Peter Martyr (Decad. 2, Cap. 7) alludes to this publication, under the first Latin title of the book, Itinerarium Portugallensium, and accuses the author, whom by mistake he terms Cadamosto, of having stolen the materials of his book from the three first chapters of his first Decade of the Ocean, of which, he says, he granted copies in manuscript to several persons, and in particular to certain Venetian ambassadors. Martyr's Decades were not published until 1516.

This narrative of the voyages of Columbus is referred to by Gio. Batista Spotorno, in his historical memoir of Columbus, as having been written by a companion of Colum

bus.

It is manifest, from a perusal of the narrative, that though the author may have helped himself freely from the manuscript of Martyr, he must have had other sources of information. His description of the person of Columbus, as a man tall of stature and large of frame, of a ruddy complexion and oblong visage, is not copied from Martyr, nor from any other writer. No historian had indeed preceded him except Sabellicus, in 1504; and the portrait agrees with that subsequently given of Columbus in the biography written by his son.

year

It is probable that this narrative, which appeared only a after the death of Columbus, was a piece of literary job-work, written for the collection of voyages published at Vicenza; and that the materials were taken from oral communication, from the account given by Sabellicus, and particularly from the manuscript copy of Martyr's first decade.

No. XXXI.

ANTONIO DE HERRERA.

ANTONIO Herrera de Tordesillas, one of the authors most frequently cited in this work, was born in 1565, of Roderick Tordesillas, and Agnes de Herrera, his wife. He received an excellent education, and entered into the employ of Vespucian Gonzago, brother to the duke of Mantua, who was viceroy of Naples for Philip the second of Spain. He was for some time secretary to this statesman, and intrusted with all his secrets. He was afterwards grand historiographer of the Indias to Philip II, who added to that title a large pension. He wrote various books, but the most celebrated is a general history of the Indias, or American colonies, in four volumes, containing eight decades. When he under-. took this work, all the public archives were thrown open to him, and he had access to documents of all kinds. He has been charged with great precipitation in the production of his two first volumes, and with negligence in not making sufficient use of the indisputable sources of information thus placed within his reach. The fact was, that he met with historical tracts lying in manuscript, which embraced a great part of the first discoveries, and he contented himself with stating events as he found them therein recorded. It is cer

tain that a great part of his work is little more than a transcript of the manuscript history of the Indias by Las Casas, sometimes reducing and improving the language when tumid, omitting the impassioned sallies of the zealous father, when the wrongs of the Indians were in question, and suppressing various circumstances degrading to the character of

the Spanish discoverers. The author of the present work has, therefore, frequently put aside the history of Herrera, and consulted the source of his information, the manuscript history of Las Casas.

Muñoz observes, that in general Herrera did little more than join together morsels and extracts, taken from various parts, in the way that one arranges chronologically the materials from which to write a history; he adds, that had not Herrera been a learned and judicious man, the precipitation with which he put together these materials would have led to innumerable errors. The remark is just, yet it is to be considered that to select and arrange such materials judiciously, and treat them learnedly, was no trifling merit in the historian.

Herrera has been accused also of flattering his nation, exalting the deeds of his countrymen, and softening and concealing their excesses. There is nothing very grave in this accusation. To illustrate the glory of his nation is one of the noblest offices of the historian, and it is difficult to speak too highly of the extraordinary enterprizes and splendid actions of the Spaniards in those days. In softening their excesses he fell into an amiable and pardonable error, if it were indeed an error for a Spanish writer to endeavour to sink them in oblivion.

Vossius passes a high eulogium on Herrera. "No one," he says, "has observed with greater industry and fidelity the magnitude and boundaries of provinces, the tracts of sea, position of capes and islands, of ports and harbours, the windings of rivers and dimensions of lakes; the situation and peculiarities of regions, with the appearance of the heavens, and the designation of places suitable for the establishment of cities." He has been called among the Spaniards the prince of the historians of America, and it is add

ed that none have risen since his time capable of disputing with him that title. Much of this praise will appear exaggerated by such as examine the manuscript histories from which he transferred chapters and entire books, with very little alteration, to his volumes; and a great part of the eulogiums passed on him for his work on the Indias, will be found really due to Las Casas, who has too long been eclipsed by his copyist. Still Herrera has left voluminous proofs of industrious research, extensive information and great literary talent. His works bear the mark of candour, integrity, and a sincere desire to record the truth.

He died in 1625, at sixty years of age, after having obtained from Philip IV the promise of the first charge of secretary of state that should become vacant.

No. XXXII.

BISHOP FONSECA.

THE singular malevolence displayed by bishop Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca toward Columbus and his family, and which was one of the secret and principal causes of their misfortunes, has been frequently noticed in the course of this work. It originated as has been shown in some dispute between the admiral and Fonseca at Seville in 1493, on account of the delay in fitting out the armament for the second voyage, and in regard to the number of domestics to form the household of the admiral. Fonseca received a letter from the sovereigns, tacitly reproving him, and ordering him to show all possible attention to the wishes of Columbus, and to see that he was treated with honour and deference. Fon

ing the letters of one year. The same objections have been made to his letters as to his decades, but they bear the same stamp of candour, probity, and great information. They possess peculiar value from being written at the moment before the facts they record were distorted or discoloured by prejudice or misrepresentation. His works abound in interesting particulars not to be found in any contemporary historian. They are rich in thought, but still richer in fact, and are full of urbanity, and of the liberal feeling of a scholar who has mingled with the world. He is a fountain from which others draw, and from which, with a little precaution, they may draw securely. He died in Valladolid, in 1526.

No. XXVIII.

OVIEDO.

GONZALO Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, commonly known as Oviedo, was born in Madrid in 1478, and died in Valladolid in 1557, aged seventy-nine years. He was of a noble Asturian family, and in his boyhood (in 1490,) was appointed one of the pages to prince Juan, heir apparent of Spain, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella. He was in this situation at the time of the siege and surrender of Granada, was consequently at court at the time that Columbus made his agreement with the catholic sovereigns, and was in the same capacity at Barcelona, and witnessed the triumphant entrance of the discoverer attended by a number of the natives of the newly found countries.

In 1513 he was sent out to the new world by Ferdinand, to superintend the gold foundries. For many years he