ing him to renounce his privileges, and receive the estate of Carrion de los Condes, and a paltry pension, as an equivalent for the dignity and emoluments of Admiral of the Ocean, and Viceroy of the Indies. This last blow was fatal to Columbus. Perceiving now that all hope of redress at the hands of the King was desperate, he rapidly declined, and was plainly approaching his dissolution. The arrival of Philip and Juana in Spain revived him a little; but disabled by sickness from addressing them in person, he despatched his brother Bartholomew, with a memorial representing his claims. They received Bartholomew yery graciously, and much was expected from their seemingly favorable disposition; but this propitious change in the fortunes of Columbus came too late; for worn out by disease and hardships, and brokenhearted by the wrongs continually heaped upon him, he had already ceased to be numbered with the living.

He died at Valladolid, May 20th, 1506, not quite sixty years of age. Thus ended the days of Columbus. His glory, it has been justly observed by Bossi, must always continue without parallel. The heroes, the philosophers, and the poets of the past, may be emulated and excelled by the poets, the philosophers, and the heroes, who shall exist hereafter. Other conquerors may carry their arms, in victory and triumph, all over the civilized globe. The realms of thought are infinite; and who can tell to what extent some future Newton will enlarge

the present limited boundaries of our intellectual knowledge? But no hemisphere of the earth remains for a second Columbus to discover.

Columbus was tall in stature, of a large and muscular frame, with strongly marked features, a florid complexion, and a lively aspect. He was remarkably abstemious, uniform and regular in his habits, singularly devout, and distinguished for his scrupulous observance of all the rights of the Catholic faith. His character is visible in his achievements. The dignity and independence of his feelings, his ardent enthusiasm, his invincible resolution, the enterprising cast of his temper, his perseverance amid the frowns of fortune, his fortitude under suffering, and his modest yet manly carriage in prosperity, his courage in withstanding, and spirit of conciliation in forgiving his enemies, and his faithful devotion to the interests of his sovereign, these are leading traits of his character, not loosely inferred from partial observation, but gathered from the crowded incidents of a life passed in the world's eye. For he was not one, concerning whom posterity can err. On the contrary, he was of the number of those men, the glory or the curse of their race, whose acts stand forth in high relief on the page of history, and who seem, as it were, singled out by destiny to impart a new direction, and communicate an extraordinary impulse to the age in which they arise upon earth.

Columbus left two sons, Diego and Ferdinand.

The latter entered the church, and became distinguished for his great learning, and his munificence to the cause of letters. He resided in Seville, and collected the richest library in all Spain, consisting of twelve thousand volumes, which, on his death in 1541, he bequeathed to the Cathedral of that city, where it still remains. He travelled through Europe, devoting his time and his riches to the purchase of the most rare and valuable books; and employed in his service, for a time, two learned Flemings, Nicolaus Clenardus and Johannes Vasæus. He wrote several works, but is known to posterity only by the History of the Life and Actions of the Admiral his father. This he composed with much industry and faithfulness, describing events of which he was either an eyewitness, or which he gathered from his father's papers and letters.

It is very singular that the original Spanish is now nowhere to be found. Muñoz, although his researches after manuscripts extended throughout the kingdom, and were facilitated in every possible way by the ministry, yet never fell upon this important work. Neither could Barcia obtain it. Antonio says that, if still in existence, it is contending with moths and worms for life, in some nook of a sequestered library. That to which all writers refer, as the original, is an Italian translation from Ferdinand's manuscript, made by Alfonso de Ulloa, and published at Venice in 1571. The

original manuscript is said to have been carried to Genoa in 1568, by Luis, son of Diego, and from him to have passed into the hands of the patrician Giovan Battista Marini, who went to Venice, and procured it to be translated by Ulloa. The Italian translation is undoubtedly authentic, being quoted with confidence by every author, who treats of America; but so many mistakes in dates and other minute matters occur, which Ferdinand himself must have avoided, as to compel us to call it an erroneous translation, or else one made from an unfaithful copy. From this translation, such as it is, have all the other translations proceeded; and it must be confessed they have lost no faults in the transmission from language to language. Muñoz characterizes the Spanish translation made by Barcia, as being most wretched; and I can speak to the manifold and gross errors of the English, published in Churchill's Collection.

It is difficult to account for this mysterious disappearance of the original Spanish. Cancellieri, in his Notices of Columbus, a rambling digressive work, treating'de omni scibili et quibusdam aliis,' somewhat cavalierly imputes to Ulloa the literary fraud of having destroyed the manuscript, in order to give credit, currency, and sale to his translation. However this may be, the work is unquestionably entitled to the highest respect as an historical authority. It is invaluable for the many facts contained in it, which could not be obtained elsewhere;

and in the narrative of facts, it is but seldom that Ferdinand falls into errors. Certainly few have been detected, or even suspected. But he is remarkably addicted to the besetting sin of his countrymen in that age, a simplicity in superstition, which cannot fail to call a smile into the face of every one, who opens the book in these more enlightened days.*

Diego, the eldest son of Columbus, inherited his titles and claims, by virtue of a majorat created in his favor by the Admiral. Diego set about the prosecution of his right, a year or two after his father's death. His application to the King was met by evasive answers. Diego then carried his pretensions to the fiscal court; and pending the suit was fortunate enough to obtain a declaration of the Council of the Indies, recognising his rights as admiral, viceroy, and governor-general of all his father's discoveries, with appropriate civil and criminal jurisdiction, and with all the perquisites and emoluments originally granted to Columbus. Meantime Diego married Maria de Toledo, daughter of Fernando de Toledo, brother of the Duke of Alva, both of them, and particularly the last,

* Concerning Ferdinand's History, see Meuselius, Bibliotheca Struvii Historica, v. iii, pt. 2, p. 261; Pizarro y Orellana, Varones Ilustres, &c. p. 35; Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, i, 372; Cancellieri, Notizie, &c. p. 130, 135; Muñoz, Hist. del N. M. Prol. p. 13; Spotorno, p. lxiii; Charlevoix, St Domingue, i, 55.