distinct “real beings;” for there is nothing more certain than that there are distinct ideas; and they are in God, in whom we see them. There they are then actually distinct, or else we could not see them distinct in him. Now these distinct real beings that are in God, are they either parts, or modifications of the Deity, or comprehended in him as things in a place? For besides these three, I think we can scarce think of another way wherein we can conceive them to be in him, so that we can see them. For to say they are in him “eminenter,” is to say they are not in him actually and really to be seen; but only if they are in him “eminenter,” and we see them only in him, we can be said to see them only “eminenter” too. So that though it cannot be denied that God sees and knows all things; yet when we say we see all things in him, it is but a metaphorical expression to cover our ignorance, in a way that pretends to explain our knowledge; seeing things in God signifying no more than that we perceive them we know not how.
He farther adds, That he “does not believe that one can well give an account of the manner wherein the mind knows many abstract and general truths, but by the presence of him who can enlighten the mind after a thousand different fashions.” It is not to be denied that God can enlighten our minds after a thousand different fashions; and it cannot also be denied, that those thousand different fashions may be such, as we comprehend not one of them. The question is, whether this talk of seeing all things in God does make us clearly, or at all, comprehend one of them; if it did so to me, I should gratefully acknowledge that then I was ignorant of nine hundred and ninety-nine of the thousand, whereas I must yet confess myself ignorant of them all.
The next paragraph, if it proves any thing, seems to me to prove that the idea we have of God is God himself, it being something, as he says, “uncreated.” The ideas that men have of God are so very different, that it would be very hard to say that it was God himself. Nor does it avail to say they would all have the same, if they would apply their minds to the contemplation of him; for this being brought here to prove that God is present in all men’s minds, and that therefore they see him, it must also, in my apprehension, prove that he being immutably the same, and they seeing him, must needs see him all alike.
In the next section we are told that we have “not only the idea of infinite, but before that of finite.” This being a thing of experience, every one must examine himself; and it being my misfortune to find it otherwise in myself, this argument, of course, is like to have the less effect on me, who therefore cannot so easily admit the inference, viz. “That the mind perceives not one thing, but in the idea it has of infinite.” And I cannot but believe many a child can tell twenty, have the idea of a square trencher, or a round plate, and have the distinct clear ideas of two and three, long before he has any idea of “infinite” at all.
The last argument which he tells us is a demonstration that we see all things in God, is this: “God has made all things for himself; but if God made a spirit or mind, and gave it the sun for its idea, or the immediate object of its knowledge, God would have made that spirit or mind for the sun, and not for himself.” The natural inference from this argument seems to me to be this, therefore God has given himself for the idea, or immediate object of the knowledge of all human minds. But experience too manifestly contradicting this, our author has made another conclusion, and says thus, “It is necessary then that the light which he gives the mind, should make us know something that is in him,” v. g. Because “all things that come from God cannot be but for God.” Therefore a covetous man sees in God the money, and a Persian the sun that he worships; and thus God is the “immediate object” of the minds, both of the one and the other. I confess this demonstration is lost on me, and I cannot see the force of it. All things, it is true, are made for God, i. e. for his glory; and he will be glorified even by those rational beings, who would not apply their faculties to the knowledge of him.
But the next paragraph explains this: “God could not then make a soul for to know his works, were it not that that soul sees God after a fashion in seeing his works:” just “after such a fashion,” that if he never saw more of him, he would never know any thing of a God, nor believe there was any such being. A child, as soon as he is born, sees a candle, or before he can speak, the ball he plays with; these he “sees in God” whom he has yet no notion of. Whether this be enough to make us say that the mind is made for God, and this be the proof of it, other people must judge for themselves. I must own that if this were the knowledge of God, which intelligent beings were made for, I do not see but they might be made for the knowledge of God without knowing any thing of him; and those that deny him, were made for the knowledge of him. Therefore I am not convinced of the truth of what follows, that “we do not see any one thing, but by the natural knowledge which we have of God.” Which seems to me a quite contrary way of arguing to what the apostle uses, where he says, that “the invisible things of God are seen by the visible things he has made.” For it seems to me a quite contrary way of arguing, to say we see the Creator in, or by the creatures, and we see the creatures in the Creator. The apostle begins our knowledge in the creatures, which lead us to the knowledge of God, if we will make use of our reason: our author begins our knowledge in God, and by that leads us to the creatures.
But to confirm his argument, he says, “all the particular ideas we have of the creatures are but limitations of the idea of the Creator.” As for example, I have the idea of the solidity of matter, and of the motion of body, what is the idea of God that either of these limits? And, when I think of the number ten, I do not see how that any way concerns or limits the idea of God.
The distinction he makes a little lower between “sentiment” and “idea,” does not at all clear to me, but cloud, his doctrine. His words are, “It must be observed, that I do not say that we have the sentiment of material things in God, but that it is from God that acts in us: for God knows sensible things, but feels them not. When we perceive any sensible thing, there is in our perception sentiment and pure idea.” If by “sentiment,” which is the word he uses in French, he means the act of sensation, or the operation of the soul in perceiving: and by “pure idea,” the immediate object of that perception, which is the definition of ideas he gives here in the first chapter; there is some foundation for it, taking ideas for real beings or substances. But, taken thus, I cannot see how it can be avoided, but that we must be said to smell a rose in God, as well as to see a rose in God; and the scent of the rose that we smell, as well as the colour and figure of the rose that we see, must be in God; which seems not to be his sense here, and does not well agree with what he says concerning the ideas we see in God, which I shall consider in its due place. If by “sentiment” here he means something that is neither the act of perception nor the idea perceived, I confess I know not what it is, nor have any conception at all of it. When we see and smell a violet, we perceive the figure, colour, and scent of that flower. Here I cannot but ask whether all these three are “pure ideas,” or all “sentiments?” If they are all “ideas,” then according to his doctrine they are all in God; and then it will follow, that as I see the figure of the violet in God; so also I see the colour of it, and smell the scent of it in God, which way of speaking he does not allow, nor can I blame him. For it shows a little too plainly the absurdity of that doctrine, if he should say we smell a violet, taste wormwood, or feel cold in God; and yet I can find no reason why the action of one of our senses is applied only to God, when we use them all as well as our eyes in receiving ideas. If the figure, colour, and smell are all of them “sentiments,” then they are none of them in God, and so this whole business of seeing in God is out of doors. If (as by what he says in his Eclaircissements it appears to me to be his meaning) the figure of the violet be to be taken for an “idea,” but its “colour” and “smell” for sentiments: I confess it puzzles me to know by what rule it is, that in a violet the purple colour, whereof whilst I write this I seem to have as clear an idea in my mind as of its figure, is not as much an idea as the figure of it; especially, since he tells me in the first chapter here, which is concerning the nature of ideas, that, “by this word idea he understands here nothing else, but what is the immediate or nearest object of the mind when it perceives any thing.”
The “sentiment,” says he in the next words, “is a modification of our soul.” This word “modification” here, that comes in for explication, seems to me to signify nothing more than the word to be explained by it; v. g. I see the purple colour of a violet, this, says he, is “sentiment:” I desire to know what “sentiment” is; that, says he, is a “modification of the soul.” I take the word, and desire to see what I can conceive by it concerning my soul; and here, I confess, I can conceive nothing more, but that I have the idea of purple in my mind, which I had not before, without being able to apprehend any thing the mind does or suffers in this, besides barely having the idea of purple: and so the good word “modification” signifies nothing to me more than I knew before; v. g. that I have now the idea of purple in it, which I had not some minutes since. So that though they say sensations are modifications of the mind; yet having no manner of idea what that modification of the mind is, distinct from that very sensation, v. g. the sensation of a red colour or a bitter taste: it is plain this explication amounts to no more than that a sensation is a sensation, and the sensation of red or bitter is the sensation of “red” or “bitter;” for if I have no other idea, when I say it is a modification of the mind, than when I say it is the sensation of “red” or “bitter,” it is plain sensation and modification stand both for the same idea, and so are but two names of one and the same thing. But to examine their doctrine of modification a little farther. Different sentiments are different modifications of the mind. The mind or soul that perceives, is one immaterial indivisible substance. Now I see the white and black on this paper, I hear one singing in the next room, I feel the warmth of the fire I sit by, and I taste an apple I am eating, and all this, at the same time. Now I ask, take “modification” for what you please, can the same unextended indivisible substance have different, nay inconsistent and opposite (as these of white and black must be) modifications at the same time? Or must we suppose distinct parts in an indivisible substance, one for black, another for white, and another for red ideas, and so of the rest of those infinite sensations which we have in sorts and degrees; all which we can distinctly perceive, and so are distinct ideas, some whereof are opposite, as heat and cold, which yet a man may feel at the same time? I was ignorant before how sensation was performed in us, this they call an explanation of it. Must I say now I understand it better? If this be to cure one’s ignorance, it is a very slight disease, and the charm of two or three insignificant words will at any time remove it; “probatum est.” But let it signify what it will, when I recollect the figure of one of the leaves of a violet, is not that a new modification of my soul, as well as when I think of its purple colour? Does my mind do or suffer nothing anew when I see that figure in God?
The idea of that figure, you say, is in God; let it be so, but it may be there, and I not see it, that is allowed; when I come to see it, which I did not before, is there no new modification, as you call it, of my mind? If there be, then seeing of figure in God, as well as having the idea of purple, is a “modification of the mind,” and this distinction signifies nothing. If seeing that figure in God now, which a minute or two since I did not see at all, be no new modification or alteration in my mind, no different action or passion from what was before, there is no difference made in my apprehensions between seeing and not seeing. The ideas of figures, our author says, are in God, and are real beings in God; and God being united to the mind, these are also united to it. This all seems to me to have something very obscure and inconceivable in it, when I come to examine particulars; but let it be granted to be as clear as any one would suppose it; yet it reaches not the main difficulty, which is in “seeing.” How after all do I see? The ideas are in God, they are real things, they are intimately united to my mind, because God is so, but yet I do not see them. How at last after all this preparation, which hitherto is ineffectual, do I come to see them? And to that I am told, “when God is pleased to discover them to me.” This in good earnest seems to me to be nothing but going a great way about to come to the same place, and this learned circuit, thus set out, brings me at last no farther than this, that I see or perceive, or have ideas when it pleases God I should, but in a way I cannot comprehend; and this I thought without all this ado.
This “sentiment” he tells us in the next words, “it is God causes in us, and he can cause it in us, although he has it not, because he sees in the idea that he has of our soul, that it is capable of them.” This I take to be said to show the difference between “sentiments” and “ideas” in us. V. g. “figures” and “numbers” are ideas, and they are in God. “Colours” and “smells,” &c. are “sentiments” in us, and not ideas in God. First, as to ourselves I ask, why, when I recollect in my memory a violet, the purple colour as well as figure is not an idea in me? The making then the picture of any visible thing in my mind, as of a landscape I have seen, composed of figure and colour, the colour is not an idea, but the figure is an idea, and the colour a “sentiment.” Every one I allow may use his words as he pleases; but if it be to instruct others, he must when be uses two words where others use but one, show some grounds of the distinction. And I do not find but the colour of the marigold I now think of, is as much “the immediate object of my mind,” as its figure? and so according to his definition is an “idea.” Next as to God, I ask, whether, before the creation of the world, the idea of the whole marigold colour as well as figure was not in God? “God,” says he, “can cause those sentiments in us, because he sees in the idea that he has of our soul, that it is capable of them.” God, before he created any soul, knew all that he would make it capable of. He resolved to make it capable of having the perception of the colour as well as figure of a marigold; he had then the idea of that colour that he resolved to make it capable of, or else he made it capable (with reverence let it be spoken) of he knew not what: and if he knew what he should be capable of, he had the idea of what he knew; for before the creation there was nothing but God, and the ideas he had. It is true, the colour of that flower is not actually in God, no more is its figure actually in God; but we that can consider no other understanding, but in analogy to our own, cannot conceive otherwise but as the ideas of the figure, colour, and situation of the leaves of a marigold are in our minds, when we think of that flower in the night when we see it not; so it was in the thoughts of God before he made that flower. And thus we conceive him to have the idea of the smell of a violet, of the taste of sugar, the sound of a lute or trumpet, and of the pain and pleasure that accompany any of these or other sensations which he designed we should feel, though he never felt any of them, as we have the ideas of the taste of a cherry in winter, or of the pain of a burn when it is over. This is what I think we conceive of the ideas of God, which we must allow to have distinctly represented to him all that was to be in time, and consequently the colours, odours, and other ideas they were to produce in us. I cannot be so bold as to pretend to say what those ideas are in God, or to determine that they are real beings; but this I think I may say, that the idea of the colour of a marigold, or the motion of a stone, are as much real beings in God, as the idea of the figure or number of its leaves.
The reader must not blame me for making use here all along of the word “sentiment,” which is our author’s own, and I understood it so little, that I knew not how to translate it to any other. He concludes, “that he believes there is no appearance of truth in any other ways of explaining these things, and that this of seeing all things in God, is more than probable.” I have considered with as much indifferency and attention as is possible; and I must own it appears to me as little or less intelligible than any of the rest; and the summary of his doctrine, which he here subjoins, is to me wholly incomprehensible. His words are, “Thus our souls depend on God all manner of ways: for as it is he which makes them feel pleasure and pain, and all other sensations, by the natural union which he has made between them and our bodies, which is nothing else but hid decree and general will: so it is he, who by the natural union which he has made betwixt the will of man and the representation of ideas, which the immensity of the divine being contains, makes them know all that they know; and this natural union is also nothing but his general will.” This phrase of the union of our wills to the ideas contained in God’s immensity, seems to me a very strange one; and what light it gives to his doctrine I truly cannot find. It seemed so unintelligible to me, that I guessed it an errour in the print of the edition I used, which was the 4to printed at Paris, 78, and therefore consulted the 8vo, printed also at Paris, and found it “will” in both of them. Here again the “immensity of the divine being” is mentioned as that which contains in it the ideas to which our wills are united; which ideas being only those of quantity, as I shall show hereafter, seems to me to carry with it a very gross notion of this matter, as we have above remarked. But that which I take notice of principally here, is, that this union of our wills to the ideas contained in God’s immensity does not at all explain our seeing of them. This union of our wills to the ideas, or, as in other places, of our souls to God, is, says he, nothing but the will of God. And, after this union, our seeing them is only when God discovers them, i. e. our having them in our minds, is nothing but the will of God; all which is brought about in a way we comprehend not. And what then does this explain more than when one says, our souls are united to our bodies by the will of God, and by the motion of some parts of our bodies? V. g. the nerves or animal spirits have ideas or perceptions produced in them, and this is the will of God. Why is not this as intelligible and as clear as the other? Here is by the will of God given union and perception in both cases; but how that perception is made in both ways, seems to me equally incomprehensible. In one, God discovers ideas in himself to the soul united to him when he pleases; and in the other, he discovers ideas to the soul, or produces perception in the soul united to the body by motion, according to laws established by the good pleasure of his will: but how it is done in the one or the other I confess my incapacity to comprehend. So that I agree perfectly with him in his conclusion, that “there is nothing but God that can enlighten us:” but a clear comprehension of the manner how he does it, I doubt I shall not have, till I know a great deal more of him and myself, than in this state of darkness and ignorance our souls are capable of.
In the next, cha, he tells us, “there are four ways of knowing; the first is to know things by themselves;” and thus, he says, “we know God alone;” and the reason he gives of it is this, because “at present he alone penetrates the mind, and discovers himself to it.”
First, I would know what it is to penetrate a thing that is unextended? These are ways of speaking, which taken from body, when they are applied to spirit, signify nothing, nor show us any thing but our ignorance. To God’s penetrating our spirits, he joins his discovering himself; as if one were the cause of the other, and explained it: but I not conceiving any thing of the penetration of an unextended thing, it is lost upon me. But, next God penetrates our souls, and therefore we “see him by a direct and immediate view,” as he says in the following words. The ideas of all things which are in God, he elsewhere tells us, are not at all different from God himself; and if God’s penetrating our minds be the cause of our direct and immediate seeing God, we have a direct and immediate view of all that we see; for we see nothing but God and ideas; and it is impossible for us to know that there is any thing else in the universe; for since we see, and can see nothing but God and ideas, how can we know there is any thing else which we neither do nor can see? But if there be any thing to be understood by this penetration of our souls, and we have a direct view of God by this penetration, why have we not also a direct and immediate view of other separate spirits besides God? To this he says, that there is none but God alone who at present penetrates our spirits. This he says, but I do not see for what reason, but because it suits with his hypothesis: but he proves it not, nor goes about to do it, unless the direct and immediate view, he says, we have of God, be to be taken as a proof of it. But what is that direct and immediate view we have of God that we have not of a cherubim? The ideas of being, power, knowledge, goodness, duration, make up the complex idea we have of one and of the other; but only that in the one we join the idea of infinite to each simple idea, that makes our complex one; but to the other that of finite. But how have we a more direct or immediate view of the idea of power, knowledge, or duration, when we consider them in God, than when we consider them in an angel? The view of these ideas seems to be the same. Indeed we have a clearer proof of the existence of God than of a cherubim; but the idea of either, when we have it in our minds, seems to me to be there by an equally direct and immediate view. And it is about the ideas which are in our minds that I think our author’s enquiry here is, and not about the real existence of those things whereof we have ideas, which are two very remote things.
Perhaps it is God alone, says our author, “who can enlighten our minds by his substance.” When I know what the substance of God is, and what it is to be enlightened by that substance, I shall know what I also shall think of it; but at present I confess myself in the dark as to this matter; nor do these good words of substance and enlightening, in the way they are here used, help me one jot out of it.
He goes on, “one cannot conceive, says he, that any thing created can represent what is infinite.” And I cannot conceive that there is any positive comprehensive idea in any finite mind that does represent it fully and clearly as it is. I do not find that the mind of man has infinity positively and fully represented to it, or comprehended by it; which must be, if his argument were true, that therefore God enlightens our minds by his proper substance: because no created thing is big enough to represent what is infinite; and therefore what makes us conceive his infinity, is the presence of his own infinite substance in our minds: which to me manifestly supposes, that we comprehend in our minds God’s infinite substance, which is present to our minds; for if this be not the force of his argument, where he says, “nothing created can represent what is infinite; the being that is without bounds, the being immense, the being universal, cannot be perceived by an idea, i. e. by a particular being, by a being different from the universal infinite being itself.” It seems to me that this argument is founded on a supposition of our comprehending the infinite substance of God in our minds, or else I see not any force in it, as I have already said. I shall take notice of one or two things in it that confound me, and that is, that he calls God here the universal being; which must either signify that being which contains, and is made up as one comprehensive aggregate of all the rest, in which sense the universe may be called the universal being; or else it must mean being in general, which is nothing but the idea of being, abstracted from all inferiour divisions of that general notion, and from all particular existence. But in neither of these senses can I conceive God to be the universal being, since I cannot think the creatures either to be a part or a species of him. Next he calls the ideas that are in God particular beings. I grant whatever exists is particular, it cannot be otherwise; but that which is particular in existence, may be universal in representation, which I take to be all the universal beings we know, or can conceive to be. But let universal or particular beings be what they will, I do not see how our author can say, that God is an universal being, and the ideas we see in him particular beings; since he in another place tells us, that the ideas we see in God, are not at all different from God. But, says he, “as to particular beings it is not hard to conceive that they can be represented by the infinite being which contains them, and contains them after a very spiritual manner, and consequently very intelligible.” It seems as impossible to me, that an infinite simple being, in whom there is no variety, nor shadow of variety, should represent a finite thing, as that a finite thing should represent an infinite; nor do I see how its “containing all things in it after a very spiritual manner, makes it so very intelligible;” since I understand not what it is to contain a material thing spiritually, nor the manner how God contains any thing in himself, but either as an aggregate contains all things which it is made up of; and so indeed that part of him may be seen, which comes within the reach of our view. But this way of containing all things can by no means belong to God, and to make things thus visible in him, is to make the material world a part of him, or else as having a power to produce all things; and in this way, it is true, God contains all things in himself, but in a way not proper to make the being of God a representative of those things to us; for then his being, being the representative of the effects of that power, it must represent to us all that he is capable of producing, which I do not find in myself that it does.
Secondly, “The second way of knowing things, he tells us, is by ideas, that is, by something that is different from them; and thus we know things when they are not intelligible by themselves, either because they are corporeal or because they cannot penetrate the mind, or discover themselves to it; and this is the way we know corporeal things.” This reasoning I do not understand: first, because I do not understand why a line or a triangle is not as intelligible as any thing that can be named; for we must still carry along with us, that the discourse here is about our perception, or what we have any idea or conception of in our own minds. Secondly, because I do not understand what is meant by the penetrating a spirit; and till I can comprehend these, upon which this reasoning is built, this reasoning cannot work on me. But from these reasons he concludes, “thus it is in God, and by their ideas that we see bodies and their properties; and it is for this reason that the knowledge we have of them is most perfect.” Whether others will think that what we see of bodies, is seen in God, by seeing the ideas of them that are in God, must be left to them. Why I cannot think so, I have shown; but the inference he makes here from it, I think, few will assent to, that we know bodies and their properties most perfectly. For who is there that can say, he knows the properties either of body in general, or of any one particular body perfectly? One property of body in general is to have parts cohering and united together; for wherever there is body, there is cohesion of parts; but who is there that perfectly understands that cohesion? And as for particular bodies, who can say that he perfectly understands gold or a loadstone, and all its properties? But to explain himself, he says, “that the idea we have of extension, suffices to make us know all the properties whereof extension is capable, and that we cannot desire to have an idea more distinct, and more fruitful of extension, of figures, and of motions, than that which God has given us of them.” This seems to me a strange proof that we see bodies and their properties in God, and know them perfectly, because God hath given us distinct and fruitful ideas of extension, figure, and motion; for this had been the same, whether God had given these ideas by showing them in himself, or by any other way; and his saying, that God has given us as distinct and fruitful ideas of them as we can desire, seems as if our author himself had some other thoughts of them. If he thought we see them in God, he must think we see them as they are in themselves, and there would be no room for saying, God hath given them us as distinct as we could desire: the calling them fruitful, shows this yet more; for one that thinks he sees the ideas of figures in God, and can see no idea of a figure but in God, with what thought can he call any one of them feconde, which is said only of such things as produce others? Which expression of his seems to proceed only from this thought in him, that when I have once got the idea of extension, I can frame the ideas of what figures, and of what bigness I please. And in this I agree with him, as appears in what I have said, L. 2. C. 13. But then this can by no means proceed from a supposition, that I see these figures only in God; for there they do not produce one another, but there are, as it were, in their first pattern to be seen, just such, and so many as God is pleased to show them to us. But it will be said, our desire to see them is the occasional cause of God’s showing them us, and so we see whatever figure we desire. Let it be so, this does not make any idea feconde, for here is no production of one out of another: but as to the occasional cause, can any one say that it is so? I, or our author, desire to see an angle next in greatness to a right angle; did upon this God ever show him or me such an angle? That God knows, or has in himself the idea of such an angle, I think will not be denied; but that he ever showed it to any man, how much soever he desired it, I think may be doubted. But after all, how comes it by this means that we have a perfect knowledge of bodies and their properties, when several men in the world have not the same idea of body, and this very author and I differ in it? He thinks bare extension to be body, and I think extension alone makes not body, but extension and solidity; thus either he, or I, one of us, has a wrong and imperfect knowledge of bodies and their properties. For if bodies be extension alone, and nothing else, I cannot conceive how they can move and hit one against another, or what can make distinct surfaces in an uniform simple extension. A solid extended thing I can conceive moveable; but then, if I have a clear view of bodies and their properties in God, I must see the idea of solidity in God, which yet I think, by what our author has said in his Eclaircissements, he does not allow that we do. He says farther, “that whereas the ideas of things that are in God contain all their properties, he that sees their ideas may see successively all their properties.” This seems to me not to concern our ideas more, whether we see them in God, or have them otherwise. Any idea that we have, whencesoever we have it, contains in it all the properties it has, which are nothing but the relations it has to other ideas, which are always the same. What he says concerning the properties, that we may successively know them, is equally true, whether we see them in God, or have them by any other means. They that apply them as they ought to the consideration of their ideas, may successively come to the knowledge of some of their properties; but that they may know all their properties, is more than I think the reason proves, which he subjoins in these words, “for when one sees the things as they are in God, one sees them always in a most perfect manner.” We see, for example, in God, the idea of a triangle, or a circle; does it hence follow, that we can know all the properties of either of them? He adds, that the manner of seeing them “would be infinitely perfect, if the mind which sees them in God was infinite.” I confess myself here not well to comprehend his distinction between seeing after a manner “[tres parfait] most perfect and infinitely perfect;” he adds, “that which is wanting to the knowledge that we have of extension, figures, and motion, is not a defect of the idea which represents it, but of our mind which considers it.” If by ideas be meant here the real objects of our knowledge, I easily agree, that the want of knowledge in us is a defect in our minds, and not in the things to be known. But if by ideas be here meant the perception or representation of things in the mind, that I cannot but observe in myself to be very imperfect and defective, as when I desire to perceive what is the substance of body or spirit, the idea thereof fails me. To conclude, I see not what there is in this paragraph that makes any thing for the doctrine of seeing all things in God.
“The third way of knowing is by consciousness or interiour sentiments; and thus,” he says “we know our souls; and it is for this reason that the knowledge we have of them is imperfect, we know nothing of our souls but what we feel within ourselves.” This confession of our author brings me back, do what I can, to that original of all our ideas which my thoughts led me to when I writ my book, viz. sensation and reflection; and therefore I am forced to ask any one who is of our author’s principles, whether God had not the idea of mind, or of an human soul, before he created it? Next, whether that idea of an human soul be not as much a real being in God as the idea of a triangle? If so, why does not my soul, being intimately united to God, as well see the idea of my soul which is in him, as the idea of a triangle which is in him? And what reason can there be given, why God shows the idea of a triangle to us, and not the idea of our souls, but this, that God has given us external sensation to perceive the one, and none to perceive the other, but only internal sensation to perceive the operation of the latter? He that pleases may read what our author says in the remainder of this, and the two or three next paragraphs, and see whether it carries him beyond where my ignorance stopped; I must own that me it does not.
This, (i. e. the ignorance we are in of our own “souls,) says he, may serve to prove that the ideas that represent any thing to us that is without us are not modifications of our souls; for if the soul saw all things by considering its own proper modifications, it should know more clearly its own essence, or its own nature, than that of bodies; and all the sensations or modifications whereof it is capable, than the figures or modifications of which bodies are capable. In the mean time, it knows not that it is capable of any such sensation by sight, as it has of itself, but only by experience; instead of that it knows that extension is capable of an infinite number of figures by the ideas that it has of extension. There are, moreover, certain sensations, as colours and sounds, which the greatest part of men cannot discover whether they are modifications of the soul; and there are figures which all men do not discover by the idea of extension to the modifications of bodies.” This paragraph is, as he tells us, to prove, “That the ideas that represent to us something without us, are not modifications of the soul;” but instead of that, it seems to prove that figure is the modification of space, and not of our souls. For if this argument had tended to prove, “That the ideas that represent any thing without us were not modifications of the soul,” he should not have put the mind’s not knowing what modifications itself was capable of, and knowing what figures space was capable of, in opposition one to another: but the antithesis must have lain in this, that the mind knew it was capable of the perception of figure or motion without any modification of itself, but was not capable of the perception of sound or colour without a modification of itself. For the question here is not whether space be capable of figure, and the soul not; but whether the soul be capable of perceiving, or having the idea of figure, without a modification of itself, and not capable of having the idea of colour without a modification of itself. I think now of the figure, colour, and hardness, of diamond that I saw some time since: in this case I desire to be informed how my mind knows that the thinking on, or the idea of the figure is not a modification of the mind; but the thinking on, or having an idea of the colour or hardness, is a modification of the mind? It is certain there is some alteration in my mind when I think of a figure which I did not think of before, as well as when I think of a colour that I did not think of before. But one, I am told, is seeing it in God, and the other a modification of my mind. But supposing one is seeing in God, is there no alteration in my mind between seeing and not seeing? And is that to be called a modification or no? For when he says seeing a colour, and hearing a sound, is a modification of the mind, what does it signify but an alteration of the mind from not perceiving to perceiving that sound or colour? And so when the mind sees a triangle, which it did not see before, what is this but an alteration of the mind from not seeing to seeing, whether that figure be seen in God or no? And why is not this alteration of the mind to be called a modification, as well as the other? Or indeed what service does that word do us in the one case or the other, when it is only a new sound brought in without any new conception at all? For my mind, when it sees a colour or figure, is altered, I know, from the not having such or such a perception to the having it; but when, to explain this, I am told that either of these perceptions is a modification of the mind, what do I conceive more than that from not having such a perception my mind is come to have such a perception? Which is what I as well knew before the word modification was made use of, which, by its use, has made me conceive nothing more than what I conceived before.
One thing I cannot but take notice of here by the by, that he says, that “the soul knows that extension is capable of an infinite number of figures by the idea it has of extension,” which is true. And afterwards he says, that “there are no figures, which all men do not discover by the idea they have of extension to be modifications of body.” One would wonder why he did not say modifications of extension, rather than as he does modifications of body, they being discovered by the idea of extension; but the truth would not bear such an expression. For it is certain that in pure space or extension, which is not terminated, there is truly no distinction of figures; but in distinct bodies that are terminated there are distinct figures, because simple space or extension, being in itself uniform, inseparable, immoveable, has in it no such modification or distinction of figures. But it is capable, as he says; but of what? Of bodies of all sorts of figures and magnitudes, without which there is no distinction of figures in space. Bodies that are solid, separable, terminated, and moveable, have all sorts of figures, and they are bodies alone that have them: and so figures are properly modifications of bodies, for pure space is not any-where terminated, nor can be; whether there be or be not body in it, it is uniformly continued on. This that he plainly said there, to me plainly shows that body and extension are two things, though much of our author’s doctrine be built upon their being one and the same.
The next paragraph is to show us the difference between ideas and sentiments in this, that “sentiments are not tied to words; so that he that never had seen a colour, or felt heat, could never be made to have those sensations by all the definitions one could give him of them.” This is true of what he calls sentiments; and as true also of what he calls ideas. Show me one who has not got by experience, i. e. by seeing or feeling, the idea of space or motion, and I will as soon by words make one, who never felt what heat is, have a conception of heat, as he, that has not by his senses perceived what space or motion is, can by words be made to conceive either of them. The reason why we are apt to think these ideas belonging to extension got another way than other ideas, is because, our bodies being extended, we cannot avoid the distinction of parts in ourselves; and all that is for the support of our lives, being by motion applied to us, it is impossible to find any one who has not by experience got those ideas; and so by the use of language learnt what words stand for them, which by custom came to excite them in his mind; as the names of heat and pleasure do excite in the mind of those who have by experience got them the ideas they are by use annexed to. Not that words or definitions can teach or bring into the mind one more than another of those I call simple ideas; but can by use excite them in those who, having got them by experience, know certain sounds to be by use annexed to them as the signs of them.
Fourthly, “The fourth way of knowing, he tells us, is by conjecture, and thus only we know the souls of other men and pure intelligences,” i. e. We know them not at all; but we probably think there are such beings really existing in “rerum naturâ.” But this looks to me beside our author’s business here, which seems to me to examine what ideas we have, and how we came by them. So that the thing here considered, should in my opinion be, not whether there were any souls of men or pure intelligences any-where existing, but what ideas we have of them, and how we came by them. For when he says, we know not angels, either “in themselves, or by their ideas, or by consciousness,” what in that place does angels signify? What idea in him does it stand for? Or is it the sign of no idea at all, and so a bare sound without signification? He that reads this seventh chapter of his with attention, will find that we have simple ideas as far as our experience reaches, and no farther. And beyond that we know nothing at all, no not even what those ideas are that are in us, but only that they are perceptions in the mind, but how made we cannot comprehend.
In his Eclaircissements on the nature of ideas, , of the quarto edition, he says, that “he is certain that the ideas of things are unchangeable.” This I cannot comprehend; for how can I know that the picture of any thing is like that thing, when I never see that which it represents? For if these words do not mean that ideas are true unchangeable representations of things, I know not to what purpose they are. And if that be not their meaning, then they can only signify, that the idea I have once had will be unchangeably the same as long as it recurs the same in my memory; but when another different from that comes into my mind, it will not be that. Thus the idea of an horse, and the idea of a centaur, will, as often as they recur in my mind, be unchangeably the same; which is no more than this, the same idea will be always the same idea; but whether the one or the other be the true representation of any thing that exists, that, upon his principles, neither our author nor any body else can know.
- What he says here of universal reason, which enlightens every one, whereof all men partake, seems to me nothing else but the power men have to consider the ideas they have one with another, and by this comparing them, find out the relations that are between them; and therefore if an intelligent being at one end of the world, and another at the other end of the world, will consider twice two and four together, he cannot but find them to be equal, i. e. to be the same number. These relations, it is true, are infinite, and God, who knows all things and their relations as they are, knows them all, and so his knowledge is infinite. But men are able to discover more or less of these relations, only as they apply their minds to consider any sort of ideas, and to find out intermediate ones, which can show the relation of those ideas, which cannot be immediately compared by juxta-position. But then what he means by that infinite reason which men consult; I confess myself not well to understand. For if he means that they consider a part of those relations of things which are infinite, that is true; but then this is a very improper way of speaking, and I cannot think that a man of his parts would use it to mean nothing else by it. If he means, as he says, , that this infinite and universal reason, whereof men partake, and which they consult, is the reason of God himself; I can by no means assent to it. First, because I think we cannot say God reasons at all; for he has at once a view of all things. But reason is very far from such an intuition; it is a laborious and gradual progress in the knowledge of things, by comparing one idea with a second, and a second with a third, and that with a fourth, &c. to find the relation between the first and the last of these in this train, and in search for such intermediate ideas, as may show us the relation we desire to know, which sometimes we find, and sometimes not. This way therefore of finding truth, so painful, uncertain, and limited, is proper only to men of finite understandings, but can by no means be supposed in God; it is therefore in God understanding or knowledge. But then to say that we partake in the knowledge of God, or consult his understanding, is what I cannot receive for true. God has given me an understanding of my own; and I should think it presumption in me to suppose I apprehended any thing by God’s understanding, saw with his eyes, or shared of his knowledge. I think it more possible for me to see with other men’s eyes, and understand with another man’s understanding, than with God’s; there being some proportion between mine and another man’s understanding, but none between mine and God’s. But if this infinite reason which we consult, be at last nothing but those infinite unchangeable relations which are in things, some of which we make a shift to discover; this indeed is true, but seems to me to make little to our author’s purpose of seeing all things in God; and that, “if we see not all things by the natural union of our minds with the universal and infinite reason, we should not have the liberty to think on all things,” as he expresses it, . To explain himself farther concerning this universal reason, or, as he there calls it by another name, order, , he says, that “God contains in himself the perfections of all the creatures that he has created, or can create, after an intelligible manner.” Intelligible to himself, it is true; but intelligible to men, at least to me, that I do not find, unless, “by containing in himself the perfections of all the creatures,” be meant, that there is no perfection in any creature, but there is a greater in God, or that there is in God greater perfection than all the perfections of the creatures taken together. And therefore though it be true what follows in the next words, “that it is by these intelligible perfections that God knows the essence of every thing;” yet it will not follow from hence, or from any thing else that he has said, that those perfections in God, which contain in them the perfections of all the creatures, are “the immediate objects of the mind of man;” or that they are so the objects of the mind of man,” that he can in them see the essences of the creatures. For I ask in which of the perfections of God does a man see the essence of an horse or an ass, of a serpent or a dove, of hemlock or parsley? I for my part, I confess, see not the essence of any of these things in any of the perfections of God, which I have any notion of. For indeed I see not the distinct essence either of these things at all, or know wherein it consists. And therefore I cannot comprehend the force of the inference, which follows in these words, “then the intelligible ideas or perfections that are in God, which represent to us what is out of God, are absolutely necessary and unchangeable.” That the perfections that are in God are necessary and unchangeable, I readily grant: but that the ideas that are intelligible to God, or are in the understanding of God (for so we must speak of him whilst we conceive of him after the manner of men) can be seen by us; or, that the perfections that are in God represent to us the essences of things that are out of God, that I cannot conceive. The essence of matter, as much as I can see of it, is extension, solidity, divisibility, and mobility; but in which of the perfections of God do I see this essence? To another man, as to our author perhaps, the essence of body is quite another thing; and when he has told us what to him is the essence of body, it will be then to be considered in which of the perfections of God he sees it. For example, let it be pure extension alone, the idea then that God had in himself of the essence of body, before body was created, was the idea of pure extension; when God then created body he created extension, and then space, which existed not before, began to exist. This, I confess, I cannot conceive; but we see in the perfections of God the necessary and unchangeable essences of things. He sees one essence of body in God, and I another: which is that necessary and unchangeable essence of body which is contained in the perfections of God, his or mine? Or indeed how do or can we know there is any such thing existing as body at all? For we see nothing but the ideas that are in God; but body itself we neither do nor can possibly see at all; and how then can we know that there is any such thing existing as body, since we can by no means see or perceive it by our senses, which is all the way we can have of knowing any corporeal thing to exist? but it is said, God shows us the ideas in himself, on occasion of the presence of those bodies to our senses. This is gratis dictum, and begs the thing in question; and therefore I desire to have it proved to me that they are present. I see the sun, or an horse; no, says our author, that is impossible, they cannot be seen, because being bodies they cannot be united to my mind, and be present to it. But the sun being risen, and the horse brought within convenient distance, and so being present to my eyes, God shows me their ideas in himself: and I say God shows me these ideas when he pleases, without the presence of any such bodies to my eyes. For when I think I see a star at such a distance from me; which truly I do not see, but the idea of it which God shows me; I would have it proved to me that there is such a star existing a million of million of miles from me when I think I see it, more than when I dream of such a star. For until it be proved that there is a candle in the room by which I write this, the supposition of my seeing in God the pyramidical idea of its flame, upon occasion of the candle being there, is begging what is in question. And to prove to me that God exhibits to me that idea, upon occasion of the presence of the candle, it must first be proved to me that there is a candle there, which upon these principles can never be done.
Farther, We see the “necessary and unchangeable essences of things” in the perfections of God. Water, a rose, and a lion, have their distinct essences one from another, and all other things; what I desire to know, are these distinct essences, I confess I neither see them in nor out of God, and in which of the perfections of God do we see each of them?
Page 504, I find these words, “It is evident that the perfections that are in God which represent created or possible beings, are not at all equal: that those for example that represent bodies, are not so noble as those for example that represent spirits; and amongst those themselves which represent nothing but body, or nothing but spirit, there are more perfect one than another to infinity. This is conceivable clearly, and without pain, though one finds some difficulty to reconcile the simplicity of the divine Being with this variety of intelligible ideas which he contains in his wisdom.” This difficulty is to me insurmountable; and I conclude it always shall be so, till I can find a way to make simplicity and variety the same. And this difficulty must always cumber this doctrine, which supposes that the perfections of God are the representatives to us of whatever we perceive of the creatures; for then those perfections must be many, and diverse, and distinct one from another, as those ideas are that represent the different creatures to us. And this seems to me to make God formerly to contain in him all the distinct ideas of all the creatures, and that so, that they might be seen one after another. Which seems to me after all the talk of abstraction to be but a little less gross conception than of the sketches of all the pictures that ever a painter draws, kept by him in his closet, which are there all to be seen one after another as he pleases to show them. But whilst these abstract thoughts produce nothing better than this, I the easier content myself with my ignorance which roundly thinks thus: God is a simple being, omniscient, that knows all things possible; and omnipotent, that can do or make all things possible. But how he knows, or how he makes, I do not conceive: his ways of knowing as well as his ways of creating, are to me incomprehensible; and if they were not so, I should not think him to be God, or to be perfecter in knowledge than I am. To which our author’s thoughts seem in the close of what is above cited somewhat to incline, when he says, “the variety of intelligible ideas, which God contains in his wisdom;” whereby he seems to place this variety of ideas in the mind or thoughts of God, as we may so say, whereby it is hard to conceive how we can see them; and not in the being of God, where they are to be seen as so many distinct things in it.
TO discourse of miracles without defining what one means by the word miracle, is to make a show, but in effect to talk of nothing.
A miracle then I take to be a sensible operation, which being above the comprehension of the spectator, and in his opinion contrary to the established course of nature, is taken by him to be divine.
He that is present at the fact, is a spectator: he that believes the history of the fact, puts himself in the place of a spectator.
This definition, it is probable, will not escape these two exceptions:
That hereby what is a miracle is made very uncertain; for it depending on the opinion of the spectator, that will be a miracle to one which will not be so to another.
In answer to which, it is enough to say, that this objection is of no force, but in the mouth of one who can produce a definition of a miracle not liable to the same exception, which I think not easy to do; for it being agreed, that a miracle must be that which surpasses the force of nature in the established, steady laws of causes and effects, nothing can be taken to be a miracle but what is judged to exceed those laws. Now every one being able to judge of those laws only by his own acquaintance with nature, and notions of its force (which are different in different men) it is unavoidable that that should be a miracle to one, which is not so to another.
Another objection to this definition, will be, that the notion of a miracle thus enlarged, may come sometimes to take in operations that have nothing extraordinary or supernatural in them, and thereby invalidate the use of miracles for the attesting of divine revelation.
To which I answer, not at all, if the testimony which divine revelation receives from miracles be rightly considered.
To know that any revelation is from God, it is necessary to know that the messenger that delivers it is sent from God, and that cannot be known but by some credentials given him by God himself. Let us see then whether miracles, in my sense, be not such credentials, and will not infallibly direct us right in the search of divine revelation.
It is to be considered, that divine revelation receives testimony from no other miracles, but such as are wrought to witness his mission from God who delivers the revelation. All other miracles that are done in the world, how many or great soever, revelation is not concerned in. Cases wherein there has been, or can be need of miracles for the confirmation of revelation, are fewer than perhaps is imagined. The heathen world, amidst an infinite and uncertain jumble of deities, fables, and worships, had no room for a divine attestation of any one against the rest. Those owners of many gods were at liberty in their worship; and no one of their divinities pretending to be the one only true God, no one of them could be supposed in the pagan scheme to make use of miracles to establish his worship alone, or to abolish that of the other; much less was there any use of miracles to confirm any articles of faith, since no one of them had any such to propose as necessary to be believed by their votaries. And therefore I do not remember any miracles recorded in the Greek or Roman writers, as done to confirm any one’s mission and doctrine. Conformable hereunto we find St. Paul, 1 Cor. i. 22, takes notice that the jews (it is true) required miracles, but as for the Greeks they looked after something else; they knew no need or use there was of miracles to recommend any religion to them. And indeed it is an astonishing mark how far the God of this world had blinded men’s minds, if we consider that the gentile world received and stuck to a religion, which, not being derived from reason, had no sure foundation in revelation. They knew not its original, nor the authors of it, nor seemed concerned to know from whence it came, or by whose authority delivered; and so had no mention or use of miracles for its confirmation. For though there were here and there some pretences to revelation, yet there were not so much as pretences to miracles that attested it.
If we will direct our thoughts by what has been, we must conclude that miracles, as the credentials of a messenger delivering a divine religion, have no place but upon a supposition of one only true God; and that it is so in the nature of the thing, and cannot be otherwise, I think will be made appear in the sequel of this discourse. Of such who have come in the name of the one only true God, professing to bring a law from him, we have in history a clear account but of three, viz. Moses, Jesus, and Mahomet. For what the Persees say of their Zoroaster, or the Indians of their Brama (not to mention all the wild stories of the religions farther east), is so obscure, or so manifestly fabulous, that no account can be made of it. Now of the three before mentioned, Mahomet having none to produce, pretends to no miracles for the vouching his mission; so that the only revelations that come attested by miracles, being those of Moses and Christ, and they confirming each other; the business of miracles, as it stands really in matter of fact, has no manner of difficulty in it; and I think the most scrupulous or sceptical cannot from miracles raise the least doubt against the divine revelation of the gospel.
But since the speculative and learned will be putting of cases which never were, and it may be presumed never will be; since scholars and disputants will be raising of questions where there are none, and enter upon debates whereof there is no need; I crave leave to say, that he who comes with a message from God to be delivered to the world, cannot be refused belief if he vouches his mission by a miracle, because his credentials have a right to it. For every rational thinking man must conclude as Nicodemus did, “we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these signs which thou doest, except God be with him.”
For example, Jesus of Nazareth professes himself sent from God: he with a word calms a tempest at sea. This one looks on as a miracle, and consequently cannot but receive his doctrine. Another thinks this might be the effect of chance, or skill in the weather, and no miracle, and so stands out; but afterwards seeing him walk on the sea, owns that for a miracle and believes: which yet upon another has not that force, who suspects it may possibly be done by the assistance of a spirit. But yet the same person, seeing afterwards our Saviour cure an inveterate palsy by a word, admits that for a miracle, and becomes a convert. Another overlooking it in this instance, afterwards finds a miracle in his giving sight to one born blind, or in raising the dead, or his raising himself from the dead, and so receives his doctrine as a revelation coming from God. By all which it is plain, that where the miracle is admitted, the doctrine cannot be rejected; it comes with the assurance of a divine attestation to him that allows the miracle, and he cannot question its truth.
The next thing then is, what shall be a sufficient inducement to take any extraordinary operation to be a miracle, i. e. wrought by God himself for the attestation of a revelation from him?
And to this I answer, the carrying with it the marks of a greater power than appears in opposition to it. For,
First, this removes the main difficulty where it presses hardest, and clears the matter from doubt, when extraordinary and supernatural operations are brought to support opposite missions, about which methinks more dust has been raised by men of leisure than so plain a matter needed. For since God’s power is paramount to all, and no opposition can be made against him with an equal force to his; and since his honour and goodness can never be supposed to suffer his messenger and his truth to be born down by the appearance of a greater power on the side of an impostor, and in favour of a lye; wherever there is an opposition, and two pretending to be sent from heaven clash, the signs, which carry with them the evident marks of a greater power, will always be a certain and unquestionable evidence, that the truth and divine mission are on that side on which they appear. For though the discovery, how the lying wonders are or can be produced, be beyond the capacity of the ignorant, and often beyond the conception of the most knowing spectator, who is therefore forced to allow them in his apprehension to be above the force of natural causes and effects; yet he cannot but know they are not seals set by God to his truth for the attesting of it, since they are opposed by miracles that carry the evident marks of a greater and superiour power, and therefore they cannot at all shake the authority of one so supported. God can never be thought to suffer that a lye, set up in opposition to a truth coming from him, should be backed with a greater power than he will show for the confirmation and propagation of a doctrine which he has revealed, to the end it might be believed. The producing of serpents, blood, and frogs, by the Egyptian sorcerers and by Moses, could not to the spectators but appear equally miraculous: which of the pretenders then had their mission from God, and the truth on their side, could not have been determined, if the matter had rested there. But when Moses’s serpent eat up theirs, when he produced lice which they could not, the decision was easy. It was plain Jannes and Jambres acted by an inferiour power, and their operations, how marvellous and extraordinary soever, could not in the least bring in question Moses’s mission; that stood the firmer for this opposition, and remained the more unquestionable after this, than if no such signs had been brought against it.
So likewise the number, variety, and greatness of the miracles wrought for the confirmation of the doctrine delivered by Jesus Christ, carry with them such strong marks of an extraordinary divine power, that the truth of his mission will stand firm and unquestionable, till any one rising up in opposition to him shall do greater miracles than he and his apostles did. For any thing less will not be of weight to turn the scales in the opinion of any one, whether of an inferiour or more exalted understanding. This is one of those palpable truths and trials, of which all mankind are judges; and there needs no assistance of learning, no deep thought, to come to a certainty in it. Such care has God taken that no pretended revelation should stand in competition with what is truly divine, that we need but open our eyes to see and be sure which came from him. The marks of his over-ruling power accompany it; and therefore to this day we find, that wherever the gospel comes, it prevails to the beating down the strong holds of Satan, and the dislodging the prince of the power of darkness, driving him away with all his lying wonders; which is a standing miracle, carrying with it the testimony of superiority.
What is the uttermost power of natural agents or created beings, men of the greatest reach cannot discover; but that it is not equal to God’s omnipotency, is obvious to every one’s understanding; so that the superiour power is an easy, as well as sure guide to divine revelation, attested by miracles, where they are brought as credentials to an embassy from God.
And thus, upon the same grounds of superiority of power, uncontested revelation will stand too.
For the explaining of which, it may be necessary to premise,
That no mission can be looked on to be divine, that delivers any thing derogating from the honour of the one, only, true, invisible God, or inconsistent with natural religion and the rules of morality: because God having discovered to men the unity and majesty of his eternal godhead, and the truths of natural religion and morality by the light of reason, he cannot be supposed to back the contrary by revelation: for that would be to destroy the evidence and the use of reason, without which men cannot be able to distinguish divine revelation from diabolical imposture.
That it cannot be expected that God should send any one into the world on purpose to inform men of things indifferent, and of small moment, or that are knowable by the use of their natural faculties. This would be to lessen the dignity of his majesty in favour of our sloth, and in prejudice to our reason.
- The only case then wherein a mission of any one from heaven can be reconciled to the high and awful thoughts men ought to have of the Deity, must be the revelation of some supernatural truths relating to the glory of God, and some great concern of men. Supernatural operations attesting such a revelation may with reason be taken to be miracles, as carrying the marks of a superiour and over-ruling power, as long as no revelation accompanied with marks of a greater power appears against it. Such supernatural signs may justly stand good, and be received for divine, i. e. wrought by a power superiour to all, till a mission attested by operations of a greater force shall disprove them: because it cannot be supposed, God should suffer his prerogative to be so far usurped by any inferiour being, as to permit any creature, depending on him, to set his seals, the marks of his divine authority, to a mission coming from him. For these supernatural signs being the only means God is conceived to have to satisfy men as rational creatures of the certainty of any thing he would reveal, as coming from himself, can never consent that it should be wrested out of his hands, to serve the ends and establish the authority of an inferiour agent that rivals him. His power being known to have no equal, always will, and always may be safely depended on, to show its superiority in vindicating his authority, and maintaining every truth that he hath revealed. So that the marks of a superiour power accompanying it, always have been, and always will be, a visible and sure guide to divine revelation; by which men may conduct themselves in their examining of revealed religions, and be satisfied which they ought to receive as coming from God; though they have by no means ability precisely to determine what is, or is not above the force of any created being; or what operations can be performed by none but a divine power, and require the immediate hand of the Almighty. And therefore we see it is by that our Saviour measures the great unbelief of the jews, John xv. 24, saying, “If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my father;” declaring, that they could not but see the power and presence of God in those many miracles he did, which were greater than ever any other man had done. When God sent Moses to the children of Israel with a message, that now according to his promise he would redeem them by his hand out of Egypt, and furnished him with signs and credentials of his mission; it is very remarkable what God himself says of those signs, Exod. iv. 8, “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign,” (which was turning his rod into a serpent,) that “they will believe the voice of the latter sign” (which was the making his hand leprous by putting it in his bosom). God farther adds, v. 9, “And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river and pour upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.” Which of those operations was or was not above the force of all created beings, will, I suppose, be hard for any man, too hard for a poor brick-maker, to determine; and therefore the credit and certain reception of the mission, was annexed to neither of them, but the prevailing of their attestation was heightened by the increase of their number; two supernatural operations showing more power than one, and three more than two. God allowed that it was natural, that the marks of greater power should have a greater impression on the minds and belief of the spectators. Accordingly the jews, by this estimate, judged of the miracles of our Saviour, John vii. 31, where we have this account, “And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?” This, perhaps, as it is the plainest, so it is also the surest way to preserve the testimony of miracles in its due force to all sorts and degrees of people. For miracles being the basis on which divine mission is always established, and consequently that foundation on which the believers of any divine revelation must ultimately bottom their faith, this use of them would be lost, if not to all mankind, yet at least to the simple and illiterate, (which is the far greatest part,) if miracles be defined to be none but such divine operations as are in themselves beyond the power of all created beings, or at least operations contrary to the fixed and established laws of nature. For as to the latter of those, what are the fixed and established laws of nature, philosophers alone, if at least they, can pretend to determine. And if they are to be operations performable only by divine power, I doubt whether any man, learned or unlearned, can in most cases be able to say of any particular operation, that can fall under his senses, that it is certainly a miracle. Before he can come to that certainty, he must know that no created being has a power to perform it We know good and bad angels have abilities and excellencies exceedingly beyond all our poor performances or narrow comprehensions. But to define what is the utmost extent of power that any of them has, is a bold undertaking of a man in the dark, that pronounces without seeing, and sets bounds in his narrow cell to things at an infinite distance from his model and comprehension.
Such definitions therefore of miracles, however specious in discourse and theory, fail us when we come to use, and an application of them in particular cases.
“These thoughts concerning miracles, were occasioned by my reading Mr. Fleetwood’s Essay on Miracles, and the letter writ to him on that subject. The one of them defining a miracle to be an extraordinary operation performable by God alone: and the other writing of miracles without any definition of a miracle at all.”
J. LOCKE.
TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
Three Letters writ by the Earl of Shaftesbury while Prisoner in the Tower; one to King Charles II, another to the Duke of York, a Third to a noble Lord: found with Mr. Locke’s Memoirs, &c.
Being at Oxford in the beginning of the civil war (for he was on that side as long as he had any hopes to serve his country there) he was brought one day to King Charles I, by the lord Falkland, his friend, then secretary of state, and presented to him as having something to offer to his majesty worth his consideration. At this audience he told the king that he thought he could put an end to the war if his majesty pleased, and would assist him in it. The King answered, that he was a very young man for so great an undertaking. Sir, replied he, that will not be the worse for your affairs, provided I do the business; whereupon the king showing a willingness to hear him, he discoursed to him to this purpose:
The gentlemen and men of estates, who first engaged in this war, seeing now after a year or two that it seems to be no nearer the end than it was at first, and beginning to be weary of it, I am very well satisfied would be glad to be at quiet at home again, if they could be assured of a redress of their grievances, and have their rights and liberties secured to them. This I am satisfied is the present temper generally through all England, and particularly in those parts where my estate and concerns lie; if therefore your majesty will empower me to treat with the parliament garrisons to grant them a full and general pardon, with an assurance that a general amnesty (arms being laid down on both sides) should re-instate all things in the same posture they were before the war, and then a free parliament should do what more remained to be done for the settlement of the nation: —
That he would begin and try the experiment first in his own country; and doubted not but the good success he should have there would open him the gates of other adjoining garrisons, bringing them the news of peace and security in laying down their arms.
Being furnished with full power according to his desire, away he goes to Dorchester, where he managed a treaty with the garrisons of Pool, Weymouth, Dorchester, and others; and was so successful in it, that one of them was actually put into his hands, as the others were to have been some few days after. But prince Maurice,Prince Maurice. who commanded some of the king’s forces, being with his army then in those parts, no sooner heard that the town was surrendered, but he presently marched into it, and gave the pillage of it to his soldiers. This sir A. saw with the utmost displeasure, and could not forbear to express his resentments to the prince; so that there passed some pretty hot words between them; but the violence was committed, and thereby his design broken. All that he could do was, that he sent to the other garrisons, he was in treaty with, to stand upon their guard, for that he could not secure his articles to them; and so this design proved abortive and died in silence.
This project of his for putting an end to a civil war, which had sufficiently harassed the kingdom, and nobody could tell what fatal consequences it might have, being thus frustrated, it was not long before his active thoughts, always intent upon saving his country, (the good of that being that by which he steered his counsels and actions through the whole course of his life,) it was not long before he set his head upon framing another design of the same purpose. The first project of it took its rise in a debate between him and serjeant Fountain, in an inn at Hungerford, where they accidentally met: and both disliking the continuance of the war, and deploring the ruin it threatened, it was started between them, that the counties all through England should arm and endeavour to suppress the armies on both sides. This proposal, which in one night’s debate, looked more like a well-meant wish than a formed design, he afterwards considered more at leisure, framed and fashioned into a well-ordered and practical contrivance, and never left working in it till he had brought most of the sober and well-intentioned gentlemen of both sides all through England into it. This was that which gave rise to that third sort of army, which of a sudden started up in several parts of England, with so much terrour to the armies both of king and parliament; and had not some of those who had engaged in it, and had undertaken to rise at the time appointed, failed, the clubmen,Clubmen. for so they were called, had been strong enough to carry their point, which was to make both sides lay down their arms, and if they would not do it, to force them to it; to declare for a general amnesty; to have the then parliament dissolved, and to have a new one called for redressing the grievances, and settling the nation. This undertaking was not a romantic fancy, but had very promising grounds of success; for the yeomanry and body of the people had suffered already very much by the war; and the gentry and men of estates had abated much of their fierceness, and wished to return to their former ease, security, and plenty; especially perceiving that the game, particularly on the king’s side, began to be played out of their hands, and that it was the soldiers of fortune who were best looked upon at court, and had the commands and power put in their hands.
He had been for some time before in Dorsetshire, forming and combining the parts of this great machine, till at length he got it to begin to move. But those, who had been forward to enter into the design, not being so vigorous and resolute, when the time was to appear and act; and the court, who had learnt or suspected that it had its rise and life from him, having so strict an eye upon him that he could not maintain correspondence with distant countries, and animate the several parts as it was necessary, before it was his time to stir; he received a very civil and more than ordinary letter from the king to come to him at Oxford: but he wanted not friends there to inform him of the danger it would be to him to appear there, and to confirm him in the suspicion that the king’s letter put him in, that there was something else meant him, and not so much kindness as that expressed. Besides, the lord Goring, who lay with an army in those parts, had orders from court to seize him, and had civilly sent him word, that he would come such a day and dine with him. All this together made him see that he could be no longer safe at home, nor in the king’s quarters; he therefore went, whither he was driven, into the parliament quarters; and took shelter in Portsmouth. Thus, for endeavouring to save his king and country, he was banished from the side he had chosen. And the court, that was then in high hopes of nothing less than perfect conquest, and being masters of all, had a great aversion to moderate counsels, and to those of the nobility and gentry of their party, who were authors or favourers of any such proposals as might bring things to a composition. Such well-wishers to their country, though they had spent much, and ventured all on the king’s side, when they appeared for any other end of the war but dint of arms, and a total reduction of the parliament by force, were counted enemies; and any contrivance carried on to that end was interpreted treason.
A person of his consideration, thus rejected and cast off by the king, and taking sanctuary with them, was received by the parliament with open arms; and though he came in from the other side, and put himself into their hands without any terms; yet there were those among them that so well knew his worth, and what value they ought to put upon it, that he was soon after offered considerable employments under them, and was actually trusted with command without so much as ever being questioned concerning what he knew of persons or counsels on the other side, where they knew that his great penetration and forward mind would not let him live in ignorance among the great men, who were most of them his friends, and all his acquaintance.
But though he was not suffered to stay among those with whom he had embarked, and had lived in confidence with, and was forced to go over to the parliament, he carried thither himself only, and nothing of any body’s else; he left them and all their concerns, actions, purposes, counsels, perfectly behind him; and nobody of the king’s side could complain of him after the day he went from his house, where he could be no longer safe, that he had any memory of what he had known when one of them.
This forgetfulness, so becoming a gentleman, and a man of honour, he had established so firmly in his own mind, that his resolution to persist in it was like afterwards to cost him no little trouble. Mr. Denzil Hollis (afterwards the lord Hollis) had been one of the commissioners employed by the parliament in the treaty at Uxbridge; he had there had some secret and separate transactions with the king; this could not be kept so secret, but that it got some vent, and some of the parliament had some notice of it. Mr. Hollis being afterwards attacked in parliament by a contrary party, there wanted nothing perfectly to ruin him, but some witness to give credit to such an accusation against him. Sir A. Ashley Cooper they thought fit for their purpose; they doubted not but he knew enough of it; and they made sure that he would not fail to embrace such a fair and unsought-for opportunity of ruining Mr. Hollis, who had been long his enemy upon a family quarrel, which he had carried so far, as, by his power in the house, to hinder him from sitting in the parliament, upon a fair election for that parliament. Upon this presumption he was summoned to the house; and being called in, was there asked, whether when he was at Oxford he knew not, or had not heard something concerning Mr. Hollis’s secret transaction with the king at the treaty at Uxbridge. To this question he told them he could answer nothing at all; for though, possibly, what he had to say would be to the clearing of Mr. Hollis; yet he could not allow himself to say any thing in the case, since, whatever answer he made, it would be a confession that, if he had known any thing to the disadvantage of Mr. Hollis, he would have taken that dishonourable way of doing him a prejudice, and wreak his revenge on a man that was his enemy.
Those who had brought him there pressed him mightily to declare, but in vain, though threats were added of sending him to the Tower. He persisting obstinately silent, was bid to withdraw; and those who had depended upon his discovery being defeated, and consequently very much displeased, moved warmly for his commitment; of which he, waiting in the lobby, having notice, unmoved expected his doom, though several of his friends coming out, were earnest with him to satisfy the house; but he kept firm to his resolution, and found friends enough among the great men of the party that opposed Mr. Hollis to bring him off; who very much applauded the generosity of his carriage, and showed that action so much to deserve the commendation, rather than the censure of that assembly, that the angry men were ashamed to insist farther on it, and so dropt the debate.
Some days after Mr. Hollis came to his lodging, and having, in terms of great acknowledgment and esteem, expressed his thanks for his late behaviour in the house, with respect to him; he replied, that he pretended not thereby to merit any thing of him, or to lay an obligation on him; that what he had done was not out of any consideration of him, but what was due to himself, and he should equally have done, had any other man been concerned in it; and therefore he was perfectly as much at liberty as before to live with him as he pleased. But with all that he was not so ignorant of Mr. Hollis’s worth, nor knew so little how to put a just value on his friendship, as not to receive it as a very great and sensible favour, if he thought him a person worthy on whom to bestow it. Mr. Hollis, not less taken with his discourse than what had occasioned it, gave him fresh and repeated assurances of his sincere and hearty friendship, which were received with suitable expressions. And thus an old quarrel between two men of high spirits and great estates, neighbours in the same county, ended in a sound and firm friendship, which lasted as long as they lived.
This passage brings to my mind what I remember to have often heard him say concerning a man’s obligation to silence, in regard of discourse made to him or in his presence: that it was not enough to keep close and uncommunicated what had been committed to him with that caution, but there was a general and tacit trust in conversation, whereby a man was obliged not to report again any thing that might be any way to the speaker’s prejudice, though no intimation had been given of a desire not to have spoken it again.
He was wont to say, that wisdom lay in the heart, and not in the head; and that it was not the want of knowledge, but the perverseness of the will that filled men’s actions with folly, and their lives with disorder.
That there were in every one, two men, the wise and the foolish, and that each of them must be allowed his turn. If you would have the wise, the grave, and the serious, always to rule and have the sway, the fool would grow so peevish and troublesome, that he would put the wise man out of order, and make him fit for nothing: he must have his times of being let loose to follow his fancies, and play his gambols, if you would have your business go on smoothly.
I have heard him also say, that he desired no more of any man but that he would talk: if he would but talk, said he, let him talk as he pleases. And indeed I never knew any one penetrate so quick into men’s breasts, and from a small opening survey that dark cabinet, as he would. He would understand men’s true errand as soon as they had opened their mouths, and begun their story in appearance to another purpose.
Sir Richard Onslow and he were invited by Sir J. D. to dine with him at Chelsea, and desired to come early, because he had an affair of concernment to communicate to them. They came at the time, and being sat, he told them he had made choice of them both for their known abilities, and particular friendship to him, for their advice in a matter of the greatest moment to him that could be. He had, he said, been a widower for many years, and begun to want somebody that might ease him of the trouble of house-keeping, and take some care of him under the growing infirmities of old age; and to that purpose had pitched upon a woman very well known to him by the experience of many years, in fine, his house-keeper. These gentlemen, who were not strangers to his family, and knew the woman very well, and were besides very great friends to his son and daughter, grown up, and both fit for marriage, to whom they thought this would be a very prejudicial match, were both in their minds opposite to it; and to that purpose sir Richard Onslow began the discourse; wherein, when he came to that part, he was entering upon the description of the woman, and going to set her out in her own colours, which were such as could not have pleased any man in his wife. Sir Anthony seeing whither he was going, to prevent any mischief, begged leave to interrupt him, by asking sir J. a question, which in short was this, “whether he were not already married?” Sir J. after a little demur, answered, “Yes truly, he was married the day before.” Well then, replied sir Anthony, there is no more need of our advice; pray let us have the honour to see my lady and wish her joy, and so to dinner. As they were returning to London in their coach, I am obliged to you, said sir Richard, for preventing my running into a discourse which could never have been forgiven me, if I had spoke out what I was going to say. But as for sir J. he, methinks, ought to cut your throat for your civil question. How could it possibly enter into your head to ask a man, who had solemnly invited us on purpose to have our advice about a marriage he intended, had gravely proposed the woman to us, and suffered us seriously to enter into the debate, “whether he were already married or no?” The man, and the manner, replied sir Anthony, gave me a suspicion that, having done a foolish thing, he was desirous to cover himself with the authority of our advice. I thought it good to be sure before you went any farther, and you see what came of it. This afforded them entertainment till they came to town, and so they parted.
Soon after the restoration of king Charles II, the earl of Southampton and he having dined together at the chancellor’s, as they were returning home, he said to my lord Southampton, “Yonder Mrs. Ann Hyde (for so, as I remember, he styled her) is certainly married to one of the brothers.” The earl, who was a friend to the chancellor, treated this as a chimæra, and asked him how so wild a fancy could get into his head. Assure yourself, sir, replied he, it is so. A concealed respect, however, suppressed, showed itself so plainly in the looks, voice, and manner, wherewith her mother carved to her, or offered her of every dish, that it is impossible but it must be so. My lord S. who thought it a groundless conceit then, was not long after convinced by the duke of York’s owning of her, that lord Ashley was no bad guesser.
I shall give one instance more of his great sagacity, wherein it proved of great use to him in a case of mighty consequence. Having reason to apprehend what tyranny the usurpation of the government by the officers of the army, under the title of the committee of safety, might end in; he thought the first step to settlement was the breaking of them, which could not be done with any pretence of authority, but that of the long parliament. Meeting therefore secretly with sir Arthur Haselrig, and some others of the members, they gave commissions in the name of the parliament to be majors-generals, one of the forces about London, another of the west, &c. and this when they had not one soldier. Nay, he often would tell it laughing, that when he had his commission his great care was where to hide it. Before this he had secured Portsmouth; for the governor of it, colonel Metham, being his old acquaintance and friend, he asked him one day, meeting him by chance in Westminster-hall, whether he would put Portsmouth into his hands if he should happen to have an occasion for it? Metham promised it should be at his devotion. These transactions, though no part of them were known in particular, yet causing some remote preparations, alarmed Wallingford-house, where the committee of safety sat, and made them so attentive to all actions and discoveries that might give them any light, that at last they were fully persuaded there was something a brewing against them, and that matter for commotions in several parts was gathering. They knew the vigour and activity of sir A. Ashley, and how well he stood affectionated to them, and therefore suspected that he was at the bottom of the matter. To find what they could, and secure the man they most apprehended, he was sent for to Wallingford-house, where Fleetwood examined him according to the suspicions he had of him; that he was laying designs in the west against them, and was working the people to an insurrection that he intended to head there. He told them he knew no obligation he was under to give them an account of his actions, nor to make them any promises; but to show them how ill grounded their suspicions were, he promised that he would not go out of town without coming first and giving him an account of it. Fleetwood knowing his word might be relied on, satisfied with the promise he had made, let him go upon his parole. That which deceived them in the case, was, that knowing his estate and interest lay in the west, they presumed, that that was his post, and there certainly, if any stir was, he would appear, since there lay his great strength, and they had nobody else in view who could supply his room, and manage that part. But they were mistaken: Haselrig, upon the knowledge that they should have Portsmouth, forwardly took that province; and he, who had instruments at work in the army quartered in and about London, and knew that must be the place of most business and management, and where the turn of affairs would be, had chosen that.
Lambert, who was one of the rulers at Wallingford-house, happened to be away when he was there, and came not in till he was gone: when they told him that sir A. Ashley had been there, and what had passed, he blamed Fleetwood for letting him go, and told him they should have secured him, for that certainly there was something in it that they were deceived in, and they should not have parted so easily with so busy and dangerous a man as he was. Lambert was of a quicker sight, and a deeper reach than Fleetwood, and the rest of that gang; and knowing of what moment it was to their security to frustrate the contrivances of that working and able head, was resolved, if possibly he could, to get him into his clutches.
Sir A. A. coming home to his house in street in Covent-Garden one evening, found a man knocking at his door. He asked his business; the man answered, it was with him, and fell a discoursing with him. Sir A. A. heard him out, and gave him such an answer as he thought proper, and so they parted; the stranger out of the entry where they stood into the street, and sir A. A. along the entry into the house: but guessing by the story the other told him, that the business was but a pretence, and that his real errand he came about was something else; when he parted from the fellow he went inwards, as if he intended to go into the house; but as soon as the fellow was gone, turned short, and went out, and went to his barber’s, which was but just by; where he was no sooner got in, and got up stairs into a chamber, but his door was beset with musketeers, and the officer went in too with others to seize him: but not finding him, they searched every corner and cranny of the house diligently, the officer declaring he was sure he was in the house, for he had left him there just now; as was true, for he had gone no farther than the corner of the Halfmoon tavern, which was just by, to fetch a file of soldiers that he had left there in the Strand out of sight, whilst he went to discover whether the gentleman he sought were within or no; where doubting not to find him safely lodged, he returned with his myrmidons to his house, sure, as he thought, of his prey; but sir A. A. saw through his made story, and gave him the slip. After this he was fain to get out of the way and conceal himself under a disguise; but he hid himself not lazily in a hole; he made war upon them at Wallingford-house, incognito as he was, and made them feel him, though he kept out of sight. Several companies of their soldiers drew up in Lincoln’s-inn-fields without their officers, and there put themselves under the command of such officers as he appointed them. The city began to rouse itself, and to show manifest signs of little regard to Wallingford-house; and he never left working till he had raised a spirit and strength enough to declare openly for the old parliament, as the only legal authority then in England, which had any pretence to claim and take on them the government. For Portsmouth being put into the hands of sir Arthur Haselrig, and the city showing their inclination; the counties readily took it, and by their concurrent weight re-instated the excluded members in their former administration. This was the first open step he made towards wresting the civil power out of the hands of the army; who, having thought Richard, Oliver’s son, unworthy of it, had taken it to themselves, executed by a committee of their own officers, where Lambert, who had the chief command and influence in the army, had placed it, till he had modelled things among them, so as might make way for his taking the sole administration into his own hands; but sir A. A. found a way to strip him of that as soon as the parliament was restored.
The first thing he did was to get from them a commission to himself, and two or three more of the most weighty and popular members of the house, to have the power of general of all the forces in England, which they were to execute jointly. This was no sooner done but he got them together, where he had provided abundance of clerks, who were immediately set to work to transcribe a great many copies of the form of a letter, wherein they reciting, that it pleased God to restore the parliament to the exercise of their power, and that the parliament had given to them a commission to command the army, they therefore commanded him (viz. the officer to whom the letter was directed) immediately with his troop, company, or regiment, as it happened, to march to N. These letters were directed to the chief officer of any part of the army who had their quarters together in any part of England. These letters were dispatched away by particular messengers that very night, and coming to the several officers so peremptorily to march immediately, they had not time to assemble and debate among themselves what to do; and having no other intelligence but that the parliament was restored, and that the city and Portsmouth, and other parts of England, had declared for them: the officers durst not disobey, but all, according to their several orders, marched some one way, and some another; so that this army, which was the great strength of the gentlemen of Wallingford-house, was by this means quite scattered, and rendered perfectly useless to the committee of safety, who were hereby perfectly reduced under the power of the parliament, as so many disarmed men to be disposed of as they thought fit.
It is known, that, whilst the long parliament remained intire, Mr. Denzil Hollis was the man of the greatest sway in it, and might have continued it on, if he would have followed sir A. A.’s advice. But he was a haughty stiff man, and so by straining it a little too much lost all.
From the time of their reconcilement already mentioned, they had been very hearty friends; it happened one morning that sir A. A. calling upon Mr. Hollis in his way to the house, as he often did; he found him in a great heat against Cromwell, who had then the command of the army, and a great interest in it. The provocation may be read at large in the pamphlets of that time, for which Mr. Hollis was resolved, he said, to bring him to punishment. Sir A. A. dissuaded him all he could from any such attempt, showing him the danger of it, and told him it would be sufficient to remove him out of the way, by sending him with a command into Ireland. This Cromwell, as things stood, would be glad to accept; but this would not satisfy Mr. Hollis. When he came to the house the matter was brought into debate, and it was moved, that Cromwell, and those guilty with him, should be punished. Cromwell, who was in the house, no sooner heard this, but he stole out, took horse, and rode immediately to the army, which, as I remember, was at Triplowheath; there he acquainted them what the presbyterian party was a doing in the house, and made such use of it to them, that they, who were before in the power of the parliament, now united together under Cromwell, who immediately led them away to London, giving out menaces against Hollis and his party as they marched, who with Stapleton and some others were fain to fly; and thereby the independent party becoming the stronger, they, as they called it, purged the house, and turned out all the presbyterian party. Cromwell, some time after, meeting sir A. A. told him, I am beholden to you for your kindness to me; for you, I hear, were for letting me go without punishment; but your friend, God be thanked, was not wise enough to take your advice.
Monk, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, and the removal of Richard, marching with the army he had with him into England, gave fair promises all along in his way to London to the Rump that were then sitting, who had sent commissioners to him that accompanied him. When he was come to town, though he had promised fair to the Rump and commonwealth party on one hand, and gave hopes to the royalists on the other; yet at last agreed with the French ambassador to take the government on himself, by whom he had promise from Mazerine of assistance from France to support him in his undertaking. This bargain was struck up between them late at night, but not so secretly but that his wife, who had posted herself conveniently behind the hangings, where she could hear all that passed, finding what was resolved, sent her brother Clarges away immediately with notice of it to sir A. A. She was zealous for the restoration of the king, and had therefore promised sir A. to watch her husband, and inform him from time to time how matters went. Upon this notice sir A. caused the counsel of state, whereof he was one, to be summoned; and when they were met, he desired the clerks might withdraw, he having matter of great importance to communicate to them. The doors of the council-chamber being locked, and the keys laid upon the table, he began to charge Monk, not in a direct and open accusation, but in obscure intimations, and doubtful expressions, giving ground of suspicion, that he was playing false with them, and not doing as he promised. This he did so skilfully and intelligibly to Monk, that he perceived he was discovered, and therefore in his answer to him fumbled and seemed out of order; so that the rest of the council perceived there was something in it, though they knew not what the matter was; and the general at last averring that what had been suggested was upon groundless suspicions, and that he was true to his principles, and stood firm to what he had professed to them, and had no secret designs that ought to disturb them, and that he was ready to give them all manner of satisfaction; whereupon sir A. A. closing with him, and making a farther use of what he had said than he intended: for he meant no more than so far as to get away from them upon this assurance which he gave them. But sir A. A. told him, that if he was sincere in what he had said, he might presently remove all scruples, if he would take away their commissions from such and such officers in his army, and give them to those whom he named; and that presently before he went out of the room. Monk was in himself no quick man; he was guilty alone among a company of men whom he knew not what they would do with him; for they all struck in with sir A. A. and plainly perceived that Monk had designed some foul play. In these straits being thus close pressed, and knowing not how else to extricate himself, he consented to what was proposed; and so immediately, before he stirred, a great part of the commissions of his officers were changed; and sir Edward Harley, amongst the rest, who was a member of the council, and there present, was made governor of Dunkirk in the room of sir William Lockhart, and was sent away immediately to take possession of it. By which means the army ceased to be at Monk’s devotion, and was put into hands that would not serve him in the design he had undertaken. The French ambassador, who had the night before sent away an express to Mazarine, positively to assure him that things went here as he desired, and that Monk was fixed by him in his resolution to take on himself the government, was not a little astonished the next day to find things taking another turn; and indeed this so much disgraced him in the French court, that he was presently called home, and soon after broke his heart.
This was that which gave the great turn to the restoration of king Charles II, whereof sir A. had laid the plan in his head a long time before, and carried it on,
Quantus hîc situs est ex titulis, quod rarò, discas.
Baro Ashley de Winborne St. Giles,
Deinde Comes Shaftesburiensis,
Cancellarius Scaccarij, Ærarij Triumvir,
Magnus Angliæ Cancellarius,
CAROLO Secundo à Sanctioribus & Secretioribus
Conciliis, &c.
Hæc non Sepulchri ornamenta, sed Viri.
Quippe quæ nec Majoribus debuit nec favori.
Comitate, acumine, suadelâ, consilio, animo, constantia, fide,
Vix Parem alibi invenias, Superiorem certè nullibi.
Libertatis Civilis, Ecclesiasticæ,
Propugnator strenuus, indefessus.
Vitæ publicis commodis impensæ memoriam & laudes,
Stante libertate, nunquam obliterabit
Tempus edax, nec edacior Invidia.
Servo pecori inutilia, invisa magna exempla.
In a LETTER to the Author of the Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres. By Mr. P. Coste.
SIR,
London,
Dec. 10, 1704.
YOU must have heard of the death of the illustrious Mr. Locke. It is a general loss. For that reason he is lamented by all good men, and all sincere lovers of truth, who were acquainted with his character. He was born for the good of mankind. Most of his actions were directed to that end; and I doubt whether, in his time, any man in Europe applied himself more earnestly to that noble design, or executed it with more success.
I will forbear to speak of the valuableness of his works. The general esteem they have attained, and will preserve, as long as good sense and virtue are left in the world; the service they have been of to England in particular, and universally to all that set themselves seriously to the search of truth, and the study of christianity; are their best eulogium. The love of truth is visible in every part of them. This is allowed by all that have read them. For even they, who have not relished some of Mr. Locke’s opinions, have done him the justice to confess, that the manner, in which he defends them, shows he advanced nothing that he was not sincerely convinced of himself. This his friends gave him an account of from several hands: “Let them after this, answered he, object whatever they please against my works; I shall never be disturbed at it: for since they grant I advance nothing in them but what I really believe, I shall always be glad to prefer truth to any of my opinions, whenever I discover it by myself, or am satisfied that they are not conformable to it.” Happy turn of mind! which, I am fully persuaded, contributed more even than the penetration of that noble genius, to his discovery of those great and useful truths which appear in his works.
But, without dwelling any longer upon considering Mr. Locke in the quality of an author, which often serves only to disguise the real character of the man, I haste to show him to you in particulars much more amiable, and which will give you a higher notion of his merit.
Mr. Locke had a great knowledge of the world, and of the business of it. Prudent without being cunning; he won people’s esteem by his probity, and was always safe from the attacks of a false friend, or a sordid flatterer. Averse to all mean complaisance; his wisdom, his experience, his gentle and obliging manners, gained him the respect of his inferiours, the esteem of his equals, the friendship and confidence of the greatest quality.
Without setting up for a teacher, he instructed others by his own conduct. He was at first pretty much disposed to give advice to such of his friends as he thought wanted it; but at length, finding that, “good counsels are very little effectual in making people more prudent,” he grew much more reserved in that particular. I have often heard him say, that the first time he heard that maxim, he thought it very strange; but that experience had fully convinced him of the truth of it. By counsels, we are here to understand those which are given to such as do not ask them. Yet, as much as he despaired of rectifying those whom he saw taking of false measures; his natural goodness, the aversion he had to disorder, and the interest he took in those about him, in a manner forced him sometimes to break the resolution he had made of leaving them to go their own way; and prevailed upon him to give them the advice, which he thought most likely to reclaim them; but this he always did in a modest way, and so as to convince the mind by fortifying his advice with solid arguments, which he never wanted upon a proper occasion.
But then Mr. Locke was very liberal of his counsels, when they were desired; and nobody ever consulted him in vain. An extreme vivacity of mind, one of his reigning qualities, in which perhaps he never had an equal; his great experience, and the sincere desire he had of being serviceable to all mankind; soon furnished him with the expedients, which were most just and least dangerous. I say, the least dangerous; for what he proposed to himself before all things was to lead those, who consulted him, into no trouble. This was one of his favourite maxims, and he never lost sight of it upon any occasion.
Though Mr. Locke chiefly loved truths that were useful, and with such fed his mind, and was generally very well pleased to make them the subject of his discourse; yet he used to say, that in order to employ one part of this life in serious and important occupations, it was necessary to spend another in mere amusements; and when an occasion naturally offered, he gave himself up with pleasure to the charms of a free and facetious conversation. He remembered a great many agreeable stories, which he always brought in properly; and generally made them yet more delightful, by his natural and agreeable way of telling them. He was no foe to raillery, provided it were delicate and perfectly innocent.
Nobody was ever a greater master of the art of accommodating himself to the reach of all capacities; which, in my opinion, is one of the surest marks of a great genius.
It was his peculiar art in conversation, to lead people to talk of what they understood best. With a gardener he discoursed of gardening; with a jeweller, of a diamond; with a chymist, of chymistry, &c. “By this, said he himself, I please all those men, who commonly can speak pertinently upon nothing else. As they believe I have an esteem for their profession, they are charmed with showing their abilities before me; and I, in the mean while, improve myself by their discourse.” And indeed, Mr. Locke had by this means acquired a very good insight into all the arts, of which he daily learnt more and more. He used to say too, that the knowledge of the arts contained more true philosophy, than all those fine learned hypotheses, which, having no relation to the nature of things, are fit for nothing at the bottom, but to make men lose their time in inventing, or comprehending them. A thousand times have I admired how, by the several questions he would put to artificers, he would find out the secret of their art, which they did not understand themselves; and oftentimes give them views entirely new, which sometimes they put in practice to their profit.
This easiness, with which Mr. Locke knew how to converse with all sorts of men, and the pleasure he took in doing it, at first surprised those, who had never talked with him before. They were charmed with this condescension, not very common among men of letters; and which they so little expected from a person, whose great qualities raised him so very much above all other men. Many who knew him only by his writings, or by the reputation he had gained of being one of the greatest philosophers of the age, having imagined to themselves before-hand, that he was one of those scholars, that, being always full of themselves, and their sublime speculations, are incapable of familiarizing themselves with the common sort of mankind, or of entering into their little concerns, or discoursing of the ordinary affairs of life; were perfectly amazed to find him nothing but affability, good humour, humanity, pleasantness, always ready to hear them, to talk with them of things which they best understood, much more desirous of informing himself in what they understood better than himself, than to make a show of his own science. I knew a very ingenious gentleman in England, that was for some time in the same prejudice. Before he saw Mr. Locke, he had formed a notion of him to himself under the idea of one of the ancient philosophers, with a long beard, speaking nothing but by sentences, negligent of his person, without any other politeness but what might proceed from the natural goodness of his temper, a sort of politeness often very coarse and very troublesome in civil society. But one hour’s conversation entirely cured him of his mistake, and obliged him to declare, that he looked upon Mr. Locke to be one of the politest men he ever saw: “He is not a philosopher always grave, always confined to that character, as I imagined; he is, said he, a perfect courtier, as agreeable for his obliging and civil behaviour, as admirable for the profoundness and delicacy of his genius.”
Mr. Locke was so far from assuming those airs of gravity, by which some folks, as well learned as unlearned, love to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world; that, on the contrary, he looked upon them, as an infallible mark of impertinence. Nay, sometimes he would divert himself with imitating that studied gravity, in order to turn it the better into ridicule; and upon this occasion he always remembered this maxim of the duke of la Rochefoucault, which he admired above all others, “that gravity is a mystery of the body, invented to conceal the defects of the mind.” He loved also to confirm his opinion on this subject, by that of the famous earl of Shaftsbury, to whom he took a delight to give the honour of all the things, which he thought he had learnt from his conversation.
Nothing ever gave him a more sensible pleasure than the esteem, which that earl conceived for him, almost the first moment he saw him, and which he afterwards preserved as long as he lived. And, indeed, nothing set Mr. Locke’s merit in a better light, than the constant esteem of my lord Shaftsbury, the greatest genius of his age, superiour to so many great men that shone at the same time at the court of Charles II; not only for his resolution and intrepidity in maintaining the true interests of his country, but also for his great abilities in the conduct of the most knotty affairs. When Mr. Locke studied at Oxford, he fell by accident into his company, and one single conversation with that great man won him his esteem and confidence to such a degree, that soon afterwards my lord Shaftsbury took him to be near his person, and kept him as long as Mr. Locke’s health or affairs would permit. That earl particularly excelled in the knowledge of men. It was impossible to catch his esteem by moderate qualities; this his enemies themselves could never deny. I wish I could, on the other hand, give you a full notion of the idea, which Mr. Locke had of that nobleman’s merit. He lost no opportunity of speaking of it; and that in a manner, which sufficiently showed he spoke from his heart. Though my lord Shaftsbury had not spent much time in reading; nothing, in Mr. Locke’s opinion, could be more just than the judgment he passed upon the books, which fell into his hands. He presently saw through the design of a work; and without much heeding the words, which he ran over with vast rapidity, he immediately found whether the author was master of his subject, and whether his reasonings were exact. But, above all, Mr. Locke admired in him that penetration, that presence of mind, which always prompted him with the best expedients, in the most desperate cases; that noble boldness, which appeared in all his public discourses, always guided by a solid judgment, which, never allowing him to say any thing but what was proper, regulated his least word, and left no hold to the vigilance of his enemies.
During the time Mr. Locke lived with that illustrious lord, he had the advantage of becoming acquainted with all the polite, the witty, and agreeable part of the court. It was then that he got the habit of those obliging and benevolent manners, which, supported by an easy and polite expression, a great knowledge of the world, and a vast extent of capacity, made his conversation so agreeable to all sorts of people. It was then too, without doubt, that he fitted himself for the great affairs, of which he afterwards appeared so capable.
I know not whether it was the ill state of his health, that obliged him, in the reign of king William, to refuse going ambassador to one of the most considerable courts in Europe. It is certain that great prince judged him worthy of that post, and nobody doubts but he would have filled it gloriously.
The same prince, after this, gave him a place among the lords commissioners, whom he established for advancing the interest of trade and the plantations. Mr. Locke executed that employment for several years; and it is said (absit invidia verbo) that he was in a manner the soul of that illustrious body. The most experienced merchants were surprised, that a man, who had spent his life in the study of physic, of polite literature, or of philosophy, should have more extensive and certain views than themselves, in a business which they had wholly applied themselves to from their youth. At length, when Mr. Locke could no longer pass the summer at London, without endangering his life, he went and resigned that office to the king himself, upon account that his health would permit him to stay no longer in town. This reason did not hinder the king from entreating Mr. Locke to continue in his post, telling him expressly, that, though he could stay at London but a few weeks, his services in that office would yet be very necessary to him; but at length he yielded to the representations of Mr. Locke, who could not prevail upon himself to hold an employment of that importance, without doing the duties of it more regularly. He formed and executed this design without mentioning a word of it to any body whatsoever; thus avoiding, with a generosity rarely to be found, what others would have earnestly laid out after; for by making it known that he was about to quit that employment, which brought him in a thousand pounds a year, he might easily have entered into a kind of composition with any pretender, who, having particular notice of this news, and being befriended with Mr. Locke’s interest, might have carried the post from any other person. This, we may be sure, he was told of, and that too by way of reproach. “I knew it very well, replied he; but this was the very reason why I communicated my design to nobody. I received this place from the king himself, and to him I resolved to restore it, to dispose of it as he thought proper.” “Heu prisca fides!” Where are such examples, at this day, to be met with?
One thing, which those who lived for any time with Mr. Locke could not help observing in him, was, that he took a delight in making use of his reason in every thing he did; and nothing, that is attended with any usefulness, seemed unworthy his care; so that we may say of him, what was said of queen Elizabeth, that he was no less capable of small things than of great. He used often to say himself, that there was an art in every thing; and it was easy to be convinced of it, to see the manner in which he went about the most trifling thing he did, and always with some good reason. I might here descend into particulars, which probably, to many, would not be unpleasant: but the bounds I have set myself, and the fear of taking up too many pages in your journal, will not give me leave to do it.
Mr. Locke, above all things, loved order; and he had got the way of observing it in every thing with wonderful exactness.
As he always kept the useful in his eye, in all his disquisitions, he esteemed the employments of men only in proportion to the good they were capable of producing; for which reason he had no great value for those critics, or mere grammarians, that waste their lives in comparing words and phrases, and in coming to a determination in the choice of a various reading, in a passage that has nothing important in it. He cared yet less for those professed disputants, who, being wholly taken up with the desire of coming off with the victory, fortify themselves behind the ambiguity of a word, to give their adversaries the more trouble. And whenever he had to deal with this sort of folks, if he did not beforehand take a strong resolution of keeping his temper, he quickly fell into a passion. And, in general, it must be owned, he was naturally somewhat choleric. But his anger never lasted long. If he retained any resentment, it was against himself for having given way to so ridiculous a passion; which, as he used to say, may do a great deal of harm, but never yet did the least good. He often would blame himself for this weakness. Upon which occasion, I remember, that two or three weeks before his death, as he was sitting in a garden taking the air in a bright sun-shine, whose warmth afforded him a great deal of pleasure, which he improved as much as possible, by causing his chair to be drawn more and more towards the sun, as it went down; we happened to speak of Horace, I know not on what occasion, and having repeated to him these verses, where that poet says, of himself, that he was
Solibus aptum;
Irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem:
“That he loved the warmth of the sun, and that, though he was naturally choleric, his anger was easily appeased.” Mr. Locke replied, that, if he durst presume to compare himself with Horace in any thing, he thought he was perfectly like him in those two respects. But, that you may be the less surprised at his modesty, upon this occasion, I must, at the same time, inform you, that he looked upon Horace to be one of the wisest and happiest Romans that lived in the age of Augustus, by means of the care he took to preserve himself clear of ambition and avarice, to keep his desires within bounds, and to cultivate the friendship of the greatest men in those times, without living in their dependence.
Mr. Locke also disliked those authors that labour only to destroy, without establishing any thing themselves: “A building, said he, displeases them. They find great faults in it; let them demolish it, and welcome, provided they endeavour to raise another in its place, if it be possible.”
He advised, that, whenever we have meditated any thing new, we should throw it as soon as possible upon paper, in order to be the better able to judge of it by seeing it altogether; because the mind of man is not capable of retaining clearly a long chain of consequences, and of seeing, without confusion, the relation of a great number of different ideas. Besides, it often happens, that what we had most admired, when considered in the gross, and in a perplexed manner, appears to be utterly inconsistent and unsupportable, when we see every part of it distinctly.
Mr. Locke also thought it necessary always to communicate one’s thoughts to some friend, especially if one proposed to offer them to the public; and this was what he constantly observed himself. He could hardly conceive how a being of so limited a capacity as man, and so subject to errour, could have the confidence to neglect this precaution.
Never man employed his time better than Mr. Locke, as appears by the works he published himself; and perhaps, in time, we may see new proofs of it. He spent the last fourteen or fifteen years of his life at Oates, a country-seat of sir Francis Masham’s, about five and twenty miles from London, in the county of Essex. I cannot but take pleasure in imagining to myself, that this place, so well known to so many persons of merit, whom I have seen come thither from so many parts of England to visit Mr. Locke, will be famous to posterity, for the long abode that great man made there. Be that as it may, it was there that enjoying sometimes the conversation of his friends, and always the company of my lady Masham, for whom Mr. Locke had long conceived a very particular esteem and friendship, (in spite of all that lady’s merit, this is all the eulogium she shall have of me now,) he tasted sweets, which were interrupted by nothing but the ill state of a weakly and delicate constitution. During this agreeable retirement, he applied himself especially to the study of the Holy Scripture; and employed the last years of his life in hardly any thing else. He was never weary of admiring the great views of that sacred book, and the just relation of all its parts; he every day made discoveries in it, that gave him fresh cause of admiration. It is strongly reported, in England, that those discoveries will be communicated to the public. If so, the whole world, I am confident, will have a full proof of what was observed by all that were near Mr. Locke to the last part of his life; I mean, that his mind never suffered the least decay, though his body grew every day visibly weaker and weaker.
His strength began to fail him more remarkably than ever, at the entrance of the last summer; a season which, in former years, had always restored him some degrees of strength. Then he foresaw that his end was very near. He often spoke of it himself, but always with great composure, though he omitted none of the precautions, which his skill in physic taught him, to prolong his life. At length, his legs began to swell; and, that swelling increasing every day, his strength diminished very visibly. He then saw how short a time he had left to live, and prepared to quit this world, with a deep sense of all the blessings which God had granted him, which he took delight in numbering up to his friends, and full of a sincere resignation to his will, and of firm hopes in his promises, built upon the word of Jesus Christ, sent into the world to bring to light life and immortality, by his gospel.
At length, his strength failed him to such a degree, that, the 26th of October, 1704. two days before his death, going to see him in his closet, I found him on his knees, but unable to rise again without assistance.
The next day, though he was not worse, he would continue a-bed. All that day he had a greater difficulty of respiration than ever, and about five of the clock, in the evening, he fell into a sweat, accompanied with an extreme weakness, that made us fear for his life. He was of opinion himself, that he was not far from his last moment. Then he desired to be remembered at evening prayers; thereupon my lady Masham told him, that if he would, the whole family should come and pray by him in his chamber. He answered, he should be very glad to have it so, if it would not give too much trouble; there he was prayed for particularly. After this, he gave some orders with great serenity of mind; and, an occasion offering of speaking of the goodness of God, he especially exalted the love which God showed to man, in justifying him by faith in Jesus Christ. He returned him thanks, in particular, for having called him to the knowledge of that divine Saviour. He exhorted all about him to read the Holy Scripture attentively, and to apply themselves sincerely to the practice of all their duties; adding, expressly, that “by this means they would be more happy in this world, and secure to themselves the possession of eternal felicity in the other.” He past the whole night without sleep. The next day he caused himself to be carried into his closet, for he had not strength to walk by himself; and there in his chair, and in a kind of dozing, though in his full senses, as appeared by what he said from time to time, he gave up the ghost about three in the afternoon, the 28th of October.
I beg you, sir, not to take what I have said of Mr. Locke’s character for a finished portrait. It is only a slight sketch of some few of his excellent qualities. I am told we shall quickly have it done by the hand of a master. To that I refer you. Many features, I am sure, have escaped me; but I dare affirm, that those, which I have given you a draught of, are not set off with false colours, but drawn faithfully from the life.
I must not omit a particular in Mr. Locke’s will, which it is of no small importance to the commonwealth of learning to be acquainted with; namely, that therein he declares what were the works which he had published without setting his name to them. The occasion of it was this: some time before his death, Dr. Hudson, keeper of the Bodleian library at Oxford, had desired him to send him all the works with which he had favoured the public, as well those with his name as those without, that they might be all placed in that famous library. Mr. Locke sent him only the former; but in his will he declares he is resolved fully to satisfy Dr. Hudson; and to that intent he bequeaths to the Bodleian library a copy of the rest of his works, to which he had not prefixed his name, viz. a Latin “Letter concerning Toleration,” printed at Tergou, and translated some time afterwards into English, unknown to Mr. Locke; two other letters upon the same subject, in answer to the objections made against the first; “The Reasonableness of Christianity,” with two Vindications of that book; and “Two Treatises of Government.” These are all the anonymous works which Mr. Locke owns himself to be the author of.
For the rest, I shall not pretend to tell you at what age he died, because I do not certainly know it. I have often heard him say, he had forgot the year of his birth; but that he believed he had set it down somewhere. It has not yet been found among his papers; but it is computed that he was about sixty-six.
Though I have continued some time at London, a city very fruitful in literary news, I have nothing curious to tell you. Since Mr. Locke departed this life, I have hardly been able to think of any thing, but the loss of that great man, whose memory will always be dear to me; happy if, as I admired him for many years, that I was near him, I could but imitate him in any one respect! I am, with all sincerity, Sir, your, &c.
OUR sovereign lord the king having, out of his royal grace and bounty, granted unto us the province of Carolina, with all the royalties, properties, jurisdictions, and privileges of a county palatine, as large and ample as the county palatine of Durham, with other great privileges, for the better settlement of the government of the said place, and establishing the interest of the lords proprietors with equality, and without confusion; and that the government of this province may be made most agreeable to the monarchy under which we live, and of which this province is a part; and that we may avoid erecting a numerous democracy: we, the lords and proprietors of the province aforesaid, have agreed to this following form of government, to be perpetually established amongst us, unto which we do oblige ourselves, our heirs, and successors, in the most binding ways that can be devised.
THE eldest of the lords proprietors shall be palatine; and, upon the decease of the palatine, the eldest of the seven surviving proprietors shall always succeed him.
There shall be seven other chief offices erected, viz. the admiral’s, chamberlain’s, chancellor’s, constable’s, chief-justice’s, high-steward’s, and treasurer’s; which places shall be enjoyed by none but the lords proprietors, to be assigned at first by lot; and upon the vacancy of any one of the seven great offices by death, or otherwise, the eldest proprietor shall have his choice of the said place.
The whole province shall be divided into counties; each county shall consist of eight signories, eight baronies, and four precincts; each precinct shall consist of six colonies.
Each signiory, barony, and colony, shall consist of twelve thousand acres; the eight signories being the share of the eight proprietors, and the eight baronies of the nobility; both which shares, being each of them one fifth part of the whole, are to be perpetually annexed, the one to the proprietors, the other to the hereditary nobility, leaving the colonies, being three fifths, amongst the people: that so in setting out and planting the lands, the balance of the government may be preserved.
At any time before the year one thousand seven hundred and one, any of the lords proprietors shall have power to relinquish, alienate, and dispose to any other person, his proprietorship, and all the signories, powers, and interest thereunto belonging, wholly and entirely together, and not otherwise. But, after the year one thousand seven hundred, those, who are then lords proprietors, shall not have power to alienate or make over their proprietorship, with the signories and privileges thereunto belonging, or any part thereof, to any person whatsoever, otherwise than as in § xviii. but it shall all descend unto their heirs male; and, for want of heirs male, it shall all descend on that landgrave, or cassique, of Carolina, who is descended of the next heirs female of the proprietor; and, for want of such heirs, it shall descend on the next heir general; and, for want of such heirs, the remaining seven proprietors shall, upon the vacancy, choose a landgrave to succeed the deceased proprietor, who being chosen by the majority of the seven surviving proprietors, he and his heirs, successively, shall be proprietors, as fully, to all intents and purposes, as any of the rest.
That the number of eight proprietors may be constantly kept; if, upon the vacancy of any proprietorship, the seven surviving proprietors shall not choose a landgrave to be a proprietor, before the second biennial parliament after the vacancy; then the next biennial parliament but one after such vacancy shall have power to choose any landgrave to be a proprietor.
Whosoever after the year one thousand seven hundred, either by inheritance or choice, shall succeed any proprietor in his proprietorship, and signiories thereunto belonging; shall be obliged to take the name and arms of that proprietor, whom he succeeds; which from thenceforth shall be the name and arms of his family and their posterity.
Whatsoever landgrave or cassique shall any way come to be a proprietor, shall take the signiories annexed to the said proprietorship; but his former dignity, with the baronies annexed, shall devolve into the hands of the lords proprietors.
There shall be just as many landgraves as there are counties, and twice as many cassiques, and no more. These shall be the hereditary nobility of the province, and by right of their dignity be members of parliament. Each landgrave shall have four baronies, and each cassique two baronies, hereditarily and unalterably annexed to, and settled upon the said dignity.
The first landgraves and cassiques of the twelve first counties to be planted, shall be nominated thus; that is to say, of the twelve landgraves, the lords proprietors shall each of them separately for himself, nominate and choose one; and the remaining four landgraves of the first twelve, shall be nominated and chosen by the palatine’s court. In like manner, of the twenty-four first cassiques, each proprietor for himself shall nominate and choose two, and the remaining eight shall be nominated and chosen by the palatine’s court; and when the twelve first counties shall be planted, the lords proprietors shall again in the same manner nominate and choose twelve more landgraves, and twenty-four cassiques for the twelve next counties to be planted; that is to say, two-thirds of each number by the single nomination of each proprietor for himself, and the remaining one-third by the joint election of the palatine’s court, and so proceed in the same manner till the whole province of Carolina be set out and planted, according to the proportions in these Fundamental Constitutions.
Any landgrave or cassique at any time before the year one thousand seven hundred and one, shall have power to alienate, sell, or make over to any other person, his dignity, with the baronies thereunto belonging, all intirely together. But after the year one thousand seven hundred, no landgrave or cassique shall have power to alienate, sell, make over, or let the hereditary baronies of his dignity, or any part thereof, otherwise than as in § xviii; but they shall all intirely, with the dignity thereunto belonging, descend unto his heirs male; and for want of heirs male, all intirely and undivided, to the next heir general; and for want of such heirs, shall devolve into the hands of the lords proprietors.
That the due number of landgraves and cassiques may be always kept up; if, upon the devolution of any landgraveship or cassiqueship, the palatine’s court shall not settle the devolved dignity, with the baronies thereunto annexed, before the second biennial parliament after such devolution; the next biennial parliament but one after such devolution shall have power to make any one landgrave or cassique, in the room of him, who dying without heirs, his dignity and baronies devolved.
No one person shall have more than one dignity, with the signiories or baronies thereunto belonging. But whensoever it shall happen, that any one, who is already proprietor, landgrave, or cassique, shall have any of these dignities descend to him by inheritance, it shall be at his choice to keep which of the dignities, with the lands annexed, he shall like best; but shall leave the other, with the lands annexed, to be enjoyed by him, who not being his heir apparent, and certain successor to his present dignity, is next of blood.
Whosoever, by right of inheritance, shall come to be landgrave or cassique, shall take the name and arms of his predecessor in that dignity, to be from thenceforth the name and arms of his family and their posterity.
Since the dignity of proprietor, landgrave, or cassique, cannot be divided, and the signiories or baronies thereunto annexed must for ever all intirely descend with, and accompany that dignity: whensoever for want of heirs male it shall descend on the issue female, the eldest daughter and her heirs shall be preferred; and in the inheritance of those dignities, and in the signiories or baronies annexed, there shall be no coheirs.
In every signiory, barony, and manor, the respective lord shall have power in his own name to hold court-leet there, for trying of all causes both civil and criminal; but where it shall concern any person being no inhabitant, vassal, or leet-man of the said signiory, barony, or manor, he, upon paying down of forty shillings to the lords proprietors use, shall have an appeal from the signiory or barony-court to the county-court, and from the manor-court to the precinct court.
Every manor shall consist of not less than three thousand acres, and not above twelve thousand acres in one intire piece and colony: but any three thousand acres or more in one piece, and the possession of one man, shall not be a manor, unless it be constituted a manor by the grant of the palatine’s court.
The lords of signiories and baronies shall have power only of granting estates not exceeding three lives, or thirty-one years, in two thirds of the said signiories or baronies, and the remaining third shall be always demesne.
Any lord of a manor may alienate, sell, or dispose to any other person and his heirs for ever, his manor, all intirely together, with all the privileges and leet-men thereunto belonging, so far forth as any colony lands; but no grant of any part thereof, either in fee, or for any longer term than three lives, or one-and-twenty years, shall be good against the next heir.
No manor, for want of issue male, shall be divided amongst co-heirs; but the manor, if there be but one, shall all intirely descend to the eldest daughter and her heirs. If there be more manors than one, the eldest daughter first shall have her choice, the second next, and so on, beginning again at the eldest, till all the manors be taken up; that so the privileges, which belong to manors being indivisible, the lands of the manors, to which they are annexed, may be kept intire, and the manor not lose those privileges, which, upon parcelling out to several owners, must necessarily cease.
Every lord of a manor, within his manor, shall have all the powers, jurisdictions, and privileges, which a landgrave or cassique hath in his baronies.
In every signiory, barony, and manor, all the leet-men shall be under the jurisdiction of the respective lords of the said signiory, barony, or manor, without appeal from him. Nor shall any leet-man, or leet-woman, have liberty to go off from the land of their particular lord, and live any-where else, without licence obtained from their said lord, under hand and seal.
All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and so to all generations.
No man shall be capable of having a court-leet, or leet-men, but a proprietor, landgrave, cassique, or lord of a manor.
Whoever shall voluntarily enter himself a leet-man, in the registry of the county-court, shall be a leet-man.
Whoever is lord of leet-men, shall upon the marriage of a leet-man, or leet-woman of his, give them ten acres of land for their lives; they paying to him therefore not more than one-eighth part of all the yearly produce and growth of the said ten acres.
No landgrave or cassique shall be tried for any criminal cause, in any but the chief justice’s court, and that by a jury of his peers.
There shall be eight supreme courts. The first called the palatine’s court, consisting of the palatine, and the other seven proprietors. The other seven courts of the other seven great officers, shall consist each of them of a proprietor, and six counsellors added to him. Under each of these latter seven courts, shall be a college of twelve assistants. The twelve assistants of the several colleges shall be chosen, two out of the landgraves, cassiques, or eldest sons of the proprietors, by the palatine’s court; two out of the landgraves, by the landgrave’s chamber; two out of the cassiques, by the cassiques chamber; four more of the twelve shall be chosen by the commons chamber, out of such as have been, or are members of parliament, sheriffs, or justices of the county-court, or the younger sons of proprietors, or eldest sons of landgraves or cassiques; the two other shall be chosen by the palatine’s court, out of the same sort of persons, out of which the commons chamber is to choose.
Out of these colleges shall be chosen at first by the palatine’s court, six counsellors, to be joined with each proprietor in his court; of which six, one shall be of those, who were chosen into any of the colleges by the palatine’s court, out of the landgraves, cassiques, or eldest sons of proprietors; one out of those, who were chosen by the landgrave’s chamber; and one out of those, who were chosen by the cassiques chamber; two out of those, who were chosen by the commons chamber; and one out of those, who were chosen by the palatine’s court, out of the proprietor’s younger sons, or eldest sons of landgraves, cassiques, or commons, qualified as aforesaid.
When it shall happen that any counsellor dies, and thereby there is a vacancy, the grand council shall have power to remove any counsellor that is willing to be removed out of any of the proprietors courts to fill up the vacancy; provided they take a man of the same degree and choice the other was of, whose vacant place is to be filled up. But if no counsellor consent to be removed, or upon such remove the last remaining vacant place, in any of the proprietor’s courts, shall be filled up by the choice of the grand council, who shall have power to remove out of any of the colleges any assistant, who is of the same degree and choice that counsellor was of, into whose vacant place he is to succeed. The grand council also shall have power to remove any assistant, that is willing, out of one college into another, provided he be of the same degree and choice. But the last remaining vacant place in any college, shall be filled up by the same choice, and out of the same degree of persons the assistant was of who is dead, or removed. No place shall be vacant in any proprietor’s court above six months. No place shall be vacant in any college longer than the next session of parliament.
No man, being a member of the grand council, or of any of the seven colleges, shall be turned out, but for misdemeanor, of which the grand council shall be judge; and the vacancy of the person so put out shall be filled, not by the election of the grand council, but by those, who first chose him, and out of the same degree he was of who is expelled. But it is not hereby to be understood, that the grand council hath any power to turn out any one of the lords proprietors or their deputies, the lords proprietors having in themselves an inherent original right.
All elections in the parliament, in the several chambers of the parliament, and in the grand council, shall be passed by balloting.
The palatine’s court shall consist of the palatine, and seven proprietors, wherein nothing shall be acted without the presence and consent of the palatine or his deputy, and three others of the proprietors or their deputies. This court shall have power to call parliaments, to pardon all offences, to make elections of all officers in the proprietor’s dispose, and to nominate and appoint port-towns; and also shall have power by their order to the treasurer, to dispose of all public treasure, excepting money granted by the parliament, and by them directed to some particular public use; and also shall have a negative upon all acts, orders, votes, and judgments, of the grand council and the parliament, except only as in § vi. and xii. and shall have all the powers granted to the lords proprietors, by their patent from our sovereign lord the king, except in such things as are limited by these Fundamental Constitutions.
The palatine himself, when he in person shall be either in the army, or in any of the proprietors courts, shall then have the power of general, or of that proprietor, in whose court he is then present; and the proprietor in whose court the palatine then presides, shall during his presence there be but as one of the council.
The chancellor’s court, consisting of one of the proprietors, and his six counsellors, who shall be called vice-chancellors, shall have the custody of the seal of the palatine, under which charters of lands or otherwise, commissions and grants of the palatine’s court, shall pass. And it shall not be lawful to put the seal of the palatinate to any writing, which is not signed by the palatinate or his deputy, and three other proprietors or their deputies. To this court also belong all state matters, dispatches, and treaties with the neighbour Indians. To this court also belong all invasions of the law, of liberty of conscience, and all disturbances of the public peace, upon pretence of religion, as also the licence of printing. The twelve assistants belonging to this court shall be called recorders.
Whatever passes under the seal of the palatinate, shall be registered in that proprietor’s court, to which the matter therein contained belongs.
The chancellor, or his deputy, shall be always speaker in parliament, and president of the grand council; and in his and his deputy’s absence, one of his vice-chancellors.
The chief justice’s court, consisting of one of the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall be called justices of the bench, shall judge all appeals in cases both civil and criminal, except all such cases as shall be under the jurisdiction and cognizance of any other of the proprietors courts, which shall be tried in those courts respectively. The government and regulation of the registries of writings and contracts, shall belong to the jurisdiction of this court. The twelve assistants of this court shall be called masters.
The constable’s court, consisting of one of the proprietors and his six counsellors, who shall be called marshals, shall order and determine of all military affairs by land, and all land forces, arms, ammunition, artillery, garrisons, and forts, &c. and whatever belongs unto war. His twelve assistants shall be called lieutenant-generals.
In time of actual war, the constable, whilst he is in the army, shall be general of the army: and the six counsellors, or such of them as the palatine’s court shall for that time or service appoint, shall be the immediate great officers under him, and the lieutenant-generals next to them.
The admiral’s court, consisting of one of the proprietors, and his six counsellors, called consuls, shall have the care and inspection over all ports, moles, and navigable rivers, so far as the tide flows, and also all the public shipping of Carolina, and stores thereunto belonging, and all maritime affairs. This court also shall have the power of the court of admiralty; and shall have power to constitute judges in port-towns, to try cases belonging to law-merchant, as shall be most convenient for trade. The twelve assistants, belonging to this court, shall be called proconsuls.
In time of actual war, the admiral, whilst he is at sea, shall command in chief, and his six counsellors, or such of them as the palatine’s court shall for that time and service appoint, shall be the immediate great officers under him, and the proconsuls next to them.
The treasurer’s court, consisting of a proprietor and his six counsellors, called under-treasurers, shall take care of all matters that concern the public revenue and treasury. The twelve assistants shall be called auditors.
The high steward’s court, consisting of a proprietor and his six counsellors, called comptrollers, shall have the care of all foreign and domestic trade, manufactures, public buildings, work-houses, highways, passages by water above the flood of the tide, drains, sewers, and banks against inundations, bridges, post, carriers, fairs, markets, corruption or infection of the common air or water, and all things in order to the public commerce and health; also setting out and surveying of lands; and also setting out and appointing places for towns to be built on in the precincts, and the prescribing and determining the figure and bigness of the said towns, according to such models as the said court shall order; contrary or differing from which models it shall not be lawful for any one to build in any town. This court shall have power also to make any public building, or any new highway, or enlarge any old highway, upon any man’s land whatsoever; as also to make cuts, channels, banks, locks, and bridges, for making rivers navigable, or for draining fens, or any other public use. The damage the owner of such lands (on or through which any such public things shall be made) shall receive thereby, shall be valued, and satisfaction made by such ways as the grand council shall appoint. The twelve assistants, belonging to this court, shall be called surveyors.
The chamberlain’s court, consisting of a proprietor and his six counsellors, called vice-chamberlains, shall have the care of all ceremonies, precedency, heraldry, reception of public messengers, pedigrees, the registry of all births, burials, and marriages, legitimation, and all cases concerning matrimony, or arising from it; and shall also have power to regulate all fashions, habits, badges, games, and sports. To this court also it shall belong to convocate the grand council. The twelve assistants belonging to this court shall be called provosts.
All causes belonging to, or under the jurisdiction of any of the proprietors courts, shall in them respectively be tried, and ultimately determined without any farther appeal.
The proprietors courts shall have a power to mitigate all fines, and suspend all executions in criminal causes, either before or after sentence, in any of the other inferiour courts respectively.
In all debates, hearings, or trials, in any of the proprietors courts, the twelve assistants belonging to the said courts respectively, shall have liberty to be present, but shall not interpose, unless their opinions be required, nor have any vote at all; but their business shall be, by the direction of the respective courts, to prepare such business as shall be committed to them; as also to bear such offices, and dispatch such affairs, either where the court is kept, or elsewhere, as the court shall think fit.
In all the proprietors courts, the proprietor, and any three of his counsellors, shall make a quorum; provided always, that for the better dispatch of business, it shall be in the power of the palatine’s court, to direct what sort of causes shall be heard and determined by a quorum of any three.
The grand council shall consist of the palatine and seven proprietors, and the forty-two counsellors of the several proprietors courts, who shall have power to determine any controversies that may arise between any of the proprietors courts, about their respective jurisdictions, or between the members of the same court, about their manner and methods of proceeding, to make peace and war, leagues, treaties, &c. with any of the neighbour Indians; to issue out their general orders to the constable’s and admiral’s courts, for the raising, disposing, or disbanding the forces, by land or by sea.
The grand council shall prepare all matters to be proposed in parliament. Nor shall any matter whatsoever be proposed in parliament, but what hath first passed the grand council; which, after having been read three several days in the parliament, shall by majority of votes be passed or rejected.
The grand council shall always be judges of all causes and appeals that concern the palatine, or any of the lords proprietors, or any counsellor of any proprietor’s court, in any cause, which otherwise should have been tried in the court, in which the said counsellor is judge himself.
The grand council, by their warrants to the treasurer’s court, shall dispose of all the money given by the parliament, and by them directed to any particular public use.
The quorum of the grand council shall be thirteen, whereof a proprietor, or his deputy, shall be always one.
The grand council shall meet the first Tuesday in every month, and as much oftener as either they shall think fit, or they shall be convocated by the chamberlain’s court.
The palatine, or any of the lords proprietors, shall have power, under hand and seal, to be registered in the grand council, to make a deputy, who shall have the same power, to all intents and purposes, as he himself who deputes him; except in confirming acts of parliament, as in § lxxvi, and except also in nominating and choosing landgraves and cassiques, as in § x. All such deputations shall cease and determine at the end of four years, and at any time shall be revocable at the pleasure of the deputator.
No deputy of any proprietor shall have any power, whilst the deputator is in any part of Carolina, except the proprietor, whose deputy he is, be a minor.
During the minority of any proprietor, his guardian shall have power to constitute and appoint his deputy.
The eldest of the lords proprietors, who shall be personally in Carolina, shall of course be the palatine’s deputy, and if no proprietor be in Carolina, he shall choose his deputy out of the heirs apparent of any of the proprietors, if any such be there; and if there be no heir apparent of any of the lords proprietors above one and twenty years old, in Carolina, then he shall choose for deputy any one of the landgraves of the grand council: till he have, by deputation, under hand and seal, chosen any one of the fore-mentioned heirs apparent, or landgraves, to be his deputy, the eldest man of the landgraves, and for want of a landgrave, the eldest man of the cassiques, who shall be personally in Carolina, shall of course be his deputy.
Each proprietor’s deputy shall be always one of his own six counsellors respectively; and in case any of the proprietors hath not, in his absence out of Carolina, a deputy, commissioned under his hand and seal, the eldest nobleman of his court shall of course be his deputy.
In every county there shall be a court, consisting of a sheriff and four justices of the county, for every precinct one. The sheriff shall be an inhabitant of the county, and have at least five hundred acres of freehold within the said county; and the justices shall be inhabitants, and have each of them five hundred acres a-piece freehold within the precinct, for which they serve respectively. These five shall be chosen and commissioned from time to time by the palatine’s court.
For any personal causes exceeding the value of two hundred pounds sterling, or in title of land, or in any criminal cause: either party, upon paying twenty pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use, shall have liberty of appeal from the county-court unto the respective proprietor’s court.
In every precinct there shall be a court, consisting of a steward and four justices of the precinct, being inhabitants, and having three hundred acres of freehold within the said precinct, who shall judge all criminal causes; except for treason, murder, and any other offences punishable with death, and except all criminal causes of the nobility; and shall judge also all civil causes whatsoever; and in all personal actions, not exceeding fifty pounds sterling, without appeal; but where the cause shall exceed that value, or concern a title of land, and in all criminal causes; there either party, upon paying five pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use, shall have liberty of appeal to the county-court.
No cause shall be twice tried in any one court, upon any reason or pretence whatsoever.
For treason, murder, and all other offences punishable with death, there shall be a commission, twice a year, at least, granted unto one or more members of the grand council, or colleges, who shall come as itinerant judges to the several counties, and, with the sheriff and four justices, shall hold assizes to judge all such causes; but, upon paying of fifty pounds sterling to the lords proprietors use, there shall be liberty of appeal to the respective proprietor’s court.
The grand jury at the several assizes shall, upon their oaths, and under their hands and seals, deliver in to the itinerant judges a presentment of such grievances, misdemeanors, exigencies, or defects, which they think necessary for the public good of the country; which presentments shall, by the itinerant judges, at the end of their circuit, be delivered in to the grand council, at their next sitting. And whatsoever therein concerns the execution of laws already made, the several proprietors courts, in the matters belonging to each of them respectively, shall take cognizance of it, and give such order about it as shall be effectual for the due execution of the laws. But whatever concerns the making of any new law, shall be referred to the several respective courts to which that matter belongs, and be by them prepared and brought to the grand council.
For terms, there shall be quarterly such a certain number of days, not exceeding one and twenty at any one time, as the several respective courts shall appoint. The time for the beginning of the term, in the precinct-court, shall be the first Monday in January, April, July, and October; in the county-court, the first Monday in February, May, August, and November; and in the proprietors courts, the first Monday in March, June, September, and December.
In the precinct-court no man shall be a juryman under fifty acres of freehold. In the county-court, or at the assizes, no man shall be a grand juryman under three hundred acres of freehold; and no man shall be a petty juryman under two hundred acres of freehold. In the proprietors courts no man shall be a juryman, under five hundred acres of freehold.
Every jury shall consist of twelve men; and it shall not be necessary they should all agree, but the verdict shall be according to the consent of the majority.
It shall be a base and vile thing to plead for money or reward; nor shall any one (except he be a near kinsman, nor farther off than cousin-german to the party concerned) be permitted to plead another man’s cause, till before the judge, in open court, he hath taken an oath, that he doth not plead for money or reward, nor hath, nor will receive, nor directly, nor indirectly, bargained with the party whose cause he is going to plead, for money or any other reward, for pleading his cause.
There shall be a parliament, consisting of the proprietors, or their deputies, the landgraves and cassiques, and one freeholder out of every precinct, to be chosen by the freeholders of the said precinct respectively. They shall sit all together in one room, and have every member one vote.
No man shall be chosen a member of parliament who hath less than five hundred acres of freehold within the precinct, for which he is chosen; nor shall any have a vote in choosing the said member that hath less than fifty acres of freehold within the said precinct.
A new parliament shall be assembled the first Monday of the month of November every second year, and shall meet and sit in the town they last sat in, without any summons; unless, by the palatine’s court, they be summoned to meet at any other place. And if there shall be any occasion of a parliament in these intervals, it shall be in the power of the palatine’s court to assemble them in forty days notice, and at such time and place as the said court shall think fit; and the palatine’s court shall have power to dissolve the said parliament when they shall think fit.
At the opening of every parliament, the first thing that shall be done, shall be the reading of these Fundamental Constitutions, which the palatine and proprietors, and the rest of the members then present, shall subscribe. Nor shall any person whatsoever sit or vote in the parliament, till he hath that session subscribed these Fundamental Constitutions, in a book kept for that purpose by the clerk of the parliament.
In order to the due election of members for the biennial parliament, it shall be lawful for the freeholders of the respective precincts to meet the first Tuesday in September every two years, in the same town or place that they last met in to choose parliamentmen; and there choose those members that are to sit the next November following, unless the steward of the precinct shall, by sufficient notice thirty days before, appoint some other place for their meeting, in order to the election.
No act, or order of parliament, shall be of any force, unless it be ratified in open parliament, during the same session, by the palatine or his deputy, and three more of the lords proprietors, or their deputies; and then not to continue longer in force but until the next biennial parliament, unless, in the mean time, it be ratified under the hands and seals of the palatine himself, and three more of the lords proprietors themselves, and by their order published at the next biennial parliament.
Any proprietor, or his deputy, may enter his protestation against any act of the parliament, before the palatine or his deputy’s consent be given as aforesaid; if he shall conceive the said act to be contrary to this establishment, or any of these Fundamental Constitutions of the government. And in such case, after full and free debate, the several estates shall retire into four several chambers; the palatine and proprietors into one; the landgraves into another; the cassiques into another; and those chosen by the precincts into a fourth; and if the major part of any of the four estates shall vote that the law is not agreeable to this establishment, and these Fundamental Constitutions of the government, then it shall pass no farther, but be as if it had never been proposed.
The quorum of the parliament shall be one half of those who are members, and capable of sitting in the house that present session of parliament. The quorum of each of the chambers of parliament shall be one half of the members of that chamber.
To avoid multiplicity of laws, which by degrees always change the right foundations of the original government, all acts of parliament whatsoever, in whatsoever form passed or enacted, shall at the end of an hundred years after their enacting, respectively cease and determine of themselves, and without any repeal become null and void, as if no such acts or laws had ever been made.
Since multiplicity of comments, as well as of laws, have great inconveniencies, and serve only to obscure and perplex; all manner of comments and expositions, on any part of these Fundamental Constitutions, or any part of the common or statute law of Carolina, are absolutely prohibited.
There shall be a registry in every precinct, wherein shall be enrolled all deeds, leases, judgments, mortgages, and other conveyances, which may concern any of the land within the said precinct; and all such conveyances, not so entered or registered, shall not be of force against any person or party to the said contract or conveyance.
No man shall be register of any precinct who hath not at least three hundred acres of freehold within the said precinct.
The freeholders of every precinct shall nominate three men; out of which three, the chief justices court shall choose and commission one to be register of the said precinct, whilst he shall well behave himself.
There shall be a registry in every signiory, barony, and colony, wherein shall be recorded all the births, marriages, and deaths, that shall happen within the respective signiories, baronies, and colonies.
No man shall be register of a colony that hath not above fifty acres of freehold within the said colony.
The time of every one’s age, that is born in Carolina, shall be reckoned from the day that his birth is entered in the registry, and not before.
No marriage shall be lawful, whatever contract and ceremony they have used, till both the parties mutually own it before the register of the place where they were married, and he register it, with the names of the father and mother of each party.
No man shall administer to the goods, or have right to them, or enter upon the estate of any person deceased, till his death be registered in the respective registry.
He that doth not enter, in the respective registry, the birth or death of any person that is born, or dies, in his house or ground, shall pay to the said register one shilling per week for each such neglect, reckoning from the time of each birth, or death, respectively, to the time of registering it.
In like manner the births, marriages, and deaths, of the lords proprietors, landgraves, and cassiques, shall be registered in the chamberlain’s court.
There shall be in every colony one constable, to be chosen annually by the freeholders of the colony; his estate shall be above a hundred acres of freehold within the said colony, and such subordinate officers appointed for his assistance, as the county-court shall find requisite, and shall be established by the said county-court. The election of the subordinate annual officers shall be also in the freeholders of the colony.
All towns incorporate shall be governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four of the common-council. The said common-council shall be chosen by the present householders of the said town; the aldermen shall be chosen out of the common-council; and the mayor out of the aldermen, by the palatine’s court.
It being of great consequence to the plantation, that port-towns should be built and preserved; therefore whosoever shall lade or unlade any commodity at any other place but a port-town, shall forfeit to the lords proprietors, for each tun so laden or unladen, the sum of ten pounds sterling; except only such goods as the palatine’s court shall license to be laden or unladen elsewhere.
The first port-town upon every river shall be in a colony, and be a port-town for ever.
No man shall be permitted to be a freeman of Carolina, or to have any estate or habitation within it, that doth not acknowledge a GOD; and that God is publicly and solemnly to be worshipped.
[As the country comes to be sufficiently planted and distributed into fit divisions, it shall belong to the parliament to take care for the building of churches, and the public maintenance of divines, to be employed in the exercise of religion, according to the church of England; which being the only true and orthodox, and the national religion of all the king’s dominions, is so also of Carolina; and therefore it alone shall be allowed to receive public maintenance, by grant of parliament.]
But since the natives of that place, who will be concerned in our plantation, are utterly strangers to christianity, whose idolatry, ignorance, or mistake, gives us no right to expel, or use them ill; and those who remove from other parts to plant there, will unavoidably be of different opinions concerning matters of religion, the liberty whereof they will expect to have allowed them, and it will not be reasonable for us on this account to keep them out; that civil peace may be maintained amidst the diversity of opinions, and our agreement and compact with all men may be duly and faithfully observed; the violation whereof, upon what pretence soever, cannot be without great offence to Almighty God, and great scandal to the true religion, which we profess; and also that jews, heathens, and other dissenters from the purity of the christian religion, may not be scared and kept at a distance from it, but by having an opportunity of acquainting themselves with the truth and reasonableness of its doctrines, and the peaceableness and inoffensiveness of its professors, may by good usage and persuasion, and all those convincing methods of gentleness and meekness, suitable to the rules and design of the gospel, be won over to embrace and unfeignedly receive the truth; therefore any seven or more persons, agreeing in any religion, shall constitute a church or profession, to which they shall give some name, to distinguish it from others.
The terms of admittance and communion with any church or profession shall be written in a book, and therein be subscribed by all the members of the said church or profession; which book shall be kept by the public register of the precinct where they reside.
The time of every one’s subscription and admittance shall be dated in the said book or religious record.
In the terms of communion of every church or profession, these following shall be three; without which no agreement or assembly of men, upon pretence of religion, shall be accounted a church or profession within these rules:
“That there is a GOD.
“That GOD is publicly to be worshipped.
“That it is lawful and the duty of every man, being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to truth; and that every church or profession shall in their terms of communion set down the external way whereby they witness a truth as in the presence of GOD, whether it be by laying hands on, or kissing the bible, as in the church of England, or by holding up the hand, or any other sensible way.”
No person above seventeen years of age shall have any benefit or protection of the law, or be capable of any place of profit or honour, who is not a member of some church or profession, having his name recorded in some one, and but one religious record at once.
No person of any other church or profession shall disturb or molest any religious assembly.
No person whatsoever shall speak any thing in their religious assembly, irreverently or seditiously of the government or governors, or state-matters.
Any person subscribing the terms of communion in the record of the said church or profession, before the precinct register, and any five members of the said church or profession; shall be thereby made a member of the said church or profession.
Any person striking his own name out of any religious record, or his name being struck out by any officer thereunto authorized by each church or profession respectively, shall cease to be a member of that church or profession.
No man shall use any reproachful, reviling, or abusive language, against any religion of any church or profession; that being the certain way of disturbing the peace, and of hindering the conversion of any to the truth, by engaging them in quarrels and animosities, to the hatred of the professors and that profession, which otherwise they might be brought to assent to.
Since charity obliges us to wish well to the souls of all men, and religion ought to alter nothing in any man’s civil estate or right, it shall be lawful for slaves, as well as others, to enter themselves, and be of what church or profession any of them shall think best, and thereof be as fully members as any freeman. But yet no slave shall hereby be exempted from that civil dominion his master hath over him, but be in all other things in the same state and condition he was in before.
Assemblies, upon what pretence soever of religion, not observing and performing the abovesaid rules, shall not be esteemed as churches, but unlawful meetings, and be punished as other riots.
No person whatsoever shall disturb, molest, or persecute another for his speculative opinions in religion, or his way of worship.
Every freeman of Carolina shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves, of what opinion or religion soever.
No cause, whether civil or criminal, of any freeman, shall be tried in any court of judicature, without a jury of his peers.
No person whatsoever shall hold or claim any land in Carolina by purchase or gift, or otherwise, from the natives or any other whatsoever; but merely from and under the lords proprietors; upon pain of forfeiture of all his estate, moveable or immoveable, and perpetual banishment.
Whosoever shall possess any freehold in Carolina, upon what title or grant soever, shall, at the farthest from and after the year one thousand six hundred eighty-nine, pay yearly unto the lords proprietors, for each acre of land, English measure, as much fine silver as is at this present in one English penny, or the value thereof, to be as a chief rent and acknowledgment to the lords proprietors, their heirs and successors for ever. And it shall be lawful for the palatine’s court by their officers, at any time, to take a new survey of any man’s land, not to out him of any part of his possession, but that by such a survey the just number of acres he possesseth may be known, and the rent thereupon due may be paid by him.
All wrecks, mines, minerals, quarries of gems, and precious stones, with pearl-fishing, whale-fishing, and one half of all amber-grease, by whomsoever found, shall wholly belong to the lords proprietors.
All revenues and profits belonging to the lords proprietors, in common, shall be divided into ten parts, whereof the palatine shall have three, and each proprietor one; but, if the palatine shall govern by a deputy, his deputy shall have one of those three tenths, and the palatine the other two tenths.
All inhabitants and freemen of Carolina above seventeen years of age, and under sixty, shall be bound to bear arms, and serve as soldiers whenever the grand council shall find it necessary.
A true copy of these Fundamental Constitutions shall be kept in a great book by the register of every precinct, to be subscribed before the said register. Nor shall any person of what condition or degree soever, above seventeen years old, have any estate or possession in Carolina, or protection or benefit of the law there, who hath not, before a precinct register, subscribed these Fundamental Constitutions in this form:
“I A. B. do promise to bear faith and true allegiance to our sovereign lord king Charles the Second, his heirs and successors; and will be true and faithful to the palatine and lords proprietors of Carolina, their heirs and successors; and with my utmost power will defend them, and maintain the government according to this establishment in these Fundamental Constitutions.”
Whatsoever alien shall, in this form, before any precinct register, subscribe these Fundamental Constitutions, shall be thereby naturalized.
In the same manner shall every person, at his admittance into any office, subscribe these Fundamental Constitutions.
These Fundamental Constitutions, in number a hundred and twenty, and every part thereof, shall be and remain the sacred and unalterable form and rule of government of Carolina for ever. Witness our hands and seals, the first day of March, 1669.
The lords proprietors; the eldest in age first, and so in order.
The eldest sons of the lords proprietors; the eldest in age first, and so in order.
The landgraves of the grand council; he that hath been longest of the grand council first, and so in order.
The cassiques of the grand council; he that hath been longest of the grand council first, and so in order.
The seven commoners of the grand council that have been longest of the grand council; he that hath been longest of the grand council first, and so in order.
The younger sons of the proprietors; the eldest first, and so in order.
The landgraves; the eldest in age first, and so in order.
The seven commoners, who next to those before mentioned have been longest of the grand council; he that hath been longest of the grand council first, and so in order.
The cassiques; the eldest in age first, and so in order.
The seven remaining commoners of the grand council; he that hath been longest of the grand council first, and so in order.
The male line of the proprietors.
The rest shall be determined by the chamberlain’s court.
THE PRODUCTION OF SILK:
THE PRESERVATION OF FRUITS.
WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE EARL OF SHAFTSBURY.
TO WHOM IT IS INSCRIBED.
(FIRST PUBLISHED IN M.DCC.LXVI.)
THE EDITOR TO THE READER.
At this time, when every improvement of the garden is so much the study and delight of our countrymen; when artificial means have been discovered to supply every defect of climate, and the vegetable productions of every other region of the globe have been raised in our own soil; it is presumed the following small tract, printed from a manuscript very neatly written by Mr. John Locke, with his usual accuracy, will be no unwelcome present to the public.
Subjects of curiosity and instruction, to the inquisitive philosopher and his noble patron, will, doubtless, be entertaining to every reader.
Should it gain a passage to America, it will be of far more extensive use both to that country and to Britain.
No union, no alliance, is so firm and lasting as that which is founded upon the solid basis of a mutual interest.
Necessity, natural or artificial, is the real cause and support of trade and navigation. Our commerce with Spain and Portugal, and other countries, will subsist under every change of government or inhabitants, whilst we are in want of the productions of their soil and industry.
Politicians, who ought to know how commerce, and consequently naval force, has fluctuated in the world, will take care not to oppress, by very heavy and improvident taxations, their manufactures, and other articles of trade at home, nor such commodities imported from abroad, as may dispose other nations to cultivate those very articles among themselves, which they have hitherto received from us.
However populous and great, industrious and rich, the settlements in the vast continent of America may hereafter become, this the mother-country may for ever be connected with it more intimately than the southern nations, by encouraging the growth and produce of vines and olives, silk and fruits, which cannot advantageously be raised in England: and sound policy will always engage the subjects in England and America not to be rivals in trade, by setting up such manufacturers in one country as must necessarily distress the other.
The wisdom of this country will instruct governors to do all that is possible to promote the linen manufacture in Ireland; and the wise and good in both kingdoms will never desire such use of their wool and their ports as must be directly prejudicial to England.
The most perfect harmony will subsist between Great Britain and her colonies, as long as British subjects, cemented by blood, by mutual interest and commerce, continue friends to liberty and the protestant religion, and succession in the present royal family; this is a true and lasting family-compact: all which inestimable blessings will be rendered permanent and inviolable by the fleets of England, which, whilst the British empire is united, will be superiour to all other powers in the world.
The editor cannot take his leave of the reader without observing, that very important services have been done to America, by a plan of government drawn up for the province of Carolina by Mr. Locke, under the direction of that eminent and able statesman the first earl of Shaftsbury; and by the present earl of Shaftsbury, as an active and zealous trustee for the colony of Georgia; from which, in time, we may expect a considerable quantity of raw silk will be imported into England.
Vines are natural to the soil of many parts in America; and, if olive-trees are planted in such provinces as are most proper for the growth of them, the planters will soon be enriched, and England relieved in several articles made from this profitable fruit, and which are necessary to the support of every individual and every manufacture in the kingdom.
Temple,
March 1766.
G. S.
John Locke
Feb, 1, 1679
Shaftsbury
Anthony Earl
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ANTHONY EARL OF SHAFTSBURY.
My Lord,
THE country, where these observations were made, hath vanity enough to over-value every thing it produces; and it is hard to live in a place, and not take some tincture from the manners of the people. Yet I think I should scarce have ventured to trouble your lordship with these French trifles, had not your lordship yourself encouraged me to believe, that it would not be unacceptable to you, if I took this way (for I ought all manner of ways) to express that duty and observance wherewith I am,
My Lord,
Your lordship’s most humble,
and most obedient servant,
Feb. 1, 1679.
JOHN LOCKE.
WINE.
In Languedoc they plant their vineyards in February; and they choose the quarter before the full, as the fittest time of the moon to do it in.
They set the cuttings they plant exactly in quincunx, and the rows at four and a half, five, and six pans distance. — A pan is 9 [Editor: illegible number]/6 inches.
About Tholoun in Provence, and also about Bourdeaux, I have seen vines and corn interchangeably; viz. two or three rows of vines, and then a ridge or two of corn.
They set their plants about a spit deep, and always leave two knots above ground.
In setting the vines, they dig the ground sometimes all over, sometimes only in trenches.
They plant their vineyards both in plains and on hills, with indifferency; but say that on hills, especially opening to the east or south, the wine is best; in plains they produce most. The soil about Frontignan, where the best muscat grows, is so stony, that one can see no earth at all. And the vine de Pontac, so much esteemed in England, grows on a rising open to the west, in a white sand mixed with a little gravel, which one would think would bear nothing; but there is such a particularity in the soil, that at Mr. Pontac’s, near Bourdeaux, the merchants assured me that the wine growing in the very next vineyards, where there was only a ditch between, and the soil, to appearance, perfectly the same, was by no means so good. The same also they observe about Montpelier, where two vineyards, bounding one upon another, constantly produce the one good and the other bad wine.
A vineyard, from its planting, will last fifty, eighty, or an hundred years. The older the vineyard, the fewer the grapes, but the better the wine. New planted vineyards produce more, but the wine not so good: it is generally green, i. e. more inclining to verjuice.
The vineyard thus planted, the next year at pruning they cut them, so that (if conveniently there can) there may be four shoots next year, near the ground, at least three, spreading several ways, which may come to be so many standing branches, out of which the shoots are to sprout. There being thus left the beginnings of three or four branches spreading different ways, ever afterwards, when they come to prune, they leave about an inch of that last year’s shoot, which grew strait out of the top of each of the four standing branches; all the rest they cut off clean to the old stock.
If by chance they find (when they are pruning) a vine decayed, or gone in any place, they dig a trench from the next stock to that place, and laying the old stock along in the trench, order it so that one last year’s shoot of the said stock shall come out just where the laid stock grew, and another where there was one wanting: these they cut off about eight or nine inches above the ground, which being fed by the great old root (which they move not when they lay the old stock, but so loosen it only as it may let the old stock be gently bent down, and so be buried in the trench) will bear the next vintage: whereas, if they planted a cutting in the place where they found a stock wanting, it would not bear in three or four years. By these young plants, they stick in a good strong branch, a pretty deal longer than the plant, which they leave there to defend it.
They prune their vines in December, January, February, and March; they that do it so late as the latter end of February, or the month of March, are such as have vineyards apt to shoot early in the spring; and, if cold weather nip the young shoots, they have the fewer grapes at the vintage. And in pruning their vines they observe to do it in one year in the new and another in the old of the moon, or else they say they will grow too much to wood.
They turn the ground of their vineyards twice a year; about the end of February or in March, and again in May; they do it either by ploughing betwixt the rows of vines, or, which they count better, by digging, in which they sometimes use little spades, but most commonly large houghs, the usual way of delving in this country; in which way they turn up the earth as deep and much faster than our men do with spades in England.
Pigeons dung and hens dung they make use of in their vineyards, as an improvement that will increase the quantity without injuring the goodness of their wine: but horse dung, or that of any beast, they say, spoils the goodness of their wine. This they have so strong an opinion of at Galliac, a place about thirty leagues from Montpelier, that, if a peasant there should use any but birds dung about his vines, his neighbours would burn his house; because they would not have the wine of that place lose its reputation.
I have been told that a sheep’s horn buried at the root of a vine will make it bear well even in barren ground. I have no great faith in it, but mention it, because it may so easily be tried.
But I suppose the husbandry in their vineyards differs much, both according to the fashion of several countries, and the difference of soil; for I remember that, at Mr. Pontac’s vineyard near Bourdeaux, the vines in some parts of the vineyard grew four or five feet high, and were tied to stakes; and in another part of the same vineyard they were directed along upon the ground, not above a foot from it, between little low stakes or laths, so that the old branches stand on each side the root like a pair of arms spread out, and lying open towards the south. The reason of this different way of culture I could not learn of the labourers for want of understanding Gascoin. In Languedoc they use no stakes at all to support their vines, but they trust them to the strength of their own growth, pruning them as I have above mentioned; which makes them say in the more northerly parts of France, that in Languedoc they have wine without taking pains for it.
When the grapes are ready to turn, they go into the vineyards, and there taking four, five, or six of the neighbour shoots, twist them together at the top; and thus the shoots all through the vineyard, being as it were tied together, stand upright, whereby the grapes have more sun, and perhaps the sap too is hindered from running into the wood and leaves.
They have about Montpelier these following sorts of grapes:
These are the names of grapes they have about Montpelier, as they are called in the pattoy of that country.
The espiran, a round, black, very sweet and very wholesome grape: they eat them in great quantities when thorough ripe (which is about the middle of August stylo novo) without any fear of surfeit; and they are often prescribed by physicians to be eaten plentifully. I think them one of the best fruits in the world. These alone, of all the red grapes, make good wine by themselves; but they plant them not in so great quantities as the other sorts, because in hot and dry seasons they will dry up before they are ripe.
Espiran verdau, or the green espiran, called so from its colour; an admirable grape also to eat, though not altogether so delicate as the black espiran; but its excellency is, that it will keep long in the winter for eating; and I have eat very good of them at Christmas. Their way of keeping them is to gather them when ripe, and so hang them up, every bunch single, to the roof of a close room.
Tarret is a black, very large, but not very sweet grape, and therefore used only for wine; wherein it gives a very large quantity, but not much strength.
Grumeau negre, or the black grumeau, is an excellent large grape, very fleshy, and well enough tasted, of the fashion of a pear. I have seen one single grape of this sort which was in compass above 3½ inches English measure, and in compass the long way 3¾, and weighed of their weights [Editor: illegible character]ss. Эj. gr. iij. and all the rest of the grapes of the same bunch proportionable; but I have not observed them ordinarily planted in their vineyards.
Raisin de St. Jean is a sort of grape which they have only at the physic-garden at Montpelier: it came from India; it is a black grape, very good, ripe at Midsummer (and therefore called St. John’s grape) two months before any of the other sorts.
Marroquin, a very black, large, fleshy, round grape, very good to eat, but seldom used in wine.
Clarette, white, longish, middle-sized, sweet, good to eat, and good for wine.
-
Piquardan, white, long, large, very sweet, with a very little of the muscat taste in it; makes very good wine alone or mingled.
-
Musquat blanc, or white muscat; this is usually planted and pressed alone, and makes the wine we usually call Frontiniac, from Frontignan, a town on the Mediterranean, near two or three leagues from Montpelier, where the most and best sort of this wine is made. It is a pleasant grape, and early ripe, before the ordinary sorts; but they are not near so good to eat as the espiran, being apt to fume to the head and make it ache.
-
Servan, a long, large, white, fleshy, sweet grape, called so, because they keep well, and you have of these always latest in winter.
-
Crispata: this I saw no-where but in the physic-garden at Montpelier: a good sweet white grape; called so from its jagged leaves, and I suppose the same with our parsley grape in England.
At Marmoustier, the great abbey of benedictins near Tours, I saw in their garden a sort of grapes pretty ripe, which they called raisins de Ste. Magdalene, because they used to be ripe about that time, which is the 22d of July.
Upon the skilful mixture of these several sorts of grapes, as well as on the propriety of the soil, depends in a great measure the goodness of their wine: though, as far as I could observe, it was not so far improved as it might; nor any other great care taken, but that there should be always a mixture of white grapes when they made their red wine, which will otherwise be too thick and deep-coloured: and therefore, if they have a sufficient quantity of claret or piquardin grapes in their vineyards, they seem not over curious of an exact proportion of the other sorts, which are planted there promiscuously.
When their grapes are ripe, and they have leave, they cut them, carry them home, and tread them immediately; for they will not keep without spoiling: this is the reason they must have leave; for, the parson being to have his tithe, and of that make his wine, if the parishioners were not obliged to vintage all at the same time, he could not make wine of his share, since one parcel of grapes could not stay till the other was cut to be pressed with them.
The grapes being brought in great tubs, either on mules or men’s backs, to the place where the wine is to be made, they put them in a kind of grate over the kuve, and there tread them till they are all broken, and then they throw them husks, stalks, and all, into the kuve: and thus till all their whole crop of grapes are trod.
When all the mass is in the kuve, they let it work there one, two, or three days, as they think fit to have their wine: the longer it works, and the more stalks are in it (for sometimes they put them not all in) the rougher and deeper-coloured will the wine be, but keep the longer.
When it has wrought its time in the kuve, they put it into buts, and there let it work as long as it will, filling up the working vessel every day with some of the same must kept on purpose, for it wastes much in working.
Of the marc (which is husks, stalks, and other sediment, left at the bottom of the kuve when the must is taken out) they make a worse and coarse sort of wine for the servants, and this they press as we do our apples, to make cyder.
The stones, after pressing, some people cleanse from the rest of the marc, and sell for food for pigeons: the stalks also cleansed they use in making of verdigris. And in some places they take the remaining marc after pressing, put it in great tubs, and cover it with water, keeping the marc down with weights, and of this they give to their horses, which very much cools and refreshes them there in the hot season. This may give one reason to consider, whether any such use might be made of the marc of our apples, after making cyder.
When they have a mind to have their wine fine sooner than ordinary, they put into the cask a pretty good quantity of shavings of fir, and in some places of hazel, and with it they sometimes put some whole white grapes.
A little bread or oil (they say ever so little, and therefore they are very careful in this point) mixed with the must, turns the wine to vinegar; and so does thunder: but they say iron laid upon the vessels will keep wine from souring by thunder.
The kuve is, in some places, a great vessel made of wood (witness the great kuve that is yet to be seen at Marmoustier, which, they say, will hold two hundred tun of wine), as our brewers vessels for the working of their kuve is in England. But, at Montpelier, it is usually a place made in the ground in some part of the house, proportionably big accordingly to the quantity they ordinarily make, and lined with plaster of Paris, to keep it from leaking. In the kuve (which is made use of but once a year) as well as all other parts of their making wine, they are, according to their manner, sufficiently nasty: the grapes often are also very rotten, and always full of spiders. Besides that, I have been told by those of the country, that they often put salt, dung, and other filthiness, in their wine to help, as they think, its purging. But, without these additions, the very sight of their treading and making their wine (walking without any scruple out of the grapes into the dirt, and out of the dirt into grapes they are treading) were enough to set one’s stomach ever after against this sort of liquor.
In some parts of Languedoc, out of the great roads, their wine is so cheap, that one may ordinarily buy three pints a penny.
It is usual to set fig-trees, pear-trees, &c. up and down in their vineyards, and sometimes I have seen olive-trees. Here at Montpelier, as in other parts of France, it is no discredit for any man to hang out a bush at his door, and sell his wine by retail, either to those that fetch it out of doors, or will come and drink it at his house; for which they usually, for that time, set apart a room or quarter of the house, and have a servant on purpose to attend it. This I have known both gentlemen and churchmen do. But, whoever, in Languedoc, sells his own wine at his house, must not afford his customers so much as a bit of bread, or any thing else, to eat with it; for then it will come under the notion of a cabaret, or common drinking-house, and their tax or excise overtake them. I mention Languedoc, because in other parts of France they who sell their own wine by retail, are not excused from paying the king a part of what they sell it for. At Saumur, I remember I was told, they then sold their wine (which is a very good sort of white wine) at their bushons, i. e. private houses, for 18 deniers per pint, which is more than our quart; out of which 18d. the king had 10d. and the proprietor the remaining 8d.
OIL.
THE sorts of olives, as well as grapes, are very various about Montpelier: the names of some of them are as followeth:
These three sorts are good to eat, and the last also is good for oil, and a great bearer.
All these are little olives, and used only for oil: they plant them promiscuously in their olive-yards, and mingled the olives in making oil. That which they principally regard in the plants is, that they be of the sorts that are the best bearers, and if they have not enough of those, they plant others, and inoculate them. The slips will grow, but they commonly use off-sets from the roots.
Their time of planting is February, March, and April. Their olive-trees last to a great age; they say two hundred years. When the old stocks are faulty or decayed, they let up young off-sets from the roots round about, and when they are grown up to any considerable bigness, cut away the old stock close to the ground; and when the remaining young trees have not room to spread, because of their neighbourhood, they transplant them, till they leave at last but one standing.
They set their olive-trees ordinarily in quincunx, the rows at thirty or forty feet distance in their arable ground; for this hinders them not from ploughing and sowing corn in the same ground.
They dig about their olive-trees every year, and about the same time they dig their vineyards, and sometimes at others; and lay soil in the trenches they open about their roots; this is usually done in March, and the soil they use is horse-dung.
In pruning their olive-trees, which they do about the beginning of March, I observed them to cut off the top branches, I suppose to make them spread.
About the beginning of October they gather the olives, yet green, that they intend to pickle for eating, (for about the end of October they turn black;) and having carefully picked out those that have worms, they soak the sound ones, in the strongest ley they can get, four, six, or eight hours, according as they design to eat them sooner or later: the longer they soak in the ley, the more of their bitterness is taken away, but they will keep the less while. This ley they buy for this purpose at the soap-boilers. After they have been soaked in ley, they put them into water, which, for the three or four first days, they change two or three times a day, and afterwards once; in all a fortnight: this they do to take away the taste of the ley. The ley and water they use both cold. When this is done, they put them into pickle of salt and water, and so keep them.
I have been told, that cutting each olive in two or three places to the stone, and so soaking them in fair water seven or eight days, changing it every day, will take away their bitterness, and prepare them well enough for the pickle: but they count the ley the better way.
They often pickle them also after they are turned black, cutting them in two or three places to the stone, and then soaking them about a fortnight in water changed every day, and then boiling them in salt and water, which is the pickle they keep them in. These have a much worse taste than the green, having no very pleasant mixture of bitter and oily: but the good housewives think they will go much farther, (for they are oftener food than sauce there,) and so in their private families are commonly used.
They count their olives ripe enough for oil about St. Catharine’s day, the 25th of November; and about that time they begin to gather them: though I have seen them let them hang on the trees, and not gathered till the latter end of January.
In the gathering there will be leaves and branches mixed with them; to separate these they lay them down in a heap in a field, and a workman, taking up a few in a shovel, throws them into a winnowing sheet set up at a good distance from him, whither the olives come alone, the leaves and branches falling by the way.
The manner of making oil is this;
They take four septiés of olives a little heaped, and put them into a mill, which is drawn by a mule, where they grind them, as tanners grind bark, to a fine pulp, one standing by as the mill goes round, and shovelling in a little of the olives or pulp towards the centre, and clearing a part of the stone at the bottom, where he stands with a shovel, which he doth so by degrees and in succession, that I believe the mule goes round forty or fifty times for his once.
They being sufficiently ground, they put them into a stone trough, two whereof stand between the mill and the press; out of these troughs they take the pulp, and put it into frails, and spread it in them equally, so that they may lay them plain one upon another. Of these frails there were, when I saw them press, twenty-four upon each pedestal; viz. in all forty-eight; in which were contained ten septiés of olives. Sometimes they press twelve septiés of olives at once, and then they use more frails proportionably.
The frails being filled with pulp, and placed evenly and upright upon the two pedestals in equal number, they set the press a-working, first lifting up the screw end, and so the other end of the beam, sinking upon the hinder pile of frails, and pressing them, may make way for the putting in the wedges into the great mortise, and discharge the wedge in a little mortise, which, whilst they were placing the frails upon the pedestals, supported the beam; which being taken out, they work the screw the other way, and so bringing down the screw end of the beam press both on the fore and hinder pile of frails; a man attending in the mean time at each pile of frails with a lever in his hand, which resting in the groove or gutter where the oil runs, he thrusts against the side of the pile of frails, whenever he perceives it begin to swell out on any side, and thus keeps it upright from leaning any way whilst it is pressing, especially at the beginning; another man in the mean time not ceasing to turn the screw till the great stone at the end of it be clear off from the ground.
When the oil ceases to run, or but in small quantity, they lift up the screw end of the beam, and then putting a wedge in the little mortise, bring down the screw end of the beam again, and so lift up the great end that pressed the frails, and so bringing the beam to a level (the whole weight whereof lies upon the wedge in the little mortise, which supports it in the middle) discharge it clear from the frails.
Then they take off all the frails, except the eight or ten lower, on each pedestal, and stirring the pulp in one of the frails taken off, replace it again upon those that remained still on the pedestal; and then one pours on it a bucket of scalding water; after which he stirs the pulp again, and lays it flat and equal as at first, and then stirs and puts on another frail as before, with a bucket of scalding water poured on it; and so they serve them all, till all the frails that were taken off are replaced on the two piles as at first; and then they set the press a-working again as long as any quantity will run; and then lifting up the beam again, take off all the frails, stir the pulp, and pour on fresh hot water upon every frail, a little bucket-full as at first, and then press as long as any thing will run, screwing the stone up clear from the ground, and letting it hang so a good while. When not one jot more of liquor will be pressed from the frails, and they perfectly cease running, they let down the stone, and that pressing is done; and then one with a broad, but very shallow skimming-dish of brass, skims off the oil from the water, puts it into a brass vessel like a tumbler, but holding, as I guess, about three pints, and out of that pouring it into the vessels of the owners by a brass funnel.
When the oil is well skimmed off from the water, they pull out a stopple in the bottom of the cistern, and so let go the water, which runs into a great cistern, called hell, which is locked up and out of sight; into this hell all the water that hath served in pressing the oil runs, and is made so, that though it be always full of this water, yet the water alone runs out, and the oil that swims on top stays behind, by which means all the oil that escaped the skimming-dish is here caught: but this I suppose belongs to the master of the oil-press, for every body’s water runs in here to the former oil and water.
N. B.
1°. That the mill which grinds the olives is much after the same fashion with that which our tanners use to grind bark, only with some difference.
As 1°, that in the centre of the oil-mill there stands up a round stone, very smooth and true wrought, about two feet English in diameter, and about the same height, which the inside of the great grinding stone touches in its going round about it, so that no olives can escape the great stone towards the centre, nor get beside it that way.
2°. That the floor of the mill, upon which the great turning stone bears in its turning round, is also of hard stone and smooth, and a little shelving, the declivity being towards the centre; to answer which, the edge of the turning stone which is to grind the olives, that it may bear in its whole breadth upon the stones in the floor, is not cut with a direct perpendicular to the sides, but the line of the inside of the said grinding stone, and of the edge or circumference, make an angle something less than a right one, and on the outside there is left no angle, but it is cut off with a round; by which means, I suppose the great grinding stone slides constantly towards and is kept close to the round stone that stands fixed in the centre described N° 1°, upon which the perpendicular turning beam stands.
3°. So much of the floor or inside of the mill as the grinding stone does not touch, or is a little without his breadth, is covered with boards lying more shelving than the stone-floor within it; on which board-floor the olives to be ground are at first laid, which are not thrown all at once under the grinding stone, but are by small parcels shovelled down under the grinding stone by the man that attends the mill; every passing round of the stone a few; and here lies also the pulp which the stone works out in its grinding, which is also shovelled in its turn; for the floor of the mill, where the grinding stone bears on it, has always very little upon it, its great weight working is still out towards the circumference of the floor, for the stone in the middle hinders it from going inwards.
4°. The grinding stone is about six feet diameter, and about eleven inches thick, and on the edge and inside is wrought very smooth, and stands upright without leaning, that I could perceive; though, as I have said, the edge be not square to the sides, which is recompensed in the sinking of the floor towards the centre. The stone whereof it is made seems to be very hard, and it need be hard and heavy to break olive-stones and grind them to powder.
II°. That the shovels which they use to shovel in the pulp under the grinder, and when it is fine enough to take it out, and put it in the stone troughs, and then into the frails, are more like bakers peels than shovels, and there is not any iron upon any of them.
III°. That there are between the mill and the press two great stone troughs to put the pulp in when ground; two pedestals and two stone cisterns, into which the oil runs from the two pedestals by distinct passages, so that two peoples oil may be pressed at once, without the danger of mingling a drop.
IV°. The press is made thus: there are two pedestals about nineteen or twenty inches asunder, which lie just under the great end of the great beam; that which I call a pedestal is a round plain stone about twenty-six inches diameter, round about which is cut a groove or little trench in the same stone nine or ten inches broad; from the groove of each pedestal there is made a distinct passage for the oil to run to the two cisterns: upon these pedestals the frails are laid, and into these grooves or trenches the oil runs when pressed out of the frails, and so is conveyed separately to the two cisterns.
V°. Behind the hindmost pedestal stand erect in the ground two great beams, well fastened in the ground, as far on sunder from each other as the breadth of the pressing beam which is to pass up and down between them. From the nearest side of the nearest pedestal to the middle of the thickness of these beams horizontally is about twenty-nine inches: in the middle of each of these beams, in respect of their thickness, is cut a mortise or slit quite through, about forty-four or forty-five inches long, and about five or six inches broad; the bottom of this mortise is about forty-four inches higher than the pedestal.
VI°. This which I call the great mortise, they fill with several pieces of wood reaching quite athwart from outside to outside, and more, of the two erect beams; these pieces of wood, or, as I call them, wedges, are as thick as just easily to go into the mortise, and somewhat broader; with these they fill up this mortise when this end of the pressing beam is sunk below the lowest part of it, and thereby pin down the great end of the said beam to keep it down upon the frails, when the other end is drawn down by the screw; for by more or less of the wedges put into this mortise, they keep down the great end of the beam to the height that is fittest to press with.
VII°. The pressing beam is thirty-eight pans, or about thirty-two feet long, and about thirty-four inches broad; and, to increase its weight and strength, another great beam was fastened to it all along with bands of iron.
VIII°. At the little end is a screw, whereof the very screw (for it standing upright I could not measure it) was, as I guess, about thirteen or fourteen feet; the square of it, wherein the holes for the levers were cut, something above a yard; and at the bottom was a great round stone, in which this lower end of the screw is fastened with iron-work, so as to have the liberty to turn. The screw, when it is turned faster than this end of the pressing beam sinks, lifts up this great stone from the ground, which is as broad, thick, and heavy as an ordinary mill-stone.
IX°. Between the screw and the two erect beams placed behind the pedestals before described, stand two other beams, erect as the former, with a mortise in them long enough to hold only one wedge; this I call the little mortise, the top whereof is higher than the level of the highest frail, when they lay on most: upon this wedge the beam is to rest, when they are laying in or taking out the frails. So that the length of the great beam is thus divided: behind the pinning wedges three pans, from the pinning to the supporting wedge twenty pans, from the supporting wedge to the screw fifteen pans.
There is a piece of wood fastened on to the great beam, cross it, hanging over on each side, and placed just by the middle erect beams on the side towards the pedestals, to keep the great beam from sliding towards the screw.
X°. The ground where the great screw-stone lies is much lower than the level of the pedestals, which affords also a convenience for the placing the two cisterns, which are just under the great beam, and a little distance from the outmost pedestal.
XI°. The matter of the frails they use in pressing, and the texture, is the same with the frails that bring raisins to England; but the figure just the same with that of an hat-case, the crown being taken away: they are exactly all of a breadth, and scarce discernibly narrower than the pedestal; the whole to put in the pulp about one third of the breadth or diameter.
XII°. The oil that runs at first pressing, before the mixture of water, they call virgin oil, which is better than the other; but they all say it will not keep, but spoil in a month or two, unless you put to it salt or sugar, salt is the better of the two, and then it will keep six months: as much as you can hold in your two hands is enough to put into a septié of oil. — A septié is thirty-two pots, and their pot is more than our quart.
XIII°. They usually, therefore, let the virgin and other oil, of the second and third pressing, mingle all together in the cistern, which being afterwards put up in jars, and kept in cool cellars, will keep good seven years: but the mingling of some of the hot water, after pressing with the virgin oil, will not preserve it. So that it seems to be something either in the skins or stones of the olives, that comes not out but by the mixture of hot water and hard pressing, that serves to preserve it.
XIV°. They begin to gather their olives, as I have said, about St. Catharine’s day, i. e. the 25th of November.
XV°. All confess that oil is better which is made of olives fresh gathered, than those that have keen kept a month or two: but some tell me they delay so long (for when I saw them making oil, it was almost the middle of February) because olives that are kept yield the more oil; others say, the reason why they are not pressed sooner is, because every body’s grist cannot be ground at once, and they must stay till they can get a turn; and by keeping, they say also, they grind better, for the new gathered spirt away from the mill.
XVI°. After they have gathered their olives, they lay them in heaps in the corner of a cellar, or some such other place, upon little faggots of dried vine branches (a good part of the fuel of the country) between the olives and the ground, where sometimes a black water will run from them; this they call purging them. In these heaps they lie till they press them; none lie less than fifteen days; but, for the reasons above mentioned, they sometimes lie two months.
XVII°. Though they begin to gather their olives about the end of November, as has been said; yet they never set their mills on work till after Twelfth-day, or New-year’s-day, at soonest: the reason whereof is this: the master of the mill hires a great many men, for the time that oil is made, who keep the mill going day and night. Those whose oil is making give these workmen meat and drink, whilst they are employed about their olives; so that if the master should entertain them before Christmas, he must not only pay them for so many holidays, whilst they stand still, but maintain them too.
XVIII°. Four septiés of olives usually yield one septié of oil; but I observed they were somewhat heaped.
XIX°. The goodness of the oil depends exceedingly on the property of the soil; this makes the oil of Aramont in Provence, not far from Avignon, the best in France.
XX°. When they are either filling the frails, or new stirring the pulp in them, there are two men at work at each pedestal, besides a fifth, that takes the pulp out of the trough thereby, wherein it lies ready ground, and with a shovel puts it into the frails as they bring them; or else lades boiling water out of the furnace (which is also by, and the top of it level with the ground, with a trap-door over) and pours it into the frails as they are ready for it.
XXI°. When the oil is made, carried home, and has settled, they usually take three-fourths of the upper part; this they call the flower, and put it into earthen pots for eating; the remainder, being thicker, is kept for lamps and such other uses: and the very thick sediment they put in the sun, to get as much oil out as they can.
XXII°. The pulp, that is left after all the pressing and affusion of boiling water, belongs to the master of the mill, who sells it for a groat, or five-pence a mill-full, to others, who press it again, and make a coarse oil for soap, and other such uses.
XXIII°. The remaining pulp the bakers use to throw a little of it into their ovens as they are heating, it making a very violent fire.
XXIV°. Oil they count one of the best and surest commodities of their country. The ordinary rate of good oil at Montpelier is some years three, some four, and some years four livres and a half per quartal, i. e. one fourth of a septié, or eight pots.
FRUIT.
PLUMS.
The best plums are,
Of these the best to dry is the roche corbon, a large red plum; and the next to that the Ste. Catherine, large and yellow; because they are large and fleshy: not but that they dry of the other sorts too.
The way they take in drying them is this:
1°. They let them be so ripe, they drop off from the tree of themselves, which is best; or else fall with a little shaking.
2°. When you have them thus ripe, the best way (though not always observed) is to put them two or three days in the hot sun-shine, which will dry up gently some part of the superfluous moisture.
3°. When they have been thus a little dried in the sun, you must heat the oven gently; one little brush faggot is enough the first time; and having placed them singly upon wicker driers about two feet broad, and four or five feet long, (or of a round figure so large as will go into the oven’s mouth,) put them into the oven, and so let them dry there till the oven is cold; and then they must be taken out and turned, whilst the oven is heating again. The oven may be thus heated twice a day, at eight in the morning, and at eight at night.
4°. The second time the oven may be made a little hotter than the first; and thus the heating of the oven, and turning the plums, be repeated till they are dry enough, which is when they are of a due consistence and brownish colour.
5°. When they are so far dried as to be capable of pressing, the best way is to press them gently with the fingers, not into a flat, but round figure, for that way they keep best.
6°. The great care to be taken is in the first putting them into the oven, that the oven be not too hot; for if it be, it makes them crack their skins and run out, which makes them much worse.
PEACHES.
After the same manner one dries peaches, with this difference, that after the first time they have been in the oven, one peels them with a knife, for the skin will easily strip; and the stone then is to be taken out, and, if one will, a little peach thrust into its place, which makes the other large and better. This also they often do in drying their plums, when they take out the stone of a great one, thrust a little plum into the place of it.
PEARS.
Thus also pears are to be dried; but that the oven may be made a little hotter for pears than plums; they are to be stripped also after their first coming out of the oven.
The best pears to be dried, are the rouselette de Champagne.
The pears in most esteem amongst them about Tours and Saumur (for this is the part of France where are the best pears, plums, peaches, and melons) are,
The 10, 11, 12, 13, are their best summer pears.
The Virgoleuse,
Amadote musquée,
Verate,
Muscate d’Almagne,
are their best winter pears.
In the recollets garden at Saumur there is abundance of good fruit, amongst the rest a sort of pear, which they call,
which is ripe at the same time cherries are. They told me it was a very good pear, and a great bearer. Before the middle of August, when I was there, they were all gone.
They have in the same garden another pear, which they call
which, as they say, hath something of the flavour of jasmin.
MELONS.
The melons of Langers (a town upon the Loire, six leagues above Saumur) are counted the best in France; and from hence the court is supplied with them. Here, and at Saumur (where they are loth to give any preference to the melons of Langers), they set them in the common earth of their gardens without dung, or any other art, but barely nipping the tops of the branches when the young melons are knit, to hinder the sap from running too much into leaves and branches.
PRUNES.
The prunes we have from France are a great black plum, that grows about Montauban and those parts: they dry them as much as they can in the sun, and what wants to dry them perfectly, they make out by the heat of the oven.
Prunellas, or rather brignols, are a sort of plums that grow in Provence, not far from Aix: they gather them thorough ripe, and having stripped off the skins, they stick them on scuers about six inches long, and very slender; they take care not to put them too close to one another on these scuers. These little spits, loaded thus with plums, they fasten one above another, either in a cane, or a rope of straw like that we make for onions; and as we hang them up in our houses to keep, so do they those in the sun to dry.
When they are a little hardened, or half dry, they take out the stones, and press them with their fingers into that flat figure we see them, wetting their fingers a little to hinder them from sticking to them in handling: when this is done, they put them to dry again in the sun till they are quite cured; some say on the scuers again, others on boards. Those that grow at Brignol are the best, and hence they have their name.
They sometimes dry them with their stones in, and so they are better, as some that have eaten of them have told me.
SILK.
THEY usually put the eggs a hatching in the holy week, i. e. the week before Easter; but that which best regulates the time is the budding of the mulberry-trees, that when the worms are hatched, they may have food.
To hatch them, they commonly wrap them up in a linen rag, and so wear them in some warm place about them night and day till they are hatched, which will be in about three days.
When they are hatched, they feed them with the leaves of the white mulberry-tree: the leaves of the young trees are best whilst the worms are young; but when they are grown pretty big, and towards the latter end of their feeding, they must be fed with the leaves of old trees, else they will not be strong to get up into the branches to work. The leaves of young trees given them in the beginning make the silk the finer: they take care also not to give them yellow or withered leaves; but to avoid the trouble of gathering fresh leaves, every day, they will keep two or three days well enough in an earthen pot covered, or in a cellar.
They take great care also that no wet leaves or other moisture come to them, for that will kill them; and in feeding them they throw away the tender deep coloured young leaves at the top of the branches, because these, they say, will make the worms very big and yellow, and die also without working.
Whilst they are young, they keep them up in some box or chest from the cold, which will kill them: they say also that thunder will kill them, if it happen when they begin to work.
They change their skins four times, from ten days to ten days, or thereabouts; this they call their sickness; for about the time they change their skins they forbear to eat, and therefore they feed them but once a day; but at other times they give them fresh leaves oftener. At the time also of their sickness they change them, taking away the cake of dry leaves and dung that was under them, by removing them with fresh leaves, which they will stick to: but after the fourth sickness is over, they change them every day till they begin to work, which is about ten days after.
The woman of the house where I lay, put her eggs to hatch on Good Friday, April the 3rd; they were hatched the Monday following, and they began to work on Tuesday, June the 2nd: so that, allowing one day for every sickness, it fell out pretty near according to their reckoning.
When the worms are ripe as they call it, they cull out the ripe ones, i. e. those that are ready to work, from among those that are feeding, and put them upon shelves, where they are to work. They know those that are ripe by their clearness; for if you hold them up against the light with their bellies upwards, you will find them clear about the fore legs, some yellow, some white, according to the several colours of the silk they will spin; and by this clearness one may easily distinguish them from those that are not yet ripe.
The shelves they put them on to work are thus ordered: they place deal shelves one over another, as if they were for books; they make them about thirty inches broad, and the distance between them is about twenty-two inches: betwixt these shelves they set rows of a small brushy plant, somewhat like our heath, which reaching from one shelf to another are at the top turned partly one way, partly the other; so that the tops of the branches of these several rows or partitions reaching to one another touch, so that the whole length of each shelf is by these branches divided as it were into so many little caves, each of about nine or ten inches breadth; for the rows of branches that are set up to make these caves, which are as deep as the shelves are broad, are set at that distance. Into one of these caves they put the worms that are first ripe, which creeping up the branches find amongst the little twigs places to work in. When one cave has as many of these spinners as it hath well room for, they fill the next, and so on.
They never give them any leaves of the red mulberry-tree when they are young, because it being a strong nourishment, will hurt them; but if one give them red mulberry-leaves towards the latter end, they will be the stronger, and mount the branches the better, which when they are weak they cannot do; and the silk of those that thus eat red mulberry-leaves is as good as the other.
About a fortnight after they begin to work, they take the cocons (i. e. the pods of silk they have wrought) out of the branches; if you take them down too soon, they will not have done working, and if you stay too long, they will have eat their way out of the pods, and the silk will be spoiled. It is time to take them down out of the branches as soon as any of the papilions, i. e. the flies that come out of the pods, appear amongst them.
As many of the cocons as they think necessary to keep for a breed for the next year they strip off the loose silk from, and then thread them; but pass the needle warily through the side of the cocon, so as it may be sure not to hurt the worm within. They count that a pound of cocons will yield an ounce of eggs. The cocons, thus threaded, they hang up or lay in a convenient room, that so the papilions may come out, and make love to one another, and then lay their eggs on white paper laid there on purpose.
From the remaining cocons they presently either wind off the silk, or if they cannot do that (for it is not every body can do it) they either with the heat of the sun, or oven, or hot water, kill the worms in the cocons, so that they may keep them without having them spoiled by the worm, till they can get their silk wound.
Eight pounds of cocons usually yield one pound of silk.
The way of winding silk off from the cocons is a thing that cannot be taught without seeing; and there are but few amongst them that can do it well, it lying in a dexterity not easy to be learnt, as they say: they put the cocons in hot water, and so stirring them about with a kind of rod, the ends of the silk twires of the cocons stick to it, which they laying on upon a turning reel draw off from the cocons, which lie all the while in the hot water; but the great skill is to have such a number of these single twires of the cocons running at a time, as may make the thread of silk which they compose of a due bigness; for in turning (which they do apace) many of the twires of the cocons break, and so by degrees the silk thread, made of sundry of these drawn together, grows too little, and then the woman that is winding stirs her rod or little besom again with her left hand amongst the cocons, to get new ends of twires to add to the thread, which all this while keeps running. To know when to make this addition of new twires and in what quantity, so as to keep an even thread all along, is the great skill of these winders; for they do it by guess, and keep the real turning and the thread running all the while; for should they, as oft as is occasion, stand still to count the twires or consider the thread, and how many new twires were fit to be added, it would be an endless labour, and they could never make wages.
The engines also that they use for twisting this silk afterwards are too curious to be described, but by a model. I have seen one where one woman has turned a hundred and thirty-four spindles, and twisted as many threads at a time; and I have seen another wherein two women going in a wheel, like that of a crane, turned three hundred and sixty.
The mulberry-trees, where they stand near towns, yield them good profit; I have known the leaves of four white mulberry trees (some whereof were not very large) sold for a pistole, i. e. between sixteen and seventeen shillings sterling.
FROM ITS ORIGINAL TO THIS TIME (1704.)
PREFIXED TO CHURCHILL’S COLLECTION OF VOYAGES.
OF all the inventions and improvements the wit and industry of man has discovered and brought to perfection, none seems to be so universally useful, profitable and necessary, as the art of navigation. There are those that will not allow it to be called the invention of man, but rather the execution of the direction given by Almighty God, since the first vessel we read of in the world, was the ark Noah built by the immediate command and appointment of the Almighty. But this is not a place to enter upon such a controversy, where some will ask, why it should be believed there were not ships before the flood as well as after, since doubtless those first men extending their lives to eight or nine hundred years, were more capable of improving the world than we whose days are reduced to fourscore years, and all beyond them only misery or dotage? It is impertinent to spend time upon such frivolous arguments, which only depend on opinion or fancy. If then we give any credit to history, on which all our knowledge of what is past depends, we shall find that navigation had but a mean and obscure original, that it was gradually and but very leisurely improved, since in many ages it scarce ventured out of sight of land; and that it did not receive its final perfection till these latter times, if we may be allowed to call that perfect which is still doubtless capable of a further improvement: but I give it that epithet only, with regard to the infinite advancement it has received since its first appearance in the world.
The first vessel ever known to have floated on the waters, was the ark made by God’s appointment, in which Noah and his three sons were saved from the universal deluge. But this ark, ship, or whatever else it may be called, had neither oars, sails, masts, yards, rudder, or any sort of rigging whatsoever, being only guided by divine providence, and having no particular port, or coast to steer to, only to float upon the waters, till those being dried up, it rested on the mountains of Ararat, as we read in Gen. viii. 4. From this time till after the confusion of tongues there was no use of navigation, there being as yet no sufficient multitude to people the earth, and those men there were, having undertaken to build the tower of Babel, from thence were dispersed into all other parts of the known world. These first travellers doubtless met with many rivers before they came to the sea, as plainly appears by the situation of Babel, generally agreed upon by all that treat of sciptural geography; and those rivers they passed in a hollowed piece of timber, no better than a trough, or a sort of baskets covered over with raw hides, being the easiest that occurred to invention, and sufficient for their present purpose, which was only to pass on in their way to other parts, without the prospect of trade or commerce, which cannot be supposed to have then entered into their thoughts. What vessels they built when they came to the sea no history describes, and therefore it would be a rashness to pretend to any knowledge of them. That they were small, ill rigged, and only durst creep along the shores, is out of all dispute; if we consider that many succeeding ages were no better furnished, though they never failed from time to time to correct the defects they found in their shipping, and industriously laboured to improve the art of navigation. Not to speak therefore of what is absolutely fabulous, or only supposititious, let us come to the first sailors famed in history; and touching those times lightly, descend to matters of more certainty and better authority.
If we give credit to poets and poetical writers, we shall find Neptune covering the Mediterranean sea with his mighty fleets, as admiral under his father Saturn, supposed to be Noah, as Neptune is to be Japheth; and to him is ascribed the first building of ships, with sharp stems, or heads shod with iron or brass, to run against other ships, and split them, and with towers on them for men to fight when they came to lie board and board. Yet there are others that give the honour of inventing of ships, and steering them, to Glaucus, affirming it was he that built and piloted the ship Argo in Jason’s expedition against the Tyrrhenians; which others attribute to Argos, making him the builder and pilot. These notions, or rather poetical fictions, are rejected by the learned Bochartus in his Geographia Sacra, , 820, where he shows that the ship Argo ought properly to be called Arco, which in the Phœnician tongue signifies long, a name given it because it was the first long ship built by the Greeks, who learned it of the Phœnicians, and called it by their name, whereas all the vessels used by them before that time were round. This ship Argo, or rather galley, he says had fifty oars, that is twenty-five on each side, and therefore must be fifty cubits in length. Here it appears that the Greeks had round vessels before that time, and all that we can reasonably conclude is, that this ship or galley Argo, or Arco, was larger, and perhaps better built and contrived than any before it, and might perform the longer voyage, which rendered it famous, as if it had been the first ship. But it is certain there were many fleets, such as they were, before this time; for the Argonauts expedition was about the year of the world 2801, which was after the flood 1144 years: whereas we find Semiramis built a fleet of two thousand sail on the coasts of Cyprus, Syria, and Phœnicia, and had them transported on carriages and camels backs to the river Indus, where they fought and defeated the fleet of Staurobates king of India, consisting of four thousand boats made of cane, as Diodorus Siculus writes. About the year of the world 2622, and 965 after the flood, Jupiter king of Crete, or Candia, with his fleet stole away Europa the daughter of Agenor king of the Sidonians. In 2700 of the world, and after the flood 1043, Perseus went on the expedition by sea against Medusa in Afric. Now to return to the Argonaunts so much celebrated by the poets, upon the strictest examination into truth, we shall only find them inconsiderable coasters in the Mediterranean, and set out by the public to suppress pirates, though fabulous Greece has extolled their expedition beyond all measure. Next follows the Trojan war about the year of the world 2871, and 1214 after the flood, where we find a fleet of one thousand one hundred and forty sail of all sorts, still creeping along the shores, without daring to venture out of sight of land.
Now leaving the Greeks it is fit we return to the Phœnicians, who are the same the scripture calls the Philistines or Canaanites, as is largely proved by Bochartus, certainly the earliest and ablest mariners in those first ages: they made the greatest discoveries of any nation, they planted colonies of their own in most of those countries so discovered, and settled trade and commerce in the most distant regions. There can be no greater testimonies of their wealth and naval power than what we find in holy writ, Ezek. xxvii. where the prophet speaking of Tyre, says it is situate at the entrance of the sea, is a merchant for many isles, its ship-boards are of fir-trees of Senir, their masts of cedars, their oars of oak of Bashan, their benches of ivory, their sails of fine embroidered linen, and so goes on through most of the chapter, extolling its mariners, pilots, ships, all things belonging to them. This, though from the undeniable oracle of scripture, were no sufficient proof of their knowledge in this art, were not all histories full of their many expeditions. The first was on the coast of Afric, where they founded the most powerful city of Carthage, which so long contended with Rome for the sovereignty of the world: thence they extended their dominions into Spain, and not so satisfied, coasted it round, still pursuing their discoveries along the coast of France, and even into this island of Great Britain, where they afterwards had a settled trade for tin, and such other commodities as the country then afforded, as may be seen at large in Procopius, Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and many other ancient authors. Pliny, lib. 2. ca. with others affirms, that in the flourishing times of the republic of Carthage, Hanno being sent out from thence to discover southward, sailed quite round Afric into the Redsea, and returned the same way; and that Kimilco setting out at the same time northwards, sailed as far as Thule or Iceland. Both these relations are in part rejected by most authors as fabulous, because it does not appear that the utmost extent of Afric was ever known till the Portugueses in these latter times discovered it; and the very northern parts of Europe were not thoroughly discovered even in the time of the Roman greatness. However, no doubt is to be made but that they sailed very far both ways, and might perhaps add something of their own invention, to gain the more reputation to their undertaking. Nor were they confined to the Mediterranean and westward ocean, it was they that conducted Solomon’s fleets to Ophir; and we read in 1 Kings ix. 27. that Hiram (who was king of Tyre, and consequently his men Phœnicians) sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea. And again, chap. x. ver. 11. And the navy also of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir. Thus we see the Phœnicians traded to Ophir before king Solomon, and for him. To enter into the controversy where this Ophir was, is not proper for this place, but the most probable opinions conclude it to be some part of the East-Indies, and indeed there is not the least show of reason to place it elsewhere. How they performed these long voyages without the help of the compass, or magnetical needle, would be another no less difficult inquiry, considering they could not always sail by day, and lie by at night, or continually keep within sight of land, whence tempests at least would often drive them into the open sea; but this is easily solved by all authors, who with one consent inform us, that they were directed by the course of the sun in the day, and by the stars at night. And in this knowledge of the heavens the Phœnicians exceeded all other nations, as may be gathered from Pliny, lib. 5. c. 12, and 19, where he shows that mankind is obliged to the Phœnicians for five things of the greatest use, viz. letters, the knowledge of the stars, the art of navigation, military discipline, and the building of many towns. By this their knowledge of the stars, they recovered themselves when lost in foul weather, and knew how to shape their course across spacious gulphs, and bays which would have spent them much time in coasting round. However it must not hence be inferred that they were capable of traversing the vast ocean betwixt Europe and America, as some would endeavour to make out; because it is well known that voyage even with the help of the compass was at first thought impracticable, and when discovered, for some time proved very difficult and dangerous, till time and experience had made it more familiar. The very reason alleged for the possibility of their sailing to the West-Indies, which is the certainty of the trade-winds blowing always at east within the tropics, makes against them, because had those winds carried them thither, the vast difficulty in returning the same way would deter them from that enterprize, they being altogether ignorant, and we may say incapable of coming away north, which was accidentally found out many years after the discovery of the West-Indies.
The Greeks, though occasionally mentioned before them, were the next in order to the Phœnicians in maritime affairs, and learned the art of them. They not only equalled their masters in this art, but soon excelled them, and gave them several notable overthrows on their own element; for we often find them, though much inferiour in numbers, gaining glorious victories over the Persians, whose fleets were all managed by Phœnicians. One instance or two may serve for all; the first is the famous battle of Salamis, where the confederate Greeks, whose whole force consisted but of three hundred and eighty ships, defeated thirteen hundred of the Persians, with inconsiderable loss to themselves, and incredible to their enemies; as may be seen in Plutarch’s lives of Themistocles and Aristides, in Diod. Sic. lib. XI. Herod. lib. VII. and VIII. and others. Again the Athenian fleet commanded by Cimon lorded it along the coasts of Asia, where closely pursuing the Persian admiral Titraustes, he obliged him to run his ships aground, of which he took two hundred, besides all that perished on the shore. And not so satisfied, Cimon proceeded to Hydrope, where he destroyed seventy sail, which were the peculiar squadron of the Phœnicians; for which particulars see Thucyd. lib. I. ca and 12, Plutarch in vit. Cimon. and Diod. Sic. lib. XII. These victories were the bane of Greece, which growing rich with the spoils of the Persians fell into those vices it had before been a stranger to, and which broke that union which had preserved it against the common enemy. Hence followed the war betwixt the Athenians and Lacedemonians, and several others, where those little states confederating one against another set out many numerous fleets, and strove for the sovereignty of the sea, till having sufficiently weakened themselves they at length became a prey to others. Yet during their flourishing times, and even in adversity, when driven from home by disasters, they never ceased sending out colonies upon all the coasts of the Mediterranean, and particularly of Asia, Spain, France, Italy, and Sicily. In all which countries they so far extended their empire, that it would fill a volume to give but an indifferent account of them. Yet under Alexander the Great, the founder of the Grecian empire, there are some things so singular that they well deserve a place here. That these latter ages may not boast of the invention of fireships, we find in Curtius, lib. IV. that at the siege of Tyre, when a mole was carrying on to join that city to the continent, the inhabitants having loaded a large ship heavily-a-stern with sand and stones, to the end the head might rise above the water, and prepared it for their purpose with combustible matter, they drove it violently with sails and oars against the mole, where they set fire to it, the seamen in it escaping in their boats. The mole being in a great measure made of wood, with wooden towers on it, was by this device utterly destroyed. Thus we see the Tyrians successfully invented the first fireship we read of in history. The next thing remarkable in this mighty conqueror’s reign in relation to navigation, was his sailing down the river Indus into the Indian ocean, where we may by the by observe the wonderful ignorance, not only of his landmen, but even of the sailors, who, as Curtius, lib. IX. testifies, were all astonished and beside themselves at the ebbing and flowing of the river. From hence the same author tells us, Alexander sent his admiral Nearchus to coast along the ocean as far as he could, and return to him with an account of what he should discover. Nearchus accordingly keeping along the Indian and Persian shores, and entering the Persian Gulph, returned to him up the river Euphrates, which was then looked upon as a wonderful discovery, and a great masterpiece of that Admiral, for which he received a crown of gold from Alexander. Thus much we have concerning this expedition in Curtius quoted above, and in Plutarch in vit. Alex. Purchas, in his first vol. , 87, 88, gives a very particular account day by day of this voyage of Nearchus, taken out of Arianus, lib. VIII. who delivers it as Nearchus’s journal of the expedition.
Next to the Phœnicians and Greeks, the Romans became sovereigns of the sea; yet not all at once, but after hard struggling with the Carthaginians, then in the height of their power, having by their naval force made themselves masters of the greatest part of Spain, and the coast of Afric, of many islands in the Mediterranean, and being intent upon the conquest of Sicily. This island furnished these mighty cities with an occasion of trying their forces on pretence of protecting their allies, but in reality out of a desire of sovereignty. The Romans were altogether unacquainted with naval affairs, insomuch that they knew not how to build a galley, but that the Carthaginians cruising on the coast of Italy, as we find in Polybius, lib. I. one of their quinquereme galleys happened to fall into the hands of the Romans, who by that model built an hundred of the same sort, and twenty triremes. Whilst the galleys were building, they exercised the seamen in rowing upon the dry shore, causing them to sit in ranks as if they were aboard, with oars in their hands and an officer in the middle, who by signs instructed them how they should all at once dip their oars and recover them out of the water. When the fleet was launched, finding the galleys not artificially built, but sluggish and unwieldy, they invented an engine to grapple fast with the enemy at the first shock, that so they might come to handy-strokes, at which they knew themselves superiour, and prevent being circumvented by the swiftness of the Carthaginian galleys, and experience of their mariners. This engine they called corvus; it consisted of a large piece of timber set upright on the prow of the vessel, about which was a stage of several ascents of boards well fastened with iron, and at the end of it two massive irons sharp pointed. The whole could be hoisted or lowered by a pulley at the top of the upright timber. This engine they hoisted to the top when the enemy drew near, and when they came to shock ship to ship, they let it run down amain into the enemy’s vessel, with which its own weight graggled it so fast that there was no breaking loose; and if the attack happened on the bow, the men went down two and two into the enemy’s vessel by the help of the aforementioned scaffold; all which may be seen more fully described in Polybius above quoted. By the help of these engines Duillius the Roman admiral overthrew Hannibal the Carthaginian, though superiour to him in number of vessels and experience in maritime affairs, taking his own septireme and fifty other vessels, with great slaughter of his men, though he himself escaped in his boat. This was in the year of Rome 493. In 497, M. Attilius Regulus, and L. Manlius Volso, consuls, commanded another fleet, in which were above one hundred and forty thousand men; the Carthaginians had then in their fleet one hundred and fifty thousand men under the conduct of Hamilcar, who was intirely overthrown, fifty of his ships taken, and sixty-four sunk. Thus far the sea had proved favourable to the Romans: but in the year of Rome 499, having set out a fleet of quinqueremes, they lost one hundred and forty by storms, which made them resolve to lay aside all naval enterprizes, keeping only seventy sail of ships to serve as transports, till in the year 503, perceiving their affairs in Sicily decline, the Carthaginians being absolute masters at sea, they again set out two hundred sail, and the following year received a mighty overthrow, with the loss of ninety-three galleys. Resolving now to put an end to the war, they again fit out two hundred quinqueremes, built by the model of a Rhodian they had before taken, and with them gave the Carthaginians such a fatal overthrow, as reduced them to accept of a dishonourable peace. This was the rise of the Roman power at sea, which they after not only held, but increased as long as their empire subsisted. Their actions are too many and too great for this place; those that desire to see more may read them in Livy, Plutarch, Appian, and many other authors who deliver them at large; thus much having been said only to deduce the succession of navigation from one people to another. Now though the Romans at this time gained the sovereignty of the seas, and held it for some ages, yet we do not find that they applied themselves to new discoveries, or ever exceeded the bounds of what the Phœnicians had before made known, their greatest voyage being that which Pliny, lib. VI. ca, gives an account of, being from Egypt to India before mentioned, to have been frequently performed by the Phœnicians, and therefore had nothing new in it. What occurs in this place is, to say something of the several sorts of galleys called triremes, quadriremes, quinqueremes, and so forth, whereof mention was made above. Herodotus, Thucydides, and Diodorus, agree, that Aminocles the Corinthian was the first that invented the trireme galley, about three hundred years after the destruction of Troy. Pliny will have it that Aristotle a Carthaginian first built a quadrireme, and Nesichton of Salamis a quinquereme; but Diodorus contradicts it, attributing the invention of the quinqueremes to Dionysius the Sicilian. Pliny further adds, that Zenagoras the Syracusan built the first vessel of six ranks, Nesigiton one of ten; Alexander the great is reported to have proceeded to twelve; Philostephanus makes Ptolomy Soter the first that made one of fifteen ranks; Demetrius the son of Antigonus of thirty, Ptolomy Philadelphus of forty, and Ptolomy Philopater of fifty. Thus we have the original of them all; but what sort of vessels these were, that is, how the several degrees or ranks of oars were disposed, has been much controverted, and is a most difficult point to be determined. The shortness of this discourse will not allow much canvassing of the point, yet a few words out of two or three learned authors will give some satisfaction to the curious. Morisotus in his Orbis Maritimus, , positively affirms that each of these vessels had its name from the number of ranks of oars placed one above another, so that the trireme had three, the quinquereme five ranks; and so every one according to its name, even till we come to Ptolomy Philopater’s tesseraconteres, which he asserts, had forty ranks of oars placed one over another, wherein he agrees with Baifius, whom he quotes, as he does the emperor Leo, whose words are these; Every ship of war must be of its due length, having two ranks of oars, the one higher, and the other lower. This which to him seems concluding, to others appears of no force; for allowing there might be vessels that had two ranks of oars one above another, that does not at all prove the possibility of having twenty or forty, which must of necessity rise to such a height as would look more like a mountain than a ship; and those upper oars must be so long, and in proportion so large and unwieldy, that no strength of hands could ever manage them. Others will have these several ranks of oars to be taken lengthways, and not in height; that is, so many in the prow, so many in the midships, and so many in the poop; whence will follow that Ptolomy’s galley had forty several ranks in length, with intervals betwixt them, in one line from stem to stern, which allowing but a small number of oars to each of these ranks, will quite outrun the length assigned that vessel, being two hundred and eighty cubits. This opinion is followed by Stewechius, Castilionius, and several others; but sir Henry Savil is of another mind, and supposes these ranks not to lie in length from head to stern, nor in height one above another, but athwart; which must appear preposterous, because allowing so many ranks this way, that is thwart the galley, its breadth would exceed all proportion. The fourth solution of this difficulty, and that very much received, is, that the vessel had its name from so many men tugging at one oar, that is three in a trireme, five in a quinquereme, and so of the rest; which indeed as far as six or seven men to an oar has the most resemblance of truth; but when we come to forty or fifty men to an oar, it will be difficult either to reconcile either to the breadth of the vessel, not to be supposed capable of eighty men in a rank, or to the height of the men, because though the first man next the side of the galley had the oar under hand, yet the end of it when it came to the fortieth must of necessity rise above his reach. These two objections are again answered, the first by allowing each oar to reach quite athwart the galley, and so the forty men to fill up the whole breadth, rowing as they do in our wherries or barges; and the second by allowing an ascent from one side of the galley to the other for each seat or standing of those that rowed; and for the soldiers and sailors, we must imagine a deck over the heads of the slaves at the oar. This carries much of reason, but little of ancient authority, for we find no ancient monuments that describe any thing of this nature. We will conclude this matter with the opinion of Schefferus de militia navali, lib. II. ca. where allowing a competent distance according to the length of the vessel betwixt each bank of oars, he supposes the first row to be as in our galleys next the level of the water; then in the intervals another row, not distinguished by a deck, but raised so high by their seat that their feet rested against that which was the back of the bank below them, and so one above the other in those intervals, which takes off much of the height, that must have been, allowing them several decks, and consequently shortens the upper oars in proportion; yet cannot at all lessen the difficulty that will occur upon plying so many oars, which will come to dip so close together in the water, that it seems impracticable to avoid clattering of them, and falling into confusion, not to mention many more inconveniences obvious enough to every man’s reason that has seen any vessels of this nature: and therefore it is best to determine nothing amidst such uncertainties, but leave every one to approve that which shall best suit with his notion of the matter. Therefore leaving these obscurities, it is better to proceed upon the history of navigation where we left off, and see in what state it continued from the time of the Romans last spoken of, till the fortunate discovery of the magnetical needle, from which time is to be dated its greatest advancement, as will be visible in that place.
As long as the Roman empire continued in splendour, it supported what it had found of navigation, but added little or nothing to it, that people being altogether intent upon making new conquests, and finding still more work than they were able to compass upon dry land, without venturing far out to sea. But when the barbarous nations began to dismember that monarchy, this art, instead of improving, doubtless declined, as did all others. The first of these barbarians were the Goths and Vandals, of whom no great actions appear on the sea, their farthest expeditions on this element being in the Mediterranean, betwixt Italy and Afric, Spain and the islands, where nothing occurs worth mentioning. The Saracens were next to them as to order of time, though much superiour in naval power, yet contained within the same bounds, and consequently did nothing more memorable. After the Saracens may be reckoned the Normans, who for several years infested the coasts of Britain and France with their fleets from Norway, till having settled themselves in Normandy, they ran out plundering all the coasts of Spain, and entering the streights conquered a great part of the kingdom of Naples, and the whole island of Sicily. Still these, though they undertook longer voyages, were but coasters, and satisfied with what they found, did not endeavour to add any thing to the art of navigation, especially for that they were as then but rude and barbarous, war and rapine being their only profession. Other nations famous at sea were the Genoeses and Venetians, betwixt whom there were bloody wars for several years; and the latter, till the Portugueses discovered the way by sea to the East-Indies, had all the trade of those parts in their own hands, either brought up the Red-sea into Egypt, or by caravans to the sea-port towns of Asia. We might here mention the expeditions of English, French, Danes, Dutch, and other nations, but should find nothing new in them all. They all in their turns were powerful at sea, they all ventured sometimes far from home, either to rob, conquer, or trade, but all in the same manner creeping along the shores, without daring to venture far out to sea, having no guides out of sight of land but the stars, which in cloudy nights must fail them. It is therefore time to leave these blind sailors and come to the magnet or loadstone, and to the compass or magnetical needle, which has opened ways in the unknown ocean, and made them as plain and easy in the blackest night as in the brightest day. To come then to the point.
The loadstone, or magnet, so called from the Latin word magnes, had this name given it because found in the country of Magnesia, which is a part of Lydia in Asia; or because the Magnesians first discovered its virtue of attracting iron: for both these reasons are given by the learned Bochartus Geogr. Sacr. . What other virtues and qualities it has, does not belong to this place. But it is certain the magnet has two poles answering to the two poles of the world, and to which they naturally incline (if nothing obstructs) to lie parallel. This property is not confined to itself, but communicative, as daily experience shows us in the nautical needles, which by the touch of this stone partake so much of its nature, that the point so touched, unless otherwise hindered, will always look towards the north-pole. Let the learned naturalist plunge himself into the inscrutable abyss of nature to find out reasons for this sympathy; it shall suffice here to show the benefits and advantages navigation, and in it mankind, has reaped by the discovery of this most wonderful secret. The Magnesians, as was said above, were counted the first discoverers of the loadstone’s virtue of attracting iron; but this greater virtue of pointing out the north-pole, was never found till about the year 1300, if we will believe all the best modern inquirers into antiquity, who upon diligent search unanimously agree they cannot find the least ground to believe it was known before, rather than give credit to some few writers, who rather suppose such a thing to have been used by the Phœnicians, than pretend to prove it, having nothing but their own fancies, raised upon weak and groundless surmises, to build upon. The great advocate I find for this opinion in Bochart. Geog. Sac. . and in Purchas’s pilgrims, . is Fuller in his miscellanies, l. 4. c. 19. yet neither of them mentions any proof or strong argument he brings to corroborate his opinion, and therefore they both with reason reject him. These two authors, and Pancirol, lib. ii. tit. 11. do not forget the verse often urged out of Plautus in Mercat
Which versoria some will have to be the compass. But there is nothing solid in this argument, it is only catching at straws, when all history and practice of former ages make against it. History, because it could not but have made some mention of a thing so universally useful and necessary; and practice, because it is well known no such voyages were then performed, as are now daily by the help of the compass. It has sufficiently been proved before, that in all former ages they were but coasters, scarce daring to venture out of sight of land; that if out at night they had no other rule to go by but the stars: and what is still more, it is manifest they scarce ventured at all to sea in the winter months. That this is so, appears by Vegetius, lib. IV. where speaking of the months, he says, the seas are shut from the third of the ides of November to the sixth of the ides of March, and from that time till the ides of May it is dangerous venturing to sea. Thus much may suffice to shew the compass was not known to antiquity; let us see when it first appeared in the world.
Its ancient use being rejected by general consent, there have still been some who have endeavoured to rob the discoverer of this honour: among them Goropius quoted by Morisotus, will have this invention attributed to the Cimbrians, Teutonics or Germans, for this weak reason, because the names of the thirty-two winds about it are Teutonic, and used by almost all Europeans. Others will not allow this to be the product of any part of Europe, and therefore go as far as China for it, alleging that M. Paulus Venetus brought it from thence about the year 1260: but this is asserted without any the least authority, only because Paulus Venetus travelled into China, and when afterwards the Portugueses came thither, they found the use of the needle common among all those eastern nations, which they affirmed they had enjoyed for many ages. Not to dwell upon groundless suppositions, the general consent of the best authors on this subject is, that the magnetical needle or compass was first found out in Europe by one John Gioia, whom others call Flavio Gioia, of the city of Amalfi, on the coast of that part of the kingdom of Naples called Terra di Lavoro. This happened about the year of our Lord 1300, and though the thing be of such stupendous advantage to the world, yet it did not prove so greatly profitable to the first finder, whose bare name is all that remains to posterity, without the least knowledge of his profession, or after what manner he made this wonderful discovery. So wonderful that it seems to contradict the opinion of Solomon, who so many ages since said there was nothing new under the sun; whereas this certainly appears, though so long after him, to be altogether new, and never so much as thought of before, which cannot so plainly be made out of any other of those we look upon as modern inventions or improvements. For to instance in a few things, we find the use of fire-ships among the Tyrians in the time of Alexander the great, as was mentioned before out of Curtius, lib. IV. and therefore not repeated here. Our sea charts, on which latter times have so much valued themselves, are of such ancient date, that we cannot find their original; yet Morisotus, , says, that Eolus gave Ulysses a sea chart drawn on a ram’s skin, that is, a parchment. Again, , the same author out of Trogus observes, that Democedes the Cratonian, employed by Darius Hystaspes to view the coasts of Greece, sent him charts of them all, with the ports, roads, and strong holds, exactly marked down. Then, , he shows out of Ælianus and Aristophanes, that there were maps of the world in Socrates’s time. This, he says, was about the eightieth Olympiad, and then quotes Strabo, who from Eratosthenes affirms, Anaximander the Milesian was the first that made geographical tables about the fiftieth Olympiad. Sheathing of ships is a thing in appearance so absolutely new, that scarce any will doubt to assert it altogether a modern invention; yet how vain this notion is, will soon appear in two instances. Leo Baptisti Alberti in his book of architecture, lib. V. ca, has these words. But Trajan’s ship weighed out of the lake of Riccia at this time, while I was compiling this work, where it had laid sunk and neglected for above thirteen hundred years; I observed that the pine and cypress of it had lasted most remarkably. On the outside it was built with double planks, daubed over with Greek pitch, caulked with linen rags, and over all a sheet of lead fastened on with little copper nails. Raphael Volaterranus in his geography says, this ship was weighed by the order of cardinal Prospero Colonna. Here we have caulking and sheathing together above sixteen hundred years ago; for I suppose no man can doubt that the sheet of lead nailed over the outside with copper nails was sheathing, and that in great perfection, the copper nails being used rather than iron, which, when once rusted in the water, with the working of the ship soon lose their hold and drop out. The other instance we find in Purchas’s pilgrims, vol. I. lib. IV. in captain Saris’s voyage to the court of Japan, , where the captain giving an account of his voyage says, that rowing betwixt Firando and Fuccate, about eight or ten leagues on this side Xemina-seque, he found a great town where there lay in a dock a junck of eight or ten hundred ton burden, sheathed all with iron. This was in the year 1613, about which time the English came first acquainted with Japan; and it is evident, that nation had not learned the way of sheathing of them, or the Portugueses, who were there before, but were themselves ignorant of the art of sheathing.
Now to return to the magnetical needle, or sea-compass; its discoverer, as has been said, appears to be Flavius, or John Gioia of Amalfi, and the time of its discovery about the year 1300. The reason of its tending to or pointing out the north, is what many natural philosophers have in vain laboured to find; and all their study has brought them only to be sensible of the imperfection of human knowledge, which when plunged into the inquiry after the secrets of nature, finds no other way to come off but by calling them occult qualities, which is no other than owning our ignorance, and granting they are things altogether unknown to us. Yet these are not all the wonders of this magnetic virtue. The variation of it is another as inscrutable a secret. This variation is when the needle does not point out the true pole, but inclines more or less either to the east or west; and is not certain, but differs according to places, yet holding always the same in the same place, and is found by observing the sun or stars. The cause of this variation some philosophers ascribe to magnetical mountains, some to the pole itself, some to the heavens, and some to a magnetical power even beyond the heavens; but these are all blind guesses, and fond ostentations of learning, without any thing in them to convince one’s reason. There is nothing of it certain but the variation itself. Nor is this variation alone, there is a variation of the variation, a subject to be handled by none but such as have made it a peculiar study, and which deserving a peculiar volume is daily expected from a most able pen. But let us leave these mysteries, and come to the historical part, as the principal scope of this discourse; where we shall find, that though the use of the needle was so long since found out, yet either through its being kept private by some few persons at first as a secret of great value, or through the dulness of sailors, at first not comprehending this wonderful phenomenon; or through fear of venturing too far out of the known shores; or lastly, out of a conceit that there could not be more habitable world to discover: whether for these, or any other cause, we do not find any considerable advantage made of this wonderful discovery for above an age after it: nay, what is more, it does not appear how the world received it, who first used it upon the sea, and how it spread abroad into other parts. This is not a little strange in a matter of such consequence, that the histories of nations should not mention when they received so great an advantage, or what benefit they found at first by it. But so it is; and therefore to show the advancement of navigation since the discovery of the magnetical needle, it will be absolutely necessary to begin several years after it, before which nothing appears to be done. This shall be performed with all possible brevity, and by way of annals, containing a summary account of all discoveries from year to year: yet lest the distance and variety of places should too much distract the reader, if all lay intermixed, the European northern discoveries shall be first run through in their order of years; next to them, as next in order of time, shall follow the African, and so the East-Indian, or Asiatic, the one being the consequence of the other; and in the last place shall appear the West-Indian, or American. The first part of the northern European discoveries is all taken out of Hakluyt, beginning with the nearest after the discovery of the needle, quoting the authors out of him, and the page where they are to be found.
An. 1360, Nicholas de Linna, or of Linn, a friar of Oxford, who was an able astronomer, took a voyage with others into the most northern islands of the world; where leaving his company he travelled alone, and made draughts of all those northern parts, which at his return he presented to king Edward III. This friar made five voyages into those parts; for this he quotes Gerardus Mercator, and Mr. John Dee, Hak. . And this, though it is not there mentioned, being sixty years after the discovery of the compass, we may look upon as one of the first trials of this nature made upon the security of the magnetical direction in these northern seas. Yet after this for many years we find no other discovery attempted this way, but rather all such enterprises seemed to be wholly laid aside, till
An. 1553, and in the reign of king Edward VI. sir Hugh Willoughby was sent out with three ships to discover Cathay and other northern parts. He sailed in May, and having spent much time about the northern islands subject to Denmark, where he found no commodity but dried fish and train oil, he was forced about the middle of September, after losing the company of his other two ships, to put into a harbour in Lapland called Arzina, where they could find no inhabitants, but thinking to have wintered there were all frozen to death. However the Edward, which was the second ship in this expedition, and commanded by Richard Chancellor, who was chief pilot for the voyage, having lost Sir Hugh Willoughby, made its way for the port of Wardhouse in Norway, where they had appointed to meet if parted by storms. Chancellor staid there seven days, and perceiving none of his company came to join him, proceeded on his voyage so fortunately, that within a few days he arrived in the bay of St. Nicholas on the coast of Muscovy, where he was friendly received by the natives, being the first ship that ever came upon that coast. Chancellor himself went to the court of Mosco, where he settled a trade betwixt England and Muscovy, with John Basilowitz the great duke, or czar, then reigning. This done, Chancellor returned home with the honour of the first discovery of Russia.
An. 1556, Stephen Burrough was sent out in a small vessel to discover the river Ob: he sailed in April, and in May came upon the coast of Norway; whence continuing his voyage, in July he arrived at Nova Zembla, that is, the new land, where he received directions how to shape his course for the river Ob. He spent some time in search of it, but coming to the straits of Weygats found no passage, and the summer-season being almost spent, returned to Colmogro in Muscovy, where he wintered, designing to prosecute his voyage the next summer, but was countermanded, and so this was all the event of the expedition.
An. 1558, Anthony Jenkinson sailed for Muscovy with four ships under his command: he left his ships, and travelled by land to Mosco, where having been nobly entertained by the czar, he obtained his pass, and continued his journey through Muscovy across the kingdoms of Casan and Astracan, where shipping himself on the river Volga he sailed down into the Caspian sea, having travelled by land about six hundred leagues in the czar’s dominions from Mosco. On the Caspian sea he spent twenty-seven days, after which landing, he proceeded five days’ journey by land among a sort of wild Tartars with a caravan of one thousand camels; then twenty days more through a desert, suffering much through hunger and thirst. This brought him again to another part of the Caspian sea, where formerly the river Oxus fell into it, which now he says runs into another river not far from hence called Ardock, which runs toward the north and under ground above five hundred miles, after which it rises again, and unburdens itself in the lake of Kitay. Hence he continued his discovery amidst those countries of Tartars to Boghar in Bactria, whence he returned to Mosco.
An. 1561, he returned to Muscovy with letters from queen Elizabeth to the czar; and taking the same way as before down to the Caspian sea, crossed over it into Hircania, where being nobly entertained, and conducted by the princes of that country, he passed through to the court of the king of Persia at Casbin, where he obtained several privileges for the English nation, and returned home in safety the same way he went.
An. 1580, Mr. Arthur Pet and Mr. Charles Jackman sailed in May from Harwich in two barks to make discoveries in the north-east beyond Weygats. In June they doubled the north cape of Norway, and having spent some days in that part of Norway, continued their voyage into the bay of Petzora; where Jackman’s vessel being in no good sailing condition he left Pet, who proceeded on to the coast of Nova Zembla, where in July he met with much ice, yet making his way through part of it, though with great difficulty, he at last came to the straits of Weygats: there he drew as close as the shoal water would permit, coming into two fathom and a half water, and sending his boat to sound till he found there was not water enough even for the boat in the strait, and therefore returned the same way he came. A few days after Pet met with Jackman again in some distress, as not being able to steer, his ship’s stern-post being broken, and the rudder hanging from the stern. Having remedied this the best they could for the present, they both stood northward to endeavour to find some passage that way; but meeting with much ice, they despaired of success, and resolved to turn again to Weygats, there to consult what was farther to be done. All the way thither they met with such quantities of ice, that some days they were not able to make any way. Being come again upon the Weygats, they made another attempt that way, but to as little purpose as before, the ice obstructing their progress. Wherefore winter now coming on, they found it necessary to quit their design for the present. Accordingly Pet being parted from Jackman, arrived safe in the river of Thames about the end of December this same year: Jackman put into a port in Norway betwixt Tronden and Rostock in October, where he wintered. In February following, he departed thence in company of a ship of the king of Denmark’s towards Iceland, and was never more heard of. The English having made these unsuccessful attempts, gave them over for many years; and the Dutch growing powerful at sea, resolved to try their fortune, hoping the failures of the English might help to point out to them what course they were to avoid, and what to follow; and accordingly,
An. 1594. The states fitted out three ships, commanded by William Barentz, Cornelius Cornelissen and John Hugens: they all sailed together, but Barentz run further up to the northward than the others, till he came into seventy-eight degrees of latitude, and in August met with much ice and abundance of sea-monsters, at which the seamen being discouraged they resolved to return home. The other two ships discovered some islands, and at last a strait or passage capable of the greatest ships, and above five or six leagues in length: being passed it, they came into an open and warmer sea, and upon the coast of Tartary near the river Ob or Oby, a very fruitful country. This they called the strait of Nassau, and might have gone further but for want of provisions. This done, they came back the same way very joyful to Holland. Meteren hist. of the Low-countries, lib. XVIII. This we see positively delivered, but with how much of truth I dare not decide; only must think it strange, that if such a strait had been once found it should never be met with since, though often searched for, and once by the same persons that pretended to have been the first discoverers, as may be seen in the year 1596, yet we see this assertion repeated by the same author, who takes it from the relations of the sailors, and in the same place before quoted says, that
An. 1595. The states being much encouraged by the relation of these discoverers, fitted out seven ships, six of them to proceed on their voyage to China, Japan, &c. this way, and the seventh to bring back the news of their being passed the strait; but they met with too much ice at strait Nassau, coming to it too late by reason of the contrary winds they had in their passage thither: yet the inhabitants of the place told them many particulars more than they knew before: but they returned re infecta. Meteren. ubi sup.
An. 1596. The Dutch not discouraged by the former disappointment, fitted out two ships under the command of William Barentsen and John Cornelissen, who sailed on the eighteenth of May, and on the nineteenth of June, found themselves in the latitude of 80 degrees, and eleven minutes, where they found a country they supposed to be Greenland, with grass, and beasts grazing like deer, &c. and less cold and ice than in 76 degrees: they turned back to an island they had before called the Island of Bears, because of the many bears they saw in it, and there parted company. Cornelissen went up again into 80 degrees of latitude, thinking to find a passage east of the land they had discovered, but returned home without doing any thing considerable. Barentsen made towards Nova Zembla, and coasted along it till he met with an island which he called Orange, in 77 degrees of latitude; thence he steered south and doubled a cape, but was stopped by ice, and making towards the land, on the last of August, was so inclosed that there was no stirring. They landed and built a house with timber and planks, into which they put all their provisions and goods, where they continued suffering much hardship all the winter. On the twenty-second of June they set out from thence in two boats they had repaired, leaving their ship among the ice, and an account in writing of their being there. Thus with much difficulty, they arrived at Cola in Lapland on the second of October 1597, where they found Cornelissen, who had made a voyage to Holland in the mean while, and was returned thither. Barentsen died by the way, but the survivors arrived in Holland on the twenty-ninth of October. Meteren. lib. XIX.
An. 1676. Captain John Wood in his majesty’s ship the Speedwell, with the Prosperous Pink to attend him, sailed from the buoy of the Nore to discover the north-east-passage. June the fourth he anchored in the island of Shetland, and the tenth sailed out again, directing his course north-north-east, and north-east-by-east, till the twenty-second, when at noon he saw ice right a head about a league from him, and sailed close to it, as they did the next day, entering into many openings which they perceived to be bays. Sometimes the weather proved foggy, and then they made little way; but as fast as the fog fell, it froze on their sails and rigging: they perceived the ice here joined to the land of Nova Zembla, and run out five leagues to sea. They continued coasting the ice to find a passage, till on the twenty-ninth of June at near midnight the Prosperous Pink fired a gun and bore down upon the man of war, crying out, ice on the weather-bow; whereupon he clapped the helm hard a weather to come about, but before she could be brought upon the other tack struck upon a ledge of rocks that lay sunk, the Pink got clear, but the ship stuck fast, and there being no getting her off, the men got all ashore in their boats with what provision they could save, some arms and other necessaries; only two men were lost with the pinnace. Here they set up a tent, and saw no other inhabitants but white bears. The following days the ship broke and much wreck drove ashore, which was a great help to them, there being wood for firing, some meal, oil, brandy and beer. They killed a white bear and eat her, which they said was very good meat. Thus they continued, contriving to build a deck to their long boat to carry off some of the men, and others to travel afoot towards the Weygats; till on the eighth of July to their great joy they discovered the Pink, and making a fire for a signal, she sent her boat to help bring them off, and by noon they all got aboard. They presently stood off to westward, and made the best of their way home, arriving on the twenty-third of August at the buoy of the Nore. Taken out of captain Wood’s own journal.
These are the principal discoveries attempted and performed at the north-east, which have proved unsuccessful, as failing of the main design of finding a passage that way to the East-Indies.
Let us now leave the barren frozen north, where so many have miserably perished, and yet so little been discovered of what was intended; ice, shoals, rocks, darkness, and many other obstacles, having disappointed the bold undertakings of so many daring sailors, and for so many losses made us no return but the bare trade of Russia, whilst our intentions were levelled at that of the mighty kingdom of Cathay, and a passage to China, Japan, and all the other eastern regions. Let us, I say, quit these unfortunate attempts, and come now to speak of those so successful, made towards the south and south-east, along the coast of Afric first, and then to those of the more frequented, as more profitable Asia. The first we find in this order, if the authority we have for it be good, is of an Englishman, by name Macham, who
An. 1344, having stolen a woman with whom he was in love, and intending to fly with her into Spain, was by a storm cast upon the island Madeira in 32 degrees of north-latitude. Going ashore there with his mistress to refresh her after the toils of the sea, the ship taking the opportunity of a favourable gale sailed away, leaving them behind. The lady soon died for grief of being left in that desolate island; and Macham with what companions he had, erected a little chapel and hermitage under the invocation of the name of Jesus, to bury her. This done, they contrived a boat made of one single tree, in which they got over to the coast of Afric, where they were taken by the Moors, and presented to their king for the rarity of the accident. He for the same reason sent them to the king of Castile, where giving an account of what had befallen them, it moved many to venture out in search of this island. This story we find in Hakluyt, vol. II. part 2. . where he quotes Anthony Galvao a Portuguese author for it; and D. Antonio Manoel in his works among his epanaforas, has one on this particular subject, which he calls epanafora amorosa. Upon this information, as was said, several adventurers went out, but to no effect that we can hear of, till
An. 1348. John Batancourt a Frenchman, obtained a grant of king John the second of Castile, and went to conquer the Canary islands long before discovered, and made himself master of five of them, but could not subdue the two greatest, as most populous and best defended. These were afterwards subdued by king Ferdinand, as may be seen in Mariana, lib. XVI. . These were small beginnings, and out of regular course; next follow the gradual discoveries made by the Portugueses, which may be said to have been the groundwork of all the ensuing navigations, which happened in this manner. King John of Portugal enjoying peace at home after his wars with Castile, was persuaded by his sons to undertake the conquest of Ceuta on the African shore. Prince Henry his fifth son accompanied him in this expedition, and at his return home brought with him a strong inclination to discover new seas and lands, and the more on account of the information he had received from several Moors concerning the coasts of Afric to the southward, which were as yet unknown to Europeans, who never pretended to venture beyond cape Nao, which had therefore this name given it, signifying in Portuguese No, to imply there was no sailing further: and the reason was, because the cape running far out into sea, caused it to break and appear dangerous; and they as yet not daring to venture too far from land, were ignorant that by keeping off to sea they should avoid that danger. Prince Henry resolving to overcome all difficulties, fitted out two small vessels,
An. 1417, commanding them to coast along Afric, and doubling that cape to discover further towards the equinoctial. They ventured to run sixty leagues beyond cape Nao, as far as cape Bojador, so called because it stretches itself out almost forty leagues to the westward, which in Spanish they call Bojar. Here finding the difficulty of passing further greater than at cape Nao, for the same reason of the sea’s breaking upon the cape, they returned home satisfied with what they had done. The following year,
An. 1418, the prince sent John Gonzalez Zarco and Tristan Vaz, with orders to pass that cape; but before they could come upon the coast of Afric they were carried away by a storm, and not knowing where, they accidentally fell in with an island, which they called Porto Santo, or Holy Haven, because of their deliverance there after the storm. It is a small island a little to the northward of the Madera: thither the prince, being informed of what had happened, sent Bartholomew Perestrello with seeds to sow, and cattle to stock the place; but one couple of rabbits put in among the rest, increased so prodigiously, that all corn and plants being destroyed by them, it was found necessary to unpeople the island.
An. 1419, John Gonzalez and Tristan Vaz making another voyage by order of the prince, discovered the island Madera, before mentioned to have been accidentally found by Macham the Englishman, and lost again till this time. The reason of calling it Madera was, because they found it all over-grown with trees, this word in Portuguese signifying wood. They set fire to the woods to clear them, which are said to have burnt seven years continually, and since the greatest want is of wood. The following years were employed in peopling and furnishing the islands discovered, till
An. 1434, Gilianez was sent by the prince to pass that dreadful cape Bojador, though at the same time many blamed the attempt, imagining, that in case they should happen to pass much farther on those coasts, all that did it would turn black; others saying there was nothing there but deserts, like those of Lybia; and others alleging other absurdities of this nature, suitable to the ignorance the world was then in of all parts yet undiscovered. Gilianez was satisfied with sailing 30 leagues beyond the cape, giving name there to the bay called Angra de Ruyvas, or Bay of Gurnets, because he there found many of that sort of fish. The next year,
An. 1435, the same commanders passed twelve leagues further, where they also landed, but the people fled from them: whereupon they proceeded twelve leagues further, where they found a vast multitude of sea-wolves, of which they killed many, and returned home with their skins, which was the greatest return made this voyage, they being valued for their rarity.
An. 1440, Antony Gonzalez was sent to the place of the sea-wolves to load his vessel with their skins. He landed, took some of the natives, and killed others; then coasted on as far as Cabo Blanco, or White Cape, and returned to Portugal.
An. 1442, Antony Gonzalez returned, and carrying these persons he had taken in his former voyage, exchanged them for some Guinea slaves and a quantity of gold dust; for which reason the river that there runs into the country was called Rio del Ora, or the River of Gold.
An. 1443. The gold above mentioned sharpening mens appetites, Nunho Tristan undertook the voyage, and passing further than the others, discovered one of the islands of Arguim, called Adeget, and another De las Garzas, or of the Herons, because they saw many herons in it.
An. 1444, a small company was erected, paying an acknowledgment to the prince, to trade to those parts lately discovered, whither they sent six caravels; which coming to the isles of Arguim took there about two hundred slaves, which yielded them good profit in Portugal.
An. 1445, Gonzalo de Cintra sailed to the island of Arguim, and venturing up a creek in the night to surprize the inhabitants, the tide left his boat ashore; so that two hundred moors coming down upon him, he was killed with seven of his men, and from him the place was called Angra de Gonzalo de Cintra, fourteen leagues beyond Rio del Oro.
An. 1446, the caravels sailed for the same river to settle commerce, but effected nothing, and only brought away one of the natives, and left a Portuguese there to view the country. But Dinis Fernandez the same year passed beyond the River Sanaga, which divides the Azanagi from Jalof, and discovered the famous cape called Cabo Verde, or the Green Cape.
An. 1447, three caravels performed the same voyage without doing any thing remarkable, more than taking up the Portuguese left there before, whom they found in good health, and he gave them some account of the country. This year likewise Nunho Tristan sailed sixty leagues beyond Cabo Verde, and anchoring at the mouth of Rio Grande, or the great river, ventured up in his boat, where he and most of his men were killed by their blacks with their poisoned arrows. Alvaro Fernandez the same year went forty leagues beyond Rio Grande. Prince Henry the great encourager, or rather undertaker in all these discoveries, dying, they were afterwards managed by his nephew Alonso the fifth king of Portugal. Under him,
An. 1449, Gonsalo Vello discovered the islands called Azores, or of Hawks, because many of those birds were seen about them. They are eight in number, viz. S. Michael, S. Mary, Jesus or Tercera Graciosa, Pico, Fayal, Flores, and Corvo. They are near about the latitude of Lisbon. In the last of them was found the statue of a man on horse-back with a cloak, but no hat, his left hand on the horse’s mane, the right pointing to the west, and some characters carved on the rock under it, but not understood.
An. 1460, Antony Nole, a Genoese in the Portuguese service, discovered the islands of Cabo Verde, the names whereof are Fogo, Brava, Boavista, Sal. S. Nicholao, S. Lucia, S. Vincente, and S. Antonio. They lie about a hundred leagues west of Cabo Verde, and therefore take name from that cape. He also found the islands Maya, S. Philip, and S. Jacob. This same year Peter de Cintra, and Suero de Costa, sailed as far as Serra Leona.
An. 1471, John de Santarem and Peter de Escobar advanced as far as the place they called Mina, or the Mine, because of the trade of gold there; and then proceeded to cape S. Catherine, thirty seven leagues beyond cape Lope Gonzalez in two degrees and a half of south latitude. Ferdinand Po the same year found the island by him called Hermosa, or Beautiful, which name it lost, and still keeps that of the discoverer. At the same time were found the islands of S. Thomas, Anno Bom, and Principe. Some years passed without going beyond what was known; but in the mean time King John the second, who succeeded his father Alonso, caused a fort to be built at Mina, which he called fort S. George, and settled a trade there.
An. 1480, James Cam proceeded as far as the river Congo in the kingdom of the same name, called by the natives Zayre, whence he continued his voyage as far as 22 degrees of south latitude, and thence home again.
An. 1486. King John being informed by an embassador from the King of Benin on the coast of Afric, that there was a mighty prince two hundred and fifty leagues from his country, from whom his master received his confirmation in his throne; and imagining this to be the so much talked of Prester John, he sent Peter de Covillam and Alonzo de Payva by land to get intelligence of this great potentate, and some account of India. They went together by the way of Grand Cair to Tor on the coast of Arabia, where they parted, Covillam for India, and Payva for Ethiopia, agreeing to meet by a certain time at Grand Cair; the first went to Cananor, Calicut, and Goa, passed thence to Zofala in Afric, then to Aden at the mouth of the Red-sea on the side of Arabia, and at last to Grand Cair, where he found his companion had died. Hence he sent an account to the king of his proceedings by a jew come from Portugal, and with another embarked for Ormuz, then went over into Ethiopia, where he was kindly entertained, but never suffered to return home. At the same time these were sent away by land, Bartholomew Diaz put to sea with three ships, and out-going all that had been before him a hundred and twenty leagues, discovered the mountains he called Sierra Parda, and passed on in sight of the bay called De los Vaqueros, or of the Herdsmen, because of the great herds of cattle they saw there: beyond which he touched at the small island Santa Cruz, entered the mouth of the river, called Del Infante, and at last came to the now famous, and till then unknown cape, which he called Tormentoso, because he there met with storms; but the king, in hopes of discovering the East-Indies, changed its name to that of Cabo de Buena Esperanza, or cape of Good Hope: this done he returned home, having discovered more than any man before him. The strange conceit which possessed the heads of the sailors, that there was no possibility of passing beyond Cabo Tormentoso, as they called it, and the great employment the kings of Portugal found in their great discoveries upon the coast of Afric, very much retarded the prosecution of further designs, so that nothing was advanced till
An. 1497. King Emanuel, who with the crown of Portugal had inherited the ambition of enlarging his dominions, and the desire of finding a way by sea to the East-Indies, appointed Vasco de Gama, a gentleman of an undaunted spirit, admiral of those ships he designed for this expedition, which were only three, and a tender; their names were the S. Gabriel, the S. Raphael, and Berrio; the captains Vasco de Gama admiral, Paul de Gama his brother, and Nicholas Nunez, and Gonzalo Nunez of the tender, which was laden with provisions. Gama sailed from Lisbon on the eighth of July, and the first land he came to after almost five months sail was the bay of S. Helena, where he took some blacks. The twentieth of November he sailed thence, and doubled the cape of Good Hope, and on the twenty-fifth touched at the bay of S. Blas, sixty leagues beyond the aforesaid cape, where he exchanged some merchandize with the natives. Here he took all the provisions out of the tender, and burnt it. On Christmas-day they saw the land; which for that reason they called Terra do Natol, that is Christmas-land; then the river they named De los Reyes, that is of the kings, because discovered on the feast of the Epiphany; and after that cape Corrientes, passing fifty leagues beyond Zofala without seeing it, where they went up a river in which were boats with sails made of palm-tree leaves: the people were not so black as those they had seen before, and understood the Arabic character, who said that to the eastward lived people who sailed in vessels like those of the Portugueses. This river Gama called De Bons Sinays, or of good tokens, because it put him in hopes of finding what he came in search of. Sailing hence, he again came to an anchor among the islands of S. George opposite to Mozambique, and removing thence anchored again above the town of Mozambique, in 14 degrees and a half of south latitude; whence after a short stay, with the assistance of a moorish pilot, he touched at Quiloa and Monbaza; and having at Melinde settled a peace with the moorish king of that place, and taking in a Guzarat pilot, he set sail for India, and crossing that great gulph of seven hundred leagues in twenty days, anchored two leagues below Calicut on the twentieth of May. To this place had Gama discovered twelve hundred leagues beyond what was known before, drawing a straight line from the river Del Infante, discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, to the port of Calicut, for in sailing about by the coast it is much more. Returning home not far from the coast, he fell in with the islands of Anchediva, signifying in the Indian language five islands, because they are so many; and having had sight of Goa at a distance, sailed over again to the coast of Afric, and anchored near the town of Magadoxa. At Melinde he was friendly received by the king, but being again under sail, the ship S. Raphael struck ashore and was lost, giving her name to those sands: all the men were saved aboard the other two ships, which parted in a storm near Cabo Verde. Nicholas Coello arrived first at Lisbon, and soon after him Vasco de Gama, having spent in this voyage two years and almost two months. Of a hundred and sixty men he carried out, only fifty-five returned home, who were all well rewarded.
An. 1500. King Emanuel, encouraged by the success of Vasco de Gama, fitted out a fleet of thirteen sail under the command of Peter Alvarez Cabral, and in it twelve hundred men, to gain footing in India. He sailed on the eighth of March, and meeting with violent storms was cast off from the coast of Afric so far, that on Easter eve the fleet came into a port, which for the safety found in it was called Seguro, and the country at that time Santa Cruz, being the same now known by the name of Brazil, on the south continent of America. Hence the admiral sent back a ship to advertise the king of the accidental new discovery, leaving two Portugueses ashore to inquire into the customs and product of the land. Sailing thence on the twelfth of May for the cape of Good Hope, the fleet was for twenty days in a most dreadful storm, insomuch, that the sea swallowed up four ships, and the admiral arrived with only six at Zofala on the sixteenth of July, and on the twentieth at Mozambique; where having refitted, he prosecuted his voyage to Quiloa, and thence to Melinde, whence the fleet stood over for India, and reached Anchediva on the twenty-fourth of August: then coming to Calicut, peace and commerce was there agreed on with Zamori, the king of Calicut, but as soon broken, and the Portugueses entered into strict amity with the kings of Cochin and Cananor, where they took in their lading and returned to Portugal.
An. 1501, John de Nova departed from Lisbon with four ships and four hundred men, and in his way discovered the island of Conception, in 8 degrees of south latitude and on the east side of Afric that which from him was called the island of John de Nova. At Cananor and Cochin he took in all his lading, destroying many vessels of Calicut, and in his return home found the island of St. Helena in 15 degrees of south latitude, distant fifteen hundred forty-nine leagues from Goa, and eleven hundred from Lisbon, being then unpeopled, but since of great advantage to all that use the trade of India.
An. 1502, the king set out a fleet of twenty sail commanded by the first discoverer of India, Vasco de Gama, whose second voyage this was. No new discoveries were made by him, but only trade secured at Cochin and Cananor, several ships of Calicut taken and destroyed, the king of Quiloa on the coast of Afric brought to submit himself to Portugal, paying tribute; and so Vasco de Gama returned home with nine ships richly laden, leaving Vincent Sodre behind with five ships to scour the coasts of India, and secure the factories there.
An. 1503, nine ships were sent under three several commanders, Alfonso de Albuquerque, Francis de Albuquerque, and Antony de Saldanha, each of them having three ships. The Albuquerques, with permission of that king, built a port at Cochin, burnt some towns, took many ships of Calicut, and then returned richly laden homewards, where Alfonso arrived safe with his ships, but Francis and his were never more heard of. Saldanha the third of these commanders, gave his name to a bay short of the cape of Good Hope, were he endeavoured to water; but it cost the blood of some of his men, and therefore the place was called Aguada de Saldanha, or Saldanha’s watering-place. Thence proceeding on his voyage, he obliged the king of Monbaza on the other coast of Afric to accept of peace; and then went away to cruise upon the moors at the mouth of the Red sea, which was the post appointed him.
An. 1504. Finding no good was to be done in India without a considerable force, king Emanuel fitted out thirteen ships, the biggest that had been yet built in Portugal, and in them twelve hundred men, all under the command of Lope Soarez, who made no further discoveries, only concluded a peace with Zamori, and returned rich home.
An. 1505, D. Francisco de Almeyda was sent to India, with the title of viceroy, carrying with him twenty-two ships, and in them fifteen hundred men, with whom he attacked and took the town of Quiloa on the east coast of Afric, and in about 9 degrees of south latitude, where he built a fort: then burnt Monbaza on the same coast in four degrees, and sailing over to India erected another fort in the island Anchediva, and a third at Cananor on the Malabar coast.
An. 1506, James Fernandez Pereyra, commander of one of the ships left to cruize upon the mouth of the Red-sea, returned to Lisbon with the news of his having discovered the island Zocotora, not far distant from the said mouth, and famous for producing the best aloes, from it called succotrina. In March this year sailed from Lisbon Alonso de Albuquerque, and Tristan da Cunha, with thirteen ships, and thirteen hundred men, the former to command the trading ships, the latter to cruize on the coast of Arabia: in their passage they had a sight of cape S. Augustin in Brasil; and standing over from thence for the cape of Good Hope, Tristan da Cunha ran far away to the south, and discovered the islands which still retain his name. Sailing hence, some discovery was made upon the island of Madagascar, that of Zocotora subdued, and the fleet sailed part for the coast of Arabia, and part for India. In the former Albuquerque took and plundered the town of Calayate, the same he did to Mascate, Soar submitted, and Orfuzam they found abandoned by the inhabitants. This done, Albuquerque sailed away to Ormuz, then first seen by Europeans. This city is seated in an island called Gerum, at the mouth of the Persian gulph, so barren that it produces nothing but salt and sulphur, but it is one of the greatest marts in those countries. Hence Albuquerque sailed to India, where he served some time under the command of the viceroy Almeyda, till he was himself made governor of the Portuguese conquests in those parts, which was in the year 1510, during which time the whole business was to settle trade, build forts, and erect factories along those coasts already known, that is all the east-side of Afric, the shores of Arabia, Persia, Guzarat, Cambaya, Decan, Canara, and Malabar; and indeed they had employment enough, if well followed, to have held them many more years. But avarice and ambition know no bounds; the Portugueses had not yet passed cape Comori, the utmost extent of the Malabar coast, and therefore
An. 1510, James Lopes de Sequeira was sent from Lisbon with orders to pass as far as Malaca: this is a city seated on that peninsula, formerly called Aurea Chersonesus, running out into the Indian sea from the main land, to which it is joined by a narrow neck of land on the north, and on the south separated from the island of Sumatra, by a small strait or channel: Malaca was at that time the greatest emporium of all the farther India. Thither Sequeira was sent to settle trade, or rather to discover what advantages might be gained; but the moors who watched to destroy him, having failed of their design to murder him at an entertainment, contrived to get thirty of his men ashore on pretence of loading spice, and then falling on them and the ships at the same time killed eight Portugueses, took sixty, and the ships with difficulty got away. However here we have Malaca discovered, and a way open to all the further parts of India. In his way to Malaca, Sequeira made peace with the kings of Achem, Pedir and Pacem, all at that time small princes at the north west end of the island Sumatra. Whilst Sequeira was thus employed, Albuquerque assaults the famous city of Goa, seated in a small island on the coast of Decan, and taking the inhabitants unprovided made himself master of it, but enjoyed it not long; for Hidalcan the former owner returning with sixty thousand men, drove him out of it after a siege of twenty days: yet the next year he again took it by force, and it has ever since continued in the hands of the Portugueses, and been the metropolis of all their dominions in the east, being made an archbishop’s see, and the residence of the viceroy who has the government of all the conquests in those parts. Albuquerque flushed with this success, as soon as he had settled all safe at Goa, sailed for Malaca with fourteen hundred fighting men in nineteen ships. By the way he took five ships, and at his arrival at the coast of Sumatra was complimented by the kings of Pedir and Pacem. It is not unworthy relating in this place, that in one of the ships taken at this time was found Nehoada Beeguea, one of the chief contrivers of the treachery against Sequeira; and though he had received several mortal wounds, yet not one drop of blood came from him; but as soon as a bracelet of bone was taken off his arm the blood gushed out at all parts. The Indians said this was the bone of a beast called cabis, which some will have to be found in Siam, and others in the island of Java, which has this strange virtue, but none has ever been found since. This being looked upon as a great treasure, was sent by Albuquerque to the king of Portugal, but the ship it went in was cast away, so that we have lost that rarity, if it be true there ever was any such. Albuquerque sailing over to Malaca had the Portugueses that had been taken from Sequeira delivered; but that not being all he came for, he landed his men, and at the second assault made himself master of the city, killing or driving out all the moors, and peopling it again with strangers and Malays.
An. 1513, Albuquerque made an attempt upon the city of Aden, but failed, being repulsed with loss. This place is seated on the coast of Arabia Fœlix, near the mouth of the Red-sea, under the mountain Arzira, which is all a barren rock; it is rich, because resorted to by many merchants of several nations; but the soil excessive dry, so that it scarce produces any thing. Being disappointed here, Albuquerque steered his course towards the Red-sea, being the first European that ever entered it with European ships.
An. 1517, Lope Soarez de Albergoria governor of India sailed over to the island of Ceylon with seven galleys, two ships, and eight smaller vessels, carrying in them all seven hundred Portuguese soldiers. This island had been before seen by the Portugueses passing to Malaca, but not much known. Here Lope Soarez built a fort, and in process of time the Portugueses made themselves masters of all the sea-coasts of this wealthy island.
About the same time John de Silveyra, who had the command of four sail, made a farther progress than had been done before in the discovery of the Maldivy islands, which are so many that the number of them is not yet known, lying in clusters, and these in a line, N. W. and S. E. and twelve of these clusters in the line, besides two other little parcels lying together east and west from one another at the south end of the aforesaid twelve. These, though so numerous, are so very small, that no great account is made of them. From them he sailed to the kingdom of Bengala, lying in the upper part of the gulph of the same name in about 23 degrees of north latitude, being all the country about the mouth of the river Ganges. To this joins the kingdom of Arracam descending southward, then that of Pegu, and next to it that of Siam, which joins to the Aurea Chersonesus, or peninsula of Malaca. All these countries abound in wealth, producing infinite plenty of silk and cotton, of which last they make the finest callicoes and muslins, with much reason admired by all the nations of Europe. They have numerous droves of elephants, and consequently great plenty of ivory, besides plenty of black cattle and buffaloes.
An. 1517, Fernan Perez de Andrade, sent by the king of Portugal to make new discoveries, leaving all behind that had been before known, and passing the strait betwixt Malaca and the island Sumatra, came upon the coast of the kingdom of Camboia, whence he proceeded to that of Chiampa, where taking of fresh water had like to have cost him his life. He went on to Patane, and established peace and commerce with the governor there: which done, the season being unfit to proceed further, he returned to Malaca to refit. As soon as the weather was seasonable he set out again, and continued his discoveries till he arrived at Canton, or Quantung, the most remarkable sea-port town on the southern coast of the vast empire of China. He treated with the governor of Canton, and sent an embassador to the emperor of China, and settled trade and commerce in that city for the present. Though this was not lasting, (for the very next Portugueses that arrived behaved themselves so insolently, that the fleet of China attacked them, and they had much difficulty to get off; and their embassador being sent back from Peking by the emperor of Canton unheard, was there put to death,) nevertheless some years after the Portugueses obtained leave to settle in a little island opposite to the port of Canton, where they built the city Macao, which they hold to this day, though subject to the emperor of China.
An. 1520, James Lopez de Sequeira, then governor of India, sailed for the Red-sea with a fleet of twenty-four ships, and in it eighteen hundred Portugueses, and as many Malabars and Canarins. Coming to the island Mazua in the Red-sea, he found it forsaken by the inhabitants, who were fled over to Arquico, a port belonging to Prester John, or the emperor of Ethiopia, which was now first discovered by sea. At this time it was a vast monarchy, and extended along the shores of the Red-sea above a hundred and twenty leagues, which was counted the least of its sides; but since then all the sea-coast has been taken from them by the Turks. Here the Portugueses in following years made some progress into the country, five hundred of them being sent under the command of D. Christopher de Gama to assist the emperor against his rebellious subjects, and his enemies the Turks. The actions performed by this handful of men being all by land, do not belong to us; but they travelled a great part of the country, and opened a way for the jesuits, who for several years after continued there.
An. 1521, Antony de Brito was sent to the Molucco islands from Malaca. These had been before discovered by Antony de Abreu. The Molucco islands are five in number, their names, Ternate, Tidore, Mousel, Machien, Bacham. These islands were afterwards long struggled for by the Portugueses and Dutch till at last the Dutch prevailed, and continue in possession of that trade till this day. A few years now past without any considerable discoveries by sea, though still they found several little islands, and advanced far by land, too long for this discourse, designed only to show the progress of navigation. Let us then proceed to the next considerable voyage, which was
An. 1540, which furnishes as remarkable a piece of sea-service as any we shall read undertaken by a private man. Peter do Faria governor of Malaca sent his kinsman Antony de Faria y Sousa, to secure a peace with the king of Patane. He carried with him goods to the value of twelve thousand ducats; and finding no sale for them there, sent them to Lugor in the kingdom of Siam, by one Christopher Borallo, who coming to an anchor in the mouth of that river was surprised by a moor of Guzarat called Coje Hazem, a sworn enemy to the Portugueses. Borallo having lost his ship swam himself ashore, and carried the news of what had happened to Faria at Patane, who vowed never to desist till he had destroyed that moor, and in order to it fitted out a small vessel with fifty men, in which he sailed from Patane towards the kingdom of Champa, to seek the pirate there. In the latitude of 3 degrees 20 minutes, he found the island of Pulo Condor, whence he sailed into the port of Bralapisam in the kingdom of Camboia, and so coasted along to the river Pulo Cambier, which divides the kingdoms of Camboia and Tsiompa. Coasting still along, he came to an anchor at the mouth of the river of Toobasoy, where he took two ships belonging to the pirate Similau, and burnt some others. The booty was very rich, besides the addition of strength, the ships being of considerable force. Thus increased he goes on to the river Tinacoreu, or Varela, where the Siam and Malaca ships trading to China barter their goods for gold, calamba wood, and ivory. Hence he directed his course to the island Aynan on the coast of China, and passed in sight of Champiloo in the latitude of 13 degrees, and at the entrance of the bay of Cochinchina; then discovered the promontory Pulocampas, westward whereof is a river, near which spying a large vessel at anchor, and imagining it might be Coje Hazem, he fell upon and took it, but found it belonged to Quiay Tayjam a pirate. In this vessel were found seventy thousand quintals, or hundred weight of pepper, besides other spice, ivory, tin, wax, and powder, the whole valued at sixty thousand crowns, besides several good pieces of cannon, and some plate. Then coasting along the island Aynan, he came to the river Tananquir, where two great vessels attacked him, both which he took, and burnt the one for want of men to sail her. Further on at C. Tilaure he surprised four small vessels, and then made to Mutipinam, where he sold his prizes for the value of two hundred thousand crowns of uncoined silver. Thence he sailed to the port of Madel in the island Aynan, where meeting Himilian a bold pirate, who exercised great cruelties towards christians, he took and practised the same on him. This done he run along that coast, discovering many large towns and a fruitful country. And now the men weary of seeking Coje Hazem in vain, demanded their share of the prizes to be gone, which was granted: but as they shaped their course for the kingdom of Siam, where the dividend was to be made, by a furious storm they were cast away on the island called de los Ladrones, which lies south of China, where of five hundred men only eighty-six got ashore naked, whereof twenty-eight were Portugueses: here they continued fifteen days with scarce any thing to eat, the island not being inhabited. Being in despair of relief, they discovered a small vessel which made to the shore, and anchoring, sent thirty men for wood and water. These were Chineses, whom the Portugueses, upon a sign given as had been agreed, surprised, running on a sudden and possessing themselves of their boat and vessel; and leaving them ashore, directed their course towards Liampo, a sea-port town in the province of Chequiang in China, joining by the way a Chinese pirate, who was a great friend to the Portugueses, and had thirty of them aboard. At the river Anay they refitted and came to Chincheo, where Faria hired thirty-five Portugueses he found, and putting to sea met with eight more naked in a fisher-boat, who had their ship taken from them by the pirate Coje Hazem; which news of him rejoiced Faria, and he provided to fight him, having now four vessels with five hundred men, whereof ninety-five were Portugueses. He found his enemy in the river Tinlau, where he killed him, and four hundred of his men, and took all his ships but one that sunk, with abundance of wealth: but it prospered very little, for the next night Faria’s ship and another were cast away, and most of the goods aboard the others thrown over-board, and one hundred and eleven men lost; Faria escaped, and taking another rich ship of pirates by the way, came at last to winter at Liampo, as was said before, a sea-port town in the province of Chequiang in China, but built by the Portugueses, who governed there. Having spent five months here, he directed his course for the island Calempuly on the coast of China, where he was informed were the monuments of the ancient kings of China, which he designed to rob, being reported to be full of treasure. After many days sail through seas never before known to the Portugueses, he came into the bay of Nanking, but durst not make any stay there, perceiving about three thousand sail lie at anchor about it. Here the Chineses he had with him being ill used, fled, but some natives informed him he was but ten leagues from the island Calempluy: he arrived there the next day, and intending to rob all the tombs, the old keepers of them gave the alarm, which prevented his design, and he was obliged to put to sea again, where having wandered a month he perished in a storm, both his ships being cast away, and only fourteen men saved. Thus ended this voyage, famous for several particulars, and especially for having discovered more of the north of China than was known before, though the design of the undertaker was only piracy. The city Liampo before mentioned was soon after utterly destroyed by the governor of the province of Chequiang, for the robberies and insolences committed in the country by the Portugueses.
An. 1542. Antony de Mota, Francis Zeimoto, and Antony Peixoto, sailing for China, were by storms drove upon the islands of Nipongi, or Nison, by the Chineses called Gipon, and by us Japan. Here they were well received, and had the honour, though accidentally, of being the first discoverers of these islands. Their situation is east of China, betwixt 30 and 40 degrees of north-latitude: there are many of them, but the principal is Nipongi, or Japan, in which the emperor keeps his court at the city of Meaco. The chief islands about it are Cikoko, Tokoesi, Sando, Sisime, Bacasa, Vuoqui, Saycock or Ximo, Goto, Ceuxima, Toy, Gisima, Jasima, Tanaxuma, and Firando. Hitherto we have mentioned none but the Portugueses, they being the only discoverers of all those parts, and all other nations having followed their track, yet not till some years after this time, as we shall soon see. I do not here mention the discovery of the Philippine islands, though properly belonging to the east, as not very remote from China, because they were discovered and conquered the other way, that is from America; and therefore we shall speak of them in their place among the western discoveries. What have been hitherto said concerning these Portuguese voyages is collected out of John de Barros’s decads of India, Osorius’s history of India, Alvarez of Abassia and Faria’s Portuguese Asia. Having seen what has been done by these discoverers, let us next lightly touch upon the voyages of those who followed their footsteps.
An. 1551. We meet with the first English voyage on the coast of Afric, performed by Mr. Thomas Windham, but no particulars of it.
An. 1552. The same Windham returned with three sail, and traded at the ports of Zafim and Santa Cruz; the commodities he brought from thence being sugar, dates, almonds, and molosses.
An. 1553. This Windham, with Antony Anes Pinteado, a Portuguese and promoter of this voyage, sailed with three ships from Portsmouth: they traded for gold along the coast of Guinea, and from thence proceeded to the kingdom of Benin, where they were promised loading of pepper: but both the commanders and most of the men dying through the unseasonableness of the weather, the rest, being scarce forty, returned to Plymouth with but one ship and little wealth.
An. 1554. Mr. John Locke undertook a voyage for Guinea with three ships, and trading along that coast brought away a considerable quantity of gold and ivory, but proceeded no further. The following years Mr. William Towerson and others performed several voyages to the coast of Guinea, which having nothing peculiar but a continuation of trade in the same parts, there is no occasion for giving any particulars of them. Nor do we find any account of a further progress made along this coast by the English, till we come to their voyages to the East-Indies, and those begun but late; for the first Englishman we find in those parts was one Thomas Stephens, who
An. 1579, wrote an account of his voyage thither to his father in London; but he having sailed aboard a Portuguese ship, this voyage makes nothing to the English nation, whose first undertaking to India in ships of their own was,
An. 1591. Three stately ships, called the Penelope, the Merchant Royal, and the Edward Bonaventure, were fitted out at Plymouth, and sailed thence under the command of Mr. George Raymond: they departed on the 10th of April, and on the first of August came to an anchor in the bay called Aguada de Saldanha, fifteen leagues north of the cape of Good Hope. Here they continued several days, and traded with the blacks for cattle, when finding many of their men had died, they thought fit to send back Mr. Abraham Kendal in the Royal Merchant with fifty men, there being too few to manage the three ships if they proceeded on their voyage: Kendal accordingly returned, and Raymond and Lancaster in the Penelope and Edward Bonaventure proceeded, and doubled the cape of Good Hope; but coming to cape Corrientes on the fourteenth of September, a violent storm parted them, and they never met again; for Raymond was never heard of, but Lancaster held on his voyage. Passing by Mozambique he came to the island Comera, where after much show of friendship, the moorish inhabitants killed thirty-two of his men, and took his boat, which obliged him to hoist sail and be gone; and after much delay by contrary winds he doubled cape Comori, opposite to the island of Ceylon in India, in the month of May, 1592. Thence in six days, with a large wind which blew hard, he came upon the island of Gomes Polo, which lies near the northernmost point of the island Sumatra; and the winter season coming on, stood over to the island of Pulo Pinao, lying near the coast of Malaca, and betwixt it and the island Sumatra, in 7 degrees of north latitude, where he continued till the end of August refreshing his men the best the place would allow, which afforded little but fish, yet twenty-six of them died there. Then the captain running along the coast of Malaca, and adjacent islands, more like a pirate than merchant or discoverer, took some prizes, and so thought to have returned home: but his provisions being spent when they came to cross the equinoctial, where he was staid by calms and contrary winds six weeks, he ran away to the West-Indies to get some supply, where, after touching at several places, the captain and eighteen men went ashore in the little island Mona, lying betwixt those of Portorico and Hispaniola, but five men and a boy left in the ship cut the cable and sailed away. Lancaster and eleven of his men some days after spying a sail, made a fire; upon which signal the Frenchman, for such a one it proved to be, took in his topsails, and drawing near the island received them aboard, treating them with extraordinary civility, and so brought them to Diepe in Normandy, whence they passed over to Rye in Sussex, and landed there in May 1594, having spent three years, six weeks, and two days in this voyage. Hitherto Hackluyt, vol. II.
An. 1595. The Dutch resolving to try their fortune in the East-Indies, fitted out four ships at Amsterdam, under the command of Cornelius Hootman, which sailed on the second of April, and on the fourth of August anchored in the bay of St. Blase, about forty-five leagues beyond the cape of Good Hope, where they continued some days trading with the natives for cattle in exchange for iron. August the eleventh they departed that place, and coasting along part of the island of Madagascar, came at last into the bay of S. Augustin, where they exchanged pewter spoons and other trifles with the natives for cattle, till they fell at variance; and the natives keeping away, no more provisions were to be had: and therefore on the 10th of December they weighed, directed their course for Java, but meeting with bad weather and strong currents, were kept back till the tenth of January, when they were forced for want of refreshments to put into the island of S. Mary, lying on the eastern coast of Madagascar in 17 degrees of south latitude, whence they removed to the great bay of Antongil, and continued there till the twelfth of February: then putting to sea again, they arrived on the coast of the great island Sumatra on the eleventh of June, and spending some days along that coast, came at last to Bantam in the island of Java. They lay here, very favourably entertained by the emperor of Java, till falling at variance many hostilities passed betwixt them; and in November the Dutch removed from before Bantam to Jacatra, which is no great distance. In January finding themselves much weakened by loss of men, and the Amsterdam one of the biggest ships leaky, they unladed and burnt her. Having thoughts of sailing for the Molucco islands, they ran along as far as the strait of Balambuon at the east end of Java; but the seamen refusing to pass any further, they made through the strait, and on the twenty-seventh of February sailed along the coast of Java towards the cape of Good Hope; and three of their four ships, besides the pinnace that was a tender, and eighty-nine seamen, being all that were left of four hundred and forty-nine, returned to Holland in August following, having been abroad twenty-nine months. This and the voyage soon after following in 1598, may seem to be mistaken, because it is said in both, that the commander in chief was Cornelius Hootman; but it must be observed, they differ not only in time, but in all other circumstances, and this is certainly the first voyage the Dutch made to India, whereas in the other there is mention of those people having been there before. This is to be seen at large in the collection of voyages undertaken by the Dutch East-India company, printed this present year 1703.
An. 1596. Sir Robert Dudley, as principal adventurer, set out three ships under the command of Benjamin Wood, designing to trade in China; for which purpose he carried letters from queen Elizabeth to the emperor of China: but these ships and the men all perished, so we have no account of their voyage. Purchas, vol. I. .
An. 1598. Three merchants of Middleburgh fitted out two ships under the command of Cornelius Howteman for the East-Indies, which sailed on the fifteenth of March. In November they put into the bay of Saldanha on the coast of Afric, in 34 degrees of south latitude, and ten leagues from the cape of Good Hope. Here pretending to trade with the natives, they offered them some violence; to revenge which, three days after they came down in great numbers, and surprising the Dutch slew thirteen of them, and drove the rest to their ship. January the 3d they again anchored in the bay of S. Augustin in the south-west part of the island Madagascar, and 23 degrees of south latitude, where the natives would not trade with them; and being in great want of provisions, they sailed to the island Magotta, or S. Christopher, on the north of Madagascar, and having got some relief went on to Answame, or Angovan, another small island, where they took in more provisions. Then proceeding on their voyage, they passed by the Maldivy islands, thence by Cochin, and in June arrived at Sumatra at the port of Achen, where after being kindly received by the king, he sent many men aboard on pretence of friendship, but with a design to surprise the ships, which they had near accomplished, but were with difficulty beaten off, yet so that the Dutch lost sixty-eight of their men, two pinnaces of twenty ton each, and one of their boats. Sailing hence they watered and refreshed at Pulo Batun off Queda, which is on the coast of Malaca; and having spent much time about those parts, in November anchored at the islands of Nicobar in 8 degrees of latitude, where they had some refreshment, but little; to remedy which, in their way towards Ceylon, they took a ship of Negapatan and plundered it. Then directing their course home in March 1600, they doubled the cape of Good Hope, and in July returned to Middleburgh. Purchas, vol. I. .
This same year, 1598, the Holland East-India company set out six great ships and two yatchs for India under the command of Cornelius Hemskirke, which sailed out of the Texel on the first of May, and coming together to the cape of Good Hope in August, were there separated by a terrible storm: four of them and a yacht put into the island Maurice east of Madagascar; the other two ships and yatch put into the island S. Mary on the east also of Madagascar; where they made no stay, but sailing thence arrived on the twenty-sixth of November 1598, before Bantam; and a month after them came the other four ships and a yatch from the island Maurice. The first comers having got their lading, departed from before Bantam on the eleventh of January 1599, and arrived happily in the Texel on the ninth of June 1599, richly laden with pepper, cloves, mace, nutmegs, and cinnamon, having spent but fifteen months in the whole voyage. The other four ships and yatch left in India under the command of Wybrant, sailed from Bantam along the north side of Javan to the east end of it, where the town of Arosoya is seated. Here the natives, in revenge for some of their people killed by the Dutch in their first voyage, seized seventeen of them that were sent ashore for provisions; and fifty more being sent to their relief in sloops and boats, were all of them killed, drowned, or taken. The prisoners were ransomed for two thousand pieces of eight, and then the ships put to sea, and on the third of March 1599, came into the strait of Amboina, where they anchored before a small town in that island, called Itan. This is near the Moluccos, and produces plenty of cloves. There being lading but for two ships here, the other two were sent to Banda, where they took their lading of cloves, nutmegs, and mace, and returned home in April 1600. The other two ships left behind at Amboina having taken in what lading of cloves they could get, sailed away to get what they wanted at the Moluccos, and anchored at Ternate, where having got the rest of their lading, they departed thence on the nineteenth of August 1599, and came to Jacatra in the island Java on the thirteenth of November, being then reduced to extremity for want of provisions: whence after a few days stay they proceeded to Bantam, and thence on the twenty-first of January for Holland, where after a tedious voyage they arrived in safety, having lost many men through sickness and want of provisions. Every year after the Dutch failed not to set out new fleets, being allured by the vast returns they made; yet there was nothing in these voyages but trade, and some encounters with the Spaniards, and therefore it will be needless to mention them all in particular, till in the year 1606, the Dutch possessed themselves of Tidore, one of the Molucco islands, and Amboina, expelling the Portugueses first, and afterwards the English. In 1608 the Dutch admiral Matelief laid siege to Malaca, but without success. Soon after they grew formidable at Jacatra, or Batavia, on the island Java, where they continue to this day, that being the chief seat of all their dominions in the east. Not so satisfied, they at length made themselves masters of Malaca, and expelled the Portugueses the island of Ceylon, by which means they are possessed of the most considerable trade of the east, all the cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, being entirely in their own hands. Nor is this all, for they have conquered the island Formosa on the coast of China, whence they trade to Japan, with the exclusion of all christian nations from that island. And here we will leave the Dutch, to give some further relation of the English proceedings, and so conclude with the East-Indies.
An. 1600. A company of merchant adventurers was by patent from queen Elizabeth authorized to trade in the East-Indies, and accordingly in January 1600-1 they fitted out four great ships and a victualler, all under the command of captain James Lancaster, who sailed out of the river of Thames on the thirteenth of February, having four hundred and eighty men aboard his ships, yet got not beyond Torbay till the second of April, and on the first of November doubled the cape of Good Hope. In April following they anchored at the islands of Nicobar, north-east of the great island of Sumatra, and in June came before Achem, where they had a good reception, and settled peace and commerce with that king; but having little to trade with, put to sea, and took a great Portuguese ship richly laden, and returned to Achem, whence they sailed to Bantam, in the island of Java: here they had also good entertainment, and liberty of trade was agreed on; and having taken in what more lading was wanting, which consisted in pepper and cloves, on the twentieth of February they set sail in order to return for England, but meeting with violent storms were carried into 40 degrees of south latitude, where Lancaster lost his rudder, which was restored with much labour, and so they arrived at the island of St. Helena in June, and having refreshed themselves there put to sea again, and returned safe to England in August. Purchas, vol. I. .
An. 1604. The aforesaid company sent four ships more to the East-Indies under the command of sir Henry Middleton, who sailed on the second of April, and arrived at Bantam on the twenty-third of December. Two of the ships loaded pepper at Bantam; sir Henry with the others sailed to the isles of Banda, where he continued twenty-one weeks, and then returned to Bantam, and arrived in the Downs on the sixth of May 1606. The same year captain John Davis and sir Edward Michelburn with one ship and a pinnace sailed into the East-Indies, trading at Bantam, and taking some prizes, but performed nothing else remarkable. Purchas, vol. I. .
An. 1607. The company fitted out their third voyage, being three ships under the command of William Keeling, but only two of them kept company; and setting out in April, arrived not at Priaman in the island Sumatra till July the following year; having spent all this time along the coasts of Afric, and beating at sea against contrary winds. Here they took in some pepper, and then sailed to Bantam, where a Siam embassador invited them to settle commerce in his master’s dominions; and so they proceeded to Banda, where they were hindered taking in their lading of spice by the Dutch, who had built a fort on that island. So being disappointed they returned to Bantam, loaded pepper, and settled a factory there, which continued in prosperity till overthrown by the Dutch. Purchas, vol. I. .
The third ship mentioned above, which did not keep company with the other two, but set out at the same time, after touching at the bay of Saldanha on the coast of Afric, and at Bantam on the island of Java, proceeded to the Molucco islands, where with the permission of the Spaniards, then possessed of those islands, they had a trade for some days, but were afterwards commanded away. Then sailing towards the island Celebes at the island Button, or Buton, they were friendly entertained by the king, and brought their full loading of cloves; which done, they returned to Bantam, and thence to England. Purchas, vol. I. .
An. 1608. The East-India company for its fourth voyage set out two ships, the Union and Ascension, commanded by Alexander Sharpey and Richard Rowles, who sailed on the fourteenth of March; and having spent above a year by the way, and lost the Union in a storm, the Ascension came on the eighth of April 1609 to an anchor before the city Aden on the coast of Arabia Felix, whence they sailed into the Red-sea, being the first English ship that ever entered it, and on the eleventh of June anchored in the road of the city of Mocha; and having made a short stay to refit, sailed away for the coast of Cambaya, where refusing to take in a pilot the ship was lost on the shoals, but all the men saved in two boats, who got ashore at the small town of Gandevel, about forty miles from Surat, whither they travelled by land, and were relieved by the English factor there. The captain and most of the company went from thence to Agra the court of the mogul, resolving to take their journey through Persia to return into Europe. But Thomas Jones, the author of this account, with three others, committed themselves to a Portuguese religious man, who promised to send them home, and accordingly carried them through Daman and Chaul to Goa, where in January they were shipped aboard the admiral of four Portuguese ships homeward bound, and arrived at Lisbon in August, where embarking in an English ship they came safe into England in September 1610. The rest of the company that went with the captain dispersed, and few of them came home.
The Union, mentioned before to be separated from the Ascension in a storm, touched at the bay of St. Augustin in the island Madagascar, where the captain and five more going ashore upon friendly invitation were killed by the natives, who thought to have surprised the ship with their boats, but were beaten off with great loss. So sailing hence, they directed their course to Achem on the island Sumatra, where and at Priaman they took in their lading of bafts and pepper, and directed their course to return home. But their voyage proved so unfortunate, that all her men died by the way, except three English and an Indian, who were scarce alive; and not being able to hand the sails, the ship was carried upon the coast of Britany in France, where the French conveyed her into harbour, and most of the lading was saved for the company.
An. 1609. The English East-India company for its fifth voyage set out but one ship, commanded by David Middleton, who arriving at Banda was by the Dutch there hindered loading any spice, and therefore sailed to Puloway a small island not far distant, where with much difficulty and hazard he got loading of spice, and returned home safe. Purchas, vol. I. .
An. 1610. Sir Henry Middleton sailed with three ships under his command; and being informed by the natives of the island Zocotora, that he would be friendly received at Mocha in the Red-sea, and find good vent for his goods, he ventured up thither, and after much deceitful kindness shown him by the Turks, was himself with many of his men secured, and sent up the country several miles to another bassa. Some men were also killed by the infidels, who attempted to surprise one of the ships, and were possessed of the upper decks, till the seamen blew up some, shot others, and drove the rest into the sea, so that only one of them that hid himself escaped, and was afterwards received to mercy. After much solicitation sir Henry Middleton and his men were sent back to Mocha, where most of them made their escape aboard their ships. Many fruitless contests having afterwards passed with the bassas about the restitution of the goods taken; at last he sailed to Surat, where he arrived in September 1611, and having, notwithstanding the opposition made by the Portugueses, sold some of his goods, and departing thence to Dabul, had some more trade in that place, yet not so much as to dispose of all he had. Whereupon he resolved to return to the Red-sea, there to traffic with the ships of India, which usually resort to those parts; he detained many of them by force, and bartered with them as he thought fit, the Indians being under restraint, and in no condition to oppose whatever was offered them. Being thus furnished, he sailed for Sumatra, where he got loading of spice, and sent one ship home with her burden, his own having been on a rock, and therefore unfit for the voyage till repaired, which could not be done so soon. This ship arrived safe in England, but sir Henry Middleton and his were cast away in India. Purchas, vol. I. . Other ships sailed the latter end of the year 1610, and beginning of 1611, which still ran much the same course with the former, and have nothing singular to relate. But
An. 1611, in April sailed captain John Saris with three ships, who having run the same course all the rest had done severally before, entering the Red-sea, and touching at Java, he received a letter from one Adams an Englishman, who sailed aboard some Dutch ships to Japan, and was there detained, in which he gave an account of that country. Captain Saris dismissing his other two ships, directed his course for that island; and passing by those of Bouro, Xula, Bachian, Celebes, Silolo, the Moluccos, and others, came to an anchor on the eleventh of June 1613, at the small island and port of Firando, lying southwest of the southwest point of the great island of Japan. This and several other small islands about it are subject to petty kings, who all acknowledge the emperor of Japan for their sovereign. These little princes showed all imaginable kindness to the English, being the first that ever appeared in those parts. Captain Saris, with the assistance of the king of Firando, was conducted to the emperor’s court at Meaco, where he had audience of him, and settled peace and commerce in as authentic manner as if he had been sent from England only upon that errand; the emperor granting to the English free liberty of trade, and several privileges and immunities for their encouragement. All things being settled there, captain Saris returned to Firando well pleased with his success: and there the goods he brought being not yet all disposed of, he erected a factory, leaving in it eight English, three Japaneses for interpreters, and two servants. These were to dispose of the goods left behind, and provide loading for such ships as were to continue the trade now began. This done, he left Firando on the fifth of December, and stood for the coast of China, along which he kept to that of Cochinchina and Camboya, whence he struck over to the southward, and came into Bantam road, where he continued some time, and lastly put into Plymouth in September 1614. Purchas, vol. I. . Thus have we brought the English to Japan, the furthest extent of what vulgarly is comprehended under the name of the East-Indies, and therefore think it needless to prosecute their voyages this way any longer, since they can afford nothing new; nor indeed have these hitherto added any thing to what was discovered by the Portugueses, to whom all these countries were well known long before, as has been made appear. Of the Dutch navigations this way somewhat has been said, and it seems needless to add any thing concerning the French, who are not so considerable there as any of those nations already mentioned, besides that they came thither the latest, and therefore not as discoverers, but tracing the beaten road; so that all that can be said of them will be only a repetition of things already spoken of. Having thus given an account of the first discoverers, and the success of all the first voyages to Afric and Asia, it now remains to show what a vast extent of land is by these means made known, which before Europe was wholly a stranger to, and the commodities it supplies us with; which is one great point of this discourse, viz. to show what benefit is reaped by navigation, and the vast improvement it has received since the discovery of the magnetical needle, or sea-compass. Then having performed this with all possible brevity, it will be fit to proceed to give the like relation of the discovery and other affairs of America, or the new world, which will lead us to the voyages round the globe, where this discourse will end.
To begin then where the discoveries commenced, that is, at cape Nam, or Nao, which is on the coast of the kingdom of Morocco, and in the twenty-eighth degree of latitude; we find the extent made known from thence, taking it only from north to south from 18 degrees of north latitude to 35 degrees of south latitude, in all 53 degrees in length, at twenty leagues to a degree, to be one thousand sixty leagues, but very much more if we run along the coast, especially upon that of Guinea, which lies east and west for above 25 degrees, which at the same rate as before amounts to five hundred leagues. So that we have here a coast, only reckoning to the cape of Good Hope, of above fifteen hundred leagues in length made known to us, and in it the further Lybia, the country of the Blacks, Guinea, the kingdoms of Benin, Conga, Angola, and the western coast of the Cafres. These are the general names by which these vast regions are known. The natives are for the most part black, or else inclining to it. All the commodities brought from thence, are gold-dust, ivory, and slaves; those black people selling one another, which is a very considerable trade, and has been a great support to all the American plantations. This is all that mighty continent affords for exportation, the greatest part of it being scorched under the torrid zone, and the natives almost naked, no-where industrious, and for the most part scarce civilized. In the southermost parts among the wild Cafres, there is plenty of good cattle, which the first traders to India used to buy for knives and other toys at the bay of Saldanha, and other places thereabouts. The Portugueses here have the largest dominions on this coast of any nation, which are in the kingdoms of Congo and Angola. The English and Dutch have some small forts on the coast of Guinea, and the Dutch, a large strong town, with all manner of improvements about it, at the cape of Good Hope. From this cape of Good Hope to cape Guardafu at the entrance into the Red-sea, the coast running north-east and south-west, extends above twelve hundred leagues in a straight line, containing the eastern Cafres and Zanguebar, which are the two great divisions of this side; the latter of these subdivided into the kingdoms of Mozambique, Pemba, Quiloa, Monbaca, Melinde, Magadoxa and Adel. Of these the Portugueses possess the town and fort of Mozambique, having lost Monbaca within these few years, taken from them by the moors. No other European nation has any dominions on this coast, which is all in the possession of the natives or moors. The commodities here are the same as on the west side of Afric, gold, ivory, and slaves. All this vast continent produces many sorts of fruit and grain unknown to us, as also beasts and fowl, which being no part of trade, are not mentioned here. Yet before we leave this coast we must not omit to mention the island Zocotora, famous for producing the best aloes, and situate not far distant from cape Guardafu. Next in course follows the Red-sea, the mouth whereof is about a hundred and twenty leagues from cape Guardafu, and its length from the mouth to Suez at the bottom of it above four hundred leagues, lying north-west and south-west: on one side of it is the coast of Aben and Egypt, on the other that of Arabia Petrea, and Arabia Felix, all in the possession of the Turks, and not at all resorted to by any European nation, but somewhat known to them by the way of Egypt, before the discovery of India. From the mouth of the Red-sea to the gulph of Persia lies the coast of Arabia, extending about four hundred leagues north-east and south-west to cape Rosalgate at the entrance into the bay of Ormuz. This coast is partly subject to the Turk, and partly to Arabian princes; and its principal commodities are rich gums, and coffee. Turning cape Rosalgate to the north-west is the great bay of Ormuz, along which runs still the coast of Arabia, where stands Mascate, once possessed by the Portugueses, now by the Arabs. Next we come into the gulph of Bazora, or of Persia, almost two hundred leagues in length, and enclosed by Arabia on the one side, and Persia on the other. At the mouth of this bay in a small island is the famous city Ormuz, conquered and kept many years by the Portugueses, but at last taken from them by the Persians, with the assistance of the English. Within the bay on the Arabian side is the island Baharem, famous for a great fishery of pearls. From the mouth of the Persian gulph to that of Indus are about three hundred and forty leagues, being the coast of Persia, where no prince possesses any thing but that great monarch. The chiefest commodities here are raw silk, rhubarb, worm-seed, carpets of all sorts, wrought and plain silks, silks wrought with gold or silver, half silks and half cottons. From the mouth of Indus to cape Comori, taking in the bend of the coast from Indus to Cambaya, lying north-west and south-east, and from that bay to the cape almost north and south, are near four hundred leagues, including the shores of Guzarat, Cambaya, Decan, Canara and Malabar: of these Guzarat and Cambaya, with part of Decan, are subject to the great mogul, the other parts to several Indian princes. Yet the Portugueses have the fort of Diu in Guzarat, Damam in Cambaya, and the great city of Goa in Decan, besides other forts of lesser consequence: the English the island of Bombaim, and the Dutch some forts. Doubling cape Comori, and running in a straight line north-east, there are about four hundred and forty leagues to the bottom of the bay of Bengala; and turning thence south-east, somewhat more than the same number of leagues to the southermost point of the Aurea Chersonesus, or the coast of Malaca; and in this space the shores of Coromandel, Bisnagar, Golconda, Orixa, Bengala, Arracan, Pegu, Martaban, and the Aurea Chersonesus, or Peninsula, of Malaca. Hence we will make but one line more for brevity sake up to Japan on the northern coast of China, which in a straight line, without allowing any thing for the bays of Siam and Cochinchina, is at least eight hundred leagues, and in it the east-side of the Peninsula of Malaca, the kingdoms of Siam, Camboia, Chiampa, and Cochinchina, and the vast empire of China. All these immense regions from Persia eastward are vulgarly, though improperly, comprehended under the name of the East-Indies. The product of these countries is no less to be admired, being all sorts of metals, all beasts and birds, and the most delicious of fruits. But to speak by way of trade, the commodities here are diamonds, silk raw and wrought in prodigious quantities, cotton unwrought, and infinite plenty of it in callicoes and muslins, all sorts of sweet and rich woods, all the gums, drugs, and dyes, all the precious plants, and rich perfumes, not to mention the spices, which I leave to the islands; in fine, all that is precious, delightful, or useful: insomuch, that though here be mines of silver and gold, yet none is sent abroad, but hither it flows from all other parts and is here swallowed up. But something must be said of the islands belonging to this great continent, for the value of them is immense, as well as their number, and the extent of some of them. The first in order that are any thing considerable, are the Maldivy islands, rather remarkable for their multitude than any other thing, being so many that the number is not known, yet so small, that no great account is made of them: they lie south-east of cape Comori, betwixt 3 and 8 degrees of north latitude; for so far they run, being disposed in twelve several clusters or parcels that lie north-west and south-east, at the south end whereof lie two other less clusters or parcels east and west from one another. As for trade, or commerce, though these islands are very fruitful, they have not any thing considerable to promote it, especially to supply Europe, which is the thing here to be considered. Next to these is the great and rich island of Ceylon beyond cape Comori, formerly divided into several petty kingdoms, till the Portugueses first reduced all the sea-coasts under their dominion, and were afterwards dispossessed by the Dutch, who still remain masters of them, but could never yet conquer the inland. This is a place of mighty traffick, for it produces the best cinnamon in the world, and supplies all Europe: here are also found the finest rubies, and several other sorts of precious stones.
The elephants of this island are counted the best in all India, and as such coveted by all the eastern princes, who, though they have herds of them in their own dominions, do not spare to give considerable prices for these, which is a great enriching of the country. The islands of Sunda, or the Sound, are that great parcel lying south and south-east of Malaca, the principal whereof are Sumatra, Borneo, and Java; the two first directly under the line, Sumatra above three hundred leagues in length, lying north-west and south-east, and about sixty in breadth in the widest place; Borneo is almost round, and about six hundred in circumference; Java the last of them lies betwixt 7 and 10 degrees of south latitude, is about two hundred leagues in length from east to west, and not above forty in breadth in the widest place from north to south. There are many more, but all small in comparison of these, unless we reckon Celebes, lying under the line, near an hundred and eighty leagues in length, the longest way north-east and south-west, and about eighty in breadth in the broadest place from east to west: as also Gilolo, under the equator as well as the last, of an irregular shape, and not above one-fourth part of the bigness of Celebes. All these islands have a prodigious trade, being resorted to from all parts, not only of India, but even from Europe. Their wealth is incredible, for they produce whatsoever man can wish; but the principal commodities exported are ginger, pepper, camphor, agaric, cassia, wax, honey, silk, cotton; they have also mines of gold, tin, iron, and sulphur, all sorts of cattle and fowl, but no vines nor olive-trees. In Sumatra the Dutch have some forts, and are very powerful, but much more in Java, where Batavia, a populous city, is the metropolis of their eastern dominions. The English had a great trade and factory at Bantam in the same island, but were expelled by the Dutch in the year 1682. After these follow the Molucco islands, which are five in number properly so called, viz. Ternate, Tidore, Machian, Moutil or Mousil, and Bachian: they lie along the west side of Gilolo, so near the equinoctial, that the last of them lies 24 or 25 minutes south, and the first of them about fifty minutes north of it. They are so small, that all of them do not take up above 1 degree, and 10 or 15 minutes of latitude. Ternate is the northermost, and in order from it lie to the south Tidore, Moutil, Machian and Bachian. The whole product of these islands is cloves, which are scarce found elsewhere, and here little besides them; which is the reason why the Dutch have possessed themselves of them, expelling the Portugueses, who after long contests had bought out the Spaniards claim to them. With the Moluccos may be reckoned the islands of Amboina and Banda: the first of these produces cloves like the other, and was once much resorted to by the English, till the Dutch destroyed their factory, of which action there are particular printed accounts. Banda is a larger island than any of the others, and in five degrees of south latitude, possessed also by the Dutch, who have here all the trade of nutmegs and mace, which scarce grow any-where but in this and two or three neighbouring islands. A vast multitude of other little islands are scattered about this sea, but those already mentioned are the most considerable; for though those of Chiram and Papous be large, there is very little of them known, by which it is natural to guess they are not of much value; for if they were, the same avarice that has carried so many European nations into their neighbourhood to destroy not only the natives, but one another, would have made them long since as familiar to us as the rest. Of Japan enough was said when first discovered by the Portugueses, and in captain Saris’s voyage thither, where the reader may satisfy his curiosity. All that needs be added is, that it produces some gold, and great plenty of silver. For other commodities, here is abundance of hemp, excellent dyes, red, blue, and green, rice, brimstone, saltpetre, cotton, and the most excellent varnish in the world, commonly called japan, whereof abundance of cabinets, tables, and many other things, are brought into Europe. Thus are we come to Japan the utmost of these eastern discoveries, omitting to say any thing of the Philippine islands, and those called De las Ladrones, though within this compass, because they were discovered from the West-Indies; and therefore they are left to be treated of among the American affairs, as are the isles of Solomon, whereof hitherto the world has had but a very imperfect account. This summary shows the improvement of navigation on this side the world since the discovery of the magnetical needle, or sea-compass, it having made known to us as much of the coast of Afric and Asia, as running along only the greatest turnings and windings, amounts to about five thousand leagues; an incredible extent of land, were it not so universally known to be true, and so very demonstrable. The benefit we reap is so visible, it seems not to require any thing should be said of it. For now all Europe abounds in all such things as those vast, wealthy, exuberant eastern regions can afford; whereas before these discoveries it had nothing but what it received by retail, and at excessive rates from the Venetians, who took in the precious drugs, rich spices, and other valuable commodities of the east in Egypt, or the coast of Turky, whither it was brought from India, either by caravans or up the Red-sea; and they supplied all other countries with them at their own prices. But now the sea is open, every nation has the liberty of supplying itself from the fountain-head; and if some have encroached upon others, and confined them to a narrower trade in those parts, yet the returns from thence are yearly so great, that all those goods may be purchased here at the second-hand infinitely cheaper than they could when one nation had the supplying of all the rest, and that by so expensive a way, as being themselves served by caravans, and a few small ships on the Red-sea. To conclude; these parts, the discovery whereof has been the subject of this discourse, supply the christian world with all gums, drugs, spices, silks, and cottons, precious stones, sulphur, gold, salt-petre, rice, tea, china-ware, coffee, japan varnished works, all sorts of dyes, of cordials, and perfumes, pearls, ivory, ostrich feathers, parrots, monkeys, and an endless number of necessaries, conveniencies, curiosities, and other comforts and supports of human life, whereof enough has been said for the intended brevity of this discourse. It is now time to proceed to a still greater part, greater in extent of land as reaching from north to south, and its bounds not yet known, and greater in wealth, as containing the inexhaustible treasures of the silver mines of Peru and Mexico, and of the gold mines of Chile, and very many other parts. A fourth part of the world, not much inferiour to the other three in extent, and no way yielding to them for all the blessings nature could bestow upon the earth. A world concealed from the rest for above five thousand years, and reserved by providence to be made known three hundred years ago. A region yet not wholly known, the extent being so immense, that three hundred years have not been a sufficient time to lay it all open. A portion of the universe wonderful in all respects: 1. For that being so large it could lie so long hid. 2. For that being well inhabited, the wit of man cannot conclude which way those people could come thither, and that none others could find the way since. 3. For its endless sources of gold and silver, which supplying all parts, since their first discovery, are so far from being impoverished, that they only want more hands to draw out more. 4. For its mighty rivers, so far exceeding all others, that they look like little seas, compared with the greatest in other parts. 5. For its prodigious mountains, running many hundred leagues, and whose tops are almost inaccessible. 6. For the strange variety of seasons, and temperature of air to be found at very few leagues distance. And lastly, For its stupendous fertility of soil, producing all sorts of fruits and plants which the other parts of the world afford, in greater perfection than in their native land, besides an infinity of others which will not come to perfection elsewhere.
To come to the discovery of this fourth and greatest part of the earth, it was undertaken and performed by Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, excellently skilled in sea-affairs, an able cosmographer, and well versed in all those parts of the mathematics, which might capacitate him for such an enterprise. This person being convinced by natural reason, that so great a part of the world as till then was unknown could not be all sea, or created to no purpose; and believing that the earth being round, a shorter way might be found to India by the west, than by compassing all Afric to the southward, as the Portugueses were then attempting to do; he resolved to apply himself wholly to the discovery of those rich countries, which he positively concluded must extend, from what was known of the East-Indies, still to the eastward one way, and to be the easier met with by sailing round to the westward. Having been long fully possessed with this notion, and provided to answer all objections that might be started against it, he thought the undertaking too great for any less than a sovereign prince, or state; and therefore, not to be unjust to his country, he first proposed it to the state of Genoa, where it was rather ridiculed than any way encouraged. This repulse made him have recourse to king John the second of Portugal, who having caused the matter to be examined by those that had the direction of the discoveries along the coast of Afric, by their advice he held him in hand till he had sent out a caravel with private orders to attempt this discovery. This caravel having wandered long in the wide ocean, and suffered much by storms, returned without finding any thing. Columbus understanding what had been done, resented it so highly, that in hatred to Portugal he resolved to go over to Castile and offer his service there; but for fear of any disappointment, at the same time he sent his brother Batholomew Columbus into England, to make the same overture to king Henry the seventh. His brother had the ill fortune to be taken at sea by pirates, which much retarded his coming to the court of England; where when at last he came, being poor and destitute of friends, it was long before he could be heard, or at least be looked upon; so that in fine, Columbus was gone before he returned to Spain with his answer. Columbus in the mean while stole away out of Portugal, and coming to the court of Ferdinand and Isabel, king and queen of Castile and Aragon, he there spent eight years soliciting with little hopes, and many difficulties; till at last, when he had utterly despaired of success, he met with it, through the assistance of some few friends he had gained at court. At his earnest suit he had all the conditions he required granted, which were, that he should be admiral of all those seas he discovered, and viceroy and governor general of all the lands; that he should have the tenth of all things whatsoever brought from those parts, and that he might at all times be an eighth part in all fleets sent thither, and to receive the eighth of all the returns. This to him and his heirs for ever. With these titles and sufficient power from the queen, who espoused the undertaking, he repaired to the port of Palos de Moguer, on the coast of Andaluzia, where there was furnished for him a ship called the S. Mary, and two caravels, the one called la Pinta, commanded by Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and the other la Nina, by Vincent Yanez Pinzon. In these vessels he had ninety men, and provisions for a year; and thus equipped he sailed from Palos de Moguer.
An. 1492. On the twenty-third of August, directing his course to the Canary islands, where he made a new rudder to the caravel Pinta, which had hers broke off at sea, he took in fresh provisions, wood, and water, with all possible expedition; and on the sixth of September put to sea again, steering due west, and on the seventh lost sight of land. The eleventh at a hundred and fifty leagues distance from the island of Ferro, they saw a great piece of a mast drove by the current, which set strong towards the north; and the fourteenth the admiral observed the variation of the needle to the westward about two points. On Sunday the sixteenth the men were surprised to see green and yellow weeds scattered about in small parcels on the superfices of the water, as if it had been newly torn off from some island or rock; and the next day they saw much more, which made some conclude they were near land, and others supposing it only to be rocks or shoals began to mutter. Every day they saw some birds flying to the ships, and abundance of weeds in the water, which still made them conceive hopes of land; but when these failed, then they began again to murmur, so that the admiral was forced to use all his art to keep them quiet, sometimes with fair words, and sometimes with threats and severity, they imagining, that since for the most part they sailed before the wind, it would be impossible for them ever to return. Thus their mutinous temper daily increased, and began to appear more open, some being so bold as to advise throwing the admiral overboard. The first of October the pilot told the admiral, he found by his account they were five hundred and eighty-eight leagues west of the island of Ferro, which is the westermost of the Canaries; who answered, his reckoning was five hundred and eighty-four, whereas in reality his computation was seven hundred and seven; and on the third the pilot of the caravel Nina reckoned six hundred and fifty, he of the caravel Pinta six hundred and thirty-four: but they were out, and Columbus made it less for fear of discouraging the men, who nevertheless continued very mutinous, but were somewhat appeased on the fourth, seeing above forty sparrows fly about the ships, besides other birds. The eleventh of October there appeared manifest tokens of their being near land; for from the admiral’s ship they saw a green rush in the water, from the Nina they saw a cane and a stick, and took up another that was artificially wrought, and a little board, besides abundance of weeds fresh pulled up; from the Pinta they beheld such-like tokens, and a branch of a thorn-tree with the berries on it: besides that, sounding they found bottom, and the wind grew variable. For these reasons the admiral ordered, they should make but little sail at night, for fear of being aground in the dark, and about ten of the clock that night the admiral himself saw a light, and showed it to others. About two in the morning the caravel Pinta, which was furthest a-head, gave the signal of land; and when day appeared, they perceived it was an island about fifteen leagues in length, plain, well wooded and watered, and very populous; the natives standing on the shore, admiring what the ships were. The admiral and captains went ashore in their boats, and called that island S. Salvador, the natives calling it Guanahani, and is one of the Lucayos in about 26 degrees of north latitude, nine hundred and fifty leagues west of the Canaries, and discovered the thirty-third day after they sailed from them. Columbus took possession for the king and queen of Spain, and all the Spaniards joyfully took an oath to him as their admiral and viceroy. He gave the Indians, who stood in admiration to see him and his men, some red caps, glass-beads, and other trifles, which they valued at a high rate. The admiral returning aboard, the natives followed, some swimming, others in their canoes, carrying with them bottoms of spun cotton, parrots, and javelins pointed with fish-bones, to exchange for glass baubles and horse-bells. Both men and women were all naked, their hair short and tied with a cotton string, and well enough featured, of a middle stature, well shaped, and of an olive colour, some painted white, some black, and some red. They knew nothing of iron, and did all their work with sharp stones. No beasts or fowl were seen here but only parrots. Being asked by signs, whence they had the gold, whereof they wore little plates hanging at their noses, they pointed to the south. The admiral understanding there were other countries not far off, resolved to seek them out; and taking seven Indians that they might learn Spanish, sailed on the fifteenth to another island which he called the Conception, seven leagues from the other. The sixteenth he proceeded to another island and called it Ferdinanda, and so to a fourth, to which he gave the name of Isabella; but finding nothing more in these than in the first, he proceeded on to the island of Cuba, which he called Juana, and entered the port on the east end called Baracoa, whence after sending two men to discover without finding what he sought for, he went on to Hispaniola, and anchored on the north side of it. Here the admiral finding there were gold mines, and plenty of cotton, the people simple, and one of the caciques, or princes, showing all tokens of love and affection; and having lost his own ship, which through the carelessness of the sailors in the night run upon a sand, he resolved to build a fort, which with the assistance of the Indians was performed in ten days, and called the Nativity: here he left thirty-nine men, with provisions for a year, seeds to sow, baubles to trade with the natives, all the cannon and arms belonging to his own ship, and the boat. This done, he departed the port of the Nativity on the fourth of January 1493, steering eastward, and the sixth discovered the caravel Pinta, which had left him some days before, the captain hoping to get much gold to himself. Columbus having sailed some days along the coast of the island, discovered more of it, and trafficking with the natives, and seeing some other islands at a distance, at length launched out to sea to return for Spain. In the way they struggled with the dreadfullest storms any of them had ever seen, which separated the admiral from the caravel Pinta, so that he saw her no more; but at last it pleased God to bring his shattered caravel into the river of Lisbon, where the people flocked with admiration to see him, and some advised the king of Portugal to murder him, but he having entertained him generously dismissed him; and he putting to sea again, arrived safe at Palos de Moguer, from whence he set out on the fifteenth of March, having been out six months and a half upon his discovery. The court was then at Barcelona, whither the admiral repaired, carrying with him the Indians he brought, some gold, and other samples of what the discovery afforded. The king and queen received him with all possible demonstrations of honour, making him sit down in their presence, and ordering all the privileges and titles before granted him to be confirmed. After some time spent in these entertainments, the admiral desired to be fitted out as became his dignity, to conquer and plant those new countries; which was granted, and he departed for Seville to set out on his second voyage, which we are to speak of next; we have been very particular in this, because being the first, it required a more exact account to be given of it, and shall therefore be more succinct in those that follow.
An. 1493. A fleet of seventeen sail of all sorts was fitted out at Seville, well furnished with provisions, ammunition, cannon, corn, seeds, mares and horses, tools to work in the gold mines, and abundance of commodities to barter with the natives. There were aboard fifteen hundred men, many of them labouring people, and artificers, several gentlemen, and twenty horse. With this fleet Columbus set sail from Seville on the fifteenth of September the aforesaid year, and on the fifth of October came to the Gomeru, one of the Canary islands, where he took in wood and water, as also cattle, calves, sheep, goats, and swine, to stock the Indies, besides hens and garden-seeds. Sailing hence more to the southward than the first voyage, on the third of November in the morning, all the fleet spied an island, which Columbus called Dominica, because discovered on a Sunday, and soon after many others, the first of which he called Marigalanti, the name of the ship he was in, the next Guadalupe, then Montserrate, Santa Maria Redonda, Santa Maria el Antigua, S. Martin, Santa Cruz; these are the Caribbe islands. Next he came to the large island, which he called S. John Baptist, but the Indians Borriquen, and it is now known by the name of Puerto Rico. November the twenty-second the fleet arrived on the coast of Hispaniola, where they found the fort burnt down, and none of the Spaniards, they being all destroyed either by discord among themselves, or by the Indians. Not liking the place he had chosen the first voyage to plant his colony, he turned back to the eastward, and finding a seat to his mind, landed and built a little town which he called Isabella, in honour of Isabel then queen of Castile. Then keeping five ships of the fleet with him for his use there, he sent back twelve to Spain, under the command of Antony de Torres, with some quantity of gold, and a full account of what had been done. Thus ended this year 1493, and here it must be observed, that all the actions done ashore must be omitted, as too great for this discourse, and in reality no way belonging to it, the design of it being only to show what advantages have been made by sea since the discovery of the magnetical needle, as has been declared before.
An. 1494. Columbus sailed from his new colony of Isabella with one great ship and two caravels on the twenty-fourth of April, directing his course westward, and came upon the point of Cuba on the eighteenth of May, where sailing along the coast he saw an infinite number of small islands; so that it being impossible to give them all names, he in general called them the Queen’s Garden. Thus he proceeded as far as the island de Pinos, near the westermost end of Cuba, having discovered 330 leagues to the westward from his colony of Isabella. He suffered very much in this voyage by the continual storms of rain, wind, thunder and lightning; and therefore resolved to return, taking his way more to the southward, and on the twenty-second of July found the island of Jamaica; whence he directed his course to Hispaniola, and coasting about it, arrived at the town of Isabella on the twenty-ninth of September, where he found his brother Bartholomew Columbus, who was come with four ships from Spain. The admiral built many forts in the island, and being much offended at the ill behaviour of many of the Spaniards, who began to use him disrespectfully, and sent complaints against him to court, returned into Spain to justify his proceedings, and secure his authority. Thus far out of Herrera’s first decade, lib. I, II, and III.
The fame of these mighty discoveries being spread abroad throughout Europe, Sebastian Cabot, a Venetian, but residing in England, made application to king Henry the seventh, to be employed in finding out a passage to the East-Indies through the north-west. The king admitted of his proposal, and
An. 1497, ordered him two ships provided with all necessaries for such an undertaking, with which he sailed from Bristol in the beginning of summer, (for here does not appear a particular journal,) and directing his course north-west came into 56, Herara says 68, degrees of north latitude, where he discovered land running still to the northward, which made him despair of finding a passage that way, as he had projected, and therefore came about to the southward, hoping to meet it in less latitude. Thus he soon fell in upon the now much frequented island of Newfoundland, reaching from 54 to 48 degrees, where he found a wild people clad in skins of beasts, and armed with bows and arrows, as also bears and stags, and great plenty of fish, but the earth yielding little fruit. Here he took three of the savages, whom at his return he carried into England, where they lived long after. Hence he continued his course along the American coast as far as 38 degrees of latitude, where his provisions beginning to fall short he returned to England. Hackluyt, vol. III. , et seq. This imperfect account is all we have of this voyage, which was not prosecuted by the English in many years after; and Cabot finding little encouragement went away into Spain, where he was entertained.
An. 1498. On the thirtieth of May admiral Columbus having been again well received and honoured by the king and queen of Castile and Aragon, and provided as he desired, sailed from S. Lucar with six ships upon new discoveries, and coming to the island Gomeru, one of the Canaries, on the nineteenth, sent thence three of his ships with provisions to sail directly for Hispaniola. He with the other three made the islands of Cabo Verde, resolving to sail southward as far as the equinoctial; and therefore steering south-west on the thirteenth of July he felt such violent heat, that they all thought they should there have ended their days: and this continued till the nineteenth, when the wind freshening they stood away to the westward, and the first of August came to an anchor in the island which he called La Trinidad, near the continent of South America, in about 11 degrees of north latitude. Discovering land from this place, which he supposed to be another island, but it was the continent, he sailed over and came upon the point of Paria, and run many leagues along the coast of the continent, without knowing it was so, trading with the Indians for gold and abundance of pearls. However, thinking his presence necessary at Hispaniola, he could not continue his discovery, but returned the same way he came to the island Trinidad, and found that he called Margarita, where was afterwards the great pearl-fishery, and that of Cubagua, besides many others of less note, and arrived at Santo Domingo, a town newly built on the south coast of the island Hispaniola on the twenty-second of August. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. IV.
An. 1499. The news having been brought to Spain of the discovery Columbus had made on the continent, though it was not yet certainly known whether it was a continent or an island; Alonso de Ojeda and some other private men fitted out four ships to make discoveries, and sailed from port S. Mary on the twentieth of May. John de la Cosa, a Biscainer, went with him as pilot, and Americus Vespucius as merchant. They took their course to the south-west, and in twenty-seven days had sight of land, which they supposed to be the continent. Being within a league of the shore, they sent some men in the boat, who saw abundance of naked people, who presently fled to the mountains; and therefore they followed the coast to find some harbour, which they found two days after, with multitudes of natives, thronging to see the ships. They were of a middle stature, well shaped, broad faced, and of a ruddy complexion; they covered their nakedness with leaves or cotton clouts. Their wealth consisted in fine feathers, fish-bones, and green and white stones, but they had neither gold nor pearls. Ojeda ran along this coast till he came to a town seated like Venice in the water, but containing only twenty-six great houses; for which reason he called it Venezuela, or little Venice, in about 11 degrees of north latitude. Still he kept along the coast of Paria, before discovered by Columbus, for the space of two hundred leagues, and then proceeded two hundred further to the point called Cabo de la Vela. Then turning back he came to the island Margarita, where he careened, and on the fifth of November arrived at the island of Hispaniola, where we may put an end to this discovery.
This same year Peter Alonso Nino and Christopher Guevara sailed from Sevil with one ship to discover, but did nothing more than had been done before, trading along the coast where Columbus and Ojeda had been. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. IV.
An. 1500, Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who was with Columbus the first voyage, set out four ships at his own charge, and sailing to the southward was the first Spaniard that ever cut the equinoctial line. Then sailing to the westward, on the twenty-sixth of January he discovered land at a distance, which was the point of land now called cape S. Augustin, on the coast of Brasil, where he took possession for the king of Spain: but not being able to bring the natives to trade with him, he passed on to a river, where landing, eight of his men were killed by the Indians; which made him remove again down to the mouth of the river Maranon, which is thirty leagues over, and runs with such force, that the water is fresh forty leagues out at sea. Finding no benefit could be made along this coast, he held on his course to Paria, whence he sailed over to the islands in the way to Hispaniola; and being at an anchor among them, a furious storm sunk two of their ships downright, the other two escaping repaired to Hispaniola, and having refitted returned to Spain. In this voyage they discovered six hundred leagues along the coast lying south-east from Paria.
In December this same year James de Lepe sailed from Palos de Moguer to discover, and went some way to the southward of cape S. Augustin, but did little considerable. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. IV.
This year also Emanuel king of Portugal fitted out a fleet of thirteen sail for the East-Indies, commanded by Peter Alvarez Cabral, who sailing from Lisbon in March, to avoid the calms on the coast of Guinea, stood out far to sea; and being carried away further to the westward than he intended by a storm, on the twenty-fourth of April fell in upon the coast of Brasil in America, in 10 degrees of south latitude. He sailed along it one day, and going ashore found a tawny people; but the weather still forced him to the southward, to a harbour he called Porto Seguro, in 17 degrees of south latitude, where he landed, and found the country abounding in cotton and Indian wheat. Here he erected a cross in token of possession, and therefore called the country Santa Cruz, but the name of Brazil prevailed, because of that sort of wood brought from thence. Peter Alvarez sent a ship to Portugal to give advice of this discovery, and he with the rest prosecuted his voyage to the East-Indies, as may be seen in the account of them, Herrera ubi sup. and Faria in Asia, part I, .
Again this year, 1500, Gasper de Cortereal a Portuguese sailed to the north parts of America with two caravels, where he run along a great part of what was said before to have been discovered by Cabot, and gave his name to some small islands about the north of Newfoundland, bringing away sixty of the natives. He made a second voyage into those parts, but was cast away. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VI.
An. 1501, Roderick de Bastidas fitted out two ships at Cadiz, and taking John de la Cosa, who was best acquainted with the western seas, for his pilot, put to sea in the beginning of February, following the same course Columbus had taken when he discovered the continent; and coasting all along where he and the others had been, he traded with the Indians. Not so satisfied, he run to the westward, and discovered Santa Marta Carthagena, and as far as Nombre de Dios, being above an hundred leagues more than was known before. His ships being now leaky and worm-eaten, so that they could not long keep the sea, and having traded for a considerable quantity of gold and pearls, he with difficulty made over to Xaragua in Hispaniola, where his ships sunk after saving the treasure; and he after being imprisoned in this island got over into Spain with his wealth. He carried some Indians from the continent to Hispaniola, who went stark naked, only carrying their privities in a gold case made like a funnel. Herrera ubi sup.
An. 1502. Admiral Columbus, being through the malicious insinuations of his enemies removed from the government of Hispaniola, but still fed by the king with fair words, obtained of him four ships to go upon some new discovery, and sailed with them from Cadiz on the ninth of May. On the twenty-ninth of June he came before Santo Domingo in the island Hispaniola, where the governor refused to admit him into the port. On the fourteenth of July he sailed away to the westward, and after driving some days with the currents in calms, struggled for sixty days with violent storms; after which he discovered the little island Guanaja, northward of cape Honduras, in 19 degrees of latitude. He sent his brother ashore, who met with a canoe as long as a spanish galley, and eight foot wide, covered with mats, and in it many men, women and children, with abundance of commodities to barter, which were large cotton cloths of several colours, short cotton shirts without sleeves curiously wrought, clouts of the same to cover their privities, wooden swords edged with flint, copper, hatchets to cut wood, horse-bells of the same metal, and broad flat plates of it, crucibles to melt the copper, cocoa-nuts, bread made of Indian wheat, and drink of the same. Being carried aboard the admiral, he exchanged some commodities with them, and then dismissed them, only keeping an old man, of whom when he inquired for gold, he pointed eastward, which made Columbus alter his design of sailing westward. Therefore taking the way he was directed, the first land he came to was cape Casinas on the continent of the province of Honduras, where his brother landed and took possession, the natives coming down in peaceable manner, wearing short jackets of cotton, and clouts of the same before their privy-parts, and bringing him plenty of provisions. Sailing hence many days to the eastward against the wind, he came to a great point of land, from which perceiving the shore run to the southward, he called it Cabo de Gracios a Dios, or cape Thanks be to God, because then the easterly winds would carry him down the coast. He run along trading with the natives, and touched at Porto Bello, Nombre de Dios, Belen, and Veragua, where he heard there were gold mines, and sent his brother up the country, who returned to him with a considerable quantity of that metal, exchanged for inconsiderable trifles. Upon this encouragement Columbus resolved to leave his brother there with eighty men, and accordingly built houses for them; yet after all, the Indians becoming their enemies, and the Spaniards mutinous, he was forced to take them aboard again, and then sailed away for Hispaniola. The ships being quite shaken with the many storms, and eaten through with the worms, could not reach that island, and therefore he was forced to run them a-ground on the coast of Jamaica, close board and board by one another, shoring them up with piles drove in the sand, and making huts on the decks for the men to live in, because they were full of water up to the deck. Hence with incredible difficulty and danger he sent messengers in a canoe over to Hispaniola for some vessels to carry him and his men away, and after suffering much was at last transported to that island, and thence into Spain, where he died. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. V, VI. So that we have here an end of his discoveries, and all the continent of America made known from cape Honduras in 18 degrees of north latitude, to Porto Seguro on the coast of Brasil in 17 degrees of south latitude, being above fifteen hundred leagues, taking only the greater windings of the coast.
An. 1506. The news of Columbus’s new discovery being spread abroad in Castile, John Diaz de Solis and Vincent Yanez Pinzon resolved to prosecute what he had begun; and coming to the island Guanaja, whence Columbus had turned back to the eastward, they held on their course still westward, running along the coast of Honduras till they came to the bottom of that deep bay, which they called Baia de Navidad, now called the Gulph of Honduras. Then turning to the north-east, they discovered a great part of the province of Yucatan, whereof little was afterwards known till the discovery of New-Spain.
An. 1507. It being still unknown whether Cuba was an island or part of the continent, Nicholas de Obando governor of Hispaniola sent Sebastian de Ocampo to discover it: he sailed along the north side of it, touching at several places, and careened his ships at the port now well known by the name of the Havana, which then he called de Coranas. Then continuing his voyage to the westermost end of the island now called Cabo de S. Anton, he turned to the eastward along the south coast of the island, and put into the port of Xagua, which is one of the best in the world, and capable of containing a thousand ships. Here he was most courteously entertained and supplied with abundance of partridges and good fish. Having rested here a few days, he held on his way along the coast, and returned to Hispaniola, with the certain news of Cuba’s being an island. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VII.
An. 1508. John Ponce de Leon sailed over from Hispaniola to the island called by the Indians Borriquen, by the Spaniards S. Juan de Puerto Rico, and by the English Porto Rico: it is but fifteen leagues distant from Hispaniola, has a good harbour, which with the plenty of gold found in it gave it the name of Puerto Rico, or the Rich Harbour. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VII.
The same year, 1508, John Diaz de Solis, and Vincent Yanez Pinzon, who before discovered the gulph of Honduras, sailed with two caravels fitted out at the king’s expence to discover the south coast of America; and coming upon cape S. Augustin in about 11 degrees of south latitude, continued thence their navigation along the coast, often landing and trading with the natives till they came into 40 degrees of the same latitude, whence they returned with an account of what they had found into Spain. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VII.
An. 1509. John de Esquibel was sent from Hispaniola, by the admiral James Columbus, son to Christopher Columbus, with seventy men to settle a colony in the island of Jamaica.
This same year John de la Cosa sailed from Spain with one ship and two brigantines, to join Alonzo de Ojeda in the island Hispaniola, thence to go and settle on the continent. James de Nicuessa set out soon after him with four ships upon the same design. After some dispute about the limits of their provinces, they agreed that the river of Darien should part them, and then they set out towards their several governments. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VII.
An. 1510, Ojeda landed at Carthagena, where after endeavouring to gain the Indians by fair means without success he came to a battle with them, in which John de la Cosa was killed, and he escaped by flight, having lost seventy Spaniards. Nicuessa arrived a few days after, and joining the other Spaniards belonging to Ojeda, revenged the death of the former seventy, and took a great booty. However Ojeda removed thence to the gulph of Uraba, where he founded the town of S. Sebastian, being the second built on the continent, if we reckon that before founded by Columbus near the same place, which did not stand, as has been mentioned, nor did this continue long at that time, being removed after most of the Spaniards were consumed to Darien. Hence the Indians carried swine, salt and fish up the country, and in return brought home gold and cotton-cloth. Nicuessa with his ships sailed to Veragua, and after many miseries and calamities, at last founded the town of Nombre de Dios on the small isthmus that joins the two continents of North and South America. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. VII, VIII.
An. 1511. The admiral James Columbus from the island Hispaniola sent James Velasquez with about three hundred men to plant in the island of Cuba, where no settlement had yet been made.
An. 1512. John Ponce de Leon, before mentioned as first planter of the island of Puerto Rico, being grown rich, fitted out three ships in that island, resolving to discover to the northward. He sailed on the third of March, steering north-west and by north and on the eighth anchored at Baxos de Babueca, near the island del Viejo, in 22 degrees and a half of north latitude, and on the fourteenth at the island Guanahani, which was the first discovered by Columbus. Hence he directed his course north-west, and on the twenty-seventh, being Easter-Sunday, discovered an island not known before; whence he proceeded, west-north-west, till the second of April, when they came to an anchor near a part of the continent they had run along in 30 degrees and eight minutes of north latitude, which he believed to be an island, and called Florida, that is, flowry, or flourishing, both because it looked green and pleasant, and because it was Easter time, which the Spaniards call pasqua florida. After landing to take possession, he sailed south and by east till the twenty-first of April, when he met so strong a current, that though they had the wind large, his ships could not stem it, which obliged him to come to an anchor; this being the now well known channel of Bahama, through which most ships return out of those parts into Europe. Here he landed, and had a skirmish with the Indians who were warlike. On the eighth of May he doubled the point of Florida, which he called cape Corrientes, because of the great strength of the current there. Being come about, they spent many days along the coast and neighbouring islands, watering and careening, and dealing with the Indians for hides and guanines, which are plates of a mixture of gold and copper. In June he had two battles with the Indians, who in their canoes came out to draw his ships ashore, or at least to cut his cables. Having beaten them off, he came upon the coast of Cuba, though he knew it not to be that island, and thence returned to Puerto Rico, whence he sailed into Spain to beg of the king the government of what he had discovered. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. IX.
An. 1513. Basco Nunez de Balboa, who had subtilely wound himself into the government of the Spaniards, who were before mentioned to have built the town of Darien, having used all his endeavours as others did to find out more gold, and being told by an Indian, that there was a mighty prince beyond the mountains who had a vast plenty of it, and that there was also an open sea, he resolved to venture over to find these treasures, and gain the honour of being the first that found this so long looked for sea. Accordingly he set out from Darien in September with Indian guides, and others given him by the caciques his friends to carry burdens. Entering upon the mountains, he had a fight with a cassique that would have stopped him, in which he killed the cacique and six hundred of his men. On the twenty-fifth of September he reached the top of the mountains, from whence, to his unspeakable joy, he saw the South-sea; with this satisfaction he went down, and coming to the shore walked into the sea, to take possession of it for the king of Spain. This done, he with eighty of his men, and a cacique his friend, went into nine canoes, and put out to sea, where a storm rising, they had all like to have perished; however, with much difficulty they got into a small island, where some of their canoes were beaten to pieces and all their provisions lost. The next day with what canoes remained they landed on the further side of the bay, where after some opposition from the Indians they made peace, and the cacique brought a good quantity of gold as a present, and two hundred and forty large pearls; and seeing the Spaniards valued them, he sent some Indians to fish, who in four days brought twelve mark-weight of them, each mark being eight ounces. Basco Nunez would have gone over to the island of pearls, five leagues distant, but was advised by the Indians his friends to put it off till summer, because of the danger of the sea at that time. Here he had some information of the wealth of Peru, and was assured that the coast ran along to the southward without end, as the Indians thought. Basco Nunez having made so great a discovery, and gathered much wealth, returned over the mountains to Darien, whence he presently sent advice to the king of what he had found. Herrera, dec. 1. lib. X.
An. 1515, John Diaz de Solis was sent out by the king to discover to the southward: he sailed on the eighth of October, and came to Rio de Janeiro on the coast of Brazil in 22 degrees twenty minutes of south latitude, whence he continued his course down the coast which lies south-west to cape S. Mary in 35 degrees of latitude, where he landed and took possession. Then turning with one of his caravels into the river of Plate, which because it was so large and fresh, they called the fresh sea, and by another name, the river of Solis, he spied along the shore abundance of houses of Indians, and the people coming down to gaze at the ships, and offering what they had. Solis landed with as many men as his boat could carry, who going a little up from the shore, were set upon by the natives, who lay in ambush in the woods, and every man of them killed, notwithstanding the cannon fired from aboard. When they had killed the men they removed them further from the shore, yet not so far but that the Spaniards aboard might see them, where cutting off their heads, arms and legs, they roasted the whole bodies and eat them. Having seen this dismal sight, the caravel returned to the other vessel, and both together repaired to cape S. Augustin, where having loaded with Brazil wood, they sailed back to Spain. Thus ended the famous seaman John Diaz de Solis. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. I.
An. 1516. Padrarias governor of Darien before spoken of, sent the licentiate Espinosa with a good body of men over the mountains to Panama, who had some encounters with the Indians in those parts, and made some considerable discoveries along that coast. But having gathered a great quantity of gold, and abundance of slaves, he returned to Darien, leaving Hernan Ponce de Leon with a small force at Panama. This commander lost no time, though he had no good vessels but some small barks, for in them he ventured to run up to the north-west as far as the port of Nicoya in the province of Nicaragua, a hundred and forty leagues from Nata, which is at the mouth of the bay of Panama; where finding the people in arms, and that they fled to the mountains upon the first firing, he concluded there was not much good to be done there at that time, and returned to Panama. At the same time Basco Nunez de Balboa, who first discovered the Southsea, cut timber at Ada on the north-sea, and having hewed it out fit to put together, had it all carried up twelve leagues to the top of the mountains by Indians, blacks and Spaniards, and thence down to the Southsea, which was an incredible labour, there being all the timber, iron-work and rigging for two brigantines. Herrera, dec. 2, lib. II.
This same year, 1516, Hackluyt mentions a voyage made by sir Thomas Pert and Sebastian Cabot, by order of King Henry the eighth of England to Brazil, but gives no particulars of it. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1517, James Velasquez, governor of Hispaniola, gave commission to Francis Hernandez de Cordova to make some further discovery on the continent. He bought two ships and a brigantine, furnished them with all necessaries, and a hundred and ten men, and sailed from Havana on the eighth of February to the westward. At the end of twenty-one days they saw land, and drawing near perceived a town. Five canoes came to the ship, and thirty men went aboard, wearing short jackets without sleeves, and clouts about their waists instead of breeches, who being well entertained were dismissed: and the next day twelve canoes came with a cacique, who said conez cotoche, that is, come to my house; and the Spaniards not understanding it, called that point of land cape Cotoche, being the westermost of the province of Yucatan, in 22 degrees of latitude. The Spaniards going ashore with this invitation, were set upon by Indians that lay in ambush, whom they put to flight. Here they found three structures like little temples with idols, built with lime and stone, which were the first that had been seen in America. Returning to their ships, they kept along the coast westward till they came to Campeche, where they took water out of a well, there being no other, and retired to their ships, the Indians pursuing at their heels, yet without engaging. Further on at a place called Potonchan, being ashore again to water, they were beset by the Indians, who killed fifty of them, and the rest, whereof many were wounded, with much difficulty got aboard their ships. Wanting hands for them all, they burnt one, and with the other two vessels in great want of water, stood over for the coast of Florida, where as they were watering the Indians fell on them and killed four or five more, but were put to flight, so that the Spaniards had time to carry off their water, and so returned to Cuba, where James Fernandez the commander died of his wounds. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. II.
An. 1518. The report of the discovery made in Yucatan pleasing the undertaker James Velasquez, governor of Cuba, he provided three ships and a brigantine, with two hundred and fifty men, to prosecute that enterprise, under the command of John de Grijalva, who sailed from Cuba on the eighth of April, and driving to the southward with the currents came upon the island of Cozumel, in the 20th degree of latitude, not known before, and south of the cape of Cotoche; where keeping along its coast, they anchored at a place they called Santa Cruz, because that was the third of May and the feast of the finding of the cross. Landing he could not prevail with any of the natives to come to trade, yet found in the island good honey, swine with their navels on their backs, and several small temples of stone, as also an Indian woman of Jamaica, who went aboard, and was afterwards of great use to them. Grijalva sailed on to Potonchan, where Francis Hernandez, the first discoverer of that country, had been: and after defeating the natives held on to the river of his own name, saying this country was like a new Spain, because of the many structures he saw of lime and stone, whence the name remained to the adjacent kingdom of Mexico. Coming to the river of Tabasco, he treated with the natives, and a cacique there with his own hand put upon Grijalva a suit of complete armour all of beaten gold, besides many other rich presents he gave him. Then coasting along, he saw the great mountains of S. Martin, and the rivers of Alvarado and Banderas on the coast of New-Spain, at which last place he was supplied with provisions, and traded for much gold with the governor, who had received orders so to do from Montezuma the great monarch of Mexico, upon the news brought him of the first ships that appeared on that coast. He spent seven days at S. John de Ulva, trading with the natives, and then went on as far as the province of Panuco, from whence he returned to Cuba, having in this voyage discovered all the coast of New-Spain, almost as far as the province of Florida. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. III.
This same year the licentiate Espinosa, by order of Peter Arias Davila governor of Darien, founded the town of Panama on the South-sea. Ibid.
An. 1519. Ferdinand Cortes, with eleven sail fitted out at the charge of James Velasquez, sailed from Cuba in February, and landing on the coast of New-Spain before discovered by Grijalva, marched up to Mexico, made himself master of that mighty city, and subdued all the provinces about it till he came to the South-sea. Here were found those rich mines of silver, which with the others of Peru have ever since enriched the universe, not to speak of the abundance of cotton, and very many other precious commodities. In fine, his actions and the wealth of this country are the subject of large volumes, and too great for so short a discourse. Therefore we will proceed to the discoveries. Ibid.
This year also Ferdinand Magalhaens, or as we call him, Magellan, sailed from Spain to discover the strait of his name, the particulars of which voyage are the subject of the first of those round the world, to be found together at the latter end of this discourse, and therefore need not be repeated at this place, for there the reader may find it at large, with an account of those southern parts of America.
This same year, 1519, an English ship of two hundred and fifty ton came to the island of Puerto Rico, pretending it came out with another to discover a passage to Tartary, and had been at Newfoundland, where there were fifty Spanish, French and Portuguese ships fishing, and that offering to go ashore their pilot was killed.
They further said they came to load Brazil wood, and carry the king of England an account of those countries. Hence they sailed over to Hispaniola, where being fired at from the castle they returned to Puerto Rico, where they traded with the inhabitants, and going thence were never more heard of. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. V. Hackluyt, vol. III. , gives the same account out of Ramusio, only differing in that he says it was in the year 1517.
An. 1522. Cortes having subdued the mighty kingdom of Mexico, and greatest part of the provinces of Mechoacan, Panuco, Guaxaca, Tabasco and Soconusco, a conquest above two hundred leagues in length, above a hundred and fifty in breadth in the widest part, and lying betwixt 14 and 24 degrees of north latitude; and having discovered the South-sea, which washes the shores of several of the provinces mentioned, he resolved that way to send to the Molucco islands, and in order to it sent ship-wrights to the port of Zacatula to build two ships to discover along the coast, and two caravels to sail to the Muloccos, causing all the iron-work, sails and rigging to be carried upon men’s backs from Vera Cruz across the country, which is at least a hundred and forty leagues.
Whilst these vessels were preparing in New-Spain, Giles Gonzalez Davila with incredible labour had built four in the island Tarrarequi, not far from Panama, whence he sailed on the twenty-first of January this same year 1522, taking Andrew Nino along with him as his pilot. Having sailed an hundred leagues along the coast to the north-west, they were forced to send to Panama for necessaries to refit their ships, which being brought they proceeded. At Nicoya, Giles Gonzales landed and travelled into the province of Nicaragua, where abundance of Indians with their cacique submitted themselves: but afterwards meeting with a more warlike nation he was forced to retire to the sea. Whilst Gonzales travelled by land, Andrew Nino had sailed along the coast as far as the bay of Fonseca in the province of Guatimala, discovering three hundred leagues that way further than was known before: which done, they both returned to Panama with great wealth in gold and pearls. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. IV.
An. 1524. Francis the first, king of France, employed John Varrazona, a Florentine, to make some discovery to the north-west. He set out from Diep with four ships, and after some time spent privateering on the coast of Spain, he steered to the island of Madera, whence dismissing the rest he departed with one ship and fifty men upon his enterprize. The first twenty-five days he ran five hundred leagues to the westward, after which followed a dreadful storm; and that ceasing, in twenty-five days more ran four hundred leagues, and then discovered a land before unknown, which was low and well peopled, running to the southward. He sailed fifty leagues along the coast to the south without finding any harbour, which made him stand about to the northward, and at last come to an anchor, where he traded with the Indians, who went naked, covering only their privities with furs like sables, and garlands about their heads made of fine feathers; their complexion like the other Indians, their hair black and long, tied up behind like a tail. His short stay there gave him not leisure to learn any thing of their customs, but the country seemed delightful, with pleasant plains, and plenty of woods of several sorts of trees, great variety of beasts and birds, and some tokens of gold. This country was in 34 degrees of north latitude, a temperate climate, and is the northern part of the province of Florida. Sailing hence fifty leagues to the north-east, they came upon another coast, where they took a boy, and so run on, seeing all the way abundance of trees, variety of herbs and flowers for two hundred leagues, where they again anchored, and were well entertained by the natives, a cacique coming often aboard, and seeming well pleased with the French. Hence they held on their course above a hundred leagues, and saw people clothed with feathers, and a very pleasant country; but passed on still to a great island, and anchored betwixt it and the continent, where the people were still naked, with only furs before their privities, and valued copper beyond gold. Thus he proceeded, landing and taking a view of the shores, till he came into fifty degrees of north latitude, where his provisions falling short, he resolved to return into France, having discovered seven hundred leagues along the coast, and giving it the name of New-France. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. VI. Hackluyt, vol. III. . Purchas, vol. IV. .
The same year, 1524, Francis Pizarro sailed from Panama in November with one ship and two canoes, in which were eighty Spaniards, and four horses, to discover to the southward. Coming under the equinoctial, which was further than any had discovered on that side, he landed, and provisions failing, sent back the ship for them, remaining himself ashore with most of the men, where they were drove to such extremities, that twenty-seven of them died for want, and therefore they called this place Puerto de Lahambre, that is, Port Famine. The ship returning with provisions, they proceeded on their voyage to the port they called De la Candelaria, where they again went ashore and travelled up the country; but all the people fled from them, and the continual rains rotted their clothes. Though all the rest of his actions in this expedition were in the ensuing years, yet the summary of them shall here be delivered together, to avoid the confusion that might be caused by the dismembering of them. Hence they went on to a place they called Pueblo Quemado, where they had two bloody encounters with the Indians, and therefore proceeded to Chicama, whence they again sent back the ship to Panama for provisions. Whilst the ship was returning, James de Almagro, who was at the chief expence of this enterprise, went out of Panama with a ship full of provisions, and sixty men in it, and running along the coast, at length found Pizarro at Chicama; and having relieved and conferred with him, returned to Panama for more men, whence he brought two ships and two canoes with arms, men, ammunition, and provisions. Leaving Chicama, they proceeded along the coast; and after many delays, and several times sending back to Panama, during which time the rest of the men were left ashore, and suffered incredible hardships, Pizarro came to Tumbez, where he sent men ashore, who were friendly entertained by the natives, supplied with provisions, and returned aboard with the joyful news, that they had seen stately palaces, and all sorts of vessels of silver and gold. Here he was invited ashore, and went twice, having much discourse with the Indians, who gave him an account of the great city of Cusco, and of the immense wealth of the mighty monarch of Guaynacapa. This done, having gathered a good quantity of gold, and got some of the large Peru sheep, and other things to show the wealth of the country, he returned to Panama to gather a force sufficient to make a conquest in that rich country, he had discovered. In this voyage he reached as far as the port of Santa in 9 degrees of south latitude, having run above two hundred leagues, in which he spent three years, being detained so long by the misfortunes and wants above mentioned, besides many more too tedious to insert here. The conquest and further discoveries shall fall in their due place. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. VII, VIII, and X. and dec. 4. lib. II.
An. 1525, the emperor Charles the fifth fitted out six ships and a tender at Corunna, under the command of D. Garcia Jofre de Loaysa, and well furnished with provisions, ammunition, and commodities to trade, as also four hundred and fifty Spaniards. These ships were to pass through the straits of Magellan to the Molucco islands, and sailed from Corunna in July. On the fifth of December they came upon the coast of Brasil in 21 degrees and a half of south latitude. December the twenty-eighth the ships were parted in a storm, but met all again except the admiral. January the fifth they came to cape Blanco in 37 degrees, and thence to Santa Cruz in 51 degrees, where the admiral and another ship being missing, they put up some signs to direct them. Coming to the mouth of the straits, one of the ships was cast away in a storm, the other three with much difficulty got into the strait. January the twenty-sixth the admiral, with the other ship that was missing, and the tender came to the mouth of the strait, where it was near perishing in a storm: and on the fifth of April the five ships being again joined, put into the strait, whence the foul weather had beaten them out. May the twenty-fifth they came out into the South-sea, where a violent storm parted them all; and the tender being left alone with very little provision sailed to the northward, till it came upon the coast of New-Spain, where the men were plentifully relieved by the Indians for the present, and afterwards by Cortes from Mexico. The admiral was parted from the other ships, and never saw them more, for he died on this side the line, and soon after him John Sebastian Cano his successor, who had brought the ship called the Victory home, after sailing round the world in the voyage undertaken by Magellan. Then they chose Toribio Alonso de Salazar for their admiral, and so directing their course for the islands Ladrones, on the thirteenth of September discovered an island, which they called S. Bartholomew; and the wind not permitting them to come near it, followed on their course to the Ladrones, and came to the two southermost of them, where there came to them a Spaniard that had been left there when a ship of Magellan’s company left at the Moluccos attempted to return to New-Spain, as may be seen in that voyage. Five days this which was the admiral’s ship continued in the island Bataha, and then prosecuted its voyage to the Moluccos on the 10th of September 1526, and on the second of October came to the great island Mindanao, one of the Philippines, where they got some fresh provisions, and then sailed away towards the Moluccos, and arrived safe at Tidore on the last day of December, and there built a fort, whence for a long time after they made war with the Portugueses of Ternate; where we will leave them, having ended their navigation, and shall hear of them again in the following years. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. VII, VIII, IX. and dec. 4. lib. I.
An. 1526. Sebastian Cabot, who made the great discovery in North America for king Henry the seventh of England, being now in the Spanish service, sailed from Cadiz with four ships, designed for the Moluccos through the strait of Magellan: but when he came upon the coast of Brasil, his provisions began to fail, and the men to mutiny, both which things obliged him to lay aside his first design, and ran up the river then called of Solis, now of Plate; and going up it thirty leagues, he came to the island of S. Gabriel, and seven leagues above it to the river S. Salvador, where he landed and built a fort, in which he left some men, whilst he discovered higher. Thirty leagues further up he found the river of Zarcarana, and erected another fort, which was called by his name. Then continuing the same course, after running up two hundred leagues he came to the river Paraguay, up which he turned leaving the great river, and at the end of thirty leagues found a people that tilled the ground, which he had not seen before, and they opposed him so vigorously, that he was forced to return down the river after losing twenty-eight of his men: where we must leave him a-while, to show that this same year James Garcia was sent from Galicia with one ship, a small tender, and a brigantine, to disover this same river of Plate, and came upon that part of the coast of Brasil which for its many rocks and shoals is called Abrelojo, or Open your Eyes, at the end of the year.
An. 1527. At the beginning of the year he came into the river of Plate, and there found two of Cabot’s ships, but sent back his own to carry slaves into Portugal. Then he run up the river, and found Cabot in that of Paraguay, where we said he lost his men, whence they returned together to the ships. Cabot sent one of them back into Spain, with an account of what he had discovered, the reasons why he went not to the Moluccos, and some silver and gold, desiring to be reinforced, and to have leave to plant there, which was not done till some time after, when it shall be mentioned in its place. Herrera, dec. 3. lib. IX. and dec. 4. lib. I.
This same year Cortes fitted out three ships on the coast of New-Spain in the South-sea, and sent them to the Molucco islands, where they joined the Spaniards before mentioned, and prosecuted the war with the Portugueses. One of the ships attempted to return with cloves to New-Spain, but was beaten back to Tidore by contrary winds, where the continual wars reduced the Spaniards to only twenty, who were forced to put themselves into the power of the Portugueses, and by them were carried into India, whence some of them returned into Spain. These ships were in several of the Philippine islands, and took possession of them for the king of Spain. Herrera, dec. 4. lib. I.
This year also Francis de Montejo sailed from Sevil with three ships, and five hundred men in them, to conquer the province of Yucatan, and Peter de Alvarado for that of Guatimala. Of the discovery of both something has been said already, and therefore there needs no repetition.
The same year still Pamphilo de Narvaez sailed from Sanlucar on the seventeenth of June with five vessels, and in them seven hundred men, and spent much time at Hispaniola and Cuba, where, after escaping a dreadful storm, he was forced to winter. In March following he put to sea with four ships and above four hundred men, and on the twelfth of April after many storms and dangers came upon the coast of Florida; he landed his men and forty horses, and then travelled with them by land, sending the ships at the same time to coast along and find a safe harbour where they might settle a town. Those that marched by land, after incredible suffering ashore, and losing their ships, built some barks to carry them off, making sails of their shirts, and ropes of their horses tails and manes. By the twenty-second of September they had eaten all their horses, and then went aboard their barks: they crept along the shore seven days in those creeks almost starved, till they found some dry fish in an Indian house, but after this suffered such extremity of thirst, that five of them died with drinking of salt water. They landed again and got some refreshment, but the Indians proving treacherous, they lost some men, and so put to sea again, where they ranged many days in foul weather, and were all parted. At last all the barks were cast upon the shore and several men drowned, those that escaped almost naked and starved met with charitable Indians, who came down and lamented their misfortune with tears, fetching wood to make fire to warm them, carrying them to their houses, and giving them all the best they had; but this lasted not long; for the Indians though so loving were poor, and soon after suffered extreme want themselves, so that the Spaniards dispersed to shift, and the sixty that landed were soon reduced to fifteen. Such was their misery, that five of them who had kept together ate up one another till only one was left. Three or four that survived these calamities travelled some hundreds of leagues across the country, and with incredible hardships at length came to New Spain, the rest with their officers all perished; and this was the end of the expedition. Herrera, dec. 4. lib. II, IV.
Before we proceed, it must be here noted, that this same year king Henry the eighth of England sent out two ships to discover to the northward, which sailed out of the Thames on the twentieth of May, and entering between the north of Newfoundland and the continent one of them was cast away. The other directed its course towards cape Breton, and the coast of Arambec, often sending men ashore to get information of the country, and returned home in October; which is all the account we have of this voyage. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1530. Francis Pizarro having been in Spain, and obtained many favours of the emperor, and power to conquer what he had discovered, sailed from Panama with a hundred and eighty-five Spaniards, and thirty-seven horses. At the bay of S. Matthew he landed the horses and most of the men to march along the shore, whilst the ships coasted; and falling upon the town of Quapel, he took a vast booty of gold, silver, and emeralds: then he sent three ships to Panama and Nicaragua to bring recruits of men and provisions. Being reduced to great straits, and ready to abandon the country, a ship arrived with supplies. Hence they sailed to the island Puna, which lies between three and four degrees of south latitude; where after much feigned friendship from the Indians, he came to a battle with them, and having gained the victory, continued there, setting at liberty six hundred Indians of Tumbez, kept there in slavery, which gained him the affection of those people. Two ships coming to him with recruits from Panama, Pizarro sailed over to Tumbez, of which place he possessed himself after killing many Indians, who used all means by open force and treachery to destroy him. Here inquiring into the affairs of the country, he was informed of the greatness and infinite wealth of the city of Cuzco, and of the vast power and large dominion of the emperor of Peru. Then moving still to the southward, he founded the city of S. Michael, and staid there long to settle that new colony, to get more supplies and further intelligence into the affairs of the country; and though these things happened in the following years, we will conclude with them at once, according to the intended brevity. At that time two brothers contended for the monarchy of Peru, these were Atahaulpa and Guascar, of whom the former had been successful in several battles. Pizarro resolved to make his advantage of their divisions. He therefore marched into the country with scarce two hundred men, and coming to Caxamalca, whence Atahaulpa drew out with his army, he sent to invite him back. The inga came with an infinite multitude of Indians; and having filled the great market of Caxamalca, he ordered they should seize all the Spaniards, and take care that not one escaped; upon which as his horns and other warlike instruments began to make a dreadful noise, Pizarro gave the signal in like manner; and falling on, routed that multitude, and took the inga prisoner, and with him an incredible treasure of gold, silver, and cotton cloth. The inga being prisoner, offered for his ransom ten thousand ingots of gold, and a great room full to the top of silver; which he had almost performed, when new troubles arising, he was put to death. After which Pizarro marched to the great city of Cuzco, near two hundred leagues from Caxamalca, to the south-east; whence moving to the sea, he founded the city of Lima in 18 degrees of south latitude, and subdued all that vast empire of Peru. Herrera, dec. 4. lib. VII. and IX. and dec. 5. throughout the greatest part of it.
An. 1532. Nunho de Guzman, sent out by Cortes from Mexico by land to reduce the province of Mechoacan, discovered and subdued the provinces of Culiacan and Cinaloa, extending to 28 degrees of north latitude on the coast of the South-sea, and opposite to the south end of California; all which was done by land, and a consequence of the former navigations. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. I.
Some ships were sent out these years by Cortes from New-Spain, to discover to the north-west; but they having gone no further than has been already mentioned, it is needless to give any account of them.
An. 1534. Simon de Alcazova, a Portuguese in the king of Spain’s service, undertook to discover to the southward of Peru; passing the strait of Magellan, and fitting out two good ships with two hundred and fifty men, he sailed from S. Lucar on the twenty-first of September, and entered the mouth of the straits of Magellan in January following. Having spent some time in it, and being half way through, the violent storms, which lasted many days, were the occasion that his men in a mutinous manner obliged him to turn back out of the strait, and put into port Lobos, a little above the mouth of it. Here he landed a hundred men to discover up the country, appointing his lieutenant to command them, because he could not himself, by reason of his indisposition. They marched ninety leagues through a desart country, seeing scarce any inhabitants, and being ready to perish sometimes for want of water; and by this time all the provisions they brought from aboard were spent, the country affording little or nothing. This done, they returned towards the ships, and some of them mutinying by the way, secured those that opposed their wicked designs; and coming aboard, murdered Alcazova their commander in chief and his pilot, designing to leave the rest that had opposed them on shore, and turn pirates. But being divided among themselves, the loyal party took the advantage to possess themselves of the ships, and executed many of them. This done, they directed their course for the islands of America. The greatest ship was cast away on the coast of Brasil, the other in much distress arrived at the island Hispaniola. Thus ended this enterprise. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. VII. and VIII.
This same year, 1534, Jaques Cartier sailed from the port of S. Malo, by order of Francis I. king of France, to discover the north part of America. He set out on the twentieth of April, and on the tenth of May put into the port of S. Catherine in Newfoundland; where having spent some days in refitting, he sailed all the length of the island from cape Raz to cape de Grace; and entering between the island and the continent, run to the westward along the shore, till at the mouth of the great river Canada, he turned to the southward, came to the bay called du Chaleur, and traded with the natives in a very peaceable manner, as they did all along those shores on the back of Newfoundland, viewing all the creeks and harbours; till the fifteenth of August, when they departed thence homeward, and arrived at S. Malo on the fifth of September. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1535. The same Jaques Cartier sailed again from S. Malo, May the nineteenth, with three ships upon the same discovery; and after suffering much by storms, which parted them, Cartier upon the twenty-fifth of June came upon the coast of Newfoundland, in 49 degrees and 40 minutes of latitude, and staying some days, was there joined by his other two ships. Then they all together entered the great bay on the back of Newfoundland, sailing to the westward, and foul weather coming on, anchored in the port of S. Nicholas, where they staid till the seventh of August; and then steering to the southward, on the fifteenth came upon the island of the Assumption. Thence he turned again into the great river, and coasting along it, came to the island he called of Orleans, in the country of Canada, where he traded amicably with the Indians; and leaving the ships there, with fifty men in the boats, he ran fifty leagues higher, where he saw the town of Hochelaga, consisting of about fifty great houses, each capable of a great number of people, and the town inclosed with a triple fence, all of timber. Returning hence to his ships, he went to Stadacona, a town about a league from them, to visit the prince of that part of Canada. In these parts he found much fish, Indian wheat, and tobacco. He continued here all the winter, discovering what was nearest, and inquiring into the further parts of the country; and in May following returned home with a particular account of the great river of Canada, and the whole country called by that name, or New-France. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
This year D. Peter de Mendoza sailed from S. Lucar with eleven ships and eight hundred men in them, for the river of Plate, where he happily arrived, and settled the colony of Buenos Ayres, which continues and is famous to this day; though the greatest part of his people perished there for want, before they were relieved from Spain. Herrera, dec. 5. lib. IX.
An. 1536. Two ships were fitted out at London, under the command of Mr. Hore, with a hundred and twenty men, for North America; of whom we find no account that they did any more than get to Newfoundland, where they were in such want that they eat up one another; and those that were left surprised a French ship that came into those parts, and so returned home. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1539. F. Mark de Niza, with his companion F. Honoratus, a black, whose name was Stephen, and some Indians for interpreters, set out on the seventh of March from the town of Culiacan at the entrance into the strait of California on the South-sea shore, to discover the country to the northward by land. F. Honoratus fell sick, and was left behind; and F. Mark proceeded to Petathen, sixty leagues from Culiacan; the people there and all the way paying him extraordinary respect, and supplying him plentifully with all necessaries. Hence he went on to Vacapa, and sent the black towards the sea to discover that port, who soon after sent messengers, desiring the father to come speedily to him because he had received information of a country called Cibola, where there were seven great cities, built with stone two stories high, and the people well clad; and that it was but thirty days journey from the place where he then was. F. Mark set out towards this country, and all the way he went, the people offered him not only provisions, but Turky stones, earthen dishes, and other things, whereof he would receive nothing, but what was barely for his and his company’s maintenance. He passed through a desart of four days journey, and coming out of it, the people of the first towns ran to meet him all clad in cotton cloth, or skins, with collars, and other ornaments of Turky stones. Having travelled a hundred and twenty leagues from Vacapa, he came into a most delightful plain, all inhabited by very civilized people, and six days journey over; and then entered into a desart of fifteen days journey, where an Indian brought him the news that Stephen his black, who had gone all the way before, was killed at Cibola by the governor’s order; which was confirmed by other Indians that went with him and had escaped. F. Mark having with much difficulty persuaded some few Indians to follow him, went on till he came in sight of Cibola, which he viewed from a rising ground, and afterwards declared it was the best city he had seen in America, the houses being two or three stories high, and very beautiful; but durst not go into it, for fear if they should kill him, there would be none to carry back an account of that discovery. He therefore returned, having seen many good towns in his way, and found people very much civilized: whereof he sent an account to the viceroy. He also was informed, that beyond Cibola there were three great and powerful kingdoms, called Marata, Acus, and Tonteac, where the people lived very politely, wove cloth, and had great riches. Cibola lies in about 38 or 39 degrees of north latitude. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. VII.
Upon the news of this great discovery by land, Cortes set out three ships from New Spain, under the command of D. Francisco de Ulloa; who directed his course to the north-west, run along the back of California, searching all that coast as far as cape Enganho in the latitude of 30 degrees; but here was no discovery of any consequence made, and Ulloa resolving to go further, was never more heard of; another of his three ships had been lost before, and the third, which now left him, returned to New-Spain. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. IX.
An. 1540. Don Antony Mendoza viceroy of Mexico, upon the information above given by F. Mark of the country of Cibola, ordered Francis Vasquez de Cornado, governor of New-Galicia, to march thither with some forces, and plant colonies where he thought convenient. Cornado set out from Culiacan in May, with an hundred and fifty horse and two hundred foot, and store of ammunition and provisions. He directed his course almost north-east, and after a long march of many days came to the first town, where Stephen the black above mentioned was killed. Here they saw five towns, each of about two hundred inhabitants, and the houses of stone and mud, and flat at the top; the country cold, but plentiful, the people clad in skins of beasts. Five days journey to the north-east of Cibola is a province called Tucayan. All these places gave the Spaniards friendly reception, except the first town of Cibola. They travelled seven days further still north-east, and came to the river Cicuique, where they found abundance of cows, and then proceeded twenty days without knowing where they were. Here Cornado ordered all his forces to stay, except thirty men, and with them he travelled thirty days to the northward always among abundance of cattle, and on the feast of St. Peter and Paul came to the river to which he gave those names. Hence they turned into the province of Quivira, which is a finer country than most in Europe, and where they saw grapes and several sorts of European fruits, as also flax growing wild. Having taken an account of all this country, he returned to his government. In his way outwards he travelled three hundred and thirty leagues, and but two hundred in his return, because he came back the direct way. Quivira is in 40 degrees of latitude. Cornado was out two years upon his discovery, and was blamed at his return for not having planted a colony.
The same year the viceroy of Mexico sent out two shiys at Acapulco on the South-sea, to discover on that element, whilst Cornado travelled by land, and gave the command of them to Ferdinand de Alarcon, who set sail on the ninth of May. Coming to the flats at the entrance of the strait of California, he sent his boats before to sound, and yet run aground; but the tide rising, brought him off, and he run up till he came to a great river, up which he went with his boats, and traded with the Indians for provisions and hides. Having gone very far up this river, Alarcon heard tidings of Cibola, which was what he looked for, and of the death of Stephen the black. He called the river Buena Guia, and returning to his ships, put aboard his boats abundance of provisions and commodities to trade with; resolving to join Francis Vasquez de Cornado that way. Alarcon went up this river eighty-five leagues, and then hearing no news of Cornado, in search of whom he went, he took down the river again to his ships. He proceeded on his voyage many days after up the coast, inquiring for Cornado and Cibola, till perceiving at last there were no hopes of finding them, he returned to New Spain; having sailed 4 degrees further than the ships sent by Cortes. Herrera, dec. 6. lib IX.
This year still, Jaques Cartier before mentioned sailed from S. Malo with five ships on the twenty-third of May for the coast of Canada and Saguenay: and meeting with very bad weather at sea were parted, and came together again, after long beating at sea, in the port of Carpont in Newfoundland; and on the twenty-third of August put into the haven of Santa Croix, or the holy cross in Canada. Hence the lord of Roberval sailed four leagues further, where he thought a convenient place, and there erected a fort, into which he landed the provisions and ammunition; and keeping three ships with him, sent back the other two into France. This is the first colony I find in North America, and the first in all that continent of any nation, except the Spaniards or Portugueses. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
There occurs another navigation this year, no less remarkable in its way, than any of those already mentioned. Pizarro having conquered the mighty empire of Peru, guided by his boundless ambition, travelled up into the inland, and wanting provisions, sent captain Orellana down the river of the Amazons with eighty men in a boat and several canoes. He set out about the latter end of this year, and being carried two hundred leagues from the place were he entered, the violence of the current driving the boats twenty-five leagues a-day, he thought he was too far gone to return against the stream, and therefore held on his way, till in January, for want of provisions, his men eat all the leather they had. Being ready to perish, they came to an Indian town, where they found provisions, the Indians abandoning it at first; but Orellana speaking to some in the Indian tongue, they all returned, and plentifully furnished him with turkeys, partridges, fish, and other necessaries. Finding these Indians sincere, they staid here twenty days; in which time they built a brigantine, and set out again on Candlemas day, and ran two hundred leagues farther without seeing any town; when being again in great want, they spied some Indian dwellings, where they civilly asked for some sustenance, and had abundance of tortoises and parrots given them. In the way hence they saw good towns, and the next day two canoes came aboard, bringing tortoises and good partridges, and much fish, which they gave to Orellana, who in return gave them such things as he had. Then he landed, and all the caciques of the country about came to see and present him with provisions: so that he staid here thirty-five days, and built another brigantine, which he caulked with cotton, and was supplied by the Indians with pitch for it. They left this place on the twenty-fourth of April, and running eighty leagues without meeting any warlike Indians, came to a desart country. May the twelfth they came to the province of Machiparo, where many canoes full of Indians set upon them; yet they landed some men, who brought provisions from the town in spite of the multitude of natives that opposed it, and repulsed the Indians from their boats. Yet when he went off, they pursued him two days and two nights, and therefore when they left him, he rested three days in a town, whence he drove the inhabitants, and found much provision, whereof he laid in good store. Two days after he came to another town as plentiful as the last, and where they saw much silver and gold, but valued it not, being now intent only upon saving their lives. In fine, with such like accidents he run down this vast river, seeing many towns and large rivers that fell into this: fighting often with the Indians, till he came into the North-sea. These Spaniards judged the mouth of the river to be fifty leagues over, that the fresh water ran twenty leagues into the sea, that the tide rises and falls five or six fathoms, and that they had run along this vast river eighteen hundred leagues, reckoning all the windings. Being out at sea, they coasted along by guess with their small vessels, and after many labours and sufferings, arrived at last in September at the island Cubagua on the coast of Paria, where was then a Spanish town, and great pearl-fishery. Herrera, dec. 6. lib. IX.
An. 1542, John Francis de la Roche, lord of Roberval, whom Francis I. king of France had constituted his lieutenant in the countries of Canada, Saguenay, and Hochelaga, sailed from Rochelle with three ships, and in them two hundred persons, as well women as men, on the sixteenth of April; and by reason of contrary winds did not reach Newfoundland till the seventh of June. Here he made some stay to refit, and there came into the same port Jaques Cartier with all his company, who we mentioned went into Canada two years before. He left the country because he was too weak to withstand the natives; and Roberval commanding him now to return with him who had strength enough, he stole away in the night, and returned into France. The last of June the general sailed out of port S. John in Newfoundland, and ran up the river of Canada, till four leagues above the island of Orleans, the place now called Quebec. Finding here a convenient harbour, he landed and erected a strong and beautiful fort, into which he conveyed his men, provisions, and all necessaries, sending two ships back into France with the account of his proceedings. Being settled in this place they suffered much hardship, their provisions falling short, but were relieved by the natives. Roberval took a journey into the country of Saguenay to discover, but we have no particulars of this his expedition. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
The same year, 1542, D. Antony de Mendoza, viceroy of Mexico, fitted out two ships on the coast of the South-sea to discover to the northward, under the command of John Rodriguez Cabrillo a Portuguese. He sailed from the port of Navidad on the twenty-seventh of June, and on the twentieth of August came up with cape Engano on the back of California in 31 degrees of latitude, where Cortes his discoverers had been before. September the fourteenth they anchored at a cape they called de la Cruz, or of the cross, in 33 degrees of latitude. October the tenth they traded with some peaceable Indians in 35 degrees 20 minutes, and called those the towns of the canoes, because they saw many there. On the eighteenth of the said month they anchored at cape Galera, and above it in a port they called Of Possession, trading with the natives, who go naked, have their faces painted in chequers, and are all fishermen. From this time they had many storms, which obliged them to turn back to the island Of Possession, where they continued many days by reason of the foul weather. At length they put to sea again, and sailed to the northward as far as 44 degrees, where the cold was so intense they could not bear it; and their provisions now failing, they returned to New-Spain; having sailed further to the northward, than any had done on that side. Herrera, dec. 7. lib. V.
An. 1543. The viceroy last mentioned gave the command of two ships, a galley, and two small tenders, to Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, to discover the islands to the westward. He sailed from the coast of New Spain on the first of November, and having run a hundred and eighty leagues in 18 degrees and a half of latitude, came to two desart islands about twelve leagues distant from one another, which he called S. Thoma and Anublada. Eighty leagues further they saw another, and called it Roca Portida. Seventy-two leagues beyond it they found an Archipelago of small islands inhabited by a poor people, where they watered; and on the sixth of January passed by ten other islands, which for their pleasantness they called the Gardens, all of them in about 9 or 10 degrees of latitude. January the 10th, after a great storm, in which they lost their galley, they discovered another island, from which some Indians came in boats making the sign of the cross, and bidding them good-morrow in Spanish. February the second they came to an island they called Cæsarea Caroli, about fifteen hundred leagues from New-Spain, where Villalobos would have planted a colony, but forbore because the place was unwholesome. This island by its bigness, for he coasted along it sixty leagues to the south, must be Luzon or Manila, the biggest of the Philippines, and he says it is three hundred and fifty leagues in compass. In a small island near to it he found China ware, musk, amber, civet, benjamin, storax, and other perfumes, as also some gold. Here they resolved to stay, and sowed some grain, which being little they were reduced to extremity. Hence they removed to the island of Gilolo near the Moluccos, at the invitation of the king of it; whence they sent two ships at several times to carry news of them to New-Spain, which were both forced back by contrary winds. Between the Moluccos and Philippine islands the Spaniards were long tossed, sometimes removing to one, sometimes to another, ever persecuted by the Portugueses, and suffering great wants; till being quite spent and without hopes of relief, they put themselves into the hands of the Portugueses, and were by them sent through India into Spain. Herrera, dec. 7. lib. V.
An. 1562. The French admiral Chastillon fitted out two of the king’s ships under the command of captain John Ribault, who sailed with them on the eighteenth of February, and two months after arrived on the coast of Florida, where he landed at cape Francois in about 30 degrees of latitude, but made no stay. Running hence to the northward, he came into the river of May, where he was friendly entertained by the Indians, who presented him with fish, Indian wheat, curious baskets, and skins. He proceeded still northward to the river of Port Royal, about which he saw turkey-cocks, partridges, and several other sorts of birds and wild beasts. The mouth of the river is three leagues over, and he sailed twelve leagues up it, where landing, the natives presented him chamois skins, fine baskets, and some pearls; and here he erected a pillar with the arms of France. Having taken a view of all the shores of this river, he built a fort here but sixteen fathom in length and thirteen in breadth, with proportionable flanks, in which he left only twenty-six men with provisions, ammunition, and all other necessaries, and called it Charles Fort. This done, he sailed some leagues further along the coast, and finding it dangerous, and his provisions almost spent, returned to France. Those left in the new fort discovered up the river, and contracted great friendship with five Indian princes, whose subjects, when their provisions failed them, gave them all they had; and when that was spent guided them to other princes southward, who freely presented them with what they wanted. The fort happening accidentally to be burnt down, the Indians of their own accord rebuilt it. The French had lived long in a peaceable manner, and having no enemy abroad they fell out among themselves, and murdered their captain, choosing another in his stead. After which, growing weary of the place, they built a small bark and put to sea in it; but their provisions failing, they were all like to perish, and eat one of their company. In this distress they met an English vessel, which set some of them ashore, and carried the rest into England. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
This same year Mr. Hawkins made a voyage to Guinea, where having got three hundred blacks, he sailed over with them to Hispaniola, and sold them at good rates. But this being a trading voyage, and not upon discovery, deserves no further mention. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1564, Captain Laudonniere had the command of three ships given him by the king of France, and sailed with them on the twenty-second of April for Florida. He passed by the islands Antilles, and arrived on the coast of Florida on the twenty-second of June. After spending some days along the coast, every-where entertained with the greatest tokens of affection by the Indians, he sailed up the river of May, and finding a convenient place erected a fort, which he called Caroline in honour of Charles king of France. The fort finished, Laudonniere sent some of his men up the river, who at several times run eighty leagues, always meeting with natives that courted their friendship. After some time many mutinies happened among the French, of whom several went away with two brigantines to the Spanish islands, and having committed some rapine were closely pursued and drove back to Florida, where four of them were hanged. Whilst these mutineers were abroad, Laudonniere sent some of his men up the river, who discovered as far as the great lake out of which it runs, and the mountain Apalache, in which the Indians said there were rich mines. The following winter, the French having exchanged away all their commodities, the Indians forsook them, and they were reduced to great straits, being obliged to use force to get provisions. In the height of their distress, when they had thoughts of venturing to return to France in a small vessel scarce able to contain them, with very slender provisions: Mr. Hawkins before mentioned, who this same year had made another voyage to Guinea, and thence to the West-Indies to sell blacks, and in his way home run along the coast of Florida, coming to the river of May found the French in this distress, and therefore sold them a ship upon credit, generously supplying them with all they wanted, which done, he sailed away and returned into England. The French were now preparing to depart for France, this being
An. 1565, when in August captain John Ribault arrived with seven sail of French ships to take possession of that country. A few days after six great Spanish ships came upon the coast, and gave chase to four of Ribault’s that were without the port, which being better sailors escaped; and Ribault made out with the other three after them, leaving Laudonniere in the fort with eighty-five men, whence the Spaniards attacked him, and made themselves masters of the fort. Laudonniere with some of his men escaped aboard two ships they had in the river, in one of which he arrived in England, and thence into France. Ribault with his ships as soon as he was out of May river met with a dreadful storm, which wrecked them all on the coast of Florida, where abundance of his men saved themselves from the sea, but were afterwards destroyed by the Spaniards. Hackluyt, vol. III. and 349, and Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1567, Captain Gourgues sailed from France with three ships, and coming to the river of May in Florida, revenged the death of his countrymen, killed all the Spaniards he found there, but did nothing as to discoveries. Hackluyt, vol. III. . Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1576, Mr. Martin Forbisher with two barks and a pinnace set out from Gravesend for the discovery of a passage to China and Cathay by the north-west, on the twelfth of June. Sailing about the north of Scotland, on the twenty-eighth of July, and in 62 degrees of latitude, he discovered land which he supposed to be the continent of America, called Tierra de Labrador, with abundance of ice about it. Within a cable’s length of the shore he found an hundred fathom water, and not being able to anchor stood to the north-east, as the coast there lies, and by reason of the ice could not come within five leagues of the shore. The tenth of August he landed on a desart island: the eleventh in 63 degrees and 8 minutes latitude he entered a strait which is called by his own name; the twelfth he came to S. Gabriel’s island, and anchored in a bay which he called Prior’s sound. The eighteenth, having sailed north-north-west, he came to Butcher’s island, where landing they spied seven boats. These people came aboard and looked like Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces and flat noses, of a tawny complexion, clad in seal-skins, the boats also made of seal-skins with a wooden keel. The twenty-sixth one of those men came aboard, and the boat going to set him ashore, was taken by those savages with all the men. Having staid a day in hopes to recover them, and no signs appearing, he sailed homewards, and arrived at Harwich on the first of October. Hackluyt, vol. III. , 57.
An. 1577, Mr. Forbisher sailed the second time on the twenty-sixth of May with a ship of two hundred tons and two barks, and in them an hundred and forty men, upon the same discovery he had attempted the foregoing year. June the seventh he arrived at the isles of Orkney, and July the fourth at Friesland: the sixteenth he came to his strait discovered the last year, and much ice appearing durst not venture in with his ship, but went with two pinnaces, and took one of the savages ashore. July the nineteenth the ice driving away the ships, he run into the strait, and anchored in a bay which they called Jackman’s sound: here he landed with most of his men, and having travelled some way and found nothing to satisfy his desires, he coasted a little in the barks and boats both east and west; and though he saw several people, could take none but a woman and her child; and therefore on the fourth of August came to that he called Anne Warwick’s sound and island. Here he used all possible means to bring the natives to trade, or give some account of themselves, but they were so wild, that they only studied how to destroy the English. Forbisher this year did not run above thirty leagues up the strait, and the winter drawing on returned into England, having loaded his vessels with a sort of shining sand and stones, which he imagined to be gold, but it proved a fallacy. Hackluyt, vol. III. , 60.
An. 1578. The noise of gold pretended to be found, and the hopes of a passage, encouraged people to prosecute this voyage; and fifteen sail of ships provided for it met at Harwich, carrying a wooden fort ready framed to be set up in the golden country discovered, and an hundred men that were to be left there. The thirty-first of May they left Harwich, and the second of July came into Forbisher’s strait, which they found choked up with ice, and as they struggled to work through it, a sudden storm arose, and so enclosed them with mountains of ice, that it was wonderful they did not all perish. One vessel of an hundred tons was lost, but the men saved; two others had not been seen in twenty days before, and four that were farthest out at sea best escaped the danger of the ice, clearing themselves of it in time. Being got out of this danger by the wind turning to the north-west, and into sea room, they were driven down by the current to the southward of Forbisher’s strait, and run into another about 60 leagues, without knowing where they were, the cloudy weather obstructing their making an observation. Returning out of it again, most of the scattered fleet met and made for Forbisher’s strait, in hopes of those golden mountains, but found others of ice to obstruct their passage. After many other difficulties Forbisher with most of the ships worked his way through, and on the thirty-first of July reached his long desired port of the Countess of Warwick’s sound. Here they landed, and thought of erecting the house or fort brought from England; but part of it being lost in the ship cast away, and more of it, as also of the provisions, not yet come, being in four ships, the design of inhabiting there was laid aside. The other ships that had been missing, after hard struggling with ice and storms, joined the fleet. Here they set their miners to work, and loaded abundance of ore, which done they directed their course for England, whither they returned in safety. Hackluyt, vol. III. , 74.
The same year, 1582, Francis de Ovalle sailed from Acapulco, and running to the westward about eighteen hundred leagues, came to the island del Engano, the farthest of those called de los Ladrones, in thirteen degrees of north latitude: thence he held on his course westward two hundred and eighty leagues, to Cabo del Espiritu Santo, or the cape of the Holy Ghost in the island of Tandaya, the first of the Philippines. He spent several days in the narrow channels among these islands, shaping his course diversly as they would permit; and coming out into the open sea run up into the bay of Manila, now the metropolis of the Philippine islands, lying in 14 degrees and a quarter. Returning out of this bay, he made over to the coast of China, and arrived in the port of Macao. Here he furnished himself with necessaries, and turning again to the eastward passed through the islands called Lequios, whence he held his course east, and east by north, never touching any-where, or meeting with any land, till he came upon the coast of California in 38 degrees and a half of latitude. From this place he ran south-east and south-east and by south to cape S. Lucas, which is five hundred leagues from the north cape called Mendocino, whence he continued his voyage successfully back to the port of Acapulco. Hackluyt, vol. III. . This voyage is inserted because it is the first from New-Spain to China, and the first that found the way of returning to New-Spain by the northward; for want of which knowledge, many ships that attempted to return from the Moluccos to America, were still beaten back, there being no possibility of returning the way they go, which is near the line, where the easterly winds continually reign.
An. 1583, on the eleventh of June, sir Humphrey Gilbert sailed from the west of England with five vessels, and in them two hundred and sixty men, designing to plant a colony in some part of North America. On the thirteenth the biggest ship stole away by night, and returned to Plymouth, there being a contagious distemper among the men. July the thirtieth he came upon the back of Newfoundland, which is about fifty leagues from the coast, and has at least twenty-five or thirty fathom water, and about ten leagues over, lying like a long ridge of mountains in the sea, for on each side of it there are above two hundred fathom water. He came upon the coast, and running along it put into S. John’s harbour, where he anchored among abundance of fishermen of several countries, who were there before. Here he went ashore and took possession. One of his ships had before played the pirate at sea, robbing a French vessel, and here his men run away with a ship laden with fish, and others hid themselves; so that finding too few men for his ships, some being sick, he put them into one of his vessels, and sent it home, remaining now with only three. August the twentieth he sailed from port S. John, and the next day came up with cape Raz in 46 degrees 25 minutes latitude. Turning from hence to the westward towards cape Breton, eighty-seven leagues distant, they spent eight days in the passage; and coming among the flats, the biggest ship of the three was cast away, and nothing saved except a few men in the boat. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was not aboard the ship cast away: the other two left, resolved to return home, but by the way the small vessel sir Humphrey was in perished, the other arrived safe at Dartmouth. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1584, Mr. Philip Amadas and Mr. Arthur Barlow sailed on the twenty-seventh of April from the west of England in two barks, to discover in America. On the tenth of June they came among the islands of America, much more to the southward than they had designed. July the fourth they discovered the continent, and sailed along the coast four leagues till they came to a river on the thirteenth, where they anchored, and going ashore took possession. This place they afterwards found to be the island of Wokoken, on the coast of Virginia, in 34 degrees of latitude, and in it deer, rabbits, hares, fowl, vines, cedars, pines, sassafras, cypress, and mastich trees. The natives from the continent repaired to the ships, and exchanged several sorts of skins, white coral, and some pearls, for tin things and other trifles. The country is fruitful, producing all things in a very short time. The natives called it Wingandacao, and the English Virginia. Going ashore they were entertained with extraordinary civility at a little village, and heard news of a great city up the country, but saw it not. They made no long stay here, nor proceeded any further upon discovery, only just to the neighbouring parts in their boats, and returned to England in September, bringing two of the natives with them. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1585, on the ninth of April, sir Richard Greenvil departed from Plymouth with seven sail; and after touching at the islands of Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola, on the twenty-sixth of June came to an anchor at the island Wokoken in Virginia, where the admiral’s ship was lost through the ignorance of the pilot. Here Mr. Lane was set ashore with above an hundred men to settle a colony, with all necessaries for that purpose. Then the admiral returned to England, and the new planters made several discoveries up the country, finding it every-where plentiful and pleasant. Here they continued a year, at the end whereof the natives conspiring to destroy them, and no relief as yet coming from England, they returned home on board sir Francis Drake’s ships, which happened to touch there after his expedition to the Spanish plantations. Hackluyt, vol. III. . Purch. vol. IV. .
The same year, 1585, on the seventh of June, Mr. John Davis sailed from Dartmouth with two barks for the discovery of the north-west passage to China. July the nineteenth they met with much ice, and on the twenty-ninth discovered land bearing north-east of them in 64 degrees 15 minutes latitude. Here they went ashore, and found a tractable sort of people, with whom they dealt for seal skins, and several sorts of leather. August the first they proceeded on their discovery to the north-west, and on the sixth came into 66 degrees and 40 minutes free from ice, and landed under a hill which they called mount Raleigh, where they saw no inhabitants, but many white bears. The eighth they coasted on, and the eleventh found themselves in a passage twenty leagues wide, and free from ice, along which they sailed sixty leagues; and searching all about found many islands and several harbours, with all appearances of a further passage, yet the winds proving contrary to proceed, they returned for England, and arrived at Dartmouth on the thirtieth of September. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1586, Mr. Davis sailed the second time on the seventh of May with one ship, two barks, and a small pinnace, upon the same discovery. The fifteenth of June he discovered land in the latitude of 60 degrees, but could not come near it for ice, till the twenty-ninth he came to land in 64 degrees latitude, and went ashore on an island, where he traded very friendly with the natives for seals, stags, and white hares skins, and dried fish and some fowl. Here he continued some days trading with the natives who were very thievish; at his departure he brought away one of them with him. He run into 66 degrees 20 minutes latitude, and then coasted southward again to 56 degrees, where in a good harbour he continued till September; and sailing thence in 54 degrees found an open sea tending westward, which they hoped might be the passage so long sought for; but the weather proving tempestuous, they returned to England in October. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
The same year, 1586, sir Richard Greenvil returned to Virginia with three ships to relieve the colony left by him there; which being gone, as was said before, he left fifteen men on the island Roanoak with provisions for two years, and then returned to England. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
This year also was begun the voyage round the world by sir Thomas Candish, which may be seen among the voyages about the globe after these West-India discoveries.
An. 1587, Mr. John Davis on the nineteenth of May sailed with three small vessels, upon his third voyage for his discovery of a passage to the north-west. June the eighteenth they came to an anchor on the northern American coast, and the twentieth were in 67 degrees 40 minutes latitude in an open sea; and then steering westward ran forty leagues, where meeting with much ice, and the north wind driving them from their intended northerly course, they were forced to seek the open sea again. The twentieth they had sight of the strait they discovered the year before, and sailed up it 60 leagues; and having landed without finding any thing more than the year before, came out again to the wide sea; then they coasted along to the southward as far as 52 degrees of latitude, whence they returned home, without doing any thing of note. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
The same year, 1587, sir Walter Raleigh provided three vessels to carry over to Virginia a hundred and fifty men to settle a colony there under the command of John White. They sailed from Plymouth on the eighth of May, and having spent several days among the Spanish American islands, arrived at last on the twenty-second of July at Hatorask in Virginia; whence crossing over to the island Roanoak, they found the fifteen English left there the year before were killed by the natives. Here the new planters were set ashore with all their provisions, goods, and ammunition, and the ships returned into England, carrying with them the governor to solicit for speedy supplies to be sent to the new colony. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1590, John White returned to Virginia to the place where he had left the colony, but found none of the men; only an inscription on a tree, signifying they were removed to Croatoan, another island on the coast, and many chests broke up, and some lumber belonging to them, scattered about the place. In going ashore here a boat was overset, and a captain with six men drowned; the rest with much difficulty got aboard again, leaving behind them several casks they had carried to fill with fresh water. They had spent much time before they came hither, ranging about the Spanish islands; and the season being now stormy, they were forced to return to England, without so much as knowing what was become of the colony. Hackluyt, vol. III. .
An. 1602, Captain Gosnols sailed from Falmouth on the twenty-sixth of March, and on the fourteenth of April discovered land in about 40 degrees of north latitude; and having spent some days sounding along the coast, on the twenty-fourth came upon Elizabeth’s island in 41 degrees 10 minutes, and four leagues from the continent. This island was not inhabited, but overgrown with trees and shrubs of all sorts, and in it a pool of fresh water, about two miles in compass, one side of it not above thirty yards from the sea, and in the midst of it a small rocky island about an acre in extent, all covered with wood, where the captain designed to build a fort, and leave some men. The thirty-first he went over to take a view of the continent, which he found a most delicious and fruitful country, and the natives peaceable and friendly. Having taken this small view of the country, and the men refusing to be left on that desart place, he returned for England. Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1603, Captain Samuel Champlain of Brouage, sailed from the port of Honfleur in Normandy on the fifth of March for Canada. The second of May they came upon the bank of Newfoundland in 44 degrees 20 minutes of latitude. The twelfth they came upon cape S. Mary, and the twentieth to the island of the Assumption, at the mouth of the river of Canada. He run up it a hundred leagues to the little port of Tadoussac on the north side of Canada, and at the mouth of Sanguenay river, where they contracted strict friendship with the natives. He ran twelve leagues up the river Sanguenay, all which way is a mountainous country, and the river deep and wide. Next they run up the great river of Canada as far as that of the Iroquois, and thence to the first great fall of the river, which tumbles down there about two fathom with an incredible fury; and the Indians told them there were ten more falls, though not so great, beyond the first. After discovering thus much, and getting information of several great lakes up the country, and of a boundless ocean at four hundred leagues distance westward, they returned to Tadoussac, and spending some days more in searching the great and lesser rivers, and getting intelligence of the country, they sailed back into France. Purchas, vol. IV. .
The same year, 1603, two vessels of Bristol, and one of London, made their voyages to Virginia, in which there was nothing remarkable, except that the last of them run up into Chesapeac bay in about 37 degrees of latitude, where the captain going ashore, was killed with four men; upon which the rest presently returned home. Purchas, vol. IV. , and 1656.
An. 1604, Monsieur de Monts having obtained a patent from Henry IV. king of France for peopling the countries of Acadie and Canada, he sailed for those parts with two ships well manned, and Monsieur de Potrincourt with him. They were kept long at sea by contrary winds, and met with much ice; but on the sixth of May they put into a port in the south of Acadie, which they called Rossignol, because there they took a French ship, commanded by a captain of that name, being confiscate for trading there contrary to the king’s patent. Then doubling cape Sable, the southermost of that country, they run up to the northward in a large bay to that of S. Mary, and thence to a convenient harbour, which they called Port Royal; which Monsieur de Potrincourt demanded a grant of, to settle a colony and inhabit there, and had it given him. They proceeded still further up to cape Mines, so called because of some found there, and into the river of S. John; and then turning back, erected a fort in a small island twenty leagues from the said river, resolving to settle there, and calling it the island of Santa Croix, or the Holy Cross. It is small but very fruitful, and lies as it were among many others. Here winter coming on, and the fort being ill seated as exposed to the north, the men suffered very much through extremity of cold and deep snows; and being forced to cross a great river for water and wood, many of them were dangerously sick. This hard season being over, Monsieur de Monts searched all the coast in a small vessel he built to discover a more convenient place to settle, and at last pitched upon Port Royal, where he left part of his men, and returned himself to France. Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1605, and on the last day of March, captain George Weymouth with one ship sailed from the Downs, and on the eighteenth of May came to an anchor in S. George’s island on the coast of Virginia, where he found great plenty of fish; and two days after removed into an excellent port, which he called Penticost harbour. Then he run up a great river twenty-six miles, and found it fit to receive and secure any number of ships. The natives of this coast traded in a friendly manner for several days, but were found at last to be treacherous, as only contriving by their fair show of kindness to draw the English into their power; who being aware of them in time broke off the correspondence, and returned into England without making any considerable advantage of this small discovery. Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1606, Monsieur de Monts and Monsieur de Potrincourt sailed again from Rochel with one ship of an hundred and fifty ton. The twenty-eighth of June they came upon the bank of Newfoundland, and making the shore, coasted all along to Port Royal, where they had before left their colony, and anchored at the mouth of the harbour on the twenty-sixth of July. Here they found but two Frenchmen, the rest being gone with their small vessel towards Newfoundland; but soon returned, being met by a pinnace belonging to this last come ship, left to coast along close by the shore. Here they settled a-new, viewed all the country about for a more convenient seat for their town, were most obligingly treated by the natives, and planted, and had crops of all sorts of European grain and garden-stuff: yet after all, the colony was forsaken, not for any defect in the country, as may appear by what has been said; but because new measures were taken in France, and the supplies that should have been sent them were employed another way. Purchas, vol. IV. .
The same year, 1606, on the twentieth of December, three ships sailed from London, commanded by captain Newport, to settle a colony in Virginia; and passing among the Spanish American islands, on the twenty-sixth of April came into the bay of Chesapeac, where they presently landed, and had some men hurt in skirmish with the natives. The twenty-seventh they marched eight miles up the country, and the twenty-eighth went up the bay in their boats, where they always found shallow water; but returning, they fell into a channel six, eight, and ten fathom deep, which was a satisfaction, and therefore they called the point of land next it cape Comfort. The point at the mouth of the bay they called cape Henry. The following days they surveyed all the shores in their boats, being civilly treated every-where by the Indians; and running up Powhatan river, found a place where their ships could lie moored to the trees in six fathom water. Here on the fourteenth of May they landed all their men, and fell to work to fortify themselves, resolving to settle their colony, as they did, giving it the name of James Town; which is the first plantation of the English in Virginia that continued, as it does to this day. June the twenty-second captain Newport in the admiral was sent back into England. In the colony were left an hundred and four men with little provision, and therefore they were soon reduced to great extremities; many also dying of diseases peculiar to that country. But in their greatest distress, the natives, who before had been their enemies, supplied them with plenty of all sorts of victuals, which recovered the sick men, and was the saving of the colony. Every year after ships arrived from England with supplies, till the new town grew to a considerable body, and sent out other colonies to the parts adjacent, where they were thought necessary, till they made themselves masters of that northern part of America. The relation is too long any more than to be hinted as above, but to be seen at large in Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1610, Mr. Hudson again undertook the discovery of a north-west passage, which had been laid aside for some years, and proceeded an hundred leagues further than any before him had done, giving names to some places, to be seen in the maps; as Desire provokes, Isle of God’s Mercies, Prince Henry’s Cape, King James’s Cape, and Queen Anne’s Cape: but he could proceed no farther for ice.
An. 1611, sir Thomas Button, at the instigation of prince Henry, whose servant he was, pursued the northwest discovery. He passed Hudson’s strait, and leaving Hudson’s bay to the south, sailed above two hundred leagues to the south-westward, through a sea above eighty fathom deep, and discovered a great continent called by him New-Wales; where after much misery and sickness, wintering at port Nelson, he carefully searched all the bay, from him called Button’s bay, back again almost to Digg’s island. He discovered the great land called Cary’s Swansnest. He lost many men during his stay in the river called Port Nelson, in 57 degrees 10 minutes of north latitude; though he kept three fires in his ship all winter, and had great store of white partridges, and other fowl, besides deer, bears and foxes.
An. 1612, Mr. Richard Moore was sent in April with one ship and sixty men to inhabit the Summer islands, otherwise called Bermudas, long before discovered by the Spaniards, who after some attempts to settle there, abandoned them; and were after accidentally found by sir Thomas Gate and sir George Summers, who were shipwrecked upon them, and lived there nine months, during which time they built a ship and a pinnace with the cedar growing there, and in 1610 sailed away for Virginia, leaving only two men in the great island. A ship sent thither from Virginia left only three men in the island, who found there amber-grease to the value of nine or ten thousand pounds. Mr. Moore at his coming this year found those three men in perfect health. He settled a colony, and continued there three years, being relieved from time to time, till they amounted to above six hundred inhabitants, who built several forts, but had like to have been themselves destroyed by an infinite number of rats, which increased from a few coming ashore out of a ship, and continued for four years devouring all the growth of the country, notwithstanding all possible means were used to destroy them.
An. 1612, James Hall and William Baffin returned into England, having discovered Cockins sound in 65 degrees 2 minutes latitude, and tried the mine at Cunningham’s River, which they found to be worth nothing.
An. 1615, Mr. Baffin went again, and the chief thing he discovered was, that there is no passage in the north of Davis’s Strait.
An. 1616, Mr. Baffin was sent the third time, and entered sir Thomas Smith’s bay in 78 degrees of latitude; and returned, despairing of finding any passage that way.
An. 1620, a ship sailed from Plymouth for New England on the sixth of September; though we have not the commander’s name, nor what force his ship was of. It is also here to be observed, that all the northern coast from about 60 to 40 degrees of north latitude, was first discovered by Sabastian Cabot, and afterwards at several times by Cortereal a Portuguese, as has been set down in their proper places, and by sundry English and French discoverers; to particularize every one of whose voyages would swell a volume, and therefore only the principal discoveries and plantations are here set down, as most suitable to the nature of this discourse, and the intended brevity. The ship we now speak of, anchored in the bay of cape Cod in New England, and in 41 degrees and a half of north latitude on the eleventh of November. Here they put out their boat, and landed men, who went some miles into the country several ways without meeting any people, and only found some little Indian wheat buried, the boat coasting along the shore. This they continued for several days, seeking out some proper place to settle. At length, on the twenty-third of December, they pitched upon a place to their mind, and fell to work to building their houses, dividing themselves into nineteen families, that the fewer houses might serve. About this place they found no people, but were told by an Indian, who came to them from the next part inhabited, that the natives there had all died lately of a plague. This savage brought some of the neighbouring people to them, by whom they were conducted to their king, a very poor one, with whom they concluded peace and amity. The following year this new colony was reinforced with thirty-five men from England, and supplied with provisions and necessaries, and called New Plymouth in New England. A war soon breaking out with another Indian prince, the English fortified their colony to secure themselves against all attempts of their enemies. From hence all other colonies were by degrees sent into other parts of the country; of which it were too tedious to give any further account. Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1631, Captain James sailing into the north-west, was much pestered with ice in June and July; and entering a great bay near port Nelson, he named the land New South-Wales. Roving up and down these seas, he gave names to these places discovered by him, viz. cape Henrietta Maria, Lord Weston’s Island, Earl of Bristol’s Island, Sir Thomas Roe’s Island, Earl of Danby’s Island, and Charlton Island. He wintered there in 52 degrees 3 minutes latitude, and returned home the following year, 1632, having discovered much beyond Hudson, Button, and Baffin. The Danes have attempted to discover in these northern parts, but there is nothing remarkable in their actions.
An. 1667, Zachariah Gillam in the Nonsuch ketch passed through Hudson’s Strait, and then into Baffin’s bay to 75 degrees of latitude, and thence southerly into 51 degrees; where, in a river called Prince Rupert’s River, he had a friendly correspondence with the natives, built a fort, which he called Charles Fort, and returned with success: having laid the foundation of an advantageous trade in those parts.
An. 1669. Captain John Narborough, afterwards sir John Narborough, sailed in the Sweepstakes, a man of war of three hundred ton, thirty-six guns, and eighty men and boys, with a pink of seventy ton and nineteen men, both set out at the charge of his majesty king Charles II. and his royal highness the duke of York, to make a farther discovery on the coast of Chile. On the twenty-first of October the year following, he came to the mouth of the straits of Magellan, and through them to the South-sea, about the middle of November; having taken a most exact survey of that passage, which is made public in his voyage. On the twenty-sixth of November he went ashore on the small island called Neustra Senora del Socorro, or Our Lady of Succour; where he watered, but found no people. Holding on his course to the northward, on the fifteenth of December he sent his boat, with the lieutenant in her, ashore on the south side of port Baldivia, which is in 39 degrees 56 minutes of south latitude. Here the lieutenant and three others going ashore to a Spanish fort, were detained, and the ship sailed away without them. From hence captain Narborough turned again to the southward, and through the strait of Magellan returned into England; where he arrived in June following, having been out about two years.
An. 1673, on the thirteenth of May, F. Marquett a jesuit, with only six other Frenchmen, set out in two canoes from the Lac des Puans, or the Stinking Lake, in the province of Canada in North America; and passing through the provinces of Folle Avoine and Iliquois, Indians in peace with France, sometimes carrying their boats by land, and sometimes being carried in them, they came at length to the great river Mississippi. They ran many leagues along this river through a desart country, their course always south, though sometimes bending east, and sometimes west. At the end of several days solitude, they came among savage Indians, were friendly received, and heard that the sea was within two or three days sail of them; which was the gulph of Mexico. Thus he discovered all that inland part of North-America along the river, from 38 to 34 degrees of north latitude, lying on the back of Canada, Virginia, &c, down to Florida. The particulars of this voyage may be seen in Thevenot’s small collection of voyages in octavo.
An. 1680 and 1681, captain Sharp having been buccaneering in the South-sea, and not able to recover the strait of Magellan to return home, he run further to the south beyond Le Mair’s and Brower’s, till he came into 60 degrees of south latitude; meeting with many islands of ice, and abundance of snow, frost, and whales, and called a small place he found the Duke of York’s island. Thus he came into the north sea a new way, and made it appear that the land in the straits of le Maire and Brower must be islands, and not joined to any continent. Introduction to the account of several late discoveries, printed in 1694, .
Here we may conclude with the American voyages and discoveries, having run along from north to south on the east side of that new world, or along that commonly called the North-sea; and back from south to north along the west side, or South-sea. It follows next, as was done after the eastern discoveries, to show the extent of this vast tract of land thus found, and what benefits the world has received by this navigation. The whole length of what has been discovered, is from 78 degrees of north latitude, in which sir Thomas Smith’s bay lies, to 60 degrees of south latitude, in all a hundred and thirty-eight degrees; which, allowing twenty leagues to a degree, in a strait line amounts to two thousand seven hundred and sixty leagues, a thing almost incredible, were it not so well known, that so great and stupendous a part of the world should lie concealed so many ages: being never known since the creation, till about three hundred years ago. Now to descend to particulars: from 80 to almost 50 degrees of north latitude being 30 degrees, and according to the rate above of twenty leagues to a degree, six hundred leagues; the extremity of the cold, which is there more fierce than in the parts of Europe under the like elevation, renders that part little regarded, and consequently not inhabited by any European nation, though much of it be peopled by savages, living there little better than brutes: and all the advantage made of those northern nations is the fishery of whales and morses; the former for their oil and bone, and the latter for their teeth, which are finer than ivory. The next division beginning above 50 degrees of north latitude, and reaching to about 44, is Canada or New-France; running up the river of Canada above two hundred leagues into the continent, and possessed by the French, who have there several colonies, and trade with the natives for furs. Next to Canada is New-England, lying along the sea-coast north-east and south-west about 70 miles, subject to the crown of England, and their chief trade furs, flax, hemp, and some corn. After it follows New-York, the trade much the same with those spoken of. Then comes Pensylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, almost north and south for above a hundred leagues of English conquest, and the principal commodity tobacco. Carolina is next in course, being a part of the great province of Florida, lying between 29 and 36 degrees of latitude, and therefore about a hundred and forty leagues in length: it has been possessed by the English but of later years, in the reign of king Charles II. from whom it took the name; and being so lately subdued, the returns of it are not yet great, but much is hoped from it. Florida is a vast part of the continent, reaching above two hundred and fifty leagues from north to south, and above four hundred from east to west, besides a large province of it shooting out into the sea, where begins the channel of Bahama: part of it is subject to the Spaniards, and a greater part not yet conquered; so that it affords no great profit. But now follows the great and wealthy kingdom of Mexico, running above a hundred and thirty leagues almost north and south, and about the same length upon a turn it makes in the south part towards the east, including the great peninsula of Yucatan, above three hundred leagues in compass. In this vast dominion, entirely subject to Spain, is to be found in great plenty all that is necessary and convenient for human life, except wine and oil; and from it Europe is supplied with great store of silver, cochineal, indigo, cacao, bairullas, cotton, mechoacan, and many other precious commodities. Whence to Porto Bello the coast runs partly near east and west, and partly almost north and south, above three hundred and fifty leagues of countries incredibly rich, and affording all the commodities above mentioned, more plenty of gold, and many other precious things. From Nombre de Dios to Cabo de Galera, taking it in a straight line, the coast runs east and west about four hundred and fifty leagues, all still Spanish, and abounding in wealth; particularly the pearl-fishery on the coast of Paria, and the rich emeralds up the inland. From cape Galera to Cabo de Conde, along the coast of Caribana, lying south-east and north-west about two hundred and fifty leagues, and thence to Caparare more southerly about a hundred and twenty leagues, in all three hundred and seventy; all this for the most part unconquered, and peopled by savage Indians. From cape Caparare to Cabo do Natal about four hundred leagues east and west, somewhat southerly, and from Cabo do Natal to Rio de Janeiro almost north and south near four hundred leagues, and so to Lagoa de Pernaba a hundred and fifty leagues, in all nine hundred leagues; all this tract of land, commonly known by the name of Brasil, and subject to the crown of Portugal, yielding abundance of tobacco and sugar, infinite quantities of brasil wood, which gives the name to the country, and of late years a gold mine found in it, which yields considerable treasure. From Lagoa de Pernaba to the river of Plate, about three hundred leagues south-west and north-east, under the dominion of Spain. From the mouth of the river of Plate, running up the continent on the back of Brasil, the Spanish dominions reach quite across to Peru, being at least four hundred leagues, and above as much north and south in the inland; being fruitful countries, almost overrun with flocks and herds of all sorts of cattle, whence they send abundance of hides to Spain, and much silver which they have from Peru by way of trade. From the mouth of the river of Plate, to the entrance into the strait of Magellan, south-west and north-east four hundred leagues; all this country is inhabited only by savage Indians, and was never subdued by any European nation: therefore yielding no profit, though fruitful and good land. Terra del Fuogo, or Terra Magellanica, lying to the south of the strait, is little known, and not worth conquering by reason of its coldness, and therefore no more needs be said of it. The strait of Magellan is about a hundred leagues in length, and coming out of it into the South sea, from cape Victoria to Rio de los Gallegos, about two hundred leagues; all still the country of the Patagones, never inhabited by christians, nor yielding them any benefit. But here begins the coast of Chile, extending above three hundred leagues; a country infinitely rich in gold, for which the silver is neglected, though it has plenty of it, and yielding the most precious natural balsam in the world; all subject to Spain, as is the whole coast on the South-sea up to 40 degrees of north latitude, for which reason it will be needless to repeat it. Peru reaches four hundred leagues north-west and south-east, well known for its inexhaustible silver mines of Potosi and Porco. Next is the province of Quito, about an hundred leagues along the coast north and south. Then the firm land, or continent, so called peculiarly, and provinces of Panama and Veragua, above an hundred leagues north-east and south-west, and north-west and south-east. After this follows the government of Guatemala, near three hundred and fifty leagues along the coast north-west and south-east; and then that of Mexico two hundred and fifty leagues, abounding in gold, silver, all useful woods, rich drugs, cotton, and many other precious commodities. Lastly, New-Mexico reaching up to 40 degrees of north latitude, being about four hundred leagues; a rich country in silver mines, and plentiful in cattle, corn, and all other blessings for human life. Having run along both sides of America, and given a particular of each division, as to extent, product, and by whom possessed, as far as the brevity of this discourse would permit; it is fit to note that all the lengths are here taken in a straight line, and not winding with the shores, which would make them double what is computed; and, as in such vast extents not pretended to be measured to exactness, but according to the general computation of sailors. The total thus amounts to six thousand five hundred leagues, taking only the greatest windings of the coast, and this along what is conquered by Europeans; excepting only the seven hundred leagues of the land of the Patagones about the strait of Magellan, and two hundred and fifty or thereabouts, of Caribana, not so well subdued. And to sum up the commodities we have from these countries; the principal are gold, silver, pearls, emeralds, amethists, cochineal of several sorts, indigo, anatto, logwood, brasil, Nicaragua wood, brasilette, fustic, lignum vitæ, sugar, ginger, cacao, bairullas, cotton, red wool, tobacco of various sorts, snuff, hides raw and tanned, amber-greece of all sorts, bezoar, balsam of Tolu, of Peru, and of Chile, jesuit’s bark, jalap, mechoacan, sarsaparilla, sassafras, tamarinds, cassia, and many other things of lesser note. It only remains now to add a word concerning the islands belonging to this mighty continent. The first of these beginning northerly, is Newfoundland, above three hundred leagues in compass, peopled by French and English, who have some colonies in it fruitful enough, were it well cultivated; yet it yields no commodity to export from the land: but the sea is an inexhausted treasure, furnishing all Europe with salt and dried fish; which yield a mighty profit to those that follow the fishery, and is a general benefit to all men. The next are the Bermudas, or Summer-islands, lying above three hundred leagues east from the coast of Virginia: the biggest of them is not twenty miles long, and not above two or three in breadth, the others much smaller: yet here is a strong colony of English, the land being delightful to live in, producing all things for human life plentifully, and the trade is some cochineal, ambergreece and pearl: it used to send abroad the fairest oranges in these parts, but they have failed of late years. Off the coast of Florida are the islands called Lucayos, the first discovered by Columbus; but they are small and of no account. South of the point of Florida is Cuba, above two hundred leagues in length, and about forty in breadth in the widest place; a pleasant place, has gold and copper mines, and yields tobacco, sugar, and cotton. East of Cuba lies Hispaniola an hundred and fifty leagues in length, and about sixty in breadth, producing the same commodities as Cuba; and both subject to Spain. Jamaica lies south of Cuba, about seventy leagues in length, and twenty in breadth, possessed by the English, and producing sugar, indigo and cotton. The island of Puerto Rico is less than Jamaica, yields the same commodities, and belongs to Spain. The Caribbe islands are many, but small; some of them possessed by the English, French, and Dutch, others not inhabited: they produce sugar, indigo, cotton and tobacco, and run from the coast of Paria to Puerto Rico. The Leeward-islands lie along the coast of Paria, the most remarkable of them being Margarita, and Cubagua, famous for the pearl-fishery. La Trinidad is a large island before the gulph of Paria, near which there are many small ones, but not considerable. All the coast southward has no island of any note, till we come to the strait of Magellan, the south part whereof is made by Terra del Fuego and other islands, of which little is known. Nor is there any ascending again northward worth speaking of, till the mouth of the bay of Panama, where are the islands of Pearls, so called from a pearl-fishery there; they are small, and of no consideration in any other respect. The only great island on this side America is California, found to be so but of late years, running from the tropic of Cancer to 45 degrees of north latitude, north-west and south-east, above five hundred leagues in length, and an hundred in breadth in the northern part, whence it runs tapering down to the south. It has hitherto yielded no great profit to the Spaniards, who have not had leisure to build colonies there till within these very few years, and not above two as yet. This is all that belongs to America; it remains to add some few voyages to the isles of Solomon, Terra Australis incognita, and the land of Yesso, or Jedso; which being properly no part of the East or West Indies, and but little of them as yet known, they have been reserved to be spoke of by themselves.
An. 1595, Alvaro de Mendana, with the title of governor and lord-lieutenant, set out from Peru for the islands of Solomon, whereof some uncertain knowledge was had before by ships that accidentally had seen some of them: he had four sail, with men and women, and all other necessaries to settle a colony. In about 9 or 10 degrees of south latitude, and fifteen hundred leagues west of the city of Lima in Peru, he discovered four small islands inhabited by very handsome and civilized people. Hence holding on his course still westward, he found several other more considerable islands, where he intended to have settled his colony, but was hindered by many misfortunes, and among the rest sickness. All that is extant of this relation, is only a fragment in Spanish taken out of Thevenot’s second volume; which being inserted in this collection, it will be needless to add any more in this place, only that three of the ships perished; two were never heard of, a third cast away on the Philippine islands, the men saved; and the fourth, being the admiral, arrived at Manila, with the men almost starved: and thus this enterprise was disappointed.
An. 1600, four ships sailing from Peru for the Philippine islands, were by northerly winds driven south of the equinoctial, where they fell upon several rich countries and islands, not far from the isles of Solomon; they called one place Monte de Plata, or Mountain of Silver, because they found plenty of it there. After which a captain of note went out on purpose, and saw these discoveries. This is all we have of it in Purchas, vol. IV. ; only he adds two petitions of captain Peter Fernandez de Quiros to the king of Spain, suing to be employed in conducting colonies to those southern parts, alleging the vast extent and riches of the continent, and great value of the islands, which he speaks of as an eye-witness, and by the report of natives he brought away from thence, as may be seen more at large in Purchas, vol. IV. .
An. 1628. On the twenty-eighth of October, the Dutch set out eleven sail for India, among which was the Batavia, commanded by captain Francis Pelsart, which being parted from the rest was cast away on the rocks near some small islands not inhabited, and having no fresh water, in upwards of 38 degrees of south latitude, but all the people saved on the islands. This want obliged them to build a deck to their long boat and put out to sea, where they soon discovered the continent, bearing north and by west about six miles from them. This was on the eighth of June,
An. 1629, and the weather being rough, and the coast high, they were forced to beat at sea till the fourteenth, when they found themselves in 24 degrees of south latitude; and six men swimming ashore saw four savages quite naked, who fled from them: they went to seek fresh water, but finding none, swam back to their boat. The fifteenth the boat made into shore, and found no fresh water, but the remains of the rain that lay in the hollow of the rocks, which relieved them, being almost choaked. The sixteenth they went ashore again, but found no water, the latitude here 22 degrees; the twentieth in 19 degrees, the twenty second in 16 degrees 10 minutes. Thus Pelsart sailed along this coast to the northward till he came among the Indian islands, and then struck over to Java, where he met two Dutch ships, which carried him to Batavia, whence he returned with a vessel to save as much as might be of the wreck. Thevenot, vol I.
An. 1642, Abel Jansen Tasman set sail from Batavia in the island of Java with a yacht and a flyboat, and September the fifth anchored at the island Mauritius in 20 degrees of south latitude. The eighth they departed thence south till 40 or 41 degrees, then bore away east somewhat southerly, till the sixth of November they were in 49 degrees. The twenty-fourth in 42 degrees 25 minutes they saw land east and by north at ten miles distance, and called it Antony van Diemen’s land, and after running along the coast came to an anchor on the first of December in a bay they named Frederick Hendrick’s Bay: they heard some noise as of people, but saw none, and only the footing of wild beasts, and some smokes. Departing hence on the thirteenth of December they anchored in the country called in the maps New-Zealand; here they saw some natives lusty people, and half naked, who coming aboard on pretence to traffic, fell upon the men in the boat, and killed four of them, for which reason it was called Murderers Bay. Here they seemed to be embayed, but on the fourth of January 1643, came up with the N. W. cape of this land, and finding an island there, called it Three Kings Island; and going thither to refresh, they saw some large men, but could not understand them. Hence they directed their course north-east, till in 22 degrees 35 minutes they saw a small island, which they could not come at, but called it Piilstreet’s island, January 21, in 21 degrees 20 minutes, they called two islands, the one Amsterdam, the other Zealand; on the first they got many hogs, hens, and all sorts of fruit. The inhabitants were friendly, had no weapons, and seemed to know no evil, but that they would steal. In the latter of these islands they saw gardens with square beds and trees regularly planted. Leaving this place they saw many islands as they stood northward, and in 17 degrees 19 minutes they run among eighteen or twenty islands, which in the charts are called Prince William’s Islands, or Hemskirk’s Shoals. Directing their course now N. or N. N. W. after much foul weather, on the twenty-second of March, in 5 degrees 2 minutes south latitude, they had sight of land four miles west of them, being about twenty islands, called in the charts Onthong Java, about ninety miles from the coast of New-Guinea. March the twenty-fifth, in 4 degrees 35 minutes, they were up with the islands of Mark, found before by William Schouten, and John le Maire: the natives are savage and have their hair tied up. March the twenty-ninth they passed by Green Island, the thirtieth by S. John’s Island, and April the first, in 4 degrees 30 minutes, they reached the coast of New-Guinea at a cape called by the Spaniards Santa Maria, and run along the coast to the promontory called Struis Hook, where the land bends to the south and south-east, as they did to find a passage to the south, but were forced to turn to the west. April the twenty-eighth they came to the burning island, where they saw a great fire come out of the hill, and sailing betwixt the island and the main saw many fires. At the islands Jama and Moa they got refreshment. May the twelfth, in only 54 minutes of south latitude, they sailed along the side of William Schouten’s island, which seems to be well inhabited: and the eighteenth they came to the west-end of New-Guinea, and on the fifteenth of June returned to Batavia, having finished the voyage in ten months. Thevenot, vol. II.
An. 1643, a Dutch ship sailing to the northward of Japan, came upon a coast in 39 degrees 45 minutes latitude. Running up as far as 43 degrees, they saw several villages near one another, and say there are about them many mines of silver. The land in some places seemed to bear no grass, but the sea was very full of fish. In 44 degrees 30 minutes, they went ashore in a mountainous country, supposed to be full of silver mines. In 46 degrees the land resembled the coast of England, the soil being good, but the natives do not till it. In 48 degrees there are small hills covered with short grass. In 45 degrees 50 minutes is an island, which the Dutch call Staten island, and beyond it the Companies land, another island: in this they found a sort of mineral earth, that looked as if it had been all silver. In 45 degrees they observed, that though the land was not cultivated it yielded very good fruit of several sorts, the sea-shore was covered with rose-trees, and on the rocks many large oysters, but on the land they saw no beast but one bear. The inhabitants of this land of Eso or Yedso, for so it is called, are all strong set, thick, with long hair and beards, good features, no flat noses, black eyes, a sallow complexion, and very hairy about their bodies: the women are not so black as the men, some of them cut their hair, and others tie it up. They seem to have no religion nor government, every man has two wives, who serve him at home and abroad: they are very jealous of their women, love drinking, look like savages, but yet are very civil and obliging to strangers: their houses are only small cottages, and but a few of them together: they eat the fat and oil of whales, all sorts of fish and herbs, and rose-buds are their greatest dainty. Their clothes are some of silk and some of the skins of beasts. They use bows and arrows to kill wild beasts, and they spin hemp. They trade with the Japoneses, whom they furnish with train-oil, whales tongues smoaked, furs, several sorts of feathers, for which they receive rice, sugar, silk, and other coarser garments, copper-pipes, tobacco-boxes, and varnished dishes and vessels for their meat and drink, pendants for their ears, copper ear-rings, hatchets, knives, &c. The capital of the country is small, they call it Matsmay, where the prince or governor of the country resides, who every year goes over to pay his respects to the emperor of Japan, and carry him presents. This is what the Dutch discovered, but a Japonese told them this land of Eso or Yedso was an island. Thevenot, tom. I.
Anno 1698-9. On the fourteenth of January captain Dampier, in his majesty’s ship the Roe-Buck, sailed from the Downs upon a new discovery, touched at the Canaries and isles of Cabo Verde, and the twenty-fifth of March came to an anchor in Bakia de Todos Santos, or the Bay of All-saints, in Brasil. April the third he left this place, and the twenty-third of April saw the land about the cape of Good Hope. August the first having run from Brasil a hundred and fourteen degrees, he made into the shore of New-Holland in 26 degrees south latitude, thinking to put into some harbour; but finding rocks and foul ground, stood out to sea again till August the sixth, when he came to an anchor in 25 degrees at an opening, which he called Sharks Bay, where he could get no fresh water, but plenty of wood, and refreshed the men with racoons, tortoises, sharks, and other fish, and some sorts of fowl. He sounded most of this bay, and on the fourteenth sailed out of it, coasting as the weather would permit to the northward, and then to the north-east, as the coast runs, where, in 20 degrees 21 minutes, he found several islands, and going ashore on some of them could get no fresh water, nor see any inhabitants; so he continued along the shore as near as could be with safety, till on the thirtieth he anchored in eight fathom water, where he saw some of the natives, but could not take any. Looking for water none was found, and digging pits they got some that was brackish and not fit to drink. Finding no water or other refreshment on this coast, in the beginning of September he stood over for the island Timor, where he took in fresh water, and on the third of December arrived on the coast of New-Guinea, and had some commerce with the inhabitants of an island called Pulo Sabuti. Then passing to the northward, and to the eastermost part of New-Guinea, he found it did not join to the main land of New-Guinea, but was an island which he called New-Britain. Having discovered thus far, and being unprovided to proceed, he returned by Timor and Java, so to the cape of Good Hope, and island of S. Helena. At the island of the Ascension his ship foundered, but the men were saved, and returned to England aboard the East-India ship called the Canterbury. Dampier’s voyage to New-Holland, being his third volume.
The voyages round the world, which, for so many thousand years as past from the creation till the discovery of the West-Indies, could never so much as enter into the thoughts of man, and which after they were performed gave just subject of admiration, do well deserve to be mentioned apart from all others, as being the boldest action that could be undertaken, and to be performed but one way, though several attempts have been made to find out others, as has been showed in the fruitless voyages for discovery of the north-east and north-west passages: for this reason they have been reserved for this place, where something shall be said of all hitherto performed, but more particularly of the first, as the most glorious and honourable, because it showed the way to all that followed. This wonderful enterprise was undertaken and performed after this manner:
An. 1519, Ferdinand de Magalhaens, or as we corruptly call him, Magellan, by nation a Portuguese, by descent a gentleman, and by profession a soldier and seaman, having served his prince well both in Afric and India, and being ill rewarded, renounced his country, disnaturalizing himself as the custom then was, and offered his service to the emperor Charles the fifth then king of Spain. He had long before conceived an opinion, that another way might be found to India, and particularly to the Molucco islands, besides the common track by the cape of Good Hope followed by the Portugueses. This he proposed to the emperor with such assurance of performing what he promised, that he had the command of five ships given him, and in them two hundred and fifty men: with this squadron he sailed from S. Lucar de Barrameda on the twentieth of September, the aforesaid year 1519. Being come to the river called Rio de Janeiro on the coast of Brasil, and near 23 degrees of south latitude, some discontent began to appear among the men, which was soon blown over; but proceeding to the bay of S. Julian in 49 degrees of latitude, where they were forced to winter, the mutiny grew so high, three of the captains and most of the men being engaged. that Magellan having in vain endeavoured to appease it by fair means, was forced to use his authority, executing two of the said captains, and setting the third with a priest who had sided with them ashore among the wild Indians. This done, he proceeded on his voyage, and on the twenty first of October 1520, having been out above a year, discovered the cape, which he called Cabo de la Virgines, or the Virgins’ Cape, because that day was the feast of S. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins; and there turned into the strait he went in search of, which from him to this day is called the strait of Magellan: it lies in 52 degrees of south latitude, is about a hundred leagues in length, in some parts a league wide, in some more, in some less, but all narrow, and enclosed with high land on both sides, some bare, some covered with woods, and some of the loftiest mountains with snow. Having sailed about fifty leagues in this strait, they discovered another branch of it, and Magellan sent one of his ships to bring him some account of it; but the seamen being parted from him took the opportunity, and confining their captain for opposing their design, returned into Spain, spending eight months in their return. Magellan having expected beyond the time appointed, and finding they did not return to him, proceeded though the strait, and came into the South-sea with only three ships, having lost one in his passage, but all the men saved, and another as was said being stolen away from him. The last land of the strait he called Cabo Deseado, or the Desired Cape, because it was the end of his desired passage to the South-sea. The cold being somewhat sharp, he thought good to draw nearer to the equinoctial, and accordingly steered west-north-west. In this manner he sailed three months and twenty days without seeing land, which reduced them to such straits, that they were forced to eat all the old leather they had aboard, and to drink stinking water, of which nineteen men died, and near thirty were so weak, that they could do no service. After fifteen hundred leagues sailing he found a small island in 18 degrees of south latitude, and two hundred leagues further another, but nothing considerable in them; and therefore held on his course, till in about 12 degrees of north latitude, he came to those islands which he called De los Ladrones, or of Thieves, because the natives hovered about his ships in their boats, and coming aboard stole every thing they could lay hold of. Finding no good to be done here, he sailed again, and discovered a great number of islands together, he gave that sea the name of Archipelago de S. Lazaro, the islands being those we now call the Philippines. On the twenty-eighth of March he anchored by the island of Buthuan, where he was friendly received, and got some gold; then removed to the isle of Massana, at a small distance from the other, and thence to that of Cebu. Magellan having hitherto succeeded so well, stood over to the island Matan, where not agreeing with the natives he came to a battle, and was killed in it with eight of his men. After this disaster the rest sailed over to the island Bohol, and being too weak to carry home their three ships, burnt one of them, after taking out the cannon and all that could be of use to them. Being now reduced to two ships, they made away to the south-west in search of the Molucco islands, and instead of them fell in with the great one of Borneo, where they made some short stay, being friendly received: and departing thence, with the assistance of Indian pilots arrived at length at the Moluccos on the eighth of November 1521, in the twenty-seventh month after their departure from Spain, and anchored in the port of Tidore, one of the chief of those islands, where they were lovingly treated by the king, who concluded a peace, and took an oath ever to continue in amity with the king of Spain. Here they traded for cloves, exchanging the commodities they brought to their own content: when they were to depart, finding one of the ships leaky, and unfit for so long a voyage, they left her behind to refit, and then sailed for Spain as soon as possible. The other ship called the Victory, commanded by John Sebastian Cano, and carrying forty-six Spaniards, and thirteen Indians, took its course to the south-west, and coming to the island Malva, near that of Timor, in 11 degrees of south latitude, staid there fifteen days to stop some leaks they discovered in her. On the twenty-fifth of January 1522, they left this place, and the next day touched at Timor, whence they went not till the eleventh of February, when they took their way to the southward, resolving to leave all India, and the islands to the northward, to avoid meeting the Portugueses, who were powerful in those seas, and would obstruct their passage: therefore they run into 40 degrees of south latitude before they doubled the cape of Good Hope, about which they spent seven weeks beating it out against contrary winds, so that their provisions began to fail, and many men grew sick, which made some entertain thoughts of turning back to Mozambique, but others opposed it. In fine, after two months more hardships, in which they lost twenty-one of their company, they were forced to put into the island of S. James, being one of those of Cabo Verde, where with much intreaty they obtained some small relief of provisions; but thirteen of them going ashore again for some rice the Portugueses had promised to supply them with, were detained ashore, which made those that were left aboard the ship hoist sail and put to sea, fearing the like treachery might surprise them, and on the seventh of September arrived safe at S. Lucar, below the city Sevil, where after firing all their guns for joy, they repaired to the great church in their shirts and barefoot to return thanks to God. The ship that performed this wonderful voyage was called the Victory, as was said before; the commander’s name was John Sebastian Cano, who was well rewarded and honoured by the emperor. This was the first voyage round the world, which we shall soon see followed by other nations; and this was the discovery of the strait of Magellan, which made the voyage practicable. The other Spanish ship we mentioned to be left at the Moluccos to stop her leaks, attempted to return the way it came to Panama, but after struggling above four months with the easterly winds, most of the men dying, and the rest being almost starved, it went back to the Moluccos, where it was taken by the Portugueses; and the few men that survived after being kept two years in India, were sent to Spain in the Portugueses ships. Herrera, dec. 2. lib. IV, IX, and dec. 3. lib. I. IV. Hackluyt, vol. III. and Purchas, vol. I.
The second voyage round the world was begun
An. 1577, by Mr. Francis, afterwards sir Francis, Drake, with five ships and barks, and a hundred and sixty-four men, who sailed from Plymouth on the thirteenth of December, and on the twenty-fifth of the same month touched at cape Cantin on the African coast, in 31 degrees of north latitude; on the seventeenth of January 1578, at cape Blanco on the same coast, and twenty-one degrees of latitude, and then at the islands of Cabo Verde. Departing thence they sailed fifty-four days without seeing land, and on the fifth of April came upon the coast of Brasil, where they watered, and proceeded to the mouth of the river of Plate in 36 degrees of south latitude. Sailing hence, on the twenty-seventh of April they put into a port in the latitude of 46 degrees, where Drake burnt a flyboat that attended him, after saving all that could be of use. On the twentieth of June he again put into a good harbour, called Port S. Julian, in the latitude of 49 degrees, and continued there till the seventeenth of August, when putting to sea again, he entered the straits of Magellan on the twenty-first of the same month. What sort of straits these are was described in Magellan’s voyage, and therefore needs no repetition. Here on an island they found fowl that could not fly, as big as geese, whereof they killed three thousand, which was good provision; and they entered the South-sea on the sixth of September. Hence they were drove by a storm to the southward as far as the latitude of 57 degrees 20 minutes, and anchored among certain islands; whence removing to a good bay, they saw many men and women naked in canoes, and traded with them for such things as they had. Steering away again to the northward, they found three islands, and in one of them an incredible quantity of fowl; but on the eighth of October they lost sight of one of their ships commanded by Mr. Winter, which the rest supposed to be cast away, but it was put back by the tempest into the strait of Magellan, and returned home the same way it came. Drake with the rest sailed for the coast of Chile, and sending for water at the island of Mocha, two of his men were killed by the Indians, which made him depart without it. This island is on the coast of Chile in 39 degrees of south latitude. Coasting still along, he came to the bay of Valparaiso, where he found a Spanish ship with only eight Spaniards and three blacks in her, whom he surprised and took, and then going ashore plundered nine houses, being all there were in that which they called the town of Santiago. At Coquimbo in 29 degrees 30 minutes of latitude fourteen men landing, one of them was killed by the Spaniards, the rest fled back to their ships. Not far from thence landing for fresh water, they met one single Spaniard and an Indian boy driving eight lamas, or Peru sheep, loaded with silver, which they took. Running on thence to Arica on the coast of Peru in 18 degrees 30 minutes latitude, he plundered three barks, in which was some quantity of silver, but not one man. Hence he advanced to the port of Lima in 12 degrees of latitude, and after rifling what little was in them cut the cables of 12 vessels that lay there, letting them drive wheresoever the water would carry them, there being no man aboard, as having never seen an enemy in those seas. Near cape S. Francis in one degree of north latitude he took a rich ship called Cacafuego, and a little further another. Then he plundered Guatulco, and after refitting his ship in a small island run away to the northward in 43 degrees of latitude, where feeling much cold he returned into 38 degrees, and there put into a large bay on the coast of California, which Drake called Nova Albion. Here he was well received by the people, and continued some time, and sailing hence directed his course for the Molucco islands, seeing no land till the thirtieth of October, when he discovered the islands de los Ladrones in eight degrees of north latitude. On the fourteenth of November he fell in with the Molucco islands, and came to an anchor in that of Ternate, the king whereof came aboard Drake’s ship, offering him all the island could afford; and he having taken in what was most necessary and could be had there, went over to a small island south of Celebes, where he graved his ship, and fitted her to return home, which took him up twenty-six days. Thinking to return to the Moluccos, they were drove by contrary winds to the northward of the island Celebes, till turning again to the southward for fear of the many small islands in that sea, the ship on a sudden sat upon a rock, where it was feared she would have perished; but lightening her of three ton of cloves, eight guns and some provisions, she got off. On the eighth of February 1579, they fell in with the island Barateve, where they refreshed themselves after their fatigues, and took in store of such provisions as the place afforded, the natives proving very friendly, and bartering their commodities for linen. Being well furnished with all necessaries, they left this place, and again made some stay at the island of Java, the natives by their civility inviting them to it. Thence they steered directly for the cape of Good Hope, which was the first land they came near from Java, yet touched not there, nor at any other place till they came to Sierra Leona, the westermost point of Guinea, in 8 degrees of north latitude, on the twenty-second of July, and there recruited themselves with provisions. Departing thence on the twenty-fourth, they arrived in England on the third of November 1580, and the third year after their departure. This relation is to be seen at large in Hackluyt, vol. III. , and in Purchas, vol. I. lib. II. .
An. 1586. Mr. Thomas, afterwards sir Thomas Candish, undertook the third voyage round the world with three small vessels, one of a hundred and twenty, the second of sixty, and the third of forty tons burden, all fitted out at his own charges; and sailed from Plymouth on the twenty-first of July 1586. On the twenty-third of August he put into a bay on the coast of Afric, and destroyed there a village of the blacks, because they killed a man with a poisoned arrow. After some days spent about this place, he sailed away south-west, and on the first of November put in between the island of S. Sebastian and the continent of Brasil, in 24 degrees of south latitude, where the men were set to work ashore to build a pinnace, make hoops for the casks, and fill fresh water, which took them up till the twenty-third of the month, when sailing again on the seventeenth of December, they entered Port Desire, in 47 degrees and a half of latitude, and that being a convenient place for the purpose, careened their ships, and refitted what was amiss. The third day of January 1587, they anchored at the mouth of the straits of Magellan, the weather being very stormy, which lasted three days, all which time they continued there, but lost an anchor, and the sixth day entered the strait. The seventh, as they drew near the narrow part of the strait, they took a Spaniard, being one of the twenty-three that still remained alive, which were all then left of five hundred there three years before to guard the strait, the rest being dead with hunger. These had built a town, which they called king Philip’s city, and fortified it, but they could make no works against famine, which consumed them all to those before mentioned, who except him that was taken were gone along the coast, hoping to get to the river of Plate. Candish having wooded and watered here, called this place Port Famine. The weather proving very boisterous and foul, he was forced to ride it out often at anchor, and therefore did not get out into the South-sea till the twenty-fourth of February. On the first of March a violent storm parted the bark of forty tons from the other two ships, and they met not before the fifteenth betwixt the island of S. Mary and the continent of Chile, in 37 degrees and a half of south latitude. Here they took in as much corn as they would have and abundance of potatoes, all which had been laid up in the island for the Spaniards, besides as many hogs as they could salt, abundance of hens, and five hundred dried dog-fishes. The eighteenth they left this place, and on the last of the month landed at Punta de Quenuro in 33 degrees of latitude, but saw no man, though they travelled some miles, only spied some herds of very wild cattle; but the first of April going to water, the men were set upon by the Spaniards, and twelve of them cut off. Proceeding hence along the coast of Chile and Peru, they took some coasting vessels carrying provisions from one place to another. In this manner they ran along to the island Puna, in about 3 degrees of south latitude, being a famous place for supplying all those coasts with cables. Here the English took what they found for their use, the island being inhabited by none but Indians, except some few Spaniards that lived in the chief town, who killed twelve of the English, but were put to flight, and the town burnt, as was the church particularly, and the bells carried away. This second loss of men obliged Candish to sink his bark of forty ton, that had attended him out of England. On the twelfth of June they cut the equinoctial line, and holding on their course to the northward all that month, on the first of July came upon the coast of New-Spain; where on the ninth they took and burnt a ship with seven men in her, and soon after a bark, whose men were fled to shore. The twenty-sixth day they anchored at Copalita in 16 degrees of north latitude, whence they went with thirty men to Aguatulco a small Indian town, which they burnt and rifled. Then keeping along that coast, they continued ravaging the Indian towns, till they came to a small island in 23 degrees of latitude, and eleven leagues from the city Chiametlan; where having watered, and staid till the ninth of November, they then stood over to cape S. Lucar, which is the southermost point of California, and beating about it till the fourth of November, met then with the S. Anne, being the Spanish galeon bound from the Philippine islands to the port of Acapulco in New-Spain. After a fight of six hours the galeon was taken and carried into the port called Puerto Seguro; where setting ashore the Spaniards, and taking out what goods they could carry, they burnt the galeon, and on the nineteenth of November sailed thence towards India. This night Candish, who was in the Desire, lost his other ship called the Content, and never saw her after. Being thus left alone he sailed before the wind, as is usual there, for the space of forty-five days, and on the third of January 1588, came up with the islands de los Ladrones, having run about eighteen hundred leagues; on the fourteenth with cape Espiritu Santo, a great head-land of one of the Philippine islands to the westward in 13 degrees of latitude, and about three hundred leagues from the islands Ladrones. At the island Cabul he continued some days getting fresh provisions, and then sailing amidst all those islands south-west and by south, on the eighth of February discovered the island Batochina near Gilolo, in 1 degree of south latitude; whence he steered to the south side of the great island of Java, and touching there on the twelfth of March, traded with the natives for provisions, which were brought him in great plenty. On the sixteenth he set sail for the cape of Good Hope, and doubled it about the middle of May; having spent nine weeks betwixt the island of Java and this place, which is about eighteen hundred leagues distance. On the ninth of June he anchored at the island of S. Helena, about five hundred leagues distant from the cape of Good Hope, lying betwixt the coast of Afric and Brazil, in about 15 degrees of south latitude. This island is generally touched at by ships going to and returning from the East-Indies, because of the conveniency of watering, besides the great plenty it produces of excellent fruit, as also abundance of fowl, swine, and goats, the place being extremely pleasant, but very small. Having taken in wood and water here, and made clean the ship, on the twentieth of June, Candish sailed for England; on the twenty-fourth of August he discovered the islands Flores and Corvo, two of the Azores, and on the ninth of September after a terrible storm, which carried away part of his sails, put into the port of Plymouth. Hackluyt, vol. III. , and Purchas, vol. I. lib. II. .
An. 1598. The Dutch resolving to perform as much as had been done before by Magellan’s ship, and by sir Francis Drake and sir Thomas Candish, they fitted out four ships under the command of captain Oliver d’Oirt, as Van Meteren calls him, or Oliver Noort, according to Purchas. The rest proceeded on their voyage upon the nineteenth of July; and to omit particulars of less moment, and their touching at places not material, on the tenth of December they came to the Prince’s Island, or Ilha do Principe on the coast of Congo, in 2 degrees of north latitude; where the Portugueses killed some of their men, and the Dutch commander in revenge assaulting their fort, was repulsed with greater loss. This made him desist; and sailing thence, on the fifth of February 1599, came on the coast of Brazil. Here they spent much time, seeking refreshment and water along the shore, and being much shaken by a storm, and abundance of the men sick, besides, that it was the winter season there, they put into a little island called S. Clare, on the coast of Brazil, in about 21 degrees of south latitude. Here the sick men being set ashore, some of them presently died; the rest ailing nothing but the scurvy, were cured with eating sour plums they found there. One of the ships being very leaky, was here burnt, after all that could be of use had been taken out of her. On the sixteenth of July they left this place, steering for Port Desire in 47 degrees; and after many storms put into it on the twentieth of September, careened their ships, and took abundance of fowl. Some men were here killed by the Indians. Departing hence on the twenty-ninth, they came to cape Virgines at the mouth of the strait of Magellan, on the fourth of November; where they met with storms of wind, rain, hail, and snow, besides much sickness and contention among themselves, having been from home fifteen months, before they could get into the strait; so that it was the last of February 1600, before they came into the South-sea. March the twelfth they lost sight of the vice-admiral, and sailed without him to the island Mocha, in 38 degrees south. Another ship missing the island of S. Maries, and being drove by necessity to make the continent for provisions, lost most of its men ashore, the rest putting to sea with the vessel. Being now in fear of the Spanish men of war, he directed his course with the two ships he had left for the islands de los Ladrones, which he had sight of on the fifteenth of September; and on the fourteenth of October discovered the island of Luzon or Manilla, the chief of the Philippines. Near this island he met the two Spanish ships bound thence for New Spain; and after a desperate fight, Noort sunk one of them; but at the same time the other took his second ship, and he made all haste away to Borneo, but made no stay there for fear of the natives, who attempted to cut his cable; and therefore sailing hence, he traded for pepper at Java, and at length returned by the cape of Good Hope, and isle of S. Helena, arriving at Amsterdam on the twenty-sixth of August 1601. Purchas, vol. I. lib. II. . Van Meteren, lib. XXIII.
An. 1614. George Spilbergen, commander of five Dutch ships, sailed out of the Texel on the eighth of August, and entered the strait of Magellan on the twenty-eighth of March 1615, but being drove out again by contrary winds, he re-entered on the second of April. In the strait they continued going ashore on the south side upon the land called Tierra del Fuego, known since to be an island, till the sixth of May, when they came out into the South-sea, which received them with storms, and on the twenty-sixth came up with the island la Mocha, on the coast of Chile, mentioned in all the former voyages. Here they treated with the Indians, exchanging hatchets, and other utensils, as also coral, for large Peru sheep, which serve not only to eat, but to carry burdens. Landing at the island of S. Mary on the 29th, they had a skirmish with some few Spaniards, and got some booty of sheep. Running along the coast, they touched at Valparaiso, cape Quintero, and other places; but finding the Spaniards every-where had taken the alarm, they durst not do any thing ashore. July the seventeenth keeping along the shores of Peru, they discovered eight Spanish ships set out to engage them. That very night they engaged, and after a hot dispute, three of the Spanish ships sunk. In this action they had forty men killed, and sixty wounded. Drawing too near the shore at Callao the port of Lima, the Huntsman, one of the Dutch ships, was almost sunk with a thirty-six pounder, which made them keep further off: and holding their course to the northward, they took the little town of Peita. Therefore August the twenty-first they set out to sea again, and beat about in bad weather till the eleventh of October, when they put into the harbour of Acapulco in New-Spain, and there exchanged the prisoners they had taken for provisions. Which done, they run up into twenty degrees of north latitude, and on the twenty-sixth of November stood over for the islands de loss Ladrones. In January following, which was the year 1616, many of the men died of diseases. On the twenty-third of the same month they discovered the Ladrones, and on the ninth of February cape Espiritu Santo, the eastermost point of the Philippine islands to the northward; passing among which, they arrived at Ternate, the chief of the Moluccos, on the twenty-ninth of March, which the Dutch in the island reckoned the twenty-eighth; the fleet by following the course of the sun having lost a day, whereas they that sail round to the eastward gain a day. About these islands they continued some months, and arrived at Jacatra in the island of Java on the fifteenth of September, on the thirtieth of March 1617 at the island of S. Helena, and in July following in Zealand. Purchas, vol. I. lib. II. .
An. 1615. Isaac le Maire a merchant of Amsterdam, and William Cornelison Schouten of Horn, resolving to find out a new way to the East-Indies, besides those already known by the cape of Good Hope and strait of Magellan; at their own charges fitted out a good ship of three hundred and sixty ton and twenty guns, and a smaller of an hundred and ten ton and eight guns, in which they sailed themselves out of the Texel on the sixteenth of June in the aforesaid year, resolving to find another passage into the South-sea, to the south-ward of the strait of Magellan; which their design they kept secret, till they came near the line, where they discovered it to the seamen, who were well pleased with the undertaking. To pass by all other particulars, as too like those in the foregoing voyages, on the ninth of December they sailed up into Port Desire, on the coast of America, in 47 degrees and 40 minutes of south latitude: where bringing their ships ashore to clean them, as they were burning reeds under the lesser of them, she took fire, and burnt till the tide coming up, quenched the flame; yet so that nothing of her could be saved, but a little wood for fuel and the iron-work. The thirteenth of January 1616, the great ship now left alone sailed out of Port Desire, and the twenty-fifth discovered the island they called Staten-land to the eastward and the point of Tierra del Fuego to the westward, which they called Maurice-land, in almost 55 degrees of south latitude. Entering betwixt these two lands, they steered south-south-west, till coming under 55 degrees 36 minutes, they stood south-west and then south. Thus the twenty-sixth they came under 57 degrees, and the twenty-ninth discovered those they called Barnevelts islands. The third of February they were under 59 degrees 25 minutes, and the twelfth found the staits of Magellan lay east of them; and therefore being satisfied that they were in the South-sea, they called the newfound passage the strait of le Maire. March the first they came near the islands of John Fernandez, in 33 degrees 40 minutes of south latitude, and at some distance from the coast of Chile; but though they endeavoured it, could never come near enough to anchor, being still beaten off by the wind and current, and therefore steered away to the westward to prosecute their voyage; and in April they discovered several small islands inhabited by naked people, none of whom would come aboard, nor could they come to an anchor. These islands were in about 14 or 15 degrees of south latitude. Sailing on still westward, they saw many more islands in May, and had some trade with the natives, who attempted to surprise the ship, or at least the boat; but were soon scared away by the fire arms, when they saw they did execution, for before they thought they had only made a noise. Finding no continent, and perceiving they were at least sixteen hundred leagues to the westward of Chile or Peru, they steered to the northward, for fear they should fall south of New-Guinea, and perhaps not be able to clear themselves of the coast, the winds being always at east. Many more islands are mentioned in the journal, at some of which they touched and got refreshment; but on the first of July they anchored near the coast of New-Guinea, whence they sailed still along the shore, and amidst a multitude of islands, till they came into half a degree of south latitude, whence they saw a small island off the shore of the land of Papous, and called it William Schouten’s Island, after the captain’s name, and the westernmost point of it the cape of Good Hope. September the 17th they arrived at the island Ternate, and thence in October to Jacatra, or Batavia in the island of Java; where the president of the Dutch East-India company seized the ship and goods. Whereupon William Cornelison Schouten the master, Jacob le Maire the merchant, and ten seamen, put themselves aboard the Amsterdam, a Dutch ship homeward bound, and twelve others aboard the Zealand, and arrived in safety at Amsterdam in July; having discovered the new strait called le Maire, as was said before, and performed the voyage round the world in two years and eighteen days. Purchas, vol. I. lib. II. .
An. 1643. Brewer, or Brower, went another way into the South-sea, by a passage called after his own name, which is east of le Maire’s strait; but whether this was a strait with land on each side, or an open sea, is not known, his diary not being made public; but most maps make it a new strait.
An. 1683. One John Cook sailed from Virginia in a ship of eight guns and fifty-two men a buccaneering; and with him one Cowley, as master. On the coast of Guinea they took a ship of forty guns by surprise, in which they sailed away to the South-sea, meeting by the way another ship commanded by one Eaton, who joined them to follow the same trade. They ran into 60 degrees of south latitude, and passed that way into the South-sea, where Cowley says they discovered several islands about the line. Thence they sailed over to the Ladrones, whence they continued their course, and anchored at Canton in China. Departing from Canton, they came to the island Borneo, where Cowley, the author of this relation, with nineteen others, got a great boat in which they went away to Java. At Batavia the author, with two others, shipped himself on board a Dutch vessel, and so returned to Europe. The relation of this voyage is shortened, because there have been so many voyages round the world before, and all of them performed in the same ship; whereas in this there was much shifting. Those that desire may see it at large in the collection of original voyages, published by captain William Hack, An. 1699.
Captain Dampier in his first book of voyages gives an account of this same last mentioned, but more at large, he being aboard with the same Cook; and therefore no more needs be said of it, though there may be many circumstances which this discourse cannot descend to: wherefore here shall end the voyages round the world, it being time to proceed to what remains.
After so long a discourse of voyages and discoveries, it may seem superfluous to treat of the advantages the public receives by navigation, and the faithful journals and accounts of travellers. The matter is natural, and no man can read the one without being sensible of the other; and therefore a few words may suffice on this subject, to avoid cloying the judicious reader with what is so visible and plain, and to save runningout this introduction to an unreasonable length. What was cosmography before these discoveries, but an imperfect fragment of a science, scarce deserving so good a name? When all the known world was only Europe, a small part of Afric, and the lesser portion of Asia; so that of this terraqueous globe not one sixth part had ever been seen or heard of. Nay, so great was the ignorance of man in this particular, that learned persons made a doubt of its being round; others no less knowing imagined all they were not acquainted with, desart and uninhabitable. But now geography and hydrography have received some perfection by the pains of so many mariners and travellers, who to evince the rotundity of the earth and water, have sailed and travelled round it, as has been here made appear; to show there is no part uninhabitable, unless the frozen polar regions, have visited all other countries, though never so remote, which they have found well peopled, and most of them rich and delightful; and to demonstrate the antipodes, have pointed them out to us. Astronomy has received the addition of many constellations never seen before. Natural and moral history is embellished with the most beneficial increase of so many thousands of plants it had never before received, so many drugs and spices, such variety of beasts, birds, and fishes, such rarities in minerals, mountains and waters, such unaccountable diversity of climates and men, and in them of complexions, tempers, habits, manners, politics, and religions. Trade is raised to the highest pitch, each part of the world supplying the other with what it wants, and bringing home what is accounted most precious and valuable; and this not in a niggard and scanty manner, as when the Venetians served all Europe with spice and drugs from India by the way of Turky and the Red sea; or, as when gold and silver were only drawn from some poor European and African mines; but with plenty and affluence, as we now see, most nations resorting freely to the East-Indies, and the West, yearly sending forth prodigious quantities of the most esteemed and valuable metals. To conclude, the empire of Europe is now extended to the utmost bounds of the earth, where several of its nations have conquests and colonies. These and many more are the advantages drawn from the labours of those who expose themselves to the dangers of the vast ocean, and of unknown nations; which those who sit still at home abundantly reap in every kind: and the relation of one traveller is an incentive to stir up another to imitate him, whilst the rest of mankind, in their accounts, without stirring a foot, compass the earth and seas, visit all countries, and converse with all nations.
It only remains to give some few directions for such as go on long voyages: which shall be those drawn up by Mr. Rook, a fellow of the Royal Society, and geometry professor of Gresham college, by order of the said society, and published in the Philosophical Transactions of the eighth of January 1665-6, being Numb. 8. They are as follow:
To observe the declination of the compass, or its variation from the meridian of the place, frequently; marking withal the latitude and longitude of the place where such observation is made, as exactly as may be, and setting down the method by which they made them.
To carry dipping needles with them, and observe the inclination of the needle in like manner.
To remark carefully the ebbings and flowings of the sea in as many places as they can, together with all the accidents ordinary and extraordinary of the tides; as, their precise time of ebbing and flowing in rivers, at promontories or capes, which way the current runs, what perpendicular distance there is between the highest tide and lowest ebb, during the spring tides and neep tides, what day of the moon’s age, and what times of the year the highest and lowest tides fall out: and all other considerable accidents they can observe in the tides, chiefly near ports, and about islands, as in S. Helena’s island, and the three rivers there, at the Bermudas, &c.
To make plots and draughts of prospect of coasts, promontories, islands and ports, marking the bearings and distances as near as they can.
To sound and mark the depth of coasts and ports, and such other places near the shore as they shall think fit.
To take notice of the nature of the ground at the bottom of the sea, in all soundings, whether it be clay, sand, rock, &c.
To keep a register of all changes of wind and weather at all hours, by night and by day, showing the point the wind blows from, whether strong or weak: the rains, hail, snow, and the like; the precise times of their beginnings and continuance, especially hurricanes and spouts; but above all, to take exact care to observe the trade-winds, about what degree of latitude and longitude they first begin, where and when they cease or change, or grow stronger or weaker, and how much, as near and exact as may be.
To observe and record all extraordinary meteors, lightnings, thunders, ignes fatui, comets, &c. marking still the places and times of their appearing, continuance, &c.
To carry with them good scales, and glass-vials of a pint, or so, with very narrow mouths, which are to be filled with sea-water in different degrees of latitude, as often as they please, and the weight of the vial full of water taken exactly at every time, and recorded, marking withal the degree of latitude, and the day of the month; and that as well of water near the top, as at a greater depth.
This may suffice for sea voyages; but in regard it may be expected something should be said for those who travel by land, a few instructions have been collected from experienced travellers, who are best able to direct such as design to follow them into remote countries. We will therefore begin with Monsieur de Bourges, who with the bishop of Berytus made a journey through Turky, Persia and India, as far as Cochinchina. He advises such as intend for those parts so to order their affairs, that they may come into Turky in October, to avoid the excessive heats of those countries for four or five months before that time. If our traveller will hold on his journey to Persia, he must go with the caravan from Aleppo to Babylon, or Bagdat, which will take him up a month; thence he embarks upon the river Euphrates, which carries him down to Bassora. whence he proceeds by sea to Bander, where he may find convenience by land to Ispahan, the capital of Persia; from Ispahan the difficulties of travelling by land to India are almost invincible, and therefore the proper way is to repair to the port of Gomrom, whence there is a constant and safe passage to Suratte, or any other part of India. All persons that travel in Turky must change their habit into that of the country, and must lay aside the hat and wear a turbant, and the meaner the habit the safer they will be from extortions and robberies; they must endeavour to have a Turkish interpreter on the road with them, who may own whatever goods they carry, and protect them against any affronts that may be offered them; but above all, they must endeavour to be well recommended to the captain of the caravan, which will be their greatest safeguard. This recommendation must be from some of the christian consuls, but generally the best from the French, who are much regarded in those parts. Such as will not carry all their stock in ready money, must be careful to carry those commodities that will turn to best account, amongst which the brightest yellow amber, and the largest red coral, are in great esteem. These though not wrought, are profitable; and to avoid the duties paid at several places, may be carried in a bag, or portmanteau on the horse the traveller rides, for those are not searched. The best money they can carry are Spanish pieces of eight, provided they be full weight, and not of Peru, which are not so fine silver as the others. By this money they will have seven or eight per cent. profit in some parts, and ten per cent. in others, and the same in French crowns. As for gold, the greatest profit is made of the Venetian and Hungarian, and it is very considerable. There is so great an advantage to be made by those who rightly understand the best coins and their value, that those who are well instructed in it can travel for a very inconsiderable expence. It is absolutely necessary to carry good arms to defend themselves upon all occasions, but more particularly to fight the Arabs, and other rovers. Above all, it is requisite in Turky that travellers be armed with patience to bear many affronts the infidels will put upon them, and with prudence and moderation to prevent, as much as possibly may be, any such insolencies. They will do well never to go without provisions, because the caravans never stop to bait, and very often at night have no other inn but the open fields, where they lie in tents, and eat what they carry. When they travel with the caravan, they must take care never to be far from it, for fear of being devoured by wild beasts, or by the wilder Arabs. This in Turky, for in Persia it is quite otherwise; here we may travel in the European habit, and wear hats, which are better against the heat than turbants; the roads are safe, and the Persians courteous to strangers, especially the better sort. However the traveller must watch the servants, and meaner sort of people of the country, who else will impose on him in matter of payments, of buying and selling; and therefore his best way is, where there are missioners to repair to them, who will assist and instruct him. He must carry no gold into Persia, because it bears a low price, and he will be a great loser by it: the best way is to change his money on the Turkish frontiers into Persian coin, or else to carry a quantity of good amber and coral, which will yield profit, as will also good watches. In India Spanish gold yields some profit, though small, which the traveller may take notice of, in case he has no goods to carry that may yield a greater profit: this at Suratte; but further in India, and particularly at Galconda, gold yields more, and especially old gold: however, at Siam again there is great loss in Spanish gold, and all other sorts, for there it is lower than in any other part of the East-Indies nearer to us, and still decreases beyond it, as in Cochinchina, Tonquin and China. In India the way of travelling by land is commonly in carts drawn by oxen, and in some parts on elephants, but in China the most common carriage is in palankenes, or chairs on mens shoulders, who travel swift and cheap.
These particulars may serve in relation to the eastern nations; and as for Europe, the methods of travelling are too well known to require any particular instructions, therefore it only remains to set down some general rules which may concern all travellers to observe. They are in the first place to consider, that they do not go into other countries to pass through them, and divert themselves with the present sight of such curiosities as they meet with, nor to learn the vices of those people, for which they need not take the pains of going abroad, nor to observe their faults that they may have matter to rail when they come home. If they will make an advantage of their trouble and cost, they must not pass through a country as if they carried an express, but make a reasonable stay at all places where there are antiquities, or any rarities to be observed; and not think that because others have writ on that subject, there is no more to be said; for upon comparing their observations with other mens they will often find a very considerable difference. Let them therefore always have a table-book at hand to set down every thing worth remembering, and then at night more methodically transcribe the notes they have taken in the day. The principal heads by which to regulate their observations are these, the climate, government, power, places of strength, cities of note, religion, language, coins, trade, manufactures, wealth, bishoprics, universities, antiquities, libraries, collections of rarities, arts and artists, public structures, roads, bridges, woods, mountains, customs, habits, laws, privileges, strange adventures, surprising accidents, rarities, both natural and artificial, the soil, plants, animals, and whatsoever may be curious, diverting or profitable. It is not amiss, if it may be, to view all rarities in the company of other strangers, because many together are apt to remark more than one alone can do. Every traveller ought to carry about him several sorts of measures, to take the dimensions of such things as require it; a watch by which, and the pace he travels, he may give some guess at the distances of places, or rather at the length of the computed leagues, or miles; a prospective-glass, or rather a great one and a less, to take views of objects at greater and less distances; a small sea compass or needle, to observe the situation of places, and a parcel of the best maps to make curious remarks of their exactness, and note down where they are faulty. In fine, a traveller must endeavour to see the courts of princes, to keep the best company, and to converse with the most celebrated men in all arts and sciences. Thus much for travellers; but that every man may have his due, as we owned the instructions for the eastern countries to be those given by Monsieur de Bourges, so we must here confess, that most of these general rules may be found in Monsieur Misson’s travels. Having given an account of the advancement of navigation, and all discoveries made by help of it, of the countries so discovered, of the advantages the public receives by the relations of travellers, and some directions for them; it now only remains to subjoin a catalogue and character of books of travels, for the information of such as take delight in this sort of pleasant and profitable reading.
LATIN.
DESCRIPTIO Africæ, 8°.
Descriptiones Asiæ.
De Lege Mahumetica, and
De Rebus Mahumeticis.
These four by John Leo, a Spaniard by birth, and a mahometan by education, but afterwards converted, who before his conversion travelled through the greatest part of Afric, and has given the best right into it of any writer, as Johannes Bodinus affirms. He first writ them in the Arabic for his own nation, but afterwards translated them himself into Italian, and John Florianus into Latin. He gives an excellent account of the religion, laws, customs and manners of the people of Afric, but is too brief in martial affairs and the lives of the African princes.
Epistolæ viginti sex de rebus Japonicis, or twenty-six letters concerning the affairs of Japan, to be seen in several collections of this sort of letters.
Historica relatio de legatione regis Sinensium ad regem Japonum: or an account of the embassy sent by the emperor of China to Taicosoma king of Japan, An. 1596. and of the strange prodigies that happened before the embassy, Rome 1599. 8°.
Historica relatio de rebus per Japoniam, An. 1596. à patribus societatis durante persecutione gestis: or an account of the proceedings of the jesuits in Japan, in the year 1596, during the persecution. These three by F. Lewis Froes, a jesuit who lived forty-nine years in the east, and thirty-six of them in the island of Japan as a missioner. It is believed these relations were writ in Portuguese by the author, and afterwards translated into Latin.
De Abassinorum rebus, deque Æthiopiæ patriarchis, Lions, 1615. 8°. The author was F. Nicholas Godinho, a Portuguese jesuit, who divides his work into three books, and in it refutes the fabulous history writ by F. Urreta.
Itinerarium ab oppido Complutensi Toletanæ provinciæ usque ad urbem Romanam. A journal of a journey from the university of Alcala in Spain to Rome, by Dr. James Lopez de Zuniga, a pious and learned man.
Literæ annuæ. The annual or yearly letters out of Ethiopia, China, India, and other parts, give much light into the affairs of those countries, and are to be found in several volumes, and scattered in collections of travels; of all which it will be needless to give any account in this place.
Athanasii Kircheri è societate Jesu China, monumentis qua sacris qua profanis, illustrata, fol. This is a complete history of China, and held in great reputation for some years, but of late its reputation has declined, since so many books of that empire have appeared writ by missioners, who have resided there many years, and discovered great mistakes in Kircher.
Jobi Ludolfi historia Æthiopica, fol. This history of Æthiopia is written by a German, who having gathered most of it from the writings of the jesuits, yet makes it his business to contradict them, from the information given him by an Ethiopian he was acquainted with in Germany, for he was never near Ethiopia himself; and his whole book has more of controversy, and of the Ethiopian language, than of history.
Relatio eorum que circa S. Cæs. Majest. ad magnum Moscorum Czarum ablegatos anno æræ christianæ 1675. gesta sunt, strictim recensita per Adolphum Lyseck, dictæ legationis secretarium, 8°. Saltzburg 1676. In this account of an embassy to the czar of Muscovy, we have an account of his travels through Silesia, Pomerania, Prussia, Lithuania, and Muscovy, to the court of Moscow, and of all things of note the author saw or heard of, being an ingenious person, and having a greater privilege than common travellers, as secretary to the embassy. Giorn. de Letter.
Johannis Schefferi Argentoratensis Lapponiæ, id est regionis Laponum & gentis nova & verissima descriptio, 4°. Liptiæ 1674. An account of Lapland, which though it be not by way of travels, well deserves a place here, because we shall scarce find travellers that will go into that frozen region to bring us a just relation of it. This however is authentic, as gathered from the Swedish writers, who are best acquainted with those parts.
Theodori & Johannis de Brye India orientalis & occidentalis, 6 vols. fol. Frankfort 624. This collection being three volumes of the East and three of the West-Indies, begins with a particular account of the kingdom of Congo in Afric, as lying in the way to, and having accordingly been discovered before India; this account translated from the Italian writ by Philip Pigafetta. Next follows five voyages of Samuel Bruno of Basil, the three first to Congo, Ethiopia, and other parts round the coast of Afric; the fourth to several parts in the Straits, and the fifth to Portugal and Spain, &c. translated into Latin from the author’s original in high Dutch. The next are Linschoten’s Indian voyages, translated from the Dutch, and containing a very full account of all things remarkable in those parts. Then three Dutch voyages to the north-east passage, and after them a great number of cuts and maps, besides very many dispersed throughout the book, and a considerable number at the beginning. These are the contents of the first volume. The second begins with a large account of Bantam, Banda, Ternate, and other parts of India, being a voyage of eight Dutch ships into those parts in the year 1598, translated out of high Dutch. After that the description of Guinea, out of high Dutch. Spilberg’s voyage, An. 1601. Gaspar Balbi’s voyage, An. 1579. In the third volume Jacob Neck’s voyage, An. 1603. Jo. Hermon de Bree, An. 1602. Corn. Nicolas, Cornelius Ven, and Stephen de Hagen, all to India. Verhuff’s voyage to India, An. 1607. Dialogues in Latin and the Malayc language. Hudson’s voyage to the north-east passage. An account of Terra Australis incognita, by Capt. Peter Ferdinand de Quir: and the description of Siberia, Samoieda, and Tingoesia. Two voyages of Americus Vesputius to the East-Indies. A very strange relation of an Englishman, who being shipwrecked on the coast of Cambaia, travelled through many of those eastern countries; and the description of the northern country of Spitzbergen: the whole illustrated with a vast number of maps and other cuts. Thus far the three volumes of the East-Indies. The three of the West are composed of these parts. Vol. I. an ample account of Virginia. The unfortunate expedition of the French to Florida, An. 1565. Laudonniere’s voyage thither, An. 1574. Two voyages of John Stadius to Brazil and the river of Plate, where he lived among the Indians. Leri’s account of Brazil. Villagano’s voyage to South America. Benzo’s history of the discovery of America. Vol. II. The second and third parts of Benzo’s history of the West-Indies. Faber’s description of several parts of America, where he travelled. Voyages of Sir F. Drake, Cavendish and Raleigh. Dutch expedition to the Canaries. General account of America. Sebald de Weert’s voyage through the straits of Magellan. Noort round the world. Vol. III. Two voyages of Americus Vesputius. Hamor’s account of the state of Virginia. Captain Smith’s description of New-England. Schouten and Le Maire’s discovery of a new passage into the South-sea, called Strait le Maire. Spilbergen’s voyage through the straits of Magellan. Herrera’s description of the West-Indies. These are the contents of the six volumes, the whole Illustrated and adorned with such a vast number of maps and cuts, representing all such things as require it, that the like is not in any other collection, nor is it likely that any will be at so excessive an expence. To be short, this collection is a small library, including all the voyages and discoveries of any note till the time it was published, when most of the remote parts began to be well known, and therefore is of excellent use and great value.
ITALIAN.
Delle navigationi & viaggi, raccolse da M. Gio Battista Ramusio, Venice, 3 vols. fol. 1613. Ramusio’s collection of voyages and travels, the most perfect work of that nature extant in any language whatsoever: containing all the discoveries to the east, west, north, and south; with full descriptions of all the countries discovered; judiciously compiled, and free from that great mass of useless matter, which swells our English Hackluyt and Purchas; much more complete and full than the Latin de Brye, and in fine, the noblest work of this nature. The contents of it as briefly as may be set down, are as follow. In the first volume, John Leo’s description of Afric. Alvise de ca da Mosto’s voyage, and that of Peter de Santra to the coast of Afric. Hanno the Carthaginian’s navigation on the coast of Afric. Voyage from Lisbon to the island of S. Thomas. Gama’s voyage to Calicut. Peter Alvarez to India. Two voyages of Americus Vesputius. Voyages to India by Tho. Lopez and Gio. da Empoli. Barthema’s travels to, and account of India. Corsali to India. Alvarez to Ethiopia. Discourse of the overflowing of the Nile. Nearchus admiral to Alexander the great, his navigation. Voyage down the Red-sea to Diu. Barbosa of the East-Indies. Voyages of Conti, and S. Stephano. First voyage round the world performed by the Spaniards. Gaeton of the discovery of the Molucco Islands. Account of Japan. Extracts of Barros’s History of India. The second volume; Marcus Paulus Venetus’s travels. Hayton the Armenian of the great chams or emperors of Tartary. Angiolello of the wars betwixt Ussuncassan king of Persia, and Mahomet emperor of the Turks; of Ismael Sophy and the sultan of Babylon, and of Selim the Turk’s subduing the mamalucks. Barbaro’s travels to Tartary and Persia. Contarino’s embassy from the republic of Venice to Ussuncassan king of Persia. Campense of Muscovy. Jovius of Muscovy. Arianus of the Euxine, or Black-sea. Geor. Interiano of the Circassians. Quini’s shipwreck and adventures in 60 degrees of north latitude. The same by Christ. Fioravante and J. de Michele, who were with him. Baron Herberstain of Muscovy and Russia. Zeno’s voyage to Persia. Nich. and Ant. Zeni’s discovery of Frizeland, Iceland, and to the north pole. Two voyages to Tartary by dominicans sent by pope Innocent IV. Odoricus’s two voyages into the east. Cabot’s voyage into the north-west. Guagnino’s description of Poland, Muscovy, and part of Tartary. The same by Micheorus. In the third volume; an abridgment of Peter Martyr of Angleria, his decads of the discovery of the West-Indies. An abridgment of Oviedo’s history of the West-Indies. Cortes’s account of his discovery and conquests of Mexico. Alvarado of his conquest and discovery of other provinces above Mexico. Godoy of several discoveries and conquests in New-Spain. Account of Mexico and New-Spain, by a gentleman belonging to Cortes. Alvar Nunez of the success of the fleet set out by Pamphilo de Narvaez, and his strange adventures for ten years. Nunno de Guzman of several cities and provinces of New-Spain. Francis de Ulloa’s voyage to California. Vasquez Coronado and Marco de Nizza of the provinces north of New-Spain. Alarcon’s voyage by sea to discover the seven cities north of Mexico. Discovery and conquest of Peru, writ by a Spanish captain. Xeres’s conquest of Peru. The same by Pizarro’s secretary. Oviedo’s account of a voyage up the great river of Maranon. Verazzano’s discovery of North America. Jaques Cartier’s first and second voyages to Canada or New-France. Federici’s voyage to India, with a large account of the spice, drugs, jewels, and pearls in those parts. Three voyages of the Dutch to discover the north-east passage to China and Japan, in which they found the straits of Weygats and Nova Zembla, and the coast of Geenland running to 80 degrees of north latitude. These, with many learned discourses and observations of the author’s, are the contents of the three volumes.
Prima speditione all Indie orientali del P. F. Gioseppe di Santa Maria, 4°. Roma 1668. This author was sent by pope Alexander VII. to the Malabar christians of S. Thomas, being himself a barefoot carmelite, and has in this left a most excellent piece of curiosity. He gives a very particular account of the places and people he saw, of birds, beasts, and other animals, and of the philosophy of the brachmans, their secrets, and of all the other Malabars, as also of the infinite number of their gods. Hence he proceeds further, to treat of the vast empire of the mogul, of the pearl fishery, of the Sabeans about Bassora, who pretend they received their religion from S. John Baptist; and concludes with the errors of the jacobites, nestorians, Greeks, Armenians, and other eastern sects.
Historia delle Guerre Civili di Polonia, progressi dell’ arme Mocovite contro a Polacchi, relationi della Moscovia e Suetia, e loro governi, di D. Alberto Vinina Belluneso, 4°. Venetia 1672. Though the wars of Poland may not seem relating to travels, this work is inserted, as giving a good account of the Poles, Tartars, and Cossacks, their government, manners, &c. then follows that of Muscovy and Sweden, where the author travelled, and made his excellent observations.
Il viaggio all’ Indie orientali del P. F. Vincenzo Maria di S. Caterina da Siena, fol. Roma 1673. A voyage to the East-Indies, performed by F. Vincent Maria of S. Catherine of Siena, procurator general of the barefoot carmelites, and sent to India by the way of Turkey and Persia by the pope, together with F. Joseph of S. Mary, who writ also an account of his travels, which is mentioned above. This author divides his work into five books: in the first and last is a journal of all things remarkable in his travels thither and back again. The second treats of the affairs of the Malabar christians. The third and fourth of all the nations of India, their manners, customs, wealth, government, religion, plants, animals, &c. The whole is so faithful, exact, and learned an account of all things remarkable in those parts, that scarce any other can equal it.
Istorica descrittione de tre regni Congo, Matamba, & Angola, & delle missione apostoliche essercitaevi de religiosi Capuccini, compilata dal P. Gio. Antonio Cavazzi, & nel presente stile ridotta dal P. Fortunato Alamandini, fol. Bologna, 1687. An historical description of the kingdoms of Congo, Matamba and Angola; the authors were capuchin missioners, who compiled it by order of the congregation de propaganda fide, and have given a most accurate description of those countries, and all things of note in them; as also of the missions thither, which was the principal end of their painful travels.
Relatione della citta d’ Attene, colle provincie dell’ Attica, Focia, Beotia, e Negroponte, ne tempi che furono queste passegiate da Cornelio Magni l’anno 1674. 4°. Parma 1688. An account of Athens, and the provinces of Attica, Focia, Beotia, and Negropont, which the author viewed, and took a particular account of, and for further satisfaction conferred with Mr. Spon, who had travelled the same parts, for his approbation of what he delivers. He treats very briefly of Syria, Chaldea, and Mesopotamia, and principally inlarges himself upon the city of Athens, the condition whereof he describes more fully than any other has done.
Relatione e viaggio della Moscovia del signor cavaliere De Ercole Zani, Bologns, 12°. Bologna 1690. This voyage to Muscovy is writ by a most judicious person, and who had spent a great part of his life in travelling, and deserves to be highly valued as coming from such a hand; and the more, because we have but very imperfect accounts of that country.
Viaggio del monte Libano del R. R. Jeronimo Dandina, 12°. He performed this voyage to mount Libanus by order of pope Clement VIII. to inquire into the faith of the maronite christians; he describes the country, gives an account of the peoples doctrines, their manner of living, their books, learning, bishops, priests, and religious men. A work very curious and useful. It is translated into French, and the translator has added many useful remarks of his own.
Relazione del viaggio fatto a Constantinopoli, &c. da Gio. Benaglia, 12°. Bologna 1664. This is an account of count Caprara’s embassy to the great Turk, the author being his secretary, and has many good remarks of that court, and of the Turkish army, taken by him upon the spot, and therefore well worth the observation of the curious. Biblioth. Univ. vol. XV. .
FRENCH.
Relations de divers voyages curieux, par M. Melchisedec Thevenot. There is no need to give a character of this author, any further than that he has received the general approbation of the learned, for compiling a collection of curious travels in two volumes in folio. The first contains Greaves’s description of the pyramids of Egypt, and Buratini’s account of the mummies. An account of the Cossacks, another of the Tartars, another of Mingrelia, and another of Georgia. Jenkinson’s voyage to Cathay. An extract of the Dutch embassy to the Tartar. A relation of the conquest of the island Formosa by the Chineses; another of the court of the mogol. Sir Thomas Roe’s and Terry’s voyage to the mogol. A Greek description of the East-Indies. The Arabic geography of Abulfeda. The antiquities of Persepolis. The beginning of a book of the Chaldeans of Bassora. Relations of the kingdoms of Golconda, Tanassari, and Aracan, of the gulph of Bengala, and of Siam. Bontekoue’s voyages to India. The discovery of Terra Australis. The sailing course to India. Instructions upon the trade of India and Japan. Beaulieu’s voyage to the West-Indies. Accounts of the Philippine islands, of Japan, of the discovery of the land of Yedso. A description of the plants and flowers of China. Ancient monuments of christian religion in China. The second volume; the Dutch embassy to China; the Chinese atlas. The state of India. The portraiture of the Indians. Acarete’s voyage on the river Plate, and thence to Peru and Chile. Journey by land to China. The second book of Confucius the Chinese philosopher. The history of Ethiopia, and of some countries about it. Travels to the province of Zaide in Egypt. The history of Mexico in figures explained. Tasman’s voyage to Terra Australis. Instructions for the navigation from Holland to Batavia. Two embassies to the emperor of Cathay. A chronological synopsis of the Chinese monarchy. Barros’s Asia, or conquest of India. An account of the christians of S. John. A voyage to Tercera. The elements of the Tartar language. A fragment concerning the isles of Solomon; another of the history of some eastern princes.
Thevenot has also composed one volume in 8°. in which is an embassy from the czar of Moscovy to China by land. The discovery of some countries in North America, and of the great river Mississippi. A discourse of Navigation. The natural histories of the ephemera, or fly that lives but a day, and the cancellus.
Les six voyages de Jean Baptiste Tavernier en Turque, en Perse, & aux Indes. These travels are printed in several sorts of volumes in French, according to the several editions, and have been translated into English. He is a faithful writer, and deserves full credit in what he delivers upon his own sight and knowledge; but in some relations taken from others, he was imposed upon, being a person of integrity, and not suspecting others would give a false information. His accounts are very particular and curious, and the extent he travelled very great, having taken several ways in his six journies. But above all, he gives the best description of the diamond mines, and rivers where they are found, and manners of finding them; having been upon the spot, as being a great dealer in those precious stones.
Receuil de plusieurs relations & traites singuliers & curieux de Jean Baptiste Tavernier, divise en cinque parties, 4°. This is an addition to his voyages, in which he treats of the Dutch practices to exclude all christians from Japan, negotiations of French deputies in Persia and India, remarks on the trade of India, an account of the kingdom of Tunquin, and the history of the proceedings of the Dutch in Asia.
Relation nouvelle de la Caroline, par un gentilhomme François, arrive depuis deux mois de ce nouveau pais, ou il parle de la route qu’il faut tenir pour y aller le plus surement, & de l’etat ou il a trouve cette nouvelle contree. A la Haye 1686. 12°. This is a modern account of Florida, its estate in the year 1684, and the best way to it. The book has a good reputation; and as Florida is one of those American countries we have not the best account of, this is a considerable light into it.
Relation du voyage de monsieur l’evesque de Beryte par la Turque, la Perse, les Indes jusques au Royaume de Siam, & autres lieux, escript par monsieur de Bourges, Prestre, 8°. An account of the bishop of Berytus’s journey by land through Turkey, Persia, and India, into China, by a priest that went with him; very curious in the description of those countries and manners of the people, with instructions for travellers to those parts. Journ. des Scav. vol. I. .
L’embassade de D. Garcia de Silva Figuerra. This is a translation out of Spanish, and the account of the book is among the Spanish under the title Embaxada, &c. to which the reader may turn; only he is advertised that he may see more concerning this translation in Journ. des Scav. vol. I. .
Les voyages de monsieur de Monconys. Monsieur Monconys’s travels in three volumes 4°. The first through Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople. The second into England, the Low-Countries, Germany, and Italy. The third into Spain. Besides the general account of those countries and particular places, they contain abundance of rare and extraordinary observations and secrets in physic and chemistry, and mathematical inventions. But the author dying before the work was fitted for the press, it is in some measure imperfect, and has many particulars of no use to any but himself; which there is no doubt he would have omitted, had he lived. Journ. des Scav. vol. I. , and 424.
Description des costes de l’Amerique septentrional, avec l’histoire de ce pays, par monsieur Denys, 2 vols. 12°. The first volume is a description of the northern coasts of America and the countries adjacent, with a map of them, rendered extraordinary diverting by several stories related. The second is the natural history, very curious and learned. Journ. des Scav. vol. III. .
Relation ou journal d’un voyage fait aux Indes orientales, contenant les affairs du pais, & les establissements de plusieurs nations, &c. 12°. This author set out on his voyage in the year 1671. He is worth reading for several observations not easily to be found in others; but most for his account of the settlements of European nations, yet all short.
Nouvelle relation en forme de journal d’un voyage fait en Egypt, par le P. Vansleb, en 1672 & 1673, 12°. The author to what he saw himself, for the better information of his reader, adds all that is to be found remarkable in other late travellers relating to Egypt.
Voyage d’Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grece, & du Levant, aux années 1675 & 1676, par Jacob Spon, 12°. 3 vols. This work, besides the general observations of travellers, is singular for its curiosity in the search of antiquities. Journ. des Scav. vol. VI. , and 185.
Voyage de François Pirard de la Val aux Indes orientales, Maldives, Moluques, & au Brasil, &c. 4°. This is one of the exactest pieces of travels, and the most diverting hitherto made public. M. Pirard the traveller furnished the materials, which were digested and methodised by several very able men in France. Many who have travelled after him mention much of what he does, and yet he has some curiosities which others have not touched upon. Journ. des Scav. vol. VII. .
Ambassade de la compagnie des Indes orientales des Provinces unies vers les empereurs du Japon, An. 1641, fol. It is a perfect account of all that happened to the said embassadors, and full description of the country, towns, cities, &c. with variety of cuts. Journ. des Scav. vol. VIII. . and Biblioth. Univers. vol. IV. .
Nouvelle relation d’un voyage de Constantinople, presentée au roi par le Sieur Grelot, An. 1680, in 4°. A curious account not only of that city, but of all places to it, with cuts drawn by the author upon the spot. Journ. des Scav. vol. VIII. .
Relations des missions et des voyages des eveques vicaries apostoliques, & de lieurs ecclesiastiques en années 1676 & 1677, in 8°. This is a relation of what those preachers observed in their travels in Asia.
Les voyages de Jean Struys en Moscovie, &c. in 4°. In these travels through Muscovy, Tartary, Persia, India, the isle of Madagascar, and other places, being a vast extent of ground, and to be travelled many several ways, there are abundance of notable observations, not to be found in other books of this sort; the whole very instructive and diverting. Journ. des Scav. vol. IX. .
Relation nouvelle particulier du voyage des peres de la mercy aux royaumes de Fez & de Moroc, en l’an 1681, 12°. Besides what these fathers did, as the peculiar business of their religious profession, this book contains many curiosities relating to the king of Morocco and the customs of the country. Journ. des Scav. vol. X. .
Relation de la riviere des Amazons traduit par M. Gomberville, sur l’original Espagnol du P. d’Acufia jesuite. This is a relation of the said father’s voyage down this vast river; to which the translator has added a dissertation, the principal matters treated of therein being the towns of Manoa, Dorado, and the lake of Parima. Journ. des Scav. vol. XI. .
Relation du voyages de Venise à Constantinople de Jaques Gassot, 12°. This author, though he writ above a hundred years ago, is valuable for many curious observations not to be found in later travellers. Journ. des Scav. vol. XII. .
Relation du voyage des Indes orientales, par M. Dellon, two volumes 12°. The author affirms, he has inserted nothing but what he saw; much of what he relates has been delivered by other authors: but he is very particular, and out-does them all in his account of the coast of Malabar; and concludes with a treatise of diseases in those parts, and their cures. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIII. .
Histoire de la conqueste de la Floride par les Espagnols, traduit de Portugais, 12°. This is a very exact account of that country, and all that happened in the conquest of it, writ by a Portuguese gentleman, who served in that war, and was an eye-witness of all that passed. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIII. .
Voyages de l’empereur de la Chine dans la Tartarie, ausquels on a joint une nouvelle decouverte au Mexique, 12°. It treats of two journies the emperor of China made into the eastern and the western Tartary. The other part shows the settlement made by the Spaniards in the island of California, An. 1683. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIII. .
Relation de l’embassade de Mr. le chevalier de Chamont à la cour du roi de Siam, 12°. He writes not like a common traveller, but like an embassador, and is therefore more political, and treats of higher matters than others, though often descending to things of less moment worth the general observation, as the description of the country, customs and manners of the inhabitants, and other things of that nature. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIV. . and Biblioth. Univers. vol. III. .
Journal du voyage du Chevalier Chardin en Perse, & aux Indes orientales par la mer Noire, & par la Colchide, fol. Though so many travellers as have visited those parts before him, seem to have left him nothing new to write of, yet in him are found abundance of rarities not to be seen in any other, and remarks no where else to be found, and particularly the exposition of several passages in scripture, which the author makes out by customs preserved in the east from the time of Moses till our day. Journ. des Scavans, vol. XIV. . and Biblioth. Univers. vol. III. .
Ambassades de la compagnie Hollandoise d’orient vers l’empereur du Japan, 2 vols. 12°. It is an abridgment of a volume in folio, printed in the year 1680, and is divided into three parts: the first is the description of Japan; the second an account of the embassy there; and the third of five other embassies. To which is added a relation of the civil wars in Japan. Journ. des Scav. vol. XV. .
Journal du voyage de Siam, fait par monsieur l’abbé de Choisi, 4°. It is composed of several letters writ by this gentleman, who was sent by the king of France with the character of embassador in case the king of Siam had embraced christianity, as was hoped; and does not only inform as to all particulars of that great kingdom, but of many others about it as far as Tonquin and Cochinchina, without neglecting in the way to treat very accurately of the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Journ. des Scav. vol. XV. .
Histoire des Indes orientales, 4°. It is divided into two parts. The first treats of the voyage to, and observations at Cape Verde, of the Isle of Madagascar, and several passages which happened in Argier and Constantinople. The second of two voyages into India. Journ. des Scav. vol. XV. . and Hist. des ouvrages des Scavans, vol. II. .
Histoire naturelle & politique du royaume de Siam, 4°. It is divided into four parts, which treat, 1. Of the situation and nature of the country. 2. The laws and customs of the people. 3. Their religion: and, 4. Of the king and court. Monsieur Gervaise the author of it resided there four years, understood the language perfectly, read their books, and conversed with the most intelligent persons, and therefore got good information of what he writes, having been careful to deliver as little as he could of what others had before made public. Journ. des Scav. vol. XV. .
Relation nouvelle & exact d’un voyage de la Terre Sainte, 12°. Contains an exact description of all the places where the principal passages of our Saviour’s passion happened, and many other things well worth observing, being very short, and yet full enough. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVI. . and Hist. des ouvrages des Scavans, vol. III. .
Voyage en Moscovie d’un ambassadeur de l’empereur Leopold, 12°. An. 1661. He describes the great rivers, the chief towns on the banks of them, the manners, government, and religion of the people. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVI. .
Description historique du royaume de Macaçar, 12°. It is divided into three books, the first the description of the country, the second the manners and government of the people and kingdom, the third the religion. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVI. . and Hist. des ouvrages des Scavans, vol. V. .
Relation de la Nigritie, 12°. It contains an exact description of the kingdoms of the blacks, their government, religion, manners, rarities of the country, with the discovery of the river Senega, and a map of it. By four franciscan friars, who went thither upon the mission in the year 1689, from France. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVII. .
Voyage du pere Tachard & des jesuites envoyez par la roi au royaume de Siam, An. 1685, 4°. This is an historical, physical, geographical, and astronomical account, being taken by learned men, and great mathematicians. The first book is mostly astronomical observations in the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope; the second a relation of the table-mountain, and many other things about the aforesaid Cape; the third passages at Batavia and Macassar; the fourth of affairs of Siam and others: the fifth continues the same matter: the sixth much natural history, concluding with the king of Siam’s letters to the pope, king of France, and F. le Chaise; the seventh the father’s return home; and the eighth from thence to Rome. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVII. . and Biblioth. Univers. vol. IV. .
Second Voyage du pere Tachard & des jesuites envoyez par le roi au royaume de Siam, 1689, 8°. This father returned from his first voyage to carry more missioners; and this second voyage, which he divides into eight books, like the other contains many historical, physical, geographical, and astronomical remarks, besides abundance of other observations and curiosities omitted in the first voyage. Biblioth. Univers. vol. XIV. .
Histoire de l’eglise du Japan, par Mr. l’abbé de T. 2 vols. 4°. It was writ by F. Solier, a jesuit, and published by l’abbé, who refined the language. This, though an ecclesiastical history, contains all the diverting particulars to be found in books of travels, as being composed by those fathers, who were all travellers in that country. It is an excellent work, in twenty books. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVII. .
Journal du voyage fait à la mer du Sud, avec les flibustiers de l’Amerique, en 1684, & années suivantes, par le sieur Ravenau de Lussand, 12°. It is a buccaneering expedition, containing very much of robbery, with an account of the isthmus of America and countries about it, where the author with his gang travelled much by land. Journ. des Scav. vol. XVII. .
Histoire de monsieur Constance premier ministre du roi de Siam, & de la derniere revolution de cet estat. Par le P. d’Orleans, 12°. It is a relation of that gentleman’s wonderful adventures in Siam, where he attained to be first minister to that great monarch in the year 1685, and those that followed, with the revolution of that kingdom, and the persecution that ensued against the christians. Journ. des. Scav. vol. XVIII. .
Du royaume de Siam. Par Mr. de la Loubere, envoye extraordinaire du roi apres du roi de Siam, en 1687 & 1688, 2 vols. 12°. In this there are many particulars not to be found in other relations. The first volume divided into three parts; the first geographical, the second of customs in general, and the third of manners in particular. The second volume begins with strange fables and superstitions, proceeds to the practices of the religious men, and many other particulars extraordinary, curious, and remarkable. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIX. and 269.
Relation du Voyage d’Espagne, 3 vols. 12°. Treats of the country in general, of the situation of its towns, of public and private structures, of palaces and churches, with their ornaments, &c. of the king’s power, government, councils, employments, benefices, and their revenues; of the orders of knighthood, and the inquisition; with many pleasant adventures, in which there is much of the romantic. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIX. . It is writ by the countess d’Aunoi, and has much of the woman.
Nouvelle relation de la Gaspesie. Par le P. Chretien le Clercq. 12°. This is a complete account of the manners and religion of the savages called Gaspesians, carrying crosses, and worshipping the sun; and other nations of Canada in North America. It was taken in twelve years, the author residing there as missioner, beginning An. 1675. Journ. des Scav. vol. XIX. . and Biblioth. Univers. vol. XXIII. .
Premier establissement de la foi dans la Nouvelle France. Par le P. le Clercq, missionaire, 2 vols. 12°. It is the complete history of Canada, or New-France, from the first discovery of it till this time, containing the discoveries, settling of colonies, conquests, and all other passages from those northern parts down to the gulph of Mexico, with the battles of the English and Iroquois, An. 1690. Journ. des Scav. vol. XX. .
Voyages en divers estats d’Europe & d’Asie, pour decouvrir un nouveau chemin à la Chine, 4°. These travels were writ and performed by F. Avril, a jesuit, who spent five years in traversing Turkey, Persia, Muscovy, Poland, Prussia, Moldavia, and Tartary, and embarked in several seas to find out this way to China, to avoid the tedious voyage by the Cape of Good Hope and India. The relation is physical, geographical, hydrographical, and historical. Journ. des Scav. vol. XX. .
Les aventures de Jaques Sadeur dans la decouverte, & le voyage de la Terre Australe, 12°. This is a very extraordinary account of Terra Australis incognita, infinitely exceeding all that has been writ of it by others; the author being cast upon that country after the loss of the ship he was in, and living thirty years among those savages. He therefore treats of the manners of the people, their religion, employments, studies, wars, of the birds and beasts, and other rarities. Journ. des Scav. vol. XX. .
Voyages historiques de l’Europe, 8 vols. 12°. The first of these volumes treats only of France; the second of Spain and Portugal; the third of Italy; the fourth of England, Scotland, and Ireland; the fifth of the seven United Provinces; the sixth of the empire; the seventh of Muscovy: the eighth of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. These volumes are travels into the most considerable parts of Europe, and contain abundance of singularities not observed by other travellers and writers. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXI. , 95, 276.
Relation du voyage, & retour des Indes orientales, pendant les années 1690, 1691, par un garde de la marine servant sur le bord de M. Duquesne commandant de l’Escadre, 12°. It has many curious observations during the voyage outward and homeward bound, and an account of all places the squadron touched at. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXI. .
Les voyages du sieur le Maire aux isles Canaries, Cape Verde, Senegal, & Gambie, 12°. In this are many particulars of those African countries, little known, and scarce to be found in other travellers. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXIII. .
Nouvelle relation de la Chine, en l’année 1668, par le R. P. Gabriel de Magaillons, de la compagnie de Jesus, 8°. This was originally writ in Portuguese, and ought to have been among the travels in that language, had we any number of them. It was thought worth translating into French first, and from that into English, but was never printed in its original language. It has the reputation of an exact and faithful account. His. des ouvrages des Scav. vol. II. .
Relation universelle de l’Afrique ancienne & moderne, par le sieur de la Croix, 12°. 4 vols. Besides the chronology and geography, it has the customs, manners, religion, trade, plants, and other particulars of the continent and islands, and what the king of France has done against the Barbary corsairs, An. 1688. A Lyon.
Le bouclier de l’Europe, contenant des avis politiques & chretiens, &c. Avec une relatione de voyages faits dans la Turquie, la Thebaide, & la Barbarie. Par le R. R. Jean Coppin, 4°. This father was first a soldier, then consul for the French nation at Damietta in Egypt, and lastly, a religious man. The design of his work is to stir up christian princes to make war on the Turk, and accordingly his first and second books are taken up in showing of how great consequence that war is, the methods of managing it, the causes of the rise and decay of the Ottoman empire, and much more to that effect. In the following books he proceeds to his travels; first in Egypt, where he has many curious observations not to be found in other travellers, but more particularly, in that he took the pains to travel the great desart of Thebaida, where few besides him have been in these latter times; and this is the subject of his third and fourth books. The fifths treats of Barbary, Phœnicia, and the Holy Land: and the work concludes with an exact description of the city Damietta, where he resided some years. His relation is faithful, and deserves all credit, especially in those things he delivers as an eye-witness. It was published at Paris in the year 1686. Biblioth. Univers. vol. V. .
Journal, ou suite du voyage de Siam, en forme de lettres familières, fait en 1685 & 1686, par monsieur l’abbé de Choisi, 8°. It is the third account of the French embassadors sent to Siam; monsieur de Chaumont, and P. Tachard, both before mentioned, being the two others. It contains an exact journal of that voyage, has all the sea terms, much of the same as F. Tachard, and several other remarks. He treats of the war at Bantam, of the island of Java, of Batavia, the power of the Dutch in India, of Siam, Tonquin, Cochinchina, &c. Biblioth. Univers. vol. VI. .
Histoire naturelle & politique du royaume de Siam, par Monsieur Gervaise, 1688. 4°. The author lived four years at the court of Siam, and affirms nothing but what he saw, or found in the best books of that country, as also by discourse by the best people there. He says little or nothing of what has been mentioned by other travellers to Siam, and adds much, which they, as being only passengers, could not observe. The work is divided into four parts: the first contains the description of the country; the second the laws, customs, manners, and government of that nation; the third the religion; the fourth speaks of the king, royal family, and court. Biblioth. Univers. vol. X. .
Relation nouvelle & exacte d’un voyage de la Terre Sainte, ou description de l’etat present dies lieux, ou se sont passées les principales actions de la vie de Jesus Christ. Paris 1688, 8°. This is a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and therefore writ in a religious style, and contains an account of all the holy places in Palestine, and description of Malta; and is a good guide for such as desire to travel into those parts.
Voyages de M. de Thevenot en Asie & en Afrique. Paris, 1689, 3 vols. 12°. It is to be observed, that whereas before mention is made of Thevenot’s travels, that is a collection of other men, as appears there, but these are Thevenot’s own travels, divided into three parts; the first of the eastern countries under the Turk; the second continues other eastern parts, proceeding towards Persia; and the third the East Indies. It is one of the most curious and exact works of this nature hitherto published, and well deserving to be read by all that are curious of travels. Biblioth. Univers. vol. XIII. .
Voyages d’Amerique, histoire des avanturieres qui se sont signalez dans les Indes, &c. Par Alexander Olivier Oexmelin. Paris, 1688. 2 vols. 12°. This was a surgeon sent over in the service of the French West-India company, and sold in America, where he lived several years. The author of the Biblioth. Univers. gives a great character of this work, and says, no man has yet given so good an account of the manner of living in those parts, besides very good descriptions, and all that is requisite in such a work; of which see more in the said Biblioth. Univers. vol. XVIII. .
Nouveau voyage d’Italie fait en l’année 1688, avec un memoire contenant des avis utiles à ceux qui voudront faire le meme voyage. A la Haye, 1691, 2 vols. 12°. Par Monsieur Misson. This author gives a general account of all things observable in Italy, and therefore is the more diverting. He begins his travels in Holland, of which he gives a short account; then crossing Germany and Tirol, he runs down Italy by the Adriatic shore, and returns on the other side through Tuscany, Genoa, Piedmont, Swisserland.
Voyage en divers etats d’Europe & d’Asie, entrepris pour decouvrir un nouveau chemin à la Chine. Par le P. Avril. Paris, 1693, 12°. The first book contains the author’s travels from Marseilles to Erivan in Persia; the second from Erivan to Moscow; in the third he gives an account of Tartary, but it was such as he received from others, for he was not in that country; and in the fourth, of his return to Poland, thence to Constantinople, and thence for want of health to France. Biblioth. Univers. vol. XXIV. .
Histoire de la revolution de l’empire du Mogol. Par monsieur F. Bernier, 8°. This history of the revolution of the empire of the mogul contains the whole account of Aurenge Zeb dethroning his father, with all the intrigues and wars on that account; the description of Agra and Delhi, capital cities of that empire, many particulars of that court, the doctrines, customs, &c. of the Indians, the mogul’s journey to Cachemire, and many other curious observations made by the author in his travels in that country.
Relation d’un voyage en la Mauritanie. Par le sieur Roland Frejus, 8°. The author of this voyage into Mauritania was sent by the king of France’s order in the year 1666, to settle trade in the kingdom of Fez, and gives a very just, though brief account of his voyage and negotiation. There is added to it a letter of monsieur Charant, who lived twenty-five years in Suez and Morocco, giving an account of the religion, manners, trade, &c. of those people.
Voyages en Asie, Afrique, & l’Amerique. Par monsieur Jean Mocquet, 8°. See this among the English, 8°.
Voyage par monsieur du Quesne aux Indes en 1691 & 1692, &c. See more of this among the English, 8°.
Voyages historiques & curieux en Allemagne, Boheme, Suisse, Holland, &c. de monsieur Charles Patin, 8°. See this among the English.
Voyages aux Indes, de Dellon, 2 vols. 12°.
Histoire de la Chine sous la domination des Tartares. Par le P. Greslon de la comp. de Jesus, 8°. Paris 1672. We have here a succinct history of China from the year 1651, till 1669, delivered by a missionary resident there many years; his principal subject is the astronomy of China, which gained the first admission to the missioners; of which, and all its parts, and how used and practised there, he treats very ingeniously and learnedly. Giorn. de Letter.
Voyage du Levant. Par monsieur de Loir, 12°. A voyage to the Levant in ten letters, containing all things remarkable in the islands of the Archipelago, Ephesus, Smyrna, Constantinople, Scutari, Negropont, Greece, the Morea, and all the coasts to Venice; in which are all the ancient and modern names of places, and what authors have said of them, compared with what was when the author travelled. A work no less learned than curious. Giorn. de Letter. An. 1673.
Voyage d’Angleterre, par monsieur Sorbierre, 12°. This account of England is not methodical, but contains some observations worth reading.
Relation universelle de l’Afrique ancienne & moderne, par le sieur de la Croix, 4 vols. 12°. Lyon 1688. This is the fullest and most perfect account yet extant of that great part of the world, being a judicious and laborious collection of all the best that has been writ on the subject. Giorn. de Letter. An. 1689.
Histoire de l’isle de Ceylon, par le capitaine Jean Ribeyro, traduite du Portugais en François, 12°. Paris 1701. This short history of Ceylon, though writ originally in Portuguese, and published in the year 1685, is here inserted in the French translation, because the translator Mr. le Grand has added to it several chapters, collected from the best authors that have writ of that island. It is divided into three books; the first is the description of the island, its government, religion, product, &c. the second treats of the wars there between the Portugueses, the natives, and the Dutch: and the third, of the errours the Portugueses committed in their conquests of India, and the power of the Dutch in those parts. Journ. de Scav. vol. XXIX. .
Nouveau memoires sur l’estat present de la Chine, par le P. Louis le Comte, 2 vols. 12°. Paris 1696. F. le Comte’s memoirs of China have appeared in English; they have abundance of very remarkable passages and singular curiosities, and have been too much talked of to require much to be said of them. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXV. .
Deruieres descouvertes dans l’Amerique septentrionale de monsieur de la Sale, mises au jour par monsieur le chevalier Tonti, governeur de fort S. Louis aux Islinois, 12°. Paris 1697. This is an account of a vast discovery in North America, being the whole length of the river Mississipi, from the French plantations in Canada down to the gulph of Mexico to the southward, and from the same plantation to the source of the said river northwards. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXV. .
Relation d’un voyage fait en 1696 & 1697, aux costes de l’Afrique, detroit de Magellan, Brezil, Cayenne, & isles Antilles, par le sieur Froger. This is a relation of an expedition of six French ships fitted out during the war with Spain in those years; it is looked upon as very faithful, and adorned with a great number of maps and cuts of all sorts. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXVI. .
Memoirs du chevalier Beaujeu, contenant divers voyages en Pologne, Allemagne, & en Hongrie, 12°. Paris 1679. The author of these memoirs having travelled in Poland, Germany, and Hungary, undertakes to rectify many mistakes in the maps as to distances of places; he gives a particular account of these countries, and most especially of Poland, and all things relating to it. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXVI. .
Relation du voyage du sieur de Montauban capitain des Flibustiers en. Guinée, dans l’année 1695. This was a privateer voyage, which ended in the blowing up the ship; but so that the captain escaped, and got ashore on the coast of Afric, of which he gives some account; thence he got over to Barbadoes, and thence into France.
Relation curieuse & nouvelle de Moscovie, contenant l’etat de cet empire, 12°. Paris 1698. This account of Moscovy is composed by Mr. de Nouville, envoy from the king of Poland to the czar, who during his residence there collected the best account of a way through Moscovy and Tartary to China, as convenient as any for travellers in Europe, which he says he was told by one that travelled it twice; but that the czar at the request of the Dutch has prohibited merchants trading that way.
Journal du voyage des grandes Indes, contenant tout ce qui s’y est fait & passe par l’escadre de sa majesté, envoye sous le commandement de M. de la Haye, 12°. Orleans 1697. This is a voyage of the French fleet to the Indies in the year 1670; it describes Goa, and gives some account of these coasts, of taking the city of S. Thomas or Meliapor, and the losing it again to the Dutch and infidels, with the return of the French.
Voyage d’Italie & de Grece, avec une dissertation sur la bizarrerie des opinions des hommes, 12°. Paris 1698. This author set out from France in the year 1691, and gives such a description of the countries he passed through, and of the adventures that befel him, as renders it extremely diverting; concluding with a reflection upon the extravagant humours of men, whose behaviour he condemns in many particulars, which are rather pleasant and diverting than solid. Journ. des Scav. vol. XXVI. .
SPANISH.
Historia del Gran Tamorlan. Itinerario, y relacion de la embaxada que Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo le hizo por mondado del senor Rey D. Henrique tercero de Castilla. Sevil 1582. fol. This is the first Spanish book of travels, at least of any reputation, now extant, and is of no less than 300 years antiquity: for though the book was published as above, the embassy was in the year 1403, in which the author spent three years, saw a considerable part of Asia, following Tamerlan’s camp, and besides what he saw during those years, had an ample account of all that mighty prince’s wars: it is a book rare and of great value.
Comentarios do grande Alphonso de Albuquerque capitao general da India, collegidos por seu filho das proprias cartas, que elle escrivio ao rey D. Manoel. Lisboa 1576. fol. This is a large relation of the actions of that great man, who was one of the first Portuguese conquerors of the East-Indies; and a particular encomium of it is given by Anthony Ferreira in his poems.
Naufragios de Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca, y.
Comentarios de Alvar Nunez Adelantado y governador de la provincia del Rio de la Plata. Valladolid 1555. 4°. The first was writ by Alvar Nunez himself, wherein he gives an account of his shipwreck, and unparalleled sufferings in Florida. The second was composed by his order by Peter Fernandez his secretary, and is an account of the province of the river of Plate, where he was governor: both curious and scarce.
Nuevo descubrimiento del gran Catayo, o reynos de Tibet en el anno de 1624. Madrid 1627. It is writ by F. Anthony de Andrada, a jesuit, who in it gives an account of his travels in the most remote eastern countries.
Verdadera description de la Tierra Santa como estava el anno de 1530. Alcala 1531. 8°. It is an exact account of the Holy Land at that time, writ by F. Anthony de Aranda, who travelled it all over as a pilgrim at that time.
El devoto peregrino viage de la Tierra Santa. Madrid 1654. 4°. The description of the Holy Land in a pious style, for the help of pilgrims, by F. Antony del Castillo, a franciscan; who was superior of the monastery at Bethlehem.
Relacion de lo sucecido a los padres de la campania de Jesus en la India, y Japon, en los anos de 1630 y 1631. Valladolid 4°. An account of the travels and actions of the Jesuits in India and Japan, by F. Antony Collaco.
Jornada de arcebispo de Goa D. F. Aleino de Meneses, &c. as serras de Malabar, & lugares em que moram os antigos christaos de S. Thome. Coimbra 1606. fol. It was writ by F. Antony de Gouve of the order of St. Augustin, who treats very curiously of the inland parts of Malabar, and christians of S. Thomas there.
Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las islas, y tierra firma del mar oceano, escrita por Antonio de Herrera. Madrid 1615. 4 vols. fol. A most excellent and complete history of the discovery and conquest of America by the Spaniards, not omitting to mention the discoveries made at the same time by other nations. It reaches from Columbus’s first discovery An. 1492 till 1554, divided into four volumes, and those into eight decads, with a very just description of that vast continent.
Historia general de la India oriental, los descubriemientos y conquista que hon hecho los armos de Portugal en el Brazil, &c. hosta el ano de 1562. Valladolid 1603. fol. This though ancient is the fullest account there was till that time of the Portugueses in the East-Indies and Brasil, writ by F. Antony de S. Roman of the order of S. Benedict.
Historia de la conquista espiritual de la provincia del Paraguay. Madrid 1639. 4°. It is an account of the progress of the preaching jesuits in that province, and written by one of them who was rector of some colleges in that country.
Itinerario da India a Portugal per terra anno 1520. Coimbra 1565. 16°. A journal of Antony Tenreiro’s travels from India by land into Portugal. It was more rare in those days than now, yet there are good remarks to be found in it.
Viage desde Manila a la China. This voyage was performed by F. Augustin de Tordesillas, a franciscan, but published by John Gonzales de Mendoza, An. 1585, being a voyage from the Philippine islands to China; which I have not seen, nor met with any further account of it.
Historia del descubrimiento, y conquista del Peru, de Augustin de Zarate. Seville 1577. 8°. The author was an examiner or controler of accounts in the king’s household, and sent over to Peru to inquire into the king’s revenue during the rebellion in those parts, where he gathered materials for his history, which has always been in good esteem where known, as appears by its having been twice translated into Italian.
Historia da Ethiopia alta, do P. Baltasar Tellez. fol. He was a Portuguese jesuit, who collected this history of Ethiopia from the writings of the jesuits, who resided there. He is highly commended by D. Francisco Manoel in his epistles and his history, and no less by Georgius Cordosus in Agiologio.
Conquista de las islas Molucas, de Bartolome Leonardo de Argensola. Madrid 1609. fol. This author was historiographer of the kingdom of Arragon, and the most accomplished master of the Spanish tongue in his time: so that his history is not only valuable for his excellent account of the Molucco islands, but for its language, wherein he has outdone most men.
Manual y relacion de las cosas del Peru, de F. Bernardino de Cardenas. Madrid 1634. 4°. The author was a native of Peru, and bishop of Paraguay; so that his birth, education, and learning, qualified him to give a good account of that country.
Navigacion de oriente y noticias de la China, 1577. 8°. It is a short but ingenious treatise of the eastern voyages, and some affairs of China.
Historia de Yucatan, de Bernardo de Lizana. The author was a missioner in the province of Yucatan, whose history he writes, but intermixed with much devotion.
Historia de las cosas antiguas quelos Indios usavan en su infidelidad, por F. Bernardino de Sahagun. This history treats of the idolatry, rites, and ceremonies of the Indians, and of their government, laws, and politics. The same author also writ La Conquista, or the conquest of Mexico.
Historia verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana, por Bernal Diaz del Castillo. fol. The author of this history of the conquest of Mexico served in it under Cortes, from the begining till the last; and therefore speaks as an eye-witness, having been in all the expeditions of note, and received what he could not be present at from those that were. He says he finished his work in the year 1568, but it was not published till some years after.
Relacion de las grandezas de Peru, Mexico, y los Angelos, de Bernardo de la Vega. Mexico 1601. 8°. This is only a collection of rarities in those parts, as the title imports. The auther was canon of the church of Tacaman in South America.
Sitio naturaleza y propriedades de Mexico, de Diego de Cisneros, 1618. The author was physician to the marquis De Gaudalcacar viceroy of Peru, and gives a very good account of that place.
Decadas de Asia, de Joao de Barros. He finished three decades, in as many volumes, of the history of India; of which work the learned Nicholaus Antonius, in his Bibliotheca Hispana, , says it is a most complete work, which will last for ever to the honour of the compiler. His 4th volume and decade, which he left imperfect, was finished by John Baptiste Labanha, historiographer to k. Philip II. But after that James de Couto undertook to continue the history from the third decade, where Barros ended, and writ nine more; so that the whole work consists of twelve decades, but of these only seven have been printed at Lisbon.
Relaciones del Pegu, de Duarte Fernandez. Of this relation I find no further account.
Relacion de la provincia de Tecuman, de Fernando de Quintana. This relation is of good authority, and the author was one of the first that went over to inhabit that country.
Memorial y relacion las islas Philippinas, de Fernando de los rios Coronel. The author was a priest in good repute, and gives an account of the wealth, not only of the Philippine, but of the Molucco islands, representing at the same time what faults there are in the governments of those parts to be redressed.
Verdadeira informazao do Presse Joao das Indias, de Francisco Alvarez. Lisboa 1540. fol. The author, a man of great probity, was sent by king Emanuel of Portugal into Ethiopia, with his embassador Edward Galvao, and resided there six years, returning thence in the year 1533, and during his stay there had time to collect this historical account, in which he gives a description of the country, of its trade, and all things that happened there during the stay of the Portugueses.
Relazao das provincias de Japao, Malabar, Cochinchina, &c. do P. Francisco Cordim. The author was a Portuguese jesuit, who had been in those parts; and his work was so well approved of, that it was thought worthy to be translated into French, and printed at Paris 1645.
Historia general de las Indias de Francisco Lopez de Gomara. This author wrote in a commendable style; but his history is of no credit, being full of false relations, as is made out by all other authors that write of those parts, some of whom were eye-witnesses of the things he misrepresents, and others received them upon much better information.
Conquista del Peru, por Francisco de Xeres. Salamanca 1547. fol. The author was secretary to Francis Pizarro the great discoverer and conqueror of Peru, and wrote this account of the conquest of that vast kingdom, as an eye-witness, which he presented to the emperor Charles the fifth.
Commentarios de los reges Incas del Peru. Lisboa 1609. fol.
Historia general del Peru, 1617. fol.
Historia de la Florida, y jornada que hizo a ella el governador Hernando de Soto. 1695. 4°. These three by Garcilaso de la Vega, who calls himself inca, as being the son of a Spaniard, who was one of the conquerors of the kingdom of Peru, by an Indian woman of the imperial race of the incas, from whom he took that name. The history of the ancient incas he received from the natives, that of the actions of the Spaniards from his father and others, who had a share in them.
Trasado em que se contam muitopor estenso as cousas da China, e assi do regno de Ormuz, pelo P. Gasparda Cruz. Ebora 1569. 4°. The author, a dominican friar, travelled as a missioner in India, Persia and China, where he made his observations and dedicated his work to king Sebastian of Portugal. Several authors of note make mention of him.
Historia general de las Indias. Salamanca 1547. fol.
Historia del Estrecho de Magallones, 1552. fol.
Navigacion del Rio Marannon. These three by Gonzala Fernandez de Oviedo, who after many honourable employments in Spain, was sent governor of the city of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola, where he resided ten years, and compiled his history of the Indies mentioned in the first place, which he had divided into fifty books, whereof only nineteen are in the volume above mentioned; to which is added one called, Of shipwrecks. The rest have not appeared, unless we allow his history of the straits of Magellan, the second here spoke of, to be his 20th book, which is published by itself. His account of the river Marannon is in the 3d volume of Ramusio’s travels.
Tratado de la conquista de las islas de Persia y Arabia, de las muchas gentes, diversas gentes, y estranas y grandes battallas que vio, por Juan Angier. Salamanca 1512. 4°. The author, of whom we have no further account, assures he saw all he writes, which is all the character we can here give his work, but only that he treats of the conquest of the islands on the coast of Arabia and Persia, and of several nations where he travelled, and the battles he was in.
Historia de las cosas mas notables, ritos y costumbres del gran regno de la China. Madrid 1586. 8°. This history of the most remarkable things, and the customs and manners of China, was writ by F. John Gonzales de Mendoza, of the order of St. Augustin, who in the year 1580 was sent into China by k. Philip the 2d of Spain, where he gathered the materials of his history, and composed it at his return.
Virtudes del Indio, de D. Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, obispo de la Puebla de los Angelos. 4°. This is a treatise writ in defence of the Indians by the good bishop, and gives an account of their disposition and manners, in opposition to those that represented them as brutal, and scarce endued with reason. This, though it seems not a book of travels, being the manners and customs of strange nations, and by a traveller to those parts, very well deserves admittance among them.
Ethiopia oriental, e varia historia de cousas notaveis do oriente, do P. F. Joao dos Santos. Ebora 1609. fol. It treats of the eastern parts of Afric, where the author, who was a dominican, resided eleven years as a missioner, making his collections on the spot, which he after methodised in his own country.
Historia natural y moral de las Indias, por el P. Joseph de Acosta. Madrid 1610. 4°. This history is so well known and generally esteemed, that little needs be said of it; the universal character of it being better than what it can here receive, being the history natural and moral of the West-Indies.
Description del nuevo orbe, y de los naturalez del, por el P. F. Luis Jeronymo de Ore. Lima 1598. fol. The author was an American by birth, a great traveller in those parts, an able scholar, and of excellent natural parts; all which rendered him capable to write well upon this subject.
Description general de Africa, por Luis del Marmol Caravajal. 3 vols. fol. This is the fullest account extant of Afric, generally esteemed in all parts, and has been translated into French. The author being a slave at Moroco, there read and heard those accounts he afterwards published, of the interior parts of Afric which remain inaccessible to christians. Thuanus and Ambrosius Morales, in their histories, commended this work.
Historia de Ethiopia, y.
Historia de la orden de predicadores en Ethiopia, por F. Luis de Urreta, 2 vols. 4°. Both these generally condemned as fabulous, and particularly by F. Nicholas Godinho in his book de Abyssinorum rebus.
Historia de las islas del Archipelago, China, Tartaria, Cochinchina, Malaca, Sian, Camboja, y Japon, por el P. Morcello de Ribadencira. Barcelona 1601. 4°. This history of those eastern countries was collected there by the author, who travelled the greatest part of them as a missioner.
Relacion del nombre, sitio, plantas, &c. de regno de Sardenha, por el Dr. Martin Camillo. Barcelona 1612. 4°. This was a doctor of the civil law, who being sent by king Philip of Spain into Sardinia, to inspect all the courts there, travelled over the whole island of Sardinia, and took that opportunity to write this learned treatise of its name, situation, plants, conquests, conversion, fertility, towns, cities, and government.
Relacion del Govierno de los Quixos en Indias. 1608. 4°. An account of the province called Los Quixos in South America writ by Dr. Peter de Castro Eorle of Lemos. What more to say of it I do not find.
Relacion de Philippinas, por el P. Pedro Chirino. Roma 1604. 4°. The author of this account of the Philippine islands spent the greatest part of his life, and ended his days there, so that he was well acquainted with what he writ; but a great part of it consists of the actions of the jesuits in those parts, he being of that society.
Primera parte de la Chronica de Peru, de Pedro Cieca de Leon. Antwerp 1554. 8°. It treats of the limits and description of the provinces of Peru, the founding of cities, and the customs and manners of the Indians. Only this first part is extant, the other four, which the author promises, and were historical, having never been published; which is a great loss, for by the value of this first we may judge of the rest.
Historia da provincia de Santa Cruz, a que vulgarmente chamamos Brasil. The history of the province of Santa Cruz, vulgarly Brasil, by Peter de Magalhaens Gandavo. Lisbon 1579. 4°. It is commended by Antonius Leo, in his Bibliotheca Indica.
Relacion dos reges de Persia y Ormuz, viage da India oriental a Italia por terra no anno de 1604. An account of the kings of Persia and Ormuz, and travels from India to Italy by land, in the year 1614. 4°. The author Peter Texeira a Portuguese, who performed the journey.
Itinerario de las missiones orientales, con une sumaria relacion del imperio del gran Mogor. An account of the eastern missions, and of the empire of the mogol. Rome 1649. 4°. Composed by Sebastian Manrique, of which we have no other particulars.
Cortas de D. Hernando Cortes Marque del Valle, de la conquista de Mexico, al emperador. The original letter writ by Cortes the famous conqueror of Mexico, giving the emperor Charles the 5th an account of his expedition. There is no need to speak of the value of such papers, than which nothing can be more authentic, as being the relation of a commander in chief to his sovereign.
Corta do P. Gonzalo Rodrigues do sua embaixado a Ethiopia, e do que la le sucedeo com o seu Rey Claudio. A letter giving an account of the embassy of F. Gonzalo Rodriguez, sent by the king of Portugal to the emperor of Ethiopia. It is to be seen in F. Nicholas Godinho de rebus Abyssinorum, lib. II. ca.
Relacion del viage que hizieron los capitones Bartolome Garcia de Nodal, y Gonsalo de Nodal hermanos al descubrimiento del Estreco Nuevo de S. Vincente, y reconocimiento del de Magalhanes. This is an account of a voyage performed by the two captains above named to the straits of St. Vincent, which we call strait Le Mayre, and to view that of Magellan, in the years 1618 and 1619. Madrid 1621. 4°. It is an exact journal of their voyage and observations whilst they were out, which was 11 months; and they were both able seamen, who had served the king many years.
Viage a la santa ciudad de Jerusalem, descripcion suya y de todo la Tierra Santa, y peregrinacion al monte Sinai, por el P. Bernardo Italiano. Naples 1632. 8°. A journey to Jerusalem, the description of that holy city and country, and a pilgrimage to mount Sinai, performed by the author, a franciscan friar.
Relacion de los sagrados lugares de Jerusalem, y toda la Tierra Santa. The author F. Blaze de Buiza, a franciscan, and collector of the charity gathered to pay the Turks the tribute for the privilege of those holy places. It is a curious relation, printed at Salamanca 1624. 8°.
Tratado de las drogas, y medicinas de las Indias orientales. Burgos 1578. 4°.
Tratado del viage de las Indias orientales y loque se navega por aquellas partes. Both these by Christopher de Costa, a native of Tangier, who spent many years in his travels in Afric and Asia, and was a doctor of physic, which enabled him to write that most excellent treatise first mentioned of these two, of the plants and drugs of the East-Indies. The second is of the East-India voyage, and of those seas.
Relazao da navigazao de Duarte Lopez a Africa, e Congo, no anno de 1578. Or Lopez his voyage to Afric, and the kingdom of Congo, which is to be seen in Latin in Theodore de Bry’s collection.
Viage de D. Fradrique Henriquez de Ribera a Jerusalem. Lisboa 1580. 4°. This is a pilgrimage to Jerusalem performed by this nobleman, who was marquis of Tarifa, and spent two years in it, setting out in November 1518, and returning in October 1520, when he left this monument of his piety and ingenuity.
Peregrinacao de Fernan Mendez Pinto. Lisboa 1614. fol. Pinto’s travels in India, so fabulous that the general consent of the world has exploded them, though some few have taken the pains to defend those chimeras.
Viage que hizo a Jerusalem Francisco Guerero. Sevil 1645. This is another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, by a demi-canon of the cathedral of Sevil, and can only be a repetition of what we see in the others above mentioned.
Chorographia de alguns lugares que stam em hum caminho que Fez Gaspor Barreiras, o anno de 1546, de Badajoz em Cassel la ate Milan en Italia. Coimbra 1561. 4°. The author gives an account of the places he passed through in his journey from Badajoz in Spain, to the city of Milan. But Andrew de Resende complains that he stole notes which he friendly communicated to him, and inserted them as his own.
Itinerario da India per terra ate Portugal, com a descripzao de Jerusalem. Lisboa 1611. 4°. This journey was performed and book writ by F. Gaspar de Sa, a Portuguese franciscan, being a journal of his travels, from India to Portugal by land, and a description of Jerusalem; but of this sort there are several, and this I do not find has any thing more remarkable above others.
Viage de Jeronimo de Santistevan de Genova por el Cairo a la India, y sa buelta a Portugal. A voyage by Jerome de Santistevan from Genoa by the way of Grand Cairo to India, and his return to Portugal. It is to be seen in Italian in the first volume of Ramusio’s collection.
Itinerario de Esparca a las Philippinas, y de alli ala China, y buelta por la India oriental. This is a voyage round the world by F. Martin Ignatius de Loyala, a franciscan, who took his way from Spain to America, thence to the Philippine islands, thence to China, and so round home by the East-Indies. It is printed in F. John Gonzales de Mendoza’s history of China, with the author’s name to it, in the edition of the year 1585, but the name is left out in that of 1586.
Jornada da Terre Santa. Another holy land pilgrimage, by F. Nicholas Diaz, of the order of St. Dominic.
Itinerario da Terra Santa, e odas las suas particularidades. Another pilgrimage still to the Holy Land, by F. Pantaleo de Aveiro. Lisbon 1593. 4°.
Relazao de Pedro Alvarez Cabral da sua navegazao a India oriental. This Cabral was the next after Gama sent by Emanuel king of Portugal into India; and accidentally being drove thither by storms, discovered Brasil. This relation is to be seen in Italian in John Baptista Ramusio’s collection.
Relazao de Pedro de Cintra, da sua navegazao a costa de Guinée, y a India. A voyage to the coast of Guinea and India, by Peter de Cintra, of which I find no more, but that it was translated into Italian by Aloisius Cadamustus.
Relazao do viage de Pedro Covillam de Lisboa a India per terra, e volta ao Cairo. 1587. This Covillam was one of the first sent from Portugal to discover India by land, before the way to it had been opened by sea; and this is the account of his travels thither, and back to Grand Cairo.
Viage que hizo a Jerusalem el P. F. Pedro de Santo Domingo, de la orden del mismo santo. This was a dominican lay-brother, who gave an account of his pilgrimage; but enough of them. It was in the year 1600, and printed at Naples in 1604. 8°.
Viage de Jerusalem de Pedro Gonzales Gallardo. Another holy land voyage printed at Sevil 1605. 8°.
Naufragio y peregrinacion en la costa del Peru, de Pedro Goveo de Victoria. This is an account of a shipwreck and travels in America by this Goveo in his youth, a book of no great fame, and therefore hard to find any account of it. Printed in 1610. 8°.
Viage del mundo, por Pedro Ordonez de Zevallos. 4°. This though the author calls it the voyage of the world, only shows a piece of vanity, for it reaches no further than America, a part whereof the author saw, and writes of.
Relacion del voyage que hizo a la India Tomas Lopez, el anno de 1502. This voyage to India by Lopez, is to be seen in Italian in Ramusio’s collection.
Nuevo descubrimiento del gran Rio de las Amazonas. A new discovery of the great river of Amazons, by Christopher de Acuna, a jesuit who went upon that expedition by order of the king of Spain. Madrid 1641. 4°.
Relacion del voyage de los hermanos Nodales, de Diego Ramirez. This is a relation of the voyage made by the two brothers Bartholomew and Garcia de Nodal to the straits of Le Mayre; their own journal of this voyage was mentioned before, yet this relation is much commended by Anthony de Leon in his Biblioth. Ind. occident. .
Relacion del naufragio de la nao Santiago, y itinerario de la gente, que della se salvo el anno de 1585. This is an account of a Portuguese ship cast away, and of the great sufferings of those that were saved. It is a very remarkable relation, and printed An. 1602. 8vo.
Relacion del descubrimiento de las siete ciudades, de Fernando de Alarcon. The discovery of seven cities in the North America by Ferdinand de Alarcon. It is to be found in Italian in Ramusio’s collection. vol. III.
Relacion del descubrimiento de las siete ciudades, de Francisco Vasquez Coronado. The discovery of the seven cities last mentioned by Coronado, and to be found in the same volume of Ramusio.
Tratado de las guerras de los Chichimecas. An account of those northern people in America, called Chichimecas, and the wars with them, by Gonzalo de los Casas, a native of Mexico, and lord of the province of Zanguitan in that country.
Relacion de lo sucedido a los padres de la compania de Jesus en la India oriental y Japon en los anos 1600, 1601, 1607, y 1608. This account was first writ in Portuguese, and translated into Spanish, and has not very much but what relates to religious affairs.
Historia ecclesiastica del Japon desde del ano 1602, hosta el de 1621. This is an ecclesiastical history of Japan for those years above mentioned, composed by F. James Collado, and printed at Madrid, An. 1623. in 4°. It was continued to the year 1622, by F. Jacintus Offanel of the order of St. Dominic, as was the other.
Historia evangelica del regno de la China del P. F. Juan Baptista Morales. This history of China has been always in good repute; the author was a dominican and missioner first in Camboya, and then in China, where he suffered much, being put to the rack, twice whipped, and then banished. Coming to Rome he gave the pope a good account of the affairs of that country, whither he returned and spent there the remainder of his life, dying at 70 years of age in the province of Fokien. Thus much has been said of him, to show that he was well acquainted with what he writ, and well deserves the general approbation he has met with.
Embaxada de D. Garcia de Silva Figueroa a la Persia. This embassador was a man curious and knowing, and observed many considerable things which other authors have not spoke of, and made learned reflections on what ancient historians have writ of the eastern countries. He gives an account of the manners and customs of the people, and description of all places in the way he went from Goa to Ispahan, the capital of Persia. The relation of the Persians taking Ormus from the Portugueses, a description of Chilminara the ancient palace of Persepolis, burnt by Alexander the Great when he was drunk. This is a book of great value in the original Spanish, the French translation being vitiated by the translator, so that there is no relying on it.
Conquista y antiquedades de las islas de la Gran Canaria, su descripcion, &c. Per el licenciado Juan Nunez de la Pena. 4°. Madrid. The conquest and antiquities of the Canary islands, being perhaps the best relation we have of them, both as to their present state and antiquities.
ENGLISH.
Hackluyt, a minister by profession, is the first Englishman that compiled any collection of travels now extant: he himself was no traveller, but only delivers what he could gather from others. His work was published in the year 1598, and reaches down to 1597; it is divided into three parts, composing one thick volume in folio. The first contains the following voyages: 1. K. Arthur to Iseland, an. 517. 2. K. Malgo to Iseland, Gotland, &c. an. 580. 3. K. Edwin to Anglesey and Man, an. 624. 4. Bertus to Ireland, an. 684. 5. Octher beyond Norway, an. 890. 6. Octher into the Sound. 7. Wolstan into the Sound. 8. K. Edgar round his monarchy, an. 973. 9. Edmund and Edward into Hungary, an. 1017. 10. Harald into Russia, an. 1067. 11. An Englishman into Tartary, Poland, and Hungary, an. 1243. 12. F. de Plano’s wonderful voyage, an. 1246. 13. F. de Rubricis’s journal, an. 1258. 14. F. de Linna towards the north pole, an. 1360. 15. Hen. e. of Derby into Prussia, an. 1390. 16. F. of Woodstock into Prussia, an. 1391. 17. Sir H. Willoughby to Lapland, an. 1553. 18. Chancellor’s discovery of Muscovy by sea, an. 1553. 19. Burrough to the river Ob, an. 1556. 20. Johnson to the Samoeds, an. 1556. 21. Burrough to Wardhouse, an. 1557. 22. Jenkinson to Russia, an. 1557. 23. Jenkinson from Moscow into Bactria, an. 1558. 24. Jenkinson through Russia into Persia, an. 1561. 25. Alcock, &c. by land to Persia, an. 1563. 26. Johnson, &c. by land to Persia, 1565. 27. Southam and Spark to Novogrod, an. 1566. 28. Jenkinson to Russia, an. 1566. 29. Edwards, &c. by land to Persia, an. 1568. 30. Banister and Ducket by land to Persia, an. 1569. 31. Burrough to Livonia, an. 1570. 32. Jenkinson to Russia, an. 1571. 33. Burrough by land to Persia, an. 1579. 34. Pet and Jackman to the north-east, an. 1580. 35. Horsey by land from Moscow to England, an. 1584. 36. Russians to the north-east. 37. Voyage to Siberia and the river Ob. 38. Vanquishing the Spanish armada, an. 1588. 39. Voyage to Cadiz, an. 1596. Thus far the first volume; the first 16 of which voyages are not of much moment or authority, and the two last are warlike expeditions, which were not properly placed among discoveries; the rest of the volume is filled with treaties, patents, and letters. Thus it appears all these, except the two last, are northern voyages. The second volume contains voyages to the straits, coast of Afric, and the East-Indies. Of these the greatest part are pilgrimages to Jerusalem, many of very little moment, expeditions for the Holy Land, common trading voyages, that have little or nothing of curiosity, and sea-fights; all which being a great number, and of no moment, are not worth inserting here: the small remaining part are voyages to Guinea, and other coasts of Afric, and some few to the East-Indies; of all which there is a much better account in Purchas and others, and therefore they are not inserted in this place. Besides, as in the first part, there are abundance of letters, discourses, patents, and such original papers. The third volume, not to mention many of no worth, has these considerable voyages, Sebastian Cabot’s to North America, three of sir Martin Forbisher to the north-west passage, two of Davis’s to the north-west, Hore and Gilbert to Newfoundland; Granpre, and others to the isle of Ramea; three of Jaques Cartier to Newfoundland, Canada, &c. Roberval to Canada; Amadas, Balow, Greenvil, and others, to Virginia; Verazzano, Ribault, Laudonnierre, and Gourges to Florida; Marco de Nica, Francis Vasques Coronado, and Antony de Espejo to Cibola, Culiacon and New Galicia; Ulloa, Alarcon and Drake to California; Ovalle to the Philippine islands, Lequeos, China, and back to Acapulco; Tonson, Bodenham, Chilton, Hawks, Philips, and Hortop to New Spain, Peru, and Panuco; Pert and Cabot to Brasil; Tison and Hawkins to the West-Indies; Hawkins to Guinea and the West-Indies; Drake to Nombre de Dios; Oxnam, Barker, Drake, Michelson to Mexico, &c. Newport to Puerto Rico, &c; May to the straits of Magellan; Dudley, Preston, Drake, Sherley, Parker, to several parts of the West-Indies; Raleigh to the island Trinidad, and to Guiana; Hawkins, Reniger, Hare, Lancaster to Brasil: two Englishmen and Drake up the river of Plate; Drake round the world; Silva through the straits of Magellan; Winter into the South-sea; Fenton to Brasil; Witherington to 44 degrees of south latitude; Candish round the world; Ship Delight to the straits of Magellan; Candish his last voyage. Thus have we briefly run over the contents of Hackluyt’s collection, precisely setting down all in the first volume, to give the reader a taste of the author’s method of heaping together all things good and bad which has been abridged in relation to the second and third volumes, to avoid being tedious. The collection is scarce and valuable for the good there is to be picked out; but it might be wished the author had been less voluminous, delivering what was really authentic and useful, and not stuffing his work with so many stories taken upon trust, so many trading voyages that have nothing new in them, so many warlike exploits not at all pertinent to his undertaking, and such a multitude of articles, charters, privileges, letters, relations, and other things little to the purpose of travels and discoveries.
Purchas was the next great English collector of travels after Hackluyt, whom he has imitated too much, swelling his work into five volumes in folio. The whole collection is very valuable, as having preserved many considerable voyages which might otherwise have perished. But to particularize with him, as has been done before with Hackluyt; his first volume is divided into five books. The first contains the travels of the ancient patriarchs, the apostles and philosophers, with the warlike expeditions of Alexander the Great, and other princes; to which is added an enquiry into languages, and an account of the several sorts of religions. The second book treats of navigation in general, the discoveries made by Henry prince of Portugal, king John of Portugal, Columbus of the West and Gama of the East-Indies; then follow Magellan, Drake, Candish, Noort, and Spilbergen round the world, and Le Maire’s discovery of the new strait of his name. The third book is filled with some private voyages to the East-Indies, and the seven first made by the East-India company with descriptions, and an account of all those parts, their product, trade, government, religion, &c. but all, as delivered by the first that resorted there and made no long stay, imperfect, and far short of what we have had since. The fourth book contains the 8th voyage of the East-India company, capt. Saris to Japan; Finch to India; 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th voyages of the company; observations for sailors; Steel to the mogul’s court; Milward to India; Peyton to India; an extract of sir Thomas Roe, embassador from king James to the mogul, his journal; Coryat’s travels. The fifth book still continues upon accounts of the East-Indies, of all parts thereof, and from many several hands, upon differences between the Dutch and English, wars of the natives, engagements of the English and Portugueses, and many other passages and occurrences to the same purpose. The sixth book, being the first in the second volume, begins with collections of John Leo’s history of Afric, and R. C.’s history of Barbary: then follow Nicholay’s description of Argier; an expedition to Argier under sir Robert Mansel; and some relations of Afric. The seventh book begins Jobson’s voyage to Guinea; Battle’s account of Angola is next, then Pigafetta’s relation of Congo, Alvarez’s voyage to Ethiopia; D. John de Castro from India to Suez; Bermudez the patriarch to Ethiopia, and Nunhes Barretto of the same country. The eighth contains several pilgrimages to Jerusalem, christian expeditions to the Holy Land; Barton’s (q. Elizabeth’s embassador to the great Turk) account of his voyage and the adventures of J. Smith. The ninth book consists of Sherley’s travels into Persia; Benjamin the son of Jonas his peregrination; Terry’s voyage to the mogul; Barthema’s to Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Persia and India; collections of Asia out of Arabic; Menesses’s account of India; Figueroa to Ispahan; J. de Santos to Ethiopia; Jobson on Gambra river; account of the grand signior’s seraglio; Sanderson’s voyages in the straits; Timberley from Cairo to Jerusalem: Newberry of the eastern parts of the world; Fran. Pyrard de la Vol to the East-Indies. The tenth book has a collection of Spanish and Portuguese voyages out of Galvan; Trigautius his voyage to India; letter touching Japan; Frederick’s Indian observations; Balbi to Pegu; Fitz to Goa, and other parts of India; Pimenta’s observations of India; Linschoten’s voyages to India; relation of Ormuz; sir Rob. Sherley to Persia; Coryate’s travels; Lithgow Scot to the Holy Land, &c.; Intelligence out of Turkey; Brown’s Indian voyage; Dutch proceedings at Amboyna; and description of the bay of Todos os Santos. The third volume, book the first, contains as follows: W. de Rubricis’ travels into the East; relations of Bacon, and Balvacensis; Wendover of the Tartars; Mr. Paulus Venetus his voyages; S. J. Mandeville’s travels; extracts of an Arabic history of Tamerlan; travels of Chaggi Memet, a Persian; treatise of China, of F. Gaspar da Cruz; Pereira of China. The second book has, Sir H. Willoughby, Chanceller, and Jenkinson’s voyages to the north-east; Extracts of Fernan Mendez Pinto’s travels; discovery and planting of the Philippine islands; Goes’ travels from Lahor to China by land; Jesuits first entrance into China and Japan; Pantoja’s account of China; Discourse of China out of Riccius and Trigautius. The third book, Fletcher’s treatise of Russia; Edge’s northern voyages; Barent’s into the north-sea; Gerart de Veer’s northern voyages; Iver Boty of Iceland and Greenland; description of Siberia, Samoieda and Tingoesia; Gourdon to Pecora; Logan to Pecora, and his wintering there; Pusglove to Pecora, and wintering there; Gourdon wintering at Pustozra; Voyages to Cherry island; Hudson’s northern voyages; discovery of Nicholas and Anthony Zeni; Quirino’s shipwreck; Barkley’s travels in Europe, Asia, Afric and America; Broniovius embassador to the Crim Tartar; Blefkin’s voyages and history of Iceland and Greenland; Angrim Jonas’s history of Iceland. The fourth book, sir T. Smith to Cherry island; Pool to Greenland; Baffin to Greenland; Fosterby to Greenland; several northern voyages; revolutions in Russia; Cossac’s travels out of Siberia to Catay; discovery of the river Ob; Cabot, Thorn, and Weymouth’s voyages to the south-west; Hall to discover Greenland; Knight to the north-west passage. Other northern voyages. The fifth book, Herrera’s description of the West-Indies, Acosta and Oviedo of the West-Indies, Mexican history in cuts, conquest of Mexico by Cortes, other particulars of America. The fourth volume begins with the sixth book, and in it as follows: the first book, earl of Cumberland’s voyage, Cabot, Pert, Hawkins and Drake’s voyages and sea-fights, Carder living among the savages in Brasil, Candish’s unfortunate voyage to the straits of Magellan, Knivet’s adventures with Candish, Turner in Brasil, Parker taking Puerto Bello, Middleton and Geare to the West-Indies. Description of the island Trinidad, country of Guiana, and river Oronoko, by F. Sparry. Leigh’s voyages to Guiana, massacre of English in Guiana, Wilson’s relation of Guiana, Harcourt to Guiana, description of the river of the Amazons. The seventh book, a treatise of Brasil written by a Portuguese; extracts of Leri’s history of Brasil; Schnirdel’s 20 years travels, Hawkins to the South-sea, Ellis of the same voyage, relation of an Englishman 13 years prisoner in Peru, Ursino of the coast of the firm land, and secrets of Peru and Chili; notes of the West-Indies out of Peter Ordonez de Cevallos. New discovery in the South-sea by Peter Fernandez Quiros, Lope Vas of American affairs, extracts of Benzo of the new world, and of Garcilasso incas of Peru; Pizarro’s conquest of Peru, occurrences in Peru after the conquest. The eighth book, Alvar Nunez of Florida, Soto to Florida, discoveries to the northward of Mexico by Nuno de Guzman, Marco de Nica, D. Fr. Vasquez Coronada, and D. Ant. de Espejo; Casas of the cruelties of the Spaniards, voyages and plantations of French in North-America, Gosnol to Virginia, other voyages to Virginia. Description of the Azores. The ninth book, description of Virginia, and proceeding of the English colonies there, wreck of sir Thomas Gate, and account of the Bermudas; Argol from Virginia to Bermudas, affairs relating to Virginia, fight of an English and two Spanish ships, voyages to the Summer Islands, and history of them. The tenth book, discovery and plantation of New England, Chalton’s voyage for North Virginia, extracts of Smith of New England’s trials, other accounts of New England; New Scotland the first planting of it, Newfoundland the first settlements there, and account of the island; warlike fleets set out by queen Elizabeth against the Spaniards, the duke of Medina’s for invasion of England, squadron of the galeons of Portugal; the expedition to Portugal by sir John Norris and sir Francis Drake, supposed to be writ by colonel Antony Wingfield; expedition to Cadiz, and the success against the Spanish ships, and in taking the town; the earl of Essex his fruitless expedition to the Azores, the conclusion of the work. The fifth volume is a theological and geographical history of the world, consisting of the description, and an account of the religions of all nations. This author like Hackluyt, as was observed at first, has thrown in all that came to hand to fill up so many volumes, and is excessive full of his own notions, and of mean quibbling and playing upon words; yet for such as can make choice of the best the collection is very valuable.
A voyage to Surat in the year 1689, giving a large account of that city, its inhabitants and factory of English, describing Madeira, Santiago, Annoboa, Cablanda, Malamba, S. Helena, Bomba, Mascate, Mycate, the cape of Good Hope, and island of Ascension, the revolution of Golconda, description of Aracan and Pegu, an account of the coins of India and Persia, and observations concerning silk-worms. By J. Ovington, 8°. London 1696. This account was by a person well qualified to make such observations.
Travels and voyages into Asia, Afric, and America, performed by Mons. John Morquet, keeper of the cabinet of rarities to the king of France in the Tuilleries, in six books with cuts. Translated from the French by Nathaniel Pullen, gent. 8°. London 1696. For so many travels the relation is too short, however there are things in it worth observing.
A new voyage to the East-Indies, in the years 1690 and 1691, with a description of several islands, and of all the forts and garrisons in those parts, now in possession of the French, the customs, &c. of the Indians, by Mons. du Quisne. It has also a description of the Canaries, and of Senega and Gambia on the coast of Afric, with several cuts and a map of the Indies, and another of the Canaries. Made English from the Paris edition, 12°. London 1696. Of the French factories in those parts we have no such account; and few better for the bulk, of all other places the author undertakes to speak of.
The voyages and travels of sir John Mandevil, knt. showing the way to the Holy Land and Jerusalem, to the Great Cham, Prester John, India, and other countries, 4°. London 1696. It is needless to say much of this book, as being so universally allowed to be fabulous.
Two journeys to Jerusalem, the first an account of the travels of two English pilgrims, and accidents that befel them in their journey to Jerusalem, Grand Cairo, Alexandria, &c. The second of 14 Englishmen in 1669, with the antiquities, monuments, and memorable places mentioned in scripture; there are also ancient and modern remarks of the Jewish nation, the description of the Holy Land, captivities of the Jews, what became of the ten tribes, &c. Here is very much promised, but the performance scarce answers, the volume being too small, and looks more like a collection out of some real travels, than any true pilgrimage performed.
Travels through Germany, Bohemia, Swisserland, Holland, and other parts of Europe, describing the most considerable cities and palaces of princes; with historical relations and critical observations, upon ancient medals and inscriptions, by Charles Patin, m. d. of the faculty of Paris, made English and illustrated with copper cuts, 8°. London 169frac6over7;. For those who are curious in medals this piece will be most acceptable, yet this does not lessen the value of the descriptions and other relations.
A new discovery of a vast country in America extending above 4000 miles between New France and New Mexico, with a description of rivers, lakes, plants, and animals, manners, customs, and languages of the Indians, &c. by L. Hennepin; to which are added new discoveries in North America, and not published in the French edition, 8°. The promise is very great, but there is little or rather no proof of such a vast extent of land, which no man has yet seen, and is all framed upon conjectures, or what is as groundless, idle relations of Indians; the other parts have more in them, yet only what are collections out of better authors.
A late voyage to S. Kilda, the remotest of all the Hebrides or western isles of Scotland; with a history of the island, natural, moral and topographical, containing an account of the people’s religion and customs, of the fish, fowl, &c. As also of a late imposter there, pretending to be sent by St. John Baptist. By M. Martin, gent. 8°. London 1698. We have here the only history and account of this island, that ever perhaps appeared in any language: and being such, its reputation ought to hold good, till any better can appear to lessen it.
The history of the buccaniers of America, 8°.
A new account of East-India and Persia in eight letters, being nine years travels, containing observations of the moral, natural and artificial state of those countries, as the government, religion, laws, customs, soil, seasons, diseases, animals, vegetables, manufactures, trade, weights and measures, in the principal places there. By John Fryer, m. d. with maps and tables, London 1698.
A voyage to the East-Indies, giving an account of the isles of Madagascar and Mascarenhas, of Surat, the coast of Malabar, Goa, Gomron, Ormuz, and the coast of Brasil, &c. and of the religion, customs, trade, &c. of the inhabitants, also a treatise of distempers peculiar to the eastern countries. There is annexed an abstract of Mons. Reneford’s history of the East-Indies, with his proposals for improvement of the East-India company; written originally in French, by Mons. Dellon, m. d. 8°. London 1698. This work has been well received both in French and English.
A new voyage and description of the isthmus of America, giving an account of the author’s abode there, the form of the country, coasts, hills, rivers, wood, soil, weather, &c. trees, fruit, beasts, birds, fish, &c. the Indian inhabitants, their features, complexion, manners, customs, employments, marriages, feasts, hunting, computation, language, &c. with remarkable occurrences on the South sea and other places, by Lionel Wafer, with cuts, 8°. London 1698. A work that has been well received by the public.
A new account of North America, as it was lately presented to the French king; containing a more particular account of that vast country, and of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, than has been hitherto published, 8°. London 1698. We have here a French account of those countries, but more particularly what belongs to them, more exact than any other has delivered.
The new atlas, or travels and voyages in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, &c. 8°. London 1699. A little volume, which seems rather some collections out of books and travels, than any real voyage.
An account of a voyage from Archangel in Russia, in the year 1697, of the ship and company wintering near the north cape, in the latitude of 71 degrees: their manner of living, and what they suffered by the extreme cold; also remarkable observations of the climate, country and inhabitants; with a chart describing the place where they lay, land in view, soundings, &c. By Thomas Allison commander of the ship. This is the latest relation we have of any such northerly wintering, and well worth comparing with such others as write of those northern parts.
A relation of two several voyages made into the East-Indies, by Christopher Fryke surgeon, and Christopher Scwartzer, particularly describing those countries that are under the Dutch, 8°. London 1699. There is nothing extraordinary in them.
An account of a Dutch Embassy to the emperor of China, writ by one of the embassador’s retinue, fol. It is a translation from the Dutch original, and contains a description of the country, and all places they passed through, with 200 cuts drawn upon the spot; it treats also of the government of China, and manners of the people.
The description of the island of Ceylon by captain Knox. He lived 19 years upon the island, being taken, and kept there all this while by the Dutch, and had the opportunity of seeing the greatest part, and being informed of the rest by the natives. He gives a particular account of his manner of living, and accidents that befel him till he made his escape, and than treats very fully of all things that relate to the island. The Dutch, who are masters of Ceylon, have thought this account worth translating into their language, and it has found a good reception among them, which must add to its reputation.
Travels to Dalmatia, Greece and the Levant, by Mr. George Wheeler. He travelled with Mr. Spon, who published the same travels in French, but Mr. Wheeler remaining there behind him, has several curiosities that escaped the other, many medals and curious cuts of antiquities; so that his work seems the most complete, or at least both together confirm one another.
Terry’s voyage to the East-Indies, begun in the year 1615. 12°. He was chaplain to sir Thomas Roe, embassador to the mogol from K. James the first, and gives an account of some things in that country omitted by sir Thomas in his relation; but a great part of his book is filled up with discourses of his own, very little to the purpose.
An account of several late voyages and discoveries to the south and north, containing sir John Narbrough’s voyage through the straits of Magellan, to the coast of Chile, in the year 1669. Capt. Wood’s voyage for the discovery of the north-east passage, an. 1676. Capt. Tasman’s round Terra Australis, an. 1642, and Frederick Marten’s to Spitsberg and Greenland, an. 1671. With a supplement, containing observations and navigations to other northern parts; and an introduction, giving a brief account of several voyages. This collection has generally a good reputation, and seems very well to deserve it.
Collection of original voyages, published by capt. Hack, 8°. It contains Cowley’s voyage round the world, which is the same with Dampier’s mentioned in the next place; capt. Sharp’s voyage into the South-sea: both buccanier voyages. The third is capt. Wood’s voyage through the straits of Magellan, which is the same as sir John Narbrough’s before mentioned: and the fourth Mr. Roberts’s adventures among the corsairs of the Levant; so that there is little new in them, the three first being in other collections, and the last a very indifferent piece.
Dampier’s voyages in three volumes, 8°. The first a new voyage round the world, begun an. 1697. It describes the isthmus of America, and several of its coasts and islands, the passage by Tierra del Fuego, the isle of Guam, one of the Ladrones, the Philippines, Formosa, Luconia, Celebes, the cape of Good Hope, and island of S. Helena.
The second volume he calls a supplement to his voyage round the world, where he describes Tonquin, Achen, Malaca, &c. their product, inhabitants, manners, trade, &c. the countries of Campeche, Yucatan, New Spain in America; and discourses of trade, wind, breezes, storms, seasons, tides, currents of the torrid zone.
The third volume is his voyage to New Holland, which has no great matter of new discovery, but gives an account of the Canary islands, some of those of Cabo Verde, and the town and port of Baya de Totos los Santos in Brasil. All the three volumes have cuts and maps.
A collection of voyages by the Dutch East India company, being three to the north-east, two to the East-Indies, and one to the straits of Magellan. Little can be said in behalf of this work, being no more than what is to be seen in several other collections, 8°.
An historical relation of the island of Ceylon in the East-Indies, &c. illustrated with cuts and a map of the island, fol. The author, who lived long in that country, gives a general description of it, referring the reader to the map; and then the whole natural history.
Lassel’s travels through Italy, first printed in one volume, 12°. then in two. He was there four times, and gives a particular and curious account of most things of note there.
Relation of the discovery of the island Madeira, 4°. This is a discovery before it was peopled, and it continued lost again for several years, and has little of certainty.
Gage’s survey of the West-Indies, 8°. This book has gained some reputation.
The discoveries of John Lederer in three several marches from Virginia to the west of Carolina, and other parts of the continent, begun in March 1669, and ended in September 1670. 4°. This is a small account of the author’s, who was a German, and travelled further up the inland in that part, than any has yet done; is contained in about four sheets, published by sir William Talbot, in which there is much worth observing.
Relation of the travels and captivity of W. Davis, 4°. A small pamphlet of a few sheets.
Account of the captivity of Thomas Phelps at Machaness in Barbary, and his escape. Another small 4°. pamphlet.
The Golden Coast, or description of Guinea, in which are four English voyages to Guinea. A 4°. pamphlet, and has several pretty observations.
Herbert’s travels into divers parts of Africa, and Asia the Great, more particularly into Persia and Indostan, fol. These travels have always deservedly had a great reputation, being the best account of those parts written by an Englishman, and not inferior to the best of foreigners. What is peculiar in them, is the excellent description of all antiquities, the curious remarks on them, and the extraordinary accidents which often occur; not to mention other particulars common in the books of all other travellers, which would be too tedious for this place.
Brown’s travels in divers parts of Europe, fol. The author, a doctor of physic, has showed himself excellently qualified for a traveller by this ingenious piece, in which he has omitted nothing worthy the observation of so curious a person, having spent much time in the discovery of European rarities, and that in those parts which are not the common track of travellers, who content themselves with seeing France and Italy, and the Low-Countries; whereas his relation is of Hungary, Servia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Thessaly, Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Friuli; adding to these Germany, the Low-Countries, and a great part of Italy, of all which he has composed a work of great use and benefit.
The voyages and travels of J. Albert de Mandelslo, a gentleman belonging to the embassy sent by the duke of Holstein, to the duke of Moscovy and king of Persia, fol. These are also known by the name of Olearius’s travels; the first part, which is of Muscovy and Persia, being altogether his, who was secretary to the aforesaid embassy: but then the following part, which treats of all parts of the East-Indies, is solely Mandelslo’s, who left the embassadors and Olearius at Ispahan, and proceeded to view those remoter parts. It is needless to give any other character of this work, than to inform such as are unacquainted with it, that it has generally the reputation of being one of the most accomplished books of travels now extant.
Blunt’s travels to the Levant, is a very short account of a journey through Dalmatia, Sclavonia, Bosnia, Hungary, Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace, Rhodes and Egypt. The whole very concise, and without any curious observations, or any notable descriptions; his account of the religions and customs of those people, only a brief collection of some other travellers, the language mean, and not all of it to be relied on, if we credit others who have writ better.
A description of the present state of Samos, Nicaria, Patmos, and mount Athos; by Jos. Georgirenes, archbishop of Samos, 8°. This prelate resided long as archbishop at Samos, and saw Nicaria, as being a dependance of his diocese; but being weary of that function, he retired to Patmos, where he continued some time, and after visited mount Athos; so that all he delivers of these places, is as an eye-witness, and indeed the most particular account we have of them. The description is very exact, and what he says of the Greek religion may be relied on, as having so much reason to know it. All that can be excepted against, is what he says of the people in Nicaria, conversing at four or five miles distance, which indeed is not very credible. The preface the reader must observe is the translator’s, not the author’s, which is requisite to be known.
A voyage to Constantinople, by Mons. Grelot, 8°. translated into English by J. Philips. This though perhaps in the relation it may not contain much more than what may be picked out of other travellers who have writ of those parts, yet it exceeds them in fourteen curious cuts, the exactness of which is attested by several travellers that have been at Constantinople, and seen the places they represent; besides that all the ingenious people of Paris gave their approbation of the work, and upon their testimony the king himself having seen the draughts, thought fit to order the author to print it. So that we need not make any scruple to reckon it among the best books of travels; for as far as it reaches, which is to Constantinople, the Propontis, Hellespont, and Dardanels, with the places adjoining, the remarks of the religion, worship, government, manners, &c. of the Turks, are singular.
A description of the islands and inhabitants of Færoe, being 17 islands, subject to the king of Denmark, in 62 deg. of north lat. written in Danish and translated into English, 12°. The description is very particular and curious, and indeed more than could well be expected of those miserable northern islands; but the author was provost of the churches there, and had time to gather such an account, which is somewhat enlarged with philosophical observations on whirlpools and other secrets of nature. His character of the people is very favourable, and savours more of affection than sincerity; but the worst part of this small book, is first a collection of some romantic stories of the ancient inhabitants of Færoe; and in the next place, what is yet worse, a parcel of insignificant tales of spectres and illusions of Satan, as the author calls them.
Josselin’s two voyages to New England, 8°. In the first of these there is little besides the sea journal and common observations, unless it be an account of necessaries for planters. The second is a very particular description of all the country, its beasts, fowl, fish, plants, and trees, the manners and customs of the English inhabitants, the time of their settling there, with many other matters well worth observing. Of the Indians he has very little or nothing. The relation is curious and faithful, but in many places, where the author makes his own remarks, there are the oddest uncouth expressions imaginable, which look very conceited; but that is only as to his style. He concludes with what he calls chronological observations of America, much whereof no way relates to that part of the world, and the rest is of no great use, especially for that there are several errours in it.
Josselin’s New England rarities, a very small 8°. is a more particular account of the fowl, beasts, fishes, serpents, insects, plants, stones, minerals, metals, and earth of that country, than he has given in his voyages.
The adventures of M. T. S. an English merchant, taken prisoner by the Turks of Argier, and carried into the inland country of Afric, 12°. Containing a short account of Argier in the year 1648, of the country about it, and more particularly of the city Tremizen, where the author resided three years, going abroad with several parties which his master commanded, and relates some love intrigues he had with moorish women, as also very strange metamorphoses of men and other creatures turned into stone. The relation is plain and without artifice. At the end are added directions how to turn it out at the straits mouth with a westerly wind.
Wyche’s relation of the river Nile, its source and current, a small 8°. This is only a translation of a Portuguese jesuit’s account who lived in Ethiopia some years, being the same that is given by F. Alvarez and others of the society who lived there, and no doubt is very authentic, as delivered by an eye-witness, who was a person of probity. Other things relating to the unicorn, rhinoceros, bird of paradise, pelican, and phœnix, he writes upon hearsay, which deserve not the same credit, particularly when he says, that the rhinoceros has two horns, which we have seen in England to be otherwise; and of the great rarity of pelicans, which are also sufficiently known. But these are trifles; he discourses well of the reason of calling the Ethiopian emperor Prester John, on the Red-sea, and of the palm or cocoa-tree.
Ray’s travels, or his observations topographical, moral, and physiological, made in a journey through part of the Low-Countries, Germany, Italy, and France. He throughout it gives a very brief, yet ingenious description of every town he saw; observes some particulars of the customs and dispositions of the people; and curiously lays before us any thing that is rare in itself, or not known to us: but in his account of mineral waters, and of foreign plants, as one so understanding in those particulars, he outdoes any thing that could be expected from other travellers. He makes an excuse for the language, which he need not, it being well enough for plain notes of a traveller. Venice he describes more particularly than any other place; but of all universities, as being himself a scholar, he says more than of other towns. Of France not much, as having made but a short stay there. He closes his work with a Latin catalogue of plants he observed abroad, which either do not grow or are very rare in England. He has inserted Willoughby’s travels in Spain.
Thus have we run through all the books of travels of any note now extant, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, and English, placing each as near as we could in its own original language; and therefore those who miss any in the English, may look for them in the other languages, where they will certainly find them, if they were not originally in that tongue. We have not made any particular catalogue of Dutch, because they are not very many, and all of them will be found, as they were translated into other languages. As for the characters given of books, in some places it is quoted where they were had; but if such authority be not quoted, it is because the books have been purposely perused and examined, where such account could not be found of them. Lastly, the reader must observe, that in this catalogue, there is no mention made of any of the travels contained in this collection, which would be a needless repetition, they being all mentioned and characterised in the general preface.
THE first volume begins with Navarette’s historical, political, moral and religious account of China. The author was a dominican friar sent over by his order in the year 1646, to exercise his ecclesiastical function in the Philippine islands. But there finding no great encouragement, he ventured over into China, where he spent several years in the service of the christians he found there, learning the Chinese language, reading their histories, studying the points in controversy among the missionaries, and thoroughly qualifying himself to give a just account of that mighty monarchy. He wrote in Spanish, and was never translated till now. Those that have read him in the original give a high commendation of his learning, judgment, and sincerity; for in handling the particulars mentioned in the title of his book, he delivers nothing but upon the best grounds, as an eye-witness, where he could be so, or else upon the authority of Chinese histories, which he searched and very well understood, or upon the information of credible persons; ever mentioning on which of these the reader is to rely for the truth of what he relates. He often quotes his second volume, calling it, of controversies, the main subject of it being those points still in dispute among the missioners; this book (as we are informed) was printed, but by the interest and artifice of the jesuits, the edition was seized by the inquisition before it was published, so that very few copies of it got abroad.
He gives us an exact history of the empire of China, both ancient and modern; a description of the country and people, perfect in all circumstances; a genuine translation of the morals of Confucius their great philosopher; a full view of the Chinese learning, and a judicious explication of their opinions in religious matters: in which he is so careful and particular, that no other author whatsoever has given so complete an account of the religion of that nation. Nor does he confine himself to China, but in his way thither delivers many curious observations he made in his voyage to New-Spain, and gives a very good account of that country, as also of the Philippine islands (where he made a considerable stay), of the islands lying about them, and of other parts of India; and the accidents he met with in his return home, which was in the year 1673, after he had been abroad 26 years. On his arrival in Europe he repaired to the court of Rome, upon the matter of the controversies between the missionaries; where he was treated with all the honour due to a person of his merit: and soon after his return to Spain, he was promoted to an archbishopric in Hispaniola.
II. Baumgarten, whose travels we have here into Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, was a German nobleman, as appears by his life prefixed to his travels. His journal was not published by himself, but after his death collected from his own and his servant’s observations, both of them having kept diaries of all they saw; and therefore are two several witnesses for the truth of what is delivered. Here is not only a description of the countries above mentioned, but a great deal of their ancient history inserted; and what renders the relation yet more agreeable, is the great variety of occurrences in this voyage well worth the relating. In particular, we are obliged to him for his account of the discipline and manners of that strange and unparalleled society of men, the Mamalukes, who for a long time held the dominion of Egypt, and of whom there is scarce to be found any-where else a tolerable relation. His observations on the lives of the christian religious men in those parts will be delightful to the curious reader, as will also his remarks on the superstitions of the Mamalukes, Arabs, and other infidels. This author travelled in the year 1507. His journal never appeared before in English. The Latin copy here translated was corrected by Joseph Scaliger’s own hand.
III. Henry Brawern and Elias Herckemann were sent to the kingdom of Chili by the Dutch West-India company in the years 1642 and 1643. Brawern was ordered to endeavour to settle among the Indians of that country, who were then revolted from the Spaniards, as may appear by the advertisement before the voyage; but he died there, and so that design came to nothing. The main thing in this journal is an account of the voyage, and a description of the island of Castro lying off the south coast of Chili, as also of the river of Baldivia in that kingdom.
IV. The next tract in order in this collection is a description of the island of Formosa near the coast of China, where the Dutch had a considerable fort. Of the author we know no more, but that he was minister to the Dutch in that island. The description is but short, yet contains the most material points usually treated of in such relations.
V. The remarks on the empire of Japan give a particular account of the revenues of the emperor and all the great men of that empire. The rest of it may almost as soon be read as characterized, and is therefore left to the reader’s censure.
VI. Captain John Monck’s voyage into the northern parts, was performed by order of Christian IV. king of Denmark, in the years 1619 and 1620. The particular preface to it mentions the most material points, which therefore need not be repeated here. What may be added concerning the captain is, that he was one of the ablest seamen of his time; that he had excellent natural parts; was of a bold and daring spirit, proper to attempt those dangerous discoveries: and hardy to endure all the rigours of those frozen climates: but what is his greatest commendation in this place is, that he was a man of truth and integrity, as may appear by his narrative, in which all that have followed him could find nothing to contradict.
VII. To Beauplan’s description of Ukraine so particular a preface is prefixed, that little more can be added. In general, the reader will find many things both moral and natural, that are rare and remarkable. He lived in that country about the year 1640. He was excellently qualified to give this description, being a mathematician and an engineer; and he has performed it so well, that nothing seems to be wanting but the map, which he tells us was seized with his papers by the king of Poland.
VIII. The two voyages to Congo in Afric were performed, the first by Michael Angelo of Gattina and Denis de Carli of Piacenza, capuchins and missioners into that kingdom, in the year 1666. The first of these died there, after he had sent these particulars in letters to his friends. The other returned into Italy, where he composed a small book from which this is translated. It begins with their voyage from Italy to Lisbon, and thence to Brasil, which introduces a brief account of that country; and thence sailing over to Afric, treats of the Portuguese town of Loando on that coast, of the behaviour and manners of the people, their way of travelling, the product of the country, of the several princes, the proceedings of those and other missioners, the state of religion; and lastly, remarks in the author’s travels through Spain and France in his return home. More particulars whereof may be seen in the translator’s preface before the voyage.
IX. The other voyage to the same country was performed by F. Jerome Merolla da Sorrento in the year 1682, who was also a missioner. The vessel he went in being by contrary winds carried to the southward of the cape of Good Hope, the father delivers all that is remarkable in running along that southern coast of Afric, till his arrival at the port of Angola. Then he enters upon his business, with the discovery of Congo, and first missions to those parts; describes the river Zaire, relates the proceedings of the missioners, the superstitions and customs of the blacks, something of the wars betwixt the Portugueses and the blacks, and of the attempts of the Dutch and English to breed enmity betwixt those two nations. He describes the beasts, birds, fruits, and plants of Congo, and has many curious things not taken notice of by the former missionaries.
The first volume concludes with sir Thomas’s Roe’s journal, a valuable piece. He was sent embassador by king James the first to the great mogul, in 1615, at the charge of the East-India company, to settle peace and commerce. Being in that high post, he was the better able to give us a true account of the court of that mighty monarch, to show us all the customs and manners of it, and to instruct us in their policies, arts and maxims of state, which common travellers are not allowed to pry into. There is no cause to suspect the truth of his relation, because his negotiations in Turkey, where he was embassador, lately printed, show the extent of his genius, which was universal; and for integrity, that he was one of the honestest as well as ablest ministers that ever was employed by any court; and in this journal he had an eye particularly to serve those who had business to transact in India, and were to have business there in all future time. For a fuller account of this work we refer to the preface before the journal itself.
The second volume commences with the voyages and travels of Mr. John Nieuhoff, a Dutchman, and employed by the Dutch company to the East and West-Indies. They are divided into three parts. The first to Brasil, an. 1640, in which he went merchant supercargo to a ship of the West-India company. His description of Brasil is so exact and full, that he has left nothing for the diligence of those who came after him; for besides the general map, there are draughts of the towns of Arecite and Olinda, and cuts of all the strange beasts, birds, serpents, insects, trees, plants, and of the Indians themselves, all taken upon the spot. To which he adds the transactions in the war betwixt the Dutch and Portuguese in that country, he being there in the height of it, that is, from 1640 till 1649.
The second part contains the author’s travels in the East-Indies, begun in the year 1653. In the way thither he describes the islands of Cabo Verde, giving draughts of two of them, called S. Anthony and S. Vincent; and then a map of the cape of Good Hope. Thence he sails to Amboyna, of which, and of the Molucco islands, as also of Formosa, he leaves nothing worth relating untouched. The same he performs from China all along the coast of India and Persia; so plainly representing all things observable or strange there, that with the help of his cuts we seem to be conversing with the people of those parts, to see all their towns and living creatures, and to be thoroughly acquainted with their habits, customs and superstitions. But when he comes to Batavia, the metropolis of the Dutch dominions in the east, he there spares no labour or cost to express the greatness of that city; and this not only with words, but with abundance of fine draughts, representing, besides the town and harbour, the church, the markets, the town-house, the hospital, and many other places and structures. All the habits of those parts are also represented. In short, the whole work contains eighty-two cuts, which being all drawn to truth, and not fancy, illustrate the work, and render it extraordinary valuable. All this is interwoven with discourses of the wars betwixt the Dutch and Indians in several parts; and many remarks of their history, both political and natural.
The third part is a voyage to the east-side of Afric, in the year 1672, which is very short and imperfect; Mr. Nieuhoff being unfortunately killed in the island of Madagascar by the natives.
After Nieuhoff follow Smith’s adventures, travels and observations, beginning with his travels in the Low Countries, France and Italy, proceeding thence to the wars betwixt the Turks and Transilvanians, where the author served; and being taken prisoner and carried into Tartary, he speaks somewhat of that country: making his escape from the Tartars, he crossed all Europe, and passed into Barbary: hence he went to Virginia, the Summer Islands, and New England, and has left us the history of the English settlements in those places, and their state from the year 1624 to 1629, thence he passed to the Leeward Islands, of which he likewise gives an account.
Next to Smith’s adventures the reader will find two journals of men left in the frozen regions of Greenland and Spitzbergen, to winter there, and make some observations on those countries.
The first of these is of seven sailors, who voluntarily consented to stay in the isle of Maurice, on the coast of Greenland. These kept an exact diary, setting down the wind, weather, and all other particulars they could observe, from the twenty-sixth of August 1633, till the twenty-ninth of April 1634. The method is plain, and such as might be expected from sailors; and as there is nothing in the relation that seems incredible, so neither is there any ground to call the truth of it in question, because they all died one after another, and left this journal behind them without any alteration: and doubtless as they felt themselves declining, they would have no inclination to impose on the world.
The second journal is of seven other Dutch sailors, left to winter at Spitzbergen in the year 1634, where they also kept a diary from the eleventh of September till the twenty-sixth of February, when being spent with the scurvy, and their limbs benumbed with the winter’s cold, they could not help themselves, and like the others were all found dead at the return of the Dutch fleet in 1635.
The next is a very brief relation of a shipwreck in Spitzbergen in 1646, and of the taking up of four of the men who escaped, after a wonderful manner; yet three of them died soon after, and only one returned home.
The descriptions of Iceland and Greenland were written about the year 1645, by M. la Peyrere, a learned Frenchman, author of the book about the Præ-Adamites, secretary to the French embassy at Copenhagen, at the request of the ingenious Mons. de la Mothe la Vayer, and sent to him; of Iceland, a country long inhabited, though so cold and northerly, he delivers something of ancient history, besides the description of the land, the manners of the people, and other things remarkable. In Greenland he follows much the same method, and both of them are well worthy to be read with attention, as delivering one of the most accomplished narratives we have of those parts, and esteemed as such by Mons. de la Mothe la Vayer, who was a very competent judge.
The next in order is captain Thomas James’s voyage, an. 1631, for the discovery of the north-west passage into the South-sea: setting sail in May, he ran into the latitude of 63 degrees and upwards. ’Tis very observable throughout the voyage, that we shall scarce meet with so continual a series of storms, and all sorts of hardships, miseries and calamities, as this captain run through; who after struggling till September with tempests, cold and uninhabited shores, at last was driven upon a desert frozen island, and there forced to winter in miserable distress. The account he gives of the extremity of the cold in those quarters, and his observations on it, are curious, and were very useful to Mr. Boyle, in the experiments he made about cold. But the general esteem his relation is in among the ingenious, will sufficiently recommend it. He returned safe home with most of his crew.
The Muscovite embassador’s journey by land from Moscow to China in 1645 is so short that it requires little to be said of it, but that it describes the way from Moscow to Peking, and shows us that the city is the same with the so much talked of and little known Cambalu, mistakenly supposed to be in Tartary. This embassador being never admitted to audience, could learn nothing of the Chinese court, and therefore does not pretend to inform us of any thing that relates to it.
Wagner’s travels in Brasil and the East-Indies about 1633, which are annexed to this embassy, are as short, and may so soon be read over, that it is needless to give a character of them.
The life of Christopher Columbus has a short preface to it, partly the author’s, and partly the translator’s, which is sufficient to inform the reader both of the contents of the book, and the value of it above others that treat of the same subject. And indeed nothing can be described more authentic, if we will give credit to original papers, and those from so good a hand as the admiral himself and his own son, who bore part with him in some of his enterprises. But we must not omit to observe, that under the title of his life, is contained the narration of all that was done in the discovery of the West-Indies in his time, about 1492, besides abundance of curious remarks, scarce to be found in any other author that writes upon this subject.
Greaves’s account of the pyramids, needs little to be said of it. The universal approbation it has received is a greater character than can be here given of it; the judicious Mons. Thevenot set such a value upon it, that he translated it into French. In a word, it is the most accomplished narrative we have of those wonderful piles, and may spare all other travellers the trouble of writing of them. He has said all that can be expected; he instructs us who were the founders of the pyramids, the time of erecting them, the motive and design of them, and then describes them exactly, and gives draughts of them.
His Roman foot and denarius added to his pyramids, is another piece of excellent literature, to give light into the weights and measures of the ancients.
Christopher Borri’s account of Cochin-China, where he lived about the year 1620, closes the second volume. It is short, but contains many curious things, being full of matter, without superfluity of words to swell it to a volume.
The historical relation of the kingdom of Chili, by Alonzo de Ovalle, about the year 1646, has the first place in the third volume. It is the only good account of that kingdom; the author, being a jesuit, inserted the relations of several miracles in this work, which the translator has in great measure retrenched; for the rest, his veracity is unquestioned. The author himself is so modest, as to excuse any fault that may be found with his work, alleging its being written at Rome, where he was procurator for those of his order in Chili; and, being so far from home, ill provided with papers and all materials for composing a history of this sort: but whosoever reads it, will find more ground for commendation than need of excuse, nothing of the kind being more complete, full and accurate. Something might be here said as to the particulars contained in this book, but that the author and translator have done it already in two several prefaces before the book. The translator gives the author and his work that honourable character they deserve. The author in his preface sums up the contents of his book, declares how sincerely he has dealt, in order to deliver nothing but the truth; gives his reasons for what he says relating to Peru and Mexico, and lastly demonstrates how this work may be diverting and useful to all sorts of readers.
After Ovalle, follow sir William Monson’s naval tracts. Sir William was a gentleman well descended, but of small fortune, as he confesses, which made him take to the sea, where he served many years in several capacities, till merit raised him to the degree of an admiral, first under queen Elizabeth, and then under king James and king Charles the first. Being bred from his youth at sea, and being a man of excellent natural parts, there is not the least shadow of reason to make a doubt of his capacity in maritime affairs. His integrity will sufficiently appear to any that reads him, for he every-where carries such a visible ingenuity in what he delivers, that it plainly appears to be written with a true zeal for the public, and without prejudice or affectation. The excellent advice he gives to his eldest son, is a good instance of his virtuous inclination; and the small estate he declares he leaves him, after so many toils and dangers, plainly shows the honesty of his life. Thus much as to the author; as to his tracts there is a preface before them, to which the reader is referred for other particulars not touched upon in this place.
The first book is chiefly a collection of every year’s actions in the war against Spain, on our own and the Spanish coasts, and in the West-Indies. Here the reader is not to expect a full narrative of these affairs, for many of them are so brief that no more is said of them, but the force they are undertaken with, and the success of the enterprise; yet the design is to show the reasons, either why they miscarried, or why so little advantage was made where they succeeded. In some he is more particular than in others; and what perhaps may be still of use, he at last sets down the abuses in the fleet, and the methods for redressing them.
His second book continues somewhat of the method of the first, beginning with fatherly instructions to his son; whence he proceeds to the peace with Spain, which put an end to the warlike naval actions, yet not to his command, being employed against pirates. He inveighs against the Dutch, shows the ill management of a design against Algier, and makes very notable remarks on the attempt upon Cadiz by king Charles the first, proposing methods how Spain might have been much more endamaged, with other particulars about the shipping of England, and sovereignty of the seas.
The third book treats only of the admiralty, that is, of all things relating to the royal navy, from the lord high admiral to the meanest persons employed ashore, and to the cabin-boys at sea; and from a complete fleet to the smallest vessel and part of it, with instructions for all officers, the size of all sorts of guns, all sorts of allowances on board the king’s ships, and excellent directions for fighting at sea; an account of all the harbours in these three kingdoms, with many more curious matters accurately handled.
The fourth book is of another nature from any of the rest, being a brief collection of Spanish and Portuguese discoveries and conquests in Africa, Asia and America, with some voyages round the world, and somewhat of English and French plantation.
The fifth book is full of projects or schemes, for managing affairs at sea to the best advantage for the nation.
This sixth and last treats of fishing, to show the infinite addition of wealth and strength it would bring to England; with all instructions necessary for putting such a design in execution.
This third volume ends with the description of the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, and the island of Ceylon in the East-Indies, about the year 1649, by Philip Baldæus, a Dutch minister, who lived several years in those parts. The preface to the work gives a general idea of it, and of the author, to which the reader may recur to avoid repetition; but for his further information let it be observed, that he first gives a brief account of the actions, and conquests of the Portugueses in those parts, and then an ample and full relation how the Dutch expelled them; where we shall find more particulars concerning those affairs than have been hitherto made public in English, which is a very considerable piece of history. And though he only promises to treat of the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel on the continent, yet to lead the more methodically into it, he begins with the description of Cambaya, the treaties of the Dutch with the great mogul, the trade of several European nations along that coast; and leads us even into the Red Sea, describing many places of note upon those shores, and even up the inland country, acquainting the reader, at the same time, with all that is requisite to be known of the mahometans in those parts. Hence he descends to treat of all the great peninsula on this side Ganges, of its product, the rivers Nile and Ganges, and more particularly than any other has done of the Malabar language. After this he proceeds to Ceylon, where he enlarges more than upon the rest, as having lived longest there, and concludes with a large account of the idolatry of the East-India pagans.
The first voyage in the fourth volume is that of Dr. Francis Gemelli Careri round the world, a piece of extraordinary curiosity, altogether new, and but lately published in Italian in six octavo volumes, and now first in English, the author returning home from his long travels but at the end of the year 1698. His learning, as being a doctor of the civil law, and his excellent natural qualifications, have rendered his work so complete, that indeed it seems to be one of the most excellent pieces of this nature now extant. Nothing can be more diverting, as having that extraordinary variety which the whole compass of the earth affords, and that in the noblest and best parts of it. An air of truth appears throughout it, there being nothing but what is told with much modesty, and what is probable and natural enough in itself; besides that the most part of what is here related may be found dispersed in many other travellers, who saw but pieces of what Gemelli took a view of entire. His remarks and observations are extraordinary curious, because he was not only capable to make them, but had leisure, that being his only business, and money to carry him through. In fine, he has an excellent brief collection of history annexed to every part of his travels, which informs the reader of the ancient as well as the present state of the countries there spoken of. He is exact for the most part in setting down the distances of places, a great help to future travellers. His account of plants and fruits peculiar to the East and West-Indies, with the draughts and representations of them, is a good help to natural history, together with his other descriptions, and his observations of customs, manners, habits, laws, religions, and all other things in those vast regions he passed through. In particular, what he says in that part of his voyage which is from Aquapulco till his leaving the continent of America, is, besides what is in Gage, almost the only account we have of the inland parts of that continent. There is a preface to the work which gives a full account of it.
An account of the shipwreck of a Dutch vessel on the coast of the isle of Quelpaert, which happened in the year 1653, together with the description of the kingdom of Corea. This was originally writ in Dutch by one that calls himself the secretary of the ship then lost, who lived thirteen years in those countries, and at last made his escape with some others. It was thought worthy to be translated into French, and now lastly into English. ’Tis the only account yet extant of the kingdom of Corea, which lies on the east of China, being a peninsula joined to that mighty empire by a small neck of land: and it is no wonder we should be so very much strangers to this country, since besides its remoteness, the author tells us they admit of no strangers; or if any have the misfortune as he had, to fall into their hands, they never return home, unless they can make as wonderful an escape as he did. The relation itself has a particular preface annexed to it by the translator, to which the reader is referred.
Next follows a relation of a voyage from Spain to Paraguay, about 1691, by F. Antony Sepp, and F. Antony Behme, German jesuits; with a description of that country, the remarkable things in it, and residences of the missioners. We have a particular account of their voyage; they landed at Buenos Ayres, of which town they give a very good description, and of the great river of Plate which runs by it; and proceeding up into the country from Buenos Ayres, they treat distinctly of the several cantons of Paraguay.
After this is placed a fragment translated out of Spanish, concerning the islands of Salomon in the South-sea, discovered by the Spaniards about 1695, but hitherto never conquered or inhabited by any European nation. It was inserted in Thevenot’s collection of voyages. Both the beginning and conclusion are wanting; which, it seems, have perished through the negligence of those intrusted with the original papers. However, by good fortune, as much has been preserved, as serves to give us some knowledge of those islands, and of the nature and disposition of their inhabitants. And because so little is known of those places, this fragment was judged not unworthy a place in this collection.
The history of the provinces of Paraguay, Tucumany, Rio de la Plata, Parana, Guaira, Urvaica, and Chili, was written in Latin by F. Nicholas del Techo a jesuit. The antecedent account of Paraguay, by F. Sepp, has lightly touched upon part of this subject, but that only relates to one of the provinces here named; whereas this extends from the North to the South-sea, and includes all that vast tract of land in America, lying south of Peru and Brasil. The greatest part of these countries have not been so fully described, nor the manners and customs of those savage Indians so fully made known, as they are by this author, who spent no less than twenty-five years among them. But to avoid repetitions, what more is performed in this work may be seen in the particular preface before it.
Pelham’s wonderful preservation of eight men left a whole winter in Greenland 1630, is the sixth treatise in this volume. The preservation was indeed very remarkable, especially considering how unprovided they were left of all necessaries for wintering in such a dismal country, it being accidental and no way designed. This narrative has nothing of art or language, being left by an ignorant sailor, who, as he confesses, was in no better a post than gunner’s mate, and that to a Greenland fisher; and therefore the reader can expect no more than bare matter of fact, delivered in a homely style, which it was not fit to alter, lest it might breed a jealousy that something had been changed more than the bare language.
Dr. John Baptist Morin’s journey to the mines in Hungary, about 1650, is a very short relation of those mines, the ore they afford, the damps, the springs in them, the miners, the manner of discharging the water, and other particulars relating to them.
Ten-Rhyne’s account of the Cape of Good Hope, about 1673, and of the Hottentots, the natives of that country, is very curious. After a short description of the cape and table mountain, he describes the birds, beasts, fishes, insects, and plants found in that part of the world; and then succinctly treats of people, their persons, garments, dwellings, furniture, disposition, manners, way of living, and making war, traffic, sports, religion, magistrates, laws, marriages, children, trades, physic, and language.
The fourth volume concludes with Captain Richard Bolland’s draught of the straits of Gibraltar, in 1675, and his observations on its currents.
New Bridge-street, London.
The Letters
Christ Church, Oxford — Locke was admitted to Christ Church in the autumn of 1652 at the age of twenty. Although a capable student, Locke was irritated by the undergraduate curriculum of the time. He found the works of modern philosophers, such as René Descartes, more interesting than the classical material taught at the university.
Hall of Christ Church, from the book ‘Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal, and Popular Antiquities’, 1845