Queen Elizabeth's California [pp. 440-447]

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CALIFORNI4A.
mine Hill; but down near the spring, in
the sweetest nook in all that country,
stands a small, neat cottage, covered
over with vines and flowers. If you
brush aside the curtain and peep in, this
summer twilight, you will see a dusky,
venerable old couple sitting together in
loving companionship, while a little, fairhaired boy is roguishly prattling at their
side. He has just hidden the old man's
crutch, and is laughing in riotous glee at
the ineffectual attempts to discover its
whereabouts, when Aunt Chloe, with
mock solemnity, interposes:
"Now, now, Marsr Willie, ye bes' be
a-huntin' dat dis minit, fur dere comes
Miss Carrie an' de Major down de hill,
an' dey'll make de young man fly roun'
fur sartin'."
Little William Sherman Morton is no
stranger at the cottage. The life of the
frolicsome, curly-headed boy is closely
interblended with that of the grave,
woolly-headed old man; he is very nimble-footed on errands for Uncle Hampshire, whom he loves with a worshipful
affection; for uncles, aunts, parents, and
grandparents have all taught him to
know, that, in some way which he now
but dimly understands, his own bright
life has a mysterious connection with
that missing leg, and odd, old crutch
about which he is so mischievously curious.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CALIFORNIA.
HE story of Frobisher, and the
land- Meta Incognita- he discovered, which, in his imagination, was
to be to Queen Elizabeth's time what
California has been to ours, but few
know, even in this generation of Arctic
discoveries.
Frobisher was a Yorkshireman, born
in obscurity, near the middle of the first
half of the sixteenth century. He belonged to a generation which established England's dominion of the seas; and
grew up at a time when American discoveries were exciting the western nations of Europe, and stirring the minds
of young men with an ambition as glorious as it was novel. A new world had
been discovered, which made promise to
ardent imaginations of greater wealth,
greater glory, greater opportunity for
heroism, than centuries of old -world
life had offered. Frobisher was infected by the noble madness of the time.
The search for the North-west Passage
had already begun, and he became con
vinced-by what means is not knownthat the true road to the South Sea and
Cathay lay to the north of North America, rather than round the Cape of Good
Hope. He was as faithful to his idea as
Columbus had been to his, and for fifteen years urged his views upon the
merchants he knew, and by every persuasion tried to induce them to venture
a little for so rich a stake as the wealth
of the Indies. But trade was cautious;
and, though his friends listened willingly to his flattering tale, they would not
lend their money. He determined to
apply to the Court of Elizabeth, in which,
at that time, there was more enterprise
than was to be found among all the merchants of the kingdom. Here he found
many to encourage him, and a few ready
to back their commendation with ready
money, which was his chief need. The
Earl of Warwick, in particular, befriended him, headed a subscription in his behalf, and, by his own contributions and
his influence, secured means enough to
[Nov.
44o