engrossed with military preparation: the confessor regarded his plan as chimerical: and his attempt seemed almost hopeless. "Because hee was a straunger, and went but in simple apparel, nor otherwise credited then by the letter of a gray fryer, they beleeved him not, neyther gave eare to his woordes, whereby he was greatly tormented in his imagination." Indeed, the career of war and activity in which the Spanish court was at this time involved, precluded the possibility of bestowing the requisite attention or providing the requisite means for such an undertaking. During the stirring events which signalized this year, he remained at Cordova, supporting himself, it is supposed, by making maps, and gradually, by his intelligence and eloquence, acquiring powerful friends and advocates. Among these were Quintanilla, comptroller of finance of Castile, Geraldini, the papal nuncio, and, above all, Pedro Gonzales de Mendoza, archbishop of Toledo and grand cardinal of Spain. The intercession of this powerful prelate finally procured Columbus the desired audience. He appeared before the sov ereigns with great modesty, yet with self-possession, and so engaged their interest, that a grand commission was appointed to decide upon his claims at the university of Salamanca. At this famous seat of learning, therefore, was assembled a council of the most learned and distinguished scholars in the kingdom. Like nearly all professors of learning at the time, they were, for the most part, friars and prelates of the church, and perhaps more competent to detect the smallest flaw of heresy than to behold a new world, though placed directly before their eyes. Before this erudite and dignified body, the projector presented himself with that modest and manly confidence which always distinguished his interviews with the great and influential. He stated his scheme, with the grounds on which it rested, in the most simple and forcible manner. To his great disappointment, a large proportion of his scientific hearers "entrenched themselves behind one dogged position; that after so many profound philosophers and cosmographers had been studying the form of the world, and so many able navigators had been sailing about it for several thousand years, it was great presumption in an ordinary man to suppose that there remained such a vast discovery for him to make." The greater portion of his auditors, also, seemed far more anxious to display their own ingenuity, erudition, and orthodoxy, than to give an impartial hearing to the audacious scheme they were to judge. Thus, theological scruples, founded on his plan of the sphericity of the earth, were urged against him. "At the very threshold of the discussion, instead of geographical objections, Columbus was assailed with citations from the Bible and the Testament, the book of Genesis, the Psalms of David, the orations of the Prophets, the epistles of the Apos tles, and the gospels of the Evangelists. To these were added the expositions of various saints and reverend commentators; St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, St. Jerome and St. Gregory, St. Basil and St. Ambrose, and Lactantius Firmianus, a redoubted champion of the faith."* This latter worthy had written a vehement and elaborate treatise against the sphericity of the earth, and the doctrine of the antipodes. Moreover, the heavens, both in the Old and New Testaments, were compared to a tent extended on the earth-which, according to the natural inference, must needs be flat. Another and more practical portion of the assembly, though admitting the roundness of the earth, and the possibility of antipodes, maintained that the torrid zone, an impassable barrier of heat, would prevent the voyager from ever arriving there. Besides, Epicurus had asserted that the Northern hemisphere only was covered by the heavens, the remainder of the earth being a mere aqueous wilderness. Moreover, supposing that the ship had arrived at India by this new-fangled route, how could she ever retrace her course up the enormous hill down which she had slidden to the antipodes! Such were probably the most absurd of the numerous objections which the bold projector was forced to encounter and * Irving's Life of Columbus. refute. This he did with great force and ability, avoiding, as far as possible, any offence to prejudice, or any interference with the doctrines of the church, in which he was a devout communicant. His arguments and his eloquence convinced the most learned and rational of the assembly; but such was the bigotry and obstinacy by which the greater portion of his judges were possessed, that he could gain no favorable report at their hands. Several conferences took place, but comparatively few of the council would risk committing themselves by a decision in favor of such an unheard-of novelty. CHAPTER III. DELAYS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS FINAL SUCCESS OF COLUMBUS WITH THE Moorish contest still raged, and Columbus, in following the movements of this warlike and transitory court, suffered much from poverty, disappointment, and ridicule. Even the children, it is said, were accustomed to point to their foreheads as he passed, considering him a madman. He supported himself in part by his old craft of map-making, and was frequently indebted to the hospitality of the sovereigns or of his more enlightened admirers. He is said, also, to have fought in the campaign of 1489, and to have given distinguished proofs of valor. The stirring events of the time repeatedly disappointed him of promised audiences with the sovereigns. His brother Bartholomew had journeyed into England to make application to Henry VII, and it would seem met with much encouragement. An invitation to return to the court of John II., he rejected, the remembrance of former perfidy overcoming his eager desire for assistance in his project. It was not until the winter of |