132 WORKMEN AND HEROES There is no lack of biographical material concerning the discoverer of Amer- ica. He has left memorials of his personality and life-history more abundant than most of the men who have influenced their age. There are more than sixty authentic letters of Columbus in existence. There are long narratives of his ex- peditions and discoveries, by persons who knew him more or less intimately. There is an extended biography of him written by his own son, Ferdinand Co- lumbus, or from materials furnished by him. There are numerous documents and state papers authenticating his acts, his privileges, and his dignities. And yet, vith all the wealth of material, so copious upon his character and his career, it would seem, from recent developments, that the true discoverer of America is yet to be discovered. Among the many lives of Columbus that have been written, there exist some twenty-five in the English language. Of these two or three only have any his- torical or critical value. The mass of biographies, both English and American, are mere echoes or abridgments, in other forms of language, of the great work of Washington Irving, first published in 1828. This book was written in Spain, and based upon collections of documents (manuscript and printed) not previously used by biographers. Hence its value as the most copious and systematic life of Columbus which had appeared in any language. The finished and graceful style which characterizes all the works of its accomplished author gave it a high place in literature, which it has maintained for more than half a century, being con- stantly reprinted. Next in point of time to Irving, though treating Columbus with less fulness of detail, came the polished historian Prescott, whose " History of Ferdinand and Isabella" was published in 1837. This ardent and laborious scholar was, like Irving, constitutionally inclined to the optimistic view of his leading charac- ters. To magnify the virtues and to minimize the faults of their heroes has al- ways been the besetting sin of biographers. The pomp and picturesque circum- stance of the Spanish court, the splendid administrative abilities of Ferdinand, the beauty, amiability, and devoted piety of Isabella, are depicted in glowing col- ors, but the crimes and cruelties which they sanctioned, while condemned upon one page, are softly extenuated upon others. Columbus appears as a romantic figure in history, the glory of whose successful discovery atones for his many failings. Of the original sources of information about Columbus the most important are : 1. The great collection of original documents printed in Spanish by Navar- rete, in 1825-37, in five volumes, and partly reprinted in a French translation in 1828. These contain the precious letters of Columbus, many of which have been translated and recently published in English. 2. The " Historia general de las Indias," of Oviedo, first published in 1535. 3. The " Historia de las Indias," of the Spanish Bishop Las Casas, composed in 1527 to 1561, which remained in manuscript until 1875, when it was printed from the original Spanish.
