been given the destiny, for a period at least, to be the world's commercial capital; and to England the inheritance of the Indies, which he sought to reach. The priority of Henry's effort to explore the coast of Africa has been disputed, but the case with him is much as it is with Columbus and his alleged precursors, their voyages can not be proved or disproved, in any case they have no determinable relation to later progress, while as in Columbus's case, so in Prince Henry's, continuous knowledge and exploration date from his work. Further, the evidence is incontestable that Henry and at least most of his contemporaries believed him to be a pioneer and his sailors to be the first to go beyond Cape Bojador. Further still, it is difficult to reconcile their positive assertions and the absence of contemporary evidence to the contrary with the modern history of French voyages resting on conjectures as to the contents of documents no longer extant.

In saying a few words in closing on the character and personality of Prince Henry, I shall mention only some of the more striking features. No reader of Azurara's quaint and charming narrative can fail to see that Prince Henry was a man whose force of character, untiring resolution, and generosity, exercised an immense influence over his followers, inspiring them with zeal and boldness. They strained every effort to win his approval, and he possessed their unfaltering allegiance. He interests us chiefly as the organizer of discoveries. He seems so devoted to that as sometimes to be described as a patron of exploration. But to his contemporaries he is that as well as a crusading prince, following up the capture of Ceuta with continual onslaughts upon the infidels; a military missionary, the commander of the Order of Christ, working to plant Christianity in Africa and the islands of the ocean; as the promoter of great commercial and industrial enterprises, controlling the Tunney fisheries of Algarve, the coral fisheries of Portugal, the manufacture and sale of soap, dye factories, and several large fairs. He also controlled the whole commerce of the west coast of Africa, letting it out on shares, and apparently establishing the first commercial company of modern times. As a soldier, he belongs at once to the Middle Ages and to Modern Times. He fights at Ceuta and Tangiers like a medieval knight while he plans a military exploring expedition like a modern master of strategy. His plan to circumnavigate Africa and strike the Moors from behind, in conjunction with * Souza Holstein, 53.

the shadowy Christina, monarch of the East, is Napoleonic. One may ask if a bolder conception was given air between Alexander the Great and Napoleon.

I have spoken of him as a crusader; the essence of the Crusades was the aim to secure the predominance of Christianity. Prince Henry's work indirectly led to a greater predominance of Christianity than he could have imagined. The enrichment of the Old World and the occupation of the New by the discoverers has vastly increased the relative predominance of Christianity in the world.

But, while emphasizing these other sides, we must not overlook Prince Henry as a true lover of science, with an unquenchable desire to find out the secrets of the earth, which actuated him from the time when, at twenty years of age, he is said to have sent Gonzalo Velho beyond the Canares to learn the cause of the swift currents of the sea.

"Talent de bien faire," the desire to do well, was his motto. No man ever chose a motto of more singular propriety, and no man ever lived up to it more faithfully than did Henry.

XII.-THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF SPAIN IN THE SIXTEENTH

CENTURY.

By PROFESSOR BERNARD MOSES,

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.