Nearchus' voyage being accomplished, and Alexandria now complete,
Commerce is represented as standing on the Pharos, and calling to all
nations. The tide of commerce would have flowed still in the track
pointed out by the sagacity of Alexander, but that a wider scene, beyond
THE ANCIENT WORLD, opens to the VIEW OF DISCOVERY. The use of the magnet
is discovered; and Henry of Portugal prosecutes the plan of opening a
passage along the coast of Africa to the East. One of his ships on its
return from the expedition has been driven from Cape Bojador (the
formidable boundary of Portuguese research) by a storm at sea. The isle
afterwards called Porto Santo is discovered. The circumstance related;
but the extraordinary appearance of a supernatural shade over the waters
at a distance excites many fears and superstitions. The attempt,
however, to penetrate the mystery, is resolved on. Zarco reaches the
island of Madeira; tomb found; which introduces the episode. At the tomb
of the first discoverer (whether this be fanciful or not, is nothing to
poetry) the Spirit of Discovery casts her eyes over the globe; she
pursues De Gama to the East; history of Camoens touched on; Columbus;
sees with triumph the discovery of a new world, and from thence extends
her ideas till the great globe is encompassed; after which she returns
to the "tranquil bosom of the Thames," with Drake, the first
circumnavigator, whose ship, after its various perils, being laid up in
that river, gives rise to some brief concluding reflections.