told how often they have changed their government; theſe iſlands have hitherto changed only their name. Of heroes to conquer, or legiſlators to civilize, here has been no appearance; nothing has happened to them but that they have been ſometimes ſeen by wandering navigators, who paſſed by them in ſearch of better habitations.
When the Spaniards, who, under the conduct of Columbus, diſcovered America, had taken poſſeſſion of its moſt wealthy regions; they ſurpriſed and terrified Europe by a ſudden and unexampled influx of riches. They were made at once inſupportably inſolent, and might perhaps have become irreſiſtibly powerful, had not their mountainous treaſures been ſcattered in the air with the ignorant profuſion of unaccuſtomed opulence.
The greater part of the European potentates ſaw this ſtream of riches flowing into
