LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 



ed and introduced as he was, he could not even obtain 

 an audience of the king or queen. Both of them soon 

 left the city, and Columbus, too poor to follow them, re- 

 sumed his old business of map-making. Meanwhile, 

 however, he not only found leisure to form a new con- 

 nexion with a lady of whom he became enamored, but 

 he obtained the patronage of the archbishop of Toledo, 

 by whom he finally procured an introduction at court. 

 Columbus modestly, but eloquently, explained his project 

 to the king, and the result was left to the decision of a 

 council of learned men at Salamanca. Before them the 

 navigator accordingly appeared, not daunted or dispirit- 

 ed, but with an elevated demeanor, an air of authority, a 

 firm voice and a kindling eye. Some of them were in- 

 terested warmly in his favor ; but the majority decided 

 against, and even ridiculed and reproached him. The 

 objections made to his theory are curious illustrations of 

 the state of science at that period. His clear and sound 

 philosophy was overwhelmed by the writings of saints. 

 Lactantius was quoted to prove that the antipodes are an 

 inconceivable absurdity inasmuch as people cannot walk 

 with their heels up and their heads down, nor trees 

 grow, nor rain and hail fall upward. To say that there 

 were inhabited lands on the opposite side of the earth, 

 would imply too that, there were nations not descended 

 from Adam, it being impossible for men to pass the inter- 

 vening ocean. Besides, the heavens were compared in 

 Scripture to a tent, and the inference was that the earth 

 underneath was flat. And then, should a ship ever reach 

 Asia by sailing westward, it was clear as daylight, they 

 said, that he could never get back again ; for the rotundity 

 of the globe would make the return- voyage altogether 

 an up-hill cruise. 



But the king not considering this opinion of the coun- 

 cil decisive, Columbus was induced to linger about the 

 court for nearly seven years, (while the war lasted,) 

 when he returned to the old convent of Palos, resolved 

 upon leaving the country forever. But here he was 

 again befriended by the good prior and the physician, 

 the former of whom insisted on writing to queen Isabella. 

 This measure was adopted ; and Columbus soon after re- 



