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    The life of Columbus is a poem . The Genoese weaver rose to become High Admiral of Spain and discoverer of the New World , but , in the passage , had to undergo all that " Patient merit of the unworthy takes ; " he had to buffet bravely with all the neglect which stands like a dull log in the current of genius , but which , though ii may fret the stream and make it

    brawl , yet never serves as a real dam to any genius ; like a brave and valiant man he bore all that Spenser has so feelingly described : — "To lose good days that might be better spent ; To -waste long nights in bitter discontent ; To speed to-day , to be put back to-morrow ; To feed on hope , to pine with fear and sorrow ; To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares ; To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs ; "

    and though he wailed , and though he railed , though he despaired and felt sick at heart , yet onwards the divine impulse drove him , onwards he went through the thorny path of obstacles , until success fell like sunlight on his head . Visionary his scheme was ; are not all great schemes visions which success must consolidate into realities ? Yet it was distinguished from a mere fantastic chimera in the fact of its being no more than a bold projection into space of an idea which had long dimly hovered about the minds of men .

    Dreamers will do well to ponder on this glimpse into the great dreamer ' s life ! Columbus is a visionary , but he does not waste the hours in luxurious reverie , building cloud palaces and delighting in their splendour ; his instinct tells him that the western world will never be discovered by merely thinking of it . He trains himself . All appliances towards his object are carefully sought . He reads , he enquires , he makes expeditions , he constructs maps . The path across the Atlantic is the pole-star of his labours , but he never forgets , in contemplation of the Ideal , the pressing necessities of the Actual . Mr . St . John says : —

    " Being frequently in the society of his brother-inlaw , Pedro Correo , also a navigator " , his attention was directed to the discoveries then making on the African coasts , to the passage to India , and to the widely-diffused rumours of an unknown continent , or vast archipelago in the west . These ideas received strength from his geographical studies , which showed how vast a blank there was on the general map of the world . Humours and traditions floated through Europe , were elaborated in the mind of Columbus , and moulded into a solid opinion , based on three classes of authority : reason , or the nature of things , the testimony of learned writers , and the reports of navigators .

    * ' The numerous endeavours , * ' Mr . St . John says , "to explore the regions of the setting sun proved it was upon no slender thread of probability that mankind hung its belief in the existence of a new world beyond the vast Atlantic . Failure was accounted for , not " by the folly of the attempt itself , but by the chances-of fortune , or by the neglect and timidity of those who undertook it . Ships had been equipped and sent forth beyond the bourne of waters , to return no

    " That the earth was a terraqueous globe , which might be travelled round from east to west , was his first axiom . Now , the vast oriental hemisphere being the great object of discovery , it appeared clear to him that , sailing in a westerly direction , the navigator must either pursue an uninterrupted track across the ocean to the Indian continent , or be opposed by the shores of some unknown region . In either case the result would be important .

    The rival cities of Venice and Genoa were then the great trading powers of Europe . The former almost monopolized the commerce of the East , so that it was a national pride that impelled Columbus to this great adventure , which might open a new channel to the oriental seas , through which the wealth of those exhaustless regions might pour into the port of Genoa . It was a patriotic idea , and the refusal to encourage him was a disgrace to his native city .

    more . The Phoenician navigators sailed far into this mysterious sea , and brought back rumours to confirm the general belief . The annals of Carthage indicate discoveries , the exact record of which is lost . From those times until the fifteenth century , an intermittent series of expeditions maintained life in the idea . But hasty preparations , ill-calculated arrangements , or hearts prowing suddenly faint , brought all enterprize to a common termination—discouragement and failure . "

    " The testimony of writers , ancient and modern , also threw itself into the scale ; and no little weight was added by reports of certain indications of land in the west , which adventurous navigators brought from that tempestuous region . A piece of wood , elaborately carved , but not with an iron instrument , had been found at sea , thirteen hundred and fifty miles west of Cape St . Vincent . A similar fragment had drifted from the same quarter to Porto S . mto , whilst reeds of an immense size continually floated from the west . In the Azores , it was

    Nay , more , the very time was brightened with new discoveries , as Mr . St . John might easily have made significant by a rapid narrative of the recent Portuguese voyages , especially those of Ca da Mosto and the heroic Prince Henry ; in the space of seventy years discovery on the African coast had extended from Cape Nam to the Cape of Good Hope , something more than seven thousand miles , and this before the invention of the astrolabe had given navigation its powerful aid . There was thus a nebulous mass , so to speak , ready for consolidation , out of which a world would come . Add to this , firs ' , the

    a tradition that many huge pine trees , of an . unknown species , had been wafted from the lands of the setting sun ; and the bodies of two men , belonging to a strange race , were also said to have been cast ashore . Land had been dimly and distantly seen by various navigators , whose vessels had been carried by storms far westward over the dark Atlantic ; and , therefore , by a process of logic , not sophistical , Columbus judged that an undiscovered region lay beyond that sea , —a fertile , peopled land , from which the inhabitants of Christendom were shut out by no natural law . "

    invention of printing and the general stimulus it gave to all European intellect by its prodigal scattering of seeds hitherto confined to small and remote spots ; and , secondly , the invention of the quadrant , in its first rude form of an astrolabe , with its special stimulus to navigation , by enabling the seaman to disdain creeping timidly along the coast and to venture boldly nth ware the terrible ocean , because he now could ascertain his distance from the equator ; and you have thus before your mind some outline of the general conditions which made the vision of Columbus every day less and less of a mere phantasy ?' proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain . "

    33 ut , in spite of all the floating rumours , Columbus could gain little credence , especially from men of science and geographers . This is always the case . A new idea meets with its stoutest opponents from the professional upholders of the old ; and this may be explained without recurrence to sordid and interested motives , by the very fact that their positive convictions describe a circle within the \ exy limits where the new idea expands .

    queen . The project struck them . They referred it to a council of learned men—astronomers and cosmographers . The conference took place in the convent of St . Stephen , at Salamanca . Unnumbered objections were urged . Was the world round , and not flat , with the skies reared above like a tent ? If so , were there any dwellers in the opposite hemisphere ? Could men walk thus hanging by their ieet ? Could it rain , hail , and snow upwards ? Could trees grow with their branches downards ? Even allowing this , could ships , having once passed the central line , sail back over the vast upward slope of sea ? Such was the logic of the learned men . Some said the world was an island floating onwards through a vast ocean , whose opposite shore was a limit to the duration of created things . "

    Herrera , in his Historic * , General , tells us that the council decided that the scheme was " vain and impossible , and that it did not belong to the majesty of such great princes to determine anything upon such weak grounds of information . " Of course the council now seems exquisitely foolish , and is laughed at with lofty scorn by the very men who , every day of their lives , are treating schemes far less startling and improbable as the " delusions of madmen . " How

    many of those who sneer at the Spanish junta would have been far-seeing enough to welcome Columbus ? To the honour of Ferdinand and Isabella be it said , that at least they were willing to entertain the scheme but that their funds were absorbed by war ; and they intimated as much to Columbus , saying they could not undertake any new expenses till the war was concluded , but then they would more seriously examine his plan—no podian emprender nuevos gastos , giee acabado aquello mandarian examinar mejor su pretension y le despidieron , —( Herrera . )

    Columbus , after five years delay in endeavouring to persuade Ferdinand and Isabella , left Cordova for Seville , where he applied to the Duke of Medina Sidonia , a wealthy prince , and , failing there , to the Duke of Medina Celi ( Mr . St . John calls him simply Celini , we presume on Irving * s authority ) , who kep him two years living in his palace , and was willing to undertake the whole enterprize himself , but that he saw it was one for the Queen , to whom accordingly

    he wrote , urging the matter upon her attention . This letter is given in Navarrete's collection , and proves that Mr . St . John is too hasty in saying that Celi " held out hopes which he subsequently withdrew , " for in that letter he expresses his Avish to have a share in the enterprize even should the Queen undertake it . To have done the thing alone , "without the Queen ' s sanction , would have been a perilous act even for a nrghtv noble .

    After some further delays , an audience was granted , and " An agreement was drawn up , stipulating on the part of the adventurer that he and his heirs for ever should enjoy the office , honours , and prerogatives of admiral in all lands discovered by him ; that he should be viceroy in all such territories , with the privilege of nominating three candidates for the government of each island or province , of whom the soverign should choose one ; that he should retain for himself a tenth of all profits derived from the collection of precious commodities , whether by barter or otherwise ; that he , or his lieutenant , should be sole judge in all disputes arising out of traffic between those countries and Spain , provided the High Admiral of Castille enjoyed similar power in his district .

    Having thus grouped the mam facts , let us now return to Columbus , whom we left interesting the prior by an exposition of his scheme . The prior called into their council Fernandez Garcia , a physician , and having carefully considered the matter , Juan Perez undertook to gain an audience for Columbus with the Queen of Spain ; meanwhile the boy , Diego , was to be left at the convent to be educated : —

    " That he might fit out , at his private expense , an eighth part of each enterprize , and to retain an eighth part of the profits . " These conditions being agreed to , it remained to procure and furnish forth an armament . Columbus , now more than forty-five years old , was relieved of much anxiety by the appointment of Diego , his son , to an office of page at court . To prepare him for this , two learned men of Moguer undertook the completion of his education . The navigator ' mind , therefore , was wholly turned to his enterprize . Now , however , a new difficulty arose . The shipowners of Palos refused to furnish

    But now to these general conditions we must add the special qualifications of the Genoese -weaver ' s son . At the University of Pnvia he studied Latin , geometry , geography , and navigation . Early buffeting with the waves gave him incessant materials for applying his scientific generalizations . His youth wus spent ut sen . Probably he did a little in the buccaneering lino—thon rather a pleasant excitement than a very serious crime . At any rate his youth was intensified by adventure which nourished the during of his prophetic spirit . In the fortieth year of his nge we lind him at Lisbon , gallant in bearing , full of high thoughts and stately courtesies , and

    " Columbus came to Cordova early in 1486 . To obtain nn audience of the King and Queen was not easy . The Prior of Prndo regarded his scheme as a vision . He was poor . He came in humble apparel , without pomp or clamour , and , therefore , they gave him no ear . Nor were circumstances favourable . The court was then in the full excitement of a war against the Moorish poweis , whose formidable coalition offered little promise of their speedy subjugation . Other claims of variety and moment thus pressed upon the Kii g and Queen , leaving them no

    vessels , while ofHcers and men could not be found willing to accompany the expedition . The perils of that , great voyage were beheld through the magnifying medium of superstitious ignorance . The Atlantic ocean was peopled with countless terrors which a timid imagination can devise , and all shrunk from the adventure , until Martin Alonzo Pinzon redeemed his promise by the equipment , ot a vessel and an offer to embark , with his brother , "Vicente * Yanez , also a skilful navigator . At length others fallowed , and Columbus found himself in command of the Santa Maria , a large decked vessel ,

    picgrave with the solemnity of deep religious feelings . At miss ho met with Felipa Muftiz Porestrelo ( so the Spanish authorities give the name ; Mr . St . John e : ilhs hrr lMin ; ui de Palcstrcllo ) the daughter of the late governor of Porto Santa . She was poor in worldly goods , but rich in the qualities of heart nnd mind , nnd Columbus married her ; she brought him nil the charts , papers , nnd memoranda of her father , the old navigator , nnd these Columbus studied with pasaion . When not engaged in any maritime expedition he supported himself by the construction of maps . A significant fact ! Nuy , his map * were so will executed ns to excite considerable attention .

    leisure to heed the importunities of an adventurer . It is even questionable whether Fernando de Talavera ever brought it to the royal ear . So passed the summer and autumn . Columbus supported himself by the construction of map * , and , meanwhile , was introduced into the house of Alonzo de Quintanilla , finance-controller of C ; ts'ilie , who warmly encouraged his project . By the aid of him and others he became acquainted with Pedro Gonzalez de Meudoza , archbishop oi Toledo and grand cardinal of Spain .

    pared expressly for tho voyage , which bore the admiral's flap : ; the Pinta captained by Murtin Alonzo , with his brother Francisco as pil » t ; and the Ninn , by Vicente . These two were caravels—light \ essels , without deck in the centre , but built up high at the stem and stern . Equipped , manned , and furnished with ample munition , this little squadron was , in appearance , but a humble instrument to accomplish a design so great . With the pilots , the crew , notary , a physician , and surgeon , several private adventurers , and their servants , the whole number embarked was no more than one hundred and

    " He at first opposed religious objections to the scheme , but , being no bigot , these were removed , and Cclumbus explained his theory . Listening with steady attention , the archbishop gradually felt convinced that the project was based on reason . He became the firm friend of the navigator , introduced him at court , nnd , by this means , Columbus al length obtained an audience of the king and

    twenty . " Now , with reliuinus ccremonips , confession , and sacred communion , all was ready . On Friday , therefore , the 3 rd of August , 1492 , the sails were set , und the three

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• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 5, 1850, page 664, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1855/page/16/