The activity and love of adventure, which became a passion for two or three generations in Spain and Portugal, spread to other countries. It was the spirit of the age; and England, Holland and France were fired by it. English enterprise was first aroused by John and Sebastian Cabot, father and son, who came from Venice and settled at Bristol in the time of Henry VII. The Cabots received a patent in 1496, empowering them to seek unknown lands; and John Cabot discovered Newfoundland and part of the coast of America. Sebastian afterwards made a voyage to Rio de la Plata in the service of Spain, but he returned to England in 1548 and received a pension from Edward VI. At his suggestion a voyage was undertaken for the discovery of a north-east passage to Cathay, with Sir Hugh Willoughby as captain-general of the fleet and Richard Chancellor as pilot-major. They sailed in May 1553, but Willoughby and all his crew perished on the Lapland coast. Chancellor, however, was more fortunate. He reached the White Sea, performed the journey overland to Moscow, where he was well received, and may be said to have been the founder of the trade between Russia and England. He returned to Archangel and brought his ship back in safety to England. On a second voyage, in 1556, Chancellor was drowned; and three subsequent voyages, led by Stephen Burrough, Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, in small craft of 50 tons and under, carried on an examination of the straits which lead into the Kara sea. The French followed closely on the track of John Cabot, and Norman and Breton fishermen frequented the banks of Newfoundland at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1524 Francis I. sent Giovanni da Verazzano of Florence on an expedition of discovery to the coast of North America; and the details of his voyage were embodied in a letter addressed by him to the king of France from Dieppe, in July 1524. In 1534 Jacques Cartier set out to continue the discoveries of Verazzano, and visited Newfoundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence. In the following year he made another voyage, discovered the island of Anticosti, and ascended the St Lawrence to Hochelaga, now Montreal. He returned, after passing two winters in Canada; and on another occasion he also failed to establish a colony. Admiral de Coligny made several unsuccessful endeavours to form a colony in Florida under Jean Ribault of Dieppe, Rene de Laudonniere and others, but the settlers were furiously assailed by the Spaniards and the attempt was abandoned. The Elizabethan era.