Series 1 > Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, with his observations on public affairs and other memoranda, 1665-1676

ANECDOTE OF COLUMBUS
97
water, whiles smelling of musck: tho their fingers stinkes
whiles, the French (lighting their staille1 wt their fingers,
thinking it prodigality to do it wt paper: yett ther Kings of
old did so, to teach their peaple frugality : hence it is that
the Frenchman wil not eat til he wash : wil not eat wt ye til
ye wash : for my oune part I would not eat wt a Frenchman
til he wash.
Fresch egges are wery dear wairs in France. At Paris they
are 5 pence a peice, at Poictiers a shiling a dozen. They fry
their egges differently from us: they break them first in a
plate : in the meantym they fry a considerable lump of butter,
then pours in the egges salting and spicing them. Their
hens are not so fertile as ours.
Our speaking of egges mindes me of Christophorus Colomba
Lusitanian, a experienced skiper, first discowrer of the new
world, tho he had gotten some encouradgements and con¬
clusions about it from on Vespucius Americus Florentin, from
whom it gets its denomination of America. Colomba on a
tyme walking on the harbory of Lisbon, a toune knowen for
the emporium of the east, such a boystrous wind blow to him
iust of the sea that he could not get his feet holden; on this
he began to reason that the wind could not come of the Sea,
but that of necessity their bit to 2 be land beyond that sea, tho
unknoun, of whilk3 that wind bit to2 blow, for the vapors or
exhalations drawen of the sea are not so grosse as thess that
montes of the land: and be consequence cannot produce such
boystrous vindes. This his opinion he imparted to sewerall:
at lenth it came to Ferdinando’es ears, who at the persuasions
of Isabella his queen, a woman of greater spirit and more action
then hir husband, equippes Columba a fleet, wt which after
he had born out many stormes he gained his point, returning
wt some few of his shipes that ware left him leadened wt the
gold of the country.
The King accepted him wery kindly, as he had reason, but
his courtiers out of that enwious nature of detracting from the
merites of others, thinking that theirs no way of gaining them-
selfes credit unless they backbit at others, each most passe
Foundation, breech.
Must.
i.e. though unknown, off which.