Both
were probably theoretic, for the fancied purpose of preserving a balance
on the globe with the continents and islands already known; an idea which
was transferred by learned theorists, and even persisted in for a
considerable part of the eighteenth century, under the name of the Terra
Australis incognita; and was only banished by the enlightened voyages of
scientific discovery, conducted under the auspices of our present
venerable sovereign.
The globe of Martin Behaim, in 1492, repeats the island of Antillia, and
inserts beyond it to the west, the isle of St Brandan or Ima, from a
fabulous work of the middle ages. Occasion has already occurred to notice
two other ancient pretended discoveries of the New World: the fabulous
voyages of the Zenos, another Venetian tale; and the equally fabulous
Portuguese island of the Seven Churches, abounding in gold, and
inhabited by Spanish or Portuguese Christians. Britain even had its Madoc
prince of North Wales; and a white nomadic nation in North America,
speaking Welsh, is still among the puerile fancies of this nineteenth
century.
All these pretended proofs of any previous knowledge of the western
world, resolve into complete demonstrations of perfect ignorance, even in
the art of deception and forgery. Not only is the world indebted to
COLUMBUS for this great and brilliant discovery, but every subsequent
improvement in navigation, geography and hydrography, is justly
attributable to his illustrious example.
