We have been thus particular in describing the principal maps of this work,
as they prove how imperfect geography was, prior to the time of Mercator,
and with how much justice it may be said that he is the father of modern
geography. There were, however, some maps of particular countries, drawn up
in the sixteenth century with tolerable accuracy, considering the
imperfection of those sciences and instruments, by which alone perfect
accuracy can be attained. George Lilly, son of William, the famous
grammarian, published, according to Nicholson, (English Historical
Library,) "the first exact map that ever was, till then, drawn of this
island." This praise must, however, be taken with great qualification; for
even so late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, the distance from
the South Foreland to the Lands-end was laid down, in all the maps of
England, half a degree more than it actually is. We may here remark, that
Nicholson represents Thomas Sulmo, a Guernsey man, who died in 1545, as our
oldest general geographer.
In some of the MSS. of Harding's Chronicle, written in the reign of Edward
IV., there is a rude map of Scotland. In 1539, Alexander Lindsey, an
excellent navigator and hydrographer, published a chart of Scotland and its
isles, drawn up from his own observations, which were made when he
accompanied James V.
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