But the fame of John is not confined to his victories over the Castilians, or to successful expeditions made by himself in person into the Moorish territories. These, though they show him to have been a man of talents and courage, are not the events by which he is best known to posterity. With his name the history of navigation and the progress of discovery are inseparably connected : a department of enterprise and skill in which Portugal has gained almost unrivalled distinction. At the period at which we are arrived, the art of navigation was still very imperfect. " Though Africa," says Dr Robertson," lay so near to Portugal, and the fertility of the countries already known on that continent invited men to explore it more fully, the Portuguese had not ventured to sail be yond Cape Non. That promontory, as its name imports, was hitherto considered as a boundary which could not be passed. But the nations of Europe had now acquired as much knowledge as emboldened them to disregara the prejudices and to correct the errors of their ancestors. The long reign of ignorance, the constant enemy of every envious inquiry, and of every new undertaking, was ap proaching to its period. The light of science began to dawn. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans began to be read with admiration and profit. The sciences cultivated by the Arabians were introduced into Europe by the Moors settled in Spain and Portugal, and by the Jews, who were very numerous in both these kingdoms.
Geometry, astronomy, and geography, the sciences on which the art of navigation is founded, became objects of stu-ious attention. The memory of the discoveries made by the ancients was revived, and the progress of their navigation and commerce began to be traced. Some of the causes (particularly the inquisition) which have ob structed the cultivation of science in Portugal during this century and the last, did not exist, or did not operate in the same manner in the fifteenth century ; and the Portu guese, at that period, seem to have kept pace with the nations on this side the Alps in literary pursuits." (His tory of America, book i.) Such were the circumstances of the age when King John, urged partly by ambitious mo tives, and partly instigated to the measure in order to find employment for the restless spirit of his subjects, fitted out two armaments, the one destined to attack the Moors set tled on the coast of Africa, the other, consisting only of a few vessels, appointed to sail along the western shore of Africa bounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and to discover the unknown countries situated there. The expedition against the Moors ended successfully ; while, what was still more important, the vessels sent on the discovery doubled that formidable cape which had terminated the progress of former navigators, and proCeeded 160 miles beyond it, to Cape Bojador. " As its rocky cliffs," says the historian just quoted, " which stretched a considerable way into the Atlantic, appeared more dreadful than the promontory they had passed, the Portuguese commanders durst not attempt to sail round it, but returned to Lisbon, more satisfied with having advanced so far, than ashamed of having ventured no farther." Inconsiderable as this voyage was, it increased the pas sion for discovery which began to arise. Nor was Portu gal deficient in men of talents and enterprise, capable of giving it a proper impulse and direction. Not only was John himself anxious to patronise and forward any plan which had for its object the progress of discovery, but Prince Henry, his fourth son, was, from his great talents and ardent enthusiasm, peculiarly formed for espousing a cause which not only beneficial, but splendid and honourable. He had cultivated, according to Dr. Robertson, the arts and sciences, which were then un known and despised by persons of his rank. He had
applied, with peculiar fondness, to the study of geography, and had acquired such knowledge of the habitable globe, as discovered the great probability of finding new and opulent countries by sailing along the coast of Africa. Under such distinguished patronage, an impulse was given to the spirit of discovery unknown before, and which was attended with the most brilliant results. Not only were the islands Porto Sancto, Madeira, Cape de Verd and the Azores, discovered and taken possession of,* but, ere long, the western coast of Africa was traced, and Bar tholomew Diaz had descried that lofty promontory which bounds this great continent on the south ;—which the dis coverer himself denominated the Stormy Cape, but to which the king, his master, as he now entertained no doubts of having found the long desired route to India, gave a name more inviting, and of better omen, the Cape of Good Hope. These great events had taken place dur ing the successive reigns of John, Edward, Alphonso V. and John IL; and, in the reign of Emanuel, the next mo narch, Vasco de Gama, a man of noble birth, possessed of virtue, prudence, and courage, was despatched by his sovereign, with three vessels, to follow the route which Diaz had pursued, and, if possible, to double that promon tory, which was justly regarded as opening a way to the East. After struggling for four months with contrary winds, Gama, during an interval of calm weather, accom plished the object for which he had set out. After doubling that formidable cape, he directed his course to wards the north-east, along the African continent. He landed at Melinda, on the Zanquebar coast, and afterwards crossed the Indian ocean, he arrived at Calecut, on the coast of Malabar. And having obtained not only some commodities peculiar to that place, but many rich produc tions of the eastern parts of India, he returned to Portu gal by the same route, and landed at Lisbon in September, 1499, two years, two months, and five days, from the time be had left that port, and after having performed a voyage, the longest as well as the most difficult that had yet been accomplished. In about a year after this date, Cabral discovered that extensive country in South America, now known by the name of Brazil, and which till lately formed so important a portion of the territories of the kings of Portugal. This great progress in navigation, and in the discovery of unknown regions, of which we have given but a brief sketch, was accomplished ere the termination of the fifteenth century; and the two last important voy ages, those of De Gama and Cabral, were performed five and seven years respectively from the time when the New World was discovered by the illustrious Columbus. In the history of navigation Portugal holds an eminent place, both from the number, the early date, and the magnifi cence of her discoveries ; and, as previously mentioned, the only circumstance which prevents her being entirely unrivalled in this great department, is her refusing, though urgently solicited, to patronise and promote that bold voyage of discovery meditated by Columbus, which was, at a subsequent period, undertaken under the auspices of Spain, and which, contrary to the expectation of the Por tuguese, forms the greatest achievement in the history of the art to which it belongs. Nor was Columbus the only distinguished person in this department that Portugal overlooked. Magellan, a Portuguese, and the first that circumnavigated the globe, was also denied patronage and encouragement in his native country; and having in con sequence applied to Charles V. of Spain, that monarch did himself honour by taking him under his protection, and assisting in promoting his bold and interesting design.