the Church of Rome, denote the afternoon service; answering, in some measure, to the evening prayers of the Church of England.

Vespucci, Amerigo, a distinguished navigator, who has given name to the new continent, and who contested the honour of its discovery with Columbus, was born at Florence on the 9th of March 1451. His family was of some distinction, and his father was a notary in that city; but he was educated by his uncle, a man of great scientific reputation, and made great proficiency in astronomy, geography, and the sciences connected with navigation. He was destined for commercial pursuits, and in 1486 he seems to have been residing in Seville as factor to the wealthy Florentine house of Juanoto Berardi. In 1489 we find him at Florence, and in 1493 he again returned to Seville; and on the death of Juanoto Berardi, in 1495, he was placed at the head of the factory. The news of the discoveries of Columbus excited him to give up business and to explore those newly discovered countries. According to the account, attributed to himself, he left Cadiz on 20th May 1597 with four vessels, under the command of Alonso Vesta de Hojeda, and after 37 days sailing reached America, coasted along the continent for several hundred leagues, and returned to Spain on 15th of October 1599. Were this the case, then he would undoubtedly have the right to be considered the discoverer of the American continent; but Humboldt has incontestably shown, in his *Histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Continent*, vol. iv., that this voyage could not have taken place till 1799, and even acquits Vespucci of any intention of deceiving, the account having been published in Lorraine without his knowledge or consent. The friendly feeling that continued to subsist between him and Columbus, and afterwards his family, gives force to that hypothesis. Vespucci made another voyage to America, in December 1599, under Pinzon. Induced to enter the service of the King of Portugal, he made two more voyages, in 1501 and 1503, under the auspices of that monarch. Disappointed in his expectations, he afterwards returned to Spain, and in 1508 obtained the appointment of principal pilot, which he retained till his death, which took place at Seville on the 22nd February 1512.