il crusero di che Dante parlò nel principio del Purgatorio con spirito profetico, dicendo, I'mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente All' altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle," &c. Un It is still sacred in the eyes of the Spaniards. sentiment religieux les attache à une constellation dont la forme leur rappelle ce signe de la foi planté par leurs ancêtres dans les déserts du nouveau monde.' P. 244, 1. 3. Roc of the West! to him all empire given ! Le Condor est le même oiseau que le Roc des Orientaux. Buffon. "By the Peruvians," says Vega, "he was anciently worshipped; and there were those who claimed their descent from him." In these degenerate days he still ranks above the Eagle. P. 244, 1. 4. Who bears Axalhua's dragon-folds to heaven; As the Roc of the East is said to have carried off the Elephant. See Marco Polo.-Axalhua, or the Emperor, is the name in the Mexican language for the great serpent of America. P. 244, 1. 10. To where ALASKA's wintry wilds retire ; Northern extremity of the New World. See Cook's last Voyage. Mines of Chili; which extend, says Ovalle, to the Strait of Magellan. I. 4. P. 244, 1. 14. High-hung in forests to the casing snows. A custom not peculiar to the Western Hemisphere. The Tunguses of Siberia hang their dead on trees; "parceque la terre ne se laisse point ouvrir." 66 P. 245, 1. 2. M. Pauw. and, thro' that dismal night, Aquella noche triste." The night, on which Cortes made his famous retreat from Mexico through the street of Tlacopan, still goes by the name of LA NOCHE HUMBOLDT. TRISTE. P. 245, 1. 3. By his white plume revealed and buskins white, Pizarro used to dress in this fashion; after Gonzalo, whom he had served under in Italy. P. 245, 1. 10. O'er him a Vampire his dark wings displayed. A species of Bat in South America; which refreshes by the gentle agitation of its wings, while it sucks the blood of the sleeper, turning his sleep into death. P. 245, 1. 11. 'Twas MERION's self, covering with dreadful shade. . . Now one, Now other, as their shape served best his end. Undoubtedly, says Herrera, the Infernal Spirit assumed various shapes in that region of the world. P. 245, 1. 15. Then, inly gliding, &c. Many a modern reader will exclaim in the language of Pococurantè, "Quelle triste extravagance!" Let a great theologian of that day, a monk of the Augustine order, be consulted on the subject. "Corpus ille perimere vel jugulare potest; nec id modò, verùm et animam ita urgere, et in angustum coarctare novit, ut in momento quoque illi excedendum sit." Lutherus, De Missa Privata. The Roman ritual requires three signs of possession. P. 247, 1. 5. And can you shrink? &c. The same language had been addressed to Isabella. Hist. c. 15. P. 247, 1. 7. Oh had I perished, when my failing frame His miraculous escape, in early life, during a seafight off the coast of Portugal. Ibid c. 5. P. 247, 1. 10. The scorn of Folly, and of Fraud the Nudo nocchier, promettitor di regni ! prey; By the Genoese and the Spaniards he was regarded as a man resolved on "a wild dedication of himself to unpathed waters, undreamed shores;" and the court of Portugal endeavoured to rob him of the glory of his enterprise, by secretly dispatching a vessel in the course which he had pointed out. "Lorsqu'il avait promis un nouvel hémisphère," says Voltaire, "on lui avait soutenu que cet hémisphère ne pouvait exister; et quand il l'eut découvert, on prétendit qu'il avait été connu depuis long-temps." P. 247, 1. 15. He spoke not uninspired; He used to affirm, that he stood in need of God's particular assistance; like Moses, when he led forth the people of Israel, who forbore to lay violent hands upon him, because of the miracles which God wrought by his means. "So," said the Admiral, " did it happen to me on that voyage." Hist. c. 19. "And so easily," says a Commentator, are the workings of the Evil one overcome by the power of God!" P. 247, 1. 20. "In his own shape shall Death receive you there." This denunciation, fulfilled as it appears to be in the eleventh canto, may remind the reader of the Harpy's in Virgil. En. III. v. 247. P. 249, 1. 19. Rose to the Virgin "I Salve, regina. Herrera, I. i. 12.-It was the usual service, and always sung with great solemnity. remember one evening," says Oviedo, "when the ship was in full sail, and all the men were on their knees, singing Salve, regina, &c." Relacion Sommaria.-The hymn, O Sanctissima, is still to be heard after sunset along the shores of Sicily, and its effect may be better conceived than described, P. 249, 1. 25. Chosen of Men! I believe that he was chosen for this great service; and that, because he was to be so truly an apostle, as in effect he proved to be, therefore was his origin obscure; that therein he might resemble those who were called to make known the name of the Lord from seas and rivers, and not from courts and palaces. And I believe also, that, as in most of his doings he was guarded by some special providence, his very name was not without some mystery: for in it is expressed the wonder he performed; inasmuch as he conveyed to a new world the grace of the Holy Ghost, &c. Hist. c. 1. P. 249, 1. 26. First from the prow to hail the glimmering light; A light in the midst of darkness, signifying the spiritual light that he came to spread there. F. Col. c. 22. Herrera, I. i. 12. Pedro Gutierrez, a Page of the King's Chamber. Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, Comptroller of the Fleet. P. 252, 1. 9. Slowly, bare-headed, thro' the surf we bore Signifying to the Infernal Powers (all' infierno |