CXXXV.-RETURN OF COLUMBUS AFTER HIS FIRST VOYAGE.

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 skepticism with which his project had been originally viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with a natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars 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, the natural difficulties of which had been much augmented by the distrust and mutinous spirit of his followers, in descrying land on Friday, 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 Europe'an, he embarked in the month of January, 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, the most honorable reception from the Portuguese monarch, John the Second, 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 agitation in the little community of Palos, as they beheld the well known vessel of the admiral re-entering 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 in exclamations 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 glorious 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 vegetables, exotics, possessed of aromatic or medic ́inal virtue, and several kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and birds, whose varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the pageant.

The admiral's progress through the country was everywhere 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 its 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 spectators.

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 escort him to the regal 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 long-contested theory, in the face of argument, sophistry, sneer, skepticism, 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 from 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 which he had visited, 'expatiated on the temperate character of the climate, and the capacity of the soil for every variety of agricultural production, appealing to the samples imported by him, as evidence of their natural fruitfulness. 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 colorings of their 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. W. H. °PRESCOTT.

CXXXVI.-GINEVRA.

If ever you should come to Modena,
Stop at a palace near the Reggio-gate,
Dwelt in of old by one of the Orsini.
Its noble gardens, terrace above terrace,
And numerous fountains, statues, cypresses,
Will long detain you;—but before you go,
Enter the house,-forget it not, I pray you,―
And look awhile upon a picture there.
'Tis of a lady in her earliest youth,
The last of that illustrious family.

She sits, inclining forward as to speak;
Her lips half-open, and her finger up,

As though she said, "Beware!"-her vest of gold,
Broidered with flowers, and clasped from head to foot,
An emerald stone in every golden clasp;

And on her brow, fairer than alabaster,

A coronet of pearls.-Alone it hangs

Over a mouldering heir-loom, its companion,-
An oaken chest, half eaten by the worm;
A chest that came from Venice, and had held
The ducal robes of some old ancestor;

(That, by the way-it may be true or false)
But don't forget the picture;—and you will not,
When you have heard the tale they tell you there.

She was an only child—her name Ginevra;
The joy, the pride of an indulgent father.
She was all gentleness, all gayety;

Her pranks the favorite theme of every tongue:
And, in the lustre of her youth, she gave
Her hand, and her heart with it, to Francesco.

Great was the joy; but at the nuptial feast,
When all sat down, the bride herself was wanting;
Nor was she to be found! Her father cried,
"Tis but to make a trial of our love,"-
And filled his glass to all; but his hand shook;
And soon from guest to guest the panic spread.

'Twas but that instant she had left Francesco,
Laughing and looking back, and flying still,-
Her ivory tooth imprinted on his finger.
But now, alas! she was not to be found;
Nor from that hour could anything be guessed,
But that she was not.

Weary of his life,

Francesco flew to Venice, and embarking,

Flung it away in battle with the Turk.

Orsini lived; and long you might have seen
An old man wandering as in

quest of something,

he knew not what.

Something he could not find,
When he was gone, the house remained awhile
Silent and tenantless,-then went to strangers.

Full fifty years were past, and all forgotten-
When on an idle day, a day of search
'Mid the old lumber in the gallery,

That mouldering chest was noticed; and 'twas said
By one as young, as thoughtless as Ginevra,
"Why not remove it from its lurking-place?"
'Twas done as soon as said; but, on the way,
It burst-it fell ;—and, lo, a skeleton!

With here and thêre a pearl, an emerald-stone,
A golden clasp, clasping a shred of gold.
All else had perished,―s:

-save a wedding-ring
And a small seal, her mother's legacy,
Engraven with a name, the name of both—
Ginevra.

There, then, had she found a grave;
Within that chest had she concealed herself,
Fluttering with joy, the happiest of the happy;
When a spring lock, that lay in ambush there,
Fastened her down for ever!

SAMUEL ROGERS.

CXXXVII. THE COMBATS OF THE ALPHABET, OR THE ORIGIN OF PROVINCIAL DIALECT.

A GREAT many years ago, in those days of learning which I fear are fled, like solemn visions, never to return, a very violent warfare broke out among the letters which compose the English alphabet. Many very ingenious and fabulous accounts are given of the origin of this quarrel; and, if we had time and room, we should, in imitation of our comical brother historians, set our poor brains to work, and produce a number of marvelous tales which everybody will allow to be very pretty, though nobody will allow that they are very

true.

The grand foundation, then, of this contest originated in the partiality of many celebrated authors and orators of the day to particular and favorite letters, in expunging some, and thrusting others in, violently by the head and shoulders, without the least appârent symptom of necessity or provocation. The injured letters, thinking themselves a very respectable corps, rose, vi et armis, against this formidable attack on their credit and validity.

The war I am about to describe will have an evident advantage over many other recorded contests. For instance, the war of Troy, the battles of the frogs and mice, and the combats of the cranes and Opigmies, may (be it spoken with all due reverence) be termed poetical wars; now, my war is literal in every sense of the word.

In this contest, the ever-renowned great A was the most formidable leader of one party, and the truly magnanimous great I was the most distinguished hero in the ranks of the enemy. Both these warriors had suffered many hardships, having been most barbarously hacked and mangled by the different orators of the day; besides this,