honour of Hernando Cortez, the perfidious butcher of its ancient race;
while no public honors have been decreed to Christopher Columbus, one of
the wisest and best among the benefactors of mankind.

After his last return from America he seems to have past the short
remainder of his life at Valladolid, the capital of Old Castile, and then
the seat of the Spanish government. He died in that city on the twentieth
of August 1506, and was buried in one of its churches. Over his body is a
plain stone inscribed simply with his name, as it is written in Spanish,
CHRISTOVAL COLON.

His son, who wrote his life, has left us a particular description of his
person, manners and private character; all of which were agreeable and
interesting. His portrait is in possession of the author of this poem.
It is painted in oil, half length and the size of life, copied from an
original picture in the gallery of Florence.






The Columbiad.




Book I.