Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/156

132 132 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. I. PART it in the correspondence and other writings of that time, previous to the actual discovery. Peter Mar- tyr, one of the most accomplished scholars of the period, whose residence at the Castilian court must have fully instructed him in the designs of Colum- bus, and whose inquisitive mind led him subse- quently to take the deepest interest in the results of his discoveries, does not, so far as I am aware, allude to him in any part of his voluminous cor- respondence with the learned men of his time, pre- vious to the first expedition. The common people regarded, not merely with apathy, but with terror, the prospect of a voyage, that was to take the mariner from the safe and pleasant seas which he was accustomed to navigate, and send him roving on the boundless wilderness of waters, which tradi- tion and superstitious fancy had peopled with innu- merable forms of horror. It is true that Columbus experienced a most honorable reception at the Castilian court ; such as naturally flowed from the benevolent spirit of Isa- bella, and her just appreciation of his pure and elevated character. But the queen was too little of a proficient in science to be able to estimate the merits of his hypothesis ; and, as many of those, on whose judgment she leaned, deemed it chimerical, it is probable that she never entertained a deep conviction of its truth ; at least not enough to warrant the liberal expenditure, which she never refused to schemes of real importance. This is certainly inferred by the paltry amount actually expended on the armament, far inferior to that