Caused first to be found.
/ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / .
Now Frenchmen and other have found the trade
That yearly of fish there they lade
Above an hundred sail.
/ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / ./ / / / .
But these new lands by all cosmography
From the Khan of Cathay’s land cannot lie
Little past a thousand miles.
In common with all the other evidences of these obscure transactions, the language here employed is vague and disputable, although it does undoubtedly show that the colony, if it ever existed, no longer did so at the time of writing. The voyage which failed owing to the cowardice of the mariners was possibly one undertaken in the early years of Henry VIII, of which other hints survive.[[80]] It was entered upon ‘by the King’s noble consent’, that is, the then king, Henry VIII, and not the late one, Henry VII, who is spoken of in a different manner further on, where the original discovery is attributed to him. The author had seemingly no detailed knowledge of the successive voyages of the period 1501–5. His identity is not revealed; it would be most interesting to know who he was in view of the imperialistic notions he expressed at such an early date.