language of Portugal, so as to be able to interpret for their countrymen, and one John Fernandez applied himself to the negro tongue. From this time began something like a regular traffic, such as can subsist between nations where all the power is on one side; and a factory was settled in the isle of Arguin, under the was assigned for a certain term to Ferdinando Gomez; which seems to be the common method of establishing a trade that is yet too small to engage the care of a nation, and can only be enlarged by that attention which is bestowed by private men upon private advantage. Gomez continued the discoveries to Cape Catharine, two degrees and a half beyond the line. very little labour, by the milk of their kine, and millet, to which those who inhabited the coast added fish dried in the sun. Having never seen the natives, or heard of the arts of Europe, they gazed with astonishment on the ships when they approached their coasts, sometimes thinking them birds, and sometimes fishes, according as their sails were spread or lowered; and some-protection of a fort. The profit of this new trade times conceiving them to be only phantoms, which played to and fro in the ocean. Such is the account given by the historian, perhaps with too much prejudice against a negro's understanding; who though he might well wonder at the bulk and swiftness of the first ship, would scarcely conceive it to be either a bird or a fish; but having seen many bodies floating in the water, would think it what it really is, a large boat; and if he had no knowledge of any means by which separate pieces of timber may be joined together, would form very wild notions concerning its construction, or perhaps suppose it to be a hollow trunk of a tree, from some country where trees grow to a much greater height and thickness than in his own. In the latter part of the reign of Alphonso V the ardour of discovery was somewhat intermitted, and all commercial enterprises were interrupted by the wars in which he was engaged with various success. But John II. who succeeded, being fully convinced both of the honour and advantage of extending his dominions in countries hitherto unknown, prosecuted the designs of prince Henry with the utmost vigour, and in a short time added to his other titles, that of king of Guinea and of the coast of Africa. When the Portuguese came to land, they increased the astonishment of the poor inhabitants, who saw men clad in iron with thunder and lightning in their hands. They did not under- In 1463, in the third year of the reign of John stand each other, and signs are a very imperfect II. died prince Henry, the first encourager of mode of communication, even to men of more remote navigation, by whose incitement, patronknowledge than the negroes, so that they could age, and example, distant nations have been not easily negotiate or traffic: at last the Por-made acquainted with each other, unknown tuguese laid hands on some of them to carry them home for a sample; and their dread and amazement was raised, says Lafitau, to the highest pitch, when the Europeans fired their cannons and muskets among them, and they saw their companions fall dead at their feet, without any enemy at hand, or any visible cause of their destruction. countries have been brought into general view, and the power of Europe has been extended to the remotest parts of the world. What mankind has lost and gained by the genius and designs of this prince, it would be long to compare, and very difficult to estimate. Much knowledge has been acquired, and much cruelty been committed; the belief of religion has been very little On what occasion, or for what purpose, can- propagated, and its laws have been outrageously nons and muskets were discharged among a peo- and enormously violated. The Europeans have ple harmless and secure, by strangers who with- scarcely visited any coast, but to gratify avarice, out any right visited their coast, it is not thought and extend corruption; to arrogate dominion necessary to inform us. The Portuguese could without right, and practice cruelty without infear nothing from them, and had therefore no centive. Happy had it then been for the opadequate provocation; nor is there any reason pressed, if the designs of Henry had slept in his to believe but that they murdered the negroes in bosom, and surely more happy for the oppres wanton merriment, perhaps only to try how sors. But there is reason to hope that out of so many a volley would destroy, or what would be much evil good may sometimes be produced; the consternation of those that should escape. and that the light of the gospel will at last illuWe are openly told that they had the less scru- minate the sands of Africa, and the deserts of ple concerning their treatment of the savage peo-America, though its progress cannot but be slow ple, because they scarcely considered them as when it is so much obstructed by the lives of distinct from beasts; and indeed the practice of Christians. all the European nations, and among others of The death of Henry did not interrupt the prothe English barbarians that cultivate the south-gress of king John, who was very strict in his inern islands of America, proves, that this opinion, however absurd and foolish, however wicked and injurious, still continues to prevail. Interest and pride harden the heart, and it is in vain to dispute against avarice and power. junctions, not only to make discoveries, but to secure possession of the countries that were found. The practice of the first navigators was only to raise a cross upon the coast, and to carve upon the trees the device of Don Henry, the By these practices the first discoverers alien-name which they thought it proper to give to the ated the natives from them; and whenever a ship appeared, every one that could fly betook himself to the mountains and the woods, so that nothing was to be got more than they could steal: they sometimes surprised a few fishers, and made them slaves, and did what they could to offend the negroes, and enrich themselves. This practice of robbery continued till some of the negroes who had been enslaved, learned the new coast, and any other information, for those that might happen to follow them; but now they began to erect piles of stones with a cross on the top, and engraved on the stone the arms of Portugal, the name of the king, and of the com mander of the ship, with the day and year of the discovery. This was accounted sufficient to prove their claim to the new lands; which might be pleaded with justice enough against any other Europeans, and the rights of the original inhabit- | might be always at hand to lend him assist ants were never taken into notice. Of these ance. stone records, nine more were erected in the reign of king John, along the coast of Africa, as far as the Cape of Good Hope. The fortress in the isle of Arguin was finished, and it was found necessary to build another at S. Georgia de la Mina, a few degrees north of the line, to secure the trade of gold dust, which was chiefly carried on at that place. For this purpose a fleet was fitted out of ten large and three smaller vessels, freighted with materials for building the fort, and with provisions and ammunition for six hundred men, of whom one hundred were workmen and labourers. Father Lafitau relates, in very particular terms, that these ships carried hewn stones, bricks, and timber, for the fort, so that nothing remained but barely to erect it. He does not seem to consider how small a fort could be made out of the lading of ten ships. The command of this fleet was given to Don Diego d'Azambue, who set sail December 11th, 1481, and reaching La Mina January 19th, 1482, gave immediate notice of his arrival to Caramansa, a petty prince of that part of the country, whom he very earnestly invited to an immediate conference. Having received a message of civility from the negro chief, he landed, and chose a rising ground, proper for his intended fortress, on which he planted a banner with the arms of Portugal, and took possession in the name of his master. He then raised an altar at the foot of a great tree, on which mass was celebrated, the whole assembly, says Lafitau, breaking out into tears of devotion at the prospect of inviting these barbarous nations to the profession of the true faith. Being secure of the goodness of the end, they had no scruple about the means, nor ever considered how differently from the primitive martyrs and apostles they were attempting to make proselytes. The first propagators of Christianity recommended their doctrines by their sufferings and virtues; they entered no defenceless territories with swords in their hands; they built no forts upon ground to which they had no right, nor polluted the purity of religion with the avarice of trade, or insolence of power. What may still raise higher the indignation of a Christian mind, this purpose of propagating truth appears never to have been seriously pursued by any European nation; no means, whether lawful or unlawful, have been practised with diligence and perseverance for the conversion of savages. When a fort is built, and a factory established, there remains no other care than to grow rich. It is soon found that ignorance is most easily kept in subjection, and that by enlightening the mind with truth, fraud and usurpation would be made less practicable and less secure. The negro, who seemed very well to understand what the admiral intended, after a short pause, returned an answer full of respect to the king of Portugal, but appeared a little doubtful what to determine with relation to the fort. The commander saw his diffidence, and used all his art of persuasion to overcome it. Caramansa, either induced by hope, or constrained by fear, either desirous to make them friends, or not daring to make them enemies, consented, with a show of joy, to that which it was not in his power to refuse; and the new comers began the next day to break the ground for the foundation of a fort. Within the limit of their intended fortification were some spots appropriated to superstitious practices: which the negroes no sooner perceived in danger of violation by the spade and pickaxe, than they ran to arms, and began to interrupt the work. The Portuguese persisted in their purpose, and there had soon been tumult and bloodshed, had not the admiral, who was at a distance to superintend the unlading the materials for the edifice, been informed of the danger. He was told at the same time, that the support of their superstition was only a pretence, and that all their rage might be appeased by the presents which the prince expected, the delay of which had greatly offended him. The Portuguese admiral immediately ran to his men, prohibited all violence, and stopped the commotion; he then brought out the presents, and spread them with great pomp before the prince; if they were of no great value, they were rare, for the negroes had never seen such wonders before; they were therefore received with ecstacy, and perhaps the Portuguese derided them for their fondness of trifles, without considering how many things derive their value only from their scarcity; and that gold and rubies would be trifles, if nature had scattered them with less frugality. The work was now peaceably continued, and such was the diligence with which the strangers hastened to secure the possession of the country, that in twenty days they had sufficiently fortified themselves against the hostility of the negroes. They then proceeded to complete their design. A church was built in the place where their first altar had been raised, on which a mass was established to be celebrated for ever once a day, for the repose of the soul of Henry, the first mover of these discoveries. In this fort the admiral remained with sixty soldiers, and sent back the rest in the ships, with gold, slaves, and other commodities. It may be observed that slaves were never forgotten, and that wherever they went, they gratified their pride, if not their avarice, and brought some of the natives, when it happened that they brought In a few days an interview was appointed be-nothing else. tween Caramansa and Azambue. The PortuThe Portuguese endeavoured to extend their guese uttered by his interpreter a pompous speech, dominions still farther. They had gained some in which he made the negro prince large offers of knowledge of the Jaloffs, a nation inhabiting the his master's friendship, exhorting him to embrace coast of Guinea, between the Gambia and Senethe religion of his new ally; and told him, that gal. The king of the Jaloffs being vicious and as they came to form a league of friendship with luxurious, committed the care of the government him, it was necessary that they should build a to Bemoin, his brother by the mother's side, in fort, which might serve as a retreat from their preference to two other brothers by his father. common enemies, and in which the Portuguese | Bemoin, who wanted neither bravery dence, knew that his station was invidious and Jcessary for the erection of a fort. With this dangerous, and therefore made an alliance with the Portuguese, and retained them in his defence by liberality and kindness. At last the king was killed by the contrivance of his brothers, and Bemoin was to lose his power, or maintain it by war. He had recourse in this exigence to his great ally the king of Portugal, who promised to support him, on condition that he should become a christian, and sent an ambassador, accompanied with missionaries. Bemoin promised all that was required, objecting only, that the time of a civil war was not a proper season for a change of religion, which would alienate his adherents, but said, that when he was once peaceably established, he would not only embrace the true religion himself, but would endeavour the conversion of the kingdom. This excuse was admitted, and Bemoin delayed his conversion for a year, renewing his promise from time to time. But the war was unsuccessful, trade was at a stand, and Bemoin was not able to pay the money which he had borrowed of the Portuguese merchants, who sent intelligence to Lisbon of his delays, and received an order from the king, commanding them under severe penalties to return home. Bemoin here saw his ruin approaching, and, hoping that money would pacify all resentment, borrowed of his friends a sum sufficient to discharge his debts; and finding that even this enticement would not delay the departure of the Portuguese, he embarked his nephew in their ships, with a hundred slaves, whom he presented to the king of Portugal, to solicit his assistance. The effect of this embassy he could not stay to know; for being soon after deposed, he sought shelter in the fortress of Arguin, whence he took shipping for Portugal, with twenty-five of his principal followers. The king of Portugal pleased his own vanity and that of his subjects, by receiving him with great state and magnificence, as a mighty monarch who had fled to an ally for succour in misfortune. All the lords and ladies of the court were assembled, and Bemoin was conducted with a splendid attendance into the hall of audience, where the king rose from his throne to welcome him. Bemoin then made a speech with great ease and dignity, representing his unhappy state, and imploring the favour of his powerful ally. The king was touched with his affliction, and struck by his wisdom. powerful armament were sent a great number of missionaries under the direction of Alvarez the king's confessor. The command of this force, which filled the coast of Africa with terror, was given to Pedro Vaz d'Aengna, surnamed Bisagu; who soon after they had landed, not being well pleased with his expedition, put an end to its inconveniences by stabbing Bemoin suddenly to the heart. The king heard of this outrage with great sorrow, but did not attempt to punish the murderer. The king's concern for the restoration of Bemoin was not the mere effect of kindness, he hoped by his help to facilitate greater designs. He now began to form hopes of finding a way to the East Indies, and of enriching his country by that gainful commerce: this he was encou raged to believe practicable, by a map which the Moors had given to prince Henry, and which subsequent discoveries have shown to be suficiently near to exactness, where a passage round the south-east part of Africa was evidently described. The king had another scheme yet more likely to engage curiosity, and not irreconcilable with his interest. The world had for some time been filled with the report of a powerful christian prince called Prester John, whose country was unknown, and whom some, after Paulus Venetus, supposed to reign in the midst of Asia, and others in the depth of Ethiopia, between the ocean and Red Sea. The account of the African christians was confirmed by some Abyssiniaus who had travelled into Spain, and by some firs that had visited the holy land; and the king was extremely desirous of their correspondence and alliance. Some obscure intelligence had been obtained, which made it seem probable that a way might be found from the countries lately discovered, to those of this far-famed monarch. In 1486, an ambassador came from the king of Bemin, to desire that preachers might be sent to instruct him and his subjects in the true religion. He related that in the inland country, three hundred and fifty leagues eastward from Bemin was a mighty monarch called Ogane, who had jurisdiction both spiritual and temporal over other kings; that the king of Bemin and his neighbours, at their accession, sent ambassadors to him with rich presents, and received from him the investiture of their dominions, and the marks of sovereignty, which were a kind of The conversion of Bemoin was much desired sceptre, a helmet, and a latten cross, without by the king; and it was therefore immediately which they could not be considered as lawfel proposed to him that he should become a chris- kings; that this great prince was never seen bat tian. Ecclesiastics were sent to instruct him; on the day of audience, and then held out one of and having now no more obstacles from interest, his feet to the ambassador, who kissed it with he was easily persuaded to declare himself what-great reverence, and who at his departure had a ever would please those on whom he now depended. He was baptized December 3d, 1489, in the palace of the queen, with great magnificence, and named John, after the king. cross of latten hung on his neck, which ennobled him thenceforward, and exempted him from all servile offices. Bemoin had likewise told the king, that to Some time was spent in feasts and sports on the east of the kingdom of Tombut, there was this great occasion, and the negroes signalized among other princes, one that was neither Mathemselves by many feats of agility, far surpass-hometan nor idolater, but who seemed to proing the power of Europeans, who having more helps of art, are less diligent to cultivate the qualities of nature. In the mean time twenty large ships were fitted out, well manned, stored with ammunition, and laden with materials ne fess a religion nearly resembling the christian. These informations compared with each other, and with the current accounts of Prester John, induced the king to an opinion, which, though formed somewhat at hazard, is still believed to be right, that by passing up the river Senegal his dominions would be found. It was therefore ordered that when the fortress was finished, an attempt should be made to pass upward to the source of the river. The design failed then, and has never yet succeeded. Other ways likewise were tried of penetrating to the kingdom of Prester John, for the king resolved to leave neither sea nor land unsearched till he should be found. The two messengers who were sent first on this design, went to Jerusalem, and then returned, being persuaded that for want of understanding the language of the country, it would be vain or impossible to travel farther. Two more were then despatched, one of whom was Pedro de Covillan, the other Alphonso de Paiva; they passed from Naples to Alexandria, and then travelled to Cairo, from whence they went to Aden, a town of Arabia, on the Red Sea, near its mouth. From Aden, Pavia set sail for Ethiopia, and Covillan for the Indies. Covillan visited Canavar, Calicut, and Goa in the Indies, and Sosula in the eastern Africa; thence he returned to Aden, and then to Cairo, where he had agreed to meet Paiva, At Cairo he was informed that Paiva was dead, but he met with two Portuguese Jews, one of whom had given the king an account of the situation and trade of Ormus: they brought orders to Covillan, that he should send one of them home with the journal of his travels, and go to Ormus with the other. of Storms to be called thenceforward Capo de buena Esperanza, or the Cape of Good Hope. Some time before the expedition of Diaz, the river Zaire and the kingdom of Congo had been discovered by Diego Can, who found a nation of negroes who spoke a language which those that were in his ships could not understand. He landed, and the natives, whom he expected to fly like the other inhabitants of the coast, met them with confidence, and treated them with kindness; but Diego, finding that they could not understand each other, seized some of their chiefs, and carried them to Portugal, leaving some of his own people in their room to learn the language of Congo. The negroes were soon pacified, and the Portuguese left to their mercy were well treated; and as they by degrees grew able to make themselves understood, recommended themselves, their nation, and their religion. The king of Portugal sent Diego back in a very short time with the negroes whom he had forced away; and when they were set safe on shore the king of Congo conceived so much esteem for Diego, that he sent one of those who had returned, back again in the ship to Lisbon, with two young men despatched as ambassadors, to desire instructors to be sent for the conversion of his kingdom. The ambassadors were honourably received, and baptized with great pomp, and a fleet was immediately fitted out for Congo, under the command of Gonsalvo Sorza, who dying in his passage, was succeeded in authority by his nephew Roderigo. Corvillan obeyed the orders, sending an exact account of his adventures to Lisbon, and proceeding with the other messenger to Ormus; When they came to land, the king's uncle, where having made sufficient inquiry, he sent who commanded the province, immediately rehis companion homewards with the caravans quested to be solemnly initiated in the christian that were going to Aleppo, and embarking once religion, which was granted to him and his young more on the Red Sea, arrived in time at Abysson, on Easterday, 1491. The father was named sinia, and found the prince whom he had sought so long, and with such danger. Two ships were sent out upon the same search, of which Bartholomew Diaz had the chief command; they were attended by a smaller vessel laden with provisions, that they might not return upon pretence of want either felt or feared. Navigation was now brought nearer to perfection. The Portuguese claim the honour of many inventions by which the sailor is assisted, and which enable him to leave sight of land, and commit himself to the boundless ocean. Diaz had orders to proceed beyond the river Zaire, where Diego Can had stopped, to build monuments of his discoveries, and to leave upon the coasts negro men and women well instructed, who might inquire after Prester John, and fill the natives with reverence for the Portuguese. Manuel, and the son Antonio. Soon afterwards the king, queen, and eldest prince, received at the font the names of John, Eleanor, and Alphonso; and a war breaking out, the whole army was admitted to the rites of christianity, and then sent against the enemy. They returned victorious, but soon forgot their faith, and formed a conspiracy to restore paganism; powerful opposition was raised by infidels and apostates headed by one of the king's younger sons: a. i the missionaries had been destroyed, had not Alphonso pleaded for them and for christianity. The enemies of religion now became the enemies of Alphonso, whom they accused to his father of disloyalty. His mother, queen Eleanor, gained time, by one artifice after another, till the king was calmed; he then heard the cause again, declared his son innocent, and punished his accusers with death. The king died soon after, and the throne was disputed by Alphonso, supported by the christians, and Aquitimo, his brother, followed by the infidels. A battle was fought, Aquitimo was taken and put to death, and christianity was for a time established in Congo; but the nation has relapsed into its former follies. Diaz, with much opposition from his crew, whose mutinies he repressed, partly by softness and partly by steadiness, sailed on till he reached the utmost point of Africa, which from the bad weather that he met there, he called Cabo Tormentoso, or the Cape of Storms. He would have gone forward, but his crew forced him to return. In his way back he met the Victualler, from which he had been parted nine months before; of the nine men which were in it at the Such was the state of the Portuguese naviseparation, six had been killed by the negroes, gation, when, in 1492, Columbus made the daring and of the three remaining, one died for joy at and prosperous voyage which gave a new world the sight of his friends. Diaz returned to Lis- to European curiosity and European crueltybon in December, 1487, and gave an account of He had offered his proposal, and declared his ais voyage to the king, who ordered the Cape expectations to king Jolin of Portugal, who had The Portuguese and Spaniards became now jealous of each other's claim to countries which neither had yet seen; and the Pope, to whom they appealed, divided the new world between them by a line drawn from north to south, a hundred leagues westward from Cape Verd and the Azores, giving all that lies west from that slighted him as a fanciful and rash projector," that promised what he had not reasonable hopes to perform. Columbus had solicited other princes, and had been repulsed with the same indignity; at last Isabella of Arragon furnished him with ships, and having found America, he entered the mouth of the Tagus in his return, and showed the natives of the new country.-line to the Spaniards, and all that lies cast to the When he was admitted to the king's presence, he acted and talked with so much haughtiness, and reflected on the neglect which he had undergone with so much acrimony, that the courtiers who saw their prince insulted, offered to destroy him; but the king, who knew that he deserved the reproaches that had been used, and who now sincerely regretted his incredulity, would suffer no violence to be offered him, but dismissed him with presents and with honours. Portuguese. This was no satisfactory division, for the east and west must meet at last, but that time was then at a great distance. According to this grant, the Portuguese continued their discoveries eastward, and became masters of much of the coast both of Africa and the Indies; but they seized much more than they could occupy, and while they were under the dominion of Spain, lost the greater part of their Indian territories. THE PREFACE TO THE PRECEPTOR; THE importance of education is a point so generally understood and confessed, that it would be of little use to attempt any new proof or illusration of its necessity and advantages. At a time when so many schemes of education have been projected, so many proposals offered to the public, so many schools opened for general knowledge, and so many lectures in particular sciences attended; at a time when mankind seems intent rather upca familiarising than enlarging the several arts; and every age, sex, and profession, is invited to an acquaintance with those studies, which were formerly supposed accessible only to such as nad devoted themselves to literary leisure, and dicated their powers to philosophical inquiries; it seems rather requisite that an apology should be made for any further attempt to smooth a path so frequently beaten, or to recommend attainments so ardently pursued, and so officiously directed. That this general desire may not be frustrated, our schools seem yet to want some book, which may excite curiosity by its variety, encourage diligence by its facility, and reward application by its usefulness. In examining the treatises nitherto offered to the youth of this nation, there appeared none that did not fail in one or other of these essential qualities; none that were not either unpleasing, or abstruse, or crowded with learning very rarely applicable to the purposes of common life. with the forms of education, is to be checked, will be readily granted; but since, though it may be in some degree obviated, it cannot wholly be suppressed, it is surely rational to turn it to advantage, by taking care that the mind shall never want objects on which its facul ties may be usefully employed. It is not impos sible, that this restless desire of novelty which gives so much trouble to the teacher, may be often the struggle of the understanding starting from that, to which it is not by nature adapted, and travelling in search of something on which it may fix with greater satisfaction. For without supposing each man particularly marked out by his genius for particular performances, it may be easily conceived, that when a numerous class of boys is confined indiscriminately to the zame forms of composition, the repetition of the same words, or the explication of the same sentiments, the employment must, either by nature or acci dent, be less suitable to some than others; that the ideas to be contemplated may be too difficult for the apprehension of one, and too obvious for that of another: they may be such as some understandings cannot reach, though others_look down upon them as below their regard. Every mind in its progress through the different stages of scholastic learning, must be often in one of these conditions, must either flag with the labour, or grow wanton with the facility, of the work assigned; and in either state it naturally Every man who has been engaged in teaching, turns aside from the track before it. Weariness knows with how much difficulty youthful minds looks out for relief, and leisure for employment, are confined to close application, and how rea- and surely it is rational to indulge the wanderdily they deviate to any thing, rather than at-ings of both. For the faculties which are too tend to that which is imposed as a task. That lightly burdened with the business of the day, this disposition. when it becomes inconsistent may with great propriety add to it some other |