the nature of things, admitting that the earth is round; the reports current among the people of one of the northern nations, that many years ago their mariners had sailed many leagues westward till they reached a shore where the grape grew abundantly; these and other considerations have made it (next to faith in my Saviour) the fixed persuasion of my mind that there is a great discovery reserved for the man who will sail patiently westward, trusting in God's good providence, and turning not back till he has achieved his purpose.

Don G. Then truly we should never hear of him again. Speculation! mere speculation, your majesty! When this gentleman can bring forward some solid facts that will induce us plain, matter-of-fact men to risk money in forwarding his enterprise, it will then be time enough for royalty to give it heed. Why, your majesty, the very boys in the street point at their foreheads as he passes along.

ay,

Isa. And do you bring forward the frivolity of boys, jeering at what they do not comprehend, as an argument why Isabella should not give heed to this great and glorious scheme sir, though it should fail, still great and glorious, urged in language so intelligent and convincing, by this grave and earnest man, whom you think to undervalue by calling him an adventurer? Know, Don Gomez, that the "absurdity," as you style it, shall be tested, and that forthwith.

Don G. Your majesty will excuse me if I remark that I have from your royal consort himself the assurance that the finances are so exhausted by the late wars, that he cannot consent to advance the necessary funds for fitting out an expedition of the kind proposed.

Isa. Be mine, then, the privilege! I have jewels, by the pledging of which I can raise the amount required; and I have resolved that they shall be pledged to this enterprise, without any more delay.

Col. Your majesty shall not repent your heroic resolve. I will return, your majesty, be sure I will return, - and lay at your feet such a jewel as never queen wore yet an imperish able fame. a fame that shall couple with your memory the

benedictions of millions yet unborn in climes yet unknown to civilized man. There is an uplifting presentiment in my mind -a conviction that your majesty will live to bless the hour you came to this decision.

Don G. A presentiment? A plain, matter-of-fact man, like myself, must take leave of your majesty, if his practical common sense is to be met and superseded by presentiments! An ounce of fact, your majesty, is worth a ton of presentiment. Isa. That depends altogether upon the source of the presentiment, Don Gomez. If it come from the Fountain of all truth,

shall it not be good?

Don G. I humbly take my leave of your majesty.

XLII.

Madame Vinet.

THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS.

DON GOMEZ HIS SECRETARY.

Don Gomez. WHAT! what is this you tell me? Columbus returned? A new world discovered? Impossible!

Secretary. It is even so, sir. A courier arrived at the palace but an hour since with the intelligence. Columbus was driven by stress of weather to anchor in the Tagus. All Portugal is in a ferment of enthusiasm, and all Spain will be equally excited The sensation is prodigious.

soon.

Don G. O! it is a trick! It must be a trick!

Sec. But he has brought home the proofs of his visit: gold and precious stōnes, strange plants and animals; and, above all, specimens of a new race of men, copper-colored, with straight hair.

Don G. Still I say, a trick! He has been coasting along the African shore, and there collected a few curiosities, which he is passing off for proofs of his pretended discovery.

Sec. It is a little singular that all his men should be leagued with him in keeping up so unprofitable a falsehood.

Don G. But 't is against reason

that such a discovery should be made.

against common sense

Sec. King John of Portugal has received him with royal magnificence has listened to his accounts, and is persuaded that they are true.

Don G. We shall see matter-of-fact man, such as I, is not to be taken in by any such preposterous story. This vaunted discovery will turn out nc discovery at all.

we shall see. Look you, sir, a plain

Sec. The king and queen have given orders for preparations on the most magnificent scale for the reception of Columbus. Don G. What delusion! Her Majesty is so credulous! A practical, common-sense man, like myself, can find no points of sympathy in her nature.

Sec. The Indians on board the returned vessels are said to be unlike any known race of men.

Don G. Very unreliable all that! I take the common-sense view of the thing. I am a matter-of-fact man; and do you remember what I say, it will all turn out a trick! The crews may have been deceived. Columbus may have steered a southerly course, instead of a westerly. Anything is probable rather than that a coast to the westward of us has been discovered.

Sec. I saw the courier, who told me he had conversed with all the sailors; and they laughed at the suspicion that there could be any mistake about the discovery, or that any other than a westerly course had been steered.

Don G. Still I say a trick! An unknown coast reached by steering west?-Impossible! The earth a globe, and men standing with their heads down in space? - Folly! An ignorant sailor from Gen ́oä in the right, and all our learned doctors and philosophers in the wrong? — Nonsense! I'm a matter-of-fact man, sir. I will believe what I can see, and handle, and understand. But as for believing in the antip'o-dēs or that the earth is round or that Columbus has discovered land to the west bell, sir call my carriage - I will go to the palace and undeceive the king.

Ring the

Madame Vinet.

1. FERDINAND and Isabella, having been informed of the return and discoveries of their admiral, by the messenger whom he had despatched from Lisbon, awaited him at Barcelona with

honor and munificence worthy the greatness of his services. The Spanish nobility came from all the provinces to meet him. He made a triumphal entry as a prince of future kingdoms.

EI

2. The Indians, brought over by the squadron as a living proof of the existence of new races of men in these newly-discovered lands, marched at the head of the procession, their bodies painted with divers colors, and adorned with gold necklaces and pearls. The animals and birds, the unknown plants, and the precious stones collected on those shores, were exhibited in golden basins, carried on the heads of Moorish or Negro slaves.

3. The eager crowd pressed close upon them, and wondrous tales were circulated around the officers and companions of Columbus. The admiral himself, mounted on a richly-caparisoned charger, presented by the king, next appeared, accompanied by a numerous cavalcade of courtiers and gentlemen. All eyes were directed toward the man inspired of Heaven, who first had dared to lift the veil of Ocean. People sought in his face for a visible sign of his mission, and thought they could discern one.

4. The beauty of his features, the thoughtful majesty of his countenance, the vigor of youth joined to the dignity of riper age, the combination of thought with action, of strength with experience, a thorough appreciation of his worth, combined with piety toward God, and with gratitude toward his sovereigns, who awarded him the honor which he brought them as a conqueror, made Columbus then appear (as those relate who saw him enter Barcelona) like a prophet, or a hero of Holy Writ or Grecian story.

5. "None could compare with him," they say; "all felt him to be the greatest or the most fortunate of men." Ferdinand and Isabella received him on their throne, shaded from the sun by a golden canopy. They rose up before him, as though he had been an inspired messenger. They made him sit on a level with themselves, and listened to the solemn and circumstantial account of his voyages.

6. At the end of his recital, which habitual eloquence had colored with his exuberant imagination, and impregnated with

fervid enthusiasm, the king and queen, moved even to tears, fell on their knees and repeated the "Te Deum," a hymn of thanksgiving, for the greatest conquest that the Almighty had ever yet vouchsafed to sovereigns.

7. Couriers were instantly despatched to carry the wondrous news and fame of Columbus to all the courts of Europe. The obscurity with which he had until then been surrounded changed to a brilliant renown, filling the earth with his name. His discovery became the subject of conversation for the world. This was in the year 1493.

Lamartine.

XLIV.

1. DID

you

THE PRIEST AND THE MULBERRY-TREE.

hear of the curate who mounted his mare, And merrily trotted along to the fair ?

Of creature more tractable none ever heard;

In the height of her speed she would stop at a word,
And again with a word, when the curate said “ Hey,"
She would put forth her mettle and gallop away.

2. As near to the gates of a city he rode,

While the sun of September all brilliantly glowed,
The good man discovered, with eyes of desire,
A mulberry-tree in a hedge of wild brier;
High up on a bough,194 might have tempted a brute,
Large, glossy and black, hung the beautiful fruit.

3. The curate was hungry, and thirsty to boot:

He shrunk from the thorns, though he longed for the fruit;
With a word he arrested his courser's keen speed,

Then stood up erect on the back of his steed;

On the saddle he stood, while the creature kept still,
And he gathered the fruit till he'd taken his fill.

4. "Sure, never," he said, "was a creature so rare!
How docile, how true, is this excellent mare!
See, here now I stand," and he gazed all around,
"As safe and as steady as if on the ground;