CHRISTOPHER
CHAF. I I . ]
COLUMBUS.
81
equality with his legitimate son Diego, and who, after his death, became his historian. In the winter, Columbus followed the court to Salamanca. Here his zealous friend, Alonzo de Quintanilla, exerted his influ ence to obtain for him the countenance of the celebrated Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, archbishop of Toledo and grand cardinal of Spain.
This was the most important personage about the
court; and was facetiously called by Peter Martyr, the " third king of Spain."
The king and queen had him always by their
side, in peace and war.
He accompanied them in their cam
paigns, and they never took any measure of consequence without consulting him.
He was a man of sound judgment and quick
intellect, eloquent in conversation, and able in the dispatch of business.
His appearance was lofty and venerable; he was sim
ple yet curiously nice in his apparel, and of gracious and gentle deportment.
Though an elegant scholar, yet, like many learned
men of his day, he was but little skilled in cosmography. When the theory of Columbus was first mentioned to him, it struck him as involving heterodox opinions, incompatible with the form of the earth as described in the Sacred Scriptures.
Further expla
nations had their force with a man of his quick apprehension and sound sense.
He perceived that at any rate there could be
nothing irreligious in attempting to extend the bounds of human knowledge, and to ascertain the works of creation: his scruples once removed, he permitted Columbus to be introduced to him, and gave him a courteous reception. The latter knew the impor tance of his auditor, and that a conference with the grand cardinal was almost equivalent to a communication with the throne; he exerted himself to the utmost, therefore, to explain and demon strate his proposition.
VOL.
I.
The clear-headed cardinal listened with
p