own observations. His constancy and patience were equal to the most hazardous undertakings. His fortitude surmounted many difficulties, and his invention extricated him out of many perplexities. His prudence enabled him to conceal or subdue his own infirmities, while he took advantage of the passions of others, adjusting his behaviour to his circumstances; temporizing or acting with vigour, as the occasion required.* *

["A peculiar trait in his rich and varied character," says Mr. Irving, "was that ardent and enthusiastic imagination, which threw a magnificence over his whole course of thought. Herrera intimates that he had a talent for poetry, and some slight traces of it are on record, in the book of prophecies which he presented to the Catholic sovereigns. But his poetical temperament is discernible throughout all his writings and in all his actions. It spread a golden and glorious world around him, and tinged everything with its own gorgeous colours. It betrayed him into visionary speculations. It exalted his office in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, subject to impulses and supernatural intimations from the Deity." Closely connected with this quality was one which we might not expect to find in a hardy seaman, and which yet was strong in him, a clear perception and hearty love of the beauties of nature; à quality which everywhere discloses itself in his simple narrative of the novel beauties of the New World.

We cannot omit to speak of his self-reliance. He trusted in the truth of his own convictions, when he trusted in them alone. He frankly and boldly avowed them, when the avowal cost him at once scorn and neglect. He held them fast when the wise men of his day had deliberately scouted them. They were his

His fidelity to the ungrateful prince whom he served, and whose dominions he enlarged, must render him forever conspicuous as an example of justice; and his attachment to the queen, by whose influence he was raised and supported, will always be a monument of his gratitude.

To his other excellent qualities may be added his piety.* He always entertained, treasure in the deepest poverty, and his hope when princes had despised and friends had forsaken him. They bore him up in every privation and distress, and made the simple mariner eloquent in the halls of the learned and the courts of kings; and yet he had no adequate, not even a true apprehension of the value of those great truths to which he clung so steadfastly.

Columbus was an ambitious man, yet with an honourable ambition. He sought not so much wealth as honour; and that not merely of scientific discovery, but of social rank, and not for himself only, but for his posterity. He would gain a place among the proud nobles of Spain which none of them should despise, and a title which should always point to his own mer its as the source of his greatness. In his will he ordered that his heir should write for his signature only "The Admiral," whatever other titles the king might confer on him.

That he had faults need not be denied. That he sympathized with many erroneous opinions and practices of his age is not to be wondered at. But there was in him nothing sordid, mean, or revengeful. His faults were rather weaknesses; too much patience, too much forbearance with his enemies, too high-minded a confidence in the power of innocence and in the honour of princes. He was impetuous, but not rash; sensitive, but not passionate; deeply wronged, and forgiving like a Christian.-H.] * [The peculiar character of his piety cannot be better deVOL. I.-S

and on proper occasions expressed, a reverence for the Deity, and a firm confidence in his care and protection. In his declining days the consolations of religion were his chief support; and his last words were, "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

The persecution and injustice which he suffered may be traced up to the contract which he insisted on before he engaged in the plan of discovery. That a foreigner should attain so high a rank as to be viceroy for life, and that the honour of an admiral

scribed than it has been by Mr. Irving. "He was devoutly pious; religion mingled with the whole course of his thoughts and actions, and shone forth in all his most private and unstudied writings. Whenever he made any great discovery, he celebrated it by solemn thanks to God. The voice of prayer and the melody of praise rose from his ships when they first beheld the New World, and his first action upon landing was to prostrate himself upon the earth, and render up thanksgivings. Every evening the Salve Regina and other vesper hymns were chanted by his crew, and masses celebrated in the beautiful groves that bordered the wild shores of this heathen land. His language was pure and guarded, free from all oaths, imprecations, and other irreverent expressions. All his great enterpri ses were undertaken in the name of the Holy Trinity.' He observed the festivals of the Church in the wildest situations. The Sabbath was with him a day of rest, on which he would never set sail from a port unless in a case of extreme necessity. He was a firm believer in the efficacy of vows, and penances, and pilgrimages, and resorted to them in times of difficulty and danger."-H.]

should be hereditary in his family, to the exclusion of all the nobles of Spain, was more than their pride and jealousy could endure; and they constantly endeavoured to depreciate his merit, the only foundation on which his honours were erected.

There is a story recorded by Peter Martyr, a contemporary historian, which exemplifies their malice, and his ingenuity in rising superior to it. After the death of the queen,† the nobility affected to insinuate that his discoveries were more the result of accident and good fortune than of any well-concerted measures. One day, at a public dinner, Columbus having borne much insulting raillery on that head, at length called for an egg, and asked whether any of them could set it up

* [Peter Martyr was born at Anghiera, near Milan, Feb. 2d, 1455. Having become eminent for his learning, he was invited by Isabella to educate the young nobles in her service, and was sent by Ferdinand, in 1501, as his ambassador to Venice and to Egypt. He was afterward appointed a minister of the council of the Indies. He wrote the "Decades of the New World" (De Orbe Novo), an account of the discoveries made there; a work of peculiar value. He had ample and authentic materials for the purpose, and gained much information from Columbus himself. He died at Valladolid in 1626.-H.]

[In Mr. Irving's history this anecdote is told as having oc curred soon after Columbus's first voyage and before the second, and, of course, some time before the death of the queen, who died Nov. 26., 1504.-H.]

right on its little end. They all confessed it to be impossible. Columbus, striking it gently, flatted the shell till it stood upright on the table. The company, with a disdainful sneer, cried out, "Anybody might have done it." "Yes," said Columbus, "but none of you thought of it; so I discovered the Indies, and now every pilot can steer the same course. Many things appear easy when once performed, though before they were thought impossible. Remember the scoffs that were thrown at me before I put my design into execution. Then it was a dream, a chimera, a delusion; now it is what anybody might have done as well as I." When this story was told to Ferdinand, he could not but admire the grandeur of that spirit, which at the same time he was endeavouring to depress.

Writers of different countries have treated the character of Columbus according to their prejudices, either national or personal. It is surprising to observe how these prejudices have descended, and that, even at the distance of three centuries, there are some who affect to deny him the virtues for which he was conspicuous, and the merit of originating a discovery which is an honour to human reason. His humanity has been called in question