THE OLD SEA-CAPTAINS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 1759, 18 June 1886, Page 6

THE OLD SEA-CAPTAINS.

Brave men indeed were the old seacaptains who, iv their " tall Bhips," dared to steer for continents that they could only guess of, and to hazard their liveß on seas where fable was their only chart, and the whale was still Lord Eigh Admiral. And what an "address" to sail for ! — " the dominion of Prester John, or other potentates they might meet with." And then the delightful idea of the first ships that sailed to America carrying with them letters of introduction "in the Latin, Hebrew, and Chaldee tongues!*' How the red Indian must have powwowed over such aietter written, too, on "a leaf of gold " — and what wisdom would have been exchanged between sagamore and sachem over the compliments (in Chaldee) of " Don John of Portugal, brother of the Christian King !" But to those daring seamen of the older days there was nothing humorous in such an adventure. It was the work of a life to have voyaged once on high seas " for the honour of His Majesty the King and the glory of God," and they were content on their return to schedule s«ch strange goods as ' _"opynjaya.

and wylde catts of the mountaigne, with other stuff to the King's grace." And how stately the reception they received on their return ! how solemn the Te Deums of the nation ! There is a wonderful pathos in the significance of these great rejoicings of the young world of Europe on bringing under its sceptres the old worlds of the earth and calling them "New." Hidden away behind the veil of distance, the antiquities of continents bad lain for ages, And then, suddenly cutting her way through the concealing oceans, came one day, with the sun light glittering on her sails as they rose up from the under world, and the subject sea fawning with smiles upon her prow, a tall ship, with her crew of strangely speaking men, white skinned and bearded, whose feet strode the shore as if they were the hereditary lords of it, and whose hands never loosed their hold of aught they grasped. — Harper's Magazine.