Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/82

 *pyngays and catts of the Mountaigne with other stuff to the King's grace, 5l."

No mention is made of Cabot in either of these patents, but as it is certain that he did not enter the service of Spain until the 13th of September, 1512, and as it is hardly possible to suppose that so active a mind would have remained unemployed during the intermediate period, it may therefore be presumed that for a portion at least of that time he was in some manner engaged on the coast of America. In confirmation of this opinion, the Calendars of Bristol of the year 1499 contain the following entry:—

"This yeare, Sebastian Cabot, borne in Bristoll, proferred his service to King Henry for discovering new countries; which had noe greate or favorable entertainment of the king, but he, with no extraordinary preparation, set forth from Bristoll, and made greate discoveries."

If Cabot was thus employed, the omission of any mention of his name in the patents of 1501 and 1502 is in some measure accounted for; and, in support of the Bristol records, it may be mentioned that Navarette, in describing from the records in the Spanish archives the voyage of Hojeda, who sailed from Spain on the 20th of May, 1499, says, "What is certain is that Hojeda in his first voyage found certain Englishmen in the neighbourhood of Caquibaco."

When it is considered that Cabot did not enter a