osophers, respecting the spherical figure of the earth, and its
diurnal motion around its own axis, were superseded by others of a more
popular nature, and forgotten for many ages. Lactantius and Augustine,
two fathers of the catholic church, unfortunately adopted the idea of
the earth being a flat surface, infinitely extending downwards;
grounding this false notion upon a mistaken interpretation of the holy
scriptures, or rather seeking assistance from them in support of their
own unphilosophical conceptions. So strongly had this false opinion
taken possession of the minds of men, in our European world, even after
the revival of learning in the west, that Galileo was imprisoned by the
holy inquisitors at Rome for asserting the sphericity of the earth, and
the doctrine of _antipodes_, and had to redeem his liberty and life, by
writing a refutation of that heretical doctrine, which satisfied the
inquisitors, yet convinced the world of its truth.

Columbus assuredly grounded his grand discovery of America upon the
knowledge of the earth being a sphere; and had not the new western world
intervened, his voyage had probably been the first circumnavigation. In
modern times, an idea has been advanced that Columbus only retraced the
steps of some former navigator, having seen certain parts of the grand
division of the world which he discovered, already delineated on a
globe. It were improper to enter upon a refutation of this idle calumny
on the present occasion; yet it is easy to conceive, that the possessor
of that globe, may have rudely added the reported discoveries of
Columbus, to the more ancient delineations. At all events, Columbus was
the first person who conceived the bold idea that it was practicable to
sail round the globe. From the spherical figure of the earth, then
universally believed by astronomers and cosmographers, in spite of the
church, he inferred that the ancient hemisphere or continent then known,
must of necessity be balanced by an equiponderant and opposite
continent. And, as the Portuguese had discovered an extensive track by
sailing to the eastwards, he concluded that the opposite or most
easterly coast of that country might certainly be attained, and by a
nearer path, by crossing the Atlantic to the westwards. The result of
this profound conception, by the discovery of America, has been already
detailed in the _Second_ Book of this collection; and we now proceed in
this _Fourth_ Book to detail the va