CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 379 



It is worthy of special observation, in the first place, 

 how early in life Columbus, though both unadvised and 

 unaided, commenced the labor of his own education. 

 Some opportunities were given him by his father, it is 

 true, as it very rarely happens that such are not given : 

 but these were in themselves inconsiderable, and it was 

 his merit, of course, that he made the most and the best 

 of them. He was not content with studying whatever 

 books might be placed in his hands, though he did un- 

 doubtedly study them, such as they were, until he thorough- 

 ly understood them. But he learned from them that 

 other knowledge was to be gained ; and so desire was 

 excited ; effort was made to gratify and to satisfy it ; and 

 this very desire, and this very effort, whether successful 

 or not at the time, and they almost always are so, at 

 some time or other, were still of essential value to his 

 intellect and character. They encouraged a love of 

 knowledge, that once awakened, never again slept. 

 They brought upon him the necessity of reflection, and 

 of close and constant observation of men and things, to 

 answer the purpose of libraries and teachers ; of the en- 

 tire application of all his faculties to everything that was 

 for the want of things that were not within his 

 reach. Thus was he confirmed in habits of deep 

 thought, of industry, of thoroughness, of independence, 

 intellectual and moral : and thus, as in thousands of 

 other cases, was the foundation slowly but firmly laid 

 for a life and a character, which have excited the admi- 

 ration and astonishment of the world. 



He neglected nothing which could be of service to 

 him, however trifling ; and in nothing which he once 

 undertook, and which, of course, he considered worth 

 undertaking, did he stop short of such perfection as his 

 means permitted. He wrote so elegant a hand, for in- 

 stance, in his boyhood, that those who possessed some of 

 his manuscript afterwards, were of opinion that he might 

 have earned his livelihood by it alone. He paid a very 

 strict attention to geography, astronomy, (then, astrology, 

 however,) and to every other study necessary in the art 

 of navigation ; for upon this all his desires and aspirations 

 were bent from the moment he could appreciate the cu- 



