Southampton. In some way or other he came to know one Mr. William
Hawkins, of Plymouth, and held him in especial esteem. This Mr. Hawkins,
under Henry's patronage, ventured down to the coast of Guinea and
brought home gold and ivory; crossed over to Brazil; made friends with
the Brazilian natives; even brought back with him the king of those
countries, who was curious to see what England was like, and presented
him to Henry at Whitehall.

Another Plymouth man, Robert Thorne, again with Henry's help, went out
to look for the North-west passage which Cabot had failed to find.
Thorne's ship was called the _Dominus Vobiscum_, a pious aspiration
which, however, secured no success. A London man, a Master Hore, tried
next. Master Hore, it is said, was given to cosmography, was a
plausible talker at scientific meetings, and so on. He persuaded 'divers
young lawyers' (briefless barristers, I suppose) and other
gentlemen--altogether a hundred and twenty of them--to join him. They
procured two vessels at Gravesend. They took the sacrament together
before sailing. They apparently relied on Providence to take care of
them, for they made little other preparation. They reached Newfoundland,
but their stores ran out, and their ships went on shore. In the land of
fish they did not know how to use line and bait. They fed on roots and
bilberries, and picked fish-bones out of the ospreys' nests. At last
they began to eat one another--careless of Master Hore, who told them
they would go to unquenchable fire. A French vessel came in. They seized
her with the food she had on board and sailed home in her, leaving the
French crew to their fate. The poor French happily found means of
following them. They complained of their treatment, and Henry ordered an
inquiry; but finding, the report says, the great distress Master Hore's
party had been in, was so moved with pity, that he did not punish them,
but out of his own purse made royal recompense to the French.