! up leeway. King Eyo sat at the commander's right hand; he was dressed, or rather undressed, in his country fashion,' the only gaud he had was his crown (which an attendant supported on a cushion); it was rather a better article than Eyamba's, though not much to boast of. Eyo's son sat next papa; he sported a very light blue surtout, with a pair of large epaulettes, plain trousers, a Stuart tartan waistcoat, light silk stockings, and patent-leather pumps; his black baboon-looking face showing a strange contrast to his linen and surtout. The gentlemen (black) were dressed country fass;' it was a more pleasant party than when Eyamba dined on board. Next me sat a fine young man, nephew to Eyo; as he spoke a little English, I told him to propose our commander's health. He said he would do so if I would prompt; and when a proper time arrived he stood up, and to the great delight of his countrymen, and the amusement of others, proposed Capain Gos very goot healt, all Calabar peoples lofe him too mosh; he be goot for them; he bring proper palaver from Queen England for no makee slave, and makee palm oil for more better trade; he be goot man, I plenty like him.' He sat down amidst great chcering. Eyo soon left; he set off surrounded by four war canoes, with about thirty or forty men in each, all well armed with muskets and cutlasses. Thus ended the royal visits! In the evening I paid a visit to Eyamba, and found him in one of the smaller rooms on the first floor of his palace; he was seated in his brazen At Lucern, in Switzerland, is to be seen a topographical chair administering justice, and settling differences-most representation of the most mountainous part of that country, of the complainants were women. The old man remarked, the workmanship of a native of the above town. It is a 'You see king no lib easy, he plenty too mosh for do; sup- model, twelve feet in length, and nine and a half in breadth. pose one man say bad, come me-suppose woman make bad, The materials of which it is made are principally a compocome me-all come me for cbryting; oh! king have mosh!sition of charcoal, lime, clay, and pitch, with a thin coat of mosh plenty for do.' The room was a perfect chaos, wax. It is so hard that it may be trodden upon without strewed with all sorts of things; most of them had been sustaining any injury. The whole is painted with different removed from the principal rooms after the roof had suffered colours, representing the objects as they appear in nature; from the storm, and had been thrown down without care and it is particularly worthy of observation, that not only or order. In one corner lay heaps of dust-covered cut the woods of the oak, beech, pine, and other trees, are accrystal, intermixed with empty bottles, broken jugs, &c.; curately distinguished, but the figures of the rocks are in another handsome mirrors, a broken filter, several hand- likewise preserved, each being shaped upon the spot, and basins and jugs, &c.; on the tables lay all and everything, formed of granite gravel, calcareous stone, or such other musical snuff-boxes, ormolu time-pieces, wine glasses, substance as compose the original mountains. The elevatumblers, bottles of liqueurs, cups and saucers, pots of tions are taken from the level of the lake of Lucern, and preserves, dishes of all shapes and patterns, bad litho- the plan is so minutely exact that it comprehends not graphs, with smashed glass and broken frames; crystal only all the mountains, lakes, towns, villages, and forests; prisms from a damaged chandelier; huge jugs and punch but likewise every cottage, stream, road, and even footbowls; innumerable miniature mirrors, and a thousand path, is distinctly represented. In the year 1791, when other things in admirable confusion. On the walls hung this monument of patient ingenuity was examined by Count several large elegant mirrors, with gilt frames, having Hollberg, it contained a miniature of an extent of country Eyamba's name painted on them; from the roof depended equal to two hundred and twenty square leagues. at least 100 crystal lamps, in four rows; the two central ones were very handsome, the others less so, but still good; most of them were somewhat like lobby-lamps. A COLUMN FOR THE CURIOUS. M. PIERSON, in a paper on muscular motion, after several observations on the relative heat and pulsation of animals in different latitudes, says, that men in our climate pulsate seventy-two times in a minute, cows forty-eight, and horses thirty-six. But in Russia and Lapland, men pulsate only from forty-five to fifty in a minute. All excess either of heat or cold produces a diminution of the powers of pulsation. The common watch, it is said, beats or ticks 17,160 times in an hour. This is 411,840 a-day, and 150,424,560 a-year; allowing the year to be 365 days and six hours. Sometimes watches will run, with care, 100 years. In that case it would last to beat 15,042,456,000 times! The watch is made of hard metal. But I can tell you of a curious machine, which is made of something not near so hard as steel or brass; it is not much harder than the flesh of your arm, yet it will beat more than 5000 times an hour, 120,000 times a-day, and 43,830,000 times a-year. It will sometimes, though not often, last 100 years; and when it does, it beats 4,383,000,000 times. One might think this last machine, soft as it is, would wear out sooner than the other. But it does not. I will tell you one thing more. You have this little machine about you. You need not feel in your pocket, for it is not there. It is in your body-you can feel it beat, it is your heart. It is impossible farther to describe the contents of this room, they were so numerous and various, and they must have been collected together there at great expense. Not being able to comprehend any of the pleadings between the king and his subjects, I did not stay long. Strange to say the kings do not sleep in their palaces, but retire to their mud-built huts; such is the force of habit! The king and all the traders speak (and often write) a little English; they pick it up in their youth, on board the English merchantmen. Whenever a ship arrives in the river, they try to get their boys on board, to do any menial office, fully aware of the ultimate advantages they will reap from their being among the Engles;' if they prove smart lads, the captain generally looks after them. The Calabarese are greatly attached to the English, and not anxious to trade with any other people. On Thursday, 23d May, at half past ten A. M., we sailed from Duke Town, and commenced working down the river. Several of our trader friends accompanied us a long way; they seemed sorry to part from us; we, though glad to get out of the river, were very sorry to leave them, they had been so attentive. But the life of a sailor is comprised in the few days he is in port; the first day he is busy making friends, the second enjoying them, and the third parting from them; then comes the detestable thrice-sodden dulness of the sea, the sea.' We read of an artisan who formed an ivory chariot, with four wheels and as many horses, in so small a compass that a fly could cover them with its wing; and he also made a ship, with all her tackling, of similar dimensions. Pope Paul V. had exhibited to him sixteen hundred dishes of turned ivory, all perfect and complete in every part, yet so small and thin, that all of them were included at once in a cup, formed of a common pepper-corn. The Pope, with the assistance of glasses, for they were almost invisible to the naked eye, saw and counted them all. Another artificer exhibited cannons of wood, with their carriages, wheels, and other military furniture so small, that twentyfive of them, together with thirty cups, turned out of wood, and neatly made, were contained in the interior of a cherrystone. The whole of the Iliad by Homer, written on vellum, is recorded to have been enclosed in a nutshell. These are remarkable, but nature seems to beat them all in some of her smaller animals, for so exquisitely minute are they as to possess several stomachs, distinct vision, and acute taste so wonderfully are they formed, that 80,000 extremities have been counted in a peculiar species of the sea-star; 27,000 lenses have been reckoned in the eye of a dragonfly; and 500,000 infusories have been counted (by means of a micrometer) in a drop of water-myriads could stand on the point of a needie; and so universal are they, that there is not a spray of the sea, a globule of rain, a drop of vegetable or even of animal fluid, that is not crowded with them. GLORY OF THE CLERGY. God is the fountain of honour, and the conduit by which he conveys it to the sons of men are virtuous and generous practices. Some, indeed, may please and promise themselves high matters from full revenues, stately palaces, court interests, and great dependencies; but that which makes the clergy glorious is to be shining in their profession, unspotted in their lives, active and laborious in their charges, bold and resolute in opposing seducers, and daring to look vice in the face, though never so potent and illustrious; and, lastly, to be gentle, courteous, and compassionate to all. These are our robes and our maces, our escutcheons, and highest titles of honour.-Dr South. EXPENSE OF WAR. We should do well to translate this word war into language more intelligible to us. When we pay our army and navy estimates, let us set down-so much for killing-so much for maiming-so much for making widows and orphans-so much for bringing famine upon a district-so much for corrupting citizens and subjects into spies and traitors-so much for letting loose the demons of fury, rapine, and lust within the fold of civilised society. We shall know by this means what we have paid our money for; whether we have made a good bargain; and whether the account is likely to pass-elsewhere. We must take in, too, all those concomitant circumstances which make war, considered as battle, the least part of itself-pars minima sui. We must fix our eyes, not on the hero returning with conquest, nor yet on the gallant officer dying in the bed of honour-the subject of picture and of songbut on the private soldier, forced into the service, exhausted by camp sickness and fatigue; pale, emaciated, crawling to an hospital, with the prospect of life-perhaps a long life -blasted, useless, and suffering. We must think of the uncounted tears of her who weeps alone, because the only being who shared her sentiments is taken from her;-no martial music sounds in unison with her feelings;-the long day passes, and he returns not. She does not shed her sorrows over his grave, for she has never learned whether he even had one. If he had returned, his exertions would not have been remembered individually, for he only made a small imperceptible part of a human machine called a regiment. These are not fancy pictures; if you please to heighten them, you can every one of you do it for yourselves. RELIGIOUS PENANCE. The Portuguese peasantry are still very much addicted to performing penances. As they are seldom very heavy, they find it an easy way of soothing their consciences. The most severe I have seen some poor women perform, such as crawling round a church many times on their bare knees: frequently they hang a bag of sand to their necks, to increase their toil, and let it run out as they proceed. This is done frequently under a pelting rain, the poor wretches literally tracing their progress with their blood. Sometimes these penances are inflicted by their confessors for sins committed, at other times they are in fulfilment of vows made in consequence of recovery from sickness, or on account of finding any lost treasure. They are not in general, however, such sorrowful affairs. I have seen men with thick cloths tied round their knees; for though they had vowed to go round the church on their knees, they did not consider themselves obliged to spoil a new pair of trousers on the occasion; and as the handkerchief alone could not have preserved them, they were compelled to ad pads also. They deserved as much credit as the pilgrims who boiled the peas which they put in their shoes. Young maidens frequently perform the same progress round the church, habited in thick cloth petticoats, and too often irreverently laughing and joking all the time with attendant swains, who will on occasion most gallantly lift them over any very rough places. An old lady I formerly knew vowed to make a pilgrimage barefooted to a shrine, at a considerable distance, but her friends persuading her it was more than she could perform in the way she first intended, she yet determined to keep her vow, so she ordered her sedanchair, doffed her shoes and stockings, and was carried thither.-Lusitanian Sketches. THE BEREAVED MOTHER AND HER FRIEND. By H. BROWN, Author of the Covenanters, and other Poems FRIEND. Why does sorrow cloud thy face? You speak like one who never felt; - FRIEND. But think you that you weep alone? Are there no breaking hearts but thine? Sorrow is human nature's own, And your dark hour may soon be mine. The grief you feel, the tears you shed, Are streaming hourly for the dead. MOTHER. And deem you there is comfort here? FRIEND. TIME has a balm for weeping hearts; Smiles yet will come, like dawning day, New hopes shall beam, and you forget, When sorrow, like the night, has set. MOTHER. There is deep anguish in the thoughtForget my once bright blooming boy! No! earth nor time can e'er bring aught His name, his memory, to destroy; You say a few short years, and then, Forget!-oh, name it not again! FRIEND. RELIGION has a soothing tone A smile to cheer the deepest gloom; While what we loved on earth is gone, It, rain-bow like, spans o'er the tomb, And, widow'd as thy heart may be, Religion teems with peace for thee. MOTHER. Oh, does religion blame the tear- HINTS ON HAND-SHAKING. WHAT a wonderful instrument is the human hand! How | complete and admirable its machinery-how well adapted for every purpose of ordinary life! In man, strong yet flexible-in woman, soft and graceful. And what an effective auxiliary is it to speech! When upraised to pronounce a blessing, how benign! and how portentous when stretched forth to deliver a curse! How terrible to strike! how delightful to soothe and comfort! PRICE 14d. presence of mutual friends, you happen to be introduced to some one whose conduct in any particular instance you may consider very reprehensible, it would be a great breach of the minor laws of society to decline the acquaintance of the individual in question, because such a course would probably embarrass the whole party, and cause an unpleasant scene. At the same time, you may rightly consider that it would be an act of hypocrisy to welcome such a person with the kindness you would show to one towards whom you were favourably disposed or even indifferent. You may therefore perform the necessary act in such a manner as may show him that you are not desirous of cultivating his acquaintance, without either unnecessarily insulting him or inconveniencing the parties But we do not intend to write either a moral or an anatomical treatise on the hand. We are only going to offer a few desultory remarks upon one of the most commonplace actions in which the hand is used, namely, the ordinary mode of friendly greeting throughout Europe-present. the act of hand-shaking. Hand-shaking, it is true, like all other good things, may The worthy Sancho Panza remarks, that he who first be abused. The proud and insolent may convert it into a invented sleep must have been a most ingenious man, and piece of bitter practical irony by the manner in which they was worthy of all honour; and we think that equally de- condescend to shake hands with those whom they may serving of fame was he who conceived the excellent device wish to humiliate or insult. It has even been made subof hand-shaking. Of all the modes of salutation we have servient to purposes of a far more wicked nature. We are ever heard of, it possesses by far the greatest number of told that the infamous Caesar Borgia (who carried the art recommendations. In the first place, it is of such a nature of murdering by poison to a degree of certainty as to the as to be convenient under almost any circumstances in end, and ingenuity as to the means, which argued the which it is desirable. There cannot be a motion more basest prostitution of inventive power to the service of the easily performed than the outstretching of the hand to most malignant passions) is said to have had a ring which grasp that of a friend. The elaborate salaam of the east was constructed in the form of a serpent, whose body enis stiff and ceremonious, while the close embrace of the circled the finger, its tail returning towards its mouth and warm south may often be disagreeable or even offensive. almost entering it. In the little space between, however, Or, if we were to take extreme cases, look at the practice there was lodged a slight portion of the most subtile and of nose-rubbing which prevails among the frozen regions destructive poison, and when the wearer wished to disof the north, and which, to say the least of it, is awkward patch any one who had become obnoxious to him, he and ridiculous. To us remains the happy medium, the turned the open space in the ring inwards towards the admirable mode of salutation which admits of every degree palm of his own hand, and grasping the hand of the and modification, from a mark of cold civility to a ratifica- doomed individual, with an appearance of more than ordition of firm friendship; from a mere formal acknowledg-nary cordiality, contrived that the fatal fangs of the tiny ment of another's presence to a sign of the warmest welcome and gratulation. Truly it is worthy of the genius of Europe, from which it sprung, and of the universal acceptance which it is rapidly attaining! Indeed, one of the greatest advantages of the fashion of hand-shaking consists in the very fact that it admits of infinite variety as an expression of feeling. If you are desirous of expressing extreme gratification at having met a friend, how well can it be done by a cordial shake of his hand! And to go to the opposite extreme, you may even signify your disapprobation of any person with whom, from constraining circumstances of politeness or other causes, you are under the necessity of shaking hands, by the manner in which you do so. How far it may be proper thus to act is quite another question. But if, in the serpent should slightly pierce his skin, and the deadly venom slowly dispersed throughout the veins of the unsuspecting victim, caused his death in a few days afterwards, in a way at once mysterious and appalling. But it would be very absurd if we were to allow the knowledge that it has sometimes been used for purposes of evil to militate against our general good opinion of hand-shaking. Generally speaking, it is a fine manly and uncompromising action. In spite of the instance to the contrary that we have just cited (and which indeed is a rare and monstrous one), you can have no fear of treachery or of being taken undue advantage of in the frank, open, and generous act of hand-shaking. While a Turk is making his solemn obeisance to his friend, he may be incapacitated for ever again raising his head, from its being dexterously struck off by the sabre of an attendant, as has been done before now; or in the pretended warmth of a close embrace, one might have a dagger stuck into one's side, somewhat after the fashion in which Joab, under pretence of a friendly greeting, smote poor Abner under the fifth rib; but in shaking hands both parties are on perfectly open and equal ground, and hence the clasped hands have ever been adopted as the suggestive symbol of honourable friendship. Mere friendship, however, is not the highest feeling which the mutual grasping of hands can convey from one heart to another. Indeed, almost every sympathetic feeling of our nature may be so communicated. Thus a modern poet, in giving hints to a coquette in the gentle arts of winning the hearts of her admirers, truly and prettily says: Though thy parting words be bland, Two small squeezes of the hand He may better understand.' The fancifully philosophic Jean Paul Richter declares that there is in reality no such thing as an embrace in this world, and this assertion he ingeniously supports by reasoning that an embrace properly belongs to the soul, and that as our souls are now imprisoned within walls of flesh, they cannot as it were amalgamate as we would wish them to do when we are prompted to embrace each other, and that, therefore, when we do so, it is merely knocking together the gratings of the cages in which we are imprisoned. This is a very pretty fancy, but practice ever has been, and ever will be, its refutation, for every one knows that soul does communicate with soul through the body; that thoughts and feelings fly with swift and invisible wings forth from the gratings of one prison-cage and in through those of the other, even though the said bars should not be touching. Not even proximity of time or place is required. A look or a word may make thousands who see or hear to tremble or rejoice, and writing or printing have equally potent effects upon others distant in place or distant even in futurity. And, if so, how potent likewise is actual touch. The history of years may sometimes be told in one touch of the hand. By it may a lover declare a passion which may decide the character of all his afterlife. How many gentle things may, like Bob Acre's courage, ooze through the finger-ends. But enough has been said upon the general theory of the matter, and now a few practical hints as to how this important operation ought to be performed may not be unacceptable. Then, good reader, if you place yourself in our hands, we shall endeavour to instruct you how to manage your own. Learn then that in hand-shaking, as in almost everything else, the golden medium is the true method. But, above all things, avoid over-violent shaking. It is only another phase of a most disagreeable propensity which has received various names, and among others that of back-slapping, which is thus alluded to by the acute and sensitive Cowper: The man who hails you Tom or Jack, We are quite alive to the probability that this violent shaking may arise from excess of cordiality or good will, but it is neither a proper nor a pleasant mode of manifesting it. Yet the opposite error is to be shunned with perhaps even greater care. We refer to the mere holding out of the hand without any attempt at oscillation. This is a pretty common trick with ladies, especially elderly ladies. Your hand is held out and another is put into it with a tacit request to shake it both for yourself and the owner. And the said non-shakers have usually another bad habit of not withdrawing the hand after the proper shake has been given, so there you stand, as a friend of ours rather strongly phrases it, with a piece of fat beef in your hand.' Again, it is dangerous to attempt to make fun in handshaking. Humorous hand-shaking is detestable, unless it be in the hand of a master. Thus, among other efforts after wit in this way, one will give you a cold, hard, iron like squeeze, which makes the blood spring from your fingers; another, after a short sharp shake, sends your arm spinning through empty air as if it were attempting to catch a passing fly; a third makes your fist revolve like the handle of a barrel organ, and so on. Formality in hand-shaking is also to be shunned. Do not give either a perpendicular or horizontal shake. Some stiff old gentlemen, of the horizontal class, use your arm, from the wrist to the elbow, as if it were a hammer with which they wished to knock a little pin into your side. Others again, in their extreme suavity of manner, cause your hand to oscillate with slow swings like the pendulum of an eight-day clock. A third class of formalists, who are still more obnoxious, are the cold, dignified, consequential gentlemen, who present to you only one or two fingers. Even these they give as if they grudged them; or as if they were conferring on you an invaluable favour; or as if they considered that such an act was beneath the moral dignity of man, and scorned their spirits' for giving themselves up to it. These might perhaps be called the Pecksniffs of hand-shaking. What then is the best mode of hand-shaking? This problem must in a great measure be solved by each individual for himself. After receiving a few general hints, every one must trust to his own temperament and character for the rest. [By the way, we might write a whole chapter on hand-shaking, as an indication of character, did not our space and our readers' patience peremptorily forbid it.] We remember a very nice little woodcut of Hood's, in the fine quaint style which gave so much character to all that he did, representing an open hand, with the punning motto, When taken, to be well shaken;' which might afford a primary hint to a pupil in the art. The great points are, to give your hand freely, and, as a matter of course, give a shake which will last as long as the spoken greeting of How do you do? I'm very glad to see you!' or some such short conventionalism, and then immediately open your hand and release that of your friend. There are of course exceptions to this general rule. In some cases, for instance, it may be proper to retain the hand, as when you wish perhaps to lead a person into a room or otherwise, but in ordinary circumstances we are convinced our rule is good. But we must beware of being ourselves the first to infringe its principles, and, therefore, gentle reader, we shall not longer at present detain thee, but, with one cordial shake of thine hand, bid thee good-by until we meet again. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND AMERICAN DISCOVERY. FIRST ARTICLE. THE discovery of a new planet, so small and distant that to the greater part of mankind it must ever remain invisible, has lately been exciting the curiosity of the public, and will in all probability secure immortality to the fortunate astronomer who first observed it. Such are among the greatest triumphs reserved for science in the present day, when every corner of the globe has been searched out, and the very stars of heaven numbered as they shine. Far different was the state of the world in the middle of the fifteenth century, when, awaking from the slumber of ages, men set themselves to explore the laws regulating the system of the heavens and the earth, and when new or unknown worlds remained in both to reward their labours. Among the successful discoverers of that period, the name of Christopher Columbus, or, as he designated himself when he fixed his residence in Spain, Cristoval Colon, is the most justly distinguished. Some obscurity attaches to the place of his birth, but the honour seems due to Genoa, where his father, a poor but worthy woolcomber, was long resident. When his name had become illustrious, many noble families claimed kindred with Columbus, but on such uncertain grounds that his son and historian was content to assume him as the founder of the fmaily; for I am of opinion,' says he, 'that I should derive less dignity from any nobility of ancestry, than from being the son of such a father.' In the ancient city of Genoa, then, in the year 1435 or 1436, was Columbus born. His education seems to have been considerable for the period, having been taught reading and writing, arithmetic, drawing and painting, with such success that, as one of his historians observes, by these acquirements he might have earned his bread. At Pavia, then a celebrated school, he subsequently studied Latin; and with more diligence, geometry, geography, astronomy, and navigation; to which branches his inclination so powerfully led him, that he afterwards ascribed it to a secret impulse from the Deity, leading him to those studies which should fit him to accomplish his high destiny. His birth in a maritime city like Genoa, at a time when reviving literature was anew unfolding the geographical knowledge and theories of the ancients, was no less fortunate, and must have tended greatly to strengthen his inclination for naval pursuits. His life after leaving the university is for some time involved in obscurity, perhaps from the unwillingness of his son to disclose the mean condition from which he rose. If he ever followed his father's trade, as has been asserted, it could only be for a short time, as he says that he began to navigate when only fourteen years of age. The Mediterranean, surrounded by numerous independent states, engaged not only in mutual commerce, but in frequent wars and piratical excursions, formed a good though rough school for the young sailor, in which he would soon acquire those habits of decision, boldness, and command over fierce associates, so essential to his future success. In 1459 he was employed in the Genoese fleet, which assisted the Duke of Calabria in his attempts to recover the throne of Naples for his father, Count René of Provence. Under this king he had command of a vessel sent to Tunis to capture a galley lying there. His sailors, frightened by reports of the enemy's strength, insisted on returning; but Columbus, while seeming to yield, by altering the card of the compass led them to the place he wished, and as he boasts of his deceit, probably succeeded in this enterprise. The attempt on Naples, after a four years' contest, failed, and Columbus seems for some time to have been occupied in commercial voyages in the Mediterranean, in one of which he is known to have visited the isle of Scio. Two admirals of his own name, or Colombo, as it is in the Italian, then commanded the fleets of Genoa, which were usually under the influence of France, notwithstanding the nominal independence of the republic. The younger of these was so famous for his exploits against the infidels, that it is said the Moorish women used his name to quiet their unruly children. Genoa being then at war with Venice, this bold corsair on one occasion undertook to intercept four rich Venetian galleys on their return from Flanders. The vessels met on the coast of Portugal, and a desperate battle ensued. The vessel commanded by Columbus having grappled with her opponent, according to the custom of that time, both were involved in flames, and it being impossible to separate them, the crews had to escape into the sea. Columbus being an expert swimmer, seized an oar, and by means of it reached the shore, though fully two leagues distant. In this strange fashion his son relates that Columbus first arrived in Portugal, and repairing to Lisbon, where he found many of his countrymen, took up his abode for some time in that city. As this incident happened in the summer of 1485, if Columbus was actually engaged in it, this must have been at a later period of his history, after he had been some time in Portugal. No country in Europe was at that time better adapted for the future discoverer. Portugal, under the influence of Prince Henry, was engaged in the full career of maritime adventure. Despising the fabled dangers of the ocean and the torrid zone, the Portuguese were gradually extending their voyages along the African coast, and the prince just mentioned already foresaw the time when, following the course of Hanno round the southern extremity of Africa, a direct road should be opened to the treasures of the east. Columbus arrived in Portugal in 1470. He was then in the full vigour of manhood, and is described by his cotemporaries as tall, well-formed, muscular, and of an elevated, dignified demeanour. His visage was long, his complexion fair and ruddy, his nose aquiline, his eyes light grey, but apt to enkindle, and his hair, once of a light colour, now white with care and trouble. He had subdued his naturally irritable temper, and was amiable and affable in social intercourse. He was at the same time strict in his religious observances, and his whole character was strongly tinctured with a lofty solemn enthusiasm, which led him to regard himself as the appointed agent to work out some great designs of heaven. In this country, and with these feelings, it required but a slight impulse to direct the whole mind and energy of Columbus into the path of maritime discovery. And this he received from an apparent accident which might have rather seemed destined to fix him at home. When attending religious service in the convent of All Saints, he saw and became enamoured with a lady of Italian descent, the daughter of a distinguished navigator in the service of Prince Henry. Having married the lady, he had access to the charts and papers of her father, now dead, and thus became acquainted with the plans and routes of the Portuguese. When on shore he occupied himself in constructing maps and charts for the support of his family, but occasionally joined in the expeditions of his adopted countrymen to the coast of Guinea. He also resided for some time on the island Porto Santo, the governor of which was married to his wife's sister. Here his son, Diego, was born; and Columbus had frequent opportunities of meeting with persons engaged in the discoveries on the coast of Africa. Here also rumours of islands seen in the western ocean were frequently heard, and revived the belief in the fabled Atlantis of Plato. These tales, however little credit he might attach to them, and his trade of mapmaking, soon however gave a decided bias to his mind, and ripened into a grand scheme. There were various grounds on which Columbus built his faith of new lands to be discovered by sailing west in the Atlantic Ocean. The travels of Marco Polo had made known to Europeans the vast empire of China, with the Japanese islands in the adjoining sea, and excited men's cupidity by accounts of their luxury and wealth. Columbus assumed that the earth was a sphere, and not a plane as was at that time the orthodox belief, and hence inferred that by sailing west he could reach those countries to which a long and wearisome overland journey had conducted the Venetian traveller. The width of the intervening ocean Columbus greatly underrated, having adopted very erroneous notions of the true dimensions of the globe from the Arabic geographers, then the highest authorities on scientific subjects. He was confirmed in this opinion of land to be discovered in the west, by various passages in ancient authors-in Aristotle, Pliny, Strabo, and Seneca; of whom the last in a remarkable passage prophecies that the time should come when the chains of ocean should be loosened, and new worlds expand to the astonished gaze of men. Columbus also collected various indications of unknown land in the west, some of them very curious-as a piece of carved wood, evidently not laboured with an iron instrument, found far west of Cape St Vincent; the unknown trees, seeds, and immense reeds driven by currents on the Azores and coasts of Europe; and especially the dead bodies of two men, with features unlike any known tribe, cast on the island of Flores. His religious spirit also led him to read his discovery as foretold in Holy Writ, and dimly announced in the mystic revelations of the Prophets. These are the grounds he himself assigned for his opinion; but his enemies have ascribed his belief to a shipwrecked pilot, who died in his house, and left him written accounts of unknown lands seen in the west, or to a map of Martin Behem, a celebrated cotemporary cosmographer. A far more probable source of information is to be found in Columbus's intercourse with Iceland, to which he made a voyage in 1474, as its inhabitants are well known to have discovered and even founded a colony named Vinland, on the coast of North America, some centuries before. That Columbus never alluded to these discoveries may be ascribed |