САМЕО XVIII. Sentence of death passed on Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. 1554. Latimer said he was not answering for what other men had done; and Dr. Weston, after a discourse on the danger of being outside Noah's ark, dismissed the assembly, which had only held its tongue and listened decorously during the answer of the feeblest of the three men who had been placed there, not to be heard, but condemned. The doctors, however, felt that they had allowed Weston to hurry them into unbecoming conduct, and they took advantage of Archdeacon Harpsfield having to go through the disputations for his doctor's degree to cause him to debate the point with Cranmer, hoping that he would confute the arguments that had been only bawled down. The dispute was very long, and at the end Cranmer was publicly thanked for his modesty and moderation, and all the doctors present took off their caps. The next day all three were led out together to hear themselves asked, for the last time, whether they would change their opinions. "We are not minded to turn," they said. Then the Court, though only of priests, adjudged the three Bishops to be guilty of heresy, and therefore under sentence of death by fire. The Archbishop replied, "From your judgment I appeal to the judgment of God Almighty, trusting to be present in Heaven with Him, for whose Presence on the Altar I am condemned." Ridley said: "Although I be not of your company, yet doubt I not but my name is written in another place, whither this sentence will send us sooner than we should in course of nature have come;" while Latimer cried out, "I thank God most heartily that He hath prolonged my life to this end, that I may in this case glorify God by that kind of death." Weston muttered, "If you go to Heaven in this faith, then will I never come thither." But Dr. Glyn, in the name of his colleagues, asked Ridley's pardon for the unscholarly way in which the debate had been conducted. They were taken away-Ridley to the house of Alderman Irish, Latimer to the bailiff's, Cranmer to Bocardo, whence he sent a protest against the manner of their trial; and, though he was not answered or noticed, the Council evidently felt that it had not been a proper or reasonable trial, and did not act upon it, keeping them, however, in their several places of confinement. They had all three been really guilty of high treason, but the matter of doctrine was held as the more important. THE reign of Edward VI. is memorable for the first English Arctic Expedition. The spirit of exploration had affected the greater part of Europe, and the English had always regretted that the caution and economy of Henry VII. had prevented him from becoming the patron of Columbus. The Bristol merchants, especially the Canynges and the Thornes, were specially inflamed with eagerness in the matter. Those of Bristol were continually, according to the Spanish ambassador to Henry VII., sending out ships to search for an unknown island of Brazil, somewhere in the far Atlantic. The report of that mysterious land had lured many fancies. The ancient Greeks believed that Ulysses, unable to rest at home, had sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules for an unknown world. Dante had clenched the belief by a piteous interview with Ulysses in the Inferno, where his condemned spirit says : "Five times above us had the orb of night Lit o'er the sea its radiance, and in turn While o'er the unfathom'd ways our bark was borne, A dim mount at the far horizon's bourne, Loftiest of hills that ever eye discerned, CAMEO Arctic Expedition. 1497, САМЕО Cabot's 1497-99. Joy smote upon our souls, joy soon to weeping turned; A mighty blast swept from the mountain's brow In the wind's stress, dipped down and rose the prow, High on the stern the downward plunging prow, The Irish believed in isles of the blest beyond their western coast, the Norsemen had actually discovered and made a sort of settlement in what they called Vineland, somewhere in North America; the unfortunate runaway lovers, Robert Machem and his Anna had actually lived at Madeira, the brave Infante Enrique of Portugal had discovered the Canary Isles, and the great Genoese had put the crown on the work by his discovery of the lovely islets, which he and all the world took to be the further side of the Indies-the West Indies. The men of Bristol traded with Don Enrique's settlement in the Canaries for soap and other articles of British produce, and much desired to go further. Among these Bristol merchants was one Giovanni Gabotto, a Venetian by birth, but always known as John Cabot, who in 1496 obtained from Henry VII. letters patent for himself and his three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sanzio, authorising them to navigate the eastern, western, and northern sea, under the English flag, to discover the lands of the Gentiles, infidels, or other heathens, and set up King Henry's banner there, paying him a fifth part of any profits they might gain. In May, 1497, Cabot sailed with his son Sebastian in two ships of their own, with three hundred sailors, accompanied by three lesser ships, and in June they reached land, which he took to be "Cathay, the country of the great Khan," visited two hundred years before by his countryman Marco Polo. He landed, but saw no human being, though he found some snares for game, a needle for making nets, and trees evidently felled by man. On this he returned to his ships, and after sailing along the coast, expecting to find the north-west passage, returned to England. The place is supposed to have been what is now called Labrador, after many changes of name. The King was proud of the discovery, and promised Cabot ten ships to sail with next year, to be manned by all the prisoners then in ward, except those for high treason. Old Cabot walked about in silk attire, and was much admired; but he left his son Sebastian to sail with this delightful crew in 1498, several merchants sending "slight and gross wares" to trade with the natives. They sailed at first towards Iceland and coasted along America as far as Chesapeake bay, but they did not dispose of their wares. The King grew tired of the unprofitable voyages, and though Sebastian sailed again in 1499, we know nothing of his voyage. There is reason to think that he resided for a time in his "New-found-land," and was visited by other adventurers, who brought home wild cats, hawks, and popinjays as presents to the King. CAMEO XIX. Cabot. However, he was in Spain, acting as map-maker and nautical adviser Sebastian to old Fernando the Catholic, till the cabals in the young court of Charles V. sent him back to England. There he persuaded Henry VIII. to send him out to "go in at the back side of the New-found-land until they came to the back side and south seas of the Indies Occidental, to return through the Straits of Maghelhaen." They did actually make their way into Davis' and Hudson's Straits, and thus it is somewhat hard measure in their chronicler to ascribe their failure in their programme to the faint heart of Sir Thomas Sprott, who shared the command with Cabot. Henry VIII. did not like these expeditions, and only one more took place in his time. John Thorne, a Bristol merchant of great wealth and reputation, and Dr. Lee, who had been Ambassador to Charles V., persuaded him to send Cabot again to find the north-west passage, using the quaint argument that there was perpetual daylight at the North Pole, "a great commodity for the navigators." In 1527 accordingly, Cabot with two ships left Plymouth, but they found none of the riches of Cathay, only ice-bound islands, and a country full of woods and mosses, and marked by "footing of divers great beasts." They gave up their enterprise at what still bears their name of Newfoundland. Henry VIII. allowed no more such enterprises, though he treated the Thornes with great favour, and Sebastian tried to get employment in Spain and Italy in vain, till he drifted back to England, and found more willing auditors in the council of Edward VI. A company was formed in London for discovery by sea, especially of the northern route to India. It was called "The Mystery Company and Fellowship of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Unknown Lands," and the king himself took much interest in the plans. Sebastian Cabot himself was too old for the hardships of such a voyage, but a leader was found in Sir Hugh Willoughby, a Warwickshire knight, of good family, who had served in the Scottish wars, and whose total inexperience of the sea does not seem to have been thought any objection to the choice. 66 There were five ships: the Bona Esperanza, which carried Sir Hugh, and had William Jefferson for sailing master; the Edward Bonaventura, under Richard Chancellor; and the Bona Confidentia, under Cornelius Darfoorth. Each vessel was sheathed in lead, and had two boats, and instructions were carefully drawn up by Cabot, prohibiting all card-playing, drams, or devilish games," and instructing the crew not to be afraid if they saw the natives in lions' or bears' skins, or with long bows and arrows, since such were often assumed only "to feare strangers." Less conscientiously Cabot advised that the natives might be made to drink, that the secrets of their hearts might oze out. This voyage was to attempt, not the north-western, but the north astern, passage round the north of Norway and Russia; and young King 1527. CAMEO Sir Hugh 1553. Edward furnished them with letters in Latin, Greek, English, and other languages, to all kings beyond the empire of Cathay, i.e., China. No less than 6,000l. was spent on the outfit of the ships; and not only was Sir Hugh Willoughby a man of mark, but Chancellor was the husband of one of the daughters of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, now in full power. Thus the whole court, as well as the nation, were interested. The vessels set sail in the summer of 1553, from the Thames. At Ratcliff there were numerous relatives of the crew bidding them a last farewell. At Greenwich there was an immense number of people crowding the houses and towers to see the mariners, who were all clothed in watchet, i.e., blue, and stood exchanging greetings cheerily. The Privy Council waved adieux from the palace windows, but the young king was too ill to show himself. At Gravesend old Cabot came on board with a large party of gentlemen and ladies, tasted their cheer, rewarded the sailors, and gave them his last advice; but they were so long getting out of the Thames that they were not fairly at sea till the 23rd of June. It was the first time any Englishmen had passed the North Cape. There the ships soon lost sight of one another. Chancellor reached Wardhuys, in Norway, and waited in vain for the rest, then sailed on, and entered what he considered to be the land of perpetual sunshine; nor was he there long enough to see night begin again, for he found his way into the White Sea, and landed at the mouth of the Dwina, where he found a Russian governor, to whom he gave King Edward's letters, and these were forwarded to Moscow. The Czar was Ivan the Terrible, then in the brightness of a promising youth, too soon overclouded by that frightful insanity which is so often the effect and the scourge of despotism. He was.delighted with Edward's letter, and begged that the English captain would visit him. Chancellor was conducted 1,500 miles to Moscow, and was delighted with his reception, having feasted in the Kremlin with the young Czar out of plates and goblets of pure gold; and he brought home a most courteous reply and offer of alliance with the English, reaching home in the spring of 1554. Meanwhile nothing had been heard of Willoughby, nor does more seem to have been known till, in 1555, Chancellor was sent back to Russia to arrange a treaty of alliance with Ivan. It then appeared that in the last summer some Russian fishermen had seen some large vessels near the black, craggy islet of Nokojuff, near Nova Zembla. Examining them, they found the bodies of seventy men, the captain himself sitting stiff and frozen at his cabin table, on which lay his diary, open. Happily the fishermen respected them, and information was sent to the Czar, who had everything sealed up, and made all over to the English. It appeared by Sir Hugh's diary that he had sailed on to the north-east till he was caught in a whirlpool off Cape Natai Noss, and this decided him not to go on. If he had he would have reached the White Sea and the great monastery of Ssolovetz; but |