Page:The Life of George Washington, Volume 1.djvu/31



discovery of America by Columbus, gave a new impulse, and, in some degree, a new direction to that bold spirit of adventure which characterized the hardy age in which he lived.

The accounts given by that daring and skilful navigator of the countries he had visited, and the still more flattering reports respecting them which were circulated by the companions of his voyage, while they made their deepest Rh