Volume I Part 18 (2/2)
And so there pa.s.sed nearly twenty-five years from the first work on this globe until it was finished, by the addition of its proper divisions and its stars. This delay, although it might seem tedious, was not without its value; for all things were thus done more carefully and better.
'Work quickly only if you work well.' Then the outer circles were fitted to it, that is, a meridian and after that a horizon circle. This meridian is made of bra.s.s, and each degree is divided into minutes, and the horizon has the width of a palm of the hand, being covered with bra.s.s having the degrees and minutes marked. The vertical quadrant pa.s.sing from the zenith to the horizon is of bra.s.s.
”The globe rests on a firm base having two iron supports crossing each other, two of which you see on one side and two on the other. These are for the purpose of giving strength lest the horizon of the instrument should not be firm because of its bulk and weight.
”The entire support is five feet high, and on the lower part of the structure various mathematical devices are to be seen skilfully painted for the sake of ornamentation, and with the other features adding beauty to the whole. The globe itself is approximately six feet in diameter, and from this dimension the size of the meridian, of the horizon and of the rest of the instrument can be obtained.
”Such a globe, so solidly made, so finely wrought, and in every part so finely constructed and properly const.i.tuted never before in any part of the world, so I believe and say without the thought of arousing envy, has been completed. It is an immense and a magnificent work; so much so that many have come from various countries to Denmark that they might have a view of it together with my other instruments, while the Kingdom of Urania and its far-famed citadel were standing.
”Around the horizon circle one could read in letters of gold 'In the year of Christ CI? I? XXCIV (1584), Frederick II reigning in Denmark, this globe like unto a celestial machine, in which are fixed the stars of the eighth sphere as set down on his globe each exactly in its place, also the wandering stars as they appear among these, Tycho Brahe, to all on earth who desire to understand this matter, shows the heavens by this mechanical device which he perfected for his sons, for himself and for posterity.'
”The date 1584 is inscribed hereon because that is the middle of the period of time in which it was in the process of construction, and further it is the year before the death of King Frederick of most worthy memory, who liberally supported both myself and my work, and his princely love followed me as long as he lived. I will add only this one thing-this globe has a canopy indicated by Y Z (Fig. 77) circular, and concave within to enclose the upper half of the globe, which canopy, fastened to the roof by a chain, may be let down as a protection from dust and from other injury. The use of the globe is the same as is that of others, and this use I have decided to describe in a special work during my leisure time, since it cannot be done in few words. This globe has, on account of its great size, an advantage over all others, namely that all details on it can be given with the utmost exactness and minuteness. And those points concerning the doctrine of the _primum mobilum_ and the study of the heavenly bodies in their relations to the position of the ecliptic and the equator and of certain other circles on the globe, are easily determined with a minimum of trouble and without any laborious effort, by the machine.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: GLOBVS MAGNVS ORICHALCICUS. Fig. 77. Globus Magnus of Tycho Brahe, 1584.]
Van Raemdonck refers to a globe by t.i.ton du Tillet, of the year 1584, citing a reference to this work to be found in ”Memoirs lus a la Sorbonne.” We have been unable to obtain concerning t.i.ton any additional information to that given in the above citations.[357]
In March, 1861, the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris acquired by purchase a copper engraved globe mounted on a metal base.[358] The record referring to the purchase reads ”Trouve a Lignieres (Cher) et provenant de l'abbe L'ecuy.” (Fig. 78.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 78. L'ecuy Terrestrial Globe, ca. 1578.]
Aside from its geographical interest it is particularly significant in that it is the only globe of metal known to have been made in Rouen in that period. It is neither signed nor dated, but its inscriptions seem to a.s.sure us that it was not made prior to 1578, yet in all probability before 1600. It seems not to be known how the globe found its way into the locality designated. The Abbe L'ecuy died in Paris in the year 1634 at the age of eighty-four, Vicar General of the Prebendary of Notre Dame. It is probable that at the death of the Abbe the globe was taken to the province of Cher by some dealer or purchaser, as he was born in the town Yvoi-Carignan in French Luxembourg. Of the earliest history of this remarkably interesting object we know only that it was made in Rouen, at a date we cannot definitely fix.
It has a diameter of 25.6 cm. In an oval cartouch one finds the inscription ”Nova et integra universi orbis descriptio. Rothomagi.” ”A new and complete description of the world. Rouen.” Below the last line there appears to be s.p.a.ce left for the insertion of the author's name, a thought suggested by the arrangement for the inscription, and underneath the cartouch is engraved a representation of Neptune driving his sea horses and chariot and armed with a trident. There are numerous vessels represented on the globe, sailing the seas, in the style of the sixteenth century. The prime meridian pa.s.ses through the Canary Islands.
The author seems to have drawn largely from Spanish sources, but to some extent from the Portuguese.
The outlines of the several countries of the Old World are not particularly well drawn, and it does not appear that the author thought of making an especial point of accuracy. Africa has the outlines of the maps of the sixteenth century, but with an indifference to details. The Senegal and the Niger are made to unite to form the Nile. Asia is not particularly well drawn. Below the island of c.i.p.ango the author has engraved the following legend, ”Hoc loco secuti sumus recentiores hanc partem verius a continente separantes.” ”In this place we have followed the most recent (observers) who rightly separate this part from the continent.”
The western coast of America gives evidence of a want of detailed knowledge. Here we read ”Haec littora nondum cognita,” ”this coast is not yet known,” and below this, ”Novus...o...b..s,” and ”Hispania major a Nuno Gusmano devicta anno 1539,” ”Greater Spain conquered by Nuno Gusman in the year 1539.” California is represented as a peninsula and not an island as on so many of the maps of the closing years of the sixteenth century. The nomenclature along the coast of Mexico is exceedingly rich.
Pizarro's conquest is referred to, but Chili is unknown, ”Ulterius incognitum.” The estuary of La Plata is represented as very large. The coast names north of Florida seem to have been obtained from the Verrazano sources of 1524. In the region of Newfoundland, which is represented as a region of numerous small islands, we find ”Baccalearum regio,” ”Gamas,” ”insule Corteralis,” ”terro de laborador.” The strait separating Greenland from the mainland is referred to as ”Fretum arctic.u.m per quod Lusitani in orientem et ad Indos et Molucas navigare conati sunt,” ”Arctic strait through which the Portuguese attempted to sail to the east and to the Indies and the Moluccas,” an allusion to the unhappy results of the Cortereal expedition. Along the coast of the strait which forms the northern boundary of North America we read ”Terra per Britannos inventa,” ”Land discovered by the British.” A very curious legend along the east coast of Greenland reads ”Quii populi ad quos Joanes Scovus Da.n.u.s pervenit anno 1476,” ”These are the people to whom the Dane John Scovus came in the year 1476.” Humboldt was one of the first to call attention to this expedition, and Gomara was actually the first to mention it, that is, to give a reference to the Dane Skolnus.[359]
There are no more interesting survivals among the globes of the late sixteenth century than are those constructed by Emery Molyneux, now belonging to the Middle Temple Library of London (Fig. 79), which Sir Clements Markham refers to as ”their burial place,” considering this to be ”a strange depository for geographical doc.u.ments of such interest and importance.” In the address ”To the Reader” or preface to his 'Voyages,'
Hakluyt gives the first reference in print to these globes. ”Nowe,” he says, ”because peraduenture it would bee expected as necessarie, that the descriptions of so many parts of the world would farre more easily be conceiued of the Readers, by adding Geographicall, and Hydrographicall tables thereunto, thou art by the way to be admonished that I have contented my selfe with inserting into the worke one of the best generall mappes of the world onely, untill the coming out of a very large and most exact terrestriall Globe, collected and reformed according to the newest, secretest, and latest discoueries, both Spanish, Portugall, and English, composed by M. Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, a rare gentleman in his profession, being therein for diuers yeeres, gratly supported by the purse and liberalitie of the wors.h.i.+pfull marchant M. William Sanderson.”[360] It was not until near the close of the year 1592 that the globes were completed, and soon thereafter we have their first printed description, which description was given by Dr.
Hood of Trinity College, Cambridge, a lecturer on mathematics and navigation in the city of London.[361] Blundeville, in his 'Exercises,'[362] refers to them, and in 1594 Robert Hues published the first edition of his most valuable and interesting treatise on globes, bearing the t.i.tle, 'Tractatus de Globis et eorum usu, accomodatus iis qui Londini editi sunt anno 1593,' taking the Molyneux globes as the basis for his observations.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig 79. Terrestrial Globe of Emery Molyneux, 1592.]
Very little is known of the life of Molyneux. He appears to have been a member of the Cavendish expedition of the years 1586-1588, as is suggested by one of the legends on his terrestrial globe. He was known to Sir Walter Raleigh, to Richard Hakluyt, to Edward Wright, and to John Davis. To the suggestions of the last-named we perhaps owe the existence of these globes.[363] As noted by Hakluyt in his preface, the globes were constructed at the expense of William Sanderson, a merchant prince of London, a liberal and patriotic citizen, one interested in geographical exploration, who had fitted out the Davis Arctic Expedition.
Sir Clements Markham, in his edition of Robert Hues' 'Tractatus de Globis,'[364] edited for the Hakluyt Society and published in the year 1889, gives in his introduction the following brief but adequate description of these globes: ”The Molyneux globes are 2 feet 2 inches in diameter, and are fixed on stands. They have graduated bra.s.s meridians, and on that of the terrestrial globe a dial circle or 'Horarius' is fixed. The broad wooden equator, forming the upper part of the stand, is painted with the zodiac signs, the months, the Roman calendar, the points of the compa.s.s, and the same in Latin, in concentric circles.
Rhumb lines are drawn from numerous centers over the surface of the terrestrial globe. The equator, the ecliptic, the polar circles are painted boldly; while the parallels of lat.i.tude and meridians, at every ten degrees, are very faint lines. The globe received additions, including the discoveries of Barents in Novaya Zemlya, and the date has been altered with a pen from 1592 to 1603. The constellations and fixed stars on the celestial globe are the same as those on the globe of Mercator, except that the Southern Cross has been added. On both the celestial and the terrestrial globes of Molyneux there is a square label with this inscription 'This globe, belonging to the Middle Temple, was repaired in the year 1818 by J. and W. Newton, Globe Makers, Chancery Lane.'
”Over North America are the arms of France and England quarterly; supporters, a lion and dragon; motto of the garter; crown, crest, and baldrequin; standing on a label, with a long dedication to Queen Elizabeth.
”The achievement of Mr. William Sanderson is painted on the imaginary southern continent to the south of Africa. The crest is a globe with the sun's rays behind. It stands on a squire's helmet with baldrequin. The s.h.i.+eld is quarterly; 1st, paly of six azure and argent, over all a bend sable for Sanderson; 2nd, gules, lions, and castles in the quarters for Skirne alias Castilion; 3rd, or, a chevron between 3 eagles displayed sable, in chief a label of three points sable for Wall; 4th, quarterly, or and azure, over all a bend gules for Langston. Beneath there is an address from William Sanderson to the gentle reader, English and Latin, in parallel columns.
”In the north polar regions there are several new additions, delineating the discoveries of English and Dutch explorers for the first time. John Davis wrote, in his 'World's Hydrographical Discovery': 'How far I proceeded doth appear on the globe made by Master Emerie Molyneus.'
Davis Strait is shown with all the names on its sh.o.r.es which were given by its discoverer, and the following legend 'Joannes Davis Anglus anno 1583-86-87 littora Americae circ.u.mspectantia a quinquagesimo quinto grado ad 73 sub polarem scrutando perlegit.' ('John Davis, an Englishman in the years 1583-86-87, gave these names when he mapped the sh.o.r.es of America lying between the parallels of 55 degrees and 73 degrees north lat.i.tude.') On another legend we have 'Additions in the north parts to 1603'; and below it are the discoveries of Barents, with his Novaya Zemlya winter quarters-'Het behouden huis.' Between Novaya Zemlya and Greenland there is an island called 'Sir Hugo Willoghbi his land.' This insertion arose from a great error in longitude, Willoughby having sighted the coast of Novaya Zemlya; and the island, of course had no existence, though it long remained on the maps. To the north of Siberia there are two legends, 'Rd. Cancelarius et Stepha.n.u.s Burrow Angli Lappiae et Coreliae oras marinas et Simm. S. Nicolai vulgo dictum anno 1553 menso Augusto exploraverunt' ('Richard Chancelor and Stephen Burrow Englishmen explored the sh.o.r.e of Lapland and Corelia, and of Simm. S.
Nicolai commonly so called, in the month of August 1553'), and 'Joannes Mandevilla.n.u.s eques Anglius ex Anglia anno 1332 Cathaiae et Tartariae regiones penetravenit.' ('John Mandeville an English knight from England in the year 1322 entered the regions of Cathay and Tartary.')
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