III “THE PRINCIPAL NAVIGATIONS”

In Hakluyt’s monumental work of The Principal Navigations we have the whole brave story of English adventure through the centuries from the dim old days of the Saxon kings—when the known world was a little thing, only a spot on the map of to-day—to the Tudors’ times, with the discoveries of the New World, advancement¹ into remote quarters of the Old World, the expansion of commerce, and the planting of colonies in America. It is truly, as aptly termed by James Anthony Froude, the prose epic² of the modern English nation.

The first issue of 1589, the single volume in three parts, comprehended the main features of this story; the three-volumed second edition, 1598–1600, amplified³ it with a wealth of added incident and richness of color. The three parts of the portly volume of 1589, covering eight hundred and twenty-five foolscap pages, comprised successively the narratives⁴ of English voyages that had been performed to the South and Southeastern regions of the Old World; the North and Northeastern 33travels; and the Western, or New World, navigations. The contents were elaborately detailed⁵ in the full title-page.

FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE THIRD, OR AMERICAN, VOLUME OF HAKLUYT’S "VOYAGES," EDITION OF 1598–1600.
From a copy of the original edition in the New York Public Library (Lenox Building).

The prefatory address “to the Favourable⁶ Reader” discloses the thoroughness of the compiler’s work. He has been careful in every possible case to present exact copies of the original narratives. Wherever he has copied from an historian, or “authour of authoritie,” either “stranger or naturall”—foreigner or native—he has “recorded the same word for word with his particular name and page of booke” where the “testimonie” is extant. “If the same were not reduced into our common language,” he has given it in the original followed by a translation. And “to the ende that those men which were the paynefull and personall travellers might reape that good opinion and iust [just] commendation which they haue deserued, and further, that euery man might answere for himselfe, iustifie [justify] his reports, and stand accountable for his own doings,” he has “referred euery voyage to his Author which both in person hath performed, and in writing hath left the same.” He adds that while he “meddles” in this work with the navigations only of the English nation he quotes in a few places “some strangers as witnesses of the things done”; yet these foreigners are only such as “either faythfully remember, or sufficiently⁷ confirme” the Englishmen’s travels.

A map of the world inserted in this volume was taken by Hakluyt from the atlas⁸ of Abraham Ortelius, a celebrated⁹ Flemish geographer¹⁰, published at Antwerp in 341570. It was substituted temporarily for one in preparation for the book, but not completed by the engraver¹¹ in time. Hakluyt alludes¹² to this, in the address “to the Favourable Reader,” as “a very large and most exact terrestriall Globe collected and reformed according to the newest, secretest, and latest discoveries, both Spanish, Portugall, and English, composed by M[aster] Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, a rare gentleman in his profession, being therein for divers¹³ yeares, greatly supported by the purse and liberalitie of the worshipfull marchant M[aster] William Sanderson.” What is supposed to be the Mollineux map has been found in rare copies of this volume and of the second edition. A map bound in a treasured copy of the 1589 edition in the Boston Public Library contains this memorandum¹⁴ written on the back: "This map is a facsimile of the map of the world found in some of the first editions of this book. By Sabin and others it is attributed to Emmerie Mollineux of Lambeth, by Capt. Markham and others, to Edward Wright, the mathematician¹⁵ who perfected and rendered practicable what we know to-day as Mercator’s projection¹⁶. Hallam describes this as ‘the best map of the 16th century and one of uncommon¹⁷ rarity.’ Only nine copies are known to exist."

Professor Walter Raleigh, in his essay on the English Voyages which accompanies the modern reprint of the Navigations (Glasgow, 1903), recalls the belief of Shaksperian authorities, among whom he is counted, that this is the map alluded¹⁸ to in Twelfth Night in the passage (Act III, Scene II), “He does smile his face 35into more lines than is in the new map with the augmentation of the Indies.”

The titles of the three-volumed second edition set forth¹⁹ the contents of each book with the same minute detail as that of the initial volume of 1589.

1 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

2 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

3 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

4 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

5 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

6 favourable   

adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的

参考例句：

• The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
• We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。

7 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

8 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

9 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

10 geographer   

n.地理学者

参考例句：

• His grandfather is a geographer.他的祖父是一位地理学家。
• Li Siguang is a famous geographer.李四光是一位著名的地理学家。

11 engraver   

n.雕刻师，雕工

参考例句：

• He was a sketcher and a copper-plate engraver. 他也是杰出的素描家和铜版画家。 来自辞典例句
• He was once an engraver in a printing factory. 他以前是印刷厂的一名刻工。 来自互联网

12 alludes   

提及，暗指( allude的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In the vegetable kingdom Mr. Mivart only alludes to two cases. 在植物界中，密伐脱先生仅提出两点。
• Black-box testing alludes to test that are conducted at the software interface. 黑箱测试是指测试软件接口进行。

13 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

14 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

15 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

16 projection   

n.发射，计划，突出部分

参考例句：

• Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。
• The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。

17 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

18 alluded   

提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In your remarks you alluded to a certain sinister design. 在你的谈话中，你提到了某个阴谋。
• She also alluded to her rival's past marital troubles. 她还影射了对手过去的婚姻问题。

19 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。