Newfoundland in 1897 - Rumbolt

ENGLAND'S OLDEST COLONY. 9
of the Atlantic. His fate is unknown. Scarcely anything
is known of his companions. But the names of
three Englishmen are preserved, who certainly fitted
out vessels, and probably went with Cabot in 1498.
The names of Lancelot Thirkill, Thomas Bradley, and
John Carter, therefore, should also be had in remem-
brance.
" There are very solid reasons for a Cabot celebration,
very complete justifications of the proposals of the Eoyal
Society of Canada. I trust the proposal will receive
the support it deserves, and I can assure you that this
honour done to the memory of the great navigator has
my most cordial sympathy, and I am sure that it will
have the sympathy of the Society over which I have the
honour to preside."
Another authority may be referred to. Mr. J. F.
Nicholls, City Librarian of Bristol, has written an
excellent memoir of Sebastian Cabot, whose name,
together with those of his two brothers, was associated
with that of his father, John Cabot, in the Letters
Patent granted by Henry VII. Nicholls holds that
Sebastian took part with his father in the great enter-
prise of discovery, and carried it on after his death ;
that " he was the most scientific seaman of his own, or
"
that he was the father
perhaps many subsequent ages ;
of free trade and rendered many great services to
England in "
after-years. And yet," adds his biographer,
"
he who gave to England a continent and to Spain an
empire (Brazil) lies in some unknown grave. This
man, who surveyed and depicted three thousand miles of
coast which he had discovered; who gave to Britain