his discovery, fifty thousand foot-soldiers, and five thousand horse, for
the recovery of the holy sepulchre, recurred to his memory with peculiar
force. The time had elapsed, but the vow remained unfulfilled, and the
means to perform it had failed him. The New World, with all its treasures,
had as yet produced expense instead of profit; and so far from being in a
situation to set armies on foot by his own contributions, he found himself
without property, without power, and without employ.

Destitute of the means of accomplishing his pious intentions, he
considered it his duty to incite the sovereigns to the enterprise; and he
felt emboldened to do so, from having originally proposed it as the great
object to which the profits of his discoveries should be dedicated. He set
to work, therefore, with his accustomed zeal, to prepare arguments for the
purpose. During the intervals of business, he sought into the prophecies
of the holy Scriptures, the writings of the fathers, and all kinds of
sacred and speculative sources, for mystic portents and revelations which
might be construed to bear upon the discovery of the New World, the
conversion of the Gentiles, and the recovery of the holy sepulchre: three
great events which he supposed to be predestined to succeed each other.
These passages, with the assistance of a Carthusian friar, he arranged in
order, illustrated by poetry, and collected into a manuscript volume, to
be delivered to the sovereigns. He prepared, at the same time, a long
letter, written with his usual fervor of spirit and simplicity of heart.
It is one of those singular compositions which lay open the visionary part
of his character, and show the mystic and speculative reading with which
he was accustomed to nurture his solemn and soaring imagination.

In this letter he urged the sovereigns to set on foot a crusade for the
deliverance of Jerusalem from the power of the unbelievers. He entreated
them not to reject his present advice as extravagant and impracticable,