Chapter IX: Magellan’s Discovery (10)

[1017] There is an extended Note on Las Casas in Appendix XXVIII. of Irving’s _Columbus_. That author most effectively vindicates Las Casas from having first advised and been instrumental in the introduction of African slavery in the New World, giving the dates and the advisers and agents connected with that wrong previous to any word on the subject from Las Casas. The devoted missionary had been brought to acquiesce in the measure on the plausible plea stated in the text, acting from the purest spirit of benevolence, though under an erroneous judgment. Cardinal Ximenes had from the first opposed the project.

[1018] As will appear farther on in these pages, Las Casas stands justly chargeable with enormous exaggerations of the number or estimate of the victims of Spanish cruelty. But I have not met with a single case in any contemporary writer, nor in the challengers and opponents of his pleadings at the Court of Spain, in which his hideous portrayal of the forms and methods of that cruelty, its dreadful and revolting tortures and mutilations, have been brought under question. Mr. Prescott’s fascinating volumes have been often and sometimes very sharply censured, because in the glow of romance, chivalric daring, and heroic adventure in which he sets the achievements of the Spanish “Conquerors” of the New World he would seem to be somewhat lenient to their barbarities. In the second of his admirable works he refers as follows to this stricture upon him: “To American and English readers, acknowledging so different a moral standard from that of the sixteenth century, I may possibly be thought too indulgent to the errors of the Conquerors;” and he urges that while he has “not hesitated to expose in their strongest colors the excesses of the Conquerors, I have given them the benefit of such mitigating reflections as might be suggested by the circumstances and the period in which they lived” (Preface to the _Conquest of Mexico_).

It is true that scattered over all the ably-wrought pages of Mr. Prescott’s volumes are expressions of the sternest judgment and the most indignant condemnation passed upon the most signal enormities of these incarnate spoilers, who made a sport of their barbarity. But those who have most severely censured the author upon the matter now in view have done so under the conviction that cruelty unprovoked and unrelieved was so awfully dark and prevailing a feature in every stage and incident of the Spanish advance in America, that no glamour of adventure or chivalric deeds can in the least lighten or redeem it. The underlying ground of variance is in the objection to the use of the terms “Conquest” and “Conquerors,” as burdened with the relation of such a pitiful struggle between the overmastering power of the invaders and the abject helplessness of their victims.

As I am writing this note, my eye falls upon the following extract from a private letter written in 1847 by that eminent and highly revered divine, Dr. Orville Dewey, and just now put into print: “I have been reading Prescott’s _Peru_. What a fine accomplishment there is about it! And yet there is something wanting to me in the moral nerve. History should teach men how to estimate characters; it should be a teacher of morals; and I think it should make us _shudder_ at the names of Cortez and Pizarro. But Prescott does not; he seems to have a kind of sympathy with these inhuman and perfidious adventurers, as if they were his heroes. It is too bad to talk of them as the soldiers of Christ; if it were said of the Devil, they would have better fitted the character” (_Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D._ p. 190).

[1019] Juan Ginez de Sepulveda, distinguished both as a theologian and an historian, was born near Cordova in 1490, and died in 1573. He was of a noble but impoverished family. He availed himself of his opportunities for obtaining the best education of his time in the universities of Spain and Italy, and acquired an eminent reputation as a scholar and a disputant,—not, however, for any elevation of principles or nobleness of thought. In 1536 he was appointed by Charles V. his historiographer, and put in charge of his son Philip. Living at Court, he had the repute of being crooked and unscrupulous, his influence not being given on the side of rectitude and progressive views. His writings concerning men and public affairs give evidence of the faults imputed to him. He was vehement, intolerant, and dogmatic. He justified the most extreme absolutism in the exercise of the royal prerogative, and the lawfulness and even the expediency of aggressive wars simply for the glory of the State. Melchior Cano and Antonio Ramirez, as well as Las Casas, entered into antagonism and controversy with his avowed principles. One of his works, entitled _Democrates Secundus, seu de justis belli causis_, may be pronounced almost brutal in the license which it allowed in the stratagems and vengefulness of warfare. It was condemned by the universities of Alcala and Salamanca. He was a voluminous author of works of history, philosophy, and theology, and was admitted to be a fine and able writer. Erasmus pronounced him the Spanish Livy. The disputation between him and Las Casas took place before Charles in 1550. The monarch was very much under his influence, and seems to some extent to have sided with him in some of his views and principles. Sepulveda was one of the very few persons whom the monarch admitted to interviews and intimacy in his retirement to the Monastery at Yuste.

It was this formidable opponent—a personal enemy also in jealousy and malignity—whom Las Casas confronted with such boldness and earnestness of protest before the Court and Council. It was evidently the aim of Sepulveda to involve the advocate of the Indians in some disloyal or heretical questioning of the prerogatives of monarch or pope. It seemed at one time as if the noble pleader for equity and humanity would come under the clutch of the Holy Office, then exercising its new-born vigor upon all who could be brought under inquisition for constructive or latent heretical proclivities. For Las Casas, though true to his priestly vows, made frequent and bold utterances of what certainly, in his time, were advanced views and principles.

[1020] Juan Antonio Llorente, eminent as a writer and historian, both in Spanish and French, was born near Calahorra, Aragon, in 1756, and died at Madrid in 1823. He received the tonsure when fourteen years of age, and was ordained priest at Saragossa in 1779. He was of a vigorous, inquisitive, and liberal spirit, giving free range to his mind, and turning his wide study and deep investigations to the account of his enlargement and emancipation from the limitations of his age and associates. He tells us that in 1784 he had abandoned all ultramontane doctrines, and all the ingenuities and perplexities of scholasticism. His liberalism ran into rationalism. His secret or more or less avowed alienation from the prejudices and obligations of the priestly order, while it by no means made his position a singular or even an embarrassing one under the influences and surroundings of his time, does at least leave us perplexed to account for the confidence with which functions and high ecclesiastical trusts were committed to and exercised by him. He was even made Secretary-General of the Inquisition, and was thus put in charge of the enormous mass of records, with all their dark secrets, belonging to its whole history and processes. This charge he retained for a time after the Inquisition was abolished in 1809. It was thus by a singular felicity of opportunity that those terrible archives should have been in the care, and subject to the free and intelligent use, of a man best qualified of all others to tell the world their contents, and afterward prompted and at liberty to do so from subsequent changes in his own opinions and relations. To this the world is indebted for a _History of the Inquisition_, the fidelity and sufficiency of which satisfy all candid judgments. He was restive in spirit, provoked strong opposition, and was thus finally deprived of his office. After performing a variety of services not clerical, and moving from place to place, he went to Paris, where, in 1817-1818, he courageously published the above-mentioned _History_. He was interdicted the exercise of clerical functions. In 1822, the same year in which he published his Biography and French translation of the principal works of Las Casas, he published also his _Political Portraits of the Popes_. For this he was ordered to quit Paris,—a deep disappointment to him, causing chagrin and heavy depression. He found refuge in Madrid, where he died in the following year.

[1021] Mr. Ticknor, however, says that these two treatises “are not absolutely proved” to be by Las Casas.—_History of Spanish Literature_, i. 566.

[1022] _Conquest of Mexico_, i. 80, _n._ Of his _Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies_, this historian says: “However good the motives of its author, we may regret that the book was ever written.... The author lent a willing ear to every tale of violence and rapine, and magnified the amount to a degree which borders on the ridiculous. The wild extravagance of his numerical estimates is of itself sufficient to shake confidence in the accuracy of his statements generally. Yet the naked truth was too startling in itself to demand the aid of exaggeration.” The historian truly says of himself, in his Preface to the work quoted: “I have not hesitated to expose in their strongest colors the excesses of the conquerors.”

[1023] Llorente, i. 365, 386.

[1024] [Helps (_Spanish Conquest_) says: “Las Casas may be thoroughly trusted whenever he is speaking of things of which he had competent knowledge.” Ticknor (_Spanish literature_, ii. 31) calls him “a prejudiced witness, but on a point of fact within his own knowledge one to be believed.” H. H. Bancroft (_Early American Chroniclers_, p. 20; also _Central America_, i. 274, 309; ii. 337) speaks of the exaggeration which the zeal of Las Casas leads him into; but with due abatement therefor, he considers him “a keen and valuable observer, guided by practical sagacity, and endowed with a certain genius.”—ED.]

[1025] Sabin’s _Works of Las Casas_, and his _Dictionary_, iii. 388-402, and x. 88-91; Field’s _Indian Bibliography_; _Carter-Brown Catalogue_; Harrisse’s _Notes on Columbus_, pp. 18-24; the _Huth Catalogue_; Brunet’s Manuel, etc.

[1026] [Field says it was written in 1540, and submitted to the Emperor in MS.; but in the shape in which it was printed it seems to have been written in 1541-1542. Cf. Field, _Indian Bibliography_, nos. 860, 870; Sabin, _Works of Las Casas_, no. 1; _Carter-Brown Catalogue_, i. 164; Ticknor, _Spanish Literature_, ii. 38; and _Catalogue_, p. 62. The work has nineteen sections on as many provinces, ending with a summary for the year 1546. This separate tract was reprinted in the original Spanish in London, in 1812, and again in Philadelphia, in 1821, for the Mexican market, with an introductory essay on Las Casas. Stevens, _Bibliotheca historica_, 1105; cf. also _Coleccion de documentos inéditos_ (_España_), vol. vii.

The _Cancionero spiritual_, printed at Mexico in 1546, is not assigned to _Bartholomew_ Las Casas in Ticknor’s _Spanish Literature_, iii. 44, but it is in Gayangos and Vedia’s Spanish translation of Ticknor. Cf. also Sabin, vol. x. no. 39,122; Harrisse, _Bib. Am. Vet., Additions_, No. 159.—ED.]

[1027] [Field does not give it a date; but Sabin says it was written in 1552. Cf. Field, nos. 860, 870, _note_; Sabin, no. 2; Carter-Brown, i. 165; _Ticknor Catalogue_, p. 62.—ED.]

[1028] [Field says it was written “soon after” no. 1; Sabin places it in 1543. Cf. Field, no. 862, 870, _note_; Carter-Brown, i. 166; Sabin, 3; Stevens, _Bibl. Geog._, no. 595; _Ticknor Catalogue_, p. 62.—ED.]

[1029] [Sabin says it was written in America in 1546-1547. Field, nos. 863, 870, _note_; Carter-Brown, i. 167; Sabin, no. 6.—ED.]

[1030] [There seems, according to Field (nos. 864, 865), to have been two distinct editions in 1552, as he deduces from his own copy and from a different one belonging to Mr. Brevoort, there being thirty-three variations in the two. Quaritch has noted (no. 11,855, priced at £6 6_s._) a copy likewise in Gothic letter, but with different woodcut initials, which he places about 1570. Cf. Field, p. 217; Carter-Brown, i. 168; Sabin, no. 8; _Ticknor Catalogue_, p. 62.

The initial work of Sepulveda, _Democrates Secundus_, defending the rights of the Crown over the natives, was not published, though he printed his _Apologia pro libro de justis belli causis_, Rome, 1550 (two copies of which are known), of which there was a later edition in 1602; and some of his views may be found in it. Cf. Ticknor, _Spanish Literature_, ii. 37; Harrisse, _Notes on Columbus_, p. 24, and _Bib. Amer. Vet._, no. 303; and the general histories of Bancroft, Helps, and Prescott. The _Carter-Brown Catalogue_, no. 173, shows a MS. copy of Sepulveda’s book. It is also in Sepulveda’s _Opera_, Cologne, 1602, p. 423; Carter-Brown, vol. ii. no. 15.—ED.]

[1031] [Sabin dates it in 1543. Cf. Field, nos. 866, 870, _note_; Sabin, no. 4; Carter-Brown, i. 170.—ED.]

[1032] [Sabin says it was written in Spain in 1548 Cf. Field, nos. 867, 870, _note_; Sabin, no. 7; Carter-Brown, i. 171.—ED.]

[1033] [Field, nos. 868, 870, _note_; Sabin, no. 9; Carter-Brown, i. 169.—ED.]

[1034] [This is the longest and one of the rarest of the series. Sabin says it was written about 1543. There were two editions of the same date, having respectively 80 and 84 leaves; but it is uncertain which is the earlier, though Field supposes the fewer pages to indicate the first. Field, nos. 869, 870, _note_; Sabin, no. 5; Carter Brown, i. 172.—ED.]

[1035] [It is only of late years that the entire series has been described. De Bure gives only five of the tracts; Dibdin enumerates but seven; and Llorente in his edition omits three, as was done in the edition of 1646. Rich in 1832 priced a set at £12 12_s._ A full set is now worth from $100 to $150; but Leclerc (nos. 327, 2,556) has recently priced a set of seven at 700 francs, and a full set at 1,000 francs. An English dealer has lately held one at £42. Quaritch has held four parts at £10, and a complete set at £40. Single tracts are usually priced at from £1 to £5. Recent sales have been shown in the Sunderland (no. 2,459, 9 parts); Field (no. 1,267); Cooke (vol. iii. no. 369, 7 parts); Stevens, _Hist. Coll._ (no. 311, 8 parts); Pinart (no. 536); and Murphy (no. 487) catalogues. The set in the Carter-Brown Library belonged to Ternaux; that belonging to Mr. Brevoort came from the Maximillian Library. The Lenox Library and Mr. Barlow’s Collection have sets. There are also sets in the Grenville and Huth collections.

The 1646 reprint, above referred to, has sometimes a collective title, _Las Obras_, etc., but most copies, like the Harvard College copy, lack it. As the titles of the separate tracts (printed in this edition in Roman) retained the original 1552 dates, this reprint is often called a spurious edition. It is usually priced at from $15 to $30. Cf. Sabin, no. 13; Field, p. 216; Quaritch, no. 11,856; Carter-Brown, i. 173; ii. 584; Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 312; Cooke, iii. 370.

Some of the Tracts are included in the _Obras escogidas de filósofos_, etc. Madrid, 1873.—ED.]

[1036] [Field, no. 870, and _note_; Sabin, no. 11; the Carter-Brown Collection lacks it. It was reprinted at Tübingen, and again at Jena, in 1678. It has never been reprinted in Spain, says Stevens (_Bibl. Hist._, no. 1,096).—ED.]

[1037] [“Not absolutely proved to be his,” says Ticknor (_Spanish Literature_, ii. 37).—ED.]

[1038] [There were a hundred copies of these printed. They are:—

1. _Memorial de Don Diego Colon sobre la conversion de las gentes de las Yndias._ With an Epistle to Dr. Reinhold Pauli. It is Diego Colon’s favorable comment on Las Casas’s scheme of civilizing the Indians, written at King Charles’s request. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 881.

2. _Carta_, dated 1520, and addressed to the Chancellor of Charles, in which Las Casas urges his scheme of colonization of the Indians. Mr. Stevens dedicates it to Arthur Helps in a letter. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 882; the manuscript is described in his _Bibl. Geog._, no. 598.

3. _Paresçer o determinaciō de los señores theologos de Salamanca_, dated July 1, 1541. This is the response of the Faculty of Salamanca to the question put to them by Charles V., if the baptized natives could be made slaves. Mr. Stevens dedicates the tract to Sir Thomas Phillipps. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 883.

4. _Carta de Hernando Cortés._ Mr. Stevens, in his Dedication to Leopold von Ranke, supposes this to have been written in 1541-1542. It is Cortes’ reply to the Emperor’s request for his opinions regarding _Encomiendas_, etc., in Mexico. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 884.

5. _Carta de Las Casas_, dated Oct. 22, 1545, with an abstract in English in the Dedication to Colonel Peter Force. It is addressed to the Audiencia in Honduras, and sets forth the wrongs of the natives. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 885. The manuscript is now in the Huth Collection, _Catalogue_, v. 1,681.

6. _Carta de Las Casas_ to the Dominican Fathers of Guatemala, protesting against the sale of the reversion of the _Encomiendas_. Mr. Stevens supposes this to have been written in 1554, in his Dedication to Sir Frederick Madden. Cf. Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 886. A set of these tracts is worth about $25. The set in the Cooke Sale (vol. iii. no. 375) is now in Harvard College Library; another set is shown in the _Murphy Catalogue_, no. 488, and there is one in the Boston Public Library.—ED.]

[1039] Field, p. 219.

[1040] Vol. i. p. 160.

[1041] [Harrisse, _Notes on Columbus_, says volumes i. and ii. are in the Academy; but volume iii. is in the Royal Library. Cf., however, the “Advertencia preliminar” of the Madrid (1875) edition of the _Historia_ on this point, as well as regards the various copies of the manuscript existing in Madrid.—ED.]

[1042] [Such is Quintana’s statement; but Helps failed to verify it, and says he could only fix the dates 1552, 1560, 1561 as those of any part of the writing. _Life of Las Casas_, p. 175.—ED.]

[1043] [I trace no copy earlier than one Rich had made. Prescott had one, which was probably burned in Boston (1872). Helps used another. There are other copies in the Library of Congress, in the Lenox Library, and in H. H. Bancroft’s Collection.—ED.]

[1044] [Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, p. 119, says the purpose of the Academy at one time was to annotate the manuscript, so as to show Las Casas in a new light, using contemporary writers.—ED.]

[1045] [It is worth from $30 to $40. It is called _Historia de las Indias, ahora por primera vez dada á luz por el Marqués de la Fuensanta del Valle y José Sancho Rayon_. It contains, beginning in vol. v. at p. 237, the _Apologética historia_ which Las Casas had written to defend the Indians against aspersions upon their lives and character. This latter work was not included in another edition of the _Historia_ printed at Mexico in two volumes in 1877-1878. Cf. Vigel, _Biblioteca Mexicana_. Parts of the _Apologética_ are given in Kingsborough’s _Mexico_, vol. viii. Cf. on the _Historia_, Irving’s _Columbus_, App.; Helps’s _Spanish Conquest_ (Am. ed.), i. 23, and _Life of Las Casas_, p. 175; Ticknor, _Spanish Literature_, ii. 39; Humboldt’s _Cosmos_ (Eng. tr.), ii. 679; H. H. Bancroft, _Central America_, i. 309; Prescott’s _Mexico_, i. 378; Quintana’s _Vidas_, iii. 507.—ED.]

[1046] [Llorente’s version is not always strictly faithful, being in parts condensed and paraphrastic. Cf. Field, no. 889; Ticknor, _Spanish Literature_, ii. 38, and _Catalogue_, p. 62; Sabin, nos. 14, 50; H. H. Bancroft, _Central America_, i. 309. This edition, besides a life of Las Casas, contains a necrology of the Conquerors, and other annotations by the editor.—ED.]

[1047] [This earliest version is a tract of 70 leaves, printed probably at Brussels, and called _Seer cort Verhael vande destructie van d’Indien_. Cf. Sabin, no. 23; Carter-Brown, i. 320; Stevens, _Bibl. Hist._, no. 1,097. The whole series is reviewed in Tiele’s _Mémoire bibliographique_ (who gives twenty-one editions) and in Sabin’s _Works of Las Casas_ (taken from his _Dictionary_); and many of them are noted in the _Carter-Brown Catalogue_ and in Muller’s _Books on America_, 1872 and 1877. This 1578 edition was reissued in 1579 with a new title, _Spieghel der Spaenscher Tirannije_, which in some form continued to be the title of subsequent editions, which were issued in 1596, 1607, 1609, 1610, 1612 (two), 1620 (two), 1621, 1627 (?), 1634, 1638, 1663, 1664, etc. Several of these editions give De Bry’s engravings, sometimes in reverse. A popular chap-book, printed about 1730, is made up from Las Casas and other sources.—ED.]

[1048] [This included the first, second, and sixth of the tracts of 1552. In 1582 there was a new edition of the _Tyrannies_, etc., printed at Paris; but some copies seem to have had a changed title, _Histoire admirable des horribles insolences_, etc. It was again reissued with the original title at Rouen in 1630. Cf. Field, 873, 874; Sabin, nos. 41, 42, 43, 45; Rich (1832); Stevens, _Bibl. Hist._, no. 1,098; Leclerc, nos. 334, 2,558; Carter-Brown, i. 329, 345, 347; O’Callaghan, no. 1,336; a London catalogue (A. R. Smith, 1874) notes an edition of the _Histoire admirable des horribles Insolences, Cruautez et tyrraines exercées par les Espagnols_, etc., Lyons, 1594.—ED.]

[1049] [It is a tract of sixty-four leaves in Gothic letter, and is very rare, prices being quoted at £20 and more. Cf. Sabin, no. 61; Carter-Brown, i. 351; Stevens, _Bibl. Geog._, 596, _Huth Catalogue_, i. 271. Cf. William Lightfoote’s _Complaints of England_, London, 1587, for English opinion at this time on the Spanish excesses (Sabin, vol. x. no. 41,050), and the _Foreign Quarterly Review_ (1841), ii. 102.—ED.]

[1050] [Field, p. 877; Carter-Brown, ii. 804; Sabin, no. 60. The first tract is translated in Purchas’s _Pilgrimes_, iv. 1,569.—ED.]

[1051] [Some copies read, _Account of the First Voyages_, etc. Cf. Field, no. 880; Carter-Brown, vol. ii. no. 1,556; Sabin, no. 63; Stevens, _Bibl. Geog._, no. 603; and _Prince Library Catalogue_, p. 34. Another English edition, London, 1689, is called _Popery truly display’d in its Bloody Colours_. Cf. Carter-Brown, vol. ii. no. 1,374; Sabin, no. 62. Another London book of 1740, _Old England for Ever_, is often called a Las Casas, but it is not his. Field, no. 888.—ED.]

[1052] [Sabin, no. 51; Carter-Brown, i. 510; Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 319. It has no place. Muller calls a _Warhafftiger Bericht_ of 1599, with no place, the earliest German edition, with De Bry’s, engravings,—which were also in the Oppenheim edition of 1613, _Warhafftiger und gründlicher Bericht_, etc. Cf. Sabin, no. 54; Carter-Brown, ii. 146. A similar title belongs to a Frankfort edition of 1597 (based on the Antwerp French edition of 1579), which is noted in Sabin, no. 52, and in _Bib. Grenvilliana_, ii. 828, and was accompanied by a volume of plates (Sabin, no,. 53).

There seem to be two varieties of the German edition of 1665, _Umbständige warhafftige Beschreibung der Indianischen Ländern_. Cf. Carter-Brown, ii. 957; Sabin, no. 55; Field, no. 882. Sabin (no. 56) also notes a 1790 and other editions.—ED.]

[1053] [It followed the French edition of 1579, and was reissued at Oppenheim in 1614. Cf. Field, p. 871; Carter-Brown, i. 453, 524; ii. 164; Sabin, nos. 57, 58.

The Heidelberg edition of 1664, _Regionum Indicarum per Hispanos olim devastatarum descriptio_, omits the sixteen pages of preliminary matter of the early editions; and the plates, judging from the Harvard College and other copies, show wear. Sabin, no. 59; Carter-Brown, ii. 944.—ED.]

[1054] [As in the _Istoria ò brevissima relatione_, Venice, 1626, 1630, and 1643, a version of the first tract of 1552, made by Castellani. It was later included in Marmocchi’s _Raccolta di viaggi_. Cf. Sabin, nos. 16, 17, 18; Carter-Brown, ii. 311, 360, 514; Leclerc, no. 331; Field, no. 885; Stevens, _Hist. Coll._, i. 315; _Bibl. Hist._, no. 1,100. The sixth tract was translated as _Il supplice schiavo Indiano_, and published at Venice in 1635, 1636, and 1657. Cf. Carter-Brown, ii. 434, 816; Field, no. 886; Sabin, nos. 20, 21. It was reissued in 1640 as _La libertà pretesa_. Sabin, no. 19; Field, no. 887; Carter-Brown, ii. 473. The eighth and ninth tracts appeared as _Conquista dell’Indie occidentali_, Venice, 1645. Cf. Field, no. 884; Sabin, no. 22; Carter-Brown, ii. 566.—ED.]

[1055] In Harvard College Library, with also the _Ordenanzas reales del Conseio de las Indias_, of the same date.

[1056] There are convenient explanations and references respecting the functions of the Casa de la Contratacion, the Council of the Indies, the Process of the Audiencia, and the duties of an Alcalde, in Bancroft’s _Central America_, vol. i. pp. 270, 280, 282, 297, 330.

[1057] See chap. iii. p. 203, _ante_.

[1058] At Medellin, in Estremadura, in 1485.

[1059] They are given in Pacheco’s _Coleccion_, xii. 225, Prescott’s _Mexico_, app. i., and elsewhere. Cf. H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 55.

[1060] There is much conflict of testimony on the respective share of Cortés and Velasquez in equipping the expedition. H. H. Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 57) collates the authorities.

[1061] Prescott makes Cortés sail clandestinely; Bancroft makes his departure a hurried but open one; and this is Helps’s view of the authorities.

[1062] The authorities are not in unison about all these figures. Cf. H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 70.

[1063] See the long note comparing some of these accounts in H. H. Bancroft’s _Mexico_, i. 102, etc.

[1064] Marina did more. She impressed Cortés, who found her otherwise convenient for a few years; and after she had borne him children, married her to one of his captains. What purports to be a likeness of her is given in Cabajal’s _México_, ii. 64.

[1065] Prescott (_Mexico_, revised edition, i. 345) points out how this site was abandoned later for one farther south, where the town was called Vera Cruz Vieja; and again, early in the seventeenth century, the name and town were transferred to another point still farther south,—Nueva Vera Cruz. These changes have caused some confusion in the maps of Lorenzana and others. Cf. the maps in Prescott and H. H. Bancroft.

[1066] There is some discrepancy in the authorities here as regards the openness or stealth of the act of destroying the fleet. See the authorities collated in Prescott, _Mexico_, new edition, i. 369, 370.

[1067] The estimates of numbers in all the operations throughout the Conquest differ widely, sometimes very widely, according to different authorities. The student will find much of the collation of these opposing statements done for him in the notes of Prescott and Bancroft.

[1068] Fac-simile of an engraving on copper in the edition of Solis printed at Venice in 1715, p. 29. It is inscribed: “Cavato da vn originale fatto iñazi chei si portassi alla Conqvista del Messico.”

[1069] Fac-simile of the copper plate in the Venice edition of Solis _Conquista_ (1715) inscribed “Cavato dall’originale venvto dal Messico al Ser^{mo} G. D. di Toscana.”

[1070] H. H. Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 378) and Prescott (new edition vol. ii., p. 231) collate the authorities.

[1071] There are a variety of views as to the force Cortés now commanded; cf. H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 424.

[1072] Prescott (_Mexico_, new ed., ii. 309) collates the diverse accounts.

[1073] It must be mentioned that the Spaniards have been accused of murdering Montezuma. Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 464) collates the different views of the authorities. Cortes sent the body out of the fort. Indignities were offered it; but some of the imperial party got possession of it, and buried it with such honor as the times permitted.

[1074] There are difficulties about the exact date; cf. H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 472.

[1075] Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 488) collates the various authorities; so does Prescott (_Mexico_, new ed., ii. 364) of the losses of this famous _triste Noche_.

[1076] The figures usually given are enormous, and often greatly vary with the different authorities. In this as in other cases where numbers are mentioned, Prescott and Bancroft collate the several reckonings which have been recorded.

[1077] Their chief was Juan Florin, who has been identified by some with Verrazano.

[1078] H. H. Bancroft (_Central Mexico_, i. 626) collates as usual the various estimates of Alvarado’s force.

[1079] There is some doubt whether the alleged plot was not, after all, a fiction to cover the getting rid of burdensome personages. H. H. Bancroft (_Central America_, i. 555) collates the various views, but it does not seem that any unassailable conclusion can be reached.

[1080] Part of a view of Acapulco as given in Montanus and Ogilby, p. 261, showing the topography, but representing the later fort and buildings. The same picture, on a larger scale, was published by Vander Aa at Amsterdam. A plan of the harbor is given in Bancroft’s _Mexico_, iii. 25. The place had no considerable importance as a Spanish settlement till 1550 (Ibid., ii. 420). Cf. the view in Gay’s _Popular History of the United States_, ii. 586.

[1081] The remains of Cortés have rested uneasily. They were buried at Seville; but in 1562 his son removed them to New Spain and placed them in a monastery at Tezcuco. In 1629 they were carried with pomp to Mexico to the church of St. Francis; and again, in 1794, they were transferred to the Hospital of Jesus (Prescott, _Mexico_, iii. 465), where a monument with a bust was placed over them. In 1823, when a patriotic zeal was turned into the wildness of a mob, the tomb was threatened, and some soberer citizens secretly removed the monument and sent it (and later the remains) clandestinely to his descendant, the Duke of Monteleone, in Palermo, where they are supposed now to be, if the story of this secret shipment is true (Prescott, _Mexico_, iii. 335; Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, pp. 219, 220; Bancroft, _Mexico_, iii. 479, 480). Testimony regarding the earlier interment and exhumation is given in the _Coleccion de documentos inéditos_ (_España_), xxii. 563. Cf. B. Murphy on “The Tomb of Cortés” in the _Catholic World_, xxxiii. 24.

For an account of the family and descendants of Cortés, see Bancroft, ii. 480; Prescott, iii. 336. The latter traces what little is known of the later life of Marina (vol. iii. p. 279).

[1082] Those pertaining to Cortés in vols. i.-iv. of the _Documentos inéditos_ (_España_) had already appeared. Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, pp. 213-215, enumerates the manuscripts which had been collected by Prescott. Clavigero had given accounts of the collections in the Vatican, at Vienna, and of those of Boturini, etc.

[1083] Sabin, vol. xx. no. 34,153. In the Introduction to both volumes Icazbalceta discusses learnedly the authorship of the various papers, and makes note of considerable bibliographical detail. The edition was three hundred copies, with twelve on large paper.

[1084] Vol. i. 281; see also _ante_, p. 215.

[1085] Vol. i. 368. This plan is given on an earlier page. Cf. Bancroft, _Early American Chroniclers_, p. 15.

[1086] See chap. v. p. 343.

[1087] _Mexico_, ii. 96. A part of it was printed in the _Documentos inéditos_ as “Ritos antiquos... de las Indias.” Cf. Kingsborough, vol. ix.

[1088] _Mexico_, i. 405.

[1089] Prescott, _Mexico_, ii. 147.

[1090] Sabin, vol. ix. nos. 34,154-34,156; Quaritch, _Ramirez Collection_ (1880), no. 89, priced it at £40.

[1091] This institution is clearly defined by Helps, iii. 141. Cf. Bancroft, _Central America_, i. 250.

[1092] Prescott, _Mexico_, ii. 272; Bancroft, _Mexico_, ii. 373; _Murphy Catalogue_, no. 2,092; _Pinart-Brasseur Catalogue_, no. 770. The book has a portrait of Alvarado, and is enriched with notes by Ramirez. The manuscript of the charges against Alvarado was discovered in 1846 among some supposed waste-papers in the Mexican Archives which the licentiate, Ignacio Rayon, was then examining (Bancroft, _Central America_, ii. 104).

[1093] _Mexico_, ii. 9. Bancroft says he uses a copy made from one which escaped the fire that destroyed so much in 1692, and which belonged to the Maximilian Collection. Quaritch offered, a few years since, as from the Ramirez Collection, for £175, the Acts of the Municipality of Mexico, 1524-1564, in six manuscript volumes. Bancroft (_Mexico_, iii. 508, etc.), enumerates the sources of a later period.

[1094] _Bibl. Amer. Vet., Additions_, p. xxxiv.

[1095] There appeared in 1882, in two volumes, in the _Biblioteca de los Americanistas_, a _Historia de Guatemala ó recordación Florida escrita el siglo XVII por el Capitán D. Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzman ... publica por primera vez con notas é ilustraciones D. Justo Zaragoza_.

[1096] Quaritch in his _Catalogue_, no. 321, _sub_ 11,807, shows a collection of forty-seven for _£_50, apparently the Ramirez Collection. Cf. Sabin, vol. iii. no. 9,567, etc.

[1097] _Mexico_, vol. i. p. viii.

[1098] Indeed, the footnotes of Prescott are meagre by comparison. The enumeration of the manuscript sources on the Conquest given in Charton’s _Voyageurs_, iii. 420, shows what provision of this sort was most to be depended on thirty years ago. There is a set of nine folios in Harvard College Library, gathered by Lord Kingsborough, called _Documentos para el historia de México y Peru_. It includes some manuscripts; but they are all largely, perhaps wholly, of a later period than the Conquest.

[1099] Quaritch, who in his _Catalogue_ of 1870 (no. 259, _sub_ 376) advertised for £105 the original manuscripts of three at least of these councils (1555, 1565, 1585), intimates that they never were returned into the Ecclesiastical Archives after Lorenzana had used them in preparing an edition of the Proceedings of these Councils which he published in 1769 and 1770,—_Concilios provinciales de México_,—though in the third, and perhaps in the first, he had translated apparently his text from the Latin published versions. Bancroft describes these manuscripts in his _Mexico_, ii. 685. The Acts of the First Council had been printed (1556) before Lorenzana; but the book was suppressed, and the Acts of the Third Council had been printed in 1622 in Mexico, and in 1725 at Paris. The Acts of the Third also appeared in 1859 at Mexico with other documents. The readiest source for the English reader of the history of the measures for the conversion of the Indians and for the relation of the Church to the civil authorities in New Spain are sundry chapters (viii., xix., etc.) in Bancroft’s _Central America_, and others (ix., xix., xxxi., xxxii.) in his _Mexico_. (Cf. references in Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, p. 209.) The leading Spanish authorities are Torobio Motolinia, Mendieta, and Torquemada, all characterized elsewhere. Alonso Fernandez’ _Historia eclesiástica de nuestros tiempos_ (Toledo, 1611) is full in elucidation of the lives of the friars and of their study of the native tongues. (Cf. Rich, 1832, £2 2_s._; Quaritch, 1870, £5; Bancroft, _Mexico_, ii. 190.) Gil Gonzales Davila’s _Teatro eclesiástico de la primitiva Iglesia de las Indias_ (Madrid, 1649-1655) is more important and rarer (Quaritch, 1870, £8 8_s._; Rosenthal, Munich, 1884, for 150 marks; Bancroft, _Mexico_, ii. 189). Of Las Casas and his efforts, see the preceding chapter in the present volume.

The Orders of friars are made the subject of special treatment in Bancroft’s _Mexico_. The Franciscans were the earliest to arrive, coming, in response to the wish of Cortés, in 1524. There are various histories of their labors,—Francisco Gonzaga’s _De origine seraphicæ religionis Franciscanæ_, Rome, 1587 (Carter-Brown, i. 372); sections of Torquemada and the fourth part of Vetancour’s _Teatro Mexicano_, Mexico, 1697-1698; Francisco Vasquez’ _Chronica ... de Guatemala_, 1714; Espinosa’s _Chronica apostolica_, 1746 (Sabin, vi. 239; Carter-Brown, iii. 827), etc. Of the Dominicans we have Antonio de Remesal’s _Historia de la S. Vincent de Chyapa_, Madrid, 1619 (Bancroft, _Central America_, ii. 339, 736), and Davilla Padilla’s _Santiago de México_, mentioned in the text. Of the Augustinian friars there is Juan de Grijalva’s _Cronica_, Mexico, 1624. Of the books on the Jesuits who came late (1571, etc.), there is a note in Bancroft’s _Mexico_, iii. 447, showing as of chief importance Francisco de Florencia’s _Compañia de Jesus_ (Mexico, 1694), while the subject was taken up under the same title by Francisco Javier Alegre, who told the story of their missions from 1566 in Florida to 1765. The manuscript of this work was not printed till Bustamante edited it in 1841.

The legend or belief in our Lady of Guadalupe gives a picturesque and significant coloring to the history of missions in Mexico, since from the day of her apparition the native worship, it is said, steadily declined. It is briefly thus: In 1531 a native who had received a baptismal name of Juan Diego, passing a hill neighboring to the city of Mexico, was confronted by a radiant being who announced herself as the Virgin Mary, and who said that she wished a church to be built on the spot. The native’s story, as he told it to the Bishop, was discredited, until some persons sent to follow the Indian saw him disappear unaccountably from sight.

It was now thought that witchcraft more than a heavenly interposition was the cause, until, again confronting the apparition, Diego was bidden to take some roses which the Lady had handled and carry them in his mantle to the Bishop, who would recognize them as a sign. When the garment was unrolled, the figure of the Virgin was found painted in its folds, and the sign was accepted. A shrine was soon erected, as the Lady had wished; and here the holy effigy was sacredly guarded, until it found a resting-place in what is thought to be the richest church in Mexico, erected between 1695 and 1709; and there it still is. It has been at times subjected to some ecclesiastical scrutiny, and there have been some sceptics and cavillers. Cf. Bancroft, _Mexico_, ii. 407, and authorities there cited. Lorenzana in his _Cartas pastorales_ (1770) has given a minute account of the painting (Carter-Brown, vol. iii. no. 1,749; Sabin, vol, xii. no. 56,199; and the _Coleccion de obras pertenecientes a la milagrosa aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe_).

[1100] Carter-Brown, i. 496; Bancroft, _Mexico_, iii. 723. There is a copy in Harvard College Library. There were later editions at Brussels in 1625 (Carter-Brown, ii. 300; Stevens, _Historical Collection_, i. 177), and again at Valladolid in 1634 as _Varia historia de la Nueva España y Florida, segunda impresion_ (Carter-Brown, ii. 412).

[1101] We read in the 1596 edition (p. 670) that one Juan Pablos was the first printer in Mexico, who printed, as early as 1535, a religious manual of Saint John Climachus. The book, however, is not now known (Sabin, vi. 229), and there is no indisputable evidence of its former existence; though a similar story is told by Alonzo Fernandez in his _Historia eclesiástica_ (Toledo, 1611), and by Gil Gonzales Davila in his _Teatro eclesiástico_ (Madrid, 1649),—who gives, however, the date as 1532. The _Teatro_ is of further interest for the map of the diocese of Michoacan and for the arms of the different dioceses. It is in two volumes, and is worth from thirty to forty dollars.

The subject of early printing in Mexico has been investigated by Icazbalceta in the _Diccionario universal de historia y de geografia_, v. 961 (published in Mexico in 1854), where he gives a list of Mexican imprints prior to 1600 (Carter-Brown, i. 129, 130). A similar list is given in connection with an examination of the subject by Harrisse in his _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 232. Mr. John Russell Bartlett gives another list (1540 to 1600) in the _Carter-Brown Catalogue_, i. 131, and offers other essays on the subject in the _Historical Magazine_, November, 1858, and February, 1865, and again in the new edition of Thomas’s _History of Printing_ (Worcester, 1875), i. 365, appendix.

The earliest remaining example of the first Mexican press which we have is a fragmentary copy of the _Manual de adultos_ of Cristóbal Cabrera, which was originally discovered in the Library of Toledo, whence it disappeared, to be again discovered by Gayangos on a London bookstall in 1870. It is supposed to have consisted of thirty-eight leaves, and the printed date of Dec. 13, 1540, is given on one of the leaves which remain (_Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 232; _Additions_, no. 123, with fac-similes, of which a part is given in the _Carter-Brown Catalogue_, i. 131). Harrisse, perhaps, is in error, as Quaritch affirms (_Ramirez Collection_, 1880, no. 339), in assigning the same date, 1540, to an edition of the _Doctrina Christiana_ found by him at Toledo; and there seem to have been one or two other books issued by Cromberger (_Catalogue Andrade_, nos. 2,366, 2,367, 2,369, 2,477) before we come to an acknowledged edition of the _Doctrina Cristiana_—which for a long time was held to be the earliest Mexican imprint—with the date of 1544. It is a small volume of sixty pages, “impressa en México, en casa de Juan Cromberger” (Rich, 1832, no. 14; Sabin, vol. iv, no. 16,777; Carter-Brown, i. 134, with fac-similes of title; _Bookworm_, 1867, p. 114; Quaritch, no. 321, _sub_ 12,551). Of the same date is Dionisio Richel’s _Compendio breve que tracta a’ la manera de como se hā de hazer las processiones_, also printed, as the earlier one was, by command of Bishop Zumarraga, this time with a distinct date,—“Año de M. D. _xliiij_.” A copy which belonged to the Emperor Maximilian was sold in the Andrade sale (no. 2,667), and again in the Brinley sale (no. 5,317). Quaritch priced Ramirez’ copy in 1880 at £52.

The lists above referred to show eight separate issues of the Mexican press before 1545. Icazbalceta puts, under 1548, the _Doctrina en Mexicano_ as the earliest instance known of a book printed in the native tongue. Up to 1563, with the exception of a few vocabularies and grammars of the languages of the country, of the less than forty books which are known to us, nearly all are of a theological or devotional character. In that year (1663) Vasco de Puga’s Collection of Laws—_Provisiones, cédulas, instrucciones de su Majestad_—was printed (Quaritch, _Ramirez Collection_, 1880, no. 236, £30). Falkenstein in his _Geschichte der Buchdruckerkunst_ (Leipsic, 1840) has alleged, following Pinelo and others, that a Collection of Laws—_Ordinationes legumque collectiones_—was printed in 1649; but the existence of such a book is denied. Cf. Thomas, _History of Printing_, i. 372; Harrisse, _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 288.

[1102] Quaritch, _Ramirez Collection_ (1880), no. 28, £15; Sabin, vol. 1. no. 3,349; Carter-Brown, iii. 893; Rich, _Bibl. Nova Amer._ (1835), p. 95; Stevens, _Bibliotheca historica_, no. 126; Leclerc, no. 50,—400 francs; Field, _Indian Bibliography_, no. 79.

[1103] Navarrete first printed it in his _Coleccion_, i. 421; it was included also in Vedia’s _Historiadores primitivos de Indias_ (Madrid, 1852); and Gayangos, in his _Cartas de Hernan Cortés_ (Paris, 1866) does not hesitate to let it stand for the first letter, while he also annotates it. It is likewise printed in the _Biblioteca de autores Españoles_, vol. xxii., and by Alaman in his _Disertaciones sobre la historia de la República Mejicana_, vol. i., appendix, with a sketch of the expedition. Cf. Prescott’s _Mexico_, i. 360, iii. 428; H. H. Bancroft’s _Mexico_, i. 169.

[1104] Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 170. It is supposed that still a third letter went at the same time, which is now known to us. Three letters of this time were found in 1866 among some old account-books in a library sold in Austria. Two of them proved to be written in Spain upon the news of Cortés’ discoveries, while one was written by a companion of Cortés shortly after the landing on the Mexican coast, but is not seemingly an original, for it is written in German, and the heading runs: _Newzeit wie unnsers aller-gnadigistn hern des Romischn und hyspaenischn Koningsleut Ain Costliche Newe Lanndschafft habn gefundn_, and bears date June 28, 1519. There are some contradictions in it to the received accounts; but these are less important than the mistake of a modern French translator, who was not aware of the application of the name of Yucatan, at that time, to a long extent of coast, and who supposed the letters referred to Grijalva’s expedition. The original text, with a modern German and French version, appears in a small edition (thirty copies) which Frederic Muller, of Amsterdam, printed from the original manuscript (cf. his _Books on America_, 1872, no. 1,144; 1877, no. 2,296, priced at 120 florins) under the title of _Trois lettres sur la découverte de Yucatan_, Amsterdam, 1871 (Carter-Brown, vol. i. no. 66; Muller, _Books on America_, 1877, no. 2,296; C. H. Berendt in _American Bibliopolist_, July and August, 1872; Murphy, no. 2,795).

One of the news-sheets of the time, circulated in Europe, is preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. A photo-lithographic fac-simile was published (one hundred copies) at Berlin in 1873. It is called: _Newe Zeittung. von dem lande. das die Sponier funden haben ym 1521. iare genant Iucatan_. It is a small quarto in gothic type, of four unnumbered leaves, with a woodcut. Cf. _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 70, with fac-simile of title; Carter-Brown, i. 69; Muller (1877), no. 3,593; Sobolewski, no. 4,153.

[1105] Prescott used a copy taken from Muñoz’ transcript.

[1106] Cf. Prescott, _Mexico_, i. 262; Bancroft, _Mexico_, i. 72.

[1107] Cf. Stevens, _Bibliotheca historica_ (1870), p. 103; _Historical Collections_, i. 342; and the section on “Early Descriptions of America” in the present work.

[1108] _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 179.

[1109] Sabin, vi. 126; Carter-Brown, i. 63.

[1110] _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 105.

[1111] _Mexico_, i. 547.

[1112] Cf. Harrisse _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 118; Carter-Brown, i. 71; Brunet, ii. 310; Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,933; Folsom, introduction to his edition. The Lenox and Barlow libraries have most, if not all, of the various early editions of the Cortés letters.

[1113] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,934; Carter-Brown, i. 73; Brunet, ii. 311; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 84; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 120; Heber, vol. vii. no. 1,884; Ternaux, no. 27.

[1114] Cf. Carter-Brown, i. 81; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, nos. 118, 125; Brunet, ii. 312; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 166; Huth, i. 353; C. Fiske Harris, _Catalogue_, no. 896; _Cooke Catalogue_, vol. iii. no. 623; Sunderland, vol. ii. no. 3,479; Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,947; Panzer, vii. 466; Menzel, _Bibl. Hist._, part i. p. 269; Ternaux, p. 32; Heber, vol. vi. no. 2,415 and ix. 910; Murphy Catalogue, no. 676; Stevens, _American Bibliographer_, p. 85. The book, when it contains the large folding plan of Mexico and the map of the Gulf of Mexico, is worth about $100. The plan and map are missing from the copy in the Boston Public Library. [D. 3101., 56, no. 1].

[1115] Cf. Brunet, ii. 312, and _Supplément_, col. 320; Carter-Brown, i. 82, which shows a map with inscriptions in Italian; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 129; Pinart, no. 262; Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,951; Panzer, vol. viii. no. 1,248; Court, nos. 90, 91; Heber, vol. vi. no. 1,002, and x. 848; Walckenaer, no. 4,187. There are copies with another colophon (_Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 130), connecting two printers with it,—Lexona and Sabio. F. S. Ellis, London, 1884 (no. 60), priced a copy at £52 10_s_., and Dufossé (no. 14,184) at 200 francs.

[1116] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,950, and xiii. 56,052; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 119; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 166.

[1117] It is very rare, but Tross, of Paris, had a copy in his hands in 1866.

[1118] Annexed herewith in fac-simile.

[1119] Cf. Arana, _Bibliografía de obras anónimas_ (1882) no. 244.

[1120] Cf. the notice of Cortés in R. C. Sands’s _Writings_, vol. i.

[1121] The original edition of Lorenzana is usually priced at $10 to $20. Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. nos. 16,938, 16,939, and vol. x. p. 462; H. H. Bancroft, _Mexico_, iii. 378 (with a sketch of Lorenzana); Brunet, _Supplément_, i. 321; Carter-Brown, vol. iii. no. 1,750; Leclerc, no. 155; Sobolewski, no. 3,767; F. S. Ellis (1884), £2 2_s._

[1122] Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,942. Bancroft (_Mexico_, i. 549), speaking of Gayangos’ edition, says: “Although a few of Lorenzana’s blunders find correction, others are committed; and the notes of the archbishop are adopted without credit and without the necessary amendment of date, etc.,—which often makes them absurd.”

[1123] The book is variously priced from $20 to $60. Cf. _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 168; Carter-Brown, vol. i. no. 100; _Biblioteca Grenvilliana_, p. 167; Leclerc, no. 152; Sunderland, no. 3,480; Pinart, no. 261; O’Callaghan, no. 683; Sabin, vol. iv. nos. 16,947-16,949. There were also Latin versions in the _Novus orbis_ of Grynæus, 1555 and 1616.

[1124] The only copy known is noted in Tross’s _Catalogue_, 1866, no. 2,881. It is in Roman letter, sixteen leaves.

[1125] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,953.

[1126] Cf. _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 297; Ternaux, p. 57; Trömel, p. 14; Brunet, ii. 312; Stevens, _Nuggets_, i. 188; O’Callaghan, no. 989; Sobolewski, no. 3,766; J. J. Cooke, iii. 624 (copy now in Harvard College Library). It is usually priced at £2 or £3. Dufossé (1884, no. 14,185) held a copy at 100 francs.

[1127] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,958.

[1128] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,959.

[1129] Cf. Carter-Brown, iii. 113.

[1130] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,962.

[1131] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,964.

[1132] Cf. on the second letter, Prescott, _Mexico_, Kirk’s ed., ii. 425.

[1133] Cf. Rich, (1832) no. 5,—£10 10_s._; Stevens, _American Bibliographer_, p. 84; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 166; Panzer, vii. 122; Heber, vol. vii. no. 1,884; Ternaux, no. 26; Brunet, ii. 311; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 121; Carter-Brown, i. 74; Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,935.

[1134] Priced by F. S. Ellis (1884) at £18 18_s._

[1135] Cf. Carter-Brown, i. 83; Ternaux, no. 33; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 126; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 167; Brunet, ii. 312; Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,948; Stevens, _American Bibliographer_, p. 87. There is a copy of the 1524 edition in the Boston Public Library. [D. 3101. 56, no. 2].

[1136] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,936; Carter-Brown, i. 85; Brunet, ii. 311; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 135; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 166.

[1137] The only copy known is that in the Carter-Brown Library (_Catalogue_, no. 88). Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,937; _Bibl. Amer. Vet._, no. 138; Stevens, _American Bibliographer_, p. 85; Brunet, ii. 312; Panzer, x. 28; Heber, vol. vii. no. 1,884; _Bibliotheca Grenvilliana_, p. 166; Ternaux, no. 34.

[1138] Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,940.

[1139] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,941; Carter-Brown, i. 84; Court, no. 89; Prescott, _Mexico_, iii. 248.

[1140] A letter about the Olid rebellion is lost; Helps, iii. 37.

[1141] Cf. Sabin, vol. iv. no. 16,943.

[1142] Cf. H. Vattemare in _Revue contemporaine_, 1870, vii. 532.

[1143] Prescott’s _Mexico_, iii. 266. Cf. references on this expedition to Honduras in H. H. Bancroft’s _Central America_, i. 537, 567, 582; ii. 144; and his _Native Races_, iv. 79. This Honduras expedition is also the subject of one of Ixtlilxochitl’s _Relaciones_, printed in Kingsborough’s ninth volume.

[1144] _Cartas al Emperador_ (Sept. 11, 1526, Oct. 10, 1530), in _Documentos inéditos_ (_España_), i. 14, 31, and in Kingsborough’s _Mexico_, vol. viii.; _Memorial al Emperador_ (1539) in _Documentos inéditos_, iv. 201. Cf. also Purchas, v. 858, and Ramusio, iii. 187. His _Última y sentidisima carta_, Feb. 3, 1544, is given in _Documentos inéditos_, i. 41, and in Prescott’s _Mexico_, Kirk’s ed., iii. 460. Other letters of Cortés are in the Pacheco _Coleccion_ and in that of Icazbalceta. The twelfth volume of the _Biblioteca histórica de la Iberia_ (Mexico, 1871), with the special title of _Escritos sueltos de Cortés_, gives nearly fifty documents. Icazbalceta, in the introduction of vol. i. p. xxxvii. of his _Coleccion_, gives a list of the _escritos sueltos_ of Cortés in connection with a full bibliography of the series of _Cartas_, with corrections, derived largely from Harrisse, in vol. ii. p. lxiii.

[1145] _Mexico_, i. 549, 696. “Ever ready with a lie when it suited his purpose; but he was far too wise a man needlessly to waste so useful an agent.”—_Early American Chroniclers_, p. 16.

[1146] Harrisse (_Bibl. Amer. Vet._) gives numerous references on Cortés. It is somewhat singular that there is no mention of him in the _Novus orbis_ of 1532, and none in De Bry. Mr. Brevoort prepared the article on Cortés in Sabin’s _Dictionary_.

[1147] Ticknor, _Spanish Literature_, ii. 30; Prescott’s _Mexico_, i. 474, and _Peru_, ii. 304, 457; H. H. Bancroft, _Central America_, i. 314, his _Mexico_, and his _Early American Chroniclers_, p. 21.