great maritime knowledge. But it seems unlikely that the negotiation
went very far, considering the rigid manner in which Columbus insisted
upon his exact conditions being accepted by the Spanish court. No such
bargain, at a distance, with a reserved and parsimonious monarch, was
likely, therefore, to have been concluded. It appears, however, from a
despatch from the Spanish ambassador to his sovereigns, dated the 25th
July, 1498, that the English were not behind other nations in a thirst
for discovery, "Merchants of Bristol," he says, "have for the last seven
years sent out annually some ships in search of the island of Brazil and
the Seven Cities." If this assertion is accurate, England must have
anticipated Spain in the search for, though not in the discovery of, the
western world.]


FATE OF PROJECTORS' PLANS.

Those who govern are in all ages surrounded by projectors, and have to
clear the way about them as well as they can, and to take care that they
get time and room for managing their own immediate affairs. It is not to
be wondered at, therefore, if good plans should sometimes share the fate
which ought to attend, and must attend, the great mass of all projects
submitted to men in power. Here, however the ultimate event would justify
the monarch's caution; for it would be hard to prove that Spain has
derived aught but a golden weakness from her splendid discoveries and
possessions in the new world.


FERDINAND'S COLDNESS.

Moreover, the characters of the two men being essentially opposed, it is