He then proceeded to say that being in England some three years before, Cardinal Wolsey offered him high terms if he would sail with an armada of his on a voyage of discovery, for which preparations were making; but he declined unless the Emperor would give his consent, in which case he would accept the offer. But meeting with a Venetian who reproached him for not serving his own country instead of being engaged altogether for foreigners, his heart smote him, and he wrote the Emperor to recall him, which he did. And on his return to Seville, and contracting an intimate friendship with this Ragusan friar, he unbosomed himself to him; and, as the friar was going to Venice, charged him with the aforesaid message to the Council of the Ten, and to no one else; and the Ragusan “swore to me a sacred oath to this effect.” Cabot then said he would go to Venice, and lay the matter before the Council, after getting the Emperor’s consent to go, “on the plea of recovering his mother’s dowry.” The ambassador approved of this, but made some serious objections to the feasibility of the scheme which Cabot proposed for the benefit of Venice. Cabot answered his objections. In the course of the conversation he told Contarini that he had a method for ascertaining by the needle the distance between two places from east to west, which had never been previously discovered by any one. The interview was concluded by his promising to go to Venice at his own expense, and return in like manner if his plan was disapproved by the Council. He then urged Contarini to keep the matter secret.