rds of his
later history it will have been of use.

The character of Columbus has been greatly misunderstood, and his 600
biographers have in turn invested him with the glory of the religious
hero and the contumely of the ill-tempered and crack-brained adventurer.
An impartial critic must admit, indeed, that he was something of both,
though more of the hero than the adventurer, and that his biographers
have erred considerably in what Mr. R. L. Stevenson would call their
"point of view."

Educated, as it is supposed, in the local schools of Genoa, and for a
short period at the University of Pavia, the youthful Columbus must have
come in close contact with the scholars of the day. Naturally of a
religious temperament, the piety of the learned would early impress him,
and to this may possibly be attributed the feeling that he had been
divinely selected, which remained with him until his death.

There is little doubt that he began his career as a sailor, at the age
of fourteen, with the sole object of plunder. The Indies were the
constant attraction for the natives of Venice and Genoa; the
Mediterranean and the Adriatic were filled with treasure ships. In these
circumstances it is not to be wondered that the sea possessed a
wonderful fascination for the youth of those towns. This opulence was
the constant envy of Spain and Portugal, and Columbus was soon attracted
to the latter country by the desire of Prince Henry to discover a
southern route to the Indies. It was while in Portugal that he began to
believe that his mission on earth was to be the discoverer of a new
route to the land of gold--"the white man's god." For two years he
resided in Lisbon, from time to time making short voyages, but for the
most part engaged drawing maps to procure himself a living. Here he
married, here his son Diego was born, and here his wife, who died at an
early age, was buried.

Toscanelli at this time advanced the theory that the earth was round,
and Columbus at once entered into correspondence with him on the
subject, and was greatly impressed with the views of the Florentine
scientist, both as to the sphericity of the world and the wonders of the
Asiatic region. Heresy-hunting was then a favorite pastime, and
Columbus in accepting these theories ran no small risk of losing his
life. Portugal and France in turn rejected his offers to add to their
dependencies by his discoveries; and, though his brother found many in
England willing t