46/94 He was not a fighting King;--and, partly on this account, he was not popular. He encouraged manufactures in wool, silk, and tapestry. He gave every encouragement to the mercantile and colonizing adventurers to plant and improve the rising settlements of Virginia, New England, and Newfoundland. He also promoted the trade to the East Indies. Attempts continued to be made, by Hudson, Poole, Button, Hall, Baffin, and other courageous seamen, to discover the North-West passage, but always without effect. |