The Age of Discovery. And now the time was ripe for the dawning of a new era. Gunpowder had been invented, and the art of printing. The properties of the magnetic needle had also been discovered, and this latter gave a great impetus to navigation of the sea. Under the patronage of Prince Henry of Portugal various expeditions were sent out, with noteworthy results. The first voyages were made down the west coast of Africa, in quest of a sea route to the East Indies. Thus the Cape of Good Hope was finally reached and rounded. These adventures moved Christopher Columbus, a Genoese navigator, to conceive the bold project of sailing westward from the European coast across the Atlantic Ocean. Thus he believed it would be possible to circumnavigate the globe and reach the East Indies from the other side. He met at first with little encouragement and many obstacles, but at last received some limited patronage from Isabella, Queen of Castile, and in 1492 set out with three small vessels upon his wondrous voyage. Discovery of America. To the importance of that voyage no words can do full justice. "The departure from Palos," said Everett, "where, a few days before, he had begged a morsel of bread and a cup of water for his wayworn child,-his final farewell to the Old World at the Canaries,-his entrance upon the trade winds, which then, for the first time, filled a European sail,-the portentious variation of the needle, never before observed, -the fearful course westward and westward, day after day, and night after night, over the unknown sea,-the mutinous and ill-appeased crew :-at length, when hope had turned to despair in every heart but one, the tokens of land, -the cloud-banks on the western horizon,-the logs of driftwood, -the fresh shrub, floating with its leaves and berries, the flocks of land birds,-the shoals of fish that inhabit shallow water,-the indescribable smell of the shore, the mysterious presentiment that seems to go ever before a great event,-and finally, on that evermemorable night of the 12th of October, 1492, the moving light seen by the sleepless eye of the great discoverer himself, from the deck of the Santa Maria, and in the morning the real, doubted land, swelling up from the bosom of the deep, with its plains, and hills, and forests, and rocks, and streams, and strange new races of men :-these are incidents in which the authentic history of the discovery of our continent excels the specious wonders of romance, as much as gold excels tinsel, or the sun in the heavens outshines the flickering taper." CHAPTER III. DOWN TO MODERN TIMES. THE WARS OF FRANCE-ENGLAND'S GROWING POWER-UNHAPPY ITALY-SOME OTHER ROCK DATES OF SETTLEMENT-FRANCE PRE- US THE DELUGE!"-SPAIN AND OF & HE close of the fifteenth century saw Spain rising to power as the foremost nation of Europe. The two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile were practically united under Ferdinand and Isabella. After the latter's death they were temporarily separated, but the astute Ferdinand soon reunited them, and then, by the seizure of Navarre in 1512, made all Spain one kingdom. Naples and Sicily were also added to the Spanish domain. After a brief regency, Ferdinand was succeeded by his grandson, Charles I., best known as the Emperor Charles V., one of the most famous of European rulers. He was a descendant of Charles the Bold of France and Maximilan of Austria. He thus was at the same time King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands, King of the Two Sicilies, and Lord of the Spanish Settlements in America and Africa, which latter were of vast extent. A couple of years after his accession he was made Emperor of Germany, and thus became by far the greatest sovereign of his times. The Wars of France. The Hundred Years' War between France and England was ended, but the former nation enjoyed little peace. Under Charles VIII. and Louis XII., it was almost continually at war. In Italy it made great conquests, but had to surrender most of them to Spain. Then a quarrel with England arose, and Henry VIII. invaded France, and routed an army at the famous Battle of the Spurs, so called 488 because of the precipitate flight of the French. The most noted French warrior of these times was the Chevalier Bayard, who was said to be "without fear and without reproach." England's Growing Power. England was also rapidly growing in power. Henry VII. was a wise and enterprising king. Despite several rebellions at home, the most notable being that of Perkin Warbeck, who claimed the throne, as a son of Edward IV., the influence of England was steadily extended abroad. Much attention was paid to commerce and naval power, and under English commissions John Cabot and others made voyages of discovery and conquest. Cabot first discovered the North American continent and planted an English colony there. Henry VII. married his daughter to James IV. of Scotland, and thus prepared the way for the ultimate union of those countries. Under Henry VIII. the growth of England continued. At the battle of Flodden Field the Scotch army was almost annihilated, and the military power of that country hopelessly broken, after which there was peace between England and Scotland. Unhappy Italy. At this time the condition of Italy was most deplorable. Savonarola for a time effected great reforms at Florence, but was at last led to martyrdom by the very people he strove to benefit. The Papacy became corrupt. Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia distinguished themselves by their crimes. The commercial supremacy of Venice and Genoa was destroyed by the Portuguese, who discovered the route to India around the Cape of Good Hope and built up an empire there. France and Spain invaded Italy and found it an easy prey. Nevertheless, the artistic genius of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michael Angelo made this a time of Italian glory. Some Other States. Germany, meanwhile, was too much divided to figure largely in European affairs. The Turks, now established at Constantinople, added Syria and Egypt to their growing empire. Poland was now an important kingdom, and Russia was becoming civilized, and getting into touch with the rest of Europe. Ivan III., who died in 1505, was the first Russian ruler known as Czar. He freed the country from the Tartars and laid the foundation of Russian greatness. The Reformation. Now came one of the greatest movements in history, with its origin and centre in Germany. This was the Reformation led by Martin Luther. Papal corruption reached its climax in the sale of so-called Indulgences, giving their purchaser freedom from the moral law. Against these Luther, then an Augustinian friar in Germany, publicly protested, in 1517, and thus presently became known as a Protestant. At first he aimed at reform of the Roman church from within, but was soon driven out of that church altogether, and became the leader of a separate religious |