world, had made his way to the East Indies by the new
route that the Portuguese had opened, and had also, so
it is said, been a member of a ship's company in one of
the fishing voyages to Newfoundland now made in every
season.

The name of Juan Verrazano has a peculiar significance
in Canadian history. In more ways than one he was the
forerunner of Jacques Cartier, 'the discoverer of Canada.'
Not only did he sail along the coast of Canada, but did
so in the service of the king of France, the first
representative of those rising ambitions which were
presently to result in the foundation of New France and
the colonial empire of the Bourbon monarchy. Francis I,
the French king, was a vigorous and ambitious prince.
His exploits and rivalries occupy the foreground of
European history in the earlier part of the sixteenth
century. It was the object of Francis to continue the
work of Louis XI by consolidating his people into a single
powerful state. His marriage with the heiress of Brittany
joined that independent duchy, rich at least in the
seafaring bravery of its people, to the crown of France.
But Francis aimed higher still. He wished to make himself
the arbiter of Europe and the over-lord of the European
kings. Having been defeated by the equally famous king
of Spain, Charles V, in his effort to gain the position
and title of Holy Roman Emperor and the leadership of
Europe, he set himself to overthrow the rising greatness
of Spain. The history of Europe for a quarter of a century
turns upon the opposing ambitions of the two monarchs.