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disappointed, broken-hearted old man; little comprehending what he had done for mankind, and still less the glory and homage that through all future generations awaited his name.

LXXXII.-RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS.

PRESCOTT.

WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT was born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 4, 1796, and died in Boston January 28, 1859. His grandfather was Colonel William Prescott, who commanded in the redoubt at Bunker Hill. He is the author of four historical works, -The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, The History of the Conquest of Mexico, The History of the Conquest of Peru, and The History of the Reign of Philip the Second; which last was left unfinished at the time of his death. These are all productions of great merit, and have received the highest commendations at home and abroad. Among their most conspicuous excellences may be mentioned their thoroughness of investigation and research. Mr. Prescott examined, with untiring industry, all possible sources of information, whether in print or in manuscript, which could throw light upon the subjects of which he treated. This was the more honorable to him, as, in consequence of an accident in college, he was deprived, to a considerable degree, of the use of his eyes, and was constantly obliged to make use of the sight of others in prosecuting his studies.

He was also candid in his judgments alike of historical personages and of particular periods. The character of his mind forbade his being a partisan on any side; and he preferred to state cases rather than to argue them.

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Besides these substantial merits of learning and sound judgment, his works have an element of attraction in their style and manner, which, more than any thing else, has contributed to their great popularity. He describes scenes and narrates events with the greatest beauty and animation; and the subjects he has chosen - dealing with romantic adventure among the mountains of Spain, or in the splendid scenery of Mexico and Peru-give ample scope to this power. There is a limpid purity and engaging sweetness in his style, which lead the reader along from page to page unconsciously, and lend to truth all the charm of fiction.

Mr. Prescott was a man of most amiable character and engaging manners, and greatly beloved by all who knew him.

IN the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, letters were received from Christopher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain, and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment raised by this intelligence were proportioned to the scepticism with which his project had originally been viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with a natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particu◄ lars of the important discovery; and they transmitted instant

instructions to the admiral to repair to Barcelona, as soon as he should have made the preliminary arrangements for the further prosecution of his enterprise.

The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after a voyage of natural difficulties, but which difficulties had been much augmented by the distrust and mutinous spirit of his followers, in descrying land on the 12th of October, 1492. After some months spent in exploring the delightful regions, now for the first time thrown open to the eyes of a European, he embarked in the year 1493 for Spain. One of his vessels had previously foundered, and another had deserted him; so that he was left alone to retrace his course across the Atlantic. After a most tempestuous voyage, he was compelled to take shelter in the Tagus, sorely against his inclination. He experienced, however, a most honorable reception from the Portuguese monarch, John II., who did ample justice to the great qualities of Columbus, although he had failed to profit by them.* After a brief delay, the admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar of Saltes, entered the harbor of Palos about noon, on the 15th of March, 1493, being exactly seven months and eleven days since his departure from that port.

Great was the commotion in the little community of Palos, as they beheld the well-known vessel of the admiral reëntering their harbor. Their desponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery grave; for, in addition to the preternatural horrors which hung over the voyage, they had experienced the most stormy and disastrous winter within the recollection of the oldest mariners. Most of them had relatives or friends on board. They thronged immediately to the shore, to assure themselves, with their own eyes, of the truth of their return. When they beheld their faces once more, and saw them accompanied by the numerous evidences which they brought back of the success of the expedition, they burst forth

* Some years before, Columbus had made an unsuccessful application to the Portuguese king for assistance in the prosecution of his plan of discovery.

in acclamations of joy and gratulation. They awaited the landing of Columbus, when the whole population of the place accompanied him and his crew to the principal church, where solemn thanksgivings were offered up for their return; while every bell in the village sent forth a joyous peal in honor of the happy event.

The admiral was too desirous of presenting himself before the sovereigns to protract his stay long at Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the multifarious products of the newly-discovered regions. He was accompanied by several of the native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric costume, and decorated, as he passed through the principal cities, with collars, bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely fashioned; he exhibited also considerable quantities of the same metal in dust or in crude masses, numerous vegetable exotics possessed of aromatic or medicinal virtue, and several kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and birds, whose variety of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the pageant. The admiral's progress through the country was every where impeded by the multitudes thronging forth to gaze at the extraordinary spectacle, and the more extraordinary man, who, in the emphatic language of that time, which has now lost its force from familiarity, first revealed the existence of a "New World." As he passed through the busy, populous city of Seville, every window, balcony, and housetop which could afford a glimpse of him is described to have been crowded with spec

tators.

It was the middle of April before Columbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and cavaliers in attendance on the court. together with the authorities of the city, came to the gates to receive him, and escorted him to the royal presence. Ferdinand and Isabella were seated, with their son, Prince John, under a superb canopy of state, awaiting his arrival. On his approach they rose from their seats, and extending their hands to him to salute, caused him to be seated before them. These were unprecedented marks of condescension, to a person of

Columbus's rank, in the haughty and ceremonious court of Castile. It was, indeed, the proudest moment in the life of Columbus. He had fully established the truth of his longcontested theory, in the face of argument, sophistry, sneer, scepticism, and contempt. He had achieved this not by chance, but by calculation, supported through the most adverse circumstances by consummate conduct. The honors paid him, which had hitherto been reserved only for rank, or fortune, or military success, purchased by the blood and tears of thousands, were, in his case, a homage to intellectual power successfully exerted in behalf of the noblest interests of humanity.

After a brief interval, the sovereigns requested of Columbus a recital of his adventures. His manner was sedate and dignified, but warmed by the glow of natural enthusiasm. He enumerated the several islands he had visited, expatiated on the temperate character of the climate, and the capacity of the soil for every variety of production, appealing to the samples imported by him as evidence of their natural productiveness. He dwelt more at large on the precious metals to be found in these islands, which he inferred less from the specimens actually obtained than from the uniform testimony of the natives to their abundance in the unexplored regions of the interior. Lastly, he pointed out the wide scope afforded to Christian zeal in the illumination of a race of men whose minds, far from being wedded to any system of idolatry, were prepared, by their extreme simplicity, for the reception of pure and uncorrupted doctrine. The last consideration touched Isabella's heart most sensibly; and the whole audience, kindled with various emotions by the speaker's eloquence, filled up the perspective with the gorgeous coloring of their own fancies, as ambition, or avarice, or devotional feeling predominated in their bosoms. When Columbus ceased, the king and queen, together with all present, prostrated themselves on their knees in grateful thanksgivings, while the solemn strains of the Te Deum were poured forth by the choir of the royal chapel, as in commemoration of some glorious victory.

LXXXIII.—THE LAMENTATION FOR CELIN.

SPANISH BALLAD.

[From Ancient Spanish Ballads, Historical and Romantic, translated, with Notes, by J. G. Lockhart. These translations from the Spanish are uncommonly spirited and fine. Many of them are paraphrases, rather than translations; and the originals have gained new power and beauty from the poetical genius of Mr. Lockhart.]

AT the gate of old Granada, when all its bolts are barred, At twilight, at the Vega gate, there is a trampling heard; There is a trampling heard, as of horses treading slow, And a weeping voice of women, and a heavy sound of woe: "What tower is fallen, what star is set, what chief comes there bewailing?"

"A tower is fallen, a star is set! Alas, alas for Celin!"

Three times they knock, three times they cry, and wide the door they throw;

Dejectedly they enter, and mournfully they go;

In gloomy lines they mustering stand, beneath the hollow

porch,

Each horseman grasping in his hand a black and flaming

torch.

Wet is each eye as they go by, and all around is wailing,
For all have heard the misery,-"Alas, alas for Celin!”

Him yesterday a Moor did slay, of Bencerrage's blood-
'Twas at the solemn jousting — around the nobles stood;
The nobles of the land were by, and ladies bright and fair
Looked from their latticed windows, the haughty sight to
share;

But now the nobles all lament, the ladies are bewailing —
For he was Granada's darling knight—"Alas, alas for
Celin!"

Before him ride his vassals, in order, two by two,

With ashes on their turbans spread. most pitiful to view;

*Pronouneed Sa'lin.

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