392 CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 



strong. Instances are not wanting to show that he was 

 even passionate, in the vulgar sense of the term, for he 

 could not always forbear punishing excessive insolence 

 with his own hand. But these few cases only suffice to 

 show what the ' angry temper of his soul ' might have 

 been, had it been habitually or even frequently left to its 

 own nature. 



But he gave free course, on the other hand, to all ge- 

 nerous and tender emotions. In the first place, he was 

 enthusiastically religious. When he looked back in age 

 upon the early career which, hard and painful as it had 

 been, seemed precisely calculated for his final success, 

 he regarded himself with a solemn and humble awe as the 

 appointed instrument of God. His theory was to him a gift 

 of inspiration. He read his contemplated discovery ere it 

 was yet attempted, as foretold in holy writ, and shadowed 

 forth darkly in the mystic revelations of the prophets. 

 It was to be the triumphant consummation of his enter- 

 prise, that the ends of the earth should be brought to- 

 gether, and all nations and tongues and languages united 

 under the banner of the Saviour. A chief argument, 

 indeed, by which he persuaded the sovereigns of Spain 

 to countenance his undertaking, was founded upon the 

 prospect of subduing, through the medium of Chris- 

 tianity, the vast and magnificent empire of the Grand 

 Khan, and the opulent isles beyond, which he expected 

 to arrive at in his western voyage. But he went farther 

 than this, even then. Kindling with the anticipation of 

 boundless wealth, to be realized by his discoveries, he sug- 

 gested that all the ' pearl and barbaric gold ' thus ob- 

 tained should be devoted ' to rescuing the holy sepulchre 

 of Jerusalem from the power of the infidels.' This sin- 

 gular project ever after continued to be a grand object 

 of his ambition. In the flush of fortune and glory which 

 succeeded his first arrival from the west, he even made 

 a vow to furnish within seven years an army of 1000 

 horse and 50,000 foot for this favorite purpose, and a 

 similar force within the five following years. In the will 

 which he executed in 1498, he made provisions of the 

 same nature. Whoever might inherit his estate was 

 solemnly enjoined to vest, from time to time, as much 



