LIFE OF COLON, BV HIS SON.

derived to us from his perfon, than to go about to enquire whether his father was a mer-chant or a man of quality that kept his hawks and hounds; whereas it is certain therehave been a thoufand fuch in all parts, whofe memory was utterly loft in a very Ihorttime among their neighbours and kindred, fo as it is not known whether there ever wereany fuch men. But I am of opinion that their nobility can add Iefs luftre to me thanthe honour I receive from fuch a father. And lince his own honourable exploitsmade him not ftand in need of the wealth of his predecelfors (who, notwithftandingtheir poverty, were not deftitute of virtue, but only of fortune), he ought at leaft, byhis name and worth,' to have been raifed by. authors above the rank of mechanicsand handicrafts. Which yet, if any will affirm, grounding his affertion on what oneAuguftin Juftiniani writes in his chronicle ; I fay, that I will not fet myfelf to deny it,begging time or means to prove the contrary by teftimonials; for as much as Jufti-niani’s writing it does not make that to be looked upon as an article of faith, which isno longer in the memory of man ; fo neither will it be thought undeniable, ffiould I fayI received the contrary from a thoufand perfons. Nor will I ffiew his falfehood bythe hiftories others have writ of Chriftopher Colon, but by this fame author’s tefti-mony, and writing, in whom is verified the proverb, that “ Liars ought to have goodmemories,” becaufe otherwife they contradict themfelves, as Juftiniani did in this cafefaying in his comparifon of the four languages, upon that expreffion of the pfalm, inomnem terrain exivit fonns eornm , thefe very words: et This Chriftopher Colon havingin his tender years attained fome elements of learning, when he came to manly yearsapplied himfelf to the art of navigation, and went to Lifbon, in Portugal , where helearned coftnography, taught him by a brother of his who there made fea-charts ; withwhich improvement, and difeourfmg with thofe that failed to S. George de la Mira,in Afric, and his own reading in coftnography, he entertained thoughts of failing tothofe countries he difeovered.” By which words it appears that he followed no me-chanic employment, or handicraft; fince, he fays, he employed his childhood in learn-ing, his youth in navigation and coftnography, and his riper years in difeoveries. ThusJuftiniani convinces himfelf of falfehood, and proves himfelf an inconfiderate, rafh, andmalicious countryman: for when he fpeaks of a renowned perfon who did fo muchhonour to his country, whofe hiftoriographer Juftiniani made himfelf, though the ad-miral’s parents had been very mean, it had been more decent to fpeak of his origin asother authors in the like cafe do, faying he was of low parentage, or come of very poorfriends, than to ufe injurious words, as he did in his pfalter and afterwards in hischronicle, falfely calling him a mechanic. And fuppofing he had not contradictedhimfelf, reafon itfelf made it appear that a man who had been employed in art manual,or handicraft, muft be born and grow old in it to become a perfect mafter; and thathe would not from his youth have travelled fo many countries, as alfo that he wouldnot have attained fo much learning and knowledge, as his actions demonftrate he had jefpecially in thofe four principal fciences required to perform what he did, which areaftrology, coftnography, geometry and navigation. But it is no wonder that Juftinianifhould dare to deliver an untruth in this particular, which is hidden, fince in affairswell known concerning his difeovery and navigation, he has inferted above a dozen falfe-hoods in half a ffieet of paper in his pfalter, which I fhall briefly hint at, without flay-ing to give him an anfwer, to avoid interrupting the feries of the hiftory ; fince by thevery courfe of it, and what others have writ on that fubjett, the falfehood of hiswriting will be made out. The firft therefore was, that the admiral went to Lifbonto learn coftnography of a brother of his own that was there ; which is quite contrary,becaufe he lived in that city before, and taught his brother what he knew. The fe-

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