378 CHARACTER OP COLUMBUS. 



The character of the man who occasioned this univer- 

 sal excitement must needs be a subject of interest ; and 

 the more so, when we come to know, that everything 

 which he achieved, he achieved by the mere force of his 

 character alone. He was in a great degree uneducated, 



at least by any other care than his own, for the life 

 which he led, and the labors he performed. The son of 

 an humble wool-comber of Genoa, he could place no 

 reliance upon friends or fortune. Leisure, money, books, 

 society, advice,' everything was wanting to him in the 

 outset, but the desire of knowledge, and the determina- 

 tion to obtain and to use it. More than this. He had 

 positive obstacles to remove, and opposition to overcome, 

 at every step of his progress, the very perusal of which 

 is appalling to the reader of this age. The science and 

 the ignorance of his times, the religion of the priestcraft 

 and the superstitions of the people, the indifference and 

 indolence of monarchs, and the envy and jealousy of all 

 subordinate authorities, these were among the least of 

 his difficulties. Incredible labors were to be performed, 

 privations to be endured, mutiny and faction, disappoint- 

 ment, danger, sickness, contempt, suspicion, insult, 

 everything but death, and that despair, which to the un- 

 conquerable will of Columbus, was impossible. But he 

 triumphed at last, and in the glory of that triumph, well 

 may the memory of his woes and his wrongs be lost. 



And yet it should not be lost. A lesson is to be gath- 

 ered from them, not to be forgotten. And this lesson 

 applies to all circumstances and conditions of men. Few, 

 indeed, are called upon to door to endure like Columbus, 

 as still fewer can expect his reward. But in the sphere 

 of the humblest man in society, there always is or should 

 be some honorable and honest purpose in view ; and diffi- 

 culties are to be encountered, and success obtained, not 

 precisely of the same nature, but yet by the discipline 

 and the exertion of the same common faculties. That 

 this discipline and this exertion were the causes of his 

 success, instead of extraordinary genius, as that vague 

 word seems to be generally understood, and in direct 

 opposition has been seen to all other accidental resources 



we shall endeavor to illustrate in the course of the fol- 

 lowing sketch. 



