Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/192

166 166 ITALIAN WARS. PART II. military science ; the art of mining, if not invent- ed, carried to unprecedented perfection ; a thorough reform introduced in the arms and discipline of the Spanish soldier ; and the organization completed of that valiant infantry, which is honestly eulogized by a French writer, as irresistible in attack, and impossible to rout ; ^° and which carried the ban- so See Dubos, Ligue de Cam- bears to the character of these brave bray, dissert, prelim, p. 60. — This troops. See a similar strain of French writer has shown himself panegyric from the chivalrous pen superior to national distinctions, in of old Branlome, Q^uvres, lom. i. the lil)eral testimony which he disc. 27. Memoirs of <.'onsalvo de ('•ordova. The brilliant qualities and achieve- ments of Gonzalo de Cordova have naturally made him a popular theme both for history and romance. Va- rious biographies of iiim have ap- peared in the different F-uropean languages, though none, I believe, hitherto in English. The authori- ty of principal reference in these pages is the Life which Paolo Gio- vio has incorporated in his great work, " Vita; Illustrium Virorum," which I have elsewhere noticed. This Life of Gonsalvo is not exempt from the prejudices, nor from the minor inaccuracies, which may be charged on most of this author's productions; but these are abun- dantly compensated by the stores of novel and interesting details, which Giovio's familiarity with the principal actors of the lime enabled him to throw into bis work, and by the skill'ul arrangement of his nar- rative, so disposed as, without studi- ed effort, to bring into light the prominent qualities of his hero. Every page bears tiic marks of tiiat " golden pen," which tiie politic Italian reserved for his favorites; and, while this obvious |iartiality may jjiit the reader somewhat on his guard, it gives an interest to the work, inferior to none other of his agreeable compositions. The most imposing of the Span- ish memoirs of Gonsalvo, in bulk at least, is the " Chronica del Gran Capitan," Alcala de Henares, 1584. Nic. Antonio doubts whether the author were Pulgar, who wrote the " History of the Catholic Kings," of such frequent reference in the Granadine wars, or another Pulgar del Salar, as he is called, who re- ceived the honors of knighthood from King Ferdinand for his valor- ous exploits against the Moors. (See Bibliotheca Nova, torn. i. p. 387.) "With regard to the first Pul- gar, there is no reason to suppose that he lived into the sixteenth cen- tury ; and, as to the second, the work composed by him. so far from being tjie one in question, was a compendium, bearing the title of " Siimario de los llcchos del Gran Capitan," printed as early as 1527, at Seville. (See the editor's pro- logue toPulgar's " Chronica de los Reyes Catolicos," cd. Valencia, 1780.) Its author, therefore, re- mains in obscurity. He sustains no great damage on the scoic of rep- utation, however, from this circum- stance ; as his work is but an indif-