COLUMBUS AND THE EGG.
Such is the animated apostrophe of Sarpedon in the energetic numbers of Alexander Pope, and it is not more appropriate to Glaucus than to the illustrious character who gives the subject of this print. Had a Greek discovered America, Sculpture would have erected statues and raised altars to his honour; Architecture built temples to perpetuate his fame; and by Poetry he must have been deified.
The new creation of Columbus—for a new creation it may be denominated—absorbed every former discovery, and sunk to insignificance the boasted conquests of Alexander. Previous to this voyage a world of water formed what was deemed an insurmountable barrier between the inhabitants of one planet;—"He spread his canvas wings, and pass'd the mound."
As our own Newton unveiled the celestial globe,[201] and removed that cloud which had before shadowed the face of heaven, Columbus, from the bare inspection of a map of one world, concluded that there must be another. He sailed west, brought together continents that nature had severed, and was the first adventurer in a voyage which, from its consequent enterprises, has added more square miles to the dominions of European powers than the sovereigns by whom he was employed possessed acres.[202] His perseverance must have been equal to his genius; for he had to struggle with the rooted prejudices of his contemporaries,[203] as well as the freezing indifference of those monarchs to whom he tendered his service.
Genoa, which was his native country, treated his scheme as visionary. Our seventh Henry, mean, cold-blooded, and avaricious, would not hazard the loss of that treasure which he adored; and the Emperor had neither gold to fit out a fleet nor harbours to receive shipping. The attention of John the Second of Portugal was engrossed by the coast of Africa, and Charles the Eighth of France was in his minority. The Venetians had maritime power, and maritime spirit; but Columbus was a Genoese, and had too much of the amor patriæ to throw such advantages as he foresaw would accrue to those who prosecuted his plan into the hands of the rivals and enemies of his country. He fixed his hopes on the court of Spain, and his hopes were not disappointed. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile had by their marriage united all Spain under one dominion: to them he applied; and, with a perseverance that could only be supported by a conscious certainty that his project, if undertaken, must be successful, attended their court eight tedious years! At the end of this time, two merchants, trusting to royal security, and advancing seventeen thousand ducats towards fitting out the vessels, Columbus received his patent; and on the 23d of August 1492 set sail, with three ships only, from the port of Palos in Andalusia.[204]
In less than a month after his departure from the Canaries, he discovered the first island in America;[205] and like our immortal Admiral Drake, found the fair harvest he had hoped to reap in great danger of being blighted by the murmuring and discontent of his crew. To check this mutinous spirit required both resolution and address, and in Columbus they were united. He quieted his companions, and, with true catholic formality, baptized his new discovery St. Salvadore. He soon after made the Lucayan Islands, together with those of Cuba and Hispaniola, now called St. Domingo; and, at the end of nine months, returned with some of the natives, a quantity of gold, and sundry curious productions of the places he had visited,—all of which he laid at the feet of Isabella and Ferdinand.
Their Majesties were neither insensible of his merit nor ungrateful for his services: they suffered him to be seated, and added a privilege heretofore confined to grandees—the honour of being covered in their presence; and crowned their favours by creating him admiral and viceroy of whatever he should add to their dominions.
Columbus having found a new empire, and explored a new world, was now considered as more than mortal. Those who had loudly decried his plan as the chimerical project of a madman, were most eager to patronize the heaven-born navigator, and embark under his command. He a second time set sail, not with three small vessels, but an armament of seventeen ships, manned by a crew who almost adored him, and discovered Jamaica, the Caribbees, and several other islands.
His elevation had been too sudden to be permanent; his talents were too transcendent to be seen without envy. Notwithstanding the services which he had rendered to Spain, the dignities with which he was invested, and the flattering prospects with which he set sail, he was brought home prisoner, by judges who had been sent on board the same vessel as spies upon his conduct; and arrived at the court where he had a short time before been covered with laurels—loaded with chains.