CHAP. VII.]
CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS.
271
CHAPTER VII.
SOJOURN
OF
COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA.—ATTENTIONS PAID
HIM BY THE SOVEREIGNS AND COURTIERS.
T H E joy occasioned by the great discovery of Columbus was not confined to Spain; the tidings were spread far and wide by the communications of ambassadors, the correspondence of the learn ed, the negotiations of merchants, and the reports of travelers, and the whole civilized world was filled with wonder and delight. How gratifying would it have been, had the press at that time, as at present, poured forth its daily tide of speculation on every passing occurrence!
With what eagerness should we seek to
know the first ideas and emotions of the public, on an event so unlooked for and sublime!
Even the first announcements of it by
contemporary writers, though brief and incidental, derive interest from being written at the time; and from showing the casual way in which such great tidings were conveyed about the world. Allegretto Allegretti, in his annals of Sienna for 1493, mentions ft as just made known there by the letters of their merchants who were in Spain, and by the mouths of various travelers.*
The
news was brought to Genoa by the return of her ambassadors Francisco Marchesi and Giovanni Antonio Grimaldi, and was * Diarj Senesi de Alleg. Allegretti.
Muratori, Ital. Script., tom. xxiii.