also to Cape Breton as the first landing-place of English
sailors in America.

There is no doubt of the stir made by Cabot's discovery
on his safe return to England. He was in London by August
of 1497, and he became at once the object of eager
curiosity and interest. 'He is styled the Great Admiral,'
wrote a Venetian resident in London, 'and vast honour is
paid to him. He dresses in silk, and the English run
after him like mad people.' The sunlight of royal favour
broke over him in a flood: even Henry VII proved generous.
The royal accounts show that, on August 10, 1497, the
king gave ten pounds 'to him that found the new isle.'
A few months later the king granted to his 'well-beloved
John Cabot, of the parts of Venice, an annuity of twenty
pounds sterling,' to be paid out of the customs of the
port of Bristol. The king, too, was lavish in his promises
of help for a new expedition. Henry's imagination had
evidently been fired with the idea of an Oriental empire.
A contemporary writer tells us that Cabot was to have
ten armed ships. At Cabot's request, the king conceded
to him all the prisoners needed to man this fleet, saving
only persons condemned for high treason. It is one of
the ironies of history that on the first pages of its
annals the beautiful new world is offered to the criminals
of Europe.

During the winter that followed, John Cabot was the hero
of the hour. Busy preparations went on for a new voyage.
Letters patent were issued giving Cabot power to take