But

the Canary or Fortunate Iflands. By what accident they were led to the difcovery of those fmall ifles, which lie near five hundred miles from the Spanish coaft, and above a hundred and fifty miles from the coaft of Africa, contemporary writers have not explained. about the middle of the fourteenth century, the people of all the different kingdoms into which Spain was then divided, were accustomed to make piratical excurfions thither, in order to plunder the inhabitants, or to carry them off as flaves. Clement VI. in virtue of the right claimed by the holy fee to difpofe of all countries poffeffed by infidels, erected thofe ifles into a kingdom, in the year one thoufand three hundred and forty-four, and conferred it on Lewis de la Cerda, defcended from the royal family of Caftile. But that unfortunate prince, destitute of power to affert his nominal title, having never vifited the Canaries, John de Bethencourt, a Norman baron, obtained a grant of them from Henry III, of Caftile s). Bethencourt, with the valour and good fortune which diftinguifhed the adventurers of his country, attempted and effected the conqueft, and the poffeffion of the Canaries remained for fome time in his family, as a fief held of the crown of Caftile. Previous to this expedition of Bethencourt, his country

s) Viera y Clavijo Notic. de la Hiftor. de Canaria I. 268, &c. Glas Hift. c. 1.

men fettled in Normandy are faid to have vifited the coast of Africa, and to have proceeded far to the fouth of the Canary islands. (1365) But their voyages thither feem not to have been undertaken in confequence of any public or regular plan for extending navigation and attempting new difcoveries. They were either excurfions fuggefted by that roving piratical fpirit, which defcended to the Normans from their ancestors, or the commercial enterprises of private merchants, which attracted fo little notice, that hardly any memorial of them is to be found in contemporary authors. In a general furvey of the progress of difcovery, it is fufficient to have mentioned this event; and leaving it among thofe of dubious existence, or of fmall importance, we may conclude, that though much additional information concerning the remote regions of the Eaft had been received by travellers who visited them by land, navigation, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, had not advanced beyond the ftate to which it had attained before the downfal of the Roman empire.

First regular plan of difcovery formed by the Portuguese.

At length the period arrived, when Providence decreed that men were to pass the limits within which they had been fo long confined, and open to themselves a more ample field wherein to display their talents, their enterprise, and courage. The firft confiderable efforts towards

this were not made by any of the more powerful states of Europe, or by those who had applied to navigation with the greatest affiduity and fuccefs. The glory of leading the way in this new career was referved for Portugal, one of the fmalleft and most inconfiderable of the European kingdoms. As the attempts of the Portuguese to acquire the knowledge of those parts of the globe with which mankind were then unacquainted, not only improved and extended the art of navigation, but roused such a spirit of curiosity and enterprise, as led to the discovery of the New World, of which I propofe to write the hiftory, it is necessary to take a view of the rife, the progrefs, and fuccefs of their various naval operations. It was in this fchool that the difcoverer of America was trained; and unless we trace the steeps by which his inftructors and guides advanced, it will be impoffible to comprehend the circumstances which fuggefted the idea, or facilitated the execution of his great defign.

Circumftances which led to this.

Various circumftances prompted the Portuguefe to exert their activity in this new direction, and enabled them to accomplifa undertakings apparently fuperior to the natural force of their monarchy. The kings of Portugal, having driven the Moors out of their dominions, had acquired power, as well as glory, by the

fuccefs of their arms against the infidels. By their victories over them, they had extended the royal authority beyond the narrow limits within which it was originally circumfcribed in Portugal, as well as in other feudal kingdoms. They had the command of the national force, could roufe it to act with united vigour, and, after the expulfion of the Moors, could employ it without dread of interruption from any domeftic enemy. By the perpetual hoftilities carried on for feveral centuries against the Mahometans, the martial and adventurous fpirit which diftinguifhed all the European nations during the middle ages, was improved and heightened among the Portuguese. A fierce civil war towards the clofe of the fourteenth century, occafioned by a difputed fucceffion, augmentedthe military ardour of the nation, and formed or called forth men of such active and daring genius, as are fit for bold unterdakings. The fituation of the kingdom. bounded on every fide by the dominions of a more powerful neighbour, did not afford free scope to the activity of the Portuguese by land, as the ftrength of their monarchy was no match for that of Caftile. But Portugal was a maritime state, in which there were many commodious harbours; the people had begun to make fome progrefs in the knowledge and practice of navigation; and the fea was open to them, presenting the only field of

A

enterprise in which they could distinguish themfelves.

First attempt.

Such was the ftate of Portugal, and fuch the difpofition of the people, when John I. furnamed the Baftard obtained fecure poffeffion of the crown by the peace concluded with Caftile in the year one thousand four hundred and eleven. He was a prince of great merit, who, by fuperior courage and abilities had opened his way to a throne which of right did not belong to him, He inftantly perceived that it would be impoffible to preferve public order, or domeftic tranquillity, without finding fome employment for the restless spirit of his fubjects. With this view, he affembled a numerous fleet at Lif bon, compofed of all the ships that he could fit out in his own kingdom, and of many hired from foreigners. This great armament was deftined to attack the Moors fettled on the coast of Barbary. (1412,) While it was equipping, a few veffels were appointed to fail along the western shore of Africa bounded by the Atlantic ocean, and to discover the unknown countries fituated there. From this inconfiderable attempt, we may date the commencement of that spirit of discovery which opened the barriers that had fo long fhut out mankind from the knowledge of one half of the terreftrial globe.

: At the time when John fent forth thefe fhips on this new voyage. the art of navigation was