82
LIFE
profound attention.
AND VOYAGES
OF
[HOOK
II.
He was pleased with the noble and earnest
manner of Columbus, which showed him to be no common schemer; he felt the grandeur, and, at the same time, the sim plicity of his theory, and the force of many of the arguments by which it was supported.
He determined that it was a matter
highly worthy of the consideration of the sovereigns, and through his representations Columbus at length obtained admission to the royal presence.* W e have but scanty particulars of this audience, nor can we ascertain whether Queen Isabella was present on the occasion; the contrary seems to be most probably the case.
Columbus
appeared in the royal presence with modesty, yet self-possession, neither dazzled nor daunted by the splendor of the court or the awful majesty of the throne.
He unfolded his plan with elo
quence and zeal, for he felt himself, as he afterwards declared, kindled as with a fire from on high, and considered himself the agent chosen by Heaven to accomplish its grand designs.† Ferdinand was too keen a judge of men not to appreciate the character of Columbus.
He perceived that, however soaring
might be his imagination, and vast and visionary his views, his scheme had scientific and practical foundation.
His ambition
was excited by the possibility of discoveries far more important than those which had shed such glory upon Portugal; and per haps it was not the least recommendation of the enterprise to this subtle and grasping monarch, that, if successful, it would enable him to forestall that rival nation in the fruits of their long and arduous struggle, and by opening a direct course to India across the ocean, to bear off from them the monopoly of oriental commerce. * Oviedo, lib. ii. cap. 4.
Salazar, Cron G. Cardinal, lib. i. cap. 62.
† Letter to the Sovereigns in 1501.