Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 5.djvu/10

 him the next day, I said that I had the means of ren- dering Venice a partaker of this navigation, and of shew- ing her a passage whereby she would obtain great profit, which is the truth, for I have discovered it." P. 16. Cabot then states that as by serving the King of England he could no longer benefit his country, lie begged the Emperor to recall him forthwith, which he did. Contarini compliments Cabot on his patriotism, but questions much how far his project was feasible, and starts several difficulties us to effecting his intended navigation. Cabot in reply considers his plan practicable, and adds : " I will tell you that I would not accept the offer of the King of England, for the sake of benefiting my Country, as had I listened to that proposal, there would no longer have been any course for Venice." At a later interview he added : ' The way and the means are easy ; I will go to Venice at my own cost ; they shall hear me, and if they disap- prove of the project devised by me, I will return in like manner at my own cost. He then urged Contarini to keep the thing secret." Space will not allow me to give a continuation of this interesting narrative. Subsequent letters from Contarini show that Cabot persevered in his proposal that the Council of Ten, with whom he iiad communicated, caused a letter to be drawn up which was to be carefully conveyed to Cabot, exhorting him to come to Venice, where he "would obtain everything." Although Venice did not, according to Mr. Cheney, " derive any material advantage from the abilities of either of her two subjects, John and Sebastian Cabot, she long continued to cherish their renown, and even to this day, in the Sala della Scudo, in the Ducal Palace, there is a full-length portrait of Sebastian Cabot, copied appar- ently from a picture attributed to Holbein. " This copy was painted in the year 1763, and the in- scription beneath it runs thus : " ' Henricus VII., Anglite Rex Joannem Cabotam et Sebastianum Filium Astronomitc Keig (Reiq ; ?) nauticie Peritisamoa anno 1496, navarchos instituit suis Litteris qui viani invenirent quam animo agitabant ad Itidos Oricntales Cursu per Hyperboreum Institute. Hae (Ilac ?) spe amissaea tamen navigatore(navigationeP) Terra nova detccta et Florida) promontorium.' " The inscription on the Bristol picture is more brief: " Ktligies Sebastian! Cabot i Angli Filii Johannis Ca- boli_ Veneti Militis Aurati primi invctoris terra; nova? sub llenco VII., Anglirc Hcge." J. H. MABKLAND. ORIGINAL LETTER FEOM "CROMWELL TO WALLER. We are indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Lambert B. Larking for the opportunity of pub- lishing the following interesting Letter, the ori- ginal of which is in the possession of Harry Edmund Waller, Esq., the present representative of the poet : " For my very lovinge freind Edward Waller, Esq., Northampton. haste, haste. " S r, " lett it not trouble you that by soe unhappye a mistake you are (as I heare) att Northampton, indeed I am passionately affected with itt. I have noe guilt upon me unlesse it bee to bee revenged, for your soe willinglye mistakinge mee in your verses. This action will putt you to redeeme mee from your selfe as you have already from the world. Ashamed I am, " Y r freind and " Servant, " OLIVER, P. "June 13 h , " 1655. Whether or not there is any person who pos- sesses sufficient knowledge of the affairs of the poet Waller to be able to read this epistolary riddle, we do not know. To us it is at present inexplicable. The following are the only points in reference to it which seem clear. . Waller is not known to have been in any political trouble after 1643, when he was fined 10,000/., and went into France. . He returned out of France, as is ilimly guessed, in 1654 ; and, as would now appear, he had published his Panegyric (Fenton's Waller, p. 113.) shortly before the date of the present note. The exact time of the publication of the Panegyric was never known before. . The Protector wrote this note from White- hall. A letter of the same day to Blake, on official business, is dated there. (Carlyle's Let- ters and Speeches of Cromwell, last edit., iii. 106.) . The note acknowledges, as if by the bye, and in a kindly reproving manner, the flaming com- pliments of the Panegyric, just come out. What was the nature of the "mistake" which led Waller to Northampton we cannot guess. The poet's name was '"Edmund," as all the world knows ; but in the direction of this letter, which is altogether in the Protector's autograph, Wallor is styled "Edward." During his long ab- sence from England his uhristian name had either become unfamiliar to Oliver's ear, or lie was misled by the poet's being termed "Ned" among his familiar associates. Johnson tells us, in his Life of Waller, that Mr. Saville said tint " no man in England should keep him company without drink- in<r but Ned Waller."