The Cabots and the Discovery of America: With a Brief Description and History of Brandon Hill, the Site of the Cabot Memorial Tower — John Shaqi
The Cabots and the Discovery of America: With a Brief Description and History of Brandon Hill, the Site of the Cabot Memorial TowerHodges, Elizabeth, active 1895-1897
History
The Cabots and the Discovery of America: With a Brief Description and History of Brandon Hill, the Site of the Cabot Memorial Tower
Hodges, Elizabeth, active 1895-1897
Bristol (England) -- Description and travel; Cabot, John, -1498?; Cabot, Sebastian, approximately 1474-1557
Although the maps and charts of the Cabots are so far, lost to us whom
they most concern, clear traces of them exist in the work of foreign
cosmographers, and especially in the famous map of Juan de la Cosa,
published in 1501, only three years after the voyage of John Cabot;
where the row of British flags, commencing at the southern end with _Mar
descubierta por inglese_, "sea discovered by the English;" and ending
at the north with _Cavo de ynglaterra_, "Cape of England," mark
unmistakably the discoveries of Cabot, and could have been obtained only
from his map.
The most curious evidence, however, comes from none other than the
supreme Pontiff himself, and testifies, not only to the fact of Cabot's
discoveries, but also that he hailed from Bristol!
In the British Museum is a facsimile, by Wm. Griggs, of the original
"Carta Universal," or Chart of the World, preserved in the "Propaganda"
at Rome, by which Pope Alexander VI. divided the unclaimed lands of
the globe between Spain and Portugal. On this unique chart the Northern
Continent ends at Labrador, which is described as a country "which was
discovered by the English of the town of Bristol, and which is of no
use!"
Truly,=
```"When a thing's beyond our power,
```We say in scorn, '_the grapes are sour!_"
[Illustration: 0030]
BRANDON HILL, BRISTOL
The Site of the Cabot Memorial.
Brandon Hill, the site of Bristol's memorial to the Cabots, lies between
the north-west portion of the city and the wooded heights of Clifton.
A fringe of houses encircles the base, but the remainder of its
twenty-five acres, up to the rounded summit, 250 feet high, is open
greensward, with gravelled paths, and seats under shady hawthorne
bushes--the happy haunt of children from all parts of the city; and,
as evening spreads her dusky mantle around, of whispering lovers, every
seat accommodating a pair, sometimes two!
[Illustration: 8031]
The Hill takes its name from the Irish saint, Brendan, a chapel and
hermitage dedicated to him having once stood on its summit.
This St. Brendan is said to have been a great sailor, and claims to have
himself discovered land across the Atlantic. Whether the claim be true
or false, certain it is that the story of his "voyages," and the golden
legends connected therewith, aroused men's curiosity and incited to
subsequent expeditions, which, nearly a thousand years after Brendan's
death, resulted in the discovery of the Northern Continent. The choice,
therefore, of "St. Brendon's Hill" for the site of the memorial of that
discovery is peculiarly appropriate; more especially as Brendan was
the patron saint of sailors, and his chapel much frequented by Bristol
mariners.
[Illustration: 0032]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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