fuccefs of their arms against the infidels. By their victories over them, they had extended the royal authority beyond the narrow limits within which it was originally circumfcribed in Portugal, as well as in other feudal kingdoms. They had the command of the national force, could roufe it to act with united vigour, and, after the expulfion of the Moors, could employ it without dread of interruption from any domeftic enemy. By the perpetual hoftilities carried on for several centuries against the Mahometans, the martial and adventurous fpirit which distinguished all the European nations during the middle ages, was improved and heightened among the Portuguese. A fierce civil war towards the clofe of the fourteenth century, occafioned by a difputed fucceffion, augmented the military ardour of the nation, and formed or called forth men of fuch active and daring genius, as are fit for bold unterdakings. The fituation of the kingdom. bounded on every fide by the dominions of a more powerful neighbour, did not afford free fcope to the activity of the Portuguese by land, as the ftrength of their monarchy was no match for that of Caftile. But Portugal was a maritime ftate, in which there were many commodious harbours; the people had begun to make fome progrefs in the knowledge and practice of navigation; and the fea was open to them, prefenting the only field of

enterprise in which they could distinguish themfelves.

First attempt.

Such was the ftate of Portugal, and fuch the difpofition of the people, when John I. furnamed the Baftard obtained fecure poffeffion of the crown by the peace concluded with Caftile in the year one thousand four hundred and eleven. He was a prince of great merit, who, by fuperior courage and abilities had opened his way to a throne which of right did not belong to him, He inftantly perceived that it would be impoffible to preferve public order, or domeftic tranquility, without finding fome employment for the restless spirit of his fubjects. With this view, he affembled a numerous fleet at Lif bon, compofed of all the fhips that he could fit out in his own kingdom, and of many hired from foreigners. This great armament was deftined to attack the Moors fettled on the coaft of Barbary. (1412,) While it was equipping, a few veffels were appointed to fail along the western shore of Africa bounded by the Atlantic ocean, and to discover the unknown countries fituated there. From this inconfiderable attempt, we may date the commencement of that spirit of difcovery which opened the barriers that had fo long fhut out mankind from the knowledge of one half of the terreftrial globe.

At the time when John fent forth thefe fhips on this new voyage. the art of navigation was

ftill very imperfect. Though Africa lay fo near to Portugal, and the fertility of the countries already known on that continent invited men to explore it more fully, the Portuguese had never ventured to fail beyond Cape Non. That promontory, as its name imports, was hitherto confidered as a boundary which could not be paffed. But the nations of Europe had now acquired as much knowledge, as emboldened them to difregard the prejudices and to correct the errors of their ancestors. The long reign of ignorance, the conftant enemy of every curious inquiry, and of every new undertaking, was approaching to its period. The light of fcience began to dawn. The works of the ancient Greeks and Romans began to be read with admiration and profit. The fciences cultivated by the Arabians were introduced into Europe by the Moors fettled in Spain and Portugal, and by the Jews, who were very numerous in both these kingdoms. Geometry, aftronomy, and geography, the sciences on which the art of navigation is founded, became objects of ftudious attention. The memory of the difcoveries made by the ancients was revived, and the progrefs of their navigation and commerce began to be traced. Some of the caufes which have obftructed the cultivation of fcience in Portugal, during this century and the laft, did not exift, or did not operate in the fame manner, in the fifteenth

century t); and the Portuguese, at that period, feem to have kept pace with other nations on this fide of the Alps in literary pursuits.

Its fuccefs.

As the genius of the age favoured the execution of that new undertaking, to which the peculiar state of their country invited the Portuguese. it proved fuccefsful. The vefiels fent on the discovery doubled that formidable Cape, which had terminated the progrefs of former navigators, and proceeded a hundred and fixty miles beyond it, to Cape Bojador. As its rocky cliffs, which stretched a confiderable way into the Atlantic, appeared more dreadful than the promontory which they had paffed, the Portuguefe commanders durft not attempt to fail round it, but returned to Lifbon, more fatisfied with having advanced fo far, than afhamed at having ventured no farther.

Prince Henry the director of the Portuguese discoveries.

Inconfiderable as this voyage was, it increafed the paffion for discovery, which began to arise in Portugal. The extraordinary fuccefs of the king's expedition against the Moors of Barbary, added strength to that spirit in the nation, and pushed it on to new undertakings. (1415) In order to render thefe fuccefsful, it was neceffary that they should be conducted by a per

t) See NOTE IX.

fon who poffeffed abilities capable of discerning what was attainable, who enjoyed leifure to form a regular fyftem for profecuting discovery, and who was animated with ardour that would perfevere in spite of obftacles and repulfes. Happily for Portugal, fhe found all thofe qualities in Henry duke of Vifeo, the fourth son of king John by Philippa of Lancaster, fifter of Henry IV. king of England. That prince, in his early youth, having accompanied his father in his expedition to barbary, diftinguished himself by many deeds of valour. To the martial fpirit, which was the characteristic of every man of noble birth at that time, he added all the accomplishments of a more englightened and polished age. He cultivated the arts and fciences, which were then unknown and despised by persons of his rank. He applied with peculiar fondness to the ftudy of geography; and by the inftruction of able mafters, as well as by the accounts of travellers, he early acquired fuch knowledge of the habitable globe, as difcovered the great probability of finding new and opulent countries, by failing along the coaft of Africa. Such an object was formed to awaken the enthusiasm and ardour of a youthful mind, and he engaged with the utmost zeal to patronize a defign which might prove as beneficial, as it appeared to be fplendid and honourable. In order that he might purfue this great fcheme without interruption, he retired from court immediately after his return