ulveda with his
beautiful wife and young children, a disaster which drew some feeling
stanzas from Camoens (_Lusiads_, v. 46). The poem was published four
years after the death of Corte-Real by his heirs, and had two later
editions, while a Spanish version appeared in Madrid in 1624 and a
French in Paris in 1844. _Auto dos quatro novissimos do homem_ is a
short poem printed in 1768. Except the _Naufragio de Sepulveda_, which
is highly considered in Portugal, Corte-Real's poetry has hardly stood
the test of time, and critics of later generations have refused to
ratify the estimate formed by contemporaries, who considered him the
equal, if not the superior, of Camoens. His lengthy epics suffer from a
want of sustained inspiration, and are marred by an abuse of epithet,
though they contain episodes of considerable merit, vigorous and
well-coloured descriptive passages, and exhibit a pure diction.

See _Subsidios para a biographia do poeta Jeronymo Corte-Real_ (Evora,
1899); also Ernesto do Canto's Memoir on the family in Nos. 23 and 24
of the _Archivo dos Azores_, and Dr Sousa Viterbo's _Trabalhos
nauticos dos Portuguezes_, ii. 153 et seq. (E. PR.)

CORTES, HERNAN or HERNANDO (1485-1547), Spanish soldier, the conqueror
of Mexico, was born at Medellin, a small town of Estremadura, in 1485.
He belonged to a noble family of decayed fortune, and, being destined
for the law, was sent, at fourteen years of age, to the university of
Salamanca; but study was distasteful to him, and he returned home in
1501, resolved to enter upon a life of adventure. He arranged to
accompany Ovando, who had been appointed to the command of San Domingo,
but was prevented from joining the expedition by an accident that
happened to him in a love adventure. He next sought military service
under the celebrated Gonsalvo de Cordoba, but a serious illness
frustrated his purpose. At last, in 1504, he set out, according to his
first plan, for San Domingo, where he was kindly received by Ovando. He
was then only nineteen, and remarkable for a graceful physiognomy and
amiable manners, as well as for skill and address in all military
exercises. He remained in San Domingo, where Ovando had successively
conferred upon him several lucrative and honourable employments, until
1511, when he accompanied Diego Velazquez in his expedition to the
island of Cuba. Here he became alcalde of Santiago, and displayed great
ability on several trying occasion