398 CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. 



A NEW WORLD. In this connexion should be noticed 

 also the provisions which the admiral made for his native 

 city, Genoa, as well as the injunction of loyalty, and 

 faithful and zealous service, ' to the loss of lite and es- 

 tate,' which he left upon his heirs. 



He made provision in this same will for the poor fe- 

 males of his family ; ordering that a married person of 

 his line, native of Genoa, should be respectably main- 

 tained there, that a domicile might be kept open for 

 them. As early, indeed, as his first residence in Lisbon, 

 while he was yet struggling to maintain his own house- 

 hold by his daily labor, we are told of his appropriating 

 part of his scanty means to the succor of his aged father 

 at Genoa, and to the education of his younger brothers. 

 To these he continued the attachment through life ; and 

 between his own sons, the comfort and support of his 

 declining years, he ardently cultivated a haimony of the 

 same nature. ' To thy brother,' he writes to Fernando, 

 'conduct thyself as the elder brother should unto the 

 younger. Thou hast no other, and I praise God that this 

 is such a one as thou dost need. Ten brothers would 

 not be too many for thee. Never have I found a better 

 friend, to right or left, than my brothers.' These simple 

 expressions, warm from the heart of Columbus, are as 

 affecting as they are artless. 



And such was his gratitude and his affection for all 

 that ever served or loved him. The care of his seamen 

 was as much upon his mind as the care of his children. 

 ' It would have been more supportable,' he says in the 

 case of the tempest alluded to above, ' had I not been 

 accompanied by others who had been drawn on by my 

 persuasion, and who might have turned back but for that.' 

 On his very death-bed, and in the midst of personal dis- 

 tress, he was more solicitous that justice should be done 

 to them than to himself. He wrote repeatedly to his 

 sovereigns, urging the discharge of their anearages; 

 besides requesting his son, then at court, to exert himself 

 in their behalf. ' They are poor,' said he, ' and it is now 

 nearly three years since they left their homes. They have 

 endured infinite toils and perils, and they bring invaluable 

 tidings, for which their majesties ought to give thanks to 

 God, and rejoice.' Several of these men had been among 



